Volume 1, Chapter 9
Escalation, Part 1
M: +4 D: +23
One week after the events of Networking.
Morning
"So... You and Emerald seem to be getting along better lately."
Lee didn't even look up from the carton of eggs he was inspecting, and kept both his expression and his tone of voice completely disinterested. "I suppose you could say that."
Next to him, Mercury did the same while checking the expiration date on a gallon of milk. "One might even say you two are getting pretty chummy."
Lee rolled his eyes before walking away, carton of eggs in hand. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on here, and considering this was Mercury talking about Emerald, even an idiot would have figured it out. Still, they were friends, so Lee would try not to be too much of a dick about this.
"Is there a point to this, Merc?"
Lee could not help but smirk to himself a little bit as behind him, he picked up just the faintest of grumbling: "Now you're even starting to sound like her..."
"I can still hear you."
"You were meant to. But back to Emerald; what's going on, Lee?"
A brief silence settled as the two moved down the grocery aisle, Lee deciding how best to handle this whilst Mercury patiently waited... Which in and of itself told Lee that he was very interested in the answer.
"Well, after the incident at The Club, we..." Lee paused, taking a moment to look around their surroundings: a semi-busy grocery store during the earlier hours of the morning. "We probably shouldn't talk about this here."
Here, in this instance, was the grocery store nearest their apartment. Both were casually dressed in Tee-shirts and sweat pants so as not to draw attention, but that would be a moot point if they did so anyway by discussing the events of last week out in the open. Merc took one look around, and promptly agreed, albeit with a suffering sigh.
"Sorry bro."
"It's fine... So long as you aren't just avoiding the question and hoping I'll forget."
"Pfft, I would never!" A playful grin was tossed over Lee's shoulder at his companion... Who rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, of course you wouldn't..."
While my excuse was valid, I actually was stalling for time. After all, how do you tell one of your best friends that you're (not so) suddenly interested in the same girl he is, after several months of it being extremely obvious that said friend is absolutely obsessed with her? Of course, Mercury would never admit to it, which would make that conversation slightly easier from my end... But it was still going to be one that required a little bit of delicacy in its handling...
"So. You and Emerald. Spill."
Lee and Merc were now walking down the street, laden with grocery bags, having completed their grocery shopping. Which meant Lee had run out of time to decide how he would handle this conversation... Fortunately, with subtle use of his semblance, he'd had far more than enough to come up with a plan of action.
"Well, as you know, Emerald and I weren't too close before last week."
"Uh huh."
"In fact, unless it involved pulling a prank on you, I don't think we'd ever hung out just the two of us, she and I."
"Right..."
"But apparently, all it took was hanging out once for us to realize we had some common ground."
"Lee, that's still a pretty big leap from just happening to have the same group of friends to walking through the front door arm in arm."
Lee shrugged. "It was cold out, and she was wearing a dress; my mother raised me to be a gentleman."
A quick glance sideways showed Lee that Merc was frowning, revealing that he didn't necessarily like that answer... But it was the truth. Lee may not remember his mother's name, and he knew that if she could somehow find out what he'd done at The Club last week, disappointed would be an understatement in describing her thoughts on the matter. He knew that his personality had already changed by coming to this new world, and becoming involved with this group... But he'd be damned if he abandoned the core of his personality, of how he was raised, and that included being a gentleman whenever possible. Which included sacrificing his own (stolen) warm jacket for the sake of allowing a lady to be warm.
"Fine, but that doesn't explain why you two were practically wrapped around each other."
"It was really cold."
"You looked like you were enjoying it."
"Of course I was! Emerald may be pretty athletic but she still manages to be surprisingly cuddly. Plus: boobs! I'd be kind of worried if a guy didn't enjoy being cuddled by a girl with a rack that pronounced."
Lee's smirk threatened to split his face as another peek sideways showed Mercury's composure slipping; he was quickly descending from feigned indifference to annoyance.
"I guess I can't argue with that."
"Well, you could, but you'd have to be either a lolicon or gay... I won't judge you for the former, so long as you don't start bringing home girls who still need an adult present for anything, but if it's the latter, I'd like take this chance to inform you up front that I do not swing that way."
That got Merc to sputter indignantly. "Why on Remnant would I-"
Lee, grinning openly now, could not help but rib his companion some more as they approached their apartment block.
"Of course, in the event you have been harboring a man crush on me, I'd have to compliment you on your good taste before letting you down easy; I am a pretty good catch after all. Smart, handsome, talented with his Aura..."
"Dammit, Lee, I'm not gay!"
Silence descended upon the scene as everybody nearby stared at the source of the loud shout... Who distributed dirty looks all around before following his laughing team mate into the building.
"Dude, you are too chupping easy sometimes, you know that?"
"Screw you..."
"You wish!" Lee quipped, before dodging a lazy crescent kick. "Sheesh, lighten up Merc; Emerald didn't even react violently when I used that line."
Well, Lee would never deny that he was willing to fight dirty. He knew that the whole point of Mercury's interrogation was to elicit a confession that Lee was romantically interested in Emerald... Which he would never admit to. He would, however admit that she was sexier than any girl her age had a right to be... But, just as with Neo, Emerald's age was the problem. Remnant's age of consent might only be 16 (14, in Vacuo), due to both the planet's low human/Faunas population as well as the ever-present threat of the Grimm, but Lee was from a society where the age of consent was 18 (17, in situations where one party is less than a year or two older), and while he may have become a mercenary over the last 5 months, and thus willing to break the law, the thought of engaging in intercourse with a minor, at least by his standards, was still absolutely squicktastic. Even if said minor was only barely a minor, and more attractive than literally every full-grown woman he'd ever met back on Earth.
"Oh for fuck's sake, Lee, just tell me whether or not you're interested in her like that!"
And at that point, Lee was fed up with the interrogation, and finally snapped. Shifting his groceries into one hand so that he could grab Mercury by the front of the shirt, Lee lowered his voice as he pressed his back into the wall. "Merc, I'm only gonna say this once, and afterwards I'll pretend I didn't, so I suggest you listen: Emerald is a beautiful young woman, and perceptive to boot; she was able to see that what went down with the Xiongs was bothering me, and decided to play counselor; to my surprise, she actually succeeded. Were she a little older, I would most certainly be considering her romantically. But, alas, I'm actually twenty-two years old, despite my youthful good looks, and she's only seventeen. Seeing as the age of consent where I come from is seventeen, and even that really only applies in certain situations, the thought of actually having an active sexual relationship with her before she's 18 is positively squicky to me, even if it's technically legal here. Despite the fact that we already operate on the wrong side of the law, there are some standards that I refuse to break, and that is one of them. So you've got the better part of a year before you even really have to worry about me; I suggest you use that time productively."
Having said what he needed to say, Lee released Mercury, before storming away down the hallway, leaving Merc to attempt to digest the sudden turn things had taken.
The conversation sort of just died at that point, probably because I'd finally opted for the blunt approach rather than the delicate, leaving Mercury with nothing he could say without admitting I was right. But man, anybody who has ever met Mercury even once would agree that his attitude combined with his voice would make you want to knock his lights out. Because we were friends, I never did; instead, I just refused to sugar coat anything for him. Including my thoughts on how he went about showing his feelings towards Emerald... I suppose one could say that made me insensitive, but he literally asked for it that time. But, I've got to give Merc credit where credit is due, he certainly tried to get back at me...
A couple of hours later
"What?! There's no way it's leg day again already!"
Cinder and Co. were all seated around the breakfast table, downing their various pre-workout meals at a reasonable pace until Lee was informed by a rather smug Mercury that today's workout was going to be focused on the training of his legs: Leg Day. A desperate Lee turned to face Neo and then Emerald, who were both seated on one side, but the shorter of those two just giggled at him while the darker smiled apologetically.
"Sorry Lee, but he's right; we took Saturday off for the mission, then Sunday to recover, while Monday was cardio, Tuesday upper body and core strength, and yesterday was skill training. Which, as much as I hate to agree with Merc, makes him right."
Lee groaned in despair, allowing his face to become acquainted with the table as he slumped.
"Now now, Caerulean, you know we must not allow distaste for the effort required prevent us from maintaining peak physical condition; after all, are not the results worth it? It would be a travesty to deprive Mercury of his eye candy."
The table immediately erupted into chaos as three of its other occupants burst out into laughter (and in Neo's case, it was a genuine, vocalized belly laugh!), and the fifth groaned in humiliation before planting his face into the table. Cinder was not usually one for cracking jokes, but when she did, they most certainly tended to be both well timed, and flawlessly delivered.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
"Whyyyyyyy..."
Thunk. Thunk.
Lee, thoroughly revitalized, followed up on the opening Cinder had just created: "You're right, Cinder. It would be the utmost shame if I deprived the world of these!" And as Lee finished, he lifted his arms, left mostly uncovered by his shirt, and proceeded to flex, the action in and of itself causing a variety of reactions:
Emerald, true to form, rolled her eyes... But she did so with an amused smile, and just the barest hint of a flush.
Neo, also remaining true to form, leaned back in her chair, arching her back so that her chest, covered in a tank-top, was pushed forward, with a coquettish expression adorning her features. Lee responded with a wink and a pec flex, clearly emphasized under his rather form-fitting shirt, and finally got Neo to blush... Before a moment later it was no longer visible. Lee allowed her to keep up the illusion, and looked to Cinder before it could shatter.
Cinder, in keeping with her good mood, was chuckling softly. And as for Mercury?
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Yeah, that was about the appropriate reaction to getting roasted so thoroughly. Lee grinned, before turning to face Cinder again.
"Should we stop him? He might give himself brain damage."
Across from Cinder, Emerald chimed in. "Please, that would require him to actually have a brain in the first place. He's more likely to break the table than that hard skull of his."
"All the same," Cinder cut in before a suddenly murderous Mercury, suddenly galvanized by the insult, could retort, "It would be a travesty if Mercury had to buy a new table because he could not handle a joke at his expense. Do lighten up, Mercury, you know we still love you."
"Thank you, Cinder!"
"Even if you are a homosexual."
"Arrrgh!"
.
..
...
Thunk.
That morning, I most definitely held the upper hand in the rivalry that had suddenly developed between us; hard not to when you're being humiliated in front of your friends and colleagues, and even your boss is joining in on the fun. Which... Was unusual, but I wasn't going to question it just then; whatever the reason was, Cinder would either tell us when she decided we needed to know. In the meantime, all that mattered was that she was in a good mood, and a happy Cinder equated to a relatively easygoing Cinder. And an easygoing Cinder would not pass up the opportunity to watch two of her subordinates engage in a harmless little rivalry, which I was currently winning. But, the day was still young, and our trip to the gym would provide the perfect opportunity for Mercury to attempt to turn the tables...
Poor Merc! Even Cinder couldn't pass up the opportunity to roast him! XD At the moment, this arc is largely being planned as a quote-unquote "filler" episode, solely for character relationships (obviously starting with Lee and Mercury) to be developed while I decide which major plot point should logically come next: at the moment, I'm thinking Summer Rose, but I may decide to go with Roman. I guess we'll see.
Also, since I forgot to mention it last chapter: anybody else think the whole Tale of the Four Seasons thing in the last episode was a little far fetched, even for Remnant? I mean, I understand that Cinder has got to have some sort of OPness in order to compensate for the fact that she pretty much only has herself, Merc, and Emerald firmly in her camp compared to pretty much every Hunter and Huntress on Remnant, but seriously? Four women who have magic powers? Sounds like some serious Avatar-esque crap, in a world where super powers are already cheap. Bleh... But I digress. The point of this rant was to add that, while I'm personally not a fan of that particular plot line, I'll still use it here as well, which means Cinder assaulting Amber at some point. Probably not until it's close to time to go to Beacon though.
