Those Who Work Out

Posted on Thu Sep 8th, 2022 @ 7:49pm by Lieutenant JG Rafe Hunnicutt

2,101 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The devil wears tripolymer
Location: Gym

There was always something satisfying about working up a sweat. And Hunnicutt was doing that, moving lightly on his feet, fists raised up to his head. And then he hit the bag, again and again, always moving. He wore loose jogging bottoms, the sort that weren't Starfleet issue, and wore a grey hoodie that had the sleeves ripped off. He had bound his hands, but didn't wear boxing gloves. More because he hadn't replicated himself a pair since coming onboard.

He hit again, sweat making his hair stick to his forehead in curls, but he didn't care. He wanted to feel the burn, to be out of breath, to sweat. And then shower and pass out, because that was a nice and healthy way of getting some sleep.

Doctor Ross believed that staying active and fit was part of a healthy life style. She also didn't mind the eye candy that was working out at the punching bag, she had been watching him every since she started running on the track that encircled a work out area.

Hunnicutt finished with a series of hard punches, pulling back with his breath coming out in puffs. He looked over at her for a moment, giving her a grin as he reached for a bottle of water to gulp some down. "Lift your knees up! Hup hup!" he called out, but there was an easy warmth about the way he said it. He was just teasing. He reached for his towel and wiped his face. "And don't forget to hydrate, but maybe not when running. Gets messy!"

Hope was jogging over toward the man that had yelled across the gym at her with a smile on her face. "Well thanks for the work out tips, coach" she said sarcastically to the man she had never met on the ship.

"I'm here all day! Well, for the next cardiac arrest or two!" he called back, grinning at her sarcasm. He deserved it. He wiped his neck before folding the towel, reaching for more tape to bind his knuckles.

"Do you need me to take you to sickbay?" Hope asked cocking an eyebrow and putting her hands on her hips. "You look like your about to die there fella" her southern accent coming though.

"No, I'll just expire here, it'll be easier to move me into a torpedo casing. Say some nice words about me! He was the best coach I ever had...for the two seconds he was amongst us...you know, that sort of thing," Hunnicutt called back, stopping to look at her properly now she had stopped running. "I'm Rafe Hunnicutt. And I am going to punch this bag as long as I can stand it."

"Well" Hope wiped her face and thankfully had stopped sweating. "Mister Hunnicutt" she smiled "I'm Doctor Hope Ross and it's a pleasure to meet you" Hope pointed at him "I can't let you die here, too much paper work" she shrugged and looked at him with a crooked smile.

"A Doctor!" Hunnicutt nodded, looking at her, lowering his hands to just study her. "I can see it. Doctors have this...determination about them. You can sniff it out, most of the time. Should have clocked it. Alright, I'll hold off on the dying until a later time. Just for you though, Doc..." he winked.

"Yeah that's a good idea" she said shaking her head while giggling. "What's that supposed to mean" she maid air quotes "Doctors."

"Hey, my mother is a doctor. If she could hold the grim reaper back with a glance, she would," he said, giving a shrug before he started hitting the bag. "And the patient. Always. Comes. First." Each word was punctuated by the hard sound of fist against bag before he pulled back, rolling his shoulders.

He wasn't telling a lie, there were many times she put a patients safety ahead of her own. "Well I'm sure your mother is a great woman" she smiled at him and half tilted her head.

"Well, I have to say that, she taught me to box. If I said something else, I might wake up next week," he said playfully, looking at her. "Do you box? Or any of the things they taught at the Academy you stuck with?"

"I can hold my own" Hope was probably over exaggerating it a bit "hand to hand combat is a great work out" the Doctor admitted.

"I'm lousy," he admitted, shaking his head. "The stuff we did at the Academy, I ended up with more broken bones than I ever did when I boxed. I never kept those up. I like the punch bag because it doesn't punch me back..." he was playing the fool, but she didn't need to know he was a good boxer against people. Doctors tended not to like that. And for some reason, he wanted her to like him.

"Well just don't hurt yourself" she smiled at him "I hear the Doctors not in" Hope shrugged and blinked a few time with a soft smile on her face.

"Ah, I finally see it...you're a 9 to 5 doctor!" he tutted, before he laughed as he stepped back to get more water. "Been here long, Doctor Ross? Not the gym, obviously...the ship."

He was kind of a dick, she thought to herself for a second, but she found him so handsome. "It seems like I've only been here a few days" she said giving a half shrug.

"Ah.." he chuckled, nodding as he watched her for a long moment. "Downside of working in space, if we didn't have our duty shifts we'd never know what day it was. Following Sol times is..." he paused, giving a weak shrug. "Well, it's classic, isn't it. Why complain when it isn't broken. I'm new as well, to be fair. Been here long enough not to know anyone."

"Well now you know someone" Hope shot him a smile and moved over to hold the bag for him.

"Thanks," he said, giving her a nod of thanks as well. He went back to hit the bag, now that she held it still he didn't have to dance around as much. Instead he could focus on clean hits. He kept his fists up to guard though, because it was the best habit to have. "I know some names, and faces, and sometimes those are even for the same people."

Hope laughed "always a plus" she said watching him land punches on the bag.

He remained silent for a while, but he felt the discomfort of the repeated punches he stopped, taking the bag. He smiled, watching her. "You going to hit as well? I feel like I am making you do all the work."

"Sure" Hope said with a nod, it wasn't something she normally did for a workout. Pushing the bag toward Rafe she gave the bag a funny look and took a deep breath before she started pounding on the bag. Giving it a left and a right punch, she hadn't actually worked out like this in a long time, she mostly ran.

"I can strap your hands up, if it feels better," he suggested, holding the bag steady for her. She had good form, he saw that easily. And he was getting the idea that he should pull back a little on the wise-cracks with the person who would be in charge should he ever have a cracked chest. Or any injury really. "So what do you usually do on your free time, Doc?"

"Wrapping might be nice" she smiled at him, thinking about the question he had just ask her. "Well I like to eat" she smiled again "and a drink is nice, spend time with friend" although she hadn't made any on the Wolf yet.

He nodded as he let go of the bag, to get the wrap. He went to stand in front of her, taking her hand with a small smile to wrap her left hand first. "Well, we all need to eat. And drinks are nice, I agree with that. Although if you get a scan of me, you'll most likely tell me my liver is considering relocating somewhere safer, like a Targ's foodbowl..." he met her eyes, winking.

"Well" she blinked a few times, there was a smile on her face that she couldn't seem to wipe away. She figured it was just the touch of his hand that was making her smile. Hope wanted to flirt with him, but she was always so horrible at it.

He met her eyes, chuckling. "Too tight?" he asked, his hand gently rubbing over the wrap, as if testing to make sure he wasn't cutting off her circulation. "Or just right?"

"Uh huh" Hope said at first and then realized she was sounding like an idiot "it's perfect" she smiled and then pulled her hand away. "Shall we?" she asked gesturing toward the punching bag and feeling like a moron.

"Well, I could do the other one two, unless you have a grudge against your left hand?" he asked, his hands held between them, palms up. "If you do, then fair play to you."

"Oh that would be great" Hope smiled and placed her hand in his. "So what else do you like to do" she paused and looked up at him from her hand "besides drink and try to kill yourself in the gym" there was a giggle that followed.

"Find other creative ways of killing myself," he said, shaking his head. "I run. A lot. Not as much as I think you do. I've also been known to open up a book on occasion, find that a bit of a nice distraction. I like building things, but it is more a career rather than a hobby...and..." he let out a breath, clearly somewhat embarrassed, but willing to risk it. "And I knit. With needles. And occasionally, I create a hat."

"Very" Hope paused for a second "interesting" she followed up with a smile. Maybe he was more sensitive then she first thought and she was reading what she was hoping was a little flirting wrong. "Whatever helps you relax" Hope smiled as he finished up with her hand "I also like books" she giggled trying to lighten the mood.

"Any specific genre?" he asked, meeting her eyes before he checked the wrap and then let of her hand. He went to the bag, grabbing a firm hold of it as he poked his head around to watch her.

She started landing blows on the bag one after another. "I like romance and mystery" she hit the bag a few more times "you?"

"Mystery, supernatural...ancient history," he admitted, shaking his head. "To be honest, I read most things. I have this obsessive thing where I need to finish it if I started it."

"A good obsession to have" Hope said as she hit a few more slugs into the bag. It didn't take her long to get wore out doing this "I think I'm more out of shape then I thought" she admitted to her new work out buddy.

"Running is one thing, this is murder on the arms if you're not used to it. More keeping them up rather than anything else," he said, giving her a smile. "If you want, we can stick to running if you want company with that? I like running."

"Yeah sure" Hope wouldn't mind a running partner at all. "Maybe tomorrow morning" she asked him with a shrug.

"I'll be there," he said with a quick smile. "Wherever there is. Maybe we should have a designated meeting place, or else I'll run all over the ship and we'll miss each other."

"Good idea" she blushed slightly embarrassed. "How about here at six?" Hope asked smiling at him slightly.

"I'll be here," he said, nodding as he held her eyes. "You know, Doc...it'll be good. I haven't had someone to run with before, and I don't have many friends here yet. Maybe we can be each others' morale officers, while we find our feet."

"That would be great" she smiled "you can never have too many friends."

"Couldn't agree more," he smiled back, nodding. "Well, I am off to take a shower, and then collapse in my bunk. And then, try working through my shift. All the fun, all the games..."

"See you tomorrow" Hope said waiting by the bag and watching him walk away.

Lt. Hope Ross, MD
Chief Medical Officer

and

Lieutenant JG Rafe Hunnicutt
Engineering Officer

 

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