Kevin had been wanting Lee to take him to the gym for well over a week. But with everything that had happened with Tarin, and her having Kevin go visit his grandparents with Rachel, that hadn’t been possible.

At least not until today. Other than the trip to the gym, Lee had nothing else planned. Kevin was happy about that as it meant he could essentially stay at the gym as long as he wanted.

Lee had also invited Tarin along, as he said that he tried to work out, but as far as she had known, he hadn’t been able to the previous week.

So around 1 on Saturday afternoon, Lee led the three of them into the gym. It likely wasn’t what Tarin had been expecting, with the boxing/fighting ring toward the center of the room, and multiple varieties of punching bags available, but there were also the traditional gym machines and free weights.

Kevin had taken off to the change room almost as soon as they were inside, so Lee pointed out the door to Tarin before heading to the much smaller women’s changing room.

A few minutes later, she emerged wearing black shorts and a white t-shirt, hair pulled back in a ponytail, and carrying her gloves with her. Kevin was probably already off warming up, but she wanted to make sure that Tarin was situated before she got started herself.

When Lee had said gym, Tarin had been picturing the type of gym he usually went to. The type that was primarily focused on weights and cardio. The type that had free weights and machines, rowing machines, stair steppers, and the like. What he had not expected was a full out boxing gym.

Kevin was absolutely stoked to be there, and Tarin couldn’t help but smile at the kid’s enthusiasm as he sprinted off to the changing room to…well…change.

Tarin didn’t need to change as he’d worn his workout clothes over, and simply waited for Lee and Kevin to come back out after they were ready.

Fairly quickly Lee emerged and Tarin had to think again that it was a kind and benevolent god who had graced the Earth with workout clothes. Despite the fact that she was small, Lee was exceptionally well built and her figure was shown off to even larger advantage by the workout clothes she’d chosen.

Realizing he was staring a bit, Tarin pulled his eyes away from Lee. Things had been less awkward than he’d worried they’d be this morning after…whatever had almost happened the night before. Thankfully thought, for the first time since everything had happened, he’d slept an entire night with no dreams or nightmares.

“Kevin is over there doing…something.” He said, nodding towards where Kevin was, indeed, warming up.

“I didn’t realize you meant this kind of gym,” he said, “Are these guys going to beat me up for using their equipment?”

Making her way over to Tarin after she emerged from the change room, she looked where he indicated, and sure enough Kevin was over there. “Oh good, he’ll be good on his own for a good while, then.”

Then she heard Tarin’s next question and she couldn’t help but laugh. “No, no one’s going to beat you if you use the equipment,” she told him with a slight shake of her head. “Maybe if you don’t wipe it down after, but not just for using it.

“But really, what were you thinking I meant when I was talking about sparring?” She went on to ask. “Or did you think I was exaggerating about the sparring?”

Well of course he’d wipe down the equipment when he was done. What kind of savage did Lee take him for? Tarin just knew that sometimes these kinds of places ran like clubs and they weren’t particularly keen on outsiders.

Lee asked if he’d thought she was exaggerating about her sparring and Tarin shook his head, “I guess I just didn’t put too much thought into it. I probably should have known that you wouldn’t settle for anything less than legit though.”

Tarin nodded over towards Kevin who was actually smiling, “I think this is the happiest I have ever seen him…” he said.

As for everything else, “Don’t wait around on my account, I think I see everything I need.”

“Well, I didn’t exactly find this place on my own,” Lee admitted with a shrug. “Plus, what would a typical gym do for me? It’s not like I need to use exercise equipment to get stronger, is it?”

But then Tarin pointed out how happy Kevin was. And it was great, and probably was the happiest her son had been in the previous week. Yet even with all that, the smile on Lee’s face was a little sad. “Yeah, he loves it here,” she told Tarin, staring at Kevin the entire time. “He was so happy and proud when I first let him come and learn some easy things. Bragged about it to all his friends. But he still thinks Blaine is going to come back some day…”

Taking a breath, Lee turned back to Tarin as she started putting her gloves on, the sadness having disappeared from her smile. “Alright. I’ll be around if you do need anything,” she said before turning, planning to start with one of the heavy bags. Which sucked, but it was what she had to work with if she wasn’t going to spar that day.

Blaine, that ex boyfriend who had disappeared suddenly and never come back. Just like the other Tarin had disappeared suddenly and come back.

Tarin looked at Kevin again with a bit more context and frowned a bit, the poor kid had been through a lot.

Not sure what to say, Tarin just nodded and watched as Lee pulled on gloves and got ready to do whatever she was going to do. “I can handle myself.” He said with a smile.

That settled, Tarin went off to hit the machines. Generally Tarin preferred to use free weights, but he didn’t know anyone here and didn’t want to ask for a spotter so he started on the machines, planning to do an arm circuit and maybe some ab work…for no particular reason.

As Lee made her way over a bag, she fixed the straps on her gloves. She definitely did not have the amount of energy she tried to have when she came to the gym on her own, but considering that they hadn’t really left the apartment that morning, Lee had more than she had expected to.

Starting into a slow rhythm of punches, Lee couldn’t help but think about how the morning had gone. Very thankfully, after what had happened the night before, what had almost happened, there was actually very little awkwardness. Though, probably the most surprising thing had been that when he had seen her lack of energy first thing that morning, Tarin had made the offer for her to take some. Just like he had that day after her unintentional nap at the shop.

It was weird. No one, well, almost no one, had ever been alright with her taking energy like this. Working her way around the bag, Lee glanced over at Tarin. The way he had acted was as though it was the right and obvious thing for him, for anyone, to do for her.

It…it was definitely weird, Lee thought as she glanced over at Tarin again between hits with a slight smile. But it sure had been nice to not feel like she was dragging herself through quicksand until she’d been able to get outside for a while.

Tarin started out slow, stretching and making sure his muscles were warm before he started working through the machine circuit he’d mapped out. Low weight, high reps was the name of Tarin’s game as he had always favored lean muscle over excessive amounts of bulk.

It tended to work well with his running and yoga routine. A routine he needed to get back into regardless of his living situation.

His living situation. Yeesh.

When Lee had left his room, Tarin had spent a solid minute staring at the door and wondering if he’d made a huge mistake. He wasn’t sure if the mistake had been closing that space between himself and Lee in the first place, or letting her leave after he had. Still, the decision had been made and Tarin decided that he was not going to let things be weird. At least not from his end. Shockingly he’d slept like a baby and hadn’t woke from a nightmare or anything else until morning.

This morning had gone well, Tarin had gotten up and made some eggs and toast and been utterly gutted at how hard it was for Lee to get up and moving. If he’d thought that the day at the shop had been bad, Lee had nearly been catatonic this morning. So he’d offered her some energy. After last night, he’d had plenty to spare and it just helped her so much.

Now they were here. Kevin was happy. Lee was happy. Tarin was happy.

Every now and then as he worked through the circuit he’d glance over at Lee working the bag. She was good, and looked good doing it. He couldn’t help but smile a bit.

Lee could feel her body warming up now, getting a good flow going. Though that flow kept stuttering every so often as she found herself looking over at Tarin.

What was she supposed to do with all that? With him. With what had obviously managed to develop without her having so much as a clue until last night.

That was not something to focus on now, though. Now was the time to work out her body, to attempt to forget her thoughts, even if she only managed that for a short period.

'Though if he had touched me when he was that close last night, my body would have gotten a workout then, too,' Lee thought. And stopped dead just staring at the bag in front of her for a moment. Sparring was starting to look better and better; it would do a much better job at keeping her mind occupied.

Shaking her head at herself, Lee got back to work on the bag in front of her, starting to throw in the occasional kick, making her punches harder. If she wore herself out enough, it would also be easier to not think.

Then as she threw a left hook at the bag, Lee felt a slight pull in the muscles of her back. Nothing major, just…even though the bruises felt much better, apparently some of the muscles under them were still sore.

Stopping her attack on the bag, Lee just stood there for a minute, rolling her shoulder first one way then the other, hoping that would loosen things out. While her eyes slowly drifted toward Tarin again.

Tarin couldn’t help but think that one of the benefits of lifting over using a workout bag was the fact that he didn’t have to concentrate to use the machines. That left him free to watch Lee off and on as she continued to work the bag. So what if he ended up doing a few extra reps here and there?

Tarin didn’t know much about boxing, but it looked like Lee’s rhythm was somehow off. Then she just stopped.

At this point, Tarin finished his arm work and went on to start on his ab routine. Crunches, side crunches, planks, side planks, all in a circuit again. It was a heck of a workout and soon enough he was sweating up a storm.

Between the second and third circuit, Tarin paused for a rest and some water. A week off had taken more of a toll than he thought, but his head felt clearer than it had at any point in the same week. So he watched Lee some more. Now she was mixing some kicks in and he found himself impressed again as she threw a hard right hook.

And hurt herself.

Tarin almost went over then, but Lee didn’t need him to step in and check on her, if she needed something, she’d handle it herself. Now she was working her shoulder, testing it out…and looking right at him.

He looked right back. He looked right back and he smiled warmly before going back to his workout.

So much for a clear head.

As her eyes drifted to Tarin, she only realized too late that he was looking right at her. He’d just caught her looking over at him like this. Again.

But, she realized a moment later as he smiled at her, he had been looking at her. That was how he’d caught her. Giving him a smile in return before he turned away, Lee hoped that the slight warmth she realized she was feeling on her cheeks was because of the exertion she was spending on the bag…Normally when she was doing a workout, it didn’t feel like as much exertion, but normally she also either walked into the gym with more energy or was sparring so having energy wasn’t so much of an issue.

Lee was really going to have to get this figured out. And they would probably need to talk. While not nearly so close as they had spent most of the previous evening.

Hoping that she had gotten her shoulder muscle worked out, Lee turned her back to the area of the gym Tarin was working in and started again. Punching and kicking, possibly putting a little more effort into it than she normally would have with her current energy level, Lee got back into her flow.

And was managing to stay in the flow. As long as she didn’t move around the bag so she wasn’t able to see Tarin.

This was starting to become a problem, Lee thought. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Not with him, not with this Tarin.

But if it wasn’t supposed to happen, then why did everything feel so natural with Tarin? Why had she felt so comfortable with him, with being around him, this entire past week?

Shaking her head, Lee let out a series of harder punches against the bag.

If Tarin wasn’t mistaken, Lee was studiously ignoring him while she worked out. That was fine, it didn’t hurt his view at all when she turned her back to him and went at the bag with a new intensity.

That shoulder looked like it was holding up pretty well. So did her legs. So did her...

Gah.

What was going on with him? Tarin shook his head, at himself this time, and went back to work. The third circuit went much better than the first two had, but by the end of it Tarin was spent.

Off to the side he went again, to get some water and watch some of the sparring that was happening in the ring. These guys were no joke and he found himself impressed that Lee wanted to fight these guys without them holding back.

Impressive was what she was, and the more he found out, the more impressed Tarin was.

He was also out of stuff to do, he could already tell he was going to be sore the next day and didn’t want to overdo things. So this time he just walked over to where Lee was working and leaned against the wall to watch.

Watch. Not leer.

Lee was going to need more energy to get through the rest of the day, to stay awake until it was a late enough time that she could go to sleep, she realized, because she was starting to actually feel worn out as she attacked the bag in front of her. Maybe they could stop somewhere crowded on the way home and Lee would let Kevin get a treat.

Lee was slowing down now, but still hitting as hard as she could. Which was still not nearly as hard as it had been earlier, but she was using a bag that weighed almost as much as she did.

After a while, Lee felt someone approaching from behind her, though they veered off to the side before reaching her. It wasn’t unheard of for people to watch her; no one who was new to the gym or who only came infrequently, ever expected to see what she tended to do around the gym. Though the spectators did tend to gather most often when she was sparring. Still, it was a common enough occurrence that, since they weren’t speaking to her, she ignored them for the time being.

She only managed to last another few minutes, though. She was done. With one last front kick that managed to move the bag back an inch, Lee straightened up, breathing heavily as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Only to turn and see Tarin standing nearby. He’d been the one she felt approach. “Oh, you’re done?” she asked as she undid her gloves and pulled them off.

Tarin could see that Lee was wearing out. It was evident in the way she was holding herself, it was evident in her breathing, and it was evident in the way she was slowing down.

But she didn’t stop.

No, she kept pushing, she kept going. Lee kept throwing punches and kicks, and she didn’t give up until Tarin could tell she literally couldn’t throw another punch.

God. Damn.

Lee turned then, removing her gloves, surprised by his presence.

“You’re really good at this.” He said, not really answering the question he’d been asked.

“I finished up a while ago. It’s been a minute since I got to work out and I want to be able to move tomorrow.”

Because he was apparently taking Lee to an open mic night at a bar because Rachel had bullied him into doing that. He needed to tell Lee about it at some point, but the proper time hadn’t presented itself.

“Is your shoulder alright?” He asked.

Lee couldn’t help but smile when she heard Tarin. “Thanks,” she said softly as she came up beside him, though not too close, leaning against the wall as well. “Before everyone around here apparently forgot I can fight, I was actually able to learn some things properly.” Yeah, learning ‘properly’, in a controlled training environment as opposed to learning in life and death experiences.

But at least she’d learned, right?

“My shoulder?” Lee asked, confused at first. Then she remembered what he must have been talking about. “Oh, yeah, it’s fine. The muscles must still be sore, it pulled a bit more than I liked with one punch, that’s all.”

Looking across the gym, Lee could see Kevin still working and she smiled. He had definitely inherited his parents’ determination when he set out to do something. “I think we’ll need to stop somewhere on the way home, so I thought it might be nice to grab a treat or something. Do you have any ideas?”