Mercury took a sip from his bottled water, consecutive big gulps followed by a sharp intake of breath. Closing his eyes for a brief moment, he then sat on one of the gym's black benches, taking a rough break from his current training.
He used the towel that was hanging around his left shoulder to wipe the sweat all over his face and neck. He was still panting from all that sparring but above it all, he knew he was doing good. He has always been good at what he does, surely above average, although there have been multiple times where he failed to do some of the easiest things. That being said, ergo, being sociable.
Meanwhile, his trainer for this kickboxing session, a fierce-looking woman possibly in her late twenty's, left for the meantime. Mercury was actually a lucky bastard for having the opportunity to train with what they call her Cinder, a professional sports trainer who's got all the moves, curves and looks. Men and even women around him secretly envy him for that, but the thing is Cinder handpicked him, and that probably only meant one thing and that she can see such a potential in him with his skills.
Giving him enough time to at least rest for a bit and perhaps use this for a good amount of time - with what always comes close to his mind, to annoy Emerald.
She stopped doing sit-ups and sat on the floor mat, eyed him from head to toe, rolling her eyes afterwards, "Are you trying to impress me?" she spat out and there was a tinge of disgust in her tone.
He snickered, "No, but are you trying to impress my trainer?" he smirked, and she badly wanted to throw anything hard at his face because of that.
"What? Shut up!" she glowered at him, voice louder than before. He wasn't even wrong about it, but damn that's not the point here.
"I'm going to tell that to Cinder," Mercury shook his head lightly, pointing a finger at her direction, "She's not going to be impressed if you're not trying harder."
"Oh will you please shut the fuck up, Mercury?" she continued to glare at him, but he was already having fun.
"I have a mouth, I'll use it."
"Ugh!" she aggressively ran a hand through her hair, "Why am I even here, you insufferable piece of shit." Emerald was suppressing the urge to strangle him right now, once again rolling her eyes so hard.
"I didn't ask you to come with me in the first place, you said you were bored." he said non-chalantly without looking back at her.
"Really now, I said that? Whatever," she snorted as she stretched both of her arms upwards until it landed on her nape, "Anyway, where's your girlfriend?" Emerald knew he's got the upper hand this time so she went for a different topic instead. Besides, she knew that was part of the reason why he wasn't dozing off unlike before.
It had been one week since Yang last talked to him, since he heard her loud, frustrated voice. When her last words to him are, "Seriously, fuck you." and "I seriously fucking hate you.", for a week Mercury couldn't forget those raging lines in his head, how she said it felt like she was spitting daggers at him; and sometimes he just wanted to break anything that's close to him, anything that's breakable. It was so silly, even a little childish, but for some reason all he wanted to do was to reach out to her but his pride doesn't let him.
It had been also a week since he ruined a supposedly going fine date for a lovely couple he only got to meet that day, but eventually they perceive him now as another asshole from the crowd. He's not any different from them, is he? It was such a very asshole thing to say, he knew. Yet Mercury doesn't regret anything he said to Blake, but what he kind of regretted the most was leaving Yang.
It took a minute for him to respond, brushing off those thoughts once again, "Let's just say that I don't know and I don't care."
"Wow, you're so boyfriend material, aren't you?" she let out a mocking laugh, "The perfect ideal." she motioned her hand as if she was trying to decipher her own embodiment of the archetype. Her expression dreamy but in a very sarcastic way, her eyes dropping in an instant and that made him laugh.
Mercury shrugged, "That's me." he opened his arms wide, as if emphasizing his overall self so proudly. Damn, even Emerald had to cringe.
She hissed, "Even if you don't tell me, I know you're still here because you're waiting for her, right?" she stood up and then went towards him, sat on the space beside him before folding her arms in front of her chest.
"And what makes you say that?"
"Come on! Hello?" she punched him on his arm and that made him look at her over his shoulder, "Didn't you tell Cinder you were only supposed to do a three-hour session today? You even said you're not in the mood to train for the whole day but you already extended for another one hour! Are you nuts?"
Well, Emerald's right. She was never wrong seeing through him, with their years of knowing each other, living together. From being roommates to friends, getting deeper with a more intimate relationship which in the end made the both of them realize they were just better off as friends. None of them regretted it happened anyway, in fact their bond got stronger after that. They've been through a hell lot, and the only thing one can give to the other was company, support and utmost loyalty.
He sighed.
"You better fight me now, you attractive stranger." a sly smile suddenly made its way across the blonde's face, daring him with a flirtatious tone.
She positioned herself in a fighting stance, knees slightly bent forwards while both fists were raised up in line along her chest that began to rise and fall quickly now that his gray irises met hers. Yang can already feel the thrill rushing in her veins, at one point in her life she wanted to see her new limb launched at another person's jaw as hard as it sounds. She didn't know exactly why she had the nerve to approach this silver-haired boy of all people, obviously he's much more trained and experienced than her but it wouldn't hurt if she'd try him, would it?
On the other hand, Mercury didn't know who she was yet, not even her name. No proper exchange of introductions took place between them. It was the first time he saw her in this gym yet she already had the balls to challenge him. What gives?
He let his signature smirk slip across his face as well, showing her a haughty demeanor and that he'll never back down to a girl, "You up for it, blondie?" he crouched himself in a battle stance, up and ready for her to throw the first punch, "Then hit me with your best shot, and make it a good one."
He knew this was going to be exciting.
Mercury briefly closed his eyes when he recalled their first encounter, how he managed to pin her down on the floor when the spar had ended. But he wouldn't deny the fact that she was definitely a challenge, not one that easy to bring down, "Ouch, am I that obvious?" he acted like he was hurt by putting a hand on his chest.
Emerald threw her hands up in the air, knowing she was right, "Fuck, I knew it."
"Sorry to get your ass waiting, then." Mercury couldn't even understand what he felt too. All he knew, it was probably the guilt crawling up his entire system for the past week, for ruining that date. It was going well, but damn not until his smartass self presented on its own and then in an instant an angry Yang was shouting at him and he still continued to be a jerk.
"So you plan on exhausting yourself until she arrives?"
"What? No, who the hell does she think she is?" he narrowed down his eyes at her, "I'm not going to waste all my energy for her. The hell I care." it was so easy for him to say he doesn't care but his small actions suggest otherwise.
"Oh, the hell you care, huh?" she leaned back on the bench, cackling to herself.
"Yeah."
She scoffed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Don't you dare go fucking ask me later on that you should've waited for her."
"Okay, fine." Mercury straightened his upper body then lifted up his arms, as if defeated.
Emerald didn't have to know why Mercury decided to stay. How he kept on glancing right there and then on the door, hoping a certain Yang will come in. Her eyes will never let that pass, his unconscious longing and pretending he doesn't give a single fuck. For Mercury, he was sure it was guilt. At least for Emerald, it was the other way around.
She let out a sigh, offered him a little comfort by slowly caressing his back, "But seriously, what if she actually doesn't arrive because...she's still mad at you?"
His elbows were now rested on top of his knees, then shrugging, "I don't know, I guess I'll just give her some time, until she talks to me again."
A brief moment of silence passed by between them until Mercury's phone came ringing. He had never been this eager to hear the tingling sound of it, and for a minute he wanted to feel some kind of relief once he answer the call.
It was an unregistered set of numbers, and a tiny part of him wanted it to be Yang but that's a little impossible and is considered imagination at the moment.
"Hey, Mercury?" a high-pitched voice drone on his ear, and he was sure he had heard of it before.
"New phone, who this?" he lazily asked, slowly scratching his neck.
"Hey, it's Ruby."
He had to blink his eyes twice before the information sank in him, "Oh, hey, what's up?" that was unexpected, why would Yang's sister call him all of a sudden?
"I'm sorry, am I bothering you?"
"No, no, don't apologize," he stood up and then ran a hand through his hair, "It's fine, I'm just..." he took a quick glance at Emerald before continuing, "slacking my ass off here."
"Okay, great. So it's my birthday tomorrow, do you have any spare time to at least grab a meal here or something?"
He raised an eyebrow upon the abrupt invitation, "Are you actually inviting me?"
"Yes?"
"That's...awesome." Mercury didn't know what to say next, did he hear it all right?
Ruby chuckled softly, "Actually, it was Yang who asked. I don't know why she doesn't want to call you, but I guess I'll leave that between the two of you."
"Yang? Okay, if she's right there beside you, will you hand her your phone?" he moved three steps forward away from his current spot, "I have to tell her something."
There was a minute of incoherent noises from the other line. Like a combination of mumbling and whispering before Ruby spoke again, "Uh, she's here but she said that you can go frick yourself."
"Go fuck yourself!" it was Yang's voice, correcting her sister with the F word. He could still hear her groaning and all, while Ruby was just teasing her.
A small smile formed at the edge of his lips unconsciously when he recognized her voice, "Alright, tell her that before I go fuck myself, I'm going to fuck her first, deal?"
"Ugh, I swear I'm not hearing anything! Will you two just talk in peace? Without all that profanity and stuff." Ruby complained, sounding a bit uncomfortable but in such a cute way no one could ever guess she was actually yammering and that made him laugh.
"Your sister started it."
"Wait before I forgot, can you tag along your roommate? If she doesn't mind and is available."
"Oh, you mean, Emerald?" Mercury didn't know how to react by this even more shocking request. He wanted to look at Emerald but he's sure she already had her taunting eyes at him.
"Yeah? If that's her name, yeah."
Tapping his fingers on his phone, he asked, "Are you sure you're inviting us?"
"I'm pretty sure! And it's not just upon Yang's request, I sincerely do too."
"Alright, cool."
"I'll just text you the address of our home, and then the time. It's going to be just a simple celebration between family and friends, and I really hope you two would be able to come."
"Sure, no worries about that." Mercury assured with hopes of seeing the same blonde chick whom he was waiting for in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"And Yang will be waiting for you." Ruby whispered, chortling.
"Okay? She can just tell me directly if she missed me already."
"You better tell her that, you know? So, bye for now and see you tomorrow."
Mercury was the first one to end the call as usual, without saying anything more. He hoped Ruby wouldn't mind that and that it didn't come off as rude if anything.
At least, this was progress. It doesn't feel like waiting for nothingness unlike the past week.
"I heard my freaking name," Emerald started once he began walking back towards his previous seat, "What was that all about?" she eyed him suspiciously, her arms were still crossed in front of her chest.
"Someone's having a birthday and we're invited." he finally decided to grab his backpack, picked up a random clean shirt which he quickly wore in replacement of his current one.
"Yang?" she asked, a bit confused on who might be that someone he was referring to.
He shook his head, chuckling, "No, her younger sister."
Emerald, for a moment, felt like a big question mark was plastered on her face as if she was given a complicated, master detective-level puzzle to encode, "Okay, I get it you're invited. You're the boyfriend. But me, what the hell?" it was honestly an act of kindness that's why it was little bit hard for her to believe him.
Mercury hummed, pretending like he was actually thinking of an intellectual answer, "That makes you the boyfriend's roommate."
She looked at him with a very unamused expression, "Was that a joke? I hope it's not."
"I swear it's not."
"Or I swear I'll kill you."
"Believe me or not, whatever. But I'm not fucking kidding." he sounded so done with her.
Still, she continued nagging, "Geez, what's even my role here?"
"I don't know about you but I'll be going tomorrow," he straightened his back while adjusting the bag straps that effortlessly slipped on his arms, "Are you going to tag along or not? I can just pretend you're dead that's why you weren't able to come."
"Ugh, you better make sure that's worth my time, or you'll end up dead even before you know it!" Emerald threatened but Mercury already packed his things up and was already heading for the door, "Wait, are we going home now?" she hadn't noticed at all that he was preparing to leave already because she was too pre-occupied by the fact that someone she never met had invited her to her birthday.
"If you'd like to wait for Cinder, stay here. While I'll just message her I already left."
"Hey, wait up!" Emerald quickly grabbed her stuff and then followed him right after. Someone's going to hear non-stop cursing now that she was so annoyed with him.