Ashley groaned as she lifted her arm over her head in the locker room, her upper-arms jiggling as she tried to stretch her aching shoulder. She had trained enough athletes to recognize a pulled muscle; however, none of the massage equipment in the university gym would help her. She knew this because she'd tried it before. The vibration tools there weren't quite enough to work the kinks out of her body. With a BMI like hers, very little could penetrate deep enough to ease the tension out of her muscles.

She needed a targeted, specific massage. Something rough and deep from a masseuse who wasn't afraid to hold back. Though it pained her to admit it, she knew exactly who could help her with this. 

"Jean."

Jean Vandergriff set down her training-ropes, the sound of Ashley's voice making her stand to attention.
.
She turned to see her employer enter the gym, wearing a black tank-top and yoga pants so overfilled with Ashley-fluff that Jean had to stare into the corner to avoid watching the undulating, jiggling tracts of softness. The gym was empty except for the two of them, motion-sensor lights only partially on, leaving half the room in shadow.

"Uh... Hey. What's up?"

"I need your help with something. Come here."

Jean obeyed, uncharacteristically hoping she wasn't too sweaty, or smelly, from her workout. Anyone else she wouldn't care, but... well. It was Ashley. 

Being co-workers still felt... weird. Especially at times like this, when Ashley's monosyllabic tendencies and Jean's eyeline-avoidance made things extra awkward.

"What did you need?"

Ashley rolled her thick, blubbery shoulders, grimacing as she did so. 

"I've got a kink in my shoulder. I need you to... take care of it. Like you used to?"
.
Jean stiffened. Until now, she'd avoided physical contact with her boss, because... well. Their history didn't make it easy to be casual and relaxed together. 

Jean wasn't sure if Ashley remembered Jean's school days the same way--but there had been a tension, back then. A good tension, but a tension nonetheless. And it had always been highest when Ashley had demanded personal favors from Jean. Fetch Ashley this, fetch Ashley that... Give Ashley a foot-rub. At the time the experience had been transformative for Jean... as an adult, she recognized the position she'd put Ashley in, when she insisted on waiting on her hand and foot. Ashley clearly didn't regret their time together, since she voluntarily continued to co-coach with Jean. And yet... The awkwardness was always there, always lurking. Things had been left unresolved. Words left unsaid.

"I... I can help with that, yeah."

Just breathe, Jean told herself, as Ashley's bulk settled onto her bench-press seat with a soft whumph and a heave of jiggling rolls. Jean found her mouth dry and her fingers shakey as Ashley leaned around to hand her a bottle of massage oil.

"Just... Be quick about it. I gotta head home soon and grade those dumbass kids on their performance."
.
She was gruff and crabby as usual, but her voice softened when she mentioned the students. Ashley truly loved coaching, although her relationship with the student body was... antagonistic, at best. She even had several unpleasant nicknames among the student body--something Jean tried to discourage whenever possible. Private-college kids were not exactly the most fat-friendly sorts, and she didn't want any of that shit getting back to Ashley. 

"Okay. Uh, here g-goes."

"And rub DEEP, too. That little fucker of a knot is way down in there. Left shoulder."

"C-cool..."

Jean slathered the oil on her hands. Was she really doing this? It was cool, they were both cool, just adults in a co-working situation together. Nothing weird. She could do this.
.
When her hands sank into Ashley's back-rolls for the first time, though, Jean's knees went weak. Years and years of uncontrolled eating had made Ashley's flesh butter-soft, warm and pliant and drooping under Jean's fingers. Trying to control her breathing, she wormed her fingers in between the rolls, focusing on the left shoulder. She began to rub, firmly, but clearly not firmly enough.

"Harder, Jean. What's the use of all that cross-training I taught you, if you don't use leverage? Push. Get in there."

Jean pushed... and was rewarded with a sound she'd never heard before from Ashley. A deep, grunting, relaxed moan. Not quite erotic, but deep and low, the sound of a woman so full of tension for decades who had never, ever allowed people to touch her. 

"That's... Damn, that's good. Jean?"

"Y-yes, ma'am?"

"Harder."