—❁—

Maya leaned against her apartment door. Her energy was gone and depleted. She exhaled and bonked her head against her door. The hard wooden surface against her forehead distracted her from her tired body.

She knew that when she got home, they would return to their workout routine—back to the gym where Aaron waited. Maya wished they could take a break from it for a week or do it privately—just the two of them. But Maya worried about Val’s reaction to the idea.

“Just tough it out,” Maya told herself, slapping her face lightly. “You can do it. You can do it…”

Unlocking the door, Maya carefully creaked it open. Val caught Maya by surprise, pulling her into an embrace. Maya could do little but fidget at the sudden hug.

“I. Missed. You.” Val purred, rubbing her cheek against Maya’s heated face like a large cat. “I saw you. Outside. The window. I couldn’t. Wait any. Longer. How. Are you?”

“I-I’m fine,” said Maya laughingly from Val’s overwhelming affection. Maya couldn’t help touching Val’s face, giving her a peck on her nose and drawing out a smile. It felt so strange, but also genuine. Her girlfriend’s smile revitalised Maya.

“Are you sure?” Val tentatively drew Maya closer with her toned arms. “You look. Tired. Do you want to? Talk?”

Maya’s hands fell on Val’s arms. She looked into her girlfriend’s eyes and felt like her worries were nonexistent—knowing she could tell her anything.

“When I tell you, do you promise not to be disappointed?”

Val nodded with a frown. “I’ll never be. Disappointed. Promise. What’s. Wrong?”

“Heh,” Maya sighed. “Can we stay at home today? No workout? Just relaxing? Together?”

Val’s face was a mixture of confusion and joy at the prospect of spending quality time together. However, she couldn’t help but feel odd about the request. “Maya. Are you. Alright?”

“No, not really,” confessed Maya. “But I’m glad you asked me. To be blunt, I’m not happy with the workout program. It would mean a lot to me if it could just be us. With less pressure to focus on diets or other things. I just want it to be about us. Does that make sense?”

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“I think so?” said Val, her face full of disconcertment to understand it. “How about. A jog. Later?”

Maya was glad Val took it so well. She feared it would have been worse, but her worries were for nothing. “How about tomorrow? In the meantime.” Maya gave Val another peck, but now on the lips. “We can work on some quality time. How does that sound?”

That won Val over, sending shivers of excitement through her body. She couldn’t help but feel excited and hugged Maya tighter, forcing a squeal out of her when she squeezed her.

“I’d love that,” she said with a chilly breath at Maya’s heated ear and enjoyed her little whimper. She scooped Maya up and kissed her. “I’ve prepared some. Dinner. For us. A new recipe.”

“Great, you won’t know how much that means,” Maya laughed, coiling her arms around Val’s neck. “Thank you for being so understanding.”

Aaron waited in the gym, wuthering. Neither of his targets arrived the whole day. He kept himself busy with his other customers, forcing them through a brutal workout, belittling their efforts or that they would never amount to anything with how they looked until they were done with the world for good.

But he was not done yet.

“Pick up the slack, whale.” He pulled one of them up by their hair and threw them at the treadmill. “Run until your fat starts burning or your bones creaking. GO!”

He shouted the entire gym down until it was midnight. When the last person left, Aaron wandered through the empty gym to find at least a janitor to run through his program. Aaron wracked the equipment in one of the training rooms until his anger subsided. Lifting the heavy dumbbells, Aaron was not satisfied with the heavyweights until his veins bulged, his muscles burned, or his body improved.

His displeasure still didn’t subside.

The Valkyrie was so close, yet so far away. “I almost broke that fat svín. I was so close. What went wrong!?”

Aaron hit the dumbbell against the power rack, denting the metal and sending the weights flying. It crashed against the wall, scaring an unfortunate gym goer who returned to retrieve his bag.

Aaron turned and smiled wickedly. “Oh? Someone here for some late-night training, are we?” Aaron’s arm swelled, his muscles bulged, and the skin broke and turned grey.

He crushed the human’s spine and tore him apart ligament for ligament. He bit off from his calf and devoured their flesh. “Disgusting, but delicious meat. You humans are unsavoury creatures.”

Spitting out the blood, Aaron thought back to the Valkyrie and her body he had modelled in the exercise. She was weak, but her muscles were still substantial and formable. Her beauty and flesh were tender promises for his cravings.

“She’s perfect,” drooled Aaron. “I’ll make her mine.” Then he thought back to her girlfriend and broke the piece of bone he held. “And offer that girl’s ugly fat to the fire.”