First Week: Bulletproof Abs

Levi bent back forward, sliding the bar on the rowing machine back into the slot so that it clicked. He released his hands from the grip and wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts. Disgusting. He grimaced, looking forward to his shower at the end of his workout. But of course, he wouldn't shower in the gym. The gym floor was probably littered with athlete's foot, verrucas and all sorts of diseases. Instead, he'd head home as quickly as possible, practically leaping into his home shower before his sweat dirtied his clean carpets.

I'm thinking about getting in the shower and I've only been going fifteen minutes. Levi sighed, swallowing a mouthful of water and moving to stand up again.

"Shi-!" He yelped in surprise as a fire of pain shot up the outside of his leg. He nearly fell flat onto the floor again, until he managed to shift his weight safely onto his left leg. "This fucking leg!" He cursed under his breath. A few weeks ago, Levi had pulled his leg at the gym with no idea how or when. The pain had erupted into his upper thigh the next day and hadn't ceased for another week. He'd taken some time off, recovering and then gradually bringing up his strength again... now this. Back to square one.

He hobbled over to the bicep machines, trying to walk as normally as possible and not attract too much attention. Every time he put pressure onto his leg, the pain fired up again with spine jolting sharpness. Levi cursed the entire journey, until he finally reached the machine he wanted... only to find it was taken. With a suppressed grunt of irritation, Levi glanced around. The only free space appeared to be the gym's equivalent of a climbing frame, which had a high top bar with grips attached for pull ups. The sides were covered in florescent yellow straps which very few people had any idea how to use. He decided, with a 'tch' of annoyance, to do some pull ups until another machine became free.

He bent his knees to jump, knowing that what he was about to do would hurt. And it did. He jumped vertically until his hands brushed the grips, wincing as a shot of pain burned down his thigh. However, that was the hard part done. Now that his legs were swinging free, the pain somewhat reduced and he could proceed with his exercising. He pulled up so that his chin nearly touched the bar, then released down slowly. As he did so, something, or rather someone caught his eye.

The gym seemed to have hired a new member of staff. She wore the 'PT' uniform blue t-shirt and a pair of tight shorts. She had incredible thigh muscles. For a woman, that was. Levi knew just how hard it was for females to build muscle. Their entire bodies seemed to reject the idea. Every process in their bodies prepared for a baby and that made it ridiculously difficult to sculpt the thighs that that girl had. His eyes wandered up her back and read her t-shirt. It said her name 'Mikasa' in bold letters with the same words as all the other instructors' written under it- 'Ask me for training tips!'. One more pull up and Levi observed what she was doing. She was smiling at a young teenage boy who looked like he should still be in nappies. He struggled to pull the lateral bar down for another rep, and the entire machine wobbled as he forced his muscles to work. She encouraged him until the moment he reached the end of the rep, sadistically making him hold the bar there for another few seconds. Eventually, she signalled that he could let go. There was a clatter as he ungracefully dropped the bar and bent over, panting.

Levi's eyes stopped staring at the scene and casually scoured the rest of the gym as he continued to pull up and down. He spotted the machine he wanted was finally empty and lowered himself down again. Forgetting about his injured leg, he dropped back onto the floor... All the way onto the floor, it turned out, as his legs gave way underneath him when he landed and within a second of confusion, he was laid on his back. Levi winced and let out a curse again.

"You all right?" A female voice asked. Levi knew without sitting up that it was Mikasa, the female PT. For one, she was the only female nearby at the time and two, her voice seemed to match her face. It was gentle, low and calm, like a breeze of air on a warm day.

"Yeah," He grunted, attempting to sit back up. "I just forgot that I was injured."
"You shouldn't be here if you're injured." The woman replied, and Levi met her eyes for the first time. ...Fuck. He thought. She could model with those eyes. In fact, she made a perfect advertisement for any Asian product. She had black, shiny, conditioned hair barely longer than her shoulders and almost-black eyes with thick eyelashes. Her skin was like that of a porcelain doll.

"I wasn't injured until I got here... well, not entirely." He took the hand that she had outstretched to him, shifting his weight completely onto his left leg.

"Are you done on here? Me and my client want to use it."

"Yeah sure." Levi waved a hand and moved to walk - or limp – away. Then, he noticed her take one of the yellow bands in her hands. "You're using those?" He asked before he realised the words were out of his mouth.

"Did you want to use them?"

"No, I've just never seen anyone use them. I don't really know what they are."

"You can do all sorts with them. I'll show you if you want?" Levi considered turning down the request and in normal circumstances, he would already be out of ear shot. Something stopped him from doing so. Something he didn't understand. You know full well why you want to stay, Levi. You just want to look at her thighs. It was the first time in a long time that he'd been this interested in a woman. Well, more like he was interested in her legs.

"Sure." Levi nodded, trying not to watch avidly as she bent down and looped her feet into the bottom of the straps. She began explaining what she was doing as she entered the press up position with her feet dangling by the straps off of the floor. Levi wasn't listening to a word she said, completely engrossed in the way her muscles worked. She continuously pulled down her loose fitting top and brushed her hair from her face.
"Your turn, Sam." She said, standing up with a face a little flushed. "That's two things you can do already." She explained to Levi. "There are loads more." Mikasa took the band from her wrist and tied it into her hair so that her hair didn't fall on her face. Then, she removed her shirt without missing a beat. Levi darted his eyes away in shock, until he realised that she was wearing a sports crop top underneath.

"Are those abs bulletproof?" He muttered, only half aware that he'd said that out loud. Mikasa glanced over and smirked a little. She didn't respond, moving onto the next exercise with the strange bands. Levi realised why she'd tied her hair back and taken off her shirt for this, because over the next few minutes she'd bent into every position possible at every angle that existed.

Mikasa displayed at least 15 different exercises that could be done with the straps and Levi vaguely stored them in is brain for later. She continued coaching 'Sam' with his exercises whilst Levi watched from the sidelines.

"Are you two up for a challenge?" Mikasa asked, stirring Levi from his thoughts.

"Like what?" He asked, always the sceptic.

"Remember the front rows I showed you? As many of them with one arm in one minute."

"One arm?" Sam whined. Levi considered it, then decided he'd had enough conversation for one day.
"I'll pass, thanks." He said and turned to leave to continue his work out alone.

"Scared of losing?" Mikasa jeered, aiming to goad him into the challenge.

"Maybe." He responded, casually.

"Or is it because you have a handicap with those short arms?" She tried to manipulate him over a height complex, which caused Levi to smile to himself. He knew some people who'd be tearing up the gym after that comment. Not him, though. He continued walking and searched for a free machine. "Boring!" She called out after him. He smiled a little wider, but didn't look back. He left the gym half an hour later without seeing her again.

AN-

Just a quick note. I wasn't going to upload this story, but in the end I have. It follows two parts of the story at once, which I hope doesn't get too confusing. One part is Levi and Mikasa meeting, which is dictated by each week. The other is events in the past and it isn't in order. If it gets too confusing, let me know. Any mistakes, let me know too because I didn't write this with the intention of publicising it. Also, this story covers quite a few controversial topics or things readers may have been affected by. Feel free to PM me if you have a problem with the way I have presented an issue and we can sort it out.

Thanks! Hope you enjoy!