Chapter Text
“-you’re kidding, right?”
“Ava, I have at least nine kilos of muscle on you.”
“Yeah, nine more kilos you have to lift!”
“What’s all this about?” Beatrice interrupts Ava and Shannon’s quarrel. Mary and Camila stand off to the side, not wanting to be dragged in.
“Babe-“
Shannon jumps in. “Ava thinks she can do more push-ups than me.”
Ava jabs her elbow at Shannon, who jerks away in time to avoid it.
“Tell her, Bea!”
Beatrice puts her hands on her hips and purses her lips.
“Bea!” Ava pouts.
“I’m sorry, Ava, but Shannon has extensively trained her upper body since Halo.”
Shannon nods, raising one eyebrow.
Ava crosses her arms. “Then why don’t we test this out?”
“It’s your loss,” Shannon remarks as she pulls her shirt off and throws it to the side. She stands in her sports bra and pants, proudly displaying her ripped figure. Muscle cords her body, from her defined shoulders, the plane of her abdominals, down to the V at her hipbones.
Mary lets out a low whistle.
Ava quickly removes her shirt as well (not to be outdone) and glances toward Shannon. Her jaw drops. “Holy shit, you’re jacked.”
Shannon smirks back.
"Why don’t we raise the stakes?” Camila says with a mischievous smile. “Loser has to eat a spoon of-“
“-oh God, not the hot sauce,” Ava groans. They keep a bottle of LD50 hot sauce for challenges like this, originally bought for Bea as the resident biochem major, as a joke.
“Hmm. Afraid you’ll lose?” Shannon taunts. She stretches her arms behind her head, intentionally flexing her biceps.
Ava narrows her eyes. “Let’s do this, Masters.”
“Oho! It’s Masters now!” Mary crows.
Beatrice mutters something under her breath while Camila digs her phone out of her pocket.
“Uh...evidence? For accuracy?” she says when Beatrice quirks an eyebrow at her.
Shannon and Ava lower themselves to the ground.
“Chest has to touch the floor,” Mary calls out. “You can rest in a plank position. I’ll count for Shan. Bea, you count Ava’s?”
Beatrice nods.
“Go!” Camila presses record.
The two rise into a plank position and immediately start their push-ups. Ava chooses a strategy of completing hers as quickly as possible, trying to avoid fatigue. Meanwhile, Shannon is almost mechanical in her form, rising and lowering in a repetitive pattern.
Ava begins to slow down around number forty. “Fuck,” she exhales.
“Tired already?” Shannon doesn’t even pause or sound winded, continuing her push-ups.
“Thirty-five, come on babe,” Mary encourages.
“Rest, Ava,” Beatrice suggests. She mentally prepares herself for the upcoming shitshow (praying it’s not a literal one).
Ava pauses and rests in a plank position. She completes five more as Shannon finally starts to slow down.
Ava’s next three are shaky, and she forces herself to rest again.
“Uh uh, keep that butt down, girl!” Mary hollers with glee.
“Fuck - you-“ Ava says between puffs of breath.
“Come on, Ava!” Beatrice slaps a hand on her thigh.
Shannon rests as Ava barely completes one more.
“One more, Ava!”
Ava’s entire body shakes when she lowers herself, groaning as she pushes back up. She squeezes her eyes shut and lowers once more, but-
-collapses onto her stomach.
“Fifty,” Beatrice says.
Shannon decides to end her rest at this exact moment and continues on as before. She turns her head toward Ava who’s laying on her back and heaving for breath once she gets to fifty. She winks.
Shannon completes ten more before dropping to her knees.
“Sixty.” Mary is positively gleeful, as is Camila, who immediately stops recording and runs to the office to grab the hot sauce.
Ava groans and lays both arms over her eyes. “Why did I do this,” she mutters.
Beatrice kneels down by her and rests a hand on Ava’s shoulder. “You can never refuse these challenges, love.”
Behind them, Mary looks Shannon up and down. “How many more did you have in you?”
Shannon smiles secretively. She doesn’t answer, but instead replies with, “I didn’t want to embarrass her too much.”
Camila’s voice grows louder as she jogs back. “Hot sauce! Hot sauce! HOT SAUCE!”
Mary and Shannon join in the chant as Ava sits up and Beatrice pinches the bridge of her nose.
“Okay, okay, hand it over.”
“Wait, Ava-“
Ava dips the spoon in her mouth and pulls it out clean. She shrugs. “Not too bad.”
Then.
Ava’s eyes bulge as a flush spreads up her neck to her ears. “Holy shit, what the FUCK-“ She starts gasping for air and reaches for the closest water bottle.
Camila zooms in on her face as she records but Beatrice steps into the frame, deathly serious, although Mary and Shannon’s raucous laughter can be heard in the background. “Camila. You didn’t bring any milk?"
Beatrice sprints to the office as Ava gets down on all fours, tears streaming down her face. “Hate - you - Shan-“
“This is all you, Ava.” Shannon snaps a quick picture and says, “I should have some ice cream in the fridge. We can get Bea to-“
Beatrice’s steps are rapid. She clutches a carton of milk in her hand. “Ava!”
Beatrice kneels down once more and removes the lid. Ava claws for it, chugging it greedily. Milk sloshes out of her mouth and down her sports bra, but she doesn’t care. Her entire body is tight and she resists the urge to punch something.
Shannon stands over her. “Learned your lesson yet?” She asks.
“Asshole,” Ava spits out without any bite. “I’ll beat you at the next one.”
Beatrice sighs and Camila stops recording.
“What’s the next one?” Mary asks, unable to hide her smirk.
“How about you and Bea do something?”
Mary and Beatrice look to each other.
“Pull-ups?” Mary pats her own bicep.
Beatrice’s face is carefully blank.
“Sure.”