Work Text:
Their agreement was to meet after breakfast in the locker room. Aoi isn’t sure why they don’t just go together, but she’s a little bit glad for it - her palms are uncharacteristically sweaty and she appreciates the extra time alone to try and wipe them off on her shorts. She’s also not sure why she feels nervous, but then again, she’s not really sure of a lot of things. Like how all the food gets into the cafeteria - Fujisaki said Monokuma told her it was delivered every day, but, like, where does it come from? Do they know what’s happening to them, or do they just drop the food off? Are the people delivering it in league with Monokuma?
Whatever. Wondering about things she isn’t going to get the answer to is just more stress on her with no relief. She turns the corner to the girls’ locker room, holding up her ID and looking nervously at the mounted Gatling gun before the door clicks and she’s slipping inside.
Sakura is standing with one foot on the bench, holding a 5-pound weight in her left hand and doing bicep curls.
“Aww, you started without me!” Aoi whines, her wide grin betraying that she doesn’t really care.
“I just wanted to warm up,” explains Sakura, gesturing with her other hand to the other 5-pound in the set. “There’s one for you too, Asahina-san.”
Her face gets a little red. “You can just call me Aoi, I keep telling you.” But she reaches for the weight and stretches out her arms and legs a little before starting her reps, both feet on the floor. She thinks Sakura might just be showing off a little. Her thighs are really, really muscular…
They work out in silence for a few minutes before Aoi gets jittery. She hates when it’s too quiet and she can hear the blood rushing in her ears. Yuck. But Sakura seems pretty content to just do her curls quietly, switching arms at the end of each set and smiling down at the ground, so Aoi tries to put up with it until she can’t anymore. Which happens after about ten more seconds.
“So, Sakura-chan, why did you want to work out here?” Aoi asks as she sets her weight down. She’s way more into cardio than weights and her stamina shows it.
Sakura angles her neck, cracking it nonchalantly. “There are more weights here - my room is severely unequipped, and I’m not sure Monokuma would allow us to remove them. Also,” here her voice quiets a little, “I figured we could have some more privacy here.”
“Yeah, there’s nobody around,” Aoi muses as she gives the room a cursory glance. “Kinda spooky, huh?” She laughs. “I wouldn’t want to be here alone with someone else.” At the look Sakura gives her, concerned and maybe a little hurt, she quickly backtracks. “I mean, someone I don’t trust! With this killing game and all…”
Sakura shakes her head, smiling. “I don’t take offense to any distrust you may have of me, Asahina - Aoi-san,” she corrects herself, noticing how Aoi’s cheeks are beginning to puff up in a pout. She doesn’t like how that flows off her tongue, but at the same time, she does. Better to stick to ‘Asahina’, probably. “It’s wise to want to protect yourself. We’ve already lost two of our fifteen, and it’s natural to not trust -”
“I really do trust you, Sakura.”
It’s plain and spoken as if it's a fact, and that’s what makes Sakura forget how to speak. She’s not sure why - maybe because it’s validating to know that this girl she trusts with her life isn’t afraid of her. Normal people are, even without a killing game scenario. Her cheeks feel blazing hot and she gives Aoi a shy grin. “Thank you. I trust you too.” The words feel thick and heavy in her mouth, as if she were saying something much more important than ‘I trust you’. She hopes Aoi doesn’t notice.
Unsure of what to do next, they lay next to each other on the floor mats and begin doing sit-ups. Sakura keeps her gaze fixed tight to the ceiling. Once, she lets it wander, sees Aoi flushed pink with exertion, sweat forming in microbeads on her collarbone, her flat, toned stomach working hard, and turns her head as if she’s seen something wildly inappropriate. Certainly Aoi wouldn’t want her to stare. She might think Sakura had… feelings for her, and the last thing she wants is to make her uncomfortable.
Aoi, on the other hand, can’t help but feel a twinge deep in her gut when Sakura looks away from her. Disappointment, maybe? Whatever it is, she can’t really name, but she knows that she wants Sakura to look at her like that again. She brings her hands from her head as she rises and sets them down behind her, crossing her legs and blowing a strand of hair out of her face. Good, now Sakura is looking, wondering why she’s stopped.
“Hey, Sakura-chan? I think my form might be off, can you watch and tell me if I’m doing something wrong?” she asks. She knows her form is nearly perfect, and she knows Sakura probably knows that too, but maybe it’ll work.
Red-faced, Sakura agrees and turns to watch.
Aoi thinks for a moment. How can she mess up a sit-up when it’s like breathing to her? And how can she mess it up in a way that will make Sakura watch her more? Touch her?
She curls up from the neck instead of the core, letting her foot rise off the ground - an elementary school sit-up that her swimming coach would kick her off the team for. It hurts her soul to mess up this badly on purpose. It's okay, though. All in the name of love. Wait. No. Not love. Absolutely not love, no way -
Sakura coughs quietly, once, twice. “Asahina-san, your foot should be on the ground.”
“Oh, right, sorry,” she laughs, keeping her foot to the mat but letting her other one lift. She wants to throw up a little bit, but not in a bad way.
“Now your other foot is rising.”
Here we go. Aoi takes a deep breath then looks Sakura in the eyes. “Do you think you could hold my feet down? I think it’d help a lot.”
Sakura’s face - no, her whole body - is on fire. She hesitantly shuffles to Aoi’s feet, placing large muscular hands on top of her sneakers. Aoi smiles, and Sakura struggles to return it. Yeah, they hang out all the time, and spend the night together occasionally, and sometimes hug each other, but this feels weird and intimate and… nice. Sakura isn’t sure she’s felt this close to another person in a very long time. Most people are too afraid of her.
Aoi resumes her sit-ups, and Sakura holds her feet and watches her. They talk about what their lives were like before the killing game - Aoi mentions a brother, Sakura talks about her family’s dojo and her own personal mission.
“Wow,” Aoi whistles, coming down onto the floor to rest. “You want to be the Strongest Human Alive ?”
Sakura nods gravely. “It’s important to me… to show the world what a woman can do.”
“But aren’t you already the Strongest Human Alive ?”
A dismissive shake of the head. “I hadn’t earned it.”
“Well, this Kenshiro dude, he can’t be stronger than you now! You’re, like, really strong.”
Aoi curses herself internally. That was dumb. You’re like, really strong. She should just brain herself with that weight. It’s not her fault Sakura is so cool and it makes her forget how to talk!
Sakura, to her credit, doesn’t say anything, just smiles and shakes her head.
“A-anyway,” Aoi continues, “I think you’re the strongest person in the world, no matter what. Who else could make me feel so safe just by sleeping in the same bed?”
“Thank you, Asahina.” Sakura coughs. “Are you… feeling unsafe lately?”
Her hands have found their way up to grip Aoi’s muscular calves. Swimmer’s legs, Sakura thinks, too afraid to move her fingers lest Aoi realize where they’ve crept.
Aoi clears her throat and Sakura looks up at her. She’s grinning now - a sure sign she noticed way before Sakura and is about to try something in the hopes of being smooth. “Yep!” She’s all cheerful, which absolutely contradicts what she’s saying, but for some reason, Sakura likes it. “Maybe you should sleep with me again tonight.”
The sound that comes out of her mouth isn’t human.
She coughs once and tries again. “Maybe I will.”