Thanks so much for the feedback everyone! Here are some definitions for people unfamiliar with these terms:

Demisexuality is a sexual orientation in which someone feels sexual attraction only to people with whom they have an emotional bond.

Demiromantic is a romantic orientation in which someone feels romantic attraction only to people with whom they have an emotional bond.

More information can be found at these sites: (put a period after 'demisexuality/asexuality' for the link to work)

demisexuality org/articles/what-is-demisexuality/

asexuality org

...


On my way.

Lightning hit send and tossed her phone away. It clunked against the passenger side door and fell down under the seat.

With her head in both hands, she rubbed at her face. Get it together, she told herself harshly before raising her head. She inhaled deeply, choosing to sit for a few minutes with one hand on the gear stick and the other propped against the door and under her chin. Finally muttering a swear, she turned the key in the ignition.

She should've told Fang she wasn't going to the gym. But then Fang would probably get worried and come to her house. Actually, that's exactly what she'd do.

With few options left to her – it wasn't helping that she really did want to see Fang – Lightning drove to the gym. Leaving her badge and gear in the car, she trudged inside and showed her membership card to the man at the desk – more out of habit than necessity. He simply gestured her on through.

The gym was decently sized, with offices for the staff in one section, cardio equipment on the second floor, weights on the first, and various spare rooms for different activities or classes. Plenty of members were there already for their after-work exercises.

Lightning spotted Fang on the ground floor, wearing her usual sweats and jacket while she was with a patient. She was currently helping an elderly woman through a series of leg stretches.

Fang nodded to Lightning as she came near, keeping most of her focus on her patient. "Alright, hold your leg right there for me. Can you go a bit further than that? There you go, that's good. I can tell you've been practicing these."

The woman smiled proudly. Lightning recognized her as a regular patient of Fang's. The small woman was clearly charmed by her physical therapist. "I would do anything you told me to do, Fang. You know that."

Fang just smiled politely at her, sneaking a wink at Lightning whom the woman had caught sight. "Oh, it looks like your handsome girlfriend is here just in time to catch me flirting again." She gave Lightning what she must have thought was an all-knowing smile.

"Hello, Miss Thompson," Lightning said politely. She used to try correcting her about Fang and herself being girlfriends, but Miss Thompson always forgot the next time they met anyway. It didn't help that Fang liked to encourage her.

"Ellen, you're going to get me in trouble again," Fang chastised gently. She looked at Lightning. "I see you got off work early."

"On time, actually."

"Which is early."

Miss Thompson pushed Fang's shoulder a little. "Now be nice to her, she must have had a hard day." She smiled back at Lightning. "How are you doing, dearie?"

"Just fine, thank you."

Honestly, Fang was grinning way more than the situation called for. "Did you need something, Light? We're almost done here."

"I forgot my gym clothes. Do you have spares in your office?"

"Sure do." Fang used her free hand to pull the lanyard from her neck and tossed the jangling keys to her.

As Lightning left, she heard Miss Thompson say, "I always did love a woman in uniform."

"Ellen, am I going to have to fight you for her?" Fang asked suspiciously.

"If I was thirty years younger, I would take you up on that."

Lightning escaped to Fang's office, closing the door against the raucous noises of the gym. The room was small, but Fang made good use of it.

Moving about the room, Lightning straightened the chairs, wiped bread crumbs off the desk, and organized some of the papers. She noticed the police radio sitting quietly near the computer monitor. Lightning had gotten it as a birthday gift for Fang. It was currently off, but she knew Fang liked to listen to it when she wasn't working with a patient.

She went to the filing cabinet in the corner and opened the bottom drawer. She rummaged through the pile of clean clothes, picking out a white t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Thankfully she was already wearing a sports bra from work. Lastly, she grabbed a pair of old sneakers at the bottom of the drawer.

Locking the door behind her and entering the women's changing room, she used another key on the lanyard for one of the lockers in the back. Some of Fang's clothes were in there, but it still had plenty of room.

She unbuckled her belt and pulled the shirt out of her pants. As she was unbuttoning the shirt, Fang appeared at her side, briefly touching a hand to her shoulder.

"Good to see you, sunshine." Fang smiled as she came around her and leaned against the lockers. "How are you?"

"Fine."

Fang tilted her head admonishingly. "Oh don't give me that. You can fool a seventy year old woman you talk to for one minute once a week, but I've known you your whole life and I can tell something's up. I mean," Fang scratched her head, looking to the side for a moment. "You don't need to talk about it if you're not feeling up to it. I just want you to know I'm here. Like always."

Lightning nodded, eyes on her buttons. "I know you are." Fang gripped her shoulder before turning toward the locker.

"What kind of exercises do you want to do today? You missed your run this morning, so should we get on the treadmills?"

"Yeah, that works." If she was on the treadmill, she could focus straight ahead and zone out.

Lightning finished pulling off her shirt, working around Fang to stow it in the locker before sitting down to take off her boots. Beside her, Fang removed her jacket, revealing a tight-fitting blue tank-top that left her shoulders and shoulder-blades bare. She bent over and swept her pants off in one motion, and Lightning felt a frustrating mix of relief and disappointment that Fang was wearing shorts underneath.

Snapping her eyes away, she stood and removed her own pants. When she reached for her shorts, she froze at the touch of fingertips against the waistband of her boxer briefs.

"Hey, are those new? They look nice, what brand are they?" Fang's fingertips skimmed over the waistband and Lightning's heart nearly flipped. "Huh, I may have to get those next time. See look at this," Fang retracted her hand, whipped down her own shorts, and pointed at a loose thread hanging out of the bottom of her briefs in the front. "Look at that. What the hell is that? I swear this is only the second time I've worn them and they're already falling apart."

Lightning eyed the dangling string without turning her head. Fang was no doubt a muscular woman. She'd been training her body to be that way for years upon years with exceptional results; a well developed six-pack and thighs that were all solid, pronounced muscle. And her underwear was doing very little to hide the wonderful shape of her hips.

"Huh," Lightning said, her mouth too dry for anything else. She went back to putting her own clothes on, burying her head in her shirt a moment longer than necessary before pulling it all the way down.

Over the past several months she'd somehow thought her growing romantic feelings toward Fang were difficult enough to deal with. But wanting to hold her hand had been one thing. Now her entire body was insisting on an altogether different sort of contact, and it seemed to require all of her substantial willpower to keep it in check.

Sealing her lips together, she focused as much attention as possible on getting dressed. Thankfully, Fang was used to her being relatively silent at times, and she kept up a monologue for the both of them.

Once her shoes were tied her, Lightning signaled she was ready to go. Fang, with her shorts back up, gripped her shoulder and steered her out of the locker room.

Up the stairs and through the door of the cardio room, they found most of the machines in use. They stood off to the side on a pair of mats to stretch until one of the treadmills became available. Fang gestured for Lightning to take it.

"I'm kinda feeling the stair master myself. You go ahead."

Stepping onto the belt, Lightning breathed a sigh of relief as she began her warm-up. Here she could focus. Here she could drift away for an hour and come back when she was ready. She would need to think only of the air passing through her lungs and the rhythm of her feet.

The occupant of the stair master in front of her left, and Fang went for it. Her eyebrows waggled at Lightning before she got on, and in seconds Lightning had a front row seat to Fang's backside.

Her legs suddenly felt much heavier.

What she didn't understand was that she didn't have the same reaction to anyone else in the room. Eyes darting about the room, she tried for a few minutes to garner some response from herself by staring at people who couldn't stare back.

And there was... nothing. Nothing other than disinterest or boredom or discomfort for even trying. She could see they were attractive, but she didn't feel anything.

But when she looked at Fang it was like a rush of electricity through her. Her legs felt weak and she almost couldn't focus. Her eyes wanted to linger on her shoulders, on her hips, on her legs. She wanted not only to be able to look but touch and dammit if Fang didn't wear the tightest of clothing. She wanted to press up close behind her, hands on her hips, reach around to that thread dangling over her thigh as she buried her face in her neck-

Tearing her eyes away, Lightning ramped up the treadmill's speed, hoping to burn out every trace of desire in her body. But just as she was working herself back into the zone, her eyes would wander back up.

Why did it have to be Fang?

She made it forty minutes before her legs were screaming and her lungs were burning too much to even try screaming. After slowing her speed for the next five minutes she hopped off, legs wobbly as she left the cardio room.

"Light." She turned around, having made it only a short distance down the hall. Fang jogged up to her, breathing hard. "Hey," was all she said, lifting her shirt to wipe the sweat from her face. Lightning looked down and then simply closed her eyes, though not before seeing the trails of sweat sliding over Fang's abs.

"I don't know what's going on with me," she blurted out, shaking her head. It was true, at least. "I don't know."

After a pause she heard, "I know I keep saying it, but are you sure you're not getting sick?" Lightning felt a hand brush her forehead and her eyes opened. Fang was looking at her carefully while murmuring, "Mm it's too hard to tell right now."

Lightning shook her head. "I'm not sick."

Fang nodded, though not convincingly. "Okay, alright. Well, we'll figure it out," she said, trying to sound encouraging. She grabbed Lightning's shoulder with one hand, the other moving to cup the side of her face. "We'll figure it out."

If there was one thing Lightning didn't need to be reminded of, it was how nice Fang's hands were. Lightning swallowed and nodded, using every ounce of will she possessed not to lean into that hand.

"Alright." Fang patted her shoulder once more, spun her about, and slung an arm around her. "Let's go shower!"

Oh.

Back in the locker room Fang went to fetch towels, leaving Lightning to stand next to the locker, hands on her hips as she stared blankly into it. She heard the towels drop on the bench, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Fang pull her shirt and bra over her head in one smooth motion.

"I'm going to shower at home," Lightning said instantly. When Fang's eyes jerked up to her, she quickly stuck her head in the locker and rummaged through it for her clothes, heart rattling vigorously inside her chest.

There was an audible silence behind her before Fang spoke, "You okay to drive?"

"Yeah." Lightning balled up her clothes and belongings, holding them against herself as she turned and walked away, chin level and pointing straight ahead.

Fang called to her, "Hey Light."

Against her better judgment she turned back. Fang was just standing there, half undressed, sweat still visible on her torso. She raised her hand vaguely, brow furrowing with uncertainty before letting it drop uselessly at her side. "Call me tomorrow?" she asked finally. "Let me know how you're doing?"

Lightning nodded stiffly, turning away before she did something incredibly stupid.

She slept poorly that night. She was supposed to spend the day forgetting about Fang. Now, she could think of nothing else.

The next day, she didn't call.