Bear's Bars and Brews 2
by xythan_shadow
The next thing Mark knew was him waking up. The waves were still crashing and he didn't know what time it was or how long he was sleeping. He reached over and turned on the light. He was surprised that the light didn't burn his eyes, nor was he overly hung over like he usually felt after drinking that much. He looked down and saw that he was still completely dressed and memories of the night before came to him. He felt completely embarrassed at how easily he got drunk and how he had to rely on people he just met.
The door opened as Mark was tying his shoes. “Glad to see you're back with the living,” he heard Damien say.
“Yeah, I am man.” He couldn't look directly at Damien, too embarrassed to meet his gaze, “Umm, thanks for the room.”
Damien walked over and laid his huge hand on Mark's shoulder, “Don't mention it man. Better to have you stay here than on the road. Besides, that's why we have this room, for people who have a little more they can handle, or for people we have to give an attitude adjustment.” He muttered under his breath, “Sometimes, both.”
Mark stood up, slightly disoriented as Damien help him stabilize. He was slightly stunned at how huge Damien looked, but the feeling passed as quickly as it came. He shook Damien's hand and said, “I really am grateful man, but I need to get home to my girl. She was expecting me last night and is probably a little worried.”
“I hear ya man. Well, I'll be here if ya need another drink, I'm open every day.”
“Thanks man, I'm here every other week and god knows I'll need a place to drink.”
Damien smiled and led Mark to the door, “Well, I look forward to seeing you next time. I'm sure it'll be interesting.”
Mark got in his car and started to head home. As he drove, it felt like something was sitting on the border of his mind, as if he forgot to do something. But the more he tried to focus, the blurrier it became until he decided to just turn on the radio and listen to the music.
A few hours later, he arrived at his home to his girlfriend. He had missed his lovely blond woman and thought he was going to have a few hours of mind blowing sex with her. Once he finished unpacking and settling in, he simply was too tired to follow up on his plans.
He awoke the next day to an empty bed. Sadly, his girlfriend had already left for her job. He sighed at the notion of heading into work without really enjoying his weekend, but it was a necessary evil. He headed into the bathroom to get ready. After his shower, he stood in front of his mirror to shave the stubble that had been growing for the last few days. But as he stood in front of the mirror to clean his chin, he paused. Damien's voice echoed in his mind, “Real men have hair on their face.”
He held the razor in his hands, mulling over Damien's words before putting it away. He thought to himself, “What the hell, I'll see how it looks.” He finished getting dressed and headed off to work. The day seemed to go by uneventfully. He turned in his reports, made arrangements for the next week and did the other miscellaneous tasks he had to accomplish before he left the home office again.
That afternoon, he headed to the gym to meet with his trainer. Jason was a very good trainer, tough but fair, and was largely responsible for the body that Mark saw in the mirror every day. As usual, Mark arrived ten minutes before his session to do his cardio. As he worked on the elliptical machine, Humphrey's voice seemed to come to mind saying, “Real men are big and strong. Twinks don't mess with big guys.”
That thought marched in his head like a steady rhythm as he trudged along his warm-up. When he was done, he went to the trainer's station and waited for Jason to finish with his client. A few moments later, a large man in a gym shirt and shorts came up and patted Mark on his shoulder. “Hey man, nice to see you back in town. Ready to work out?” he asked with a smile in his voice.
Mark looked up at his trainer. He never really noticed before now, but Jason was a very well built man. The t-shirt that he wore had the gym's logo on it, but it was warped, stretched across his thick pectorals. Tufts of chest hair stuck out from the neck hole, pinned against his bullish neck. The sleeves of the cotton shirt were stuck above the ball of his arm, refusing to stretch over the massive muscle that made up the majority of his arm. Mark only came up to the middle of Jason's chest, and that simple fact caught him by surprise. Suddenly looking at Jason as in a different light, he realized he felt small, even though he knew he had a physique a lot of people would've killed for.
Mark smiled at Jason and asked, “Hey man, I've been thinking. What would it take for me to put on some size and start looking like you?”
Jason was slightly surprised, “What brought this on?”
“Just thinking it was time for a change. Thought I would try and bulk up a bit, you know, look a bit more manly.”
Jason smirked, “Well I'll be damned. I thought you were going to be one of those metrosexual guys forever. You know, kinda like 95% of the guys that come to the gym. Well, if you wanna get bigger, we'll have to switch your work outs and food intake. I'll write out a new meal plan for you after we finish. Now, from now on, instead of doing 15-20 reps of a light weight per exercise, you're going to be aiming for 6-8 heavy. We're going to be doing a lot of free weight work and less cardio, but I think you'll be able to handle it with no problem.”
Mark took in all Jason's comments and nodded, trusting that Jason knew exactly what he was talking about. That day, he did a chest and tricep workout that was vastly different than what he was used to. He could tell his body was responding differently as he did it, and by the time they were done, he could feel the familiar burn of muscle growth. Afterwards, he received his new diet from Jason and saw how much more he would have to eat.
By the time he got home, he was dead tired. His girlfriend was staying at her place, for which Mark was grateful. He was far too tired to do anything she might want. He ended up making himself a dinner full of protein, followed up by one of the new shakes Jason had him buy, before calling it an early night.
The rest of the week went by in the same way. He went to work, followed his new meal plan and went to the gym where Jason worked him out like a dog. After the workout, he would get home, tired as he could be, sore from the heavy weight, and hungry as hell. He would fix himself something to eat, sit down to watch the news and then head off to bed. A few times, his girlfriend called but they didn't talk long due to how drained he was.
It wasn't long before he was preparing to drive back to the gay district. As usual, the thought of being surrounded by those blatantly gay men disgusted him, but for some reason, he was excited to see Damien and Humphrey once again. He thought to himself how nice it was to have good guys like that to hang out with.
In fact, the first stop he made was Bear's Bar and Brews. He felt like a beer after a long drive and he was glad to support a non-gay business deep in enemy territory. It was a nice Sunday afternoon and his body was burning from the new workout. He arrived at Damien's bar and parked next to the pair of Harleys that were in front.
The air was thick with a sweet smoke that filled his lungs and obscured his vision. He used to dislike smoke, but the fog in front of him didn't seem to bother him much. Now that he thought about it, it was slightly weird how little he was bothered by it, but he passed it off as just being understanding of the fact that he was in a bar.
Sitting at the bar in the exact same positions was Humphrey and Damien. They smiled and nodded as he walked to the bar and sat down a few seats away from the big man Humphrey. Damien smiled and said as he placed a mug of beer in front of him, “Welcome back Mark. Glad to see ya again.”
“I'm glad to be here man, just wish I didn't have to go to all those gay boys tomorrow,” Mark said with a growl. Mark raised the glass to his lips and slowly dank the amber liquid as Damien said in a firm voice, “Report”. He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them to see Damien smiling at him.
“So, I expect to see you here lunch time tomorrow. You, me and Humphrey are going to hit the gym. You'll like that right?”
Mark responded instantly, “Yes sir, can't wait to lift heavy with you tomorrow.”
“Ok boy, you better get to the hotel and get some rest.
Humphrey added, “Oh, and take this, it's a CD to help ya relax.”
Mark accepted the CD and said, “Thanks a ton big man, I know I could use some relaxation.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Mark waved as he left the bar. When he got outside, the sun was setting along the horizon. Mark shook his head in confusion. It felt like he was only in the bar long enough to get a beer, but now seeing the sky, it felt like he was in the bar a lot longer than ten minutes. But, before he could worry about it, Damien and Humphrey came out the bar. Damien turned and locked the door behind him as Humphrey went to his big bike. Damien looked at Mark, and seeing the disorientation in his expression, said in his deep, firm voice, “Focus Mark, time to go rest. You have a lot to do tomorrow.”
Suddenly, Mark's head was completely clear and he forgot all the concerns he had a moment ago. He smiled and said, “You're right big man, I need to go check in so I'm ready for our workout.” He jumped into his car and drove on towards the hotel. He glanced back once more at the bar to see Damien smiling and waving.