Work Text:
When exercising turned into the new fun thing to do during break at Belobog Industries, Koleda couldn’t say she was surprised. After all, exercising and dealing with heavy machinery pretty much go hand in hand.
Grace has stuck to small simple workouts which made all the muscle she has actually visible– how her arms weren’t toned before Koleda has no clue– and Ben has stuck to lifting weights. Easy on the body yet effective workouts.
Anton however..
“Oh sh–”
Koleda watches in mild concern as Anton wobbles slightly, the hand he’s using for a one handed push-up straining under the effort of trying to hold the weight of the Bangboo’s on his back. Koleda distantly worries about the many Bangboo repairs she can see in the near future if he falls but she’s more focused on the injuries he’ll get if he falls.
Anton had decided to take it upon himself to try the one handed one hundred Bangboo push-up challenge that he created himself and he started out strong but now he’s clearly struggling.
Koleda doesn’t even know what number of Bangboos he’s on, she lost count at the twenty nine mark. Though given how it feels like forever has passed since, she’s willing to bet he’s somewhere near forty now.
She watches from a bit away in exasperation as another Bangboo steps up the small stairs Anton provided them so they can climb on him. She takes a sip of soda from the soda can in her hand as she stares in both worry and smugness. Smugness because Anton is the one who started the whole working out trend even though she warned him from the start that he was almost definitely gonna get competitive and do some crazy stunt that leaves him either exhausted to the bone or injured.
Koleda doesn’t want either of those outcomes but since she can’t exactly stop it now, she finds herself amused at the fact she was right. Hopefully though, Koleda hopes he’ll stop while he’s ahead.
Anton shifts ever so slightly as the weight of another Bangboo crawling on him is added, his hand visibly gripping the concrete ground tightly as he tries to remain upright. There’s sweat on his hand and face and the amount kinda grosses Koleda out but she chooses to try and ignore it.
Koleda sighs in worry, it’s obvious he’s overdoing himself now. She’s well aware he’s not weak by any means seeing as he stopped a runaway machine five times his size with his bare hands but that was with two hands but still he’s been working himself more because he’s been trying to be the best ‘worker-outer’– Koleda still can’t keep a straight face when she remembers that’s what he called himself– in Belobog. Thus it has led to his strength being strained from overworked muscles.
She can hear the Bangboos cheering him on and decides to stop watching from the sidelines, she knows firsthand that Anton takes on more than he can chew when he’s really set on something.
“Anton.” Koleda speaks up for the first time since he started this ridiculous challenge, walking towards him and putting her hand on her hip as Anton’s attention is successfully caught and he turns his head towards her.
His face is strained, scrunched up in effort and focus, and almost dripping with sweat– Koleda suppresses her urge to tell him to take an immediate shower after this– yet his gaze softens as much as it could as he meets her own gaze.
Out of the corner of her eye she can see another Bangboo climb the steps of the stairs and she quickly reacts, her mind focusing on making sure no more weight is added onto his back.
“Hey, quit that. He’s done.” She commands, frowning at the little robot as it looks dejected for a brief moment before stepping back down the stairs with as much of a stumped posture that its build will allow. She feels a tinge of guilt for speaking so harshly but knowing the Bangboos it’ll get over it quickly.
“What–?” Anton strains out, his face contorting with confusion and exertion. His arm is clearly shaking as he tries to keep from falling and the Bangboos simultaneously make a confused noise with him.
She removes her hand from her hip and crosses her arm over her chest, her hand resting in the crook of her other arm’s elbow as she makes sure not to spill her can of soda.
“As the president, I think I should emphasize the fact that you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew, especially when it comes to exercising or you’ll get injured.” She tells him sternly, her tone leaving no room for argument. Not that he would, Anton knew when he couldn’t win an argument. That and he was exhausted enough to not focus on a good counter argument.
“So,” Koleda starts, now turning her head up to look at the Bangboos neatly stacked on him. “You can all get down and go for now.”
There are noises of agreement and acknowledgment from the Bangboos for a moment, the sounds bouncing off of each other. Then one of the Bangboos goes to step off the stack and suddenly they all fall– practically sink– to the ground and she stumbles back to avoid getting hit by one of them.
She turns her gaze down to see Anton buried under the pile of Bangboos, his hand splayed out in front of him as the other arm is still behind his back. He lets out a groan and starts to slowly get up, unintentionally soothing her worries of him somehow knocking himself unconscious.
“Are you okay?” She asks as she moves forward towards him again, her hand hovering over his shoulder in horribly concealed concern. He looks up at her as he sits up on his knees, some Bangboos that were still clinging onto his back gently clatter to the ground but they both pay no mind to the sounds of offense that leave the small robots.
“Yeah, all good, President.” He says breathlessly as he pats her on the back with the hand that was previously behind his back, obviously out of breath from the exertion and fall.
She sighs in relief as she chooses to ignore the way his touch makes her drink spill over the can and drip onto her hand, just happy that he’s alright after that ridiculous stunt of his.
“So, Anton.” She smiles bemusedly at him as soon as she’s no longer worried about him being hurt. He hums in response, a sign to continue as he catches his breath.
“Do you feel like the best ‘worker-outer’?” She asks, amusement interwoven into her tone as she grins at him, sharp teeth on full display.
“Oh, shut up!” He groans loudly though his tone is lighthearted as he softly pushes her back from him to stand.
She chuckles and concedes, taking a step back to let him stand up fully. He towers over her easily at his full height and she turns her head up to look at him amusedly.
He shakes his head lightly before he grumbles playfully.
“The answer is still yes though.”
And Koleda can’t help but laugh at his words, her shoulders shaking from the force of it as Anton chuckles with her.
So maybe working out being the fun new thing around here isn’t too bad just so long as Anton doesn’t actually get hurt from his competitive spirit.