tequila ; s. paulson one - shots

math (a. mayfair - richards)

Poring over the paper once more, you sighed and rubbed the bridge of your nose. Normally, you hated asking for help, especially with academics. It had always been second nature for you to struggle on your own, learn on your own, and be the one getting mad at yourself for low marks.

But tonight was different. This particular lesson was being such a bitch, and you couldn't seem to process anything at all. Arcs, triangles, pi, all of the words and formulas seemed to be swimming around on the papers you were reading.

It was time to break the 'In Case of Emergencies' glass.

"Mom? Are you busy?"

Ally looked up from her phone and shook her head, "Not really, why?"

"Could you help me with this?"

"What is it?"

"Math."

"I'm not the best at math, but sure."

"You don't need to be the best at math," you scoffed as both of you walked back to the dining room, where your homework was spread out, "My brain just seems to be giving up on me right now."

"You have been pushing yourself a lot harder than usual, Y/N."

"No, I haven't, I've actually been lazier."

"Please just stop lying and pass over the one-way ticket to hell," your mother laughed softly.

A silence fell over you as she studied the seemingly senseless theorems you were trying to grasp with no luck at all.

"I think I get it."

"Wha- how?"

"Tell me what you understood first."

"Well," you groaned as you double-checked your notebook, "the Pythagorean Theorem says that A squared plus B squared equals C squared. C is the hypotenuse of a right triangle, and A and B are the legs."

"Okay, what else?"

"In a 30-60-90 Triangle, the side opposite the 30 degree angle is half the length of the hypotenuse."

"Good. Is that all you can remember?"

"There was one with the Isosceles Right Triangles. Since the angles are 45, 45, and 90, the hypotenuse equals the length of one leg times square root of two."

"See? You get it," Ally stated, "What did you need help with?"

"I've got an upcoming exam on that one, but I'm having trouble with arcs and stuff."

"How about we answer some practice problems and try to understand whatever gibberish there is here later?"

A laugh escaped your lips as you took scratch papers and handed them to your mother, keeping some for yourself. "We'll both try to solve and see if we get the same answer, okay?"

"Good luck to me."

The first problem was fairly simple, you solved it with the Pythagorean Theorem and some guesswork, and both of you got the same answer.

"How does difference of two squares work, again?"

"I think," you speculated, still rereading the second problem, "it's quantity of A plus B times quantity of A minus B."

"I'm done until number 2. Where are you at?"

"I don't get this. at all. I'm sleepy, and tired, and I just wanna throw math out of the window."

Ally didn't even look up, her hands still writing down numbers and diagrams that made zero sense to you, "I would tell you to go to bed and leave this for tomorrow, but I know you too well. Your stubborn ass won't listen, even if you know I'm right."

"I think it's mean to call me an ass, mom."

"Did I lie, though?"

"No," you sighed exasperatedly, "that doesn't mean that it sucks any less, though."

"What, being an ass?"

"What? No! I meant being sleepy but having to do this."

"Oh, so being an ass doesn't suck?"

Your mom was completely poker-faced, still absorbed in the trigonometry problem, but you could hear the smile in her voice.

"Why are you like this," you groaned, "This is why I don't normally ask for help."

"Do you want me to teach you how to solve this or not?"

"Fine, hit me."

Ally slapped your arm lightly enough that it didn't leave a mark, but it still made you yelp, "What was that for?"

"You told me to hit you," she replied, "Now, for number 10, you have to draw the altitude, right? These two angles will equal 90, and since this being 30 degrees was in the given, you can assume that this side equals half of this one. You get it?"

"I get it so far."

"Then you have to compute the length of the sides, and since this side equals this side, you can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of the sides. That would mean that this equals square root of 7."

"Then how do we find the angle?"

"I honestly don't know yet, but I think you can cheat with a scientific calculator and the Internet."

You laughed softly and sipped some hot chocolate that you had made earlier, "I think I get how to solve this one. Since it's an equilateral triangle, it's also equiangular. And you can just draw the altitude and find the height using Pythagorean."

"See, you get it. Try solving this on your own, and then go to sleep."

"Yeah, yeah, I will. I am exhausted."

Both of you worked for a while, computing and double-checking the proof of how you got your answers, up until you were sure of everything.

Ally got up and stretched, "Now, let's go to sleep since you're done."

"In a while," you yawned, laying your head on your arms, "I'll just review once more before I sleep."

"Uh-uh, missy, you're coming with me."

She dragged you off to your shared room with Oz, where your brother was already sound asleep. "Mom, I've got a chemistry exam tomorrow, and I'm not sure I'm ready."

"Y/N, you're the most hardworking kid I know, you've got this. Don't stress out too much, you'll be fine."

"You," you said with a yawn, "believe in me too much."

"I'm your mom. It's my job to believe in you."

"It's also apparently your job to call me an ass."

"Oh, when did you grow up to be such a smart aleck?" Ally chuckled, brushing hair away from your face.

"I learned from the best," you murmured softly, eyelids drooping, "Love you, mom. Thanks for tonight."

"I love you too, sweetheart. Goodnight, sleep tight, sweet dreams."

wc : 1059

lmao so this was messy. feel free to use the theorems as reviewers though,, shout out to peachyykiel for telling me to do this out of all the drafts i have

request anything and let me know what you thought !!

- mayesha 🤧