67%; au-ish
Hope was not a particularly athletic person. He kept himself in shape - mostly at his girlfriend's insistence - but he didn't really like doing things that involved huffing and puffing or getting all sweaty (with one exception mostly left to the bedroom, naturally). Most of the time, he was more than content to read or do research. Something that involved working his mind rather than his body.
So how, he wondered, did Lightning always manage to convince him to go out for a run?
He glanced up with a wheeze as she passed by in a flash, her tank top clinging to her and her shorts showing off the sheen of sweat glistening on her skin.
…Oh yeah, that was how.
She seemed to realize that he'd fallen behind for the third time in ten minutes. Quickly, she made her way back over to him, looking slightly exasperated. "I thought you said you were up for this."
"I am!" He tried to sound confident, but it was difficult when the words were accompanied by a lot of that wheezing. "I…just…"
"Come on." She gripped his arm so she could physically hoist him up to his feet. "It's only another mile."
"Only?!" Hope groaned. "Plus there's the walk home!"
"You mean the run home."
"What about the cooldown?" He let out another pained noise, which she just smirked at.
"I'll meet you by the park sign."
The sign was more than a mile away, but he knew better than to argue. "Okay, okay."
She gave him a parting smirk and a fleeting kiss before she was off like a light. Ha, ha…off like a light…
Ugh, Hope knew he had to be exhausted if he was making horrible puns like that. At least it was all in his head.
He watched her form as she ran down the sidewalk, her sneakers thumping rhythmically against the concrete. Sometimes he felt kind of pathetic that he couldn't keep up with her, but her job demanded that she keep fit, unlike his. And he knew that she pushed herself constantly, like with these ridiculous runs.
But if Light could do it, surely he could, right? A lot of this was simply mind over matter. He could totally run a mile without taking a break! He'd give it one-hundred percent!
Hope stood up triumphantly, immediately breaking into a fast run like something was chasing him. Yes! He could do this!
Wheeeeeze.
Okay, maybe he'd give it more like…seventy-five percent. That was more than adequate enough. Huff, huff, huff.
The percentages kept dwindling down in his mind as he not-so-gradually slowed down. Eighty-one percent…seventy-two percent…sixty-seven percent…
Soon he could barely give it fifty percent of his all and wondered why he was thinking of percentages at all. He felt like a download gone wrong. Hell, he could barely think at all, and his hair was already sticking to his sweaty forehead and neck.
He fell to one knee with a wheeze as he struggled to catch his breath again. After a moment, he realized that he could hear familiar footsteps and glanced up. It was Lightning, of course, literally jogging in circles around him. She looked no worse for wear, except that her face was a bit more flushed.
"That only took you thirteen minutes," she said, still running around him with a smirk. "That might be your best mile yet."
Hope only groaned, more than ready to just faceplant into the sidewalk. It was a minute before he could verbally respond. "Then why did it feel like so much longer?"
"Because I was generous with the timing." At his questioning noise, she continued, "I stopped counting every time you stopped for breath."
"Uh, thanks." Hope was finally getting some of that breath back, but his heart was racing and his legs felt like noodles. He never wanted to move again. "How about we walk home? Slowly."
"I'd rather jog back." He groaned in response, though it trailed off when she suddenly knelt beside him, one arm around his shoulders and the other touching his arm, her lips right next to his ear when she spoke in a low voice:
"I'm going to jog back home and take a shower," she murmured. "If you manage to get back before I'm out of there…you can do whatever you want with me."
His eyes widened and he was glad he was already kneeling down, or he would have stumbled. "What?"
"Whatever you want," she repeated, pressing a kiss to his sweaty neck. He felt rather than saw her smirk. "Luckily, I need a pretty long shower. I should be in there awhile."
Even if he hadn't been exhausted and feeling oxygen-deprived, Hope wasn't sure he could have moved either way. Visions of soaping up Lightning's skin and then using the shower for anything but getting clean were dancing in his head.
She turned his face towards her with another smirk and pressed a fleeting kiss to his lips. "Start running."
She was already more than halfway down the sidewalk by the time he finally got up on his numb legs, but Hope didn't care, and started out after her with a silly grin.
This was totally gonna be his best mile yet.