Did I notice how Luna was staring at me while we were getting ready for the gym? Yes. But did I mind? Not at all. It actually felt somewhat nice to have someone admire your body, especially since I knew how she felt about me. On top of that, I also was happy that she really didn’t care much about my arm either. Most people who knew didn’t really care, but that didn’t stop me from sometimes feeling self-conscious about it. And then lastly, all things said and done, Luna’s body was definitely there to be admired as well. She wasn’t as toned as I was, but she definitely was in shape.

“So, is there any machine you want to try out first?” I asked her to break the silence. She clearly wasn’t really familiar with most of the devices strewn around the room.

“I’m not sure…” She looked around at the different corners of the room. She stopped and stared a bit longer at one of the machines Corporal Sparks was using.

“Are you interested in one of those?”

“Well… but that other person is already using one, I don’t want to get in her way.”

“There are multiple appliances of one type for a reason. They aren’t there to collect dust.” I smiled and then turned towards Corporal Sparks. “Hey, Corporal. Do you mind if we join you at the rowing machine?”

“Go ahead, Commander!” She yelled back.

“See, no issues here.” I gave Luna a wink and started walking towards the other side of the room, although I did slow down a bit to wait for her to overcome her hesitance.

Once she rejoined and got to the rowing machine, I stood next to her. “Have you ever been rowing before?”

“Like, on a real boat?”

“Yeah.” I gave her a nod.

“No.” She shook her head.

“Alright, to start off, you need to get on the seat.” While I started to explain, Corporal Sparks slowed down her exercise and then stopped so Luna could mimic the way she was sitting on the seat. She didn’t really have to do that but it was definitely appreciated. “Then we strap in your feet, so you can return more easily to your starting position…” I placed her feet gently on the spots and strapped her shoes in. “Then you take this handle in both of your hands with the palms of your hands pointed down. Again, Corporal Sparks showed how to do it in practice.

“Thanks.” Luna smiled at the corporal and then followed her lead.

I kept explaining for just a bit longer and then set the machine to the resistance that felt right for Luna. After that, the only thing left was for Luna to practice a bit.

“So, back straight, legs, arms, arms, legs?” Luna looked at me for confirmation.

“Yep.” I gave her a smile.

“You got this, XO.” Sparks also replied and began her own routine again. When I peeked over to her counter, I could see she’d actually already had done quite the distance before we joined.

Luna then started rowing. She’d listened to our explanation pretty well, as her form was almost perfect. She slipped up a couple of times, but then quickly corrected herself.

“You are doing great.” I smiled while the distance on the display started crawling up. “Do you mind if I go over there to start doing my own work-out?” I nodded over to the pull-up bar in the distance.

“M-mhmm, go ahead. I came in with you a… after all.” It sounded like she was definitely getting in some good exercise.

“Alright, if you need me, just call out.” I gave her a wink and went on my way to do some good old pull-ups.

182 pull-ups later and some other minor exercises on the side, and I was feeling a lot better. Sometimes my body would just feel meh if I hadn’t done any exercise lately, but now I was just feeling incredible. Luna had also hopped over to a couple of different appliances in the meantime, with her asking some advice from Sparks and me. She did seem to enjoy herself, even though she’s really not as much of a gym monkey as any of us.

Sparks had called it a day about thirty minutes before Luna and I decided to call it quits too. Now it was time for a good warm shower to wash all the sweat away. Luna and I took a shower stall next to each other.

“Luna, could you hand me the conditioner please? I forgot mine in my locker.”

“Ah… uh… sure.” It took her a couple of seconds, but a hand appeared from around the corner with a pink bottle of conditioner.

“Thanks.” I squeezed a little bit of the conditioner in my hand and then quickly handed the bottle back around the corner. “I hope your body isn’t going to hurt too much tomorrow.”

“I think it’ll be fine.” Luna replied, although she did sound somewhat tired. “Thank you for helping me with the appliances.”

“Well, I should be thanking you for coming with me instead. It’s a lot more fun to go in a group rather than alone, even if you train on seperate machines.”

“Mhmm.” Luna hummed. “Maybe I should go along more.”

“Hey, feel free to join me at any time.” I smiled to myself.

“Ouch.” Luna yelped a bit.

“What’s wrong?!” I had to hold myself back from looking around the corner.

“I-it’s nothing.” Luna replied, but I wasn’t convinced.

“Did you slip? Are you hurt? Want me to come and help you?”

“No, no.” Luna quickly shot me down. “I just got some shampoo in my eye. That’s all.” She chuckled a little. “That was really stupid of me, sorry.”

“Ouch. Make sure to rinse it out well, okay?”

“Mhmm. Doing that right now.”

With that crisis averted and one slightly painful eye for Luna, we left and headed back to our room. -Our room… I still need to get a bit used to that.- Once there, I quickly decided to sit down in my armchair. Even though I told Luna to take it easy, now that the initial rush of energy from working out had subsided, I was starting to feel the bite of the exercise I’d done.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked, our roles reversed.

“I’m just starting to feel it in my arms and legs.” I smiled.

“Are you going to be able to get your food, or should I just go and get some for the both of us?”

“That’d be terribly kind.” I gave her a nod. “Well… only if you want to of course, I think we still have some snacks here or there. So you don’t really need t-”

“Lauren, I think we need some actual food after training, don’t you think so?” Luna had entered some kind of mommy mode. I didn’t dislike it…

“Uh… yeah… I guess we do…” I had to count to ten inside my head to regain my composure.

“What would you like for dinner?” Luna asked while I was at 8.

“Not sure. Macaroni?”

“Hmm, pasta is not that good after physical exercise, though.” She put her hand in front of her mouth while she was thinking to herself. “But it tastes good.... Okay, let’s go with that.” Luna’s stomach was talking rather than her brain but it just added a bit of cuteness which was appreciated. “Is penne with cheese and ham good for you?” She then asked.

“Yeah, sounds great.” I gave her a smile accompanied by a thumbs up from my bionic arm as my other one was getting terribly sore.

“Good, I’ll be right back.” Luna quickly made a 180° turn and left the cabin. Leaving me by myself… well, leaving me Sharky the shark who was staring at me from on top of Luna’s bed. Luna had donned Sharky with one of my reserve berets, with my approval of course. It actually looked pretty good.

“So, how’s life?” I turned my head and started to speak with Sharky, who obviously didn’t reply. “Yeah, I bet your life’s pretty great.” You could tell it had been hugged by Luna quite a bit, as a bit of the fluff had compounded already. Luckily, I knew a certain doctor who could re-fluff stuffed animals if need be.

I was still staring at Sharky when Luna came back inside with a couple of plates of delicious smelling macaroni. My mouth started watering immediately.

“I’m back.” She said with a smile as she put down the plates on the table.

“Was there a long line?”

“No, I was practically alone there, we missed the evening rush.”

“Good.”

“I did ask to put in some extra nutrients to supplement our diet a bit, but the bot said that it shouldn’t influence the taste… too much.”

“Well, at least it already smells pretty good, so…” With some effort, I managed to get up from my armchair and walk over to take a seat at the table. I took a spoon and scooped up some macaroni. “If I drop dead after 30 seconds, it’s probably best you don’t eat from it.”

Luna giggled and waited for me to take a bite.

My own joke had somehow made me a bit hesitant, but in the end I shoveled in the first bite of dinner.

“Hmm, it tastes perfectly fine.” I nodded in approval. “Definitely a five out of seven.”

“A five out of seven? That’s a weird scale.”

I chuckled. “It’s an ancient joke, don’t worry about it.”

“Ah…” Luna looked a bit confused and then started eating the food herself.

-I think I actually prefer the taste of it with the added nutrients.-