Chapter Text
Nori couldn't tell which was louder inside her head, the teacher's nasal voice sawing at the back of her head casing or the gears behind her optics grinding themselves into fine metal dust out of pure mercy, because clearly nobody in this building was going to spare her this slow, incomprehensible torture any other way.
A diagram with arrows on it was going to be what finally got her, after everything.
Her visor lit up purple as an almost keening wail escaped her mouth.
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH YEVS
She swung her head toward her right with the full weight of a dying drone, and her purple optics caught on Yeva's cherry red ones as Yeva turned with a raised eyelight, which happened every single time, a reliable little function like a door sensor, and Nori never got tired of tripping it.
Yeva's own visor woke up a second later and spelled out its answer in tidy, evenly spaced letters across the red.
YES, NORI?
It was followed by a flat sound of a sigh that already knew what was coming, which, to be fair, it definitely should.
The letters held a moment and faded. Nori slid lower in her chair an inch at a time, until her spine was roughly the shape of a dropped noodle, and glared at the smartboard, where the teacher was still explaining a diagram that had stopped meaning anything to her several minutes, possibly several decades, ago. His voice was so dry she was pretty sure the dude wasn't all there in his head, and that if somebody struck a match near his mouth the classroom would go up in dust.
She turned back to Yeva, cracked her knuckles under the desk because a plea like this deserved a proper windup, and let her visor scroll.
MY SAVIOR
MY PARTNER IN CRIME
Yeva's eyelights stayed on the words as each one passed, unblinking, like someone reading a bill whose total she already knew.
MY HERO
MY AMAZING CHILDHOOD BEST FRIEND
Nori put a flicker of purple sparkle into that last one with her eyelights, in case sparkle helped.
I WANNA GO SMOKE A FILTER ROD
The corner of Yeva's mouth pulled flat. Sparkle had not helped.
THIS IS BORINGGGG
WE'RE DRONES
WE DON'T NEED ALL THIS SHIT
Nori's screen went dark.
She folded her arms across the desk and laid her head on them with a thump she hoped the whole room had heard as a final statement, then stayed there, perfectly still, in case somebody might take her for an especially tired piece of classroom equipment and leave her alone for the rest of the year. Yeva let out a long sigh through her vents, and her indigo hair brushed against the side of her visor as she shifted in her seat.
With her cheek squashed against her sleeve, Nori watched the red come up again at the edge of her vision and counted it as a win, since nobody gave a lecture unless somebody was listening.
FIRST OFF
DO NOT CALL ME THAT LAST NICKNAME
A pause, in which Yeva's chin tipped down a fraction, and then the next line stacked itself under the last.
I HAVE STILL NOT GOTTEN RID OF THE IMAGES YOU PUT IN MY HEAD
BY FORCING ME TO READ THOSE MANGA OF YOURS.
Nori answered with the brightest, most innocent grin she owned, the one she kept for teachers and one very suspicious vending machine, and it would have been completely convincing if her purple eyelights hadn't been wiggling on her optics like two overexcited moths.
Yeva's eyelights narrowed in response, though something at their edges twitched, and Nori filed that twitch away to be unbearable about later.
The screen cleared, and a new line was already crawling across it.
TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION
WE NEED TO GATHER THE DATA NATURALLY
SO WE CAN FORM PROPER JUDGEMENT
Nori lifted her head an inch off her arms to protest, mouth already open, a whole speech loaded and ready to fire, and Yeva talked over her the only way she could, by pushing the next line out faster.
WE THROW ALL THE DATA IN AT ONCE
AND YOU WILL JUST BECOME ULTRON.
Nori shut her mouth. She opened it again. Becoming Ultron was, to be fair, a hell of a career path, and she was working out whether it came with a dental plan when Yeva's visor went dark and lit once more before she could find the first word.
BESIDES
YOU STILL WANT TO RE-CREATE THAT MAMMOTH MARK TWO
DO YOU NOT?
Under Nori's arm the notebook had gone still, and she could feel the corner of it poking her wrist, which seemed pointed, as though the Mammoth itself had defected to the enemy. The red of Yeva's visor stayed on her, patient, and a few more words came up.
YOUR ENGINEER SYSTEM IS GOING TO DO NOTHING FOR YOU
IF IT IS NOT CALIBRATED
AND FED THE DATA IN A PROPER SEQUENCE.
Then the red faded to nothing, and Yeva faced the front.
Nori let that stand for a second, long enough to be sure the sermon was over, before she lifted her forehead off her sleeve with the groan of a hinge nobody had oiled and turned her screen toward the side of Yeva's head, where Yeva could pick it up with her peripheral optics if she felt like it.
I KNOWWWWWWWWWWWWW
She dropped her forehead onto her crossed arms with a smack, shut her optics, and made an honest plan to nap, or at least to die quietly.
Her notebook slid under her elbow, escaping, and she shot a hand out without looking and dragged it back by the spiral before it could go over the edge and take the whole Mammoth down with it.
There was a sharp intake of breath on her right, the telltale sign of Yeva gathering herself for an actual, vocal tirade.
It started in Yeva's vents as a long, wheezing thing with a little rattle at the bottom of it, a whine from her cooling fan came in over the top, thin and worn-down, and the whole production ended in a low, creaking groan from somewhere deep in her chest.
Nori was excited, honestly. That silky voice, that sexy Russian tint to it, set something flipping over inside her chest no matter who it was aimed at.
Her visor went hot against her sleeve. Flicker. Flicker. Her fan kicked up, and she buried her face in her arm before it could give her away.
God. She would've swooned if Yeva were yelling at the smartboard. She would've swooned if she were yelling at the teacher.
She cracked an optic open, very carefully, like a drone checking a bomb. Yeva was leaning forward in her seat, past Nori's shoulder, toward the far side of the desk, and her visor was lit up with stern, pursed lips which meant somebody else was about to get it.
Her cooling fan whined again, and under it came another groan, the groan of a drone who had given this speech so many times her joints had started creaking along with it. She dragged one hand down the front of her visor, found nothing to wipe off, and let the hand drop onto her desk with a soft, defeated thud.
Nori nearly applauded.
AND YOU!
DEACON SAINT JOHN!
Deacon's head came up from his notebook when Yeva let out a small ping, one eyebrow already lifting under the brim of his cap, wearing the look of a man who had heard his full name and was running through the list of possible crimes.
JUST BECAUSE YOU TOOK UP CHAINSMOKING
DOES NOT MEAN YOU GET TO CORRUPT NORI!
SHE IS A HEADACHE AS IT IS!
The last line hung there until Yeva sat back with a long, hissing exhale through her vents, and Nori, who had been waiting for this since the bell, turned toward Deacon and mimed the entire speech, brows pinched into one furious line, mouth flapping in time with letters that had already faded, her own visor flashing a purple SHE DOMB in the biggest font it had.
The scruffy human teen who was her other best friend put up both hands in surrender, eyes flicking to the front to check whether the teacher had caught on.
Brown hair stuck out from under his battered cap, a smear of grease still sat on one cheek below the brim, and his old jacket was creased at the elbows, so he looked like he'd spent the morning somewhere considerably less boring than school, probably flat on his back under something with an engine in it. Nori resented him for that a little.
He leaned in, and his lips shaped the words slowly, so there would be no mistaking them.
Hey now, I'm just a cool guy who does things he likes to do.
He paused for her to catch up, glanced at Yeva's turned head, and went on.
Not my fault I'm so cool my influence reaches even the most bull-headed drone on Copper Nine.
Nori let out a tiny growl, quiet enough to stay inside their corner of the room, a growl with extra teeth in it, and slid a foot out from under the desk to take her revenge on his shin. He pulled his leg away like he'd been waiting for it all morning, his shoe scraping the floor as it vanished beneath his chair, and when she looked up Deacon was already watching her over the top of his notebook with one eyebrow raised, smugness coming off him that she could have warmed her hands on.
Missed me.
Her purple eyelights narrowed to slits, and the visor lit.
COWARD
He glanced at the message and back at her, eyebrows climbing, and mouthed, Try again.
Oh, she would. She shifted in her chair, stretched her spine with great casual innocence, and waited, pencil tapping once against the desk, until the teacher turned back to the smartboard and started drawing another arrow. Then she shot her leg out again.
This time the toe of her shoe caught the edge of his boot before he could get it clear, and Deacon sucked a breath through his teeth, one hand dropping under the desk to clamp onto his shin.
HA
He looked over, rubbing his leg, and mouthed, Cheap shot.
YOU MOVED
Because you keep kicking me, he mouthed, eyebrows drawn together as though she'd personally wronged his entire family line.
THEN STOP BEING ANNOYING
Deacon leaned deeper into his chair, still working at his shin, and gave her a smug little smile she would have kicked right off his face if she'd had another leg.
I'm a cool guy.
YOU'RE A LOSER
His mouth curled into a grin.
Bull-headed drone.
Her purple eyelights flared, and the answer came up at once, in capitals big enough to read from orbit.
SCRUFFY HUMAN
He pointed at himself, eyebrows raised.
That's your insult?
Nori gave him a long, flat look while the visor worked on it, eyelights flickering, a good insult being delicate engineering, and then she supplied the obvious improvement.
UGLY ASS HUMAN
Deacon pressed his lips together, which did nothing to stop his shoulders from shaking.
Laughter was building behind Nori's own faceplate, pressing at the seams, and she ducked toward the desk just as the teacher turned slightly in their direction, her screen dimming against her sleeve, her whole body gone rigid in the posture of a girl with nothing on her conscience whatsoever.
She waited, listening to the dry drone pick back up, until his attention went to the board again, and then she let herself look at Deacon.
Worth it.
I HATE YOU
His eyebrows lifted.
Love you too.
Nori kicked his shoe again, and this time he left it right where it was.
She could feel Yeva shaking her head without needing to look, a disapproval so big it displaced the air, and when she did look, the indigo hair was swaying back and forth and the red visor was already scrolling, her fan rising to a strained little whirr as though it had been asked to carry more than it was built for.
I SWEAR TO ROBO-GOD
YOU TWO ARE GOING TO GROW UP INTO DAREDEVILS
Yeva's head turned to Deacon on that one, then back to Nori, as though she needed both of them in the sentence.
AND BE THE DEATH OF ME
I JUST KNOW IT
YOU CANNOT HELP BEING RECKLESS IN THE STUPIDEST WAYS
The screen went dark for the length of a breath that Nori could hear, a long, shaky one that ended in a faint groan, and the last line came up smaller, quieter.
WHY CAN I NOT HAVE EVERY CLASS WITH MITCHELL
INSTEAD OF YOU GUYS?
Nori perked up like someone had plugged her into the wall. She turned to Yeva with the most genuine smile she had, with all the purple eyelight she could spare, and once Yeva's letters had faded she let her own visor go at it fast.
CAUSE THEN CLASSES WOULD BE EVEN MORE BORING
AND I'D MISS YA!
She let that sit just long enough for Yeva's eyelights to settle on her, and then, because she'd been holding it in for approximately forty minutes and her whole body was vibrating with it, she added the rest in a rush.
IT'S DEFINITELY NOT LIKE DEEK AND I SHUFFLED SOME STUFF IN THE TEACHER LOUNGE
TO MAKE SURE YOU END UP IN ALL OUR CLASSES
Yeva's visor blushed, red spreading right across the blank bits of the visor, and Nori nearly fell out of her chair with triumph. Yeva turned her head toward the front, that stoic composure slipping for a second as one small word crossed the screen, aimed at the smartboard.
SHUT UP.
Nori settled back into her chair, extremely pleased with herself. The blush stayed on the visor while Yeva stared very hard at the board, as if the board might save her, and Nori had just enough time to savor it before Deacon nudged the edge of his notebook against her desk.
She glanced over.
He was looking at Yeva, then at her, eyebrows up in a question.
Don't, she mouthed, one finger already coming up in warning.
Didn't say anything.
YOUR FACE DID
His eyebrows climbed even higher, and he dropped his gaze to his notebook with a grin. Nori turned back to Yeva and found her already looking, the blush not yet gone, the red optics steady on her.
A line rose on Yeva's screen.
WHAT?
Nori blinked, and her own screen answered before she had finished the thought that she hadn't meant to ask it that way.
WHAT?
Yeva's visor stayed blank a moment, and then:
NOTHING.
Nori leaned a little closer, near enough to see the faint seam where the visor met the side of Yeva's face, and let her purple eyelights wiggle in a way she knew was unforgivable.
YEVS
Yeva's eyelights slid toward her.
PAY ATTENTION.
I AM
The red held on Nori's face. Down the row, the teacher's chalky voice ran on about something with an arrow in it, and neither of them gave it a scrap of attention.
YOU ARE STARING AT ME.
Nori's optics widened, a purple flush blooming across her visor, and she sat up so fast her elbow knocked the notebook and her pencil went skittering off the page. She caught it against her chest like a hot potato.
I CAN DO TWO THINGS AT ONCE
Yeva held her gaze, red eyelights shifting softly across her optics, and then turned back to the board.
Nori gave the Mammoth Mark Two a long, loving look where it waited beneath the notes she'd been pretending to take, pencil still gripped in her fist, and attacked the lower-left actuator with total focus. She added a line, frowned at it, erased it, and tried again, a little pile of eraser crumbs growing against the edge of the page like a tiny gray mountain range, while on her other side Deacon quietly copied something off the smartboard.
After a while he leaned toward her, close enough that she could smell the grease on his cuff.
Still want that filter rod?
Her pencil kept moving, and the visor answered without her looking up, with the speed of someone who'd been born to say it.
YEAH
After class.
Before she could answer, Yeva turned her head toward them, red eyelights moving from one to the other, and her screen came up a hair brighter than it had been.
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Nori looked over, pencil lifted off the page, outraged on principle.
WHAT? HE ASKED!
AND YOU ANSWERED.
I ANSWER LOTS OF THINGS
Yeva's eyelights narrowed.
THAT IS USUALLY THE PROBLEM.
Deacon ducked over his notebook, trying not to laugh, and Nori gave him a sideways look that made his eyebrows lift in instant surrender.
Don't, she mouthed.
I didn't say anything.
YOU'RE THINKING IT
Can't read minds.
I CAN READ YOUR STUPID FACE
He looked offended, one hand flat against his chest like a man swearing an oath in court.
That's harsh.
GOOD
Yeva's sigh went through the desks beside them, a small drop of her head and a thin whine from her fan, and the visor lit once more.
BOTH OF YOU, PLEASE.
Nori turned to her with a grin that took up most of her face, and her own screen came up.
SEE? SHE LIKES US
Yeva's reply took a second longer than the others, and when it came the letters were crisp, evenly spaced, level.
THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID.
Nori propped her chin on one hand and watched Yeva for a long moment, the pencil rolling slowly off her notebook and stopping against her elbow, before she let the visor light up.
YOU LOVE ME REALLY
Yeva looked over. Her eyelights rested on the message until it faded, and then another appeared on her own screen, small at first, then settling.
I TOLERATE YOU.
Nori's purple optics stayed on hers a little longer, and she smiled with her whole face before dropping her eyes to the Mammoth. She drew another line along the actuator, checked the alignment against the one beside it, and found that it finally sat right, and it took everything she had not to stand on her chair and announce it to the room.
Yeva shifted in her chair, and their shoulders brushed, and she settled back into her notes. Nori kept drawing while the teacher's voice carried on at the front of the room, and when Yeva's visor flashed one more tiny GOOD toward the corrected design, Nori didn't bother hiding the smile that spread across her faceplate, a faint purple glow warming it at the edges.
