Silently

The following nineteen reps were a mix between hell and heaven for John. Heaven because, despite how awkward Grace was about it at first, after the first few, she began to get into it.

Her breathing deepened with each passing second, each rep pushing her to breathe just a little bit faster, working her until it reached the point where her ample chest began to jiggle and move with each massive intake of air. For the longest time, the two of them, Grace and John, stood locked in this nearly indiscreet and lecherous gaze.

John's eyes remained locked on Grace, held in place by a growing sense of desire and, if not for the furtive glances to her trainees on Grace's part, he would have been sure that she felt the same thing. However, when the time came for her to put the weight bar back and all the reps were finished, the two of them stood there, in an air of sexuality while the awkwardness in everyone else around them grew.

"M-maybe you should do some reps..." she mumbled after a few seconds and hastily looked away from John, avoiding his fairly lecherous gaze.

John, with how distracted he was, merely mumbled in agreement. Of course, He nearly killed himself after that as John immediately took her place on the bench and set his hands onto the bar.

"Hold on. Hold on," she repeated as soon as he was lying down, and walked over to the side of the bar. He watched as Grace, carefully went about removing some of the weights and carefully setting them back in a rack somewhere off to the side. "Do you know how much you can lift?" she asked partway through emptying the bar.

"No..." he mumbled, and watched as she bent down to put away one of the weights, her firm ass bouncing slightly and sticking out as she did.

"Okay... then start with just the bar. Should weigh around forty pounds and..." John didn't really pay much attention to anything she said after that. It wasn't for lack of trying of course. He just became really distracted when Grace walked back over to spot for John.

He did see her turn her head, turn to bark something at the rest of her training class, and barely noticed it when some of them got up to leave. His attention, for the most part, was stuck on Grace since she stepped up close to the bench. His eyes became locked to her body and the obvious outline showing through her pants. He watched as Grace swayed in place, gyrating her hips around in an show for him that she didn't even know about while her arousal seeped through the light grey fabric of her spandex outfit. John watched with wide eyes for what felt like a whole minute as Grace stood there snapping at her trainees and changing their workouts while her pants darkened around and further emphasized her camel toe.

"Okay now-" she started to say and looked down at John when a barely audible gasp escaped her. She didn't move away, thankfully, when she realized where it was that John was looking, but she did seem to retract slightly. Her thighs squeezed together, a slight tremble to them, as John realized that even with her legs closed, there was just enough of a gap between them right up by her camel toe, that John could barely make out the image of a little bit of her large butt peeking into view. His breath caught in his throat as he stared, and watched as one of Grace's hands began to lower as if to try and cover herself up.

She only stopped when she heard his breathless whine though. The both of them remained frozen for a moment, John blatantly ogling her while her mind probably ran rampant over the whole situation. In the end, she merely found a middle ground again. She didn't back away, nor did she move closer to him. She stood there, resolute for a moment in whatever decision she made, before her thighs parted just ever so slightly and she spoke.

"Alright, d-do a rep for me. Let's see how much you can lift."

The first one was easy. Well... as easy as it could be for someone who was distracted from the task entirely with something else. He felt the weight in his arms for sure, but it was manageable, and in seconds he had it down to his chest, where she told him to hold it for a little while, and then back up again without any issue.

Then she added weights.

By the time that John had reached his limit, the air felt like it was thick around him. Grace had long since stopped trying to move away from him, and seemed to have taken to trying to just hide in plain sight. Her class with the trainees had ended, their scheduled hour had apparently already been close to an end by the time that John had shown up, so she sent them home.

Unfortunately, John didn't manage to lift as much as he would have liked. He hit a moment, when the bar was fitted with 130 pounds that he was unable to lift it back up after he lowered it, and Grace had to help him. His arms were already sore by that point, burning from the effort that he had already put in, but she didn't let him slow down. By that point, John couldn't have put together a thought formidable enough to fight it.

At a guess, John assumed that he had already been lifting there for at least ten minutes, just to find the right weight limit for his body.

It wasn't until the bars were fitted with a total of 120 pounds that John began to see progress. His lungs burned from the stress of the moment, both struggling from the lack of fresh air, and perversely reveling in the thick scent of arousal that emanated from Grace. Her own smell, which even she could smell by this point, hung so sweetly potent in the air that it caused a thought to cross John's mind.

Was that what his aura smelled like to other people? If it wasn't, John felt like he wanted it to be. He wouldn't have blamed anyone for any feelings of arousal if the source of it was someone like Grace.

DING!

John blinked, and the fog in his mind cleared as if for the first time. After a couple moments of looking around, John realized what it was that had made that sound when he saw the pop-ups first appear.

+1 Strength!

Limiting Effect added: Fatigued (120s)

New Skill: Motivated Effort. level 1, Passive.
Motivated Effort: You strain to push past your own limits and capabilities, as such your resolve itself has begun to harden from your physical efforts. Mild incapacitating abilities have their effectiveness reduced against you by the total skill level amount in percentage. (Buff applied - Limiting effects reduced by 1%)

The appearance of these new pop-ups were immediately followed by a sudden release in pressure on John's arms. The weight he had been lifting, lightened slightly and after a couple seconds that he took to confirm it, John confirmed that he most certainly was stronger now. The weights he had on now were suddenly lighter, and he was able to move them without struggling so much. The speed he lifted the weights was the same though, and after a simple Observe cast he knew why.

Limiting effect (Fatigued [Motivated Effort applied. Reduction valued at 1%]): Your body has become fatigued and tired due to a strain you have been pushed through. The overall experience has been too stressful on your total endurance and left you drained. Overall movement speed has been reduced by 25%. (116s)

"Come on, John! You got it!" He heard Michel call out from across the room where he stood at the edge of a ramshackle boxing ring and with a last push, John slowly shoved the bar back up onto the rack. "Nice!" Michel called out and John slowly sat up. "If you're done over there, why don't you come on up here and go a couple rounds with me?"

"I, uh..." John paused and turned to look at Grace...but she was already gone. There was no sign of the young Indian woman, who had been standing behind him, anywhere in the room. The only clue that John had as to what had happened to her was the loud click of a door slamming shut as someone rushed into the woman's shower and locker room in the back of the building.

"Come on!" Michel shouted again, and John realized that most people were starting to funnel out of the building by now. "Come help me finish warming up before my match tonight." Michel waved him over once more and John turned to look at him.

"Your match?" he asked and Michel grinned.

"Yeah, MMA," Michel said and held up his large fists for John to see. Both hands were clenched so tightly in place that if not for the wrappings he had on them John thought he would have been able to see a subtle sign of muscle definition on his hands, even at a distance. As it happened, both hands were wrapped and re-wrapped in various layers of gauze and bandaging that were wound tightly around them. Looking at him, John felt like he should have been able to hear the bandages grinding together when Michel tightened his hands. "Don't think about it too much, you'll be fine." Michel chuckled. "We have plenty of protective equipment." That was reassuring. "I'll even teach you a few tricks." And then he had him.

"Okay, okay... Just give me a moment," John relented, and Michel followed this up by cheering him on some more. "My arms feel all...stringy. Like a couple of noodles." That got a laugh out of Michel, and one from a guy who was standing near the edge of the ring holding a towel and a water bottle. John assumed him to be Michel's trainer.

"That's good. That means progress." Michel smirked at him. "You coming?"