Disclaimer: I do not Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.
Her laugh broke the silence.
"You're kidding, Hayner. You did not actually do all of your homework. There's just no way," Pence voiced the giggling brunette's opinions. She couldn't even look at her blonde friend, she was laughing too hard. Pence himself looked like he was struggling to hold it together.
Hayner scowled and unzipped his backpack as furiously as he could, wrenched out a handful of papers and tossed them at the pair so that they floated down to their laps. Olette picked up the first page and turned it over to find that it was, to her astonishment, covered in writing.
"Hayner!" she gasped, standing up as if she needed to make her point more clear. "You can't be serious! Why did you do this? I mean…you never do your homework. Ever. In fact, I can't remember the last time you did your homework…did you even do your homework when we were in kindergarten?"
The blonde yanked his paper back as Pence finally broke down into laughter. "Yeah, ha ha, laugh it up guys. I don't know how this is so funny to you. I just said that I finished my homework and you guys have to start ragging on me. I've done homework before!" Hayner knew his friends had every right to be suspicious of whether or not he actually did his homework, but he was infuriated that they would actually voice their doubts and then tease him. If there was one thing Hayner couldn't stand, it was being made fun of.
"Oh, don't be mad," Olette told her friend innocently, picking up the papers that had flown astrew. "I'm really proud of you! I just didn't think you'd actually…I mean…"
"When?" Pence interrupted her. "When did you do this homework you speak of having done before, Hayner?" he mocked his friend. The blonde wrinkled his nose and made a face. Pence was usually the kind one, while Olette was the understanding one. He wasn't used to both of them making fun of him.
"Am I really that bad with my homework?" he demanded.
The two in front of him tried very hard to hold back more laughter.
"Don't mind us Hayner," Olette tried to comfort him as he began to shove the papers back into his backpack. "We're just surprised, but this is great!" No matter what, she would keep going on with her 'pride' and 'surprise.' "Why did you do it though? You said homework was a waste of time?"
"It is!" he retorted. "We go to school to learn, I don't get why he have to take more work home. But…I just did it to do it, okay? I'm allowed to…to…care about my grades, aren't I?" he clenched a fist for emphasis and waved it in the air, but it did no use of intimidating his friends. It only worked on Vivi, and that was only occasionally.
The petite girl in front of him took his backpack from his and shook it. "Are you actually carrying a textbook in here? Wow! Hayner, I'm really impressed."
Despite his fury, Hayner's cheeks lit up instantly. "Really?" he asked her, not willing to admit that was his hope all along. "It's no big deal. I mean, I could get good grades…if I wanted too."
"Well you should try! Give everything your best, I don't see why you wouldn't," she shrugged and passed him his backpack again and collapsed back into her seat next to Pence.
Hayner felt the typical annoyance that always came with any type of interaction between Olette and Pence. They were his best friends, and yet he always felt jealous when his friend decided to sit next to him, talk to him, drag him along shopping. It's not like he wanted to go shopping of course, but he just wanted to know- why not him? Why Pence?
"Man, your teacher is gonna freak out," Pence chuckled, and Olette turned to him with a grin, but gave him an obviously very gentle punch in the shoulder.
"Come on, let's stop teasing him. He's had enough. I don't want to upset him so much he never does homework again. We should celebrate! Let's get ice cream and go out to the clock tower, like we always do during summer vacation."
The trio smiled at these memories, but Pence broke the nostalgia by saying, "I can't. I have to go to my dad's work thing now. You two go celebrate without me though, I'd probably ruin it," he admitted with a snicker. He could be the kindest, most amiable guy in the world, but after many years of friendship with Hayner in which he never did his homework, he found this amusing- not to mention how clear it was to him what Hayner's real motive was.
"Fine, funsucker," Olette teased. "Me and Hayner will go out, just the two of us. You go to your dad's work thing, but you're missing out on the real fun."
Pence heaved himself up and laughed. "Yeah, you're right. See you guys at school tomorrow- try not to lose that homework before you get a chance to show your teachers, pal." Despite Hayner's annoyance, the two did their typical handshake before the larger of the pair exited the Usual Spot.
Hayner knew it would probably be best if he thanked Olette for sticking up for him, but he refused to let his guard down enough to do so. Instead he looked out the curtain. "I can see Seifer and his gang all the way from over here. He's been training like crazy. I've got to get into shape."
"Like you're not already!" Olette chuckled. "Let's just go get our ice cream. You can worry about training tomorrow. Tonight, we celebrate!"
With their sea-salt ice cream in hand, the two sat on the edge of the clock tower, feet dangling over the side. They both wore longer pants and sleeves, and the temperature made things feel quite different from the summer memories, but they still relived all of them together, taking turns telling their favorite stories.
"Can I ask you something?" Olette finally asked after their ice cream was long gone, and they had leaned back to lay their backs down on the ledge together, feet still dangling.
Hayner turned to see her. It was getting dark, but there was no way he could miss Olette. She always wore bright orange, making it easy to spot her in a crowd of hundreds- not that he wouldn't be able to pick her out if she was wearing the same thing as everyone else. He had a sixth sense when it came for spotting his friend.
"If you must," he shrugged. He found it easier to let his guard down with Olette. She didn't judge him for who he really was, like all the guys were- a good reason why they had been friends for so long. She was the only person who knew who he really was underneath his bad attitude- though he still carried it around with him and paraded it in front of her, much to her annoyance.
She rolled her eyes, but asked anyways. "Why did you suddenly decide to do your homework and bring all of your materials?"
He tried not to laugh at her calling useless things like textbooks and pencils materials. He thought about telling her the real reason, and the laugh slipped away fast. "Can't I just want to do better in school?" he demanded.
Olette grinned over at him, pushing her hair out of her face. "I don't think changes like that happen overnight for no reason, Hayner. There's got to be a reason. Did you get in trouble with your parents? Did you…" and her voice got flat, "Did you meet a girl in class or something?"
"Sort of. Only I've known her for a while," Hayner shrugged into the ledge.
The brunette took a deep breath and let it go slowly. "Oh. That's…great, really. What's she like? Can I meet her?"
"I don't think you can really meet her," he replied, sitting up. She did the same, giving him a strange look. "She is great though. Smart, nice, funny, pretty. She's the most understanding person I know. And she gets really angry with me if I don't do my homework and just copy off of her later."
Realization was gradually beginning to dawn in the girl's eyes. "What are you trying to say, Hayner?"
The blonde heaved a sigh. "Aw, really? You have to know what I'm getting at by now, Olette," he muttered under his breath.
"I'm really not sure," Olette replied innocently enough, shrugging her shoulders.
Hayner rolled his eyes and then turned to her, pushing the hair that kept falling in her face out of her eyes. "You said you were impressed with me, didn't you?"
Her cheeks flush as she nodded her head.
"Then there's your answer," he grinned, and as the sun kept on setting in Twilight Town, Hayner and Olette made a new favorite memory on the clock tower- the memory of their first kiss to celebrate the first homework assignment Hayner had actually done.
Author's Note: Okay, I know Hayner may sound a bit out of character, but I think that he would always have a soft spot for Olette- especially if they were alone. Plus this is my first portrayal of him so sorry but oh well, this is my Hayner. =p Anyways thank you for reading! I really love Kingdom Hearts and Hayner and Olette always seemed like they would be so cute together to me…(: Well, thanks again! Hope you liked it!
