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"I just don't feel the same way."
Yang's fist slammed into the test dummy in front of her. The force of the punch was enough to send the dummy crashing into the opposite wall. It splintered upon impact, shattering into a hundred pieces.
The training yard had a combination of advanced technology and magic woven into it .
Yang watched as the training dummy pulled itself back together and returned to the spot in front of her.
She wasn't sure how long she had been out here. She just knew her chest still hurt, still stung with the rejection of the one person she was sure had seen her seriously, and she wanted it to stop.
"You know, you can't transfer pain to something that doesn't feel it."
At the slow drawl, Yang turned her head.
Mercury Black was strolling towards her with his hands were shoved into his pockets. Though he was the picture of casual disinterest, his gray eyes were focused on Yang with a single minded intensity.
Yang swallowed thickly. She spoke around the lump in her throat, "What makes you think that's what I'm trying to do?"
"Because that's what people do when someone they love tells them they aren't enough for them. They try to get rid of the pain in their chest by transferring it to something else." One corner of his lips curved up in a mocking smile. "And the whole school's heard about you getting your heart broken."
Yang's lips turned down in a frown. "It didn't happen that long ago."
"Only a few hours," Mercury agreed. "But half this school had bets on how bumblebee was gonna play out. Whoever was in that courtyard with you two was really eager to get their money."
She grimaced. She'd only asked Blake out in such a public place because she'd been certain her teammate felt the same way. The faunus had never rejected Yang's advances and she'd been flirting right back more and more since they'd helped put Torchwick away.
"Is that why you're here?" Yang questioned, forcing steel into her voice. "To praise me for earning you twenty bucks?"
"Emerald beat me on that, actually. I was rooting for you." He had crossed the training yard and was standing next to the replaced dummy. He'd turned away from her, choosing to peer at it instead. His lips had settled back down in disinterest, but his gaze was intense.
"Why are you here than?"
Mercury hummed softly. He propped his elbow up on the training dummy's shoulder, "I thought you'd like someone to take your anger out on. Someone that you could actually hurt."
Her eyes narrowed, "You're asking me to hurt you?"
"I'm offering to fight you," he corrected. "I'm not just going to stand still and let you pummel me."
Yang watched him for a minute. She'd had limited contact with Mercury - Ruby had struck up a friendship with his teammates, but Yang spent so much time with Blake that her interactions with the visiting students were focused around Team SSSN - but from the interactions they had had she didn't get the impression he was the sort of person to do something like this out of the goodness of his heart.
"This is so shady," Yang accused.
Mercury just gave a one shouldered shrug.
She set her knees wide, crouching in her battle stance.
Mercury's lips curved in a smile. With a single swift motion, he lifted his leg and kicked the training dummy away from them. It flew across the training yard the same way it had with Yang's previous punch. His voice rang through the stadium, "Put away all models. Prepare for person on person sparring."
The display of strength brought a smile to Yang's face.
This, she decided as the stadium shifted around them and Mercury settled in a stance of his own, was going to feel good.
"So we meet again."
Yang reached up, wiping sweat from her brow as she turned to face Mercury.
He stood at the entrance of the courtyard. His arms were crossed over his chest. His hip was cocked to one side and his long legs stretched out as he leaned that direction. He wasn't making any move to walk any further onto the field.
Without uncrossing his arms, he lifted one hand in greeting. "Yo. I heard you may need a sparring partner again?"
She pursed her lips. "Are you stalking me or something?"
"We're attending the same school," Mercury said with a roll of his eyes. "I tend to hear gossip."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that team RWBY was practicing their famous combos with Goodwitch today," he said, "and when their leader called out a bumblebee, it went to shit."
Yang pressed her lips tighter together, teeth biting down on the insides.
Even saying that it had "went to shit" seemed like an understatement to her. She and Blake were usually one of their strongest attacks, rivaled only by a freezerburn or white rose, but they had been because they worked effortlessly together. They knew they would always be at each other backs, Yang ready to charge in when Blake pulled away or Blake already swinging her weapon in as Yang moved out of her her opponents range.
Today however, Yang had been so conscious of Blake and trying to avoid being near her that she'd completely failed to take her cue.
"I figured you would be frustrated," Mercury continued, ignoring Yang's lack of answer. "And that you'd enjoy a proper fight."
She thought back on their previous fight. Her limbs had been heavy with exhaustion, but the adrenaline had lit her body up. It instilled in her the urge to move that had been stamped down by heartbreak . Mercury was skilled, enough so that Yang had to think carefully when attacking him. The mental challenge had been enough to keep her mind from straying to the reason Mercury had sought her out in the first place.
Fighting Mercury had been one of the few highlights in the past few days, standing out among the awkward conversations Ruby kept trying to draw her into and the tiptoeing around her best friend, and she wasn't very eager to pass up a recreation.
"A fight would be nice," Yang agreed.
"Great." It was now that Mercury stepped further onto the training field, advancing towards her. "Let's do this then."
"Yang!"
She didn't have to turn her head to know that it was Mercury that had spoken. Their sparring sessions had become nightly occurrences. He always seemed to know when she was sick of being by herself and ready for him to step in as her partner. The low timbre of his voice and the almost teasing boredom in his tone had become familiar to her in the past few weeks.
This was the first time he'd approached her outside of the training yard, though.
She came to a stop and turned to face him.
He was strolling towards her with his hands shoved in his pockets. Despite him calling her name, he walked with a certain air about him that made it seem like he wasn't in any real hurry.
"What's up?" she asked when he drew close enough.
"How do you feel about aikido?" he questioned.
Interest peeked, she answered, "I know basic countermeasures, but I trained more in Taido, Judo, and Muay Thai."
"Wanna learn some more?"
"From who?"
"I found a second year from Atlas that excels in it," he explained. "He's from a family of hunters. He told me they've mostly focused on kendo since he's from a family of sword users, but that they had passed down a few other martial techniques."
"You asked a second year to teach us a family style and they agreed?"
A smirk curled at the edges of Mercury's lips. "Ask isn't the word I'd use."
"How do you expect them to teach us something if they can't move?"
"I can't decide if I'm flattered at how strong you think I am or offended by how little self control you think I possess."
Yang raised a hand, tipping it back and forth. "Little bit of both?"
"Mmm...so?" They had been standing a respectable difference apart, but now Mercury leaned close to her. With him so close to her, she realized for the first time just how dark his eyes were. His breath ghosted against her skin as he asked, "Are you coming or not?"
"I'm supposed to be meeting the rest of my team for ice cream."
He hummed, "Wouldn't you rather come practice with me than deal with that?"
She hadn't to admit it, but going with him really did sound better.
Things with her teammates hadn't been the same since things with her and Blake had gone south. She and Blake hadn't spoken any more than was necessary. Ruby kept trying to give her encouraging speeches. Weiss alternated between making loud declarations that teammates shouldn't date anyway because they would just throw off the dynamic and trying to comfort Yang even though she clearly had to idea how to do it. She knew they meant well, but she couldn't help being irritated.
"It'll just get worse if I keep putting off the confrontation," she murmured.
"Maybe," he agreed. "But when else will you get the chance to learn this style? It could help you out in the Vytal Festival."
"Shouldn't you be discouraging me from going then? I could use it against you in the tournament."
"Nah." She raised an eyebrow. There was something confident in his voice. "We won't end up fighting."
"You can't know that," she argued. "It's random."
"Nope," he repeated. "I'm not planning on fighting you. And I've got so much luck that things tend to go my way."
She eyed him skeptically for a moment before asking, "Why don't you want to fight me?"
He shrugged. "Not sure I'd win. Most of our sparring matches are ties after all." He straightened up,pulling away from her. "So, are you coming with me or going to meet your team?"
"I'm coming," she said after another moment.
"Awesome, come on."
Sometime after that, Yang found herself spending most of her time with Mercury. It was as though that first meeting outside of the training yard had opened the floodgates.
He sat next to her in the classes they had alone, they were both taking a few of the schools hand-to-hand classes that their teammates didn't. In the classes they shared with their teammates, he sat a few rows behind her but they spent most of their down time with him leaning towards her and her turned to face him.
Once class ended, it was usually just the two of them - sometimes they went to the training yard to practice some more, sometimes they went out to the area of Vale surrounding Beacon to have ice cream or see a movie they were both eager to see, and sometimes they hung around the library with Yang trying to do her homework as Mercury whispered snide comments about their classmates. Emerald joined them sometimes, teasing Mercury mercilessly and causing Yang to laugh so hard she couldn't breath, and even Cinder had come out with them once or twice.
It was easy to be with him. Yes he was angry, cynical, disenchanted with the world around him. But he was also fiercely passionate about the things he enjoyed - he could argue for hours on why his greaves were better than her gauntlets and he was always eager for demonstrations on the martial arts she knew that he didn't - and incredibly intelligent. But she was an optimistic realist. She could easily field his more depressing spiels or irritated comments. At the same time, she was just as passionate as he was and she fueled the excitement and happiness they brought him.
They balanced each other.
Yang had been so busy enjoying his easy companionship that she hadn't realized how little time she'd spent with her teammates.
She was sitting on the edge of the fountain in down town Vale. Her legs were crossed under her, her palms pressed against her knees. Mercury was off ordering them food from the small stand in the park. She had offered to go with him, but he had waved her off and told her it was his treat since she'd won their sparring match earlier.
"Yang!" At the shout of her name, she craned her head around. Ruby, Blake, and Weiss were approaching her. Their young leader lead the three of them, pushing through the crowd as she waved a hand above her head. There was a bright smile on her face.
"Oh, hey guys," she greeted. She stayed sitting as they approached. When they were close enough, she said, "I didn't know you guys were coming into town today. Where are you headed?"
She watched as Ruby's face instantly fell, Blake shifted so her arms were crossing her chest, and Weiss scowled.
"You aren't here to go see the movie with us?" Ruby questioned.
"No....?" She tilted her head. "Why would I be? No one invited me."
"We were talking about it in class!" Weiss exclaimed. "And we did invite you! You never gave us an answer."
Yang thought back on the day. She vaguely remembered hearing them talking about how one of Blake's ninja books had been adapted into a movie, but the only concrete thing she remembered was how she and Mercury had been talking about the latest Sex Swing album.
"I must not have heard you. Sorry."
Ruby said, "If you didn't come here to go to the movie with us, than why are you here?"
"I broke my sunglasses the other day," Yang explained. "So I'm out buying a new pair."
"Then why are you sitting here by yourself instead of in a store?" Weiss asked, her raising anger clear in her voice.
"She was waiting for me," Mercury said before she could answer. He had approached from behind her team. He strolled past them and held\ his hands out to Yang. She took the pretzel in his left hand with a grin, leaving him a carton of nachos.
There was a brief pause.
It was Blake who broke it, speaking for the first time since approaching, "You're with him again."
"Yes....?" Yang answered, confused as to why it was be a problem.
"I don't think you really have any reason to be upset," Mercury said. "Now do you, Belladonna?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means," Mercury drawled, "that you had your chance and you gave it up. You have no right to be upset that I moved in."
Yang gaped for a second as she fully processed exactly what the fight in front of her was about.
She turned her body towards Mercury, all thoughts of her teammates wiped from her mind. "What do you mean no room to be upset that you moved in? We aren't dating! And we didn't even know each other when you first 'moved in.'"
"We spend every minute of our day with each other," Mercury answered. He was swirling a chip around in the cheese that came with his nachos, apparently unperturbed by their differing opinions on their relationship status. "And I regularly buy you things."
"I did all those things for Blake! She wasn't my girlfriend."
"You had a massive crush on Blake," Mercury said. He took a bit of his chip, a thoughtful look settling on his lips. "I haven't thought about it in a while, but that's over right? Because I'm not sure how I feel about the possibility of my girlfriend having crush on her teammate. I'm not sure jealousy would look good on me."
"It's over," Yang assured. "But that doesn't mean the two of us are dating!"
He hummed as he reached for another chip. "Alright, what about this then? Yang, go out on a date with me. Like an official
one which ends with you admitting you've been my girlfriend for a few weeks now and maybe a kiss at the end."
She floundered, caught off guard by a mixture of awe at Mercury's casual fix for the situation and confusion at the situation in general, before managing to say, "I'll go on a date with you, but we definitely haven't been dating already. We would have definitely kissed by now if we had."
From somewhere behind them, she hard Weiss mutter a confused, "I have no idea what just happened here."
"Me either," Ruby agreed. "But I think it's probably been building for a while."