Work Text:
Drift was trying really, really, really hard to ignore the knocking on her dorm room door.
It was sort of impossible with the voice that accompanied the knocking.
"Open Book!" AJ had to have her face pressed against the door or else the mana veil would've swallowed her voice already. "I swear I'm not banging against your door just to bother you."
"I dunno if I can believe you because usually that's a lie."
"I'm not lying this time." AJ pauses for a second before pitching her voice up. "Pleaseeee."
"Oh my god." Drift stopped writing from her desk and stomped over to the door. She opened it without warning and AJ tumbled onto the floor.
"Thanks. You always know how to sweep me off my feet."
"That one's cliche, even for you," Drift sighed as AJ bounced up from the floor and slammed the door. Drift crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the intruder.
"Uh huh, uh huh. Great. Just don't open the door."
"What did you do this time?"
"Nothing to worry your pretty head about, Open Book." AJ punctuated her sentence with a ruffle of Drift's curly hair. Drift slowly moved her hand off with a glare. AJ's smirk said more than words could.
"What was that about not coming in to bother me?"
"Right. Right. Let me just-" AJ walked backwards to sit on Drift's bed, crossing her legs and keeping her eyes on her with a little smile. "-sit here. I won't bother you. Promise." She made a mocking gesture her pinky. Drift did her best to not roll her eyes as she sat back down at her desk and continued to write. While she didn't like to sit down and think for long periods of time-she was not lame-it did sometimes help to keep track of her thoughts.
…It would be easier to keep track of her thoughts if it wasn't for the eyes she could feel staring at her. "Stop doing that." She whipped around in her seat. AJ was still sitting on her bed and slowly raised both of her hands up.
"I'm not doing anything."
"You-" Drift slammed her lips together. It was true that AJ wasn't doing anything wrong. And there was a large chance if she expressed her annoyance, the other would just pounce on the opportunity to make a stupid, flirtatious comment about how Drift wished AJ would look at her like that, and-
Drift tried to cool the blush rising on her face and went back to writing. She hoped the other wouldn't notice. "Sorry. My bad."
"All good, Open Book."
The room was strangely quiet for the next few minutes except for the sound of Drift's pen scratching paper. It was unusual for either of them to be so still, but it was nice. If Drift focused hard enough, she could pretend that this was normal for both of them.
Naturally, it didn't last long. "Do you want me to do something?" AJ's voice was right by her ear and Drift nearly squealed, dropping her pen and staining ink on one of her fingers. She hadn't heard a single one of AJ's footsteps.
"Of course I don't. I told you not to bother me." Drift picked up her pen again, ignoring her stained finger. She hated how riled up the other woman made her. It didn't help that she was almost starting to enjoy the banter, like how a pet owner could get attached to an ornery cat.
"Is it bothering you if you like it?" AJ whispered as she trailed a hand up her spine. Drift held her shiver at the touch.
She refused to lose their little game.
"Do I? I think you just want me to want you." AJ's hand was slightly around her neck now. They were strangely cool.
"What an amazing display of projection!" AJ did a little theatric gasp. Drift didn't turn to look at her, even as her breath tickled the back of her neck.
"I'm not-"
"You are. It's adorable." AJ's hand cupped her chin and tilted it up, forcing Drift to look up at her. The touch was so strangely gentle that she forgot to fight it and found herself looking directly into the dark eyes of AJ. Heat spread across her face and she felt her mouth parting open.
Because damn, she forgot how beautiful AJ was. Try as she might, she couldn't deny that she had a certain charm to her. She forgot how much she enjoyed her wit, her smirk, her soul.
"If you don't like me, beautiful, then kiss me and prove it," Drift breathed. It was bold, far more daring than she had ever been-but she had done a lot of bold things lately, hadn't she?
They both paused, staring at each other. It was only then Drift realized it had been getting a little too real. There were lines in the sand that they both hadn't been crossing until now.
If she squinted a little closer at AJ's expression, she could almost see a hint of fear.
"Nice play, Open Book," AJ finally said, dropping her hand and stepping back. Right. They had just been playing a game. "Nice play. I'll get out of your hair now. The guards have probably given up on looking for me."
Drift didn't know what to say. Her hand twitched as she thought of the words flying around in her head.
Don't go. Don't…you can't just do that.
AJ slipped out of her room, disappearing into the dark like she always did.
"That's right. She wouldn't…she wouldn't choose me," Drift mumbled to herself as she went back to writing. "Stupid."
There was no use in chasing someone who didn't want to be caught.