NarutoShippings requested Jaded. Fun fact: I was going to write a comedy called "Lazy Days" about how team CMEN spent all their spare time, including their DnD campaign. This is a collection of scenes salvaged from that.
Vale before Fall was muggy. No amount of climate control could keep the dorms truly comfortable. This posed an incredible problem for Cinder's lackeys. Emerald and Mercury had spent the last two weeks holed up in this room awaiting orders. Visiting the warehouse was a rare treat. And sneaking away to murder Tukson was a guilty pleasure.
Emerald sighed and tore her shirt off. They'd stripped to the minimum and spent the last hour lying in their beds, and yet the sweating continued.
"Okay. First time," she asked.
Mercury smiled.
"Petunia. I met her on the road, on one of dad's missions. She was from a poor family. No nice clothes or anything, not out in the wild. But I remember she had this cute birthmark over half her face. Shy, but brave. I wonder what she's up to."
"What?"
Emerald turned a confused look his way.
"I wonder what she's up to," he repeated.
"But you killed her?"
"What?" Mercury turned his confused look to her.
"She was your first kill, right?"
"Oh," Mercury realized, "Oh. No. Hah. No that was a pig. The first person was a White Fang lieutenant. You?"
"Tukson," she admitted.
"No way. I thought you didn't even know him. When?"
"When?"
"Yeah."
"You were there with me," she sneered.
"What?"
"Merc, you were there when we killed him, remember?"
"No, I mean your first time," he suggested.
Emerald sighed and turned away from him. Mercury took this excellent opportunity to ogle her silhouette. Emerald was a Mistral girl. She knew the value of wrapped-cloth undergarments. The beads of sweat on her skin made her tanned skin sparkle in the light between the window blinds.
"I've had my fair share," she lied.
Mercury laughed like a bark.
"You're a virgin!"
Emerald threw a pillow at him. He only laughed harder.
"Come on, seriously?" he chuckled.
"Whatever," she growled.
"No tragic back story? No drunkle? No young love?"
"Eugh."
"So are you a lefty or a righty?"
She answered with her left.
Minutes, hours, or days later, they were exercising. Just short of naked, sweat pouring, towels soaking. On the pushup round, Emerald saw Mercury glance her way and accelerate. She upped the bet, and the competition was on. Her arms burned. She tried to hide that she was offsetting the work onto her aura. At three-hundred push-ups, she realized Mercury must have as well.
Minutes, hours, days.
Resting became teasing, which became another battle. Mercury flicked his aura across the room, tickling her skin. She sent a splash back. This became a close quarters battle of wills. They were standing at the room's center, forcing their auras at each other in a no-contact sparring match. Contact was all they thought about.
Minutes or hours passed.
The battle had raged with a quiet intensity until the only aura either had left was what had been stuffed into them by the other. They both lay back against their beds, panting, trembling.
"I always thought it was just a facade," Emerald noted, "but you really let it all go."
"Anger isn't healthy," Mercury nodded.
She expected him to return a judgment, commentary or a coy smile. He was thankfully quiet. Was it respect? She knew there was a piece of her inside him, tickling his senses and making itself known. And he was Mercury; He had to have an opinion. They lay on their beds to rest.
Minutes passed.
"Okay," Mercury sighed, "There's way too much sexual tension in this room. I'm gonna yank it."
He rolled to face away from her. Emerald was stunned, but saw instantly that he was right.
"Yeah. Me too," she murmured.
Mercury rolled back.
"Hey, if we're both-"
"-No."
"We both know what you're gonna think about," he grinned.
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking about," she chided.
Their eyes met for a very, very long time.