Chapter Text
Jasper liked the smell of sweat and iron. She could feel everyone's blood pump in the Crystal Gym, synchronizing with the blood boiling in her veins, large and pronounced during a nice hard workout.
Everyone of all shapes and sizes gathered at the Crystal Gym to improve themselves. The reasons were all different: for health, self esteem, or to bury the memory of a bad ex, but ultimately everyone worked hard for themselves. Jasper liked to see that. It was why she became a personal trainer, to pull out the potential she saw in others.
She was hard, strict, and crass. She wasn't afraid to make her clients cry, but that was what they paid her for. If they wanted someone soft, they could join Steven's Freestyle Aerobics class.
All of Jasper's clients had at one point cried under her tutelage, but later thanked her for it. Although she had made them cry, Jasper never stopped believing in her clients, encouraging them the only way she knew how-- with brutal honesty.
Lapis was one of her newer clients, and for two weeks, three days a week Lapis went to the Crystal Gym to do stretches and run laps around the the track outside, all under Jasper's raspy enthusiasm and tough training regimen. Lapis's training focused on running. She was preparing herself for a 5K in the next month. Jasper had advised her to do additional strength-building exercises to supplement her running abilities and prevent injury.
She had watched Lapis push her body, but unlike any client she ever had, Lapis did not fall to her knees and cry. Jasper's reproach, no matter how biting and harsh, could not sway the smaller woman. Her knees might buckle but she stayed upright and carried on, harder than ever.
This display didn't deter Jasper or break her confidence as the "toughest trainer at the Crystal Gym". It did the opposite: it made her heart pound. The bodybuilder soon found herself looking forward to her appointments with Lapis, and looking at her client in an unprofessional manner.
She was very conscious of the definition in Lapis's leg muscles. Her back was strong but still slender. Sweat rolled off her back and Jasper had to pull herself together just to prevent herself from leaning forward to lick the sweat off her back.
This wasn’t the first time she'd fallen for one of her clients, and it likely wouldn’t pan out, but any chance she may have had with Lapis was now destroyed.
“I blew it.” Jasper groaned, rubbing her forehead. “Literally. Blew it.”
“I advised you not to eat that burrito,” Peridot said, typing without pause. Jasper should have been in the locker room getting ready for her next appointment, but instead she was killing time at the front desk, interrupting Peridot’s work with her need to vent.
“I should have listened,” Jasper admitted. “What was I thinking? And before a session with my hottest client.”
From there Jasper told Peridot how she ruined her chance with Lapis. It was during her last session with Lapis in the weight lifting room. Jasper saw someone improperly lifting weights from the corner of her eye. Fueled by a need to correct them-- and to show off-- Jasper pushed them aside, cracked her knuckles, and proudly crowed, “That’s not how you lift! Now this-- THIS is how you lift!” She reached for the weights, legs bent, back straight. Her hands closed around the bar, and she was about to lift it high and proud when a fart ripped out of her.
The force of her flatulence was enough to make her believe she'd torn a hole in her tight workout shorts (she hadn’t, thank goodness), and it quieted the room.
Everyone stood in disgusted awe. People looked away from the televisions overhead just to stare at her. People on treadmills slowed their pace, bodybuilders dropped their weights.
The only thing that broke the awkward silence was the laughter bubbling up from Lapis’s throat. She was on her knees and crying, holding her sides.
Jasper was mortified.
Jasper ended up cutting the training session short and brooded in the sauna where no one could see how embarrassed she was.
Jasper finished her story and Peridot sighed. “I know, Jasper. I was there. I was fixing a treadmill when you broke wind. A safe distance away, I might add.”
Jasper covered her face. “Garnet said she could hear it all the way from her kickboxing class.”
“She’s exaggerating,” Peridot said, aware of the small rivalry the two shared. “You were loud. But not that loud.”
“Now Lapis thinks I...”
“Thinks you fart? Like everyone else?”
“I’ll never be able to ask her out now!”
“Implying you had a chance,” Peridot said, eyes glued to the computer.
“Says the person who has been single since I met her.”
Peridot continued to type. “That’s by choice. Relationships are bothersome. I have more important things to do. You know, you would get a lot more accomplished if you weren’t so fixated on dating.”
“Oh yeah? And do what?” Jasper was honestly clueless about what else she could do to occupy her time. The Crystal Gym was her life, fitness her passion, and the few moments she wasn’t at the gym she was at the bar, nursing a drink as she flirted, looking for a one-night stand or something more. Definitely something more. Sex wasn’t hard for Jasper, but she was looking for more than a one-night stand. She wanted stability, companionship. Whatever it was that Garnet had that she didn’t. And despite appearances, Jasper liked cuddles. Her couch was cold, the house she owned lonely. Peridot came over at least once a week but kept her distance. When they watched movies together there was always a bowl of popcorn between them. Jasper had long given up trying to woo her friend, content with the relationship they had.
Peridot’s glasses slipped. She pushed them up the bridge of her nose with her shoulder. “I can’t tell you what to do. You have to figure that out yourself.”
“Do you really think I never had a chance with Lapis?” Jasper asked, changing the subject only a little.
“Of course you don’t.” Peridot sighed, glancing at the clock. She lifted her hands from the keyboard and swiveled her chair to face Jasper. “If I tell you why will you stop bothering me?”
“Maybe.”
Maybe. Peridot could work with maybe, and Jasper had an appointment in five minutes. She would be out of her hair soon, one way or another.
“Listen. You have a type.”
“What type?”
“Out of your league.” Peridot spun back into place, typing again, but Jasper didn’t leave. “You’re still here.”
“I can’t do it. I can’t face her.” Jasper shook her head.
“Well you have to.” Peridot sniffed. “You have an appointment to honor and besides...” Her lip curled. “She’s already here.”
Jasper jumped from her seat and followed Peridot’s gaze. Her body grew cold despite the blood pounding in her eardrums.
Shit. She wasn’t kidding. Lapis had just entered the building, blue sundress skirting over her ankles. A flash of her sports bra and the sneakers clashing with the outfit told Jasper she was wearing her workout clothes underneath, as usual. She took off her sunglasses and tucked them in her purse as she approached, waving.
“You’re screwed,” Peridot whispered, watching the blush rise on Jasper’s face.
“Waiting for me?” Lapis asked jokingly, signing into the registry book at the counter.
Jasper nearly choked, but she gathered her bravado quickly, faking confidence. “I just got here.”
Peridot spun in her chair, raising a brow at the blatant lie.
Lapis giggled, and Peridot suspected she didn’t believe Jasper either. “Well, that makes it easier. We can get started right away. I had a rough day at work, so do your worst.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
X
Jasper watched Lapis do her stretches, sitting on the bench next to the ball rack. Across from them Pearl was instructing her yoga class, but neither Pearl or Jasper minded the extra company. Jasper also suspected Pearl liked the attention, her eyes flitting towards her and Lapis over the bodies bent in the downward dog pose.
“So, what do you do for work?” Jasper asked conversationally. In the space between walking from the front desk and to the yoga lounge, Jasper decided she would get Lapis’s phone number. Peridot’s words had worked under her tough hide, both agitating and encouraging her.
Lapis lifted her head, an arm stretched over her chest. Her bangs were choppy and hung in her eyes. “Oh, uh, I never told you?”
Jasper shrugged. “I never asked.”
Lapis switched arms. “I’m a history teacher.”
“I can see why you’d be stressed. Kids can be annoying.”
Lapis shook her head, “it’s not that.” She took to the floor, stretching her legs now. “It’s my coworkers.”
Jasper thought of Peridot. “I can relate.”
“They’re always... pressuring me. Putting me in a corner. It makes me feel trapped. I can’t stand it.” Jasper’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, watching the way Lapis’s fists clenched. Lapis blinked, followed Jasper’s eyes and relaxed her hands. “...Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Jasper crouched down next to her.
“What about you?” she asked, looking over her shoulder. “Do you like working here?”
“It’s my life.” Jasper said, and for once her voice hitched at the statement. Lapis probably thought she was a loser with no life; like Peridot said, she needed some hobbies. But Jasper was proud, and she couldn’t say anything but the truth. Lapis was being honest with her, she owed the woman the same courtesy.
“Oh... Is that a good thing?”
Jasper nodded. “I love it here. I love helping people sculpt their bodies and watch their self esteem grow.”
She blushed, noticing that she had somehow hooked Lapis’s attention, to the point that she stopped stretching and stared at her wistfully. She shrugged, turning slightly away but not too much to be obvious. “Everyone is strong, it’s just they don’t see it yet or they've forgotten...“ She scratched the back of her head, accidentally loosening her ponytail. “What’re you looking at? You think I’m a dork or something.”
Lapis hid a smirk behind her shoulder blade. “Yes.” Her tone was light, playful like a skip on a sidewalk, and that eased Jasper’s nerves.
“Shut up and do your stretches,” Jasper huffed, standing up.
“You’re really good at it-- your job. It’s a--” She paused, doing a backbend. “--a greaaat stress relief when I’m here. Thank you.”
Lapis finished her stretches and they headed to the track field to work on her sprints. There was no time for further conversation as they ran, giving Jasper an excuse for her flushed face, and for her to consider Lapis’s words.
For two weeks, Jasper had pined over the other woman, and they worked together silently, save for when Jasper barked scathing encouragement down her back. Often in the past she had shown off, making it so that when Lapis entered the gym Jasper was already lifting weights. Once, she had flexed her muscles and haughtily said, “Work hard and you might look as good as me.”
“No. I’m good,” Lapis had said, shocking the bodybuilder.
And then the fart happened. And now, suddenly, they were talking and Jasper wondered how she'd managed it. Was it the fart that loosened the mood? No. She shook her head. It had to be something else. But if it wasn’t that she showed off her muscle, then what was it? That confused her but she decided not to question it. She was making progress, and by the end of this run and a few more core building exercises, before Lapis left, she would make her move.
After the run and a short break, they continued the conversation. Jasper learned Lapis had just moved to Beach City five months ago, but she wasn’t sure if she liked it. She had moved here only because they offered her a teaching position, and she had to move out of her mom’s place before she committed homicide.
“I love my mom,” she said. “But she’s overbearing."
Jasper quickly noticed a pattern within the younger woman. She didn’t like being backed into corners and especially hated pushy people. Considering this, Jasper found it strange that Lapis liked Jasper’s methods as a personal trainer. Being an overbearing instructor with the vocal chords of a drill sergeant was her specialty.
Lapis had done wonderfully at the exercises Jasper laid out. The only one she struggled with were the squats that lasted three minutes, Jasper swore she saw Lapis’s chin tremble, and she had been ready to yell at her, but as always, Lapis pushed through.
“Your butt is going to look amazing after doing those--” It was a praise Jasper was used to giving her other clients after that particularly strenuous exercise, but Lapis quickly looked up, and Jasper swallowed, suddenly unable to finish that sentence.
“Not that it doesn’t already,” she said quickly, and then finally she panicked, reverting to gloating. “But it’s still not as fine as mine!”
“I’ll just do more,” Lapis replied. “But not tonight. I’m pooped. I’m going to shower. Will you still be here?”
“Yes!” Jasper might have said a little too quickly.
“Great. There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“You can ask me now.”
Lapis’s eyes turned dark as molasses, flitting over Jasper. A strange smirk pulled her lips. Jasper had very rarely seen Lapis smile, a worthy contestant against Peridot’s sour expression, but she had never seen that look on the younger woman before. The few times she smiled, it was bright and joyful, but that smirk made a chill dance up Jasper’s spine. Fear wasn’t the correct word, but it was close.
“You can wait,” she teased, her voice matching the darkness reflected in her eyes. She backed away, hands behind her back, fingers interlaced, then spun around, disappearing into the locker room.