A/N: Meowser here! Taking it up with Jim and Ned at their first training session.
Ned was pulled from sleep by the shrill sound of his alarm and groaned, wanting to throw his pillow across the room at the clock; almost doing so before he double checked the time, and his bleary mind finally translated the fact that it was 4:40 a.m. and he was meeting Jim at the gym at 5.
He bit back a curse word, finally stumbling out of bed, hitting the off button on the alarm and groaning as he looked at himself in the mirror. He'd never say that he was out of shape to look at, but he had to admit that some things had slipped after a certain point in his life. He no longer lifted as heavy as he had previously been able to and he, as he'd told Jim, hadn't succeeded in running a 6 minute mile.
So it would definitely benefit him. He knew that.
But it was still hard to take that step, to force himself into the bathroom to brush his teeth and splash water on his face; to grab at workout clothes and pull his sneakers on.
These sneakers had been such a big deal when he'd first purchased them: Nike. Brand new. Best quality.
And now...he couldn't even remember what had made them special and excitable at the time.
He laced the sneakers and grabbed his car keys, catching one more glance of himself in the mirror.
He could definitely bulk up. He should definitely do so.
When he got to the gym, Jim had already started to warm up, and the older man was on the floor, doing pushups, arms rippling.
He stood up. "Hey, Ned! Glad you made it."
Ned appreciated that Jim didn't add something snarky. His mother would have. Melinda might even have. Eli, definitely.
There was a reason he looked up to Jim so.
"Me too," Ned replied. "I guess I managed to block out my alarm one minute too much."
"I know the feeling," Jim chuckled. "So this is Derek. He's my trainer, and one of the main reasons I'm still in this shape."
Jim wasn't bragging, he didn't flex at the statement, he just put it out there, placing credit towards Jim's fine condition in both Derek's hands and his own.
"You put in a lot of the work too," Derek chuckled, moving forward to high five Ned. "This guy can still beat me in a dead lift."
Deadlift? Ned wasn't sure he'd heard that term before.
"Derek works in a little cross fit," Jim explained, seeing Ned's confusion. "Nothing crazy, just a little more function."
"Okay," Ned said, his only envisioning of cross fit something vague and painful.
"It's good to meet you, Ned," Derek said. "We're going to get started now. I've had Jim begin a little warm up, just three minutes of 5 sit ups, 10 pushups, and 15 squats. As many times as you can make it in three minutes. We're going at a nice easy pace; this is the warm up."
Ned followed Jim into position as Derek restarted the clock.
Sit ups were hard. Ned didn't remember that. He got winded by the fifth one, and then flipped over to pushups, noticing that Jim was almost already on his squats.
Derek corrected his arm positioning on the pushups, something Ned had never gotten before, urging him to keep his arms pinned in towards his body.
Jim just winked as Ned caught his eye, moving on to squats.
This was...Ned couldn't decide if it was humiliating or just humbling, but Jim—a man twenty-four years his senior—was totally and completely kicking his ass.
It was running. It was weight lifting and you segued right into a one mile jog.
Ned was in pain. His legs were burning and his lungs didn't seem to be functioning. He was beginning to think that his arms would never recover from trying a dead lift (and failing) and it was all he could do to place one foot in front of the other.
Jim was waiting at the end, resting and receiving his reward of ice cold water.
Ned could see that Jim's shirt was almost soaked with sweat, even in the cooler October morning air, and felt one minor bit of triumph: he wasn't sweating nearly as much. But, then again, if he'd been able to push himself as hard as Jim had today, he might be dead. Jim may have been fast, but it was obvious how much work he put into it as he jogged around the track, trying to make that six minute time.
Ned finally pulled in next to Jim, leaning down on his knees with a groan, trying to pull in air.
"Eight minutes and thirty seconds," Derek announced cheerfully. "Nice time, Ned!"
Ned felt frozen, glancing up at Derek. He'd been pushing himself to hell and back and his time was worse than ever?
"Don't worry about it," Jim said, clapping Ned on the back. "It was your first day and you were fried from the dead lifts."
The pain from the workout and the blow to his pride was making Ned feel prickly and he didn't want to. Derek had seemed completely sincere when he praised Ned's time and Jim was just glad that he'd completed the workout.
Ned managed a smile, taking the water that Jim offered. "Thanks," he said hoarsely, trying to chase away the prickles in his throat. He hadn't cried since he was nine years old. He wasn't going to start now, but his legs hurt. So. Much.
"Try not to eat sugar or carbs for two hours after you workout," Derek said. "It'll halt the growth of HGH."
Ned had no idea what that meant but nodded as if he did. "Good job, man," Derek said again, clapping Ned on the shoulder. "Don't worry, if your legs are fried tomorrow I can whip you up a core or arm workout."
As if he would be coming back.
"Yeah," Ned grunted.
"See you, Jim," Derek said, and headed off to his next client, a perky looking young woman who was waiting in the gym.
"You feeling okay?" Jim asked, as they headed for the locker rooms.
"It was a lot rougher than I thought it would be," Ned admitted. "I didn't bring anything to change into so I should just be going home. Thanks for letting me workout with you. Hey, do I owe you or Derek anything for joining you today?"
"It's covered by your gym membership," Jim answered, pausing by the door to the locker room.
"Okay," Ned said. "Then thanks."
"You are coming tomorrow, right?" Jim asked, pushing for the first time that day.
Ned only waved.
Katie hurried out of Cleary's classroom, at the end of another interesting class. They'd gone more into angles that day, figuring out the best ones for people shots.
"So find a subject," Mr. Cleary had ordered. "Ask someone if you can just try a few shots of them, while they're eating lunch even. And speaking of lunch, that's our time cap."
She fiddled with the buttons on her camera, wondering if Hannah was up for lunch today, but remembered Hannah saying something about ditching classes to spend extra time with Brandon.
Damn it.
She headed towards the cafeteria, sighing a little. Though she definitely knew a lot of people in her classes by now, she still hadn't really made what you'd call friends. There were definitely a few girls that interested her; one in photography class who Katie hadn't paid attention to her first day but had since learned to be very interesting, if a little quiet. Amanda Green hated having the camera on her but when she was the one looking through the lens...magical things happened.
There was a girl in philosophy class whose every single viewpoint seemed to be the opposite of Katie's and that was just fascinating and then a girl in her creative writing class who'd written a story about her dog dying that was so sad even the teacher had had tears in her eyes by the end.
And a few guys, though Katie had never been one to be able to chill out with guy friends who weren't girl friends' significant others. It always just got complicated. Having there just be that possibility of more, of that they might be interested, terrified Katie and she shied away from it, not wanting people to think that she was a slut either.
Which she knew was wrong. Who cared what people thought? She never had, not really. But then, she'd had an easy time in high school, compared to some, never experiencing real bullying or pressure from the more popular girls in her grade.
But the facts were the facts. Katie wasn't one for guy friends and that would remain as it was, except for one exception. Ned.
And the boy she was crushing on before said boy became a boyfriend.
Toby.
He was still just a friend, right?
With that thought, he seemed to come out of nowhere, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Katie! I have a very important question for you."
"What would that be?" She asked, her cheeks already turning a flaming red to feel his taut bicep behind her neck.
"What are you doing for Halloween?" He asked. "The college is having a dance and there are closed parties for the sororities and fraternities but we can't get in to those."
"No, we couldn't," Katie said. "And I wouldn't want to. I guess I was thinking the college dance. It might be lame but I don't need the worry of finding someplace hot to be."
"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Toby chuckled. "Can I get a promise that I'll see you there, then?"
"It depends on how good you are at seeing through disguises," Katie shot back.
"You're one to dress up?" Toby asked, eyes seeming to flash.
"What's the point of celebrating Halloween if you don't dress up?" Katie asked. "I, for one, don't see one." She narrowed her eyes. "What are you going as?"
"I want it to be a surprise," Toby said smoothly.
"Nice save," Katie chuckled. "I'm betting it's going to surprise you as well as me."
"You never know," Toby sighed. "I might cobble together something from my closet or I might actually go buy a cape or some crap like that. Then again, there's always pirates. Just need a sword then."
Katie nodded. "Well, I'm not going to tell you what I have in mind."
"Sexy or quirky?" Toby breathed, his voice suddenly closer to Katie's ear.
"I think quirky is sexy," Katie managed to reply.
"I can't wait then," Toby said. "Gotta run. I have a meeting with my professor; have to talk him up to a B+."
"Good luck," Katie said, waving him off, before pulling her phone out and texting her mother.
I don't suppose you have any new clothes at the store that are my size?
It took about ten minutes but Katie got a reply just as she opened a yogurt for lunch.
Why? Sorry this took so long. Your father had a longer break and we met up for lunch.
Katie refused to contemplate why that would mean her mother wouldn't have her phone nearby. She just wouldn't think about that.
I need a Halloween costume.
Oh, then you have perfect timing! Do you want to come home this weekend to pick one out? A client just dropped off a huge trunk full of vintage stuff. You could definitely pull together an amazing costume.
Sounds good! I think Hannah and Brandon were planning on driving home so maybe I'll catch a ride with them to save on gas.
Love you, sweetie. Have to go now but text me later and we can work more out.
Again, Katie refused to contemplate what exactly her mother might be doing with her father right now that would pull her away from the phone.
And she definitely didn't want to think about what her mother might or might not be wearing.
Too late.
Katie groaned, whipping her phone from her pocket to text Hannah.
You and Brandon still going home this weekend?
Yeah, why?
I'd like to save on gas.
Woot! The more the merrier. Brandon'll be so glad.
Thanks!
Katie slid her phone back into her pocket, looking out over the college campus as she walked.
Life was looking up. That was for sure.
