author's note: Got bored. Wrote a drabble for the teenage hero OTP. What else is new?
-xoxo-
A Different Sort of Sidekick
-xoxo-
Like any other high school, Middleburg Central High was no stranger to gossip and rumor mills. No one was immune to hearing the whispers and quick conversations in the halls between classes. Then again, this time around, there was no manufactured story or myths to be debunked- the truth was right there for everyone to see.
Yup. Penn Zero and Sashi Kobayashi were going steady.
It's not exactly like they tried to hide it either- occasionally, people would see them holding hands, spending time at each other's lockers, being alone together a little more often…
...and, like they would always would, they'd bicker from time to time.
"Penn, you don't have to carry my books," Sashi said.
"I know, but I want to," Penn replied, with a slightly bashful smile, as he lifted up her backpack.
"Our classes aren't even in the same hall," she protested, trying to yank her backpack out of his hands. "You'll have to run all the way across campus just to make it to your own class on time."
Penn shrugged halfheartedly. "History's nothing but an excuse for me to catch up on sleep anyway," he said.
Sashi rolled her eyes. "And at the same time, you complain about your GPA," she muttered.
The two of them stood there for a moment in the hall, fighting over the backpack and each one of them bestowing completely different expressions; of course, Penn was smiling, acting quite amused about this situation, while Sashi was genuinely frustrated.
"Just let me do this one little thing for you-"
"-no, I can carry my own stupid books-"
"-Sash, I'm trying to be a gentleman here-"
"-is that what you call it?" she retorted, finally retrieving her backpack and slinging it over one shoulder. "Honestly, Penn, just because I'm your girlfriend now doesn't mean you have to treat me that much differently than you did before."
"Wait," he stammered, and a blush lit up his entire face. "Uh- did you say-" Penn cleared his throat, but that couldn't wipe away his stupid grin that almost seemed too big for his face. "Did you just refer to yourself as my girlfriend?"
Sashi gave a halfhearted shrug. "Yeah, I did," she muttered, suddenly becoming aware of what she had just said. "I mean, we've been going out for a few weeks-" She lightly kicked the floor. "-we're official, I guess. We're dating." Technically, a handful of dates might not count, but more or less, it was the start of something and something was a whole lot more than nothing. That was what mattered.
Penn genuinely laughed and his entire face lit up, pulling Sashi into a hug right then and there in the middle of the school hall, for all to watch. And just to top things off, he kissed her cheek- the farthest he had ever gone since that first date a few weeks back- which caused her to giggle and blush, like a real, true girl- dammit, the things this boy did-
"You won't regret that," he declared. "I'll see you later, 'kay?"
"Okay," Sashi said, her voice barely inaudible.
She stood there in front of her locker, completely dazed and confused for a moment as she watched Penn run off, out of the school through the wide-open double doors, and what the hell did he think he was doing? Penn was acting like a complete doofus, dancing his way down the front steps of the school, before he kept running and oh, God, she never thought he would do something so unbelievably stupid-
"Sashi Kobayashi is my girlfriend!" he yelled, holding up his fists victoriously as he started to run away from the school.
"You idiot," Sashi whispered softly to herself- and she felt so dumb for having such a wide, smitten smile.
And one thing was for sure, Penn would definitely be missing History class now. But like before, it would undoubtedly be worth it.