Day 8: Week 2 || Bench Press

Dash giggled with happiness when she woke up the next morning. She wasn't being herself at all, but she had every reason not to be. Yesterday was the turning point of her relationship with Soarin. Thinking about the memory made make her shiver happily.

She hugged herself and rocked back and forth on her bed. Imagine if he saw this.

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"Soarin, do you hate me?" The words came out slowly and carefully.

Soarin didn't do anything but stare into her eyes. Dash hated silence, and when it occurred, she tends to assume the worst. Before she could say anything to break the silence, he pulled her into a bear hug and held her tightly, not wanting to let go.

The gesture caught Dash completely off guard. She did not expect this at all. Her stomach churned as she felt Soarin's breath on her ear. She was ridiculously sensitive there, so she never let anyone get even remotely close.

It took a while for her brain to process what had just occurred. Once it did, she didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around his body as well.

Something about this moment felt special to her. Could it possibly be because she's never actually hugged him before?

"My hate for you is gone, Rainbow Dash," Soarin whispered right in her ear. He pushed her back just at arms length and tips her chin up so she'd look directly in his eyes. "Do you hate me?"

"I can't hate you. You've done so much for me and have acted the kindest you've ever been," she responds. She sighs out of content, happy that he felt the same way. "Are we friends now?"

"Of course." He pushed her bangs out of her vision and smiled down at her. "How on earth can you see me behind your bangs? They cover half your face." Dash's pupils dilated once she felt more light come in her eyes. Her bangs covered her face enough to actually block light from coming in.

"Has it always been this bright?" She joked.

"Duh," Soarin rolls his eyes playfully. He turns on the sleeping laptop and navigates the screen back to the show they were watching. "Now let's finish this. We've killed quite some some time by talking."

Dash leaned into him so she could see the screen better, but also because that was exactly where she wanted to be: in his arms.

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She remembers the event so vividly as if it was yesterday. Wait, it was yesterday. Just a little over twelve hours ago, but that was besides the point. Dash is usually groggy when she wakes up early in the morning, but today was a different story. She had her first good night's sleep in a while, and all thanks to a certain navy blue haired boy.

She checked the clock on her phone and saw that it read 10:00am. It wasn't as early as yesterday, but everyone knows that The Rainbow Dash doesn't wake up before 11 unless it's a school day. She's broken a lot of stereotypes about her since quarantine started.

She's shown her soft side, made amends with someone she's never expect to, and woke up at early as fuck o'clock. Who is this girl?

What is wrong with me?

Dash sprinted out of her room and in the direction of Soarin's. He's woken her up almost every single day since they've been stuck together, so she didn't see why not.

She had reached his door and swung it open, yet not letting it slam against the wall behind it. Soarin was completely submerged under his covers, not a single part of him left uncovered. It was usually burning hot underneath the covers, so she ripped the covers off of him.

Dash places a hand on his forehead, feeling the heat on her palm. Soarin hadn't budged since she took the covers away, and it confused her. If someone had done that to her, she would've noticed the sudden change in temperature. She wouldn't notice if it went from cold to hot as much, but the other way around would be very noticeable.

She watches as he snores quietly. Yes, unfortunately, Soarin snores. It wasn't as annoying because he wasn't very loud, but he did have his moments.

Ignoring the sound he was making, Dash hopped on top of his bed and lay on her stomach beside him. Her chin rest on her arms that were crossed in front of her. She blew a little air on his face and poked him a couple times. The action only caused him to swat her away, though he didn't even know she was there.

"Soarin!" She yelled into his ear. Just like before, he simply pushed her away, this time covering his ears with a pillow. Dash was starting to become frustrated. She knew he was a heavy sleeper, but this was just ridiculous.

Her mind tracked back to one of the times he woke her up. The day he caught her dreaming about him, he woke her up in the weirdest way. It worked for her, so maybe it would work for him?

"This better work," she sighed. Dash shifted to the right by a hair before leaning close to his face. She stopped right in front of his ear to take a good deep breath in. Here goes, she prepared herself.

Her lips brushed against his ear. The little hairs on his ear tickled her lip, forcing her to suppress a giggle. She bit down on his ear, not as roughly as he did, but hard enough for it to possibly get him to wake up. She resisted the urge to nibble on it, though she was confused as to why it was an urge in the first place. They are friends; not lovers.

Her entire body froze when she heard a groan. Dash quickly pulled away from him and pretended she was going to shake him awake. She watched as Soarin sat upright on his bed, rubbing the ear she had bitten on.

After regaining full consciousness, the first thing he did was look around his room, not noticing the presence beside him. It took him about a minute for him to realize he was not alone.

"Dash?" He said her name. Dash may have been frozen before, but now she was stiff and frozen. "Did you just bite on my earlobe?" He asked her.

"That's how you woke me up the last time," she pouted with her arms cross. "I yelled in your ear and it didn't work, so I bit the lobe instead."

"If you say so, Princess," he pinched her cheek, leaving her dumbfounded. Soarin hopped off his bed and went to the closet by his nightstand to grab a pair of sweats to wear. He didn't realize he left Dash in shock.

He called her "Princess".

Why did he do that?

Dash usually liked the nicknames he gave her, but this one just didn't sit right with her. Aren't princesses pretty, yet stuck up brats that wear pink frilly dresses? That's how her mind made them seem, at least.

"D-Don't call me that," she said rather quickly. The disgust in her voice was evident. She didn't hesitate even in the slightest. Soarin approaches her with his sweats draped over his forearm.

"I didn't mean it like that," he places a hand on her shoulder in reassurance. Dash's expression didn't change, but her nerves were somewhat at ease.

An awkward silence filled the room. The only sound being made was the creaking sound of the bed from weight being shifted. Dash resorted to toying with her wristbands from feeling nervous. Her feet brushed past each other multiple times as she hung her head low, staring directly at them.

"Um," Soarin breaks the silence. "Why did you wake me up again?"

"Oh!" Dash interjected. She had completely forgotten to tell him the reason. "I wanted to work out with you. I usually do it by myself, but I thought it'd be fun if I wasn't alone."

"Alright, let me change and I'll meet you in the garage. Mkay?" He rubbed his hand in circles on her back. She didn't react swiftly like she usually did when he made contact with her, but she still became shocked whenever he did.

"Did you bring your weight kit?" Dash kept up and paced around the room, turning objects over in search for the kit. Soarin usually brought it whenever he was forced to sleepover at her house, so she'd be surprised if he had forgotten it.

"It's in the closet," he replied hesitantly as he saw her rummaging through his belongings. Some things were private, especially what was in his nightstand. Dash slammed the closet door open, her eyes brightening upon seeing the weights all stacked on a rack. "Why do you need it anyway?"

"I wanna beat my record of twenty bench presses with the forty pound weights." She flexed both of her arms, revealing her toned muscles. She jokingly kissed her biceps and bounced both her eyebrows.

"Why did you just show off a bunch of fat?" He teased.

"Very funny, Soarin."

Dash wasn't too offended because she knew she was in better shape than most girls her age. She was proud of the progress she made over the past few months, and no negative comments were going to change her mind. It didn't matter if the remark was a joke or not.

"There is no way you can lift forty pounds." Soarin shook his head in disbelief at her previous comment. "You only weigh a hundred four. Are you trying to imply you can lift about a third of your weight?"

"Forty pounds isn't even that heavy! If I was a boy, would you be saying this?"

"Yes. A five foot two, one hundred four pound boy trying to lift. I'd be worried you were going to break your spine." Soarin's laughter filled the room, due to it growing silent again. Dash was not pleased . . . at all. What was worse is that she couldn't tell if he was just joking, or being plain disrespectful.

"Sometimes, I wish I was taller," she sighed with disappointment.

"Only someti-OW! Hey!" Dash smacked Soarin upside his head. Her fists were clenched, and her entire body was visibly shaking.

"You have one hour to get ready. If you're not in the garage by then, I'll be very pissed." Dash up and left without letting him say another word. Her shoulder intentionally brushed against his chest, forcing him back less than half an inch. Maybe she was stronger than he thought.

The one thing Dash hates about Soarin is that he never knows when to stop. He didn't care if your feelings were hurt. He's continue egging the joke on, whether it was offensive or not. He claims he doesn't like seeing others in pain, but it didn't seem to matter if he was the cause of it. She was more than sure that he knew she was not enjoying his joke.

That boy really needs to learn how to take others' feelings into consideration.

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The garage was customized three days prior to their parents' departure to France. Windy Whistles and Bow Hot Hoof moves their cars out to the driveway so they can set up a mini gym for Rainbow Dash and Soarin. Swift And Sunny Skies (Soarin's parents) also aided with the construction of the room.

Dude to the ridiculously high prices of exercise equipment, the "gym" was very limited. A rack full of mats were set up by the entrance of the garage. To the right of the doorway, there were cardiovascular machines along the wall: two treadmills, two spin bikes, and two elliptical machines.

On the opposite side of the room were barbell benches and more machines that most people probably don't know the names of. The important thing is that they all serve the same purpose.

Dash tapped her foot impatiently on the stone floor of the garage. She told Soarin to meet her in an hour sharp. That was exactly an hour ago. And they say girls take long to get ready. It only took roughly forty five minutes to get herself situated.

Out of impatience, she was about to start exercising on her own. She paused in her tracks when she heard the garage door slam open.

"What took you so fucking long?" Dash crossed her arms and furrowed her brows as low as they could go. Soarin stepped through the doorway with a smirk on his face.

"If you keep frowning like that, you'll get wrinkles," he traces his fingers along the developing wrinkles between her brows. "These ones are cute though, so I guess I don't mind that much." Dash swatted his hand away, hiding the blush that tinted her cheeks.

"Enough talk!" She adjusts her shorts so they're perfectly centered. "You and I are going to warm up for a minute, and only a minute. Then, we're going to hop up on the treadmill and run some laps. Next-"

"Awe. I was hoping to see you lift forty pounds with your baby arms." He lifted her arms up as if he was about to pick up an infant. The twitching of her eye caused him to stop, realizing he might be taking it a little overboard. "You know I was just joking right?"

"Whatever," she shrugged. "I'm gonna start my warmups." Dash grabs a mat from the rack near the door and lays it on the cold ground about six feet away from Soarin. Social distancing, you know?

Standing behind the mat, she stretched her entire body outwards, easing the tension in all her muscles. She liked to stretch with her eyes closed. It helped keep her focused on the task at hand, and nothing else.

Soarin was doing his best to not stare. It wasn't his fault she looked amazing while stretching. He tried to focus on his own, but time was almost up, and he had barely gotten any stretches in.

A beeping sound echoed in the room, ringing in both of their ears. Dash tapped a few buttons on her watch, and the beeping stopped.

"Time's up!" Dash approached him with an outstretched arm. She got ahold of his hand and dragged him towards the treadmills. She let go as soon as one of her feet were on top of the treadmill.

Soarin his hand in front of his face in shock. He had no words for what had just happened.

"Get on the 'mill, Soar!" Dash makes a hand motion, telling him to get on the treadmill beside her. She waited for him to hop on before counting backwards from three. Once she said "zero", the teens simultaneously clicked the start button. The treadmills tracks slowly moved, forcing them to move in a walking pace.

"When do we increase the speed?" Soarin asked. "I'm kind of bored."

"In ten seconds, increase the speed to three miles an hour. Thirty seconds after that, we're moving up to four." Dash explained.

"Alright, got it." He affirmed as he increased the speed by one mile.

Four minutes later, their speed had reach six miles an hour: the average running speed of a human being. Soarin was already starting to get tired, but Dash kept her head high and didn't falter in any way.

"Slacking off already?" Dash teases. "You like to talk a lot of shit, but look at you!" Despite not gaining any fatigue, she was panting like a dog.

"Shut up. I know your tits hurt," he sneers.

"That's a weird statement, but yes. They do hurt." She released a laugh, finding it funny that he commented on her girls. "This sports bra isn't doing its job for me." She clicks the stop button on the treadmill. The track gradually came to a halt, and she hopped off to go to the next piece of equipment.

Her eyes landed on the barbell bench. A smirk crawled onto her face upon seeing it. She could use this as an opportunity to prove to Soarin that she wasn't as weak as she look. Plus, she had to work her arms out anyway.

She placed two ten pound weight plates in each side of the bar, twenty on each side, and forty in total. She lay her body flat on the bench, and readied her arms for the first press. She glanced to see if Soarin was watching—which he was—and placed her arms on the bar.

"No way you're actually going to lift that." Soarin shook his head, not believing she would be able to do it.

"Oh, I will," Dash said confidently.

Dash lifted the bar for the first time, inhaling as it went up, and exhaling on its way down. Her rhythm was consistent, and though her arms were starting to feel weak, she didn't let it stop her.

Soarin couldn't believe it. He had doubted her from the start, and here she was proving him wrong. She always proved him wrong when he doubted her. You'd think he'd learn not to do so anymore.

The visual of Dash bench pressing was eye candy to him. In all honesty, he could watch her do this all day and not complain.

After the twentieth press, Dash dropped the bar and stood to her feet. She flipped her ponytail with confidence, knowing she proved him wrong yet again.

"Rainbow Dash . . ." Soarin looked her up and down as the sweat dropped from her body. She stared at him with curiosity, wondering why he had mentioned her name. "You are truly amazing."

Dash didn't expect for him to compliment her. She felt a smile form on her face from it. Her smile was so wide that even her dimples were smiling.

She didn't understand why she was s happy though. She received compliments from her peers all the time. What was so different about his compliment that pushed her on the verge of a blush?

"Thank you," she accepted, the smile never leaving her face. She was so astonished that she couldn't bring herself to say something egotistical.

"We're friends, right?" He replied.

"Of course." They stared at each other for what felt like a millennia. The gaze was broken when Soarin accidentally sneezed for no actual reason.

"Alright, your turn to press, but I want to see you lift seventy." Dash changes the subject before he can say anything himself.

"Ha! I bet I could lift eighty!"

~3093 words

A/N

I am so so so sorry for the later-than-expected update. Things had come up last minute and I was busier than I thought I'd be. I didn't even proofread this chapter because I was anxious that you all would be angry for not holding up to my promise.

I'm actually really sorry. I feel so bad.