"Three hundred fifty seven… Three hundred fifty eight"
Bruce mumbled under his breath as he pushed his muscle to accordance. A bead of sweat falling from his face seemed to sparkle under the bright sunlight in the open
There he was, doing some exercises just outside of the manor by the garden. Richie was in school while Alfred is tending to the housework. It was a busy day indeed
The grass bed was green, the flowers were there, and the manor was the same as usual. It was an ordinary day for Bruce, nothing special.
The company hasn't been quite hectic the past days, Lucius has been very outstanding in handling the affairs on his own lately, despite the recent birth of his child with his wife
And thus, Bruce had plenty of time to spare. Stress hasn't been in cahoots lately which gave Bruce a plenty of time to truly enjoy his days without giving a care in the world
And by "enjoying" – it involves going to the mountains everyday to train, going hiking once a week, running 500 miles every 4 AM, and doing strenuous exercises that could be very dangerous to the young man
But this is the Batman, this means nothing to him at all
"Three hundred fifty nine…."
"One more, come on!"
A voice out of nowhere caught his attention. What seemed like a quiet garden earlier was now lingered by the echo of the "voice"
Without even raising his head up, Bruce already knew who this was
"Good morning Diana…"
The Amazon knelt down to him with a smile on her face
"Hello Bruce" Diana greeted with enthusiasm
"I was doing my early jogs and I figured I might as well drop by, pardon me for the intrusion"
"Figures" Bruce whispered discreetly
"You're basically here every day so it's not really intruding at this point" Bruce stated as he continued on his pushups
Diana rolled her eyes at this statement as she knelt down close to him
"We do those very different in Themyscira"
"Hah, I bet you carry big boulders on your back while you do it"
"Wow, that was actually correct, Bruce. Did Mother tell you that?"
Bruce heaved out a sigh, he rarely jokes and most of the time, it comes off different to his intent
"Not really, just a guess" he responded
"For me specifically, I did pushups while carrying like 20 lumbers of tree in my back" Diana recalled while living out the memories from her childhood
A sprang of jealousy caught up on Bruce there. Despite being the mature "one", he still can't help but be envious of how Amazons were raised on the strength that they have
Meanwhile, compared to him, they are literal outliers. He probably wouldn't even beat them in an arm wrestling challenge.
"Must be nice…"
A bright idea came to Diana as she turned to him
"Bruce, how about we do a pushup competition!"
The young man raised his head up to meet her gaze
"Pushup competition?"
Diana nodded her head as she leaned in closer
"Yeah, we can determine who can make the most pushups between the two of us!"
"uh, isn't that already obvious…" Bruce thought to himself.
His muscles were already sore from that 300 plus pushups that he was doing earlier. There is no way he is agreeing to this
Diana then dropped to the ground in a pushup position, not even awaiting Bruce's say to the matter
"This woman is seriously gonna be the death of me…"
xXx
"Ninety five… Ninety six…"
Bruce panted, his arms on the verge of collapsing to the ground. His breath almost catching up to the roof of his mouth with his legs frozen on the spot. Either ways, he definitely won't show Diana how exhausted he was. He may just be a human, but he's a tough one.
He slowly raised his head up to check on her, and to his surprise…
Diana isn't even breaking a sweat, and by hearing her voice closely…
"Five hundred one… Five hundred two… Five hundred three"
The young man couldn't help but gasped internally upon hearing this. They both started at the same time yet she already did that many
Realizing fully that there is really no way for him to win this one, Bruce just collapsed to the ground with his face brushing on the nice grass bed. For a second there, he was in comfort with how his muscles were not at rest and his legs free
He didn't care anymore… he just wanted to rest.
"Bruce!"
Shaken, Bruce immediately sat up to see no other than Diana herself with a furious look on her face. She had her hands on her hips with her eyebrows raised
"I've been doing those pushups just to see you here resting?"
"Hah, I don't care anymore. You win." He responded as he lays back down to the grass bed
Bruce closes his eyes, wanting to go back to that wonderful feeling he had earlier. The feeling of comfort, of rest…
All of a sudden, he felt a heavy thing on his back
He eyes jolted open and as he looked behind, there was Diana herself riding her like a horse
"D-Diana!"
"Go forth my trusty stable, let us ride the wind and let speed take us to destiny!"
"What are you doing, get off my back!"
Diana gripped his shoulders as she leaned in closer
"You're not resting your way out of this one, Bruce." Diana uttered
"You're gonna make more pushups!"
"How am I supposed to do that when you're making it hard for me with you being extra weight?"
"Oh, I didn't know Batman was the one who complains and whines too much~" Diana devilishly insinuated with a smug smirk on her face
This irked Bruce so hard, that he lifted himself from the ground
"Complains and whines huh, I'll show her."
Bruce continued his pushups, almost forgetting the soreness from his arms.
The rocking motion felt very nice to Diana, it was like when she used to sleep in hammocks back in her island. It brought back nostalgia to her that she really loved
She tightened her grip on his shoulders, or else she might fall. Her arms eventually crawled slowly unto his chest as she leaned on his back
Realizing it now, it wasn't only because of nostalgia that caused the wonderful feeling inside of her – but of a different feeling whatsoever. Being close with Bruce definitely had some effect
And so she closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment
Diana snuggling closer to him made it even more harder for Bruce to even pull himself up. She was giving him more trouble than what he expected
"Four hundred ninety nine…"
One more push and it would finally be over
"Five hundre…"
"Hey Bruce…"
Diana's voice interrupted his thoughts as he turned his head to the side
"Yeah."
"I forgot to tell you, but we do different repetitions in Themyscira. So instead of 1, we go by 5." Diana softly whispered to his ear
It didn't take a while for him to process what it meant. If they go by 5, then that means her 500 pushups were merely…
"You devious brat!"
Bruce grunted which Diana responded with a laugh of her own. The Amazon immediately released her hold on his back to run as fast as she can
"Hahaha, catch me if you can Bruce~"
"Come back here you!"
Diana's giggles echoed through the entire garden, not even a single corner was silent. What seemed like a quiet and peaceful mood in that garden was now replaced by the spark that the Amazon brought with her
Bruce paused for a second to take notice. For some reason, everything was more colorful than usual. The flowers were more vibrant and the leaves looked more lively. It was the simple things that Bruce didn't seem to notice this whole time.
A smile forms on his lips upon realizing this
"Hey Bruce, you tired already!"
The young man then shifted his attention to a certain girl up ahead. She had a smile so bright that it was contagious to the surroundings.
A smile that is so pure, so innocent…
"And so beautiful."
