Disgustingly short, I know. D: I wrote it for an exercise for my creative writing class, where we were given a strict outline on what each dialogue exchange could consist of (question or response, nonverbal actions, number of words, etc.). I think this is the shortest thing I've ever tried to pass off as a fic before in my life, truth be told. Anyway, it's implied Vatonageshipping (Keith x Kate). Enjoy. :)

Homework

She jumped, dropping a forkful of waffle on her lap in the process as he slammed his books on the table and plopped himself in the chair across from her.

"Kate, let me copy your homework," he said without preamble.

She frowned at him and wordlessly pointed at the mess in her lap.

"Yeah, that waffle looks really good," he said, reaching for her plate.

She smacked his hand away. "Go get your own waffle. And no, I'm not letting you copy my homework."

"Pretty please?"

Kate sighed and began wiping the waffle from her pants. "Keith, I don't know how you expect to learn anything about environmental politics if you keep copying my homework."

Keith let out a loud sigh and rolled his eyes. He began drumming his fingers on the wooden tabletop and hummed discordantly. Kate glanced up from cleaning her lap and glared daggers at him.

"Do you mind not humming, please?" she said curtly.

Keith smiled sweetly at her and continued to drum on the table, but he stopped his humming. She sat rigidly in her chair, one hand clenched around the sticky napkin she had used to wipe up the waffle as the other hand was clenched tightly around her fork, as if she were contemplating stabbing it through his hand.

After a tense moment, Keith stopped his drumming and leaned forward in his chair. "I remember when you and I used to copy each other's homework all the time – I can't understand why you won't let me now."

Kate let go of the fork, tossed down the napkin, grabbed a bottle of water from her book bag, and poured some water on her hands. "This syrup is so sticky," she muttered, wiping them dry with a clean napkin.

"If I apologize for making you drop sticky maple syrup all over your pants before you have to go sit through four straight classes will you let me copy your homework?" Keith said hopefully, smiling at her with those dazzling teeth of his.

Kate stared at him for a second. Her eyes softened and her shoulders slumped. She fiddled with the zipper on her bag and cast an uncertain look at her comrade across the table.

He could sense her weakening and moved in for the kill. He reminded her that they were good friends; that good friends were supposed to be there for one another no matter what. He brought up a story about the time they both had detention from Mr. Kincaid for running in the halls when he hatched an ingenious plan to escape from the school by crawling through the air ducts to the library and jumping out the library windows. They hadn't even made it into the air vents before Kincaid caught them – caught unscrewing the grille, he reminded her - but he took the bulk of the punishment for her by admitting that escaping from detention was purely his idea. Surely, he concluded, that made up for all the times he copied her homework.

Kate sighed and pulled out a folder labeled Environmental Science. "I never know how to say no to you, Keith," she said, reluctantly tossing the folder at him.

He caught the folder and grinned. He flashed a thumbs-up as he winked at her with his soft brown eyes. As he rose from the table and hurried off in the direction of the library without a second glance, Kate gazed after him with an almost wistful expression in her eyes, and smiled.

Fin