voidtreckerexpress | Getting those gains.

Who: Gladio and Open
When: Day 23
Where: Gym
What: Gladio is fed up of being limited. He's at the gym and slowly working on the arm that he hurt during the mission.
Warning: Shirtless Gladio. Not for the faint of heart!

All that was really left of his wound was a scar to add to the rest of his war wounds. Was it 100%? No. Did Gladio care? Hell no. He was done with it. He was done with the feeling of uselessness. He was done with the fussing and the worrying over every little thing he did. He was done with feeling so damn depressed he hadn't left his cabin in the last two days.

He got up that morning with renewed determination and the sling came off. It was such a damn relief. Immediately he started to feel better. So he took himself to the gym.

Of course he wasn't about to go and push himself and throw himself into his usual routine. He wasn't that stupid. A little rehabilitation would be needed to strengthen his arm. But he could do what he could to make himself feel better. And that's what he intended.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"If you need a spotter, let me know." Trowa smirked at the comment about scars as he lowered himself down to somersault to his feet. "I take it you got tired of the sling?" He was fairly sure he'd seen Gladio around wearing one recently.

Gladio remembered the tattered pieces of material on his bunk and gave a dark chuckle. "Yeah, you could say I got tired of the damn thing." It had driven him to distraction. It had itched. It had felt suffocating. He'd felt limited by it. But on a more positive side of things, he would do better to damn well dodge when space aliens were shooting at him.

"Not sure what I'm capable of right now. Last thing I need is to do more damage and have more people fussing over me." No, that wasn't bitterness in his voice. Not at all. There was, however, a sigh. He glanced at Trowa, he was sure that was the kids name, and frowned. "... Think you could help me stretch his shoulder out? Test my limits?"

"Sure, I'll do what I can to help." Rolling his own shoulders to make sure he was loose and ready, Trowa held out his hand. "I'm not sure we've been introduced. I'm Trowa."

Gladio leaned toward the kid and reached for his hand to shake. "Gladio. Not formally introduced, no. But I've seen you about." It was a small train after all. Gladio might not know everyone personally but he at least liked to know names. "Thanks for the assist."

"You're welcome." Trowa knew proper care of muscles while recovering helped keep the recovery from getting any longer. "What did you have in mind for exercises to start with?"

"Just need to work out the range of motion I have in this shoulder. I've not used it in over a week. It feels stiff." And hurt. But that was a given, he didn't need to explain to the kid, clearly he understood the issues he was having.

Gladio looked around and walked over to grab a chair and pulled it away from the wall to sit in. Then he sat with a smile. "It'll be easier like this I'd think." While the kid was tall, Gladio was still much taller.

Moving over, Trowa got ready. "How do you want to start? Lateral or vertical?"

[Bless you, but Tro is only 5ft 2.5in]

"Whichever you feel more comfortable with." Gladio smiled, but then he shifted his shoulder a little, testing out where his range of movement needed the most work. He nodded. "Vertical seems the trickiest. Maybe we start there?"

"Sure. Want me to press up or down?" Trowa wasn't sure if he wanted resistance or gentle stretching.

"Down." Gladio decided, it would help to start with. He'd already been rolling his shoulder to gauge the amount of movement he had in his shoulder. Which was to say, not much at all.

Trowa made sure to brace his feet on the ground and placed his hands on Gladio's arm. One on his bicep and one on his forearm. "Let me know when you're ready to start."

Gladio took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm ready." It had to be done. He needed to get movement back in his shoulder before the next mission. Otherwise he'd be forced to sit it out and there was no way he was doing that.

With a nod, Trowa began apply steady downward pressure on Gladio's arm. He wasn't as muscular as the man he was helping, but he did have solid leverage. And he was nowhere near as weak as he might look.

Gladio groaned and grit his teeth once Trowa began to push down. "Yeah... like that..." He would have preferred a band to help with this, but since that was out, the kid assistance would, he hoped, help.

Trowa kept up the steady pressure, long fingers gripping Gladio's muscles as his own arms flexed with the exertion. "Just let your arm drop when you need a break."

It didn't take long at all for Gladio to need to drop his arm. He took a deep breath and let out a low laugh. "... Lets try again."

Gladio managed another 20 minutes before he was forced to call it quits. Another laugh, more breathless this time, he was forced to lift his good hand to halt Trowa. "... I think that's enough for now. A little each day... That should help."

Trowa nodded and stepped away, letting Gladio rest. "If you want me to continue to help you, I'd be more than happy to do so."

He tilted his head back to look at Trowa, as he moved his other hand to rub at his shoulder.

"You wouldn't mind?" He asked with a grin. "I could really use the help." He would have asked Iggy, but... he couldn't stand that damn guilty look in his eyes. Trowa was good.

Trowa grinned back and shook his head. "Not at all. It's important to have help recovering from a wound like what it sounds like you had. And you're clearly strong, which means keeping you at your best benefits myself and the rest of the train. It's important for us to help each other out in this place." Animosity would be unhealthy and dangerous.

Gladio laughed and gave the kid a nod. "Well, if I can return the favour sometime, just ask. I owe you one."

"Think you can spot me one handed?" Trowa looked over at the weights, knowing he'd been slacking off.

Getting those gains.

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