twisted wonderland one-shots (requests CLOSED! for now)

epel x strong!gn!reader

a/n: i'm a gym rat and getting to write gym scenes was absolutely PERFECT for me >:)

synopsis: reader is the stronger of the two and epel really wants to help, but since he can't do as much he's gotta find other ways to impress you. reader is prefect again

also i said leona is fucking SCARED bc he got his ass beat so bad in chapter two and now the prefect is back for more. ik that it's usually not how he's portrayed but its my fic and what i say goes

Having a gym buddy was great. Perfect, even. You'd just wish that he'd stop pushing himself too far.

"Epel..." you start, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should choose a different weight? Something easier to start out with?"

"N-no! I got this!" he says, gritting his teeth and tightening his grip on the weight across his shoulders.

"Usually I'd let you, but you can't even get back up," you say, gesturing to the way that Epel was stuck in a deep squat position and unable to stand back up. His legs were shaking tremendously and his face had turned beet red, but he shook his head furiously.

"No! I can do it! I can—"

You reach over and pull the weight up and Epel along with it until he was standing, gasping for air as soon as the pressure in his chest lessened. He whips around, about to cuss you out for not letting him do it on his own, but freezes at the sight of you putting the weight on the rack with minimal struggle.

You've always been the stronger of the two. Where Epel fell short you easily flew past, making it all seem simple if a really, really infuriating way. Epel had jumped at the chance to work out with you to learn all of your secrets—unfortunately, the only two you had were "consistency" and "patience".

The "patience" part was really bugging Epel. How was he supposed to get all big and strong if it was supposed to take time? He was nowhere near your level!

Helping you was out of the question, too. Each time a professor would ask for assistance moving things, it was always the same three people: Jack, Sebek, and you.

This infuriated Epel to no end.

He could help too! He could move just as much as you! His confidence dwindled each time he'd watch you heft up boxes upon boxes under your arms or drag stacks of chairs across the classroom—he could barely move two without having to stop for breaks. How embarrassing.

"I could've done that just fine..." he grumbles, watching you spray down the equipment. He goes silent once again as you raise an eyebrow, looking away.

"Maybe we should take a break," you say, wiping the sweat off of your face with the bottom of your shirt. "Let's grab water or something, yeah?"

"No!" exclaims Epel, practically jumping onto the weights once more. "I can do this!"