Gym Buddy

"Alright, now let's do some actual lifting. Grab some of those big weights over there- no, not those, the biggest ones. Yeah, those. Put them on the rack."

Sebastian did as instructed, grabbing the weights and sliding them onto the metal bar attached to the sled. The weights were not light by any means, but he could still manage to carry one in each hand and waddle over.

Only after one, two, four, seven, ten weights were slid onto the rack did Hailey speak up.

"Alright, that's good. This is my maximum for a one-rep lift, just to show you what it's like."

Hailey slid back into the seat, and Sebastian made a conscious effort not to stare at her ass. So, he stared at her face.

Hailey gave a wink back, then turned her gaze to the platform. A look of intense determination crossed her face as she pushed, breathing out slowly as she extended her legs. The effort could easily be seen when she eventually managed to straighten her legs, and she squeaked out some words.

"Don't- don't fully straighten your legs and lock your knees, you could break your legs if you use enough weight."

Much faster than she pushed the sled out, she drew her legs back to the starting position, the platform rattling loudly as it settled back at the bottom. Hailey stood up, a bead of sweat forming on her brow, and gave a smile.

"Your turn. Hop on."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "Just like that? Don't we want to take off some of the weights? How much is that anyway?"

Hailey's smile shifted into a wicked grin. "Yes, no, and you'll find out."

Sebastian was nervous, but situated himself in the seat. It was weird to lean this far back, and he could tell that it was definitely made for people much smaller than him, but he managed to get into position with his legs up against the platform. He was also aware of his butt definitely being on display if anyone chose to stare, but there wasn't anything to be done.

"Now push." Hailey instructed. Was she looking at his butt?

Sebastian didn't expect the platform to move. To his surprise, the sled shifted upwards with less force than he thought he would have to use. Now, it definitely took a moderate amount of effort, but Sebastian was expecting to not even be able to lift Hailey's maximum at all. He could see Hailey smile as he let the platform rest back down.

"For reference, my one-rep-maximum is 450 pounds, which is what you just lifted with ease. If there is one perk of being a heavyset guy like yourself, and having to walk up three flights of stairs every day, it's that your legs are going to get very strong. Now, let's grab some more weights and find out what you can really lift."

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was the first day of kindergarten. Sebastian was sitting alone at a table during arts and crafts, wondering what to make out of the string, glitter, glue, and various beads bearing letters, colours, and patterns. Some kids were making sparkling bracelets, others were making necklaces with far too many beads, and the rest were making a mess. The teacher tried frantically to keep the beads off of the floor, but quickly focused her attention towards keeping them out of the children's noses.

Then, a bright-eyed blonde girl in pigtails and a tutu hopped over, flashing a wide smile accompanied by a giggle.

"Hi!"

"Hi?" Sebastian returned. The girl stood there for a few moments, still smiling.

"Hi!" She repeated.

Sebastian tilted his head. "Hi?"

"Hi!" A third time, and the girl's smile widened even further, if that was possible. Sebastian found himself slowly returning the grin.

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

"HI!"

"HIIII!"

The two of them took turns telling each other a greeting, getting progressively louder until they were practically screaming, laughing in between each burst. When the teacher finally silenced them, they erupted in a fit of giggles that lasted far too long. Eventually, their laughter died down, and the girl locked her blue eyes onto Sebastian's brown.

"I'm Halee."

"I'm Sebastian."

Her eyes narrowed. "That's too long! Sebby!"

"Sebastian."

"Sebby."

Sebastian's lips curled into a grin. "Sebby."

Almost as quickly as she arrived, Halee broke away and moved onto another table, with another group of children as she proudly introduced herself. Sebastian looked at her, then down at the string and beads, then back at her. Sebastian knew what he wanted to make.

When Halee finally came back around, hair sparkling with glitter and dried glue peeling off of her fingers, she was somehow wearing even more of a smile than before.

"Hi Sebby!"

"Hi. I made you something"

Her eyes widened, glimmering in the fluorescent light of the classroom. "Show me! Show me, show me, show me!"

Sebastian meekly held up a piece of string, poorly tied, but roughly big enough to be worn as a bracelet. On it were five of the white beads, sparkling with small amounts of glitter held on by drops of glue, and five black letters facing outwards.

HALEE

"H-A-L-E-E?" She carefully spelled out. "What does that mean?"

Sebastian was confused. "It's your name. Halee."

Halee tilted her head, then burst into a fit of giggles. "No it's not! My name isn't spelled like that!"

Sebastian frowned, but not-Halee scooched into the seat next to him and grabbed a handful of the beads. Picking out specific ones and laying them out on the table, she eventually held her hands out as if she were a magician presenting a rabbit. On the table were six beads.

H A I L E Y

"H-A-I-L-E-Y." She pointed to each of the letters as she spoke. "That's how you spell my name!"

Sebastian looked down. "I'm sorry. I'll make a new one."

Hailey giggled and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder and lifting up the bracelet towards the light, causing the glitter to twinkle.

"No! I like this one."

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sebastian was awoken by the urge to pee. The time on his phone read as a little after three in the morning, after the screen flashbanged him. Once he turned down the brightness and blinked his eyes to get re-accustomed to the darkness, Sebastian rolled out of his bed which creaked and groaned almost as much as he did.

Sebastian stepped out into the darkened hallway, and did his business with the bathroom light off. Not only did he feel like being blinded, but the residual light coming in from the window was enough to illuminate what he was doing well enough to ensure he didn't make a mess.

As he closed the bathroom door behind him to leave, Sebastian paused. He tilted his head towards a curious sound emerging from the direction of Hailey's room, which was odd since Hailey was almost religious when it came to her sleeping schedule. Even if she got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, she was back in bed and passed out before pulling up the covers.

It almost sounded as if...

Surely not.

Against his better judgement, Sebastian's curiosity got the better of him, and he gently padded along the carpeted hallway towards Hailey's room. Heavy breathing and small whimpers- either she was doing what Sebastian thought she was doing, or Hailey had adopted a puppy in the middle of the night.

Every fibre in his body told him to stop, that this was a terrible idea. Each step was a gamble as the floorboards creaked under his weight and gave an audible notation of his travel. Any one of them could alert Hailey and let her know of his coming intrusion, but eventually Sebastian reached the door to Hailey's room. It was slightly ajar- as if left open by accident.

The sound was louder too, and unmistakable. Hailey was absolutely masturbating in there, leaving Sebastian with an impossible decision. Did he go to bed and pretend like nothing had ever happened, safely securing his friendship and his roommate?

Or did he take a peek and risk the punishment afterwards if discovered?

After a minute and a half of silent internal struggles, Sebastian softly sighed and pulled the door closed with a very quiet 'click'. Even as he stepped back to his room, Sebastian wasn't sure if he made the right decision. Images flashed through his mind of his innocent, sporty friend vigorously fingering herself on her bed, one hand groping a breast, legs writhing in pleasure, and eyes closed in bliss. Chances are, she wouldn't have noticed him if he had taken a peek, but he couldn't take that risk.

In Hailey's room, she frowned as the soft-yet-heavy footfalls slowly trekked back towards Sebastian's room. Her face and chest were pressed against her bed, arching her back as she was propped up on her knees. Her rear end, bare as the day she was born, was raised high in the air pointed towards the door. One hand was reached up between her thighs to allow access for her fingers to probe and delve into her sweet sex, but gently pulled free as Hailey slid her knees back down to lay flat on her stomach and sighed. From the position before, it would have been very easy to dismiss her actions as simple masturbation and self-pleasure, and not the small show she was secretly hoping to provide to a potential voyeur.

Sebby was always so sad. Sweet and supportive, yes, but sad. Hailey's thoughts flashed back to two weeks ago, when Sebby first approached her with the question of asking for her help to lose weight. Even the memory of his face drove a nail through Hailey's heart. It was desperation- a need to better himself, but mixed with horrid pain. It was obvious that he thought he was bothering her. In his mind, she hated the idea of helping him.

That couldn't have been further from the truth, yet for some reason, Sebby just seemed so transfixed on the idea that he was dead weight dragging Hailey down. That first day at the gym, and every day since, Hailey had been fighting Sebby's instincts to give up. When he said he couldn't run anymore. She tried to plead for him to keep going.

And yet he stopped.

Even now, Hailey scowled at the thought of her next tactic. It wasn't fair to Sebby, and her heart filled with regret that the next strategy she tried was guilt-tripping. It worked with the pull-up, but even she knew that it was a horrible idea. She needed him to exercise and get motivation because he wanted to, not because she was dragging him through a gauntlet of remorse.

Hailey's cheeks were already tinged a shade of pink from the earlier act of so brazenly playing with herself, but took on a darker tinge as she flashed back to the leg press. She had no intentions of it at the time, but the flushed look on his face when she caught him staring at her ass was branded into her mind.

And then he was so willing to try the leg press- she didn't need to guilt or force him. It was as if he forgot his inhibitions and his humility. It was naughty, yes, but even as Hailey strained her ear to hear what sounded like Sebby jerking off in his room through the thin walls, it certainly seemed like a healthier option than trapping him with guilt. She would much rather see Sebby horny than sad.

Maybe tonight wasn't a failure after all. Sebby obviously knew full well that Hailey had been fingering herself, so maybe when he gets a little caught up with self-doubt, all he needs is a little 'encouragement' from a friend. Hailey smiled into her pillow, and brought her hand back under her pelvis to gently stroke at her warm lips. It may not exactly have been a step in the ideal direction, but it was a step nevertheless. Hailey let out a breathy moan as she slipped a pair of fingers into her wetness, fighting the instinct to keep herself quiet.

She wanted Sebby to hear exactly what she was doing.

Four weeks later

Sebastian huffed and heaved, a stark contrast to the gentle, controlled breaths of Hailey beside him. He was sure that he smelled far from pleasant with the sweat stains deepening under his armpits, but Hailey didn't seem to mind. Where Sebastian had begun perspiring shortly after beginning their first lap, only now on their fifth did the first beads begin to spring from the skin of Hailey's forehead.

It was oddly pleasant to have Hailey running beside him, even if most of the talking was done by Hailey verbally encouraging Sebastian to keep going.

"Try to control your breathing. Take a deep breath, count to five, and then slowly release. Big, deep breaths help to get oxygen into your blood better."

Hailey had bumped her shoulder into Sebastian's arm playfully, who tried to follow the advice despite his lungs not agreeing to the idea. He tried not to let his gaze wander over Hailey too much, but she certainly did not make it easy. Instead of her usual sports-bra-and-jersey combination like during their training a few weeks ago, Hailey decided to apparently stop wearing the jersey. The small, yet technically decent bra clad her chest in black fabric, and left the lightly tanned skin of her smooth stomach revealed for all to see. Sebastian decided not to question it- if it seemed like he was going to be awkward about it, she might put her jersey back on.

Sebastian shook his head back to reality, large feet thudding heavily against the rubber track with each step of his heavy jog. Next to him, Hailey's feet barely seemed to touch the ground, each step impossibly light as if she were a breeze of flower petals. Sebastian coughed and stumbled forward, heart pounding violently in his chest. Before he could slow to a stop and give himself a chance to breathe properly, Hailey darted a few steps ahead and began jogging backwards to face him with a bright smile.

"Come on, just take it slow. Big, deep breaths, and follow me. We're almost done this lap!"

Hailey spun around and continued to jog, albeit at a slower pace, looking over her shoulder for Sebastian to follow. Sebastian managed to drag his feet forwards back into the steady rhythm, keeping his eyes trained on hers until she faced forward again with a grin. When she stopped looking, Sebastian couldn't help but let his gaze drift down her slender back and towards the sport shorts that adorned her bottom. The waistband was slowly folding in on itself as she ran, gradually revealing a few extra millimetres of flesh. Hailey didn't seem to notice and kept jogging, occasionally looking back towards Sebastian as if testing his reaction time to bring his eyes up to meet hers. The instant she looked forward again, Sebastian's gaze naughtily slid back down towards the waistband as they slowly began to reveal the slight dip indicating the top of the crevice that rested between her small but supple cheeks.

It was driving him crazy.

When Sebastian looked at Hailey, a small part of his mind seemed to betray the decades-long friendship and began conjuring lewd images of the skin still hidden beneath her clothes. The bra helped to hide them, but Sebastian wondered what her breasts looked like. Were they slightly paler than the rest of her body, or were they the same light tan? From the few times that he had seen her in a bikini, Hailey didn't seem to have any tan lines. If that were the case, did that mean she sunbathed nude to keep an even tone?

What about her nipples? The padding of the sports bra gave zero indication of what pleasantries her breasts had to share, but Sebastian could only imagine them as small, perky nubs that rolled easily between Hailey's fingers as she fingered herself.

Sebastian fought to keep himself from drooling at the thought. Judging by how 'active' Hailey seemed to be when he went back to his room afterwards, Sebastian was willing to bet that he could have easily stepped into her room and watched her that night a few weeks ago, and she wouldn't notice. The walls were thin in the apartment, and since their rooms were adjacent Sebastian could hear everything.

Every gasp.

Every moan.

Even the faint wet schlick schlick of her fingers delving into her most precious regions was able to be heard by Sebastian, but not before he put his ear up to the wall to hear better.

It had felt wrong, to be listening in on her like that, but she wouldn't know. There's no harm if she never found out, so Sebastian listened for several minutes, long after he himself finished into a wad of tissues. With his ear up against the drywall, Sebastian clearly made out Hailey's ragged breaths becoming faster and faster, the whimpering turning into determination before she let out a long, low groan. Sebastian could only imagine Hailey's chest and cheeks flushed with red, coming down from the high of her climax.

Sebastian didn't think Hailey would engage in nighttime pleasures again. He definitely didn't think that it would become a recurring thing. For the past weeks, Hailey proved him wrong. Sebastian was horribly ashamed at having listened to his best friend masturbating for over a month, but there was nothing he could do to stop himself. It was almost clockwork- a little after three in the morning each night, Hailey would go to the bathroom, then return to her room. After some... recreational activities, she would snuggle down in bed and resume her sleep.

On that same schedule, when Sebastian heard the toilet flush early in the morning, he scrambled out of bed to get into his position, ear against the far wall. It was perverted and disgusting, but Sebastian couldn't stop himself.

What had gotten into him?

"Sebby? Whatcha lookin' at?"

Sebastian's world came back into focus as he tore his eyes away from Hailey's rear. Her eyes glinted playfully and she slowed down into a walk while crossing over the white painted line indicating another lap.

"Uhh- nothing! Nothing, just... spaced out for a moment."

Sebastian also slowed to a walk as Hailey fell back to stroll beside him, wearing a knowing smile. Sebastian panted heavily, hoping that his visible exhaustion would help cover the subtle movements of his hand in his pocket, sliding his erection up to be tucked under the waistband of his boxers. Hailey lightly punched his arm.

"Oh, don't worry- I do the same. When I run, I let my mind wander. Good way to pass the time, and to forget that you are even running."

Hailey stretched her arms above her head and leaned back slightly as she walked, twisting back and forth to seemingly work out some kinks. Sebastian had to fight every urge to stare, deciding to look instead towards his shoes.

"Wanna go out?"

"What?" Sebastian's gaze snapped back violently toward Hailey in surprise and confusion, who dropped her arms with a giggle.

"For dinner tonight. My treat, since you've been doing so well recently."

Sebastian stammered. "I-uh... sure?"

Hailey smiled. "Neat. There's this new italian place in the plaza by the Walmart, figured we could try it out. Been wanting to go there for a while, but couldn't find a reason. I think this counts."

Sebastian wasn't sure of what to say, so he offered a small smile.

Fifteen minutes later, Sebastian managed to get through twenty push-ups, thirty sit-ups, and about half of a chin-up, but had to excuse himself and go to the washroom after trying a toe-touch. Like she had been doing for the past month, Hailey did the exercises alongside him, or in the case of the toe-touch, a few feet in front of him. She kept her long legs straight and bent sharply at the waist, reaching down and firmly grabbing the tips of her sneakers. Sebastian's attempt could barely get his fingertips to his calves, but the distraction of Hailey's shapely ass pointed so directly at him proved more of a challenge. The exercise was not reaching for his toes- it was trying to keep his boner hidden until they were done and he could run to the washroom.

As Sebastian awkwardly shuffled through the assortment of machines to go and relieve himself, he didn't see Hailey give a mischievous grin. By the time he returned, Hailey was hard at work on the rowing machine, sliding the chair back and forth as she pulled the weighted rope. Waddling over, Sebastian could see that Hailey had already 'rowed' two 500-meter splits and was working on a third. Her skin glistened with a thin sheen of sweat, but a wide smile broke across her cheeks as Sebastian walked over and set himself up on the machine beside her. The chair, as usual, was small and uncomfortable, but Sebastian fought the urge to complain. He grabbed the bar and began pulling at a moderate pace with long strokes, as instructed by Hailey seemingly so long ago.