Work Text:
‘God, I wish I was home,’ Sunny thought to himself as he rested his face on his palm, eyes slowly falling shut.
He was already skeptical when he applied for the academy, but this was making him seriously regret everything. It felt like his head was underwater as the words from the professor went in one ear and out the other. He caught on to every… third word, maybe? That was until he heard the worst words any introvert could hear in an academic setting.
“Remember that this will be a group assignment, so take a few minutes to get into groups of three to five…”
Sunny’s entire world shattered as he shot straight up in his seat. He could feel his heart pounding louder, harder in his chest as the teacher went on about the assignment, but it fell on deaf ears.
‘A group assignment, damn it,’ he let out a quiet groan, letting his head drop onto the wooden desk below him with a slight thud.
It was going to be terrible.
Sunny slowly lifted his head off of his chest, squinting as he looked around at his peers in the room. People had already started roaming around the class, forming groups for an assignment that he didn’t even know how to complete, and he let out another groan, glaring down at his desk.
‘I’m going to have to ask someone to join their group, or even worse, wait until everyone else has made their groups and have the professor force me into joining someone’s group. He’s going to single me out in front of everyone-"
"Do you want to join my group?”
The familiar voice broke him out of his anxiety-riddled trance.
“...What?” He mumbled, looking up to see Cassie of all people standing in front of his desk.
“Do you want to join my group for the assignment?” She repeated herself, a small smile on her face.
Why would Cassie of all people be talking to him? Especially about a group project of all things. They weren’t friends anymore, so there was no reason for her to be seeking him out for an assignment.
He took another glance around the class, scanning their peers. There were many other people in their class that had grades higher than him, and would definitely be happy to work with him.
She must have some sort of plan to embarrass him. He wasn’t sure if the assignment involved a presentation at the end, and she knew how he felt about speaking to a crowd. There was no way he was going to allow her to try and ridicule him in front of their peers, and he was going to tell her exactly that.
“...Who’s in your group?”
When Nephis had found out that the mid-semester assignment would be done in groups, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
She didn’t know what she expected from her professor, but it wasn’t a group assignment. They were academy students, for heaven’s sake, not young children.
She was seconds away from asking if she was able to complete the project on her own, but Cassie was suddenly standing in front of her desk before she could even move.
“Do you already have a group?” The girl was straight to the point, staring at her with an expectant smile plastered on her face. She took a glance around the other people in the class.
Nephis could tell that people were staring right back at her, trying to subtly look for the right moment to approach her themselves for the project. Analyzing the different groups that had already been formed, she weighed her different options in her head for a moment, before responding.
“No, I don’t.”
Cassie may not have been one of her closest friends, but she was a much better option academically compared to her other peers.
The smile on the girl’s face widened as she clapped her hands together cheerfully.
“Great! I’ll send you the details for our first work session sometime this week,” the girl responded, already pulling her phone out to do… whatever she was going to do to finalize her plans. Cassie began walking away, before turning back to the girl, “Thank you!”
Nephis watched her back as she moved further away from her desk. Unexpectedly, Cassie didn’t begin walking back to her own desk, instead manoeuvring over to… Sunny’s desk.
Interesting.
This had to be a joke. A terrible, cruel joke that Cassie had conspired.
Cassie and Nephis. The blonde girl had a wicked smile on her face, staring straight at him.
“Nephis already has a few ideas for what chemicals we can decide to work with, so you can take a look at the list,” she said, and he could just hear the devious joy in her voice. He wanted to turn around and walk away, far away from these two girls, far away from this stupid assignment he still didn’t know.
Instead, he dragged his feet into the study room, before dropping himself into a chair across the white-haired girl. He made a slight hand motion towards her open notebook on the table, and Nephis wordlessly slid her notes towards him, a straight look on her face.
Staring down at the paper, Sunny glanced at the list of different chemical formulas. It didn’t give him any insight as to what the assignment actually was, but the last thing he wanted to do was ask.
He snuck an upwards glance to the two girls, who were now both sitting down and staring back at him expectantly. His eye shot back down to the paper, staring without actually comprehending anything.
He let out a small sigh, closing his eyes.
It would be fine, all he had to do was act like he knew what he was doing, and get through the hour.
Sunny had no idea what he was doing.
Cassie had realised it right when the project was first assigned earlier that day. She could tell his head was anywhere but the classroom, and she couldn’t blame him, honestly.
She had watched as his face morphed into a look of horror when the words “group assignment” had left their professor's mouth. It took everything in her not to let out a chuckle, a smile hidden behind her hand.
After those words, it seemed like the boy had zoned back out again, his mind probably reeling at the concept of having to interact with other people. He’d never admit it if approached, but Cassie knew he held a level of disdain for many of their peers.
In all honestly, she couldn’t blame him, there were times where even she found herself at her limit when interacting with her classmates.
But, this was good. This finally gave her an excuse to put her plans into motion. She knew (hoped?) that Sunny liked her enough to view working alongside her the more preferable option than interacting with their other classmates.
And she was right, he agreed to work with her, and now all three of them were alone, together. Was it slightly cruel to not inform Sunny that Nephis was a member of their group? Maybe, but it was already a miracle they were working together and she didn’t want to push it.
It was while Cassie was focused on writing that she suddenly felt the soft contact against her thigh. In her peripheral vision, she could see Nephis beside her, the girl’s focus on her own paper, but their legs were touching.
She shifted her eyes back to her own paper, but all she could focus on was the warmth of her skin against hers. Her hands stilled, dormant on the sheet as she went still.
This was… new.
Cassie knew that Nephis didn’t exactly hate her, if she did she wouldn’t have agreed to work with her.
Even then, the casual contact was unexpected, and she didn’t know how to respond. It wasn’t an unwelcome feeling, she realised, staring down at the contact of flesh. Maybe it was an accident.
She wanted to catch a glimpse of Nephis’ face and see if the other girl had noticed the contact, but she forced herself to keep her eyes on her own paper.
There was a chance bringing the touch to her attention would make her move away, and that was the last thing Cassie wanted.
She may have been the one to bring their group together under the guise of working, but feeling Nephise make the first move gave her just a bit of hope that she wasn’t delusional.
This really was shaping up to be a good idea, Cassie thought to herself, pressing her leg just a bit closer towards the other girl.
There was a foot touching his foot.
Sunny froze, eyes widening at the foreign touch. He couldn’t tell what the touch was.
He didn’t think it was meant to be violent, but then again, he could never be truly sure of her intentions.
He didn’t even know who “her” was.
Lifting his eyes from his textbook, he looked at the two girls sitting across from him. Cassie was completely focused on the work in front of her, a content look on her face as her pen glided against the paper.
Nephis, on the other hand, was staring right back at him.
He couldn’t read the look on her face, but he felt the foot press harder against his under the table. His pen clattered against the table, but he was completely focused on the secret contact happening below him.
There was a small smile on her face as she looked back at him, but she didn’t say a word.
What on earth did that mean?
Sunny glanced back down at his foot; her foot was still pressed against him, but she made no effort to move away, even though he knew that she knew he knew.
Should he… move away? What would she think if he moved away?
He still didn’t know what her intentions were, but what if this was meant to be some sort of… dominance play?
(He pointedly ignored how stupid the thought sounded.)
If Nephis was trying to intimidate him by entering his personal space, then he wasn’t going to back down from her challenge.
Sunny slightly nudged her foot with his own, before turning back to his textbook.
He fought to keep a smile off of his eyes, and his eyes down, as much as he wanted to see the reaction on her face. Maybe this project wouldn’t be completely terrible, Sunny thought to himself, before his face went blank at the words in the book.
He still didn’t know what the assignment was!
She couldn’t believe she was thinking it, but Nephis was glad that Cassie had asked the both of them to work together.
She thought to herself as she examined the three of them. Her thigh pressed against Cassie, and her other foot pushed towards Sunny.
The smile on her face grew as she looked back down at her book.
Yeah, this wasn’t bad at all.