Episode warning: A character has no personal boundaries and mentions of body manipulation.

It is a nice day. The sun is shining and people are out shopping when Steven takes Josh to an outdoor shopping center after a light workout to eat. He wants to have a little talk but tempts Josh with food for his time.

After the waiter leaves and they begin eating Josh bluntly asks, “This is about the dreams again?” Steven glances up. “That is usually when you try to bride me with food,” Josh responds to the unasked question. Steven just huffs into his food. “So ~ what happened this time?”

Steven put his fork down with a sigh before he pours about his dream; spending the evening with Viola, cooking together, and how when they started cleaning up they started kissing.

Josh leaned away from the table, “You’ve had this dream before. Practically daily, since you began training her. You even do anything this time or just adorably flirt and give each other kisses like newlyweds?”

“Newlyweds?” the mere thought causes Steven to choke on his food slightly. 

Josh snickers. “Or nightmare. You seem to be having a couple of nightmares,” he mentions before he glances at his friend’s side. “Not that I really blame you,” he tries to play off with a hair flip. He notices Steven is fidgeting causing as a smirk came to his lips. “Tell me,” he sings.

Steven motions to go outside.

They finish eating quickly and leave. Josh’s curiosity begins to overflow. They move away from the crowd to one side of the open walkways.

After a moment of Steven’s knee bouncing up and down, he begins to tell Josh that he has some nightmares a little bit ago where he accidentally kills Viola with the enhancement. It causes Josh’s shoulders to tighten. “But this time the dream was getting hotter. We began in the kitchen and while we were kissing, she blew me up so much my shirt began to rip before I noticed,” Steven chuckles as he plays with the end of his shirt. “She took her shirt off and we took it to the bedroom. I got to carry her while she continued working on me. She kept going! I got bigger and could feel her hands rubbing all over each tightened muscle. She didn’t stop till she had to arch over my chest. I was the size of her bed. I felt each side in my hands. I almost lost it when she blew me up more via,” he finished while motioning to his chest. 

Josh leans forward, eyes the widest they have been in a long time, “Come on what happened next?”

“I looked down, couldn’t see her over the massive chest she had given me, so I panicked, and woke up screaming. Sweating and breathing hard.”

Josh leans back after a moment, “Well I can understand the breathing hard.” Steven rolls his eyes after he glances over. Josh smiles, “Come on! Who hasn’t dreamt about their crush?” Josh pushes his shoulder, bumps into each other, and snark back and forth for a little while.

The mood is pleasant but the issue is still there. Josh shifts, “But seriously, you’re having nightmares again?”

“Yeah.”

They stop talking for a minute. “Should you even try a relationship again?”

“Not a clue.”

“Want to?”

“I think so,” comes out of Steven with a small upturn at the corner of his mouth. 

“Think so?! Dude, you had her blew you up so large a person hide under those things,” Josh teases Steven while grabbing his chest.

Steven pins him under his arm, “Quit that!” He lets him go after a moment.

They are quiet for a moment. Josh messes with his shirt. “Seriously, can these blow up individually because that would be funny?”

Steve snorts, “Doubt it.”

They are quiet again.

“You think I should tell her..?”

“Nope,” Josh immediately cut in. “Not yet anyway.”

“Why?! Well, how long did you wait before telling your other half?” Steven whines as his hand go to his waist. Josh’s eyebrow goes up. “Come on man you suddenly have a kid, you moved a few years back without letting me help, and you keep calling someone your hefty gardener. If you didn’t live with the guy by now, I’d be worried you were up on kidnapping charges or something.” Steven explains while mostly talking with his hands. “That and the pool boy vs gardener jokes that came up a bit back.”

Josh turns a shade of red. Over the years he never realizes that Steve put it all together, let alone never push to meet his other half. “Well, I didn’t exactly tell my ‘gardener’ why we snuck off to so many ‘parties’ back in the day. They found the canisters one day. We don’t even play that much together with it,” he ends in a bitter tone.

“What? Why not?”

“That is none of your concern! But at least we were actually dating when it came up!” Josh protests quickly. Steven’s shoulders tense up while his eyebrows move. Josh sighs. “Look. I’m happy you’re thinking about this again. It’s awesome that you’re even thinking about pumping. I thought your remote was dusty.”

Steven’s blush causes Josh to chuckle. He is not sure which way Josh means that comment because he certainly hints at both. “At least it’s out of the cabinet now,’ he mutters.

Josh comes close to Steven, “I think you should test the waters this time. See if she likes you, at all that way, and if she even likes blow-up toys.”

“Josh!” he shouts as he pushes Josh away slightly.

“What? She might not like toys,” he shrugs with a grin on his face.

“I like toys! Mommy can I have a toy?” a random child asks as they walked by.

Steven and Josh exchange glances before they desperately try not to run to an emptier section.

The pair stop near a pillar. Steven rubs his red face, “Maybe she’ll want one too.”

Josh tries to follow his eyes. He gets a smirk. “That would be nice.” He gives Steven a quiet blissful moment. “If she’s really into it then you can do each other,” he teases which caused an immediate smack from Steven.

Steven’s phone rings. “It’s her.”

“Speak of the devil,” Josh snickers as he leans close. Steven bats him off. When Steven goes around the pillar to answer the call Josh ducks into a store. By the time he comes out Steven is hanging up. “How’d it go?”

“She’s sick again. Pretty bad this time. She’s not coming in for a while,” he answers with the most exhausted tone he has.

Josh watches him for a few minutes. Josh enjoys Viola’s time at the gym too. She is a good person to talk to; pretty playful and open. But he knows Steven is the one who looks forward to it the most. More than any client or person who’s been in the gym for years. Steven clicks through several things on phone, types a note, and stops on something.

Josh glances over to see an image of Steven and Viola sitting together posing for the camera on the bench. Josh smirks. He slaps the bag onto Steve’s chest. “Well then you really might need those for a while,” he declares before he backs away slightly.

Steven peeks in after putting his phone away. There is a small hand pump and- “Purple balloons?”

“They didn’t have yellow ones. Since her hair is yellow and purple,” Josh drags out.

Steven’s shoulders tense up. “You think I need a pump for~”

“Of course, you do. Even you can’t blow up one in your own pants,” Josh teases with a grin.

“Why you!” Steve lunges at him. “Get back here!” The men chase each other through the rest of the shopping center. They collapse on a bench near the edge. They glance at each other and chuckle. “You’re a jerk, you know that right?”

“And you’re easy game.” He teases back. “Love ya anyway.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Steven finally leans back looking at the sky.

Josh watches him for a minute. “I vote you ask her out first. At least get to know her a bit better before you go showing off this time, ok? But let me if you are going to show off anyway because you always seem to do crazy things,” Josh teases as he leans on his arm.

“They’re not that crazy.”

“No. You just tend to trip over your own feet despite being able to carry over three hundred pounds.” Josh’s comment gets Steven to chuckle but they both know Steven has a bad habit of going head over heels when he gets a crush. “Just take your time, this time. She’s not going anywhere.”

The comment causes Steven to straighten up, his face goes flush, and he feels something sink inside him, “Hopefully.” Steven rubs his face.

Josh catches Steven’s fidget. “IF it’s that bad this time why not take her a get-well balloon and see if she likes it?” he suggests. “A perfect excuse to visit” he sings as he leans closer.

“Yeah. That could work.”

“And if she really likes it maybe she’ll play with her balloon coach too,” Josh baits. Steven immediately pushes him as they both laugh.

It does not take Steven long. After he closes the gym that night, he messages Viola to ask if it is all right to visit to go over things. The instant he gets the ok response he buys the get-well balloon bouquet before he heads over eager to talk and visit. The clerk smile at his excitement as he leaves. 

Different rumors run around town quickly. Athena’s sad drinking isn’t new but her new friend as a designated driver is. People are eager to hear about the helpful woman. The guys at Bull’s Pit happily add to the story. The Queen’s Garden loves talking about their boss’s new tenant. Cyclone Gym’s owner being so energetic adds to everything. Rumors spread faster than fire in town. Just barely do the rumors touch on her being in or near the hospital’s medical complex every so often.

Regardless of the rumors, Cyclone Gym is happy every time she shows up. She never gets people eager to talk or more energetic but everyone always seems to get a little more done with her around. The guys like having someone who says hello, asks them how they are doing when they get there, and teasing Steven about her workouts afterward is always a bonus. Athena and a couple of other women always love having a reason to check in with each other; as Viola is still a recent addition to the town, she needs to be brought up to speed up on the good shopping and especially good eating.

But what makes Athena smile the most is when Viola leaves Steven goes to do his workout routine. Before he would only do enough to maintain his size but now, he is back on the progressive overload plan. He works himself into a sweat and actually checks his own progress now.

The days Viola does not show up everyone notices. Especially whoever is manning the welcome desk. Mark watches the clock looking for her car in the parking lot. “Come on man. Where is she?”

“She was coughing yesterday. Maybe she took a day off,” Raph suggests. Ever since his visit to her house, Raph is paying attention.

“But I thought it wasn’t so bad yesterday,” Mark wonders.

“Maybe it got worse when she went home. You know how muscles react after workouts sometimes,” Raph’s rebuttal continues.

“Think she’ll be back tomorrow?”

“Who knows? Hey Cap! You heard from Vi?” Raph bellows over the gym.

“Yeah,” Steven responds automatically. “She won’t be in a for few days.”

“Ahhh so she does call you,” Raph teases.

“She asked for some home workouts till she could get back!” Steven squeals as he goes to start his workout.

He doesn’t want to admit that he is happy she calls him directly and not the gym. That his late-night visit led him to offer new lessons; going over where to shop, how to get the most for her money till things get stable, and the best food for weak days. He is eager to show her around for the best outdoor walking spots in town. They both seem to enjoy the concepts from the late-night visit.

He especially did not want them to know that he offers to come over to check in because of the at-home workout and her living situation; getting the ok with the promise of bringing some takeout. Though he secretly hopes they could watch movies together if she needs the rest. Even if she still has boxes everywhere Steven is eager to see her place again. He does not want to acknowledge the little bit of jealousy that Raph and Athena were already there.

“You shouldn’t do that angry!” Athena teases.

“Shut up!” Steven snaps.

The trio at the desk chuckles and watches him across the gym. “So, what do you think?” Athena asks.

“I think someone’s upset not to have his training partner,” Mark smiles.

“Think she’d be up for becoming ‘one of us’?” Raph asks.

“Not sure. It’s been so long since any of us brought in somebody new,” Athena points out as they glance at each other. “But if anyone could use a pick me up.”

“You mean a playmate,” Mark says as he sways his hips. A loud smack catches most people’s attention; until they see Athena chastising Mark. Afterward, they go back to their workouts.

“A workout partner! And you wonder why you’re still single,” Athena scolds.

“But if she blew up, could you imagine how hard she would go at it?” Mark imagines.

“She’d be rivaling you in no time,” Raph snickers.

“Naw. She’d blow me out of the water. And I don’t think she’d settle for less. Imagine how fired up she’d get him,” Athena says as she glances back over to Steven.