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Did Fine think she of all people wouldn't notice? Pieces falling in the same places more regularly than chance would ever allow. Variables so carefully considered as to only permit two specific outcomes. Yes and No.
Though thinking back the first time really must have been an accident. They were sitting on the bleachers, Fine had pulled them into one of their back and forths she found so amusing for some reason. Leaning back, her hand had slipped off the back of the bench and Shakur reached out to prevent her from falling. They came to a halt in each other's personal space, a breath apart. Shakur quickly pulled them back into a proper sitting position. It had surprised her that Fine Motion didn’t comment on the incident afterwards whatsoever. At the time she chalked it up to surprise. However what Shakur now realised was that what she had seen in Fine’s eyes back then wasn't surprise so much as an idea.
It continued on from there. When it was just the two of them, with no outside observers to affect the results, another ‘accidental’ slip or stumble would bring them closer. Always with Fine being the one with her back against a proverbial or literal wall. Her defences wide open, while leaving it up to Shakur to make the last move. Giving her both an escape route and — as this repeated enough times — an easy excuse in ‘indulging her antics to make her stop’.
Fine was clearly in the less advantageous position, so why did it always feel like Shakur herself was put on her backfoot? It couldn’t just be because the tables had turned and she found herself as the subject of observation and analysis for once. Shakur doubted the results of these antics could be worthwhile, but Fine Motion kept them up regardless. Was she hoping for an outcome that contradicted all data up to that point, banking on some random chance? Shakur was certain it would never happen, she held all ‘chance’ for a difference in her hands after all. Despite small adjustments these scenarios always yielded the same outcome: Shakur backing off.
The final instance of these scenarios was neither Fine’s doing nor was it on purpose. They had just finished morning training and were ascending the incline surrounding the track. Shakur had slipped on the dew-wet grass, bringing them both down into a position that had now become familiar to them. Fine found this all very amusing somehow, Shakur not so much. Accidental as it might have been, she was sick of this scenario in all its variations. An unconscious part of her brain wanted to just remain in that position, refusing to be a part of the experiment, instead observing what happens as she is wont to do.
Neither said anything or made a move. In the silence her heart rate rose, time in comparison slowed to a crawl. Shakur tried to suppress her nerves with a grimace, but the heat in her cheeks must have given it away. It must have been an amusing enough sight for Fine Motion to watch for what at that point might have been minutes.
The stalemate ended as Fine Motion wrapped her arms around Shakur’s neck. The silence broke as Shakur audibly exhaled with a shutter.
“Gotten tired of leaving me an out?”
Fine Motion gave her a knowing smile and a soft giggle.
“You're not gonna back off this time, right?”
“Does the data from your little experiments tell you that?” Shakur huffed.
"No. You are.” She whispered through a smile as Shakur closed the gap between them.