Slim
_ **Slim** _ These makroudhs were tiny. Like, mind-blowingly. Six diamond-shaped pastries sat arranged on a square plate; the centrepiece of the hand-sized tray I was carrying across the restaurant. I wondered, how in the world Dad managed to bake...
Hurdles
_ **Hurdles** _ Early shifts at the gym were _no_ fun for several reasons. Firstly, it meant dealing with all the nine-to-fivers coming in for their pre-work workouts, building up sweat, then rushing off without wiping down our equipment properly....
Courier
_ **Courier** _ I had a problem. A big one. So carried away, so firmly in the thrall of tourist mode, I'd managed to lose my bearings completely. Certainly, I was no stranger to wandering off and going astray during holiday expeditions, but this was...
Dream Big
_ **Dream Big** _ "Take one capsule with food once every 24 hours," Corben read from the back of his supplement package, turning it over to re-read the product tagline. "Omniflex: The gym in a pill." He set it down, shortly before parking his own...
Knock Knock
_ **Knock Knock** _ 'Cut through the apartment complex Danny, they said. It'll shave ten minutes off your walk to the station, they said. Man, _they_ were chattin' some utter shite with all that. Never mind this place being a maze of identical three...
Date Pandas: Part 4 (Final)
_ **Part 4** _ "You're looking awfully small on that bed, little 'panda." Marek's taunting singing echoed across the room, almost as loud as the stomping steps he took to work his trousers from his huge legs, revealing briefs that left little to the...
Date Pandas: Part 3
_ **Part 3** _ We departed from the coffee shop once Marek had finished his Charkava. Not a fast process, even once we'd got done stroking one another. We spoke on for the longest time, about things I didn't even know I could speak that long...
Date Pandas: Part 2
_ **Part 2** _ The bus screeched to a halt. I'd chosen the worst moment possible to check my phone. I shot down the aisle. Grabbed for, but missed the support pole. My hip struck a backrest. The rest of me barged some poor old goat standing from...
Date Pandas: Part 1
_ **Date Pandas** _ _ **Part 1** _ "Keep going, keep going!" I called above thumping footfalls and heavy breathing. "Not much further." My vantage in an empty bottle holder gave a perfect view of everything: the treadmill's console beside me, the...
Workout
_ **Workout** _ "Are you _sure_ this is okay, Sam?" Marek asked, again, creeping down the last step on the stairway. "I don't want you getting into any trouble by doing this." "How many times?" I chuckled back from my soft, belly-backed seat in his...
Blessing Day: Part 5 (Final)
_ **Part 5** _ _(Marek)_ We spent a couple more hours with my parents in the living room, sharing stories and checking out old photos that had of me saved on their phones. Poring over picture after picture of my teenage self from fifteen years ago...
Blessing Day: Part 4
_ **Part 4** _ _(Marek)_ We left our game of Regicide half finished, and while it hadn't whipped up the positive, lively atmosphere that I'd hoped for, the six of us had at least enjoyed what had come so far. At least, nobody had got bored enough to...