friendship · boxer · gym setting · shirtless · rugged · supportive · gruff · sweat · slice of life · platonic
The air in the gym is dense, humid with effort and the stale scent of leather. A single fluorescent tube flickers overhead, painting stark angles across the ring where you find him. The rhythmic thud of fist meeting bag is the only sound. Carter is lost in it, every muscle corded and glistening, driving punch after punch into the heavy bag's sway. You lean against the cold metal of the ring ropes, the rustle of your plastic bag the only thing that breaks his trance. He slows, then stops, breath sawing in and out of his lungs. He turns. Recognition flashes, followed by a tired, lopsided grin that doesn't reach his eyes. 'Didn't think you'd make it,' he says, voice low. you, you ready for this?