Disclaimer: Only the fic is mine.
AN: I am just not warming up to Stone, he is just so bland and I am disgusted at how the powers that be are trying to force a Stone/Liv pairing on us, they have no chemistry and Olivia has more than a decade on him. This was inspired by how Liv walked in on him shirtless. This was inspired by some tweets by how unfair my never saw Barba shirtless, so this is where my angry muse took me. Unbeated.
***
Liv walked toward Barba's office, it had been only a few weeks since they'd started working together, but she had to admit he was one of the most interesting and most infuriating men she'd ever met.
And he had a strong drive to win, to get justice, and that appealed to her.
They had agreed to meet at his office to go over some trail prep and since it was a rare slow day she had decided to come early.
His office was dark and Liv looked at his secretary, "Is Barba here?"
"He's in the building gym, he said he'd be back by three."
"I'll go and find him," Liv smiled at the young lady, "Thank you."
***
Liv headed downstairs to where the gym was located and went inside, she never imagined Barba as the type he would work out.
She has assumed he'd burn calories with all his thinking and walking around.
She saw Barba on a treadmill, he was wearing sweatpants, sneakers...and he was completely shirtless.
His chest glistened with sweat, he didn't have rock hard abs, but he was impressive,he also had nothing to be ashamed of in the chest.
Barba looked up and surprise was on his face, "Detective Benson?"
"My apologies counsellor, things were slow at SVU so I came early, and I decided to find you."
Barba grinned, "You have," He began to slow down his walking.
"I'll head back up to your office, join me when you're ready."
Liv hoped she wasn't blushing furiously as she left, missing the smirk that appeared on his face.
She took some deep breaths when she was in his office, trying to steady herself.
She needed to see Barba as just her colleague, not someone who was hot and could send her pulse racing.
To many times she allowed herself close to someone only to get seriously hurt.
By the time Barba got there, dressed in the suits she was familiar with, her mask was in place.
It was time to get to work.
***
AN: Have no idea if where Rafael works has a gym, but in my universe it does. Hope it turned out well.