I shook myself from the fairly recent memory. Hopefully, after today they'll see me in a better light.
I glanced at the gym, Wolves Den. Two wolves were growling at each other. One grey, one brown. Honestly, this looked like a gym out of a magazine. Two stories tall, four buildings, three full tracks, rock climbing wall…
I wasn't sure I'd be able to afford a membership at a place this nice. After a short hesitation, I jogged up the stairs to enter.
A brief glance almost had me turning right around. It wasn't the clean floors, or spacious juice bar that caught my immediate attention. Not the long rows of mirrors with all sorts of machines, not wall behind the counter full of tennis rackets, basketballs, towels, gym memorabilia.
No, not at all. The first thing I saw when I pushed past the glass doors… was that every person in sight had turned to face me like it was some old western movie.
All chatter had stopped, beefy guys in the middle of reps stopped, even two girls at the juice bar had turned to stare.
I was so caught off guard I froze like a deer in headlights. "Uhh, I'm um, looking… uh, was… invited?" I only had one foot through the door, but I could easily turn around. Turning around might be good for my health.
"He's with me." An irritated voice snapped.
I jerked around to see a red headed man built like a tiny brick house. He wore basketball shorts, red and white head band, a black tank top… The most conspicuous part about him though… was that he was carrying a dented metal bat… Wrath?!
There was a low hum of discontent from the people in the gym before they went back to what they were doing. Before I could figure out what was going on, the man hopefully Wrath, gripped me by the arm to approach the desk.
The first receptionist had scurried away to be replaced with a giant man labeled manager as I was dragged along. "Uhh, sir? Umm I don't..." I mean, it was hard to tell, Wrath's chibi form didn't have solid features, they were a mix between doll and action figure.
"Relax Max. It's me."
I didn't know if I should be reassured or ask what the heck was going on! They could be seen?! They had real bodies? Shouldn't that have been disclosed on day one?! Hey… they could have helped carry groceries!
"Long time no see, Wrath." The manager greeted with a small nod as he eyed me up and down. The manager looked about Jakes age, in fact… if I didn't know better, I thought they might be related. Bandana, blue eyes, dark hair… tanned skin. Most of the gym goers looked like they could be related to Jake and Jack…
"Jack invited Max, figured I'd make sure no one took a bite out of him until he showed up." Wrath stated sliding a membership card across the counter as he coolly eyed the lingering men. Had those men… been wearing dog ears before? I wondered following Wrath's glance. I would have noticed a bunch of buff guys wearing animal ears, right?
I gulped… mind spinning… what the actual fuck was going on?! If I didn't know better, I thought one of the guys off to the side had actually growled at us! Dog ears and growling… was this a cosplay or roleplay gym?
"Did he now? A shame… Jack isn't here." The manager didn't even look at the card.
Wrath gave a snarky grin, "Yeah a real shame. Of course, if you wanna try asking us to leave, I'm all about giving lessons."
"Jason! Sign them in." An older voice barked.
Jason? No way right? Did they all have names that started with J?
I looked upstairs to see a man, maybe mid-forties, grey goatee, piercing blue eyes glaring at us. I watched as the manager, Jason apparently, grudgingly accept the membership card. The man kept watch as he circled to the stairs to join us at the counter.
"Wrath, haven't seen you in a while. Do we have a… problem?" The older man asked, gaze barely flickering over me before returning to Wrath.
Wrath grinned as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "No problems. As long as no one has a problem with my guy Max, how are the ankle biters and the wife Nathan?" It was a little awkward because I had to lean over… Wrath… really was short.
Oh, guess not, probably just a coincidence.
Nathan stared down several of the gym goers who were still glaring. After they all returned to whatever they were doing he looked at Wrath, "All grown with a few ankle biters of their own. Bets is also good. I sent Jack a text, he'll be here soon." With that said, he glanced over me one last time with a deep inhale, then went back upstairs.
I wasn't sure if I should be surprised Wrath had a human form… but seriously… couldn't they have given me a warning? I felt like I'd shown expecting a restaurant only to find out it was a potluck.
Wrath grabbed me by the arm again, "Let's put your bag in the locker room."
I stumbled along, trying to ignore the side eyes we were getting. "Uh, yeah." Most of the animal ears… were gone… or maybe hidden by bandannas or hats. Wait… there were pictures all over the gym with people with animal ears and tails… had I mistaken a reflection in the mirror for a person wearing animal ears?
"I'll explain later Max. For now, just follow me." Wrath whispered as he glared around the room. I swear, there were actual growls.
I found myself in what was probably the nicest locker room I'd ever seen… three rows of lockers, benches, towels in each corner. I could see the steam from showers, noticed a sauna… dang… membership might really break my bank…
"Pick any locker, you can leave everything behind, no one is stupid enough to steal around here. But take the key just in case. You are new here." Wrath explained nodding to the lockers.
I nodded as I found a ground locker before looking inside, five sins. Where was Sloth? I locked my keys in the locker, then took the key that came with locker. It was attached to ball bead chain. It was just long enough to be worn as a necklace… or double wrapped to fit on a wrist. I looked down at the shorter guy, "Are you real-?"
Before I could finish the doors slammed open. Jake and Jack came charging in, chests heaving as the glared daggers at Wrath. "Uhh… guys?"
"He's with us." Jake snarled leaning over to get right in Wrath's face. Of course, because Wrath was so much shorter, Jake was towering over him… but… Wrath just grinned as he raised a brow.
I was going to say something to deescalate the situation, but Jake and Jack grabbed me by my forearms, then carried me out. Eh? All I heard was Wrath's chuckle as Jake kicked the swinging doors open. EH? I didn't even have time to say anything.