Jumping in the Deep End

[Liesmith]

And lo, Keith was indeed a good boy who did what he was told.

With nary a murmur, he got down on the mats when she asked. Had to be quite the shot for the cameras, she imagined, him in just the perfect position for her to step over… get her legs around his neck…

It was a tempting idea, but Tris refrained. Instead, she too played the good girl, settled down to the mats on her knees until they were again eye to eye instead of eye to thigh.

For her part, the redhead just sat there but Keith was an eager beaver – immediately, he was coming at her, arms out to engage. Gaze trying hard to stay above the neckline, though he wasn’t doing so well at that (bit like most guys, Tris had found).

In his defence, he was at least being somewhat wary rather than just throwing himself at her for a hug.

“Ah, ah,” Tris waggled a finger at him mock-scoldingly, “Hold your horses, mister. First things first.”

Slowly she laid down, posting one deceptively well-built arm out in front of her in challenge.

“Armwrestling.”

The red-haired Brit grinned up at him, fingers slowly furling and unfurling.

“Then we see if you can handle lil’ old me…”

[BlackAkuma]

Wrestling with an extremely sexy, buxom and flirty redhead.

It was a dirty job that Keith had set himself up for, but someone had to do it.

Needless to say, but he was more than ready to lock horns with Tris, even if it certainly meant that he’d be suffering a similar fate to Larry in the near future, though he hoped it wouldn’t be quite as messy. He moved in, ready to engage and lock horns…

…but she had other ideas.

He’d been in mid-lunge when she halted, nearly through him off balance. He managed to kept himself upright instead of lurching forward, but he looked her way with raised brow, curious where she was going with this. He didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

Arm-wrestling. Okay, hadn't seen that one coming.

Keith looked her over, incredulous for a moment, but decided to go with it - it wasn’t her upperbody strength he was worried about, here. ”Suit yourself.” He settled into the mat, propped his elbow up, and brought his hand into position as he focused on her eyes. ”Ready when you are.”

[Liesmith]

Tris could see the surprise and disbelief writhing across Keith’s face, but all she gave him was a slight shrug of a shoulder as she settled in.

He wanted to know how they – she – started things. And as often as not, it was arm wrestling. No, she didn’t get it either. But it wasn’t any skin off her nose either way and, sometimes, it’d been a useful way to intimidate her opponent.

A smile, a blown kiss and slamming their hand down to the mat like it was nothing? Yeah, it was definitely one way to get under someone’s skin, particularly the ones who thought that she was nothing more than a marshmallow. All curves, no power.

It was even more fun with the men who thought that having a set of balls trumped everything else. Keith Fox didn’t strike her as being cut from that sort of cloth, though Tris was still sure he was about to be a little shocked.

At least he was going to go with it, not throw some sort of testosterone fuelled tantrum about how this was insulting because she was just a girl yadda-yadda.

Well, she’d see.

Tris matched Keith’s positioning, clasping her hand around his. Her grip was firm if relaxed, but then she’d never felt the need some did to try and show off by squeezing hard or the like. No sense in spoiling the surprise.

“Ready,” she sang out with a devil-may-care smirk firmly etched on her features, “Set and go.”

With that, the redhead pushed. Not all out, just doing her best to guess what it’d take to stall out the blond’s initial attempt.

[BlackAkuma]

Keith often got compared to the manosphere types. The dudebros who hung out and did those lazy podcasts where they talked about being ‘real men’ and smoked overpriced cigars, hawked testosterone pills, and talked about how women needed to stay barefoot and pregnant all day long.

Not his thing. Never his thing. His brother, on the other hand…

Well, that was a subject for another day. The point here was, though, that a certain segment of his audience would have some opinions about him taking on a woman in arm-wrestling, and those opinions would grow even stronger if he lost. Getting beaten in wrestling was one thing, but getting overpowered was another. He needed to show up here, if only a little.

”All right, here we go. Been a little while…” He locked hands and locked eyes, matching that smile on her face with one of his own. ”Three, two…”

Keith buckled down and applied pressure, bringing out a good chunk of his strength - but not too much. He was playing it up a bit more than necessary, making his muscles bulge with some added trembling, but he wasn’t going close to his full power. He wanted to tease this out at first, feel what she could really do before he went whole hog.

Little by little, he began to add more pressure, seeing how well she responded. ”Getting tired yet?”

[BlackAkuma]

Keith often got compared to the manosphere types. The dudebros who hung out and did those lazy podcasts where they talked about being ‘real men’ and smoked overpriced cigars, hawked testosterone pills, and talked about how women needed to stay barefoot and pregnant all day long.

Not his thing. Never his thing. His brother, on the other hand…

Well, that was a subject for another day. The point here was, though, that a certain segment of his audience would have some opinions about him taking on a woman in arm-wrestling, and those opinions would grow even stronger if he lost. Getting beaten in wrestling was one thing, but getting overpowered was another. He needed to show up here, if only a little.

”All right, here we go. Been a little while…” He locked hands and locked eyes, matching that smile on her face with one of his own. ”Three, two…”

Keith buckled down and applied pressure, bringing out a good chunk of his strength - but not too much. He was playing it up a bit more than necessary, making his muscles bulge with some added trembling, but he wasn’t going close to his full power. He wanted to tease this out at first, feel what she could really do before he went whole hog.

Little by little, he began to add more pressure, seeing how well she responded. ”Getting tired yet?”

[Liesmith]

Tris could already tell this was going to be a problem. For the arm wrestling at least. But then she ought to have known better anyway, ought to have taken his strength onboard when she’d taken a moment to appreciate the eye candy on display.

Not that she was going all out yet (anymore than he was, she was sure). Her arms, her shoulders might look soft, fleshy even, but they were lined with dense, strong muscle built from her pole dancing days. They might not bulge in the same way as Keith’s, lacking that sort of visible definition, but Tris’ biceps had an undeniable solidity to them as she pushed back against him.

She’d won her fair share of arm wrestling just like this, by outlasting her opponent rather than outmuscling them (though she’d done that too). The blond bear seemed like he was settling in for the long haul however.

“Me? I’m practically dozing off over here,” the redhead threw back, making sure to keep her grin firmly in place, “Just wake me up when you start trying, luv.”

For all her bravado, there was a slight, strained edge to Tris’ voice now; she didn’t know if he’d noticed but she was very aware of it and she hated it. Almost as much as she hated the slow but inevitable way her arm had started to inch the wrong way.

She dug a little deeper, stopped it before it became a trend. But it wasn’t a great sign.

Still. She was going to make him work for it.

Summoning a sudden surge of strength, she went to reverse his gains, her arm flexing hard as Tris turned up the power from seeming nowhere with a mirthless sneer etched on her features.

[BlackAkuma]

Tris should’ve been in show business. If no one had approached her about that, Keith would be sorely surprised.

It wasn’t just the eyes or the looks or the body, either. Important all that was, sure, but what was really impressing him here was the confidence. It might’ve seemed cliche, and it was, but that was really the cornerstone of every good career in front of a camera. People could sense authenticity. They could tell when you were full of it, when you didn't believe in yourself. And if you didn’t believe in yourself, why would anyone else?

That wasn’t what Keith saw when he stared into Tris’ eyes. She seemed to really think she could pull this off. No real doubts.

He liked that. She was wrong, but he liked that.

The surge was a good idea, but it took him quite off guard. He figured she had a little in reverse, but only a little. Instead of a splash, he got a wave, and it nearly threw him overboard. She managed to recover a good deal of the ground she lost before he slammed the breaks on it.

”Okay, whew, good.” He chuckled. ”Really good. But…”

Keith hunkered down and made his final push, throwing all he had into a Hail Mary, recruiting all the muscles he could as he tried to bring the back of her hand crashing to the mats all at once.