Work Text:
She's a strong hunter, working out to get even stronger. That’s why she’s in the gym so often, running on the treadmill that faces the pull-up bars.
Or that’s what she told herself anyway.
In reality, she was a strong hunter and she was working to get even stronger, but the real reason she frequented the treadmill facing the pull-up bars was that that’s where Dr. Zayne Li completed his workout every day.
It wasn’t like she was stalking him. They came to the gym together and left together, but despite their close friendship, she couldn’t help but ogle him every time he did a pull-up.
Something must have been seriously wrong with her. There were plenty of handsome men with fit bodies all around her, but despite her best efforts, she couldn’t keep her eyes off him. She even found herself counting his reps like some type of chant in her mind, in sync with the rhythmic beat of her heart as she ran towards him, always striving to reach him but never getting any closer.
She huffed out another labored breath as she ran. Perhaps that was just her lot in life. To forever be the gym buddy, or the friend who he brought along as he tried out different restaurants, but never anything more.
Sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine.
She bit her lip, watching a bead of sweat drip down the side of his neck to meet the material of his compression shirt that was clinging to him like a second skin.
He’d been at it for five full minutes, and his stamina had her mind going to all sorts of inappropriate places as she imagined how else he could use the body he was training.
Get a grip, she admonished herself, hoping her harsh rebuke would help shake her eyes free from the target they’d been laser focused on for, frankly, a mortifying amount of time.
She clocked the subtle tremor shaking his muscles as he did one final pullup, and started her cooldown immediately so she could meet him on the stretching mat, which had become a bit of a tradition and one of the best parts of her day.
“Did you accomplish what you hoped to today?” he asked her as she approached him, casting jealous glances at the stunning women around her whose sweat only seemed to show up as a dewy glow. Her beet-red cheeks and the frizzy baby hairs sticking out around her face couldn’t hope to compete with them, and yet his focus remained on her as they began their stretching routine.
“Yes and no. I hit a new personal best on my overhead press, but I’m still struggling to let go of some bad habits on the treadmill,” she admitted furtively, giving him only half-truths but still unable to lie to him. The subtle smirk on his face had her praying he hadn’t understood her full meaning.
“How was your workout?” she asked.
“I’m afraid I can’t say for certain. I got a bit distracted during some of my sets and lost count, so I won’t be able to log my progress.”
“Oh? Which exercises?” she asked, bending over into a downward dog to stretch out her calf muscles.
“The pullups at the end. I set my watch for the usual five minutes, but I lost track of how many I completed.”
“Seventy,” she said before thinking, her face turning an even deeper shade of red as she ducked her head to hide her face between her extended arms, staring down at the mat beneath her in abject horror and wishing she could sink straight through the floor thanks to her thoughtless response.
She did her best to avoid looking at him again, but it wasn’t long before she gave in to temptation and she found him studying her with an unreadable expression on his face. Though his ears were still a bright shade of pink thanks to the rigorous workout, she could have sworn the spots of color high on his cheeks hadn’t been there a moment ago.
“Thank you,” he said brusquely, clearing his throat as he adjusted his watch, tapping something into his phone before meeting her eyes, and there was a teasing twinkle in his as he spoke again. “How fortunate I am to have such an observant and diligent workout partner.”
“It’s nothing,” she said, doing her best not to choke on her own spit before taking a hearty sip of her water to help wash away her mortification. “I thought you’d want to log it, that’s all,” she added, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand and hiding her eyes for a moment as they practically bugged out of her head at her own idiocy.
Why couldn’t she have kept her mouth shut?!
“Can I assist you with your stretches?" Zayne asked, releasing his arm from where he’d been holding it flush against his chest as he twisted in the opposite direction. “I see you ended your workout on the treadmill again. How are your hamstrings?”
“A bit tight,” she admitted, biting her lip and wondering if she dared accept his offer.
“Can I help you stretch them out?” he asked in a perfectly neutral tone that had her heart falling a bit but she still accepted.
“On your back,” he instructed.
“Pardon?” she squeaked.
“On your back please,” he repeated. “And lift your right leg into the air,” he requested, sounding entirely unaffected by the words he’d just spoken, though perhaps they’d only sounded filthy in her own depraved mind.
Get it together, she scolded herself, assuming the position he’d requested and holding her breath as he descended into a lunge above her, gripping her calf with her ankle resting against his shoulder before pressing forward gently, deepening the stretch.
“Is this alright?” he asked, staring down at her with an unreadable look in his eyes.
“Yes,” she choked, swallowing thickly as his abdomen met the back of her thigh, the heat of him scorching her through the thin biker shorts she was wearing. He pressed forward again and a singular bead of sweat trickled down the back of her leg, sending shivers in its wake.
“Switch.”
She obliged, repeating the wonderfully torturous experience on the other side.
“How’s that?” he asked, completing the stretch and releasing her leg.
“Better. Thank you,” she told him with a closed-lipped smile, silently coming to the conclusion that her cool-down hadn’t been very effective at all.
<>
She was doing her best to complete her paperwork at the end of the day when a ping from her phone interrupted her focus. Her lips lifted involuntarily as she checked it and saw that it was a text from Zayne.
Have you eaten a balanced meal today? Your muscles need plenty of protein to rebuild. Doctor’s orders.
Yes. She replied. I’m continually impressed by your attention to detail, Dr. Zayne.
I simply need to keep pace with my companion. She’s rather extraordinary and she always makes sure I have accurate information for my workout log.
Her cheeks felt warm as she replied again, attempting to sound more cool and collected than she was feeling at the moment.
Good. See that you update it accordingly.
I’ll let you be the judge of that.
The next message contained a photograph of a page of the notebook where he wrote down all his workouts, but she noted that after every entry of reps for each exercise there were little notes written in the margins. One described the way her hair had shone in the sunlight on the first day of spring. Another detailed how after her workouts, her cheeks bloomed with color to rival the roses in his favorite flower garden. And there was even one about how her drive pushed him farther with quiet inspiration every day.
Her heart was thudding loudly in her chest as she finished reading, but she reined in her wild imagination about what his words might mean before she responded.
You’re very thorough.
Only about the things that matter. See you at dinner tonight.
<>
The evening was meant to be a competition to see whose choice of restaurant was superior, but after each of their choices fell flat, they found themselves wandering in proximity to Zayne’s old college, searching for more appealing fare.
“This way,” he told her, reaching out to grab her hand and pull her across the street with him.
They had almost reached a little food stand when a young couple approached them.
“Zayne! Is that you?”
Zayne turned around, coming to a stop, but still not relinquishing her hand. “Ah. These are my old classmates. Let me introduce you.”
“Yeah, you were only a year above me when I enrolled and now you’re already a doctor while I’m still trudging along,” the young man lamented with a wry grin.
“Well, Dr. Zayne studied hard and got himself a good job before finding a girlfriend, unlike the two of us,” his companion reasoned.
“Girlfriend? No I’m-
“You two will finish next year, correct?” Zayne interjected.
“That’s right.”
“Come on, we should leave them to their date,” the woman said, tugging at her boyfriend’s arm and heading off into the night with a wave.
“What’s the matter?” Zayne asked as they tucked into some takoyaki from the food stall.
“I’m just processing,” she hedged, though internally she was reeling. “Why did you treat them so differently from me?” she asked, pointedly avoiding the question she was really dying to ask instead.
“They’re my old classmates. It’s different. But is that really the most pressing question you have?” he asked, tilting his head at her with the barest hint of a smirk curling the corner of his mouth.
“I thought I was just your workout buddy,” she mumbled, embarrassed at being so hung up on being mistaken for his girlfriend. But he hadn’t corrected them…
“You are many things to me,” he told her. “All of them too important to be dismissed with a word such as ‘just.’”
She didn’t say anything, looking down at her hands which were clasped nervously in front of her body. The next moment she felt a finger under her chin, tipping her head up so she was forced to look at him.
“You’re the girl I haven’t been able to take my eyes off of since the day we met. The one I always had on my mind. The one I worked so hard to impress. The one I want to notice me and the one whose attention I take note of. You’re as vital to me as the air I breathe or the food I eat.”
“Zayne…”
Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She blinked, trying to focus, but lost herself in the depths of his green eyes instead, studying the flecks of gold shining within them like constellations in the sky on a clear night, full of as much wonder as all those unexplored galaxies. The look in his eyes seemed to say that his was one she could explore if she wished to.
She didn’t know what to say, but she still had an answer for him so she continued looking up at him but unclasped her hands and moved them up to rest briefly on his chest. She rose up on tiptoe to try to reach his lips, but couldn’t quite reach them, silently praying that he would meet her halfway.
He did, dipping down to meet her lips with insistent pressure. His hands landed on her hips, gripping then releasing as if he was unsure if he should hold on or let her go, but then he pulled her flush against him, having made his decision.
The brilliance of his smile as they pulled back might have been the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen and as they walked home hand in hand with his long, dexterous fingers twined with hers, she was forced to ignore a pleasing ache in her cheeks caused by smiling too widely.
He pulled her to a stop as they arrived on her doorstep.
“Same time tomorrow?” he asked, checking in on their standing plans to meet at the gym in the morning. “Repetition is very important, you know.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”