A Fluffy Tale (4 page)

He knew when he’d got it right because Pyon
would sit at his desk after lunch, trilling quietly for hours and hours,
letting Julian pet him, and never running off or dematerialising. Every day it
seemed, someone had to stop and do a double take at the sight of the former
pest, behaving so politely. Edward had made a bitchy remark about drugs, but
had walked off when Julian sweetly asked if that was his secret too. Bastard.

He’d timed the meal to miss the first
lunchtime rush, but it was still busy, and noisy with the crash of cutlery
against china, and people raising the voices to be heard against the din. He
paid and took his tray, looking around for a place…oh. Ledbetter was there in
the corner again. Alone, again.

Pyon meeped quietly in Julian’s ear, and
that made him decide to face the music. If nothing else, he owed Ledbetter for
Pyon’s improvement and if the guy told him to buzz off, then…well, he’d have
done the honourable thing. Feeling morally superior
and
fit would be great.

Ledbetter jerked up as Julian sat down—he
hadn’t noticed him approach at all. “Excuse me,” he said coldly, going to
stand.

“Forty-three,” Julian said quickly.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Forty-three. Miles. That’s how many I’ve
walked since I saw you last.”

Ledbetter looked completely bewildered, his
anger swamped by confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Walking. You said, eat better, walk more,
sleep more. Well, I did. And now look at him. Pyon? Come out, let him look at
you.”

Pyon, who’d ducked up behind Julian’s neck
as soon as he’d spotted Linis, crept out onto his shoulder. “That’s it. Come down
and let Zack look at you.”

“My
name
is not ‘Zack’, thank you. Mr Ledbetter to the assistants, in any event.” But
then his expression softened. “Oh, Pyon, you’re looking very fine. That’s it,
come here.”

He sat down and put his hand out, palm up,
and Pyon walked down Julian’s arm and across the table. He meeped a little when
he saw Linis staring, but Ledbetter crooned encouragement, and soon Pyon sat on
his hand, trilling away as Ledbetter stroked his fur.

“Hmmm, he does look somewhat better.”

“And he’s much quieter.”

“Well, of course. It’s not magic. So you
just came over here to boast?”

Pyon sat up at Ledbetter’s changed tone and
looked back over his shoulder at Julian. Julian put out his hand and his kem
came back to him, looking for a cuddle which Julian
readily gave him. “Sort of. “ Ledbetter snorted. “No, wait. I…you were right
and I was rude. I wanted to show you I was prepared to work. I bought shoes and
a wok and everything. I'm going to look for a gym tomorrow.”

“Waste of time and money—it’s boring, Pyon
will loathe it, and all you’ll do is put on muscle and look like an idiot.
Running is the best thing. Kems love it—getting out in the fresh air, seeing
new things. I'm sure it’s more effort than you’re prepared to go to, though.”

“It’s not! I just…have no idea about how to
do it. I just remember school and hating it…and…” He fell quiet, aware he was
whining again. “If you think it’s best, I’ll do it. I can find a book, I
suppose.” Ledbetter said nothing. “Okay, well…I thought you’d be pleased to see
how Pyon was doing.” He stood up and picked up his tray—Pyon scrambled up his
jacket and up onto his shoulder again. “Thanks for your help.”

He turned, cheeks hot with embarrassment.
He shouldn’t have bothered. Pyon licked his ear and squeaked softly. Julian
balanced the tray on one hand and reached up with the other to pet his kem.
“Don’t worry about it. How about we go for a really long walk somewhere
tomorrow? I’ll catch a train out to the country park and we can get out in the
sun. You’d like that.” Pyon squeaked again, more excitedly.

“Julian?”

He stopped, then
turned. Zachary Ledbetter stood there, his hands clasped together. “If you’re
serious, meet me in Twyford Park by the cattle statue at five am tomorrow.”

“F-five?” Ledbetter’s expression turned
stony. “Uh…it’s just—it’s still dark. Do I need a torch or anything?”

“It’s not dark and no. Bring proper running
shoes and a bottle of water and wear shorts. I won’t wait for you.”

“Okay.”

Ledbetter swept off, but Linis turned to
watch the two of them with his unblinking golden eyes all the way until
Ledbetter was lost from sight.

Julian stood frozen until someone bumped
him, then he hastily moved back to Ledbetter’s vacated table. Five in the morning? The man was crazy. And what were proper
running shoes? Did his trainers count?

Apparently not, as a trip
to the shoe store proved. Julian walked out
richer for a pair of hi-tech running shoes and lighter by a lot more money than
he’d expected to spend on any item of clothing. He had to spend more money at
the sports clothing store as well, since he didn’t own shorts or sport socks or
the headband and wristbands the assistant assured him were essential, as was a
strange water bottle with handle he was apparently supposed to carry in his
hand.

He tried everything on at home and felt
like a complete prat. Pyon thought the wristbands were toys and played with
them all evening, chasing them all over the floor. Julian didn’t have the heart
to stop him. Tomorrow would be
awful
.
And Ledbetter would laugh at him, no question about it.

He really, really didn’t want to wake up,
and Pyon didn’t appreciate it either, his plaintive high whine following Julian
around as he stumbled about and got dressed in his new, ridiculous clothes. The
park was only a quarter of a mile from his apartment—he walked as fast as he
could, hoping to somehow miraculously become fit enough to keep up with the
sleek Mr Ledbetter, and also to warm up because it was damn chilly. And it
was
dark, although by the
time he reached the park, dawn was just starting.
The air smelled moist and leafy, and traffic noises didn’t sully the park’s
quietness. Lovely, he had to admit. But getting up at this hour just to see it?
Not worth it.

Ledbetter was there by the statue, making a
torturous looking movement with his body Julian really hoped the man didn’t
expect him to copy. The guy had the longest legs…and those high cut shorts left
nothing to the imagination. Really nice arse too. Pity he was very obviously
straight—but he was well out of Julian’s class anyway. Also—a
bastard. An important consideration, that.

Ledbetter stood up and seemed surprised to
see Julian. “Oh. You came.”

“Of course I did. Where’s Linis?”

“Inside. He’s still resting. Pyon?”

“Sulking. He didn’t like getting up so
early.”

Ledbetter smiled briefly, teeth flashing
white in the dim light. “No, kems aren’t really morning creatures. But this is
the best time for a run.”

“I really haven’t done this for over ten
years. I don’t want you pitching a fit at me for not keeping up.”

“I’ve taken account of that in my plans for
this morning, don’t worry. Let me look at your gear.”

Julian blinked in shock, until he realised
the man meant his shoes and things. Ledbetter wasn’t entirely happy with the
shoes but said they’d do for now.

“They were expensive!” Julian protested.

“Yes,” Ledbetter said, packing quite a lot
of derision into a single word and one suggestive sniff. “That doesn’t mean
they’re any good. But you won’t be pushing them too hard today so I won’t ask
you to change them.”

Julian bristled. “I can’t afford to change
my shoes to suit you.”

“You won’t. You’ll change them to suit
you
. Now stop talking and listen. We
start with a warm up.”

Julian remembered now why he’d hated
running at school. And sports. And physical exercise of any
kind. It made him look like a
dork
with a capital ‘duh’. It didn’t help that all the stretches and deep bends and
arm raises and lunges which perfectly emphasised his pudgy out-of-shapedness,
only served to demonstrate the length and strength and…well, classical beauty
of Ledbetter’s body. If the man had been the least bit aware of his own
physical perfection, it would have been completely obnoxious. Instead, it was
merely annoying. A lot, actually, but he’d survive. Julian wasn’t out here to
compare himself to Mr Perfect. He was out here because it was good for him and
thus good for Pyon.

The exercise exhausted him—and they hadn’t
even done any running. As he stood panting and wondering if it was too late to
back out, Ledbetter took off his watch. “Put this on,” he ordered, holding it
out.

“I already have a watch.”

“It’s not a watch, it’s a heart rate
monitor. Put it on.”

Perplexed, Julian obeyed and then Ledbetter
asked, “How old are you?”

Julian raised his eyebrows in frank
disbelief. “I beg your pardon?”

The man looked annoyed as he repeated, “How
old are you?”

“Twenty-six but what—“

“Then if that,” he pointed to the monitor,
“indicates your heart rate is above one-fifty-five at any point, slow down
until it slows down. Your safe maximum heart rate is determined by your age.”

“But won’t you need it?”

Ledbetter flashed a quick smile. “We won’t
be running hard enough to tax me this morning. Ready? You should call
Pyon—he’ll enjoy this. Linis? Come on, you love this bit.”

Linis appeared and jumped down to the
ground a little ahead of them, looking expectant. When Julian summoned Pyon,
his kem still seemed put out. Julian gave him a cuddle and set him on the
ground. Pyon scurried around behind him to get away from Linis.

“I don’t understand why he does that,”
Julian said, confused by the strange reaction.

“Sometimes it takes a while for them to
make friends. Don’t worry. Now, let’s go. We’ll take it easy, and you watch
your heart rate.”

As exercise for his body, it wasn’t much of
a success. As an exercise in humiliation, it was perfect. He managed to run for
all of thirty seconds before he stopped, out of breath. He expected Ledbetter
to yell at him, but the man just told him to walk until he felt able to run
again. The next burst was even shorter. In the end, he managed a mere fifteen
minutes before he called for mercy, and his face was hot from embarrassment as
much as exertion.

His heart pounded, his pulse throbbing in
his forehead like he was about to burst something. He gulped down air into a
dry throat, holding onto a tree to support himself,
sipping water before he could speak. “Even I know…that’s pathetic,” he gasped
out to forestall the sarcasm.

“It’s pretty much what I expected,”
Ledbetter said. “You’ll do better next time. You need to cool down with more
exercises.”

“Next time? Tomorrow?”

“No. We’ll talk about this. Come on—you
need to do this, and then you can wait while I do a proper run.”

More bending and stretching and
embarrassing postures, with Ledbetter simply demonstrating before Julian did as
he asked.

Finally, he was allowed to sit on a bench.
Ledbetter hadn’t even broken into a sweat. By now it had warmed up slightly but
Julian was dripping wet and the gentle breeze was cold. Ledbetter tsked at him
not having a sweater to wear. “Sit there, drink some more water, play with Pyon. I’ll be twenty minutes. Can I have my
monitor back?”

Wearily Julian stripped the thing from his
wrist and handed it over. Ledbetter put it on, pressed a button and then headed
off. Julian was too tired to raise more than a flicker of admiration for the
way the perfect arse moved as Ledbetter ran.

Pyon appeared from wherever he’d been
exploring—he’d run along with them, keeping pace easily, and really had seemed
to enjoy it. Now he was looking for cuddles and that being all Julian was up
for, he was glad to comply. Pyon’s fur felt good against his chilled skin. His
kem was fascinated by his sweat and general condition, needing to sniff and
lick just about everywhere before he’d settle down around Julian’s shoulders.
That felt nice. And sitting here in the quiet, watching the brightening sky
through the trees, was kind of pretty.

Actually, now he’d got his breath back, he
didn’t feel too bad. Almost like he could do a little more running, but he
thought he better not push his luck. It was nice here, the clean morning air
sweet and cool, the birds and bugs and flowers a nice change from his
apartment. He’d come here a few times, but never this early. If Ledbetter said
this was what he had to do to get fit, well…it wasn’t so bad.

He saw Linis before he saw Ledbetter, the
tawny kem bounding along with his big fluffy tail erect and cheerful above him.
Pyon meeped anxiously when he saw him, but he didn’t run away, and actually
came to sit in Julian’s lap to wait for Ledbetter to stop and then do the same
set of exercises as Julian had. Now the man was sweaty, but grinning—he’d
enjoyed himself.

“Come on, I want to walk back before I get
cold. Next time, bring something you can wrap around your waist.”

Julian fell into step, their kems walking
ahead of them, carefully apart with tails erect. “So when is next time?”

“You’ll be sore tomorrow—you’ll need to
take it easy. Go for a long, gentle walk—definitely no running. If you’re
feeling better on Monday, then you can jog again.”

“At five o'clock? Before
work
?”

Ledbetter didn’t answer. Julian glanced at
him. There was a distinctly guilty expression on those elegant features.

“Well…on that point. You don’t
actually
have to get up at five.”

Julian stopped so he could glare properly.
“No? So what are we doing up at this ridiculous hour?” It wasn’t even six yet!

“I…uh…wanted to see if you were serious.”

“Mr Ledbetter, you’re a prick.”

To his surprise, the man only grinned.
“Yes, I suppose I am. But you turned up, and that impressed me.”

“So, what, do I get a medal? You’ll stop
being so nasty to me?”