Author: Dragongirl85
Pairings: 1x2
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Sorry to say it, but I don't... If I did, Relena would be killed a long time ago and the Gundam Boys would be extremely happy (not because Relena was dead. Well, Heero would...) I'm making no money for writing this. Don't sue, you won't get much anyway, unless you want a cranky, old cat, a fucked up cell-phone and a really, really, REALLY old and crappy computer.
Rating:
Notes: I've just spend three weeks playing teacher and during that time, I thought a lot about what to tell the kids during my lessons. I basically planned, word by word, everything that would be said and done during my days. … Of course, I forgot a lot of shit, but I think I did okay anyway.
Anyway, this baby was created while seated on the bus, on my way to the school where I was working. I was going through my day (which was actually the next day) when my thoughts suddenly started going in a different direction.
This is the result. Enjoy.
Warnings: Fluff, school-fic, "learning in process (le gasp Dangers of learning something!!), OOC (maybe)
Archive: Sure, but please ask first.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
"-four empires disappeared: the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and the Russian. Four defunct dynasties, the Hohenzollerns, the Habsburg, Romanovs and the Ottomans together with all their ancillary aristocracies, all fell after the war. Belgium was badly damaged, as was France with 1.4 million soldiers' dead, not counting other casualties. Germany and Russia were similarly affected. The war had profound economic consequences. In addition, a major influenza epidemic that started in Western Europe in the latter months of the war killed millions in Europe and then spread around the world. Overall, the Spanish flu killed at least 50 million people."
Looking up as the bell rang, history teacher Heero Yuy turned his back to the white screen where today's lesson was illustrated and faced his class. "Okay, I want you to re-read what we've just talked about today. Tomorrow we'll have a discussion about it; the outcome of tomorrow will decide the outcome of the upcoming history test."
The class groaned, but nobody said anything as they worked on packing their bags and leaving the classroom. Heero looked over the teens with a small smile tugging on his lips before packing up his own books and papers.
"Heero?"
Looking up, Heero glanced at his fellow colleague Trowa Barton, teacher in chemistry. "Trowa," he greeted while gathering his papers. "You have lunch already?"
Trowa shook his head and smirked. "Nope, just had a free hour."
"Spent with a certain music-teacher, no doubt," Heero quipped back while smirking, enjoying the sight of the chemistry-teacher squirming.
"Well, we were just discussing the upcoming week," Trowa replied weakly, making Heero snicker.
"Yeah, sure."
"We were!"
"Before or after making out?" Heero smirked, then paled when seeing a smirk cover Trowa's own face.
"Says the man who's been lusting over a certain biology teacher ever since he got here. Just when are you going to make a move? The man's gay, he's open about it and I am willing to bet next month's paycheck that he's sweet on you."
"He's not sweet on me, he's just being friendly. In case you haven't noticed, he doesn't treat me any different from others."
"Bothers the shit out of you, doesn't it," Trowa teased as the two men left the classroom.
"Shut up," Heero grumbled before stopping and staring as said biology-teacher walked into the biology classroom to start up his own lesson.0
Trowa just chuckled and smiled softly as he watched the love-struck man stare after the long-haired beauty. "He's really a sight, isn't he?"
"He's the most beautiful thing in history," Heero mumbled back, still staring in the same direction even if the male was out of view.
Trowa smiled and shook his head.
The twenty-four year old biology-teacher had just started his job at the Sanq Kingdom High school and he had already swept everybody off their feet. With his long brown hair tied up in a braid, expressive cobalt eyes and heart-shaped face, Duo Maxwell was a sight for gods, his good-natured personality, his open mind, his passion for what he was doing and all around good mood made him liked by both students and teachers. And he had completely ensnared Heero Yuy's heart.
Even if Heero was Duo's complete opposite in many ways, his hard Prussian eyes often leaving people to believe that Heero was cold and uncaring, Trowa was positive that they would be a good match.
Like Duo, twenty-seven year old Heero had a passion of his own for his own subject, loving to talk and teach about history to his students. While appearing as cold and strict, Heero Yuy was a well-liked teacher, a specialist when it came to his subject, his intelligence and will to help his students making it less difficult to approach him. And like Duo, Heero was very easy on the eyes, something Heero was painfully aware of since he was frequently hit on by the teacher in English literature, Relena Peacecraft.
And everybody knew just how bad Heero Yuy had it for Duo Maxwell, except for the man in question. But it was obvious that Duo was returning the interest by frequently joining the man for lunch and discussions.
"You know," Trowa started and gave Heero a nudge. "You should ask him out for lunch today. I mean, he's always joining us anyway. He won't say no."
Heero shook his head and tore his eyes away from Duo's classroom. "No, it's not appropriate," he mumbled while clenching his hands around his papers.
Trowa shook his head and sighed before checking his watch. Students were starting to fill the halls, indicating that classes were about to start. "Well, I have to go anyway. Enjoy your free hour," he said and waved before leaving Heero where he was.
Heero just nodded and waved before sighing and starting to leave. Then he looked up as a few giggling girls passed him and hurried into Duo's classroom, closing the door behind them. Raising an eyebrow, Heero waited until the halls were empty before opening the door to the classroom, peaking inside.
He'd always been curious on which method Duo was using to teach the students. Maybe this was a good time for a little observation. At least that was his excuse as he leaned against the doorframe and watched as Duo prepared for today's lesson.
Clapping his hands together in an attempt to silence the class, Duo smiled towards the students before gesturing towards a plastic skeleton which was hanging from a still next to himself. "This,-" he started while placing an arm around the skeletons shoulders. "-is the inner workings of the human body, which also happens to be a part of today's subject." Chuckling, Duo patted the skeletons shoulder with his hand and grinned to his class. "You guessed it, folks. We're going to talk about the human body in all its wonder."
The class chuckled a little and Duo smirked as he removed his arm from the plastic skeleton and wiggled his fingers towards his students. "Now now, don't laugh. You guys aren't in junior high anymore and this isn't sex-ed. I am willing to bet that you people don't know half the stuff I know about the human body." Gesturing to the students, Duo smiled. "Start with taking a good look at yourself. Admire yourself."
The class started whispering among themselves as they started looking at their hands and feet. Duo chuckled a little as he walked towards the blackboard and drew a very simple drawing of a human being, keeping its sex neutral to prevent giggling and whispering.
"Okay, that's enough, don't want you to get your heads in the clouds when you find out just how fantastic you all are."
The class chuckled again and some of the more fashioned girls started smirking and looking at the less popular girls, making Duo want to frown.
"Two legs and arms with five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. We've only got one head, which is probably for the best, but on that head we've got two ears, eyes and nostrils. Sure, only one nose and mouth, but our mouth is big enough for two anyway. We're all the same, we all look the same. We all have what we're supposed to have, and because we have that, we're able to do what we do. We're a pretty… Straightforward recipe, ain't we?"
The class nodded and Duo turning around, pointing at them. "Wrong! We're not straightforward at all! In fact, we're pretty darn complex! Look at your neighbor! Look at yourself again! You're all fantastic machines, a part of the most complicated and amazing creation that's ever been seen and it's all natural! We can walk on two legs without falling over; we can talk, see, move, feel, smell and hear! We can reach out our hand and touch things and thanks to the sensitive skin, the nerves in our fingertips we can feel if whatever we're touching is smooth, warm, cold, rough. Hell, the fact that we can reach out our hand without ordering it or even thinking it is pretty amazing in itself. We think "Hey, I want that apple" and voila! Our hand has reached out and grabbed it. We don't have to think that we need to reach out our hand, open our hand and curl our fingers around it in order to take it, all we have to think is that we want it. And how, ladies and gentlemen, can we do that?"
Duo smiled and watched his class murmur between themselves before a girl with red hair reached up her hand. "Yes, Susie?"
Susie blushed a little before lowering her hand. "Because… Of our brain?"
Duo nodded and gave her the thumbs up. "Yes. Exactly. Because of our brain."
Walking over to his desk, Duo opened up a drawer before lifting up a model of the human brain that was made in rubber.
"This," he started while holding it up for the class to see. "-is the human brain. I am sure you all have seen it in some way on TV or in movies, but have you ever seen it in all its glory?"
Everybody in the classroom shook their head and Duo chuckled. "Thought so."
Holding it up, Duo used his free hand to split it in half, showing off the two pieces so the students could see what was going on on the inside.
Outside, Heero chuckled as he watched the so-called popular girls pull faces when Duo handled the rubber-brain. He was as intrigued and curious as any of Duo's students, wanting to see more of what the young teacher was talking about.
"The brain," he repeated while handing the two pieces to the students at the front, watching as they studied the pieces before passing them on so everybody could see. "The brain's a pretty amazing piece of biological machinery, huh? It's many times better than the best computer out there, it controls everything that's going on in our bodies. I mean, it's thanks to our brain that we are able to do all the things that we do."
Chuckling, Duo tapped a finger against his temple. "This beauty, if taken good care off, takes good care of us in return. Think about it. Everything we do, we do because we want to. Our brain doesn't tell us to do it. But things we need to do, like breathe, the brain does for us, so to speak. Think about how boring it would be if we had to sit around and actually force ourselves to breathe. That would take a lot of time and you can say goodbye to sleep and things like that. We'd have to use all our time on breathing! But thanks to our wonderful brain, it does the talking for us so we don't have to think about such a simple, but very important task as breathing."
Walking in front of his desk, Duo leaned against it. "Try it out. Hold your breath for as long as you can and then some."
The class looked around the room, talking quietly with the person they sat next to before doing as their teacher said. The room was quiet, but after about 40 seconds the first people started gasping for air. Duo smiled and nodded in satisfaction while waiting for the more stubborn people to give up. When the last person gave up and was gasping for air, Duo chuckled and smiled.
"See? Your body, your amazing body, has just helped you to survive. Alone, by holding our breaths or trying to choke ourselves, our body will react against our will and save us. Our body will force us to open our mouth and nose so we can breathe, our body will make us remove the hand that's preventing air from filling our lungs." Grinning, Duo pointed at his class, letting his hand move so he was gesturing to absolutely everybody. "Your body loves you. And it wants you to live."
Heero chuckled along with the class over the young teacher's explanations. He really was admirable, he was able to make anything sound exciting. So when Duo clapped his hands to make the class calm again, Heero shifted so he was leaning against the door-frame, still watching in silence so Duo wouldn't notice that he was there.
"Of course, our body is so much more than just breathing and moving around," Duo continued while walking over to his desk again and sat down on top of it, facing his class. "Our body has a lot of helpers. Like our eyes, nerves under our skin, lungs, a heart, blood to bring the oxygen around in our system. Even the finest machinery needs a little help." Looking over the class, Duo leaned back against his hands while crossing his legs. "Can you guys think of anything else that our body's doing? Little things, come with suggestions. Anything at all. What does our body do that we have no control over."
"Pass gas?"
The class started laughing and Duo let out a small snort as well. "Well, yes. Our body passes gas, sometimes we can't control it, other times it's because we want to be funny and disgust people. But we're not going to talk about the digestion system today, that's for another day. So please bring me something else."
The class fell quiet, tossing shy glances around the room before a girl up front carefully reached up her hand.
Duo smiled and nodded to her. "Aggie?"
"Our… Hair?"
Duo grinned widely and nodded while jumping off his desk, pointing at Aggie. "Yes. Yes, thank you, that is an excellent suggestion! Repeat it!"
Aggie looked more scared than anything, but still did as Duo had said. "Our hair."
"Our hair," Duo repeated while turning around so his long braid was whipping the air around him. "What is it about our hair?"
A boy in the back looked around before speaking. "It grows without us telling it to?"
Duo nodded and turned around again, smirking a little to the boy. "Yes, that's right, but please put up your hand, okay?"
The boy nodded and looked down at his text-book.
"Our hair," Duo repeated and looked at his class. "What is it about our hair, ladies and gentlemen? What is up with our body hair?"
The class looked a bit confused, not really understanding what their long haired teacher was talking about. Chuckling, Duo smiled while holding up his three feet long braid. "This, ladies and gentlemen, is a pretty nice example of what I am talking about. This braid is exactly three feet and 6 inches long. I am not very tall myself so I dare say that my hair is over half the length that I am. That's pretty impressive, wouldn't you say?"
The class nodded, the girls especially looked impressed over that fact. Duo smiled before letting his braid fall back down to rest against his back.
"If desired, I can do the same time with a beard. If I stopped shaving, in fact, if I didn't start shaving that day when I first got some whiskers on my face, I could have a beard as long as my braid. Wouldn't look as good, but if I wanted it, I could do it. So here's another question for you guys."
Fixing his cobalt blue eyes on his students, Duo placed one hand on his hips while pointing a finger into the air. "Why, ladies and gentlemen, can I grow a beard as long as I desire, but as soon as you get below neck level, the body hair decides to call it quits after an inch or two? Why don't we guys rummage around in a jungle of hair to bring junior out to the light? Why don't we look more like Cousin It from "The Addams Family"?"
The class started murmuring between themselves again and Heero couldn't help but chuckle. Duo Maxwell certainly was able to make his students think and discuss. How he envied that ability.
Duo let the students think for a little while before taking the attention back to himself. "I'll tell you people why. It's because our body is so awesome. It's not that long ago since we all were looking more like our primate friends and were covered with hair."
Chuckling, Duo placed both hands on his hips. "In fact, the hair on our body is pretty normal. All mammals have somewhat of a short hair and they only grow to a certain length before it stops. It's not the hair on our body that's odd, it's the hair on our head that's out of control. Scientist don't know why the hair on our heads is growing the way it is. Maybe it's a way to attract a mate, like some birds have prettier feathers than the bird of the opposite gender."
The class chuckled as well, bringing a smile to Heero's face. He really could learn a lot from Duo's energy. His own enthusiasm about the subject was contagious, the class just as eager to learn about it as Duo was about talking about it. Heero smiled and shook his head. While he loved his own subject, he had a little to learn about motivation. Deciding to pay a little more attention to pick up some more tips, Heero made himself comfortable and continued to peek.
"We are amazing, people," Duo continued while starting to walk back and forth in front of his class. "No other animal is like us, we're… Special. Can anybody tell me why we're so different from other animals?"
Looking at the class, Duo nodded and pointed at a girl with red hair. "Yes?"
The girl hesitated a little before answering. "Because we can feel?"
Duo smiled and crossed his arms, looking at her. "And other animals can't? Is a dog or a cat unable to feel? Can't monkeys feel?"
The girl didn't answer, and Duo chuckled softly. "Don't worry, you're not wrong, but you're not right either. You're on the right track at least."
Smiling at his class, Duo placed his hand over his heart. "Feelings have something to do with it. Or more, what we feel and think. As an animal, we're pathetic. We have no natural defenses. A cat has its claws, a dog has sharp fangs, monkeys have powerful muscles, a snake has venom. Think about it. Absolutely every animal out there is better than us. If we were tossed into a ring with a normal chimp, the chimp would tie a knot on us. Fight with a cat and the cat will shred us to pieces."
The class frowned and a boy raised a hand up. "But teacher… We can build weapons and we can easily kill all those animals. We can just snap a cat's neck and be done with it."
"Ah," Duo said while lifting his hand, nodding in agreement. "That is a very good point, Billy, and you are absolutely correct. The reason we're on the top of the food-chain is because of our brains. Our ability to built things, like weapons. And that's the thing we have going for us. But think about it. What if we're in the jungle and we have just one bullet in our gun. We come to face a… Tiger. Of course, we'll save our lives by shooting the tiger. It's instinct, every animal has it. Every animal will always try to save its own ass before someone else's, even us humans. But that's where we're different as well. But before I go into that, lets continue on the defense part." Duo cleared his throat and licked over dry lips. "The one shot you had is now used up, used on the tiger. Now what? If we meet another tiger, we'd be screwed. We can toss the gun at it and run, but it will catch us and then what'll we do?"
The class remained quiet and Duo chuckled, nodding to them. "Exactly. We can't do anything. But that's were our brain comes in. And our hearts."
Walking over to a girl, Duo put a finger against her forehead. "Say I have a gun in my hand and I'm pointing it at you now… What would you do? What would you all do in order to save her life?"
The students looked at each other, whispering and discussing before the first suggestions came.
"Plead for her life?"
"Offer to take her place?"
"Fight you?"
Duo looked at them and removed his finger from the girl's forehead, pulling away from her completely. "Would you? Honestly? Cross your heart?"
The students talking fell quiet and Duo smiled. "Animals are known to show compassion, but it's rare. Animals, birds, fish, reptiles… They all go on instinct in order to survive. But it's often recorded that orphaned children has been taken in by females of the same species. Like lions and monkeys. Just like humans can adopt a baby that is not their own. But unlike us, an animal does not show pity or remorse when killing it's pray, just like the pray doesn't feel hatred towards its killer."
Chuckling as several hands shot up into the air, Duo raised his hands in defense. "Okay, let me rephrase myself. I know there has been many killers out there who's shown no pity to his or her victim and no, I don't know what an animal is thinking when it's being killed by a predator. But scientists do not think hate is going through an animal's brain when it's being killed by a predator. Fear, yes. Pain, most likely. But hate… That is uncertain. But it's in their nature, they kill to survive and they kill only what they need. It is we, the humans, that kill more than we need, destroying the balance. But that too is a subject for another day."
Pausing a little, Duo ran a hand through his bangs while sorting his thoughts. It was time to start wrapping things up.
"Humans… We are pretty darn special. One of the luckiest mutations that's ever happened." Then he chuckled and grinned. "Or unlucky. Depends on how you see it."
The class laughed, even Heero chuckled a little as he watched the teacher work. Duo smiled and for a second Heero could swear that the long haired male was looking right at him before looking back at his class.
"It could just as easily have been something else," Duo continued while starting to walk around the classroom again, using his hands while speaking to express himself. "Ever seen those Egyptian gods? You know… Anubis, Bastet… It could just as easily been creatures like that walking around."
The class chuckled, making Duo chuckle as well. "Hey, it's no laughing matter. It could happen. Anyway, where was I? … Oh, yes! Humans. No mammal is like us, you know. No other animal has the urge to own things like we do. The need to possess things, the need get things. We're a greedy species. I mean, we want things to make ourselves comfortable, but we don't get to bring those things with us when we die. Basically, we work all our lives to get things, but we leave with nothing. It's kinda sad."
The class nodded in agreement, but nobody said anything to further comment on Duo's saying. Duo was almost disappointed, but he still continued.
"We also have another thing going for us. The urge to love."
Looking over at the door, Duo smiled softly before looking back at his class. "Lets talk about the human heart, shall we? What is our heart's main task?"
The same red-haired girl reached up her hand and Duo nodded to her. "Yes?"
"To keep us alive by pumping blood and oxygen around our body?"
Duo nodded and smiled. "Very good. That's right." Chuckling, Duo ran a hand through his hair. "You know, that reminds me of a joke. When man was created, the internal organs had a fight over who was going to be in charge. The lungs said it should be boss because it helped the body breathe and live. The heart claimed that it should be boss because it kept the human alive by pumping the air around the body. The brain said it should be boss because without it, the heart or the lungs wouldn't be able to function. Then the asshole wanted to join in, saying it should be boss. Now the organs started laughing, asking why the asshole should be boss. After all, what good did the asshole do? So the asshole closed up, making the human writhe in pain. The kidneys started shutting down, the heart had trouble pumping, the brain was getting problems with the nerves and the lungs wasn't able to function properly. So the organs gave up and let the asshole be boss." Chuckling, Duo grinned. "As we can see even today, each time we claim our boss is an asshole."
The class laughed, and Duo smiled in satisfaction before clapping his hands together. "But enough jokes. Lets go back to the heart." Nodding to the red-haired girl, Duo smiled. "Like you said, the heart helps us stay alive by pumping oxygen around our system. But have you noticed that in certain situations, our hearts can beat even faster, or even feel like it's beating slower?"
The class nodded and Duo crossed his arms, still smiling softly. "I'm sure you all have. But can you tell me why?"
"Because of adrenaline?"
Duo tilted his head and looked at a blond boy. "Yes, but why? Why does our heart beat faster?"
"Well…" The blond boy hesitated before answering. "In… Certain situations, we get scared and so our body makes adrenaline in order to give us the energy we need in order to get away from the thing that scares us? … Or something?"
Duo chuckled and nodded before glancing up as the bell rang, indicating that the lesson was over. "Don't leave the room yet," he called out, walking to the back of his desk and started rummaging through his papers. "I want you to read about the heart for homework since we'll be discussing this on Friday, but before you leave…" Looking up, Duo looked at the class before smiling. "I want you to be thinking about something."
Straightening up, Duo crossed his arms and looked at his students. "Why does a heart hurt, even if nothing has happened to cause the human body pain? Why does a heart hurt when we're sad? When we're excited? When we're in love?"
Smiling, Duo winked to his class. "Think about that. Until next time." Waving his class out, Duo continued to gather his papers, seemingly not noticing that Heero slipped into the classroom.
"That was a good lesson, Duo."
Looking up, Duo smiled and chuckled. "Thank you, professor. That means a lot coming from you."
Heero blushed and rubbed his neck nervously, not looking at the young man. "… Not at all. Umm, listen… Duo… I was just-"
"Crap!" Checking his watch, Duo quickly started packing his things together before smiling. "Listen, I'm late for a meeting. Maybe we can talk more tomorrow, I'll be pretty busy all day today? Okay? Thank you, bye!" Hurrying out the door, Duo didn't notice the defeated look on Heero's face.
"I was just wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me," he finished lamely before sighing. "… Why do I keep torturing myself?"
Looking around the classroom, Heero stared at the drawing Duo had made when an idea suddenly popped into his skull. Maybe he'd be able to find a way to see if the teacher was interested by stepping into his world? Hurrying out of the classroom, Heero started forming his idea, his heart thumping hard in his chest with excitement.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Watching as the students worked, Duo continued with his own work, feeling a little disappointed that none of the students had been able to come up with an answer to his questions. Not that he'd expected them to use their spare time to think about it, but he still felt a little disappointed. Still, he'd continued the discussing, but choose not to go any further in on the nature of the human heart and why certain situations made it act the way it did. He just didn't have time to go into the finer details of the human heart and all it's wonders, that simply wasn't his job.
Sighing a little, Duo watched the students study the model of the heart that he'd passed out to the different groups. The sight made him smile a little though, watching as the students took the hearts apart and looked at the inside, how they trailed their pencils over the veins and the aorta coming out from it.
This was why he loved teaching. As long as the motivation was right, even lazy teenagers like these became eager to learn. As long as he could keep up his own passion and energy, then he could motivate his students.
Chuckling softly, Duo shook his head before looking back down at the reports from their last experiment, an experiment about the PH in different food-items, grading them by looking at their theories, explanation and just plain writing. He'd already seen a few reports where the whole text was "a lemon is more sour than an apple". He just hoped the experiment and report on "the human heart" would be more giving.
Speaking of giving…
Smiling, Duo closed his eyes and thought back to yesterday, bringing up the image of Heero Yuy watching him as he talked to his students. Those intense eyes paying attention to every movement, every gesture that Duo did. His attention fully focused on him.
Shivering slightly, Duo shook his head while forcing any thought above NL-17 out of his head. This was not the time to start fantasizing about a certain history teacher, no matter how drop dead gorgeous he was. Of course, it was more than just appearance that had Duo attracted to him. The man was an excellent teacher, he had a passion for his subject. He had a gift of making history coming alive.
Shaking his head again, Duo once again tried to focus on his task, wanting this done by today so he could get the weekend off. 'Yeah, right,' he thought to himself and sighed. 'Like I have anything exciting going on besides a date with a bottle of beer, some pizza and my TV.'
Looking up as the bell rang, Duo got up from the chair and clapped his hands. "Okay, deliver your hearts to me and those of you who're done with the report can deliver it as well. Those of you who ain't done… Have fun with it this week-end, I want those suckers in on Monday."
Not able to hide the grin as some of the people groaned, Duo accepted the papers that were done before snapping his fingers. "Hey, before you go," he called out and walked to stand in front of his desk, looking over the slightly confused students. "Do any of you have any answer for my question, now that you've worked a little more on the human heart?"
The silence that came wasn't unexpected. Deciding that he'd tortured the poor students enough for the week, Duo shook his head and waved them off. "Never mind, you go and have a great weekend, okay? Reports done by Monday!"
The students who weren't done nodded and greeted him a nice week-end as well as they moved towards the exit. Soon Duo was alone in the classroom, making himself busy with cleaning up the plastic hearts.
"Hm," he hummed to himself as he put the hearts into a drawer where the rest of the science equipment was being kept. Looking over the red and purple plastic hearts, Duo picked one back up and walked over to the desk. Sitting down on top of it, he picked it apart and looked at the inside of it. When a hand came and snagged one of the pieces out of his hand, he jumped and jerked his eyes up, gasping when he stared straight into the intense blue eyes of a certain Heero Yuy. "H-heero! W-what are you-? God, you scared me!"
"I am sorry," Heero murmured while looking at the piece in his hand.
Duo blinked a little before letting his eyes trail to the piece in Heero's hand. "… Was there… Anything you wanted, Heero?"
Heero nodded before looking up from the piece in his hand at the same time as Duo did, their eyes locking together. "… Yeah, there is…" Taking a deep breath, Heero licked his lips while squeezing the piece in his hand. "… I know the answer to your question."
Duo blinked in surprise and tilted his head sideways, looking at Heero with curious eyes. ".. What do you mean?"
"Your question," Heero repeated, still not taking his eyes away from Duo. "I know why… A heart hurts when you're excited… When you're sad… When you're in love… I know why a heart hurts, even if nothing or nobody's done anything physically to you…"
"Oh, really," Duo replied, his lips tugging into a small smile. Putting the pieces of the heart down at his lap, Duo placed his hands behind him and leaned backwards. "Then let me hear your answer, professor."
Heero blushed a little from the sudden teasing tone in Duo's voice, but he couldn't back away now. Not when he was so near…
"When you're happy, sad, excited, scared, in love… It's all strong emotions and when we're faced with strong emotions, our bodies produce more adrenaline," he started, picking up one of the pieces from the heart and attached it to the piece in his hand.
"When our bodies produce more adrenaline, it's like our hearts gets a jump-start, making it pump blood around our bodies much faster." Another piece was picked up and attached to the pieces in Heero's hand. "It does that so the blood can spread oxygen more efficiently and quicker around our bodies so we can compute with the emotions. Especially the brain needs more oxygen so it can respond properly to the given situation."
Another piece was picked up and attached to the rest, leaving the heart almost complete. There was only one more piece on Duo's lap. Looking down at it, Heero continued. "Of course… The brain cannot always keep up with the emotion… When we are scared… No matter how much oxygen gets pumped around our bodies and to our brains… We're not always able to run…"
Picking up the last piece, Heero rubbed his thumb over it before looking at Duo. "… So in response… Our hearts beat even faster… Giving it a sensation of pain in our chest…"
Not quite daring to believe the sudden heat that was created around them, not daring to hope that maybe, just maybe… Instead, Duo let his eyes move to look at the unfinished heart, deciding that he had to find out. And there was only one way to find out… "Very good," he murmured and moved to take the piece from Heero's hand, moving it to the heart in Heero's hand and pressed the piece into place. "You've done your homework…" Letting the smile turn bigger, Duo spread his fingers over the heart before curling them around both the heart and Heero's hand the best he could. "Tell me… Professor… What caused you to come over to my side of the school? This isn't exactly your field."
Heero swallowed a little, his cheeks still a little red from the contact between their hands. "… Because… I've experienced chest-pains lately," he murmured softly, his eyes still resting on Duo's handsome features.
"Is that so," Duo murmured, sitting up straight on the desk and spreading his legs ever so slightly. Using the grip he had on Heero's hand to tug him closer, bringing him almost between his now spread legs. "Tell me about it, professor."
Heero supported himself by placing his free hand on Duo's thigh, feeling the muscle flex because of his touch. "My heart hurts," he murmured, letting himself sink deeper into the deep, cobalt blue. "Especially when I'm near this… Person…"
"Sounds serious," Duo replied, placing his free hand on top of the one on his leg. "Tell me more…"
"This person," Heero continued, letting his fingers spread some and almost gasping as Duo's fingers landed between them, entwining their hands together. He couldn't believe it was true. "-is amazing… Smart, beautiful… Has a sharp wit and a gentle personality… This person… Is everything I want to be and everything I want in my life…"
"This person sounds like a dream," Duo murmured softly, still not certain if Heero was talking about who he thought he was.
"You are," Heero replied, stepping in closer so he was standing between the braided man's legs. "You're amazing… You have total confidence, total control in what you do and I envy you that talent. Your students adore you, the teachers love you… I love you…"
"Heero…" Feeling his cheeks flare up a little, Duo swallowed before smiling softly and moved to place his hands on Heero's chest. "… You're not very bad yourself… You have a passion for what you do, you have knowledge… You have your students completely wrapped up, you make history come alive…"
Smiling a little as well, Heero moved the hand on Duo's thigh over to rest on his hip instead, his thumb rubbing lightly over the fabric of Duo's shirt. "… Duo, I've… I've been wanting to ask you this for a long time and… Would you like to join me for lunch?"
Smiling, Duo moved his hands up so they were resting on Heero's back instead, his arms wrapped around the professors shoulders. "Make that dinner and I'll give you the answer you want."
Heero chuckled and nodded before smiling softly and moved to press his lips softly to those belonging to the young biology teacher. Feeling his heart speed up and thumb in his chest, he let go of the plastic heart in his hand, wrapping his arms tightly around Duo's waist while bringing him closer to him, ignoring the thud as the pieces fell apart as it hit the ground and spread over the floor.
It simply didn't matter anymore, now that his own heart didn't hurt anymore. Instead, the pain he felt in his chest as he kissed Duo lovingly, feeling the teacher respond to the caresses, was from his heart leaping with joy.
xoxoxoxoxo
Authors Note:
And now I have convinced myself that I'll never become a history or a biology teacher. XD The information I've written here may contain faults, but it was so damn hard to find out just what happens when you feel pain in your chest because of some emotion. I think I shouldn't be very far off though since this is what my teacher told me.
Hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! 3