"Why do you keep kissing me instead of studying for that test you've been complaining about all week?" Gogo asks, turning her eyes away from her notes and to the smiling blond above her; she's never one for ignoring her girlfriend, but work is work.
"For science," Honey replies, hugging Gogo's waist tighter, as if it's the most obvious answer in the world (and perhaps it's hallway true - the test she's been complaining about for her world lit class).
It takes observation, a hypothesis, and experiments before it hits her (though, in retrospect, she's not sure why it took her so long to figure out). Honey Lemon is one hundred percent in love with Gogo Tomago.
Warmth blooms in her chest and slowly spreads through her body. The image of Gogo will not leave her head, staying in her mind no matter where she is. Honey eats breakfast, does her morning stretches, sits in class, and experiments in the "nerd lab", all the while thinking of one particular girl.
No, it was not love at first sight, but it still sends chills up Honey's arms.
Gogo rarely slows down. Life is for living, and that does not mean just standing around and smelling flowers. Why live life without a little rush?
Maybe that is why things change when she meets Honey. Her steps become calculated around her, moving with a bit more grace. She spends less time worrying about how quickly she can get her work done. Staying late at the lab, after all, has its perks. Even when other students leaves for the night, Honey stays late.
"I have to get my experiment just right," she says. Her hair is held back in a messy ponytail, her eyes held back behind safety goggles, and clothing hidden behind a lab coat.
So Gogo waits. She has her own things to do, wheels to get right, tests to study for. Time passes her by, but for once she hardly notices. Across the lab, Honey works, never tiring of mixing chemicals. Whenever she gets something right, Gogo smiles along with her.
The night moves on. Outside the lab, the stars twinkle and the moon shines, illuminating on the world below it.
In the end, it is all worth it for Honey's hand looping through her own at the end of the night and her slow kisses that feel as though they should never end.
Honey's shaking hands are covered in blood. Her voice trembles as she speaks, but she supposes she cannot be blamed for it. "Just relax," she tells Gogo. Both are still hidden behind masks, heroes that everyone loves and yet no one knows.
"You have to go ahead," Gogo replies. She puts her hands on the ground, using her hands as leverage to get up. Instead, she moans and falls back to the ground, her teeth gritted and breath slow.
"No," Honey replies.
When she wants to be, she can be just as stubborn as Gogo.
Baymax is ahead, up fighting robots with Hiro and the others.
You don't need them, she reminds herself. You're here, and you can do something.
She had packed the bandages and medical cream in case of emergencies weeks before. Back then, it was just a precaution. Now, it is everything.
"Just relax," Honey repeats. "I can't help if you don't."
"You don't have to do this, Honey! I can fix myself up. You just need to battle that monster."
Honey shakes her head. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." Her smile hurts.
The sound of the fight echoes through her ears as she patches Gogo up. Part of her wants to race forward, to attack the monster that dared to hurt Gogo, to make it suffer the way she and Gogo had.
Instead, she continues bandaging Gogo up.
Honey picks her own battles, and she knows which are worth fighting.
Honey's arms wrap around Gogo's waist, pulling her into a tight, warm hug. Gogo grins, turning her head.
"Excited to see me?" she asks.
Honey grins. "I never expected to see you in this class."
"It's just an elective, nothing that will change my major. I just needed to leave one elective I hated and decided to go into another."
A few people in the class are staring, but for once Gogo can hardly care.
"I hope chemistry is as fun as you make it look," Gogo says.
"It is!" Honey squeezes her tighter.
The new classroom, with its posters of elements and small desks, is something to get used to. But with Honey around, Gogo cannot help but smile at it.
Sometimes her textbooks are easier to understand than her own feelings. Her mother had always warned her about love, saying that if she ever did fall in love that it would make her do things that she never would have imagined. Perhaps Gogo should have listened.
Rather than ponder over her mother's words, which have long since left her mouth, she instead continues to browse the various aisles filled with candy, cards, and stuffed animals. The moment she finds something just right, the moment when she sees what she wants, another item jumps out at her. Each item seems better than the last, like an even better gift to give to Honey.
My mom wasn't kidding, Gogo thinks as she compares the prices of two different stuffed toys. When she said love, and shopping, could be exhausting, she meant it.
Gogo had stopped caring about Valentine's Day in the sixth grade, once the class parties stopped and no one passed out cards anymore. Her past relationships had been fleeting, and she couldn't remember the last time that she had actually been dating someone when February rolled around.
Except for Honey, of course. Honey changed everything when she stepped into Gogo's life.
I do have some extra cash that I've saved up, Gogo thinks as she holds the largest, fluffiest, and softest bear up. Her eyes land on a nearby box of chocolates, the kind that Honey loves so much.
She leaves the store with a smile on her face and a bag in her hand. Though she may have to eat cheap burgers and noodles for a few weeks, it will all be worth it to see Honey's face on Valentine's Day. Gogo can already see it - Honey, eyes wide behind her glasses, and grinning from ear to ear. Already, she can feel her warm arms wrap her in a hug and feel her soft lips against Gogo's own.
The day can't seem to come fast enough.
Gogo runs to her bike and unchains it. Perhaps if she goes fast enough, time will speed along with her.