Partners in Crime

by mantisbelle

Being undercover is hard work, and there's nothing quite like getting some downtime.

"So going to classes is weird." Mercury bounced a little bit as he landed a little too roughly on the bed that he'd taken upon arriving at Beacon. Living in Vale was strange even on its own, but Mercury had never thought that he would end up in an actual academy. Definitely not one like Beacon. The reasons definitely hadn't fallen in line with what he would have expected either. Mostly, he'd expected for his life to go from training with his father to picking up the family business.

At least, that was what he'd been expecting before. Things had changed a little once Cinder and Emerald had come into the picture.

"Yeah." Emerald closed the textbook that she'd been reading over. She sounded horribly bored with it. Emerald sat up tall and stretched took a moment to stretch her shoulders, looking at least a little bit more natural out of the Haven Academy Uniforms that they'd been given. Mercury wasn't a fan of his own personally, it was a little too scratchy for his liking. Not to mention formal. "I don't really know if I like it."

Mercury shrugged. "Better than what I was given for education." It was definitely a dark topic to gloss over, but Mercury trusted Emerald. The two of them had shared bits and pieces of each other's stories a few times in the past. "At least the beds are nice."

"Oh, I know!" Emerald stretched out and let herself flop back herself, her body stretched across her bed the short way. "You know, I never thought I would get to do this again. Clean blankets, bed, regular meals. It's like paradise."

"And we get to cause some mayhem on the side."

"Well, yeah." Emerald was still staring up at the ceiling. "Lionheart really set us up nicely."

"Sure did." Mercury grinned. "The whole no questions asked thing really works for me. And these Beacon kids-"

"Don't have any idea." Emerald said, smiling softly. She sat up a little bit, holding herself up with her elbows. "I definitely don't mind it that much. I mean, aside from the playing nice thing."

Mercury laughed, because that was something that he definitely should have at the very least expected or prepared for. Of course Emerald wouldn't have been interested in that part of being at Beacon. But orders were orders, and their orders were that they needed to be kept undercover.

For him, playing along wasn't so bad. The Beacon students were just happy to simply accept there everyone in a different uniform that came through their door was from another school- after all, they had no reason to doubt visiting students. As long as they could hold their own in classes and combat, Emerald, Cinder, and himself were able to fit in perfectly.

"I'm not going to lie," Mercury grumbled. "I am getting a little sick of playing schoolboy too."

"So what are you suggesting we do instead?" Emerald asked, her eyes wide and red as always but some happiness and playfulness in her expression. Of course it made sense- it was their first time really talking about getting out of there and finding a way to actually enjoy themselves. "You know we're under pretty strict orders not to cause more trouble."

"Doesn't mean we can't enjoy it." Mercury walked over to the window and looked out at the city of Vale. There had to be something out there that they could do. "I hear dinner's in an hour. I also here there are lots of places where someone could go out and get something to eat. And I miss ice cream."

Emerald laughed. "You do realize that I don't have any money, right?"

Mercury shrugged. That was something that he had at least been expecting to hear from Emerald. "That doesn't mean that I don't have a few spare Lien lying around. I don't mind buying something for you if you want."

He looked across the room, and saw the faint hints of a blush appearing on Emerald's cheeks. She looked down at her feet in a way that managed to be almost shy, and made her look sweeter and lovelier than ever. It was a hard contrast to the rough and tumble living that Mercury knew Emerald had been involved in for so long. Even talking about going out to get food is different for him.

But Mercury realized that he wasn't the one that mattered there. That was all Emerald, she was the one that had been left to starve and survive on scraps on the street. Mercury liked food, but he knew full well that he was never going to be able to truly appreciate it as much as Emerald did.

"I definitely wouldn't turn it down."

"I guess that settles it." Mercury shrugged playfully, walked over to his bag of things that he hadn't bothered to unpack, and rifled through its contents in search of his wallet. He didn't have much in the way of Lien, mostly just what he'd managed to nab in the moments before he'd made the decision to get out of his home. If the two of them were smart about what they got to eat and where they went, he could definitely stretch what he had the two of them. "Twenty minutes sound good?"

"Yes, please." Emerald replied with an almost uncharacteristic sort of cheer, hopped off of her bed and crouched down next to it, pulling open the little drawer that held all of her regular clothes. Mercury felt a momentary urge to look and watch, but dismissed it quickly. He had to get out of his own uniform anyways.

He walked over to his own side of the room and did the same thing as Emerald, only pausing for a moment to double check that his legs were on right. As soon as he was satisfied with his findings, he pulled on his pants, got into the right shirt, and stretched out.

When he looked back over at her, Emerald was in the process of securing her chaps. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, clearly asking a question that he didn't have an answer to.

Because there was something that Mercury was mostly sure of at that point. If there was something that Emerald didn't want him to see, she would make sure that he couldn't. If there was something that she really wanted for him to see, she could make that happen to in a whole variety of ways, but thus far that hadn't happened.

"Ready?"

"I am." Emerald walked to the door and pushed it open. It was good that they didn't have to worry about Cinder for the moment. If Cinder found out that they were going out to get ice cream and dinner, things probably would have ended up in a less than favorable state. That wasn't to mention that Neo was kind of creepy and never spent time around the rest of them anyways.

Not that Mercury minded that much. He liked spending time with Emerald more than he did any of the others. That had been mostly true for a long time. It was mostly because Emerald both didn't creep him out and wasn't also his boss.

"So." Emerald said, falling into step beside him. "Any reason that you wanted me to come out and eat with you?"

"Other than us needing to get out of Beacon for a bit?" Mercury shrugged. "I figured it wouldn't hurt for us to try and unwind. This whole Beacon thing has been so stressful."

"It's because you don't want to do your homework, isn't it?'

Mercury felt a little bit surprised by it, but the joke from Emerald was definitely welcome. He also couldn't help but feel a little bit insulted, if only because he wasn't having trouble with homework or anything. Mostly, he just didn't care about grades. After all, if their plan was to topple Beacon eventually anyways, then there wasn't really that much of a reason for him to worry about his classes.

Emerald didn't have to either, but Mercury was under the impression that she just liked playing along with the whole 'normal seventeen year old' side of things. Not that he could blame her, knowing where she had come from. He just didn't have much of a taste for the classes aside from Combat Class, and even then, that was something that he mostly did only to regurgitate his notes to Cinder later.

"And if it was?"

"I'd say you were predictable." Emerald joked, stretching her arms out behind her. "It's almost sad though, knowing that it won't matter in the end." She shook her head. "I guess that we should just try to enjoy ourselves here while we can."

"By getting ice cream and food?" Mercury taunted back, but he didn't feel on edge with what he and Emerald were doing at all. If anything, it might have been the most relaxed he'd felt in a very long time. He knew for a fact that Emerald had a lot to do with that. "You know, I can think of people that would say your definition of fun needs to be worked on."

Emerald shrugged and looked away from Mercury. "People also don't know us."

"They definitely don't." Mercury replied, keeping his head up and his eyes open. The two of them were going to have to take a Bullhead down to Vale, and then once they got there it was going to be smooth sailing. One of the nice things about the two of them being treated and considered as students at Beacon for the time being was that they got certain perks.

One of the best ones was the free public transportation.

The two of them passed through the lines and got their tickets before boarding the ship together. Emerald chose a seat by the window, which Mercury was soon to join her at. He took his seat and let his arm wind over Emerald's shoulder in a way that was almost protective.

Emerald gave him a weird look for barely even a second before just relaxing back against him, her eyes slipping shut and her head tilting back. "This is going to be so nice."

"Yeah." Mercury answered, smirking and tapping his feet on the ground. Not the same as it used to be. That didn't matter though, since the soles of his shoes cushioned the sound anyways. "And we won't even have to share."

Emerald let out a little laugh in response and made herself more comfortable once the ship finally took off for Vale, perfectly according to schedule. The flight to the city was usually a short ride. Soon the two of them would be down in the city itself. Even with their intentions being to get food, Mercury seriously doubted that was going to be all they did while in the city. The last time they had been left in the city unattended they had gotten into some trouble.

That said, Mercury wasn't really in the mood to harass White Fang members. Former White Fang members. Whichever.

"Hey, Em." Mercury said.

She looked back over at him. "What is it?"

"Think we should just expect to spend the whole night out?"

"I figured we would take a late ship back." Emerald said, blinking and her eyes wide. "As long as we get back before quiet hours in the dorm we're going to be fine."

"And if Cinder calls?"

Emerald frowned at that. "Then I guess that we're going to have to cut our plans short." She hugged herself a little at that, looking far from Mercury because neither of them really wanted to think about why they were in Vale, really. Not on a day where they were trying to relax. "We know the airship schedule."

"Right." Mercury curled his hand around Emerald's shoulder and rubbed it gently in the hopes that he might be able to get her to relax again, even if it was only by fractions. "But for now, let's not worry about that."

They had a plan in place. That was all they needed.

Emerald smiled just slightly.

The rest of the bullhead ride is mostly silent, and when the two of them got off Mercury ended up barely even pulling away from Emerald. She was warm and soft beside him, muscular under all of that. She smelled nice- like the sweet fruity shampoo that she had back in their dorm.

And in Vale, she looked a little bit happier. It was a shame.

"So." Mercury said, once they were finally off on their own again. "Ice cream or real food first?"

"I was thinking we get something real before going for sweets." Emerald teased, finally pulling away from him. Mercury couldn't help but miss her being that close, but it was probably for the best. "There are a lot of food carts around here, so it shouldn't be hard to find something."

Mercury thought of his wallet. He was okay with spending about half of what was in it, but ideally it would only be a third of the Lien he had on him. That shouldn't have been too bad.

"That sounds good to me." Mercury shrugged, following after Emerald. She took the lead, seeking out the ideal meal without even asking him what he'd want. Mercury couldn't care enough to feel offended, since pretty much anything would be better than what they were used to at that point. "You just make the choice and we'll work from there."

Emerald gave him a look that he could only describe as suspicious. Mercury didn't think that he was doing anything that was too out of the ordinary, but if that was all that was wrong, he could live with it. Mercury just gestured to the road ahead of them and watched his companion take the steps forward, slow, careful, and unsure of herself.

Once she was about three feet away from Mercury, Emerald did seem to relax though. She pulled over towards the side of the road, where there was a small food cart with a couple little tables set up off of to the sides. Emerald stood up on the tips of her toes, craning to see what was being made before gesturing Mercury forward.

He joined her and got a better look. It was selling what looked like burgers, and that... surprisingly seemed like it would hit the spot.

"This what you want?"

"Yeah, I think so." Emerald said, her eyes wide and cheerful. "Does this work for you?"

"Sounds great."

Emerald beamed up at him and Mercury felt his heartbeat a little harder. He walked to the front of the line with her, going ahead and making an order first before letting Emerald pop in with her half before paying up. It wasn't going to be that bad for his wallet, and the food smelled really good.

The two of them stepped off to the side.

Emerald spoke up first. "Thanks for all of this, Mercury."

"It's really no problem." Mercury shrugged, crossed his arms and let himself lean against a lamp post. "I wanted to get out of Beacon for a bit too."

"You two are from the academy?" The man making their food asked.

"We're from Haven, actually." Emerald answered, more cheerily than she needed to. "We came for the tournament."

"Haven!" The man running the little food stand let out a barking laugh. "You two are a long way from home then."

"We are." Mercury confirmed, glad that this was a chance for them to relax. And even if they had to keep up a cover, this was the easy part of it. Playing along like there was nothing odd or wrong about what they were doing with themselves. "Figured we should see the sights while we had the chance."

"Well, you two better enjoy it!" The man responded, turning and getting their food before passing it across to the two of them. "Vale is quite nice this time of year."

"Thank you." Emerald smiled across the counter at the man as she took her meal. She took a few steps away, and Mercury followed. The two of them picked out a table that was tucked away far from the road. Emerald seated herself and slid the large order of extra fries that they'd ordered into the middle of the table.

Mercury fell into place on the other side.

"This looks amazing." Emerald said, sitting back from her food for just a moment. "Thank you so much for all of this."

Mercury shrugged, grinning back across at her. "I told you that it wasn't going to be a big deal. I meant it."

"Right, right." Emerald looked down at the fries and reached out for a small handful of them. She looked like her face had reddened a little bit. That left Mercury feeling like his heart had just jumped in his chest. "Either way, this is so much better than things have been."

"Not having to share with anyone else is nice." Mercury reached out and took a fry for himself, popping it into his mouth. "Besides, I like you."

"I know." Emerald laughed, leaning in towards the table. "So we're going to eat, and then what happens after that? You've gotta have a plan."

"Ice cream." Mercury reminded Emerald. "And then I figured we'd find all of the tourist traps."

"Tourist traps?" Emerald asked, frowning slightly and leaning in towards him. "You want to go and see the tourist traps."

Mercury smirked. "I thought that you knew a lot about those."

"Oh, I do." Emerald groaned, looking up to the sky for just a moment. "But I really was hoping that I wouldn't have to mess around with them again." Mercury couldn't blame her. He knew enough about her and where she'd come from. She was probably thinking about a history of pickpocketing more than anything else. "But being able to actually visit them sounds pretty nice."

"That's the idea." Mercury mumbled as he picked up his burger. It smelled amazing, juicy and with just the perfect sauces on it to make it worthwhile. Exactly what he needed. It was enough to make his mouth water a little bit.

Emerald picked up her own burger and didn't hesitate at all before bringing it to her mouth and biting into it. She let out a noise that Mercury could only describe as obscene at the taste. "This is amazing."

"I agree." Mercury responded, mumbling through his own full mouth. "We should do this again."

Emerald nodded, setting her burger back down and reaching back over for some fries. Mercury watched as she pulled her burger open and stored a small layer of fries on top of the patty. "I wouldn't mind it. At the very least getting away from Beacon is worth it."

Mercury nodded. "I hear that the street vendors get even better when the Vytal Festival is in town." Mercury reminded Emerald, and smiled over it. She smiled back at him, relaxed and calm. More content than he had ever seen her while they'd been at Beacon.

"But we're competing." Emerald reminded him, rather pointedly. "How are we supposed to enjoy the things around Vale when we're so busy?" She leaned in across the table, staring up at Mercury with wide red eyes. "How will we ever find a chance to get away from the competition?"

Mercury laughed. "You know we're going to have a ton of downtime." He shrugged a little bit. "Besides, if we're competing and we do well-"

"Please tell me you're about to say free food."

"It's a possibility." Mercury grabbed up a few more fries. "Besides, there's going to be a carnival. I don't think I've ever been to one."

"What?" Emerald asked, sitting up tall. "You've never been to a carnival?"

"Nope." Mercury popped the 'p' as he let the word out. "Old man never really allowed for it. I take it you've been?"

Emerald shrugged. "Lots of easy people to pickpocket and nobody is paying attention." It surprised Mercury just how calm and even nonchalant Emerald was about saying that out loud. "It's easy pickings if you're like me."

"So then we should have a good time, then?"

"Yeah-" Emerald laughed, picking up two more fries. "Yeah, I guess we should. I'll try and win you something at the games?"

"There are games?"

"Yeah." Emerald laughed. "You like teddy bears? I think they usually have stuffed grimm and stuff."

Mercury shrugged, because that's a question that he doesn't know he has a real answer to. He might have had a teddy bear back when he was very young, but he couldn't be certain. Emerald gave him a sympathetic look, the message that he'd been trying to pass on apparently received.

"The point is-" She started, nibbling at one of her fries. "It's going to be fun. And I'm looking forward to enjoying it with you while we still can."

Emerald paused and locked her eyes with his. Mercury smiled back across the table at her, feeling oddly relaxed all things considered. This was nice. Being able to relax and to do it with Emerald was nice. He wouldn't have given this up for the world. Too bad that the two of them would only have so much time to enjoy it. Mercury thought that he might have been able to draw their time alone together out, even if only slightly. As long as they weren't compromising the mission, they'd be allowed to.

Heads down and noses clean, just like Cinder wanted.

Mercury took a breath. "How about we do that then?" He looked back across at Emerald. "You wanted to get ice cream-"

"You wanted to get ice cream. And you wanted to wander around." Emerald laughed it off. "I wanted dinner." She grabbed one last handful of fries and stuffed it into her mouth before getting up and taking her burger along with her, still mostly wrapped. That was a message that Mercury could understand easily enough, so he got up and did the same. There weren't any fries left so he threw away the tray and tried to just enjoy the walk.

The two of them made it barely two blocks before all of the food that they'd taken with them was completely gone. Mercury wiped his hands off on his pants, but Emerald had a napkin or two stored away in her pocket which she offered to him instead, if a bit belatedly.

"Em?" Mercury asked as he let himself slow to a stop by one of the parks in the city. It was gorgeous, well kept with wide green spaces, and a pond for ducks in the middle of it. Mercury glanced down at Emerald in search of some sign as to how she was feeling. "You want to-"

"Seems nice." Emerald replied, taking his hand and taking the lead from him with it. Mercury usually would have tugged back against that a little bit, but in that moment he didn't really mind. Being out of control was nice, and Emerald liked the chance to take over once in a while. "I didn't think you were the type to like ducks."

"I'm not, really." Mercury said, just before dropping into a bench and patting the space next to him. Emerald slid into the seat beside him and made herself comfortable against his body. Mercury didn't hesitate to wrap an arm around her shoulders to offer her some extra contact. The two of them didn't really need it, but it was still nice nonetheless. "I just liked the view."

"Mmm." Emerald hummed, content. "It is nice, isn't it?" She tilted her head, resting it against Mercury's shoulder ever so gently. She was fishing for a reaction, and Mercury doesn't actually know what kind he could actually give her.

"I like sharing it." Mercury said quietly into Emerald's hair. "With you."

"Can't believe you're actually saying that." Emerald laughed quietly. "Remember when we met?"

"I remember you hating me." Mercury answered, knowing that it was something that Emerald couldn't exactly go ahead and deny. It was the truth and they both knew it. Those early days had been hard on everyone involved. "And having to compete."

"Yeah." Emerald sighed. "I like you now though." She said it like the fact that she was there, warm and soft against him and relaxed doesn't matter. Like that wasn't the thing that he was going to remember from this conversation. Mercury hugged her just a little bit closer. It's a pleasant sort of contact. "Now that I know you."

"Hmm." Mercury hummed, looking out at the pond. There were a couple of ducks there which swam out towards it's center, completely content and unaware as to the evils of their world. The ducks didn't know why Mercury and Emerald were in Vale. They didn't need to- they were just ducks. "Hey, Emerald?"

"Mercury?"

"We're sticking together after this, right?" it was a lot to ask from Emerald, and Mercury wasn't even sure how he felt about going ahead and asking. It was a topic that the two of them have danced around a couple of times in the past. They needed to talk about it eventually. It didn't feel like a bad time to try.

Emerald looked sad, though. Heavy. "I guess that it depends on Cinder."

"Right."

"I think that I'm going to stick with her." Emerald admitted. "She's given me so much, and... I owe her. A lot."

"I get it." Mercury mumbled, thinking about that fateful night when he had turned to Cinder himself. He didn't know what Cinder had offered Emerald specifically beyond food. She was there when he'd been taken. She'd seen what he was responsible for firsthand. "But I just..." He looked Emerald in the eyes. "I want to know that this is real."

"It is." Emerald replied, not breaking the eye contact. "I'd like it if you stayed."

"Then I'll stay." Mercury offered. It wasn't like he actually had anywhere else to go. He didn't want to find out what would happen to him if he tried to break away from Cinder. No matter what, he had to remember that he was still technically a wanted man. He wouldn't be surprised if he was ever brought in for what he'd done. Cinder and Emerald could protect him from that, at least for a while.

Emerald took his hand in hers and gave it a little squeeze. It's comforting, more than anything else. "Partners in crime."

"Partners in crime." Mercury mumbled back to her. That was the truth, really. They'd done so much together at that point that calling each other anything but partners in crime was wrong. He'd have her back, undercover or not. Mercury was confident in that. "I've got your back."

"I know." Emerald whispered back, cuddling in against Mercury once more. Their hands laced together on top of Mercury's leg, and it was pleasant. It was the most pleasant thing that he'd ever done. He'd hold onto it for as long as he possibly could.

Mercury needed his partner in crime. He could only guess that Emerald felt the same way about him.

When the time came, they went back to their dorm, and when it was clear that they would be spending the night alone, Mercury and Emerald curled into bed together and slept, hands continually clasped and her tucked in against his chest. The same way they had for weeks, and the same way they would for nights, weeks, months to come.

Neither of them were going anywhere.