Time to get some OddxAelita going up in this FFN sector. :)
I never really connected these two until I started watching Code Lyoko all over again about a week ago and realized how many moments they could potentially have.
Sorry if I mess up some of the details; it's been a while, Lyoko. :'D
- ikaism

"And that just about finishes it!" Odd flipped the two notebooks in front of him shut, grinning with triumph. Kiwi hopped onto his bed, tilting his tan head at his owner and glancing from him to the notebooks. "It only took two hours of my precious Saturday, Kiwi, but I finally got it all done!"

Kiwi sniffed one notebook, and then the other, and directed two barks at Odd. Odd frowned. "Kiwi, if I had been doing my homework on my own accord, there's no way I could have possibly finished this quick." Another bark of disapproval. "Hey, if I were all about keeping the rules unbroken, you wouldn't be here, pal." Kiwi whined and bowed his head, scurrying under Odd's pillow. Odd laughed and lifted it up, patting his dog's head with an amused grin. "Now now, boy. I'm not saying I would ever leave my little diggity dog behind!"

He sighed and looked at his completed science notebook. "I guess I should return my fabulous faux-teacher's assignments now then. Right, Kiwi?" This time, the little dog only whined in response. "Oh, don't be like that. I was only joking." He looked over the second notebook and flipped it open again. The pages were neatly filled with every note Ms. Hertz had required them to jot down, with every homework assignment that had been given. Everything was in chronological order and could not have been written with more perfect precision.

Odd found himself tracing over the letters and frowned, glancing the words over. Admiration didn't typically come easy to him, but it was a feeling he had become a tad familiar with in the past couple of weeks. It might have started with Aelita's materialization. Bringing a virtual being to life could blow anyone's mind. But even then, most of his admiration had been aimed towards her individual self. She had seemed intelligent enough as a virtual being, but having her smarts so actively displayed in real life kind of intimidated Odd. It was handy, of course, and all good and excellent for her, but it made him feel more self-conscious about showing his lack of academic achievement in public. It wasn't that he didn't want to lose to her; it was more like he was suddenly susceptible to being shown up by someone he had only faced when proving himself an efficient protector to her.

Uncomfortable with such a mindset, Odd decided to shake it off and deliver the borrowed masterpiece of a composition book. He picked up the second notebook and tucked it under his arm. "I'll be right back, boy."

"Aelita!" The always-adrenalized Odd Della Robbia pounced in front of his friend's path, his usual grinning face alight with its typical energy. "So glad I caught you before you walked in! I couldn't be caught alive in that death trap."

Aelita stopped, half startled, and met Odd's eyes, her eyebrows shooting upward in a mixture of amusement and surprise. "Death trap? You mean, the library?"

"That's the alternate name, I suppose," Odd nodded with a smirk and presented Aelita Stones with the second composition book, ignoring the roll of her eyes. "Here's your science notebook back. Thanks for letting me… copy your notes…"

"If there's no one around, isn't it okay to say that you copied the homework?" Aelita smiled at Odd's sheepish nod and accepted the notebook, taking a step backwards, towards the library doors. "Were you heading this way, or did you come out of hiding just to return this?"

"Who's in hiding?" Odd pouted. "Well, I thought it'd be best to give it back ASAP, considering you were so nice to lend it out right away."

"You shouldn't worry about that, Odd." Aelita leaned back against the stone wall, smiling up at him from under her pink fringe of bangs. "Spending all of that time in Lyoko doing nothing but browsing through databases left me well-informed, so that class's information is pretty basic to me. Feel free to take your time next time."

"You're pretty quick to assume I'm going to be taking your notebook again, Princess."

"Aren't you?" Aelita held her smile and cocked her head to the side when Odd's expression took on something of a guilty demeanor. "I really don't mind."

He sighed and tugged the sleeves of his purple long-sleeve shirt down. "I'm not stupid." Aelita blinked and opened her mouth to protest the somewhat accusing statement, but Odd cut her off. "Just by the way. I didn't want to give off the wrong impression…!" He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm just lazier than most people! But I could definitely learn the material if I set my mind to it..!"

"I don't doubt it."

Odd looked at her sincere smile and encouraging eyes and almost deepened his frown, but instead chose to fall into his usual grin. "Oh… is that so? Thanks for the faith, Princess! Very much appreciated."

"Well, you do seem intelligent." Aelita tapped her chin with her finger, appearing pensive. "It's like you said- you just don't put the effort into academics. But when you do put out effort… It's saved my life very many times. How could I not believe in that?"

Odd's smile faltered again, but he fought to keep it up. "When you put it that way… It might just sound a little better than it actually is."

"Nonsense, Odd!" She reached over and pat his shoulder with a wide smile. "It's the same as I say it, if not even better. Anyway, I think you might be worried about this copying thing a little more than you ought to be. Don't be, okay? I owe you more than this little favor."

"You don't owe me at all, Princess!" He waved his hands for emphasis, accidentally shaking her grip off. "If you're really going to put that into consideration, then your deactivating the towers is payment enough!"

Aelita shook her head, her short hair swaying slightly with the motion. "Somehow, that seems more like a given than a form of payment."

"You have to count it if you're counting me saving your virtual life." Odd grinned his I'm-going-to-win-this grin and waved her off, shaking his head. "Anyway, weren't you headed to the library? I'm taking up a bit of your time."

"Oh, it wasn't really a priority or anything. I just wanted to get a better look at the place you and Jeremie and the others would talk to me from time to time." Aelita smiled. Her green eyes lit up a bit.

"Somehow, I'm beginning to get the impression that it was against the rules this entire time."

"You got it! You're involved with a bunch of troublemakers, unfortunately." Odd smirked. "You'll learn to love it. And you'll get away with all of it, I'm sure, with those innocent looks of yours."

Aelita shifted from leg to leg, a sort of anticipating wiggle in her overall-styled dress that went over her beloved sweater. "Innocent? You think so?"

"I wouldn't call it anything else." Odd paused and looked up in thought. "Well, maybe one other word, but we'll go with that for now."

"What's the other word?"

"Don't you worry your little innocent head about it, Princess!" Odd stepped forward and nudged her towards the library's entrance. "I won't take up your time anymore, then! Thanks again for the notebook!"

Aelita stifled a giggle and pushed back against him, fighting his forceful nudging. "I hope it was beneficial to you in some way rather than pure replication."

"Oh, I'm sure it would be, without a doubt." Odd laughed, "Like I said, if I took the time to really look it over, that is. Don't blame yourself; I just can't be bothered."

"I'm sure you have a good reason for that, though." They both knew he didn't, but Odd gave her a thumbs up and a wink, to which Aelita responded with a laugh. "It's a wonder why your teachers seem so skeptical when you turn in a completed assignment."

"I just hope they don't realize my grades started shaping up after your "transfer"."

"Now, why would they suspect that? We're only cousins, after all." Aelita smiled at him one last time before pushing open the library entrance doors and taking one step in. Odd blinked and stopped his playful shoving. "Thank you for taking the time to return it!"

"…" Odd looked at her with an unreadable stare for a moment, but then hastily fell into his happy-go-lucky waving routine. "Oh, no, thank you, Princess!" The library doors shut behind her and Odd stopped all motion, staring at the closed wooden doors.

What was that unusual twist in his stomach just then? He placed a tentative hand on the spot, frowning. It wasn't quite like hunger. Hunger felt empty and clean. This feeling had been churny and full. Was that the feeling of a stomach virus? Odd frowned and slapped his forehead, groaning. Could it have been the milk from that morning? Maybe that could explain why he had such trouble keeping up a cheery façade with Aelita this time around. Normally, he didn't have to, but some topics in the conversation had really unnerved him.

"You're losing your edge, Odd, ya goof!" He kind of tugged at his spiky blonde locks and sighed, giving his head a fierce shake. "Time to shape up. No more emotional slip ups like that! They're so uncool."
Ignoring the bypassing stares of the random lowerclassmen of Kadic Academy, he marched back towards his dorm, convinced that Kiwi could maybe bark some sense into him. If not him, Ulrich would suffice, if he happened to be out of mathematics tutoring.

It seemed as though Ulrich had survived another math tutoring session.

Odd walked into his room, almost jumping in alarm when he spotted Ulrich messily sprawled in his bed, facedown. Kiwi sat on his back, continuously nudging him with his nose and occasionally giving a little whimper.

"Kiwi, could you stop, you restless mutt?"

"Hey now, there's no reason to go off on my beloved Kiwi like that." Odd closed the door and kneeled slightly, pulling Kiwi off of Ulrich's back and into his arms. "You know, he's only barking because you're in the wrong bed. That's an unusual slip up, even for you, Ulrich."

Ulrich lifted his head and leered at Odd with veiny, tired brown eyes. "This isn't my bed."

"Good job. Maybe we should start calling you Einstein instead of Jeremie."

"Urgh." He forced himself up and trudged over to his bunk before collapsing into an untidy crumple once again. "That woman, Odd. That subject. I can't take much more of it."

"Then you should do a little better in math, hm?" Odd happily took a seat on his own bed and dropped Kiwi onto the comforter. The dog immediately curled into a comfortable ball. "Speaking of things you can't take… Have you run into Sissi today?"

"Hrrrngh."

"I'll take that as a no. Then a visit and/or malicious plot to get you to adore her is a bit overdue, right?"

A strangled noise came from Ulrich's pillow. "I don't want to think about that right now."

Odd laughed good-naturedly. "Okay, fair enough. How about you tackle one of my problems for me, then?"

Ulrich turned onto his side and blinked at Odd. "Let's hear it." He closed his eyes.

"Okay. I guess you could say it's kind of a girl trouble." When Ulrich didn't lash out with a retort towards that - He really must be tired, Odd thought - , Odd continued. "See, there's this girl. She's not a love interest or anything like that. You see, I'm used to being this one side of me around this girl, but lately, she's been a little more involved with my… reality, let's say, and so that allows her to see a little more of me than I've been used to letting her know about. I guess another thing is that she's really smart in comparison to me, and that's a subject that never really came up before this and… I don't know. It's very discomforting, and it's making me impulsively act up whenever I happen to run into her."

"Did you lie about your age or looks to some girl who just transferred here, Odd?"

"What?" Odd flung a pillow at him, to which Ulrich groaned and turned over, smothering himself in his comforter. "Don't be stupid! Of course not!"

"I'm just making sure! Geez." Ulrich sighed, but kept himself wrapped in his comforter. "It sounds like either you're one of those guys who can't stand to be beaten by a girl, which doesn't make sense since you've dated half of the Kadic female student body and never once had a problem with dating someone smarter than you (which isn't a hard match to find), or it could be that you've actually taken an attachment to this girl and can't stand to let her down."

"Ulrich! I said that this wasn't a love interest!"

"Whatever. The second scenario still applies."

"Huh…" Odd pouted at his friend's back and reached over to scratch Kiwi behind the ears. "You really think that's it? I don't want to be a disappointment?"

"That's what it sounds like to me. It's kind of unnerving, considering that you never really care if you're letting ME down."

"Oh, Ulrich. Doesn't that mean that our friendship has budded so well that it doesn't matter if I can't live up to your expectations; you'll still love me for who I am?"

"You might wanna make me believe that before you start believing it yourself first." Ulrich turned back to him and peered at him from under his pillow. "Is that it, then, Odd? Who could it be that you're trying to impress?"

Odd flushed and chucked a second pillow at him. "Come off it, Ulrich. I don't have to impress anyone with my built-in charm."

"Sounds to me like this one requires a little more than the usual bit of Della Robbia Charm."

"Shut up." Odd almost flung Kiwi at him, but thought the better of it and clutched the oblivious dog to his chest. "She couldn't think of me that way, anyway."

"So, you are interested?"

"No!" Odd huffed and nuzzled his beloved puppy. "Wanting to impress someone doesn't necessarily mean that, does it?"

"Not unless you're her brother."

"We're not related." Ulrich lifted his head and blinked at Odd, his eyebrows lifted in surprise at his suddenly defensive tone. Odd himself was surprised. "Um, that is, she's not a relative or anything."

"No need to bite my head off for that."

"Sorry, buddy. I don't know what came over me."

"I think it's a little love interest."

This time, Odd chose to actually fling his dog at Ulrich. The German remedial student yelped and sat up as the dog made a hazardous, but somehow safe, landing onto his stomach and bounced onto the dorm room's floor. "Hey, watch it, huh, Odd? You could have killed me!"

"Kiwi seems fine."

"Forget your indestructible dog!" Ulrich gave Odd a frustrated glare and laid back down again. "Anyway, there's no need to get defensive or deny anything with me. You know I've got your back, Odd."

Odd paused in his fumbling for something to glomp his distress on and thought the situation over a bit more. It was like Ulrich was saying; maybe he did want to impress Aelita. But it wasn't as though anyone besides Jeremie had really done that before, so why was he so stuck on it? Sure, he didn't find his pink-haired "cousin" unattractive or anything of the sort, but that didn't mean he was crushing on her… right?

Maybe her being tangible was playing tricks on his mind, making him believe that he could harbor those feelings for her, just because she was just another girl in the flesh now. He'd figured that after her materialization, though, she'd be just another member of the gang, just like Yumi, and so that kind of emotion would never cross his mind. Not to mention Einstein's undying love for her.
And she seemed to reciprocate his… How could she not, after all of the trouble he'd gone through for her?

But wasn't it a bit unfair to assume that?

The thought burned itself into Odd's mind. It wasn't like he hadn't done his share. Even now that she was in the real world, Odd still instinctively felt the urge to protect her and keep her safe from harm, just like all of those trips to Lyoko had been assigned to him for. That's why he felt so defensive, right? Because of the drills he was used to when it came to her?
But then why wasn't Ulrich freaking out like he was?

"Ulrich, this situation hasn't happened to you recently?"

"Not at all. Come on, Odd, you know I'm not interested in anyone right now."

Except Yumi, Odd almost blurted, but he managed to restrain himself. "I was just wondering." Odd sighed and ran a hand through his hair, messing habitually with his purple patch. "I think… Maybe I should wait through one more confrontation with her before I let you know all of the deets, bud. I need to make sure my head is on right."

"Of course it isn't. You're Odd, are you not?" Ulrich rolled his eyes and shut them tightly, convinced he could relax about Odd's issue for the time being. "You're not supposed to have your head on right."

Odd thought about the possible results that could stem from his atypical situation and smiled dryly. "You're right. I'm not."

Hope that was an enjoyable and decent first chapter. :)
More to come! Review and leave me some words if you want it sooner. ;D
And if it was not enjoyable… Well, leave that, too. Stay tuned!
- ikaism