Untitled short sapphic story (Patreon)

I was inspired by a post on Tumblr so I hammered out a quick 900 words of sapphic yearning. Don't judge me.

Tumblr post.

Story just below:

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“Oof,” Helen breathes out as she lands flat on her back, the air forced out of her lungs by the sudden impact. “Ow.”

“Jesus,” Mary exclaims, and she jumps off the beam – how can she be so graceful even when she’s in a hurry?! – and rushes over to her friend. “Shit, Hel, are you okay? That looked bad.”

“No, no, I’m okay,” Helen says, waving her hand in the air. “I’m just winded, is all. I’ve had worse falls. You know, stuntwoman and all.”

Mary tucks a lock behind her ear as she frowns down at Helen. “Even though you’re used to it, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”

Helen shrugs. “Fair ‘nuf. But like I said, I’d had worse. Over here you have these really comfy mats.” She taps the padded floor next to her to demonstrate.

“You don’t have mats when you do stunts?” Mary says, and she sounds appalled.

“I mean, we do,” Helen replies. “But there’s only so much padding you can put on a concrete floor before it shows up on camera. Most of my job is falling in a very specific way so I don’t break all of my bones.”

Mary nods. “I get it.” Then, after a moment, she grins. “You planning on staying down there all day?”

“Not really. Just as long as it took for me to catch my breath. Help me up?”

Helen raised her hand in the air and Mary obliges, grabbing it and pulling Helen to her feet. “By the way, I think I’ve figured out why you’ve been having so much trouble with your balance,” Mary says.

“You have?” Helen asks, and when Mary nods she adds, “So what is it?”

“Well, simply put, I’ve been teaching you wrong.”

Helen raises an eyebrow at her. “You absolutely haven’t,” she says. “You’re an excellent teacher.”

“I’m really not,” Mary says, “because if I were, I’d have figured out where I was going wrong all this time.”

“And that would be?”

Mary’s hand moves, and she slaps Helen on the butt; it’s not a hard slap, but the noise, and Helen’s yelp, resound throughout the empty gym.

“Too much padding,” Mary says, grinning at Helen’s blushing face. “You’re bottom heavy, missy.”

“I… So what if I am?!” Helen sputters indignantly. “Not everyone can be as lithe and graceful as you are!”

“And that’s preciselymy point!” Mary says, raising a finger. “I’ve been trying to teach you as I would a gymnast, someone who has the same body type as I have. But you don’t: your weight is spread out differently, so you need to move differently than I do. Use different muscles.” She shifts closer to Helen, and traces a finger over her abs.

Helen blushes, but holds Mary’s gaze, and nods. “Yes, I see your point,” she says. “So what do I do?”

“First things first, we need to figure out your mobility range. Can you bend backwards? Do a bridge?”

“I can try?” Helen says. “How do I go about it?”

“Stand tall,” Mary says, and she moves to Helen’s side. “Hands up.”

Helen complies, and Mary nods.

“Alright, so. Lean backwards,” Mary says, placing a hand on the small of Helen’s back, “bending right here. Slowly. Let gravity do the work. Bend as much as you can.”

Helen bites her lip. “I’ve never tried this,” she admits, tentatively leaning back against Mary’s hand. “I’m a bit scared. What if I fall?”

“Don’t worry, I’m here to catch you,” Mary replies. “Go on.”

Helen nods hesitantly, and starts leaning backwards, arching her back at the same time; it’s not long before she can’t go any further. “I don’t think I can bend any more,” she says.

“Not bad,” Mary says. “For your first time, you have great flexibility. Try going a bit more back? …For me?” she adds with a pout, when Helen looks unsure.

Helen frowns, but tries leaning backwards a bit more, and one of her feet slips. “Whoa!” she exclaims.

“Careful!” Mary says, and leans forward to grab her; she doesn’t manage to support Helen’s weight, though – Helen heavier than she looks, and an idle thought, Of course she is, muscle is heavier than fat after all, goes through Mary’s mind as they fall to the mat together, a tangle of limbs. “Ow,” Mary complains.

“You alright?” Helen asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just–” she replies, but stops as she looks upwards: Helen’s face is inches from hers. “Um.”

They look at each other for a long moment, and Mary finds herself biting her lip. God, it would be so easy to just lean in, and–

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Helen says. “Your face is red.”

Mary gives a start of surprise, but then immediately nods, probably a bit too quickly. “Yes!” she exclaims. “Yes, I’m okay.”

“Good,” Helen replies. “I was a bit worried there. You have a great body, it would be a shame if you broke something helping an oaf like me.”

Mary scowls. “You’re not an oaf, Hel,” she says, disentangling herself and standing up. “Like I said, you just need practice.”

She offers Helen her hand.

“Shall we try again?”

Helen looks at her for a moment, then grabs her hand and pulls herself up to her feet. “Yeah, let’s.”