The next day Mark headed to the weight room, as usual. He was once again impressed to see Luke, Maxi, and Zach all working out together. The gym was divided into two rooms. All of the exercise equipment was in one large room. Then there was a smaller room with mostly free-weights. The showers/lockers were located off of the weight room side.

Mark headed over to talk to the guys before he started his workout. When he was on that side, he noticed that the cleaning staff had left a barricade that indicated that the showers were closed for cleaning. That gave Mark an interesting idea, especially since the guys were the only ones in the weight room at the time.

So, Mark started his workout, while keeping tabs on who was entering and exiting the showers. When he was fairly confident that there was nobody in there, he walked back to the weight room and made sure that the three guys saw him. As he entered the locker area, he checked quickly to make sure that nobody was in there. When he was sure that they were clear he placed the barricade at the entry and motioned for Zach to join him.

Zach excused himself as the guys tried to see what was going on in there. Maxi and Luke were each feeling pretty envious of Zach at that time.

As Zach entered the locker area Mark chuckled at him, “So, do you think that seeing what a stud you are will help motivate your guys?”

Zach answered, “Well I am sufficiently motivated if they aren’t.”

Mark put the brakes on. “Whoa, whoa, big fella. Not today. They don’t know what’s happening in here.”

Zach fired back, “So you set this all up to not have sex?”

Mark replied, “Have a seat there stud.”

Zach sat down at one of the benches his cock bulging as always inside his tight workout shorts. Mark walked over and lowered himself to his knees. Zach quickly slid his shorts down exposing his hard cock. Mark started to playfully stroke and suck his cock.

Then Mark asked, “Zach, why are you always hard when you are in the gym? Is it the activity? Or the other guys? Or what?”

Zach answered, “I don’t know. It’s just something about watching other guys work out, you know, watching their muscles flex and stuff.”

Mark followed up, “But, the guys on your side of the gym are usually bigger guys. Would you want to fuck them or the other way?”

“Why are you asking about this? What does it matter? And you know that I am not a bottom,” Zach said defensively.

“I am just asking, Zach. I wasn’t assuming anything. It wouldn’t matter to me if you did,” Mark explained.

Zach responded angrily, “So why didn’t you really want to fuck? Are you too sore from Justin yesterday, or what?”

Mark had heard enough, “Maybe! He fucked my ass pretty good. I loved it so much I asked for seconds.”

Mark stood up and gave Zach a shove. He was going to walk out. Then he got a different idea. He turned his back to Zach and pulled his own shorts down around his ankles. Then he slid himself down on Zach’s cock. He actually was sore from being with Justin the night before, but now he just didn’t care. He started to ride Zach’s cock aggressively. Mark started groaning loud enough that he was sure that the guys in the weight room could hear him.

He taunted Zach as he rode his cock. Clearly, Zach could have pushed him away if he wished to. Mark rode Zach’s cock until he came in his ass. It didn’t take terribly long, he was already pretty worked up. Mark felt that he kind of liked it anyway. As soon as Zach came, Mark stood up, pulled his shorts up, and stormed out of the locker room. He yanked the barricade away and told Luke and Maxi that they could head into the lockers.

Mark headed straight to the basketball locker room. He really hoped that he was the first one there. As he walked there, the back of his underwear was soaking wet from Zach’s cum leaking out and he feared that it was going to leak through his shorts also. So, he really could use a shower and a fresh set of clothes.

As he got there, he was not alone. Lee was already there getting ready. Mark told Lee that he needed a quick shower, but he would really like to talk with him about Trey. Lee agreed and Mark said that he would back in five minutes at the most.

Mark took a quick shower and cleaned up as best he could with the equipment available. He hurried out and threw on his practice gear. He grabbed Lee and they headed into the treatment room.

Mark asked, “So how did things go with you and Trey yesterday? You guys seemed to be getting along pretty well?”

Lee’s eyes lit up, “I have to tell you, I didn’t know about this whole situation. But we actually get along really well. I never gave that guy the time of day before, because all I knew about him was basketball, and I didn’t respect his effort. But, we have a lot of common interests. That guy has so much heart and feels everything so deeply. It’s really beautiful actually.”

Mark followed up, “So did anything happen?”

Lee responded, “No, not really. We talked for quite a while. Well, you and Justin saw us, right. While you guys were getting your showers we shared a really nice kiss and we headed out.”

Mark knew that Lee was not telling everything that had happened, but he respected Lee for keeping it to himself, especially if they really had made a connection. “So, it sounds like things went pretty well, then. Would it be too much trouble if I asked you to stay in contact with Trey for a while?” Mark asked.

“Uh, yeah. I will see what I can do,” Lee answered, trying not to give anything away.

Mark thanked Lee for helping out with Trey and the two of them headed out of the treatment room. As they opened the door, three large men approached. It was a confused-looking Zach, followed by a very smiley Luke and Maxi.

Zach barked at Mark, “You and I need to talk.”

Mark shook his head, “After practice.”

Zach grabbed Mark’s arm and said, “I need to talk to you now.”

Mark brushed his arm away and shouted, “Listen, meathead, I said that I would talk to you after practice. So put your shit on and get to practice. I will talk to you when practice is over. Got it!”

The locker room went silent for quite a while. Finally, Chris shouted, “Captain don’t take shit from nobody!”

The practice was pretty routine. But, Ant was a no-show. Afterward, Mark and Zach stayed out on the court pretending like the other one wasn’t there. Finally, Zach charged at Mark and said, “Are you going to talk to me or what?”

Mark said that he would, but they should probably not do it in the usual location. There was a small equipment closet off of the court that probably hadn’t been locked up yet. They headed in there and shut the door.

Zach was a bit calmer at that point. At first, he chuckled and said, “Do you know what a legend I am to Maxi and Luke now? I didn’t even know that you pulled that barricade away or that you invited them in. When they walked in I was just leaning against the wall with my hard cock out, still dripping wet. They were all “high-fives” and handshakes. They had no idea what a mess we are right now.”

Mark answered, “I’m glad that it worked out that way. That was my plan all along. I wanted them to want to be more like you.”

Zach started to get a bit misty, “First Lee, then Justin. I can’t deal with this. I just can’t.”

Mark countered, “Zach, I told you specifically that I needed to see other people. I am not cheating on you or anything. I told you that I was going to do it. You just need to man up and deal with it.”

Now starting to cry, Zach mumbled, “How am I supposed to deal with that when I love you?” That confession pushed him over the edge and now Zach was completely breaking down.

Mark gave him a hug and said, “I don’t know what to do about you, Zach. You know how much I care about you, but I have to take a journey of my own here. And the way that you came after me because I asked you about what turned you on in the weight room, that just goes to show how little you are willing to share with me. Then you got upset that I did something that I already told you that I was going to do. I don’t think that I was unfair about it. I told you that you could see other people…”

Zach cut him off, “I don’t want to see other people. I want you. You are the only person that I want to be with anymore.” Zach was now crying and sniffling. It was a painful sight. But Mark knew that he couldn’t give in just because Zach was hurting. Zach fired back, “If you want to know why I get so turned on, I will tell you.”

Mark paused for a second and then said, “No. You obviously didn’t want to tell me, so this moment shouldn’t be what forces you to open up.”

Zach was silent for quite a while. Then he asked, “Will you let me tell you a story instead?”

Mark said, “Sure. If you think that it is something that I should hear.”

Zach took a deep breath and explained, “When I was a freshman in high school, I was kind of a thin, wimpy kid, not a lot unlike Justin. Well, not quite that thin, but you get the point. There was a senior on the basketball team named Eric. Eric was, well, he looked a lot like I do today. He was an amazing player. All of the girls liked him. All the guys wanted to be his friend, especially me.”

“I followed him around as much as I could. I was training with him and working out with him every day. And I liked him. I really liked him.

“One day we were working out together and it was early in the morning. We were the only ones in the weight room. He was watching me workout and then he came up behind me. He put his hands on my hips. He said that he knew that I wanted him. He had previously seen me get erections watching him.

“He grabbed my hand and placed it on his cock which was hard, also. He said that we could be more than just workout buddies if that is what I wanted. I told him that I did. He pulled my pants down and bent me over the bench press. He spat a couple of times on my ass and before I knew it he was driving his cock inside me. It hurt so bad. I had never even really played around with my ass much before.

"He didn’t show much mercy, he just kept driving his cock deeper and deeper inside me. The weight bar would 'clank' with every thrust that he made. The pain never got any better. I just wanted him to get done. Eventually, he finally came inside me. He rested for a bit. Then he pulled his cock out and slapped my ass.

“He told me how great that I made him feel and that now we were connected together forever. And I… I, felt like I had really given him something special. A piece of me. Of my soul. I thought that we were in love. I did. I really did. I was so incredibly happy.”

“We got cleaned up, showered, and went through the day as if nothing had happened. Well, that was until lunchtime. I didn’t know it at the time, but while he was fucking me he had pulled his phone out. He had taken several picks of himself driving his cock inside my ass. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it. I mean he was pretty rough, and it hurt so bad that… I just didn’t. At lunch, he started texting the pictures to everybody that he could think of. Within an hour, virtually everybody at school had seen them.”

“So from that moment forward, I decided that I was never going to be the soft, weak little boy being taken advantage of again. I was going to be him. I was going to be Eric. I doubled-down on my workouts and hit another growth spurt and now I am just like him. That’s what I have dedicated myself to for the last seven years now, being like him.

“Why would I ever want to be like him? Fuck knows, but that is what I have wanted. I always fuck the guy and leave. Maybe I will pay them another visit sometime if it’s good. But there is no attachment and no real connection.

“And then I fucked you and it was different. I knew it was different the first time, but I didn’t realize how different until our second time in the treatment room. And then when you got hurt I thought. I don’t know what I thought. I didn’t think that you were going to die or anything but something triggered my brain to think about you not being here anymore. ‘How could I go on without you?’ Is all that I could think.

“And now you are pushing me away for Justin. But, I used to be like Justin. So I wonder if I had just been myself, would I be what you wanted today.”

Mark stopped him, “Okay, okay. Take a breath and let me jump in here. First of all, I am sorry that you had that experience. That sounds completely traumatic and I definitely wouldn’t have dealt with it as well as you did. I don’t understand why you would have wanted to be like him, but I am glad that you did because I like you just as you are. And for the record, you are not like him. Just because you have had some hookups doesn’t mean that you are like him.

“And furthermore, I am not with Justin, and I don’t imagine that I will ever be. Justin is still finding his way too, but right now he feels like he needs a more versatile partner. That’s why he and Ant aren’t doing well.

“If Coach had sent Justin to seduce me that night, I would still be hiding in the shadows. It had to be you. So, nothing has changed between us. At least not for me.”

The two shared a long kiss.

Mark pulled away and a bit stunned said, “That’s why you get hard when you work out. You think about the ‘good moments’ with him and how they made you feel. Fuck!”

Mark added, “I know that I didn’t give you everything that you wanted there. I can’t. And I won’t tell you what you want to hear just to get you through this moment. That wouldn’t be fair for either of us.”

Zach looked at Mark and declared, “You are the strongest person that I have ever known.”

Mark grabbed Zach’s hand and joked, “Come on. It’s time for us to come out of the closet, again.”