Miguel scratched his chest. Not for the first time that day he idly thought he needed to lose weight. His pecs had always been well defined, honed by years in the gym in high school and by years doing physical labor. Now at 30, his wife's cooking and the less active tasks of a foreman had given him a little pudge.
Stranger than the increased upper body fat, though, was the sight of his crew hard at work.
For three days now since getting back to work, the construction team had completed almost an entire floor. It was a great pace; if they all kept at it they had good odds of clawing back some of the lost time. The guys had shown consistently high morale all week. When a shipment was delayed, they had scrounged enough parts to complete the day's tasks. And none of the work had been shoddy. Even more unbelievable, Miguel had seen the two electricians cleaning up their area after their work day.
It was also odd that the men all looked a little different. Hair was longer, and brighter. Even Miguel's dark hair showed blonde streaks. Come to think of it, all the guys on the crew looked a little more rounded. Rounder faces. Rounder butts. Chests a little doughy.
The foreman didn't feel like worrying, though. Work was actually fun. He eveb had a little time to take a break, that morning. He read through a romance novel that one of the guys had given him.
"I'll worry next week." Miguel thought. He made his way to a plastic table, to eat his lunch.
Inside his lunch box was the usual sandwiches his wife Julieta had prepared. As well as...
"A rainbow cupcake?" He puzzled over the dessert. He sent a picture to his wife, curious.
"Cute dessert, boss. " one of the plumbers sat next to him. Miguel gave him a good look, but the older man didn't look like he was teasing him. He had begun eating his own lunch, paying the foreman no more mind.
"Do you like it, mi amor?" His wife wrote back. He was surprised to see her using english. "I wanted to give you something special for pride month." The message went on.
Pride month? Julieta didn't really care about LGBT stuff. Neither did Miguel. The city's Mexican community held a small yearly event for its gay members, but that stuff didn't interest the couple at all. Miguel didn't hate gay people, just thought them weird. They had their thing, and he had his.
"It's lovely, thank you." He replied.
"Do you still want to go to the parade? I've heard from Gloria and Francisca that they are going, too."
Gloria and Francesca. Two other Mexican women, who dated Aaron and Kyle. Two of the guys on his work crew. Definitely not the type to go to any pride event, or let their girlfriend go.
"I'll think about it. I've had a lot of work. Sorry for flaking." He replied. His wife sent him heart emojis.
Why was he texting in English, instead of his own native language? Something was wrong. He pushed a lock of blonde hair from his eyes.
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