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𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙙𝙚...

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┆ ┆ ┆ ┆⏳ₒ ‍ ‍
┆ ┆ ┆ *:･ﾟ ↷ ⋯ ♡ᵎ 🥂⌇ ʷᵉˡᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᵗᵒ ↴
┆ ┆ *ೃ 𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙩.
┆ ‍ ‍ ‍ *₊°。
¨🎞

          THE WALK TO Mercedes was anything but lively. The pair walked in comfortable silence, chuckling to each other whenever one of their fellow classmates did something questionable.

When they reached her room, she unlocked the door to let them in and Tony immediately gasped. Mercedes giggled at his reaction and closed the door behind them.

"Your room is so..." Tony trailed off.

"Sunset?" Mercedes finished and he nodded. In their mind, that was the perfect way to describe her room. The walls were white as snow which made the colors on the wall pop more. A large orange and red tapestry extended from one corner of the room to the other, behind where her bed was. Her comforters were a mustard yellow and she had a Funshine bear propped against her pillows.

The wall adjacent to the tapestry wall, the same wall as the doorway, had vinyl records in rows and columns against the entire wall. She had a desk against the wall adjacent to the record wall with a mini-fridge next to it, posters covering that entire wall.

"Why the hell is your dorm so big?"

"It was supposed to be a shared dorm but the other girl moved out because she was a racist asshole," she smiled, "a win for me though, right?"

Tony nodded, not completely ignoring that she only had this room because of unreasonable feelings, "yeah...I guess."

"Have a seat anywhere, do you want something to drink?"

"Water'll be fine, thanks," he answered before sitting on the edge of her bed.

She grabbed a coke for herself and the water bottle he wanted. She sat on her bed right next to Tony, thigh's barely grazing each other.

"Here's your water, sir."

Tony took the bottle from her with a smirk, "sir? You tryin' to drug me?"

"Maybe, and if I was, why would I tell you?"

"Alright, smart gal, let's focus on your project," Tony changed the subject causing Mercedes to smile in victory.

Mercedes and Tony lay next to each other, her feet resting against her headboard, his at the foot of her bed.

"We didn't get anything done did we?"

"No, no we did not," Tony agreed.

Mercedes sighed, "is it hard?"

He choked on his saliva and started coughing into his hand, "excuse me, what?"

"Joining MIT at such a young age, is it hard? What's you think I meant?"

His face flushed a deep red as he turned away from her, "nothing," his voice came out in a high pitched voice, "at first but not really. People like to call you kid or pipsqueak but it doesn't get to me anymore."

She nodded, "everyone always underestimated me and it's so annoying," she groaned, "like why can't I just be smart without people thinking I slept my way here."

Tony snapped his head to face her, "people are saying that?"

Her gaze remained in the ceiling as she nodded, "some teachers are even saying it. I'm probably gonna switch to online classes."

"You're leaving?"

She shook her head and turned to him, "Nah, I'm gonna keep this amazing dorm. I'll still go to the class I have with you but my other classes," she waved her hand dismissively, "online."

"Hm," Tony faced towards the ceiling.

"You've got a nice side profile," he heard Mercedes murmur.

He turned his head to her, a slight smile playing on his lips, "do I now?"

She nodded and looked up at the ceiling once more, "don't get egocentric, now."

He snickered, "I'll try my best, you've really gotten to this big head of mine, " he explained and pointed to his head.

Mercedes only chuckled in response which made Tony smile to himself, "you've got a nice side profile too, " she heard him whisper before he also faced the ceiling again.

"Mercedes!"

Mercedes jumped up from her sleep and groaned as she grabbed her head. She glimpsed next to her and saw Tony asleep. She doesn't have much time to understand what was going on before the banging on the door started again.

"One second!"

She staggered out of bed and wobbled towards the door. She unlocked the door and there stood one of the few friends she's made at the school.

"Jahlai?"

"Yes, in the flesh, where were you all day?" the girl inquired as she pushed past Mercedes. Jahlai hasped loudly and dropped her books, "who the hell is that?" she whisper shouted.

"His name's Tony and why are you whispering?" Mercedes answered and locked the door back.

"Probably because I'm awake, " she heard a deep, raspy voice from behind Jahlai.

Mercedes walked past Jahlai and sat with her legs tucked under her next to Tony, "morning, Stark."

"Is it really morning?"

"Nah, it's like seven at night."

Tony's eyes widened, "shit, I missed all my classes."

"You both did, " Jahlai corrected.

"My dad's gonna kill me."

"Just say you got sick or something, " Mercedes suggested as she moved to the top of his head, laying it in her lap, "you can sit now, " she motioned to Jahlai.

Jahlai looked at the two of them with suspicion before sitting cross-legged in front of them, "what've y'all been doing all day, " she asked, raising her eyebrows at them.

"Sleeping, " they answered at the same time, defensively.

"You positive?"

"As my blood type, " Mercedes responded as she began running her fingers through Tony's hair, making his eyes flutter shut.

Jahlai smiled at the teens, "alright, I believe you. I thought someone murdered you or something so I came to check on you."

"Way to jump to conclusions," Tony murmured.

"So, should we go out tonight?"

"Where? You both aren't even seventeen yet," Jahlai chuckled as she got off the bed.

"Walk around a park or something, you know. Just chill out and get some fresh air."

"Hm, I'm cool with that. White boy is definitely coming just in case a cop decides to stop us."

"You are so wrong for that," Mercedes shook her head and tapped Tony's head signaling him to get off her.

"Did I lie?"

"No, unfortunately, you did not."