Every day Malcolm kept a careful log of the miles that he biked.
Every day he wore Blaine while he biked. After the first few days, he
stopped acknowledging that Blaine was anything other than an article
of clothing. Everyday he put on his iPod and plugged it into his
helmet speakers, and pedaled in silence. Sometimes he would hum to
one of the tunes. For Blaine it was at first maddening. When Malcolm
wasn't cycling, he hung Blaine in a ventilated closet to air out. In
all the weeks since he'd turned the jock into his one piece cycling
suit never once had he washed Blaine. Several times Malcolm bicycled
in the rain and this helped wash Blaine a bit, but it wasn't the same
as soap and water.
Then winter break came, and Blaine was left hanging in Malcolm's dark
closet for two weeks. He nearly went mad. When Malcolm returned to
his routine, Blaine eagerly waited to be worn, and silently prayed
that Malcolm would go on longer rides so Blaine would stay out of the
closet even more.
When the closet door was open, Blaine saw Malcolm packing for Spring
Break and nearly freaked that he would be locked in the closet for
another week or two. He was relieved that this time Malcolm came to
the closet and collected him. He folded Blaine neatly at the knees
and hung him in Malcolm's garment bag. Blaine wondered where he and
Malcolm would be going on their trip. He envisioned cycling in Hawaii
or along the coast in California or Atlantic City's boardwalk or
perhaps through the vineyards of France.
Before he was zipped up the garment bag, Malcolm addressed Blaine for
the first time in months.
"Not sure if you're still with us, Blaine, or if I'm just talking to a
spandex suit, but as of this month, I'm averaging 350 miles per month.
When I'm up to 420, I'll be ready to join the cycling team. And if I
make the team, I think I may turn you human again - at least for a bit
- maybe." He grinned and zipped up the bag.
Blaine was torn with mixed emotions, he barely remembered being human.
It would be good to be a man again, but he had never felt closer to
anyone than he felt about Malcolm now. He wanted to Malcolm's new team
singlet. He wanted to be with Malcolm always.