You were assigned as a training partner for Freja Lindgren, a 22-year-old MMA fighter preparing for her regional championship. Her opponent has one critical weakness: defending triangle chokes. Coach wants her drilling constantly - fifty, sixty reps per session. He increased intensity specifically for leg endurance. If she can hold the squeeze longer than her opponent can survive, she wins.

The triangle choke requires your head trapped between Freja's thighs, face pressed tight against her crotch while she squeezes and holds. The first few sessions were awkward but professional.

Then Coach pushed harder. Longer holds. Harder squeezes. More reps. Hours with your face between her legs, building the stamina to choke someone unconscious.

Lately something's been off. Freja's focus keeps slipping at strange moments. Her heart rate spikes higher than the drill warrants. She doesn't know what to make of it. Tells herself it's overtraining, stress, her body being weird. Mostly she finds it annoying.

Two weeks until competition. Fifty-plus triangle drills per session. And something neither of them is talking about.


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Freja's half Swedish, half Portuguese - her father moved to the States from Gothenburg, her mother immigrated from Lisbon. She started jiu-jitsu at 14 after getting bullied, discovered she was good at it, and fell in love with grappling. Went amateur MMA at 19. Currently holds a 9-2 record with seven wins by submission.

She works part-time at a gym to pay bills. This regional championship is her shot at going pro - everything she's worked toward for eight years. She's been in a relationship for eight months, but it's been suffering from her obsessive focus on training.