#sol snatcher

The Performance Center gym is alive with motion and sound as another class of NXT wrestlers train for their main roster dreams, but Zaria doesn't hear any of it. All she's focused on is her best friend, her tag team partner, her double champion, and hopeless crush - Sol Ruca. She's wearing a peach activewear set with a sports bra and matching shorts, and her aqua tipped blonde waves are accompanied by a half dozen or so tiny braids. Her cheeks are flushed from their workout, the lightest sheen of sweat shining on her forehead, and she's smiling at Zaria with an adorably wide grin.

"Come on, Z, I know you can do it! It'll be easy!"

The "it" in question being the Bench Press Your Girl Challenge, some new fitness trend going viral on TikTok, and they have been trying to incorporate more acrobatics into their move set, but the idea still makes Zaria a little nervous. It requires her to touch Sol in ways she's not used to, in places that get her heart racing and her muscles shaking, and it's completely different than when they're in the ring. It's not performative here. It's not work, and the swooping arousal that always pools in her gut when they touch is all too personal.

It's also weird and wrong and borderline predatory since she's not even sure that Sol likes girls, knows at the very least that Sol doesn't like her, not like that anyway, and the fear that she's taking advantage of Sol's easy affection and casual intimacy intrudes on her mind more and more.

Especially during moments like this.

"Oh, I don't know about that, sunshine. You know balance and acro aren't my strong suits. What if I drop you on your face?"

"Babe," Sol laughs, "we get paid to get dropped on our faces. Besides, you know that I trust you with my life." She moves a little closer, eliminating the space between them, and she reaches out with both hands to squeeze Zaria's shoulders in reassurance. "And that most definitely includes my face."

Sol's smile is still brilliantly bright, her tourmaline eyes glittering with enthusiasm behind her thick, long lashes, and the mole on the right side of her nose is just begging to be kissed, and Zaria's nodding before she's even aware of doing it. "Okay. Let's give it a go."

Her tag team partner doesn't seem to notice her friend's timid acceptance, too caught up in her own earnest excitement, and she bounces on her toes as her hands slide down the muscled definition of Zaria's bare arms until their fingers are linked together. "Yes! This is why I love you!"

She drags Zaria across the gym to the corner with the double row of waiting weight benches, and they choose one far and away from anyone else in the middle of their own workouts. She guides Zaria down onto the bench, and she launches into an energetic line of instructions. "So, it's basically just a regular bench press except that, obviously, I'm your weight. You're gonna put your hands here and here like you're lifting me up for a press slam, and I'm gonna be super rigid and solid while you get in as many reps as you can."

She positions Zaria's hands exactly where they'll need to be as part of her demonstration, and that's just about the time that Zaria completely loses track of anything that Sol is still saying. Her one hand is resting high on Sol's chest, just over her sternum and between her breasts, the tips of her fingers curling around Sol's collarbone. Her other hand sits low over Sol's pelvis, her palm covering Sol's core as her fingers curve naturally between Sol's thighs, and Zaria's mouth goes dry at the dangerously sensual touch.

It must not bother Sol, though, because she doesn't move, doesn't flinch or twitch or readjust as she continues to smile down innocently at Zaria. "Are you ready to try?"

"Y-yeah," Zaria mutters, her voice choked behind arousal and shame, and she clears her throat as she leans back onto the bench. "I'm ready."

Sol's faith and praise does what it always does, encourages her to work harder, to push through pain and doubt until she comes out successful on the other side, and she makes it through ten, twenty, thirty reps before her arms begin to shake. "Come on, babe. You're almost there, just five more. I know you can do it!"

She gives Zaria another minute to get her arms and body comfortable before once more settling Zaria's hands into position. She gives her weight over to Zaria's strength and control, her body held rigid by her powerfully trained back and abdominal muscles, and Zaria lifts her up into her first unsteady rep.

She struggles through three more before she really gets the hang of it, her pace and rhythm evening out into the familiar memorized motion of the exercise, and Sol chirps with glee. "That's it, Z! You got it! Keep going!"

The sound of Sol's continued cheering and pride rings in Zaria's head, the scent of her perfumed exertion filling Zaria's nose with every huffed and measured breath, and she can feel Sol's heart pounding with anticipation underneath her calloused palm as she forces herself to struggle through those final, exhausted reps. "You're a beast, Zaria! The freaking best like I can't even tell you how proud I am of you right now!"

Sol shudders and gasps in surprise before jerking herself upright and jumping away in shock, and Zaria doesn't wait for a further response as her gut twists into horrible, terrified knots. "I've got to go," she says, rising from the bench without even looking at her best friend, and she might not run back to the locker room, but she sure as hell doesn't walk, either.

Sol let's her body go lax and her feet hit the floor with a muted thud, but all Zaria can see is the flat bronze plane of her stomach and the sparkling gem of Sol's belly ring, and her hands are still so close to something forbidden and tempting as Sol remains unbothered in her grip.

The same can't be said for Zaria, whose blood is still rushing with longing adrenaline and organic desire, and that foggy flood of satisfaction and bliss has her kissing Sol's trembling stomach, her muscles clenching under the unexpected touch, and the wet tip of Zaria's tongue slips just barely into the tiny divet of Sol's bellybutton.

"Zaria, wait!"

She can hear Sol shouting from behind her as she continues to retreat but Zaria doesn't turn back, tears of frustration and misery already pinching and burning behind her eyes as her vision blurs, and she stumbles to her assigned cubby with one desperate train of thought going off the rails in her mind.

Run, run, run!

Zaria still tries to push and shove her way past her favorite champion, but they both know Zaria isn't willing to hurt her. Not on purpose, anyway, and she pins Zaria to the wall with firm but gentle hands. "Zaria! Stop, stop! Please!" she pleads, her brow creased in concern. "Tell me what just happened. Why did you freak out?"

She grabs blindly for her bag, not even bothering to shove all of her belongings inside it, she just grabs the bag and her boots, and she turns around just in time to ricochet off the chest of an upset and worried Sol. She falls back a few steps, her panicked blue eyes darting around like a cornered cat searching frantically for an escape.

She tries to move forward, tries to move past Sol and out the door to blessed freedom, but Sol is quicker and calmer than she is, and it doesn't take much before she's got Zaria caught between a wall of concrete and the wall of her body.

Zaria, for her part, is still doing her best not to look directly at Sol, her gaze flicking around the bright halo of Sol's flaxen hair to the fluttering pulse at her neck before landing unbidden on the plump cherry curve of Sol's parted lips. She snaps her eyes closed, an agonized wail clawing at the back of her teeth, and she slams her head against the wall thrice in defeat. "I'm sorry."

It's not an apology that Sol is willing to accept, not when she's not even sure what Zaria thinks she's done wrong, and she cradles Zaria's face between her cupped hands. "No, no, come on, Z. Look at me," she coos, swiping her thumbs over Zaria's cheekbones until the Aussie obeys. "There we go, that's it. There's those gorgeous baby blues I was looking for. Now, what are you sorry for, huh? Tell me."

"I- I can't," she breathes, her words barely more than a whisper, and she bites down on her lip so hard that Sol is sure she's about to draw blood. She tugs the wounded flesh from the pearly trap of Zaria's perfect teeth, and she smooths her thumb once more over Zaria's bitten silk skin.

"Please."

Zaria inhales sharply, her chest quivering with the motion, and Sol's anxious face is reflected in the glassy hurt of her polarizing eyes as she tries to shyly turn away, but it's in that moment that everything finally clicks into place for Sol.

"Is it because you like me?" she asks, her voice going husky as she presses even closer to the lush marble of Zaria's still quivering form. "Is it because you think I'm attractive?"

Zaria can't speak, her mind fried, her nerves on overdrive, but she whimpers shakily, and her hips buck instinctively against Sol's. "Is it because you want to kiss me?"

Sol needs no further confirmation, no further information, and she leans forward the rest of the way to claim Zaria's mouth in a tender kiss. She brushes their lips together, a barely there caress that only teases Zaria with the promise of more, and Zaria's mouth opens on a hungry sigh. Sol's tongue dips out to trace the deep bow of Zaria's upper lip before slipping inside to coax a reaction, and something inside Zaria snaps at the soft treatment. She lunges forward, their lips crushing slick together, and her tongue slithers against Sol's as she welcomes Zaria into her own mouth.

"Yeah," Zaria gulps. "Yeah, I really do."

Sol tastes like matcha and chai and Zaria wants to devour her, wants to burrow inside her sunny warmth so deep that they won't know where she stops and Sol begins, and she pours her starving desire into every lick and nip and twist of her plundering kiss. Sol moans against her lips, the sound vibrating in her chest, and Zaria can feel every thrumming beat of it mirrored behind her own ribs. Her fingers skate into Zaria's fiery hair, her manicured nails scratching deliciously over Zaria's scalp as she breaks the kiss, but she doesn't pull away.

Her accelerated breath puffs heated and moist over Zaria's lips as she rubs their noses affectionately together, and Sol's honeybee grin can be heard in her words. "Do you wanna get out of here?"