Work Text:
1.
“i have to take a math class?” regina says. it’s 8:30 am. she didn’t have time to stop at granny’s for coffee. she can’t take fiction next year. today is going to deposit itself directly into the void it came from, or so help her. professor walsh gulps. he tries to smile. “yes, well. it’s only one semester.” he looks down, and types something on his computer.
regina wipes a piece of lint off her leggings. “yes, well, people can die in less than thirty seconds.”
he looks up. “pardon?”
“nothing.”
2.
she’s ends up behind in math, because math will literally never help her in any area of her life that she cares about, plus it’s her thesis and theory classes that require her full attention. however, she still needs to pass it. no amount of glaring at a textbook with floating shapes on the cover will stop that.
“i have a friend who’s a math minor. she could probably help you out, or at least be a study-buddy,” marian says, watching regina’s staring contest with concern. “eh, class friend. close enough. we tag team killian jones when he’s being a fuckshit, that counts, right?”
“give me her number.”
3.
emma swan is exactly nothing like regina expected. she wears exclusively faux leather jackets and tank tops. she drives a motorcycle. she thinks y = mx + b is exciting. emma swan also makes y = mx +b seem exciting if only because, well, she’s excited about it. it should be annoying, but it’s not. she’s also mostly impersonal, but they develop an inside joke about the shapes on the textbook cover.
(“okay, yeah,” emma laughs. “that does look like a boob.”)
she also has a beautiful laugh, which makes things complicated in regina’s stomach.
4.
emma’s used to people hating math, but regina’s hatred of math is legendary. she can more than do it, but it’s the principle of the thing. she does derivates of a function perfectly, while yelling about how pointless this all is. it’s almost beautiful. emma probably shouldn’t tell her that.
“c’mon, regina. math isn’t so awful.” she stares at the starbucks menu, and wonders how they got there when they started in storybrooke hall. she turns to regina with an eyebrow raised. “how about this. if i get you to like any form of math by the end of the semester, you buy me a caramel frappuccino. if i don’t, i buy you one.”
regina raises an eyebrow right back. “you’re going to lose, but you’re on.”
“wait until you get to matrices.”
5.
they end up kissing for the first time three weeks before finals. after that, studying sometimes turns into a lot of kissing. regina’s hand slides up emma’s shirt, and emma hitches a breath against her lips. there are two untouched frappuccinos next to them.
“okay wait.” emma says, staring at the frappuccinos and then at regina. “let me get this straight. gay? yes. you actually like matrices?”
regina smiles. “not at all.”
“so why did you buy two frappuccinos?”
regina drapes her arms around her neck. “because i think we both won. for instance, you’re the positive m running two, then rising three.” she straddles emma on the chair. “and i’m the line. and visa-versa.”
emma blinks and grins back. “ah.”