Work Text:
Months after the Brooke Wyndham trial, life at Harvard is back to normal. David is studying in the library with a few of his classmates, which has somehow become more comfortable for him than studying alone.
Vivian Kensington sits at the table across from him, focused enough on her own work that she doesn’t try to make small talk with him, which he appreciates, so he’s free to look over these old court transcripts in peace. Although he supposes she never would, now that he thinks about it.
“Excuse me, Vivian,” a familiar voice says. David looks up to see Elle Woods, a terrifying flash of pink against the leather bound tomes on the shelf behind her, and she smiles at him in that way she always has, warm and kind. “Hi, David.”
“Hello,” he says.
Vivian sits up, her eyes wide, and Elle bends slightly towards her so they can speak without disturbing the rest of the library. “Oh, what are you doing here?”
“I have a teeny tiny favor to ask you,” she says, wincing with a smile. “I think I left my notes on the Cooper-Garrett case in your room this morning. Would you mind if I made a copy of yours?”
David braces himself for the worst. Vivian can be as unforgiving as their professors when it comes to her classmates, and not being prepared is the worst crime a law student can commit next to plagiarism.
And no, he does not believe that Stephen Hawking stole his theory for A Brief History of Time from Aaron Mitchell’s fourth grade paper. That’s completely absurd.
But nevertheless, Elle is nice, and she stood up for him when he needed it, and, honestly, not having Elle and Vivian at each other’s throats has made most of their shared lectures significantly more engaging for everyone else.
“I have a copy,” David offers.
Elle’s expression tightens briefly before she smiles just as brightly as always. “Oh, thank you, David. I would really appreciate that.”
He moves to find it in his piles of cases, organized by color so he knows to seek out the blue tabs, as taught to him by Elle herself, and he hands the file to her, hoping to avoid any potential clash between Elle and Vivian that could result in him being dismissed from the library. Or worse, banned.
“I’ll just make a copy and bring it back,” Elle says.
“I’ll go with you,” Vivian says, standing to her feet so quickly that David thinks she might have clipped the table with her knee, which would explain the strain on her face. “The, umm, the library Xerox always gets jammed when you try to copy more than one page, and it takes two people to get the paper out.”
David frowns. He’s never had a problem with any of the copy machines on campus. Actually, the equipment here is more advanced than anything he’s ever used anywhere else before. Even the court drawings print clearly in full color.
“Oh,” Elle says, her eyebrows raised. “Oh, oh, okay, yeah, that would be great. I mean, if you’re not busy.
“I’m not busy,” Vivian says.
“You were studying,” David says.
“It was just a review,” she says and looks back at Elle. “After you.”
He watches mildly stunned as the two women walk away side by side without arguing or cutting their eyes at each other. Their arms brush together briefly, and he sees Vivian rub at where Elle’s skin touched her idly as they disappear around the corner.
Strange.
It seems a truce must have been made.
He goes back to his studies and minds his own business.
Twenty minutes later, Vivian returns alone and quickly sits down in the seat across from him, smoothing down her hair and shirt in swift swoops of her hands.
“Is Elle not going to study with us?”
“No, she’s busy,” she says, slightly out of breath.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she says and flips open her book to a random page, and he watches her for a moment, not sure what to think of this. She looks up at him and frowns, and that’s when he sees the bright pink smudge across her lips like she just bit into a raspberry doughnut. “What?”
“You have something,” he says and points to his mouth.
“Oh,” she says and quickly wipes it away with her sleeve as her face reddens to the same shade as a boiled lobster. “Thanks.”
She thanked him?
“Are you sick?” David asks. “Do you need to see a doctor?”
“No.”
“Because if you are, I really can’t catch anything right now. I have a paper due Wednesday, and we have exams next week, and my immune system has a delayed recovery response because of–.”
“I’m not sick,” she says, cutting him off. “It’s just– really warm in here.”
“Really? They always keep the library cold to help preserve the books.”
“Maybe they decided not to preserve them today. Did you ever think of that?”
“Well, no, but–,” he says, but Vivian is already gathering her things and putting them in her bag, quickly enough that many of the papers get crushed. “I should go let Bruiser out.”
“Elle’s dog?”
“Yeah,” she says. “Bye.”
“Goodbye,” he says, mildly confused. Elle has never asked him to take Bruiser for a walk before, but he would have, probably, if she was that busy. It’s a well behaved dog, he thinks.
But Vivian’s room is close to hers, so it’s probably more convenient this way, and he decides that that’s the most logical reason Vivian would already know he needs to be let out.
He returns to his studies, and soon the space across from his becomes occupied by a different classmate, who unfortunately finds it necessary to ask if he likes waterpolo.
So much for getting anything done today.
A few hours later, he leaves the library and decides for go for a walk to stretch his legs, and as he rounds the corner he sees the two women standing together with a small dog at their feet, smiling and looking as pleasant as very good friends.
Vivian reaches out and fixes Elle’s hair, and Elle laughs, and Bruiser gives them both a quiet boof. Vivian scoops him up, and Bruiser licks her cheek, and Vivian smiles and squeaks, but she doesn’t move him away. He’s never seen her look so happy before. He’s never seen her look happy at all, now that he thinks about it.
Elle gives Bruiser a little scratch on the top of his head approvingly, and Vivian sets him back down, content now that he’s gotten a little attention.
And the Elle kisses her easily on the lips.
David turns around in the opposite direction.
Nope, he was not supposed to see that, and if anyone asks, he didn’t. That doesn’t concern him at all.
He smiles to himself anyway, though, because for all her kindness, Elle deserves a little happiness too.
And now he’ll surely have more chances to ask their professors questions in class.
He can only hope.