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"Miss Mercury."
Between her mother and the foremen of Mercury, Suletta knew that tone well.
"If I may."
It was the sound of being in trouble. Suletta clutched her lunchbag and kept herself tall, the way Miorine taught her. "What is it?"
"It won't be long. It's only..." Miss Austerby pursed her lips in consideration.
Suletta tried not to fidget. It was a bit strange, being the boss of a woman much older and with far more teaching experience than her, with steel and black hair and a face like etched onyx.
Miss Austerby had never minded, though. When people addressed her as the authority instead of Suletta, she corrected them. She never made the orders but provided advice when asked, teaching Suletta as much as she'd taught the school's older students.
For a suggestion to come unsolicited meant it was serious, and so Suletta braced herself:
"When you lunch with your wife, I ask you show discretion upon your return."
Suletta blinked and processed. "Um..." She nodded and stammered, "Yes, but...why? Is there a problem?"
"There is." Her eyes narrowed just a bit. "The young ladies in my class become...provoked."
"They don't like it?"
"No, Miss Mercury," she clarified. "They admire you. That is the problem. Their enthusiasm runs rampant, disrupts the class, and they become difficult to reign in for our lessons." Simply put: "We've fallen behind in our curriculum."
"Oh!" That WAS a problem. With the older students nearing the age where they could strike out on their own, they needed to be as ready for the world as they could! "I'll, um, try my best! To be...discreet?"
"Yes, try." Miss Austerby closed her eyes with a subtle bounce in place. "That's all I ask."
It was perhaps the first request Miss Austerby had ever made of her. If anything, Suletta was the one asking too much instead.
For one, there was the time Suletta thought to make sure everyone at school could have three square meals. Even with GUND-ARM's salaries, individual circumstances meant it wasn't always easy for families to manage that. Suletta hadn't been sure how to do it either.
Miss Austerby, then, had been the first to work towards a plan of action. She'd surveyed for suppliers and local cooks who might be able to provide their work, faced down the vast and impossible and made it plausible and within reach. She knew so much and helped Suletta in so many ways.
So Suletta needed to help her in turn. But how, exactly? She wrested her hand around her crutch as she went out the door to the breezy afternoon.
Discretion, provocation.... What exactly about her lunches was causing this? Admiration, enthusiasm... That didn't exactly narrow it down.
She knew who could. Lilique! She had an excellent social intuition. And if not her, Miorine would have the answer!
Miorine... She smiled at the thought. Her stroll to GUND-ARM had even more of a bounce to it.
- - -
"Is there something up with me when I have lunch with Miorine?" she asked Lilique first, who had been setting out her own lunch when Suletta arrived.
"Yeah?" Lilique glanced to her screen, probably checking Miorine's status. "You're practically a sunbeam whenever you strut out of her office. People see you and start questioning me!"
Suletta boggled. "People notice?!"
"Yep."
Things were getting clearer... Not the exact why underlying it, but the exact reasons mattered less than that she was causing it. And not just at school, but at GUND-ARM too!
"How do I stop it?"
"Stop it? Why?! It's adorable!" Lilique cocked her head. "What's the issue?"
"A teacher brought it up." Suletta scowled in thought. "Her students are acting up. Not in a bad way, it seems, she says they're...enthusiastic? But still disruptive."
"How, exactly?"
"Well..." Suletta looked to the elevator. "Um. I didn't ask. I was, ah..." She felt the blush sneaking up to her ears. "I know she had a call scheduled, but...I didn't want to wait any longer."
"I see." Lilique hummed in thought, tapping her fork against her chin. "Disruptive in a good way..."
"Well, not in a bad way."
A broad smile came crawling up Lilique's face. She switched from thinking to digging into her pasta without a care in the world. "Well, if you ask me, there's nothing wrong with kids acting up a little! That's what being a teenager is all about."
They certainly had experience with that.
"And besides," Lilique continued, jabbing her fork towards Suletta, "it makes our days smoother when you take the edge off her. More patience for dealing with idiots, less likely to snap at us after dealing with said idiots..."
The computer blipped.
"Oh!" Lilique tapped in a quick call upstairs. "You didn't just hang up on him, did you, Miorine?"
"She swore to kill him!" Eri cut in. "We're about to fly up to space now for an axefight!"
"I was very polite and ended the call like a civilized human being," Miorine grated. Then, calmer, "Where's Suletta?"
"Coming right up!" Lilique sang.
That was Suletta's cue. "But, Lilique, what about your wor—"
"Aw, don't worry about it! Stand up to that teacher! Rowdy students are what she signed up for!"
It wasn't really the answer, but the elevator doors slid open before she could sort that out. One of Lilique's spare monitors awoke, with the latest shoot-em-up's bullets and lasers already raging across the screen.
"You're on your own, Suletta!" Eri groaned. "She's gonna be all over you today, I can feel it."
"Like that's not every day?" Lilique teased.
"Ugh." It had no real ire or fire. "Can't you ditch her just this once, Suletta? Don't you want to have lunch with me instead?"
Suletta grinned. "You hate it when I get crumbs in your electronics."
"That's still easier to deal with than your nonsense!"
"We'll have fun," Lilique interrupted, patting the monitor on its webcam, "so you guys should too! Don't keep her waiting!"
She didn't. Suletta was sure the elevator shot up even faster than Eri had brought it down.
- - -
"I'm not seeing what the problem is either."
"But I have to do something about it!"
Miorine shrugged. It was only in times like these that she allowed herself to slump along the back of her chair, eyes closed, all the tension loosed from her body. Suletta felt warm at seeing her so relaxed, but not at her own inability to communicate the issue.
"If I'm causing a problem for her," Suletta tried, "I'd like to fix it. I need to not...look so happy all the time, and you're always so cool, so..."
"Even like this?"
"Especially like this!"
Miorine jutted a little smile. "Well, it's their problem. You're just living your life. She can designate an extra day of school to get caught up."
"Then I'd have to go in too!"
That got Miorine to crack open her eyes and fix Suletta with a look. She huffed through her nose, then searched her desk drawers for her makeup.
"Another meeting?" Suletta asked.
"No, thankfully." Lipstick first. "Just freshening up."
She knew full well what she was doing. Miorine's lips did look really cute and kissable. Nothing about Miorine's demeanor changed, but Suletta felt like she was being dared to lean in and ruin her makeup...
Except then Suletta would be thinking about that kiss all day, she'd be "obvious" coming back, the students would act up again for whatever reason, and it wouldn't solve the problem at all!
Miorine was watching her all the while. "You're serious about this, aren't you?"
"Yeah. I don't want to stop visiting you, I don't want to disrupt her class, and I don't want to disrupt Lilique's work either! I think it'd be good if I could learn to be more...serious, whenever I need to be!"
"You already know how, though." Miorine gave Suletta a second to figure it out, then the answer: "Piloting mode."
"What?"
"Back in school you were very calm and composed whenever you were in Aerial. Just switch into that mindset and no one can tell what you're thinking about."
"...I had a piloting mode?"
"Absolutely." Miorine eyed her and Suletta wanted to squirm. "It was very handsome."
"Well, um..." There she went blushing again! There was no hiding it from Miorine, but she ducked her head anyway because she couldn't look at Miorine either without sparks going up her spine. "Well, I haven't piloted anything in a while, so..."
Maybe never again. Even with the Permet embargo on Earth lifted, even with Gundams no longer a threat and the GUND Format safe to use, her body still couldn't handle the burdens and forces of piloting. Maybe Eri could buffer, though when it came to Suletta, she was neither keen on 'maybe' nor interfacing with anything stronger than a wheelchair.
"I think you can do it without piloting," Miorine said. "Just think back to it. The duels."
She knew what Miorine meant. Not that duel, but the one with Shaddiq and his team, the first time she'd heard Eri's voice, Earth House coming together to seize the day and their future. The dogfight with Elan, unknowingly sealing his fate, but knowing what she felt for Miorine was more than just friendship.
The second duel with Guel, and all that Miorine had done for her to succeed. The first duel with Guel, where it all began—
"Gah!" She yelped at the weight slamming her lap, shooting her eyes open— "Miorine?!"
"Something wrong?"
"No, I—" Miorine on her lap wasn't wrong at all, it's just, it was a surprise! She found her hand was already grasping Miorine's waist, and Miorine was somehow looking so, so cool and collected even now— "Nothing's wrong," Suletta blathered, "I just—"
"I'm not allowed to sit on my wife's lap?"
"No!"
Miorine's smile came so easily these days. Suletta's heart did a skip. "Funny. I remember you were so put together during our first duel. What changed?"
"Ah..." Suletta tried looking away, but Miorine's fingertip on a cheek scar pushed her back. "There were more pressing things back then than...erm, having a girl in my lap."
"I'm fairly certain I was the only thing pressing on you."
"Miorine!"
A little laugh escaped Miorine. A finger curled through a billow of Suletta's hair. "Seriously, though. If you can play it cool like this, you can get play it cool at work. Try it."
Miorine was so warm. So easy to hold. She wanted to pull Miorine even closer and tuck her head under her chin. She wanted to press her face into Miorine's neck. To grab her hand, to kiss her. To one day - she was sure - carry Miorine in her arms again.
But not now. She was serious.
Suletta set herself upright in her seat, feet planted firmly, as she'd learned on Mercury so long ago. Shoulders down, teeth grit, her head in line with her heart. She held the grip of her crutch like Aerial's controls. Hands slotting into the grips, fingers aligning on keys, she and Eri executing the Permet handshake, syncing up as one...
"You are trying so hard."
"C'mon!" Suletta sighed and sagged. "Do I really look that bad?"
She felt Miorine's lips on her cheek, a firm and lasting touch that made Suletta's chest and stomach tighten. And she felt the murmur in her ear: "You look better than you did as a pilot."
What was it about Miorine that put that shiver in Suletta's whole being? She didn't know how to respond with more than a sharp breath, though she didn't need to. Miorine relinquished her and rose up with a long stretch, toe to tip. Then her face went so sour so quickly for how at ease she'd been. "Guess it's back to work."
"Only for a few more hours," Suletta pointed out, a little too quickly, "then I'll be back!"
There! That got the smile back on Miorine's face. "True." She bobbed her head at the utensils and empty containers on her desk. "Don't worry about lunch, I'll clean it up."
Suletta couldn't avoid the pile-up of mugs and junk behind Miorine.
"...I'll get someone else to clean it up," Miorine muttered.
"Thank you!"
"I'll thank them for you too." Miorine shrugged it off. "You need help standing?"
"I can do it!"
It didn't take much to get back on her feet, and she felt good to make the walk back. She just had to think back to being a pilot along the way, and none of this would be an issue anymore.
"Okay." She clenched her fists with a deep breath. "I can do this. I can fix this!"
Miorine smiled. "Let me know how it goes."
"I will!" Suletta grinned...and realized she needed be have Miorine out of sight to have the slightest chance of pulling this off. Even so: "Piloting mode, on!"
- - -
She was so sure she had it right.
She still had on that goofy grin when she walked out of GUND-ARM - in retrospect, yeah, she understood now that she'd been pretty obvious all this time - but this time, she tempered it down to a gentle smile as she headed back. She went over how important it was for Miss Austerby's lessons to go without disruption. She imagined it as another duel, Suletta versus her own face.
She just needed to be a cool pilot again. She just needeed to present herself like Miorine did. Focusing on business first, just as Suletta had with piloting and protecting Aerial and Miorine. If anyone looked, they'd think she'd just been to physical therapy for her lunch break.
So she came into the school perfectly discreet and unobvious.
And then she passed by Miss Austerby's class.
"Oh my GOD!"
In a feat that would impress her doctors, Suletta just about jolted into the ceiling. That squeal must've been heard all the way to GUND-ARM!
"Miss Mercury!" Miss Austerby's voice arched over the hubbub, but the rest of her words were lost to the girls crowding around the door.
"Wow, she loves you SO much—!"
"She's cold as ice! How did you get her to do that, Miss Suletta—?!"
"Where do you even FIND someone like that—?!""
"Miss Mercury!" Miss Austerby pushed past her near-exploding classroom and slammed the door behind them. It did nothing to drown out the noise. The smile on her face was as prim as it was withering. It took everything in Suletta's power not to wilt as she racked through how do they know how is it so obvious I was completely serious—!
"I suggest we switch classes for the day," Miss Austerby intoned.
"P-Pardon?"
"I asked you to be more discreet, not less, but...I suppose you can't help it, can you." Her smile took on a fond hook. "So allow me to take charge of your classes just for today, lest you concern the little ones with..." She clucked her tongue, "cooties, we used to say."
"I, I guess..." Suletta searched for any concerns to bring up and found none. "If that works for you?"
"The lesson plan is on my computer." The lady clucked her tongue. "The hypothetical plan, I should say. Best of luck."
With that, Miss Austerby went clicking down the halls. The fuss in the classroom hadn't relented a moment. When Suletta rallied herself to open the door, the noise blasted into the hall.
"Okay, how do I get my boyfriend to—"
"You guys are SO in love—!"
"I wanna be a lesbian too!"
Provoked. That was a good word for it.
"I'm sorry," Suletta began, "but if we could—"
"Tell us everything!" one girl declared, ushering Suletta towards her seat. "How you guys got together! It's history class, right?!"
...Maybe if she played along this time, there'd be no further interruptions next time?
"Okay," she said. The kids made way for her to sit down. "I'll quickly—"
"The whole thing!"
She'd been so cool and serious coming in. She felt it on her face! There'd been no sign at all that she'd lunched with Miorine! How did they know? How did they know?!
- - -
The eyes on Mister Hots lit up out of the edge of Miorine's sight.
There were emails that needed answering. She needed to check progress on their quarterly goals. Lilique's proposed adjustments needed approval. If Eri had nothing to say, she could wait.
"I saw Suletta on the way out," uttered the voice in Miorine's implant.
Cool. That was not a question, and therefore it did not need to be answered.
"Saboteur."
Miorine suppressed her lips from budging into a wry smile.
"Big stupid lipstick kissy mark on my sister's cheek." Eri's fans whirred akin to a grumble. "My sister. My sister! She looked like a cartoon character!"
Miorine hadn't been an ordinary teenager by any means, but she had been one nevertheless. It wasn't even that long ago. She knew what girls like Lilique were like. Frankly, it just sounded like these girls needed get all the squeals out of their systems instead of letting gossip go wild. Suletta, too, just needed some courage and to not worry so much.
It meant she got to see Suletta being adorable too, so who exactly was losing here?
Mister Hots went dark. The arm on Miorine's fourth monitor clunked into action, pushing so far into her that she could feel the screen buzzing against her cheek.
"I'm telling," Eri warned.
Miorine didn't need to look. The monitor didn't have any vital business on it. Just some photos of Suletta as the wallpaper, clean of any icons and documents, for her to look at whenever she needed.
...Which was often, yes. But not right at this moment.
"You guys are so gross."
Still not a question.
"Can you be any less mushy?!"
Miorine pushed the monitor away, without breaking concentration. "What's wrong with letting the world know my wife is loved?"
"Just say no next time!" Eri wailed.