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Sasha didn’t know how much she loved being called a dumbass until she heard it come out of Mercury's mouth.
That might be too.. cheesy to admit, even internally, but it was true. There was just something about when she’d get all worked up just by something Sasha said. It was absolutely adorable, and Sasha always made it known to the girl in the form of a flirty, teasing remark. This time was no different, Sasha’s purple gaze met Mercury’s green one as the corners of her lips twitched upwards. Mercury basically sneered back, turning her nose up at Sasha as she turned her head to face forwards. Well, Sasha couldn’t have that now could they? They couldn’t help kicking at one of Mercury’s chair legs a few times, trying not to cackle at her visibly tense shoulder and side-eyed glare. The professor’s boring drawl buzzed in the back of Sasha’s mind.
“I’m trying to pay attention, so stop being a bitch, and leave me alone, Sasha!”
Mercury whisper-yelled, before turning her gaze forward again with a very quiet, almost unnoticeable exhale that no one but Sasha caught. The corners of Sasha’s lips twitched upwards as she begrudgingly turned her head forward, tuning back into whatever the professor was saying.
“—Once again, this is a partner project, alright everyone? And yes, you’ll be able to choose your partners for this one, and—“
Once Sasha learned that this was a partner project where you could choose your own partner? Oh, she didn’t need to know more than that before she was turning to her left, looking at Mercury just as the girl was getting up from her seat. She blinked, before suddenly reaching a pale hand out to grab Mercury’s wrist, stopping the girl in her tracks as she whipped her head around with a glare.
“Now what!? Professor Johnson said that we could choose our partners and that’s what I’m doing, so—“
Mercury shook off Sasha’s hand encircling her wrist, but Sasha wasn’t deterred, and without thinking about it, grabbed her hand next, shocking Mercury and Sasha both. The two just stared at each other with widened eyes for a moment before Sasha spoke up, clearing her throat.
“Just.. be my partner, please?”
For some reason, Sasha wasn’t sure what else to say other than that, staring at Mercury, a determined look on her face. All Mercury did was stare for a moment, before her face scrunched up, pulling her hand back.
“Sasha, really, I don’t—“
“So! Are the two of you partnering up?”
Just as Mercury was about to deny Sasha again, Professor Johnson interrupted the two with a smile on his face, notebook in hand as he moved his pen back and forth between the two. The two stared for a moment, mouths hanging open, and then—
“Yes!”
“No!”
“What!? Come on, Mercury—“
“I said no, Sasha! Ugh!”
The professor blinked, looking between the two in confusion before he spoke up with a quiet sigh.
“Well, I’m sorry you two, but everyone else has already partnered up, you’ll have to work on this together unless there’s specific circumstances preventing that..?”
The two looked shocked again, before whipping their heads around to see everyone already sitting with a partner. Sasha let out a satisfied huff, leaning back in her chair with a smirk on her face while Mercury’s glare stared straight into Sasha’s gaze. Professor Johnson just shrugged, before scribbling something down in his notebook and turned on his heel, now addressing the whole class.
“It seems like everyone is partnered up now, yes? Alright.. well, class is done for the day, this project is due in about.. two weeks? Don’t procrastinate!”
Even before the professor was done speaking, everyone else was already packing up and leaving, Sasha included in that. Just as they were getting up, their messenger bag slung over their shoulder, a heavy sigh rang out. They blinked twice, before turning around to face Mercury, who was just standing there with this.. look on her face. Sasha couldn’t tell if it was annoyance or she was just really concentrating on something as she stared forward for a moment, before suddenly snapping her head to stare holes through Sasha. All Sasha did was stare back, before raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah..?”
Mercury visibly swallowed, before grabbing her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. She huffed, before looking away as she slid over a ripped piece of paper with something written on it. Sasha just blinked before looking down at the piece of paper, seeing that a number was written on it. Sasha’s eyes then widened for a moment, before letting a smirk replace her shocked expression as she looked up at Mercury.
“Awe, is this your number?”
Mercury whipped her head back to Sasha, opening her mouth to probably say some sort of retort—but it seemed to die on her lips as she huffed. She rolled her eyes, soon putting her arm through her other backpack strap. Her ears were tinted red as she looked away.
“..Yeah, it is, just text me and we can talk about this stupid project.”
That was all she said before walking off and out of the classroom. Huh. Alrighty then.
;
A week had gone by before Sasha even realized it, to be honest. It was filled with schoolwork, her part time library desk job, and the occasional cigarette to ease the stress. They were craving one now that they were thinking about it.. ugh, stupid project for a stupid class that they didn’t even want to be in! At least the two were in Sasha’s room. They looked over at Mercury, the girl was currently typing away on her laptop, the device was on the floor, Mercury was kneeling in front of it, sort of leaned over it. Her hair was up in a ponytail, a brightly colored green scrunchie holding her pink and green hair away from her face. Her expression was this scrunched up glare, eyes narrowed, nose wrinkled, and lips twisted downwards — all aimed towards her laptop screen. Sasha didn’t know what the device did to deserve her fury, but it was definitely funny, and they couldn’t help but let out this quiet chuckle that was more breath than anything.
That small noise seemed to make Mercury snap, for whatever reason, whipping her head over to stare right at Sasha. Her green eyes narrowed in a real, true glare that made the corners of Sasha’s lips lift up into a smirk. They leaned back onto the beanbag that they brought from home for their room. It was soft and comfortable, and as they adjusted their position, it just seemed to make Mercury even angrier.
“Are you just going to sit there or actually help? I seem to be the only one doing all the work around here!”
She snapped, before letting out a tired sigh, turning her head back towards her laptop screen. Sasha rolled their eyes, straightening their legs out, their feet bumping into Mercury’s legs, before throwing one leg over the other. She then reached into a hoodie pocket, curling her fingers around the slightly squished cigarette box, and pulled it out. At the rustling noise, Mercury turned her head, and her jaw dropped.
“No, no way!”
“What?”
Mercury sighed leaning back from her laptop with an appalled look on her face, the disappointment basically radiating off of her. Sasha just stared with a blank look.
“It’s my room, y’know.”
“Well, I don’t care! Not in front of me, alright?”
She snapped, turning back to her laptop, and typed a few more words out, before moving to another tab and continuing. Sasha let out an almost inaudible sigh, shoving the box back into their pocket. Fuck. Whatever, they didn’t need it. It was fine. They should work on the stupid project anyways. They turned to the side to grab their laptop, pulling the device into their lap, and opened it. It didn’t take long before the project doc was pulled up, and Sasha glanced up at Mercury with a twitch of their brow.
“Hey, what’d you want me to work on?”
Mercury didn’t answer, Sasha’s head tilting to the side.
“Mercury?”
She questioned again, staring holes through the side of the girl’s head, before nudging her leg with one of her sock-covered feet. The girl jumped, clearly startled, before turning to look at Sasha with widened, green eyes.
“Huh!? Yeah? What is it?”
Sasha blinked yet again and for some reason, completely forgot what they were going to say when Mercury’s eyes met their own. They absentmindedly nudged their leg with their foot again.
“Just.. uh, was wondering what you wanted me to work on.”
They didn’t expect their voice to come out so quiet and reserved, but it did, and if Mercury noticed, she didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she stared for just a moment longer, before turning back to her own device. There was a pinkish hue to her cheeks.
“Uhm.. this section down here is uh.. good, yeah.”
Sasha smiled slightly, before scrolling down to the second Mercury was referring to. They hummed out an affirmative noise, before letting out a quiet giggle. Their eyes moved up to stare at the side of Mercury’s face again, and couldn’t help the next words that came out of their mouth.
“Y’know, pink really is your color.”
Mercury immediately snapped her head over to stare incredulously at Sasha, eyes widened yet again, with that same pink hue high on her cheeks.
“Oh—shut up, Sasha!”
Sasha didn’t mind this stupid project, not one bit. Not if they could continue to see Mercury this way, all.. flushed and surprised. The only word that came to their mind at that moment was cute. Mercury was cute and Sasha could admit that, sitting on their own floor across from the girl they’d been bickering with since.. forever, really.
Everything was good.