I’ll start, anyone can add on!
“So here’s the thing: if you do this exercise with the weights and you don’t already have the insane core strength that this guy has, you’re gonna hurt your lower back.” Buck hits pause on his TikTok and glares at the screen before turning his phone around to Maddie. “See? He keeps making these reactions to whatever I post! Literally, who asked him?”
Maddie hits play and her eyebrows climb. “Let’s see… junebug06, ferality, ponypilates underscore 90, samthewise…” She’s interrupted by Buck snatching the phone back with a scowl. Grinning, she reaches across the cafe table and pokes his shoulder. “He said you have insane core strength, so that is a compliment, isn’t it?”
Buck pouts. “Every time I have a video with a new exercise, he reacts with a criticism. The only time he didn’t bitch about my exercise was when I did the Arnold press.”
“What did Coach Kinard say about that?”
A faint heat creeps into Buck’s cheeks. “…that I have perfect form.”
Maddie shrugs and steals a sweet potato fry off Buck’s plate. “Sounds like he isn’t targeting you for criticism.” She slides her brother’s phone towards herself again and clicks through to the account of Coach_Tommy and scrolls through the videos he has put up. “And he doesn’t just react to your videos, he reacts to several others.”
“It still feels personal, though,” Buck grumbles, but lets himself enjoy the rest of lunch with his busy sister.
Buck has never thought of himself becoming an influencer. BodyBuck was never meant to be a big thing, just a distraction from PT and recertification, but when Bobby and the LAFD didn’t let him go back to work, Buck threw himself into his physical fitness and posted his workouts as a Fuck You to the LAFD and to Bobby too, a way to prove that he was well able to meet the demands of his job. Then the lawsuit happened and he was never going to be welcomed back to the 118 after that, so he decided to just keep posting workout videos. And when the pandemic hit, he also became a global hit.
And then Coach_Tommy started reacting to his most popular videos with criticism. It bums Buck out to have some guy whose account has barely a twentieth of Buck’s followers comment on the exercises he does. The thing is, this Tommy guy isn’t mean or smug about it. He is super objective, so whenever Buck looks at his own form after listening to whatever Tommy says about it, he spots the same problem.
And this Tommy guy is also aggravatingly handsome, with waves of dark hair and a Roman nose and striking blue eyes bracketed with crow’s feet and he has a cleft in his chin. And his ears are pierced. From the many photos and videos Tommy has posted, he has no visible tattoos, but he has a gnarly scar across his ribs that look a bit like petals scattering in the wind.
At least Maddie doesn’t tease Buck on his nemesis. Eddie thinks it’s ridiculous that Buck is so hung up on the guy’s reactions. “Just block him if his reactions bother you so much.”
He isn’t going to block Coach_Tommy. Sometimes, Buck tries out the exercises Tommy recommends for those who need less challenging workouts, especially on the days when his leg isn’t as good, and the exercises always wear him out just enough. If Coach_Tommy is worse at his job, maybe Buck will feel better about the critique. As it is, Tommy knows what he’s doing.
OPEN TO ANYONE TO CONTINUE
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