Title: Understanding Part 3
Author: Tahlia
Pairing: None
Warnings: None
Feedback: Always helps a suffering ego.
Archive: Want it? Just ask.
Author's Note: Third and final part is here. I heard the comment near the bottom and knew it was how I had to end the fic. Hope you liked it. It was fun to write.
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Duo waved to a fellow class mate as he strolled down the hall, taking his time to get to his next class. He was on his way to World History, the last class of the day. 'What a bore. Maybe I can snag some extra Zs if I'm lucky.' He sighed. 'Sleep. Sleep is good.'
Duo walked into the classroom, still partially empty, and looked around. He saw Heero near the front, dutifully copying down the class objectives of the day. They had all been advised to write down the objectives since they were the only kind of study guide they would be receiving. He rolled his eyes. 'It's not like we're still gonna be here around exam time. What's the point?' he thought, sitting down behind Heero and muttering a hello.
Duo plopped into his seat, dropping his belongings next to his feet in the aisle. He laid his head down on the desk and closed his eyes, feeling the effects of the lack of sleep he'd been getting lately. He was so tired. His calf muscles ached and his eyes felt sore. His eyes still hurt after he closed them, but the longer they were closed the better they felt.
Heero turned when he'd finished writing the objectives down and looked at Duo. "Tired?" he asked sarcastically. Duo didn't dignify it with and answer, so Heero turned back around and faced the front.
The bell rang and Duo reluctantly sat up, still slouching in the chair, and looked up at the teacher, noticing that she was busy checking roll. He looked past her to the clock on the wall. 'Not good. I still have a whole hour before I can zonk out. It's hard to stay awake in this class even when I'm not dead tired. Please, please, please be playing a stupid movie so I can sleep.'
The teacher put away the roll sheet and began the day's class. "All right, let's discuss last night's reading, shall we?" she asked. Duo groaned quietly and pulled the handouts she'd given them out of his bag. He hadn't actually read them, of course. He quickly skimmed over the material and hoped she wouldn't call on him for any of the questions.
As the mini-lecture on prehistoric fossils and artifacts went on, Duo found it harder and harder to make his mind focus. His eyelids kept drooping closed against his will, and each time it was more of a struggle to pull them open again.
Duo didn't even notice his eyes had drifted closed once more before the teacher called his name rather loudly. His eyes popped open and he sat straight up in his chair. "Well, Mr. Maxwell?" she asked.
Duo smiled sheepishly. "Could you repeat the question, Mrs. K?" he asked. A few of his class mates giggled around him.
"Who was Mrs. Leakey of the famous Leakey family?" she asked, arms folded across her chest impatiently.
Duo grinned. "She was that eccentric old bat that lived in Africa, right? She dug up old bones and stuff."
Mrs. Kurtzman sighed and unfolded her arms. "Close enough."
She began to pace around the classroom, as was her fashion, and started on her lecture about the Leakeys. Duo looked ahead of him and saw that Heero was busy taking down notes, as were many of the students in the classroom. He figured it would help him stay awake, so he pulled out a piece of paper and pen and started scribbling little bits here and there, not paying attention to the lesson at all.
When the teacher announced that they would be watching a short movie on Neanderthals, a huge smile spread across Duo's face. Then she passed out the worksheet they were to fill in as they watched the movie. Duo's heart sank in his chest. 'Good-bye, blessed sleep. I'll miss you well.'
Duo took his paper and passed the rest behind him to the next student. He glared down at the 'video quiz'. It was short enough, but it was most likely spaced out with five or ten minutes between each question to make sure you kept paying attention, and making it much harder to stay awake.
Duo followed along with the video as best he could. He'd been right, the questions were in fact spaced out, proving their only purpose was to keep students from falling asleep during it. 'Crappy technique, if you ask me,' Duo thought as he yawned again. He caught the answer to one of the questions and jotted it down. He let his mind wander, knowing that the next answer wouldn't be coming up for quite a while.
He found himself staring at the back of Heero's head. He seemed to be paying attention to the movie, taking what appeared to be additional notes. His head was slightly bowed, and he was scribbling away. Duo raised himself a little in his seat and looked over Heero's shoulder as unobtrusively as he could. He smiled when he saw that Heero was doodling small abstract designs in the margins of his paper.
Duo sat back and watched Heero's hand as he drew. 'Even he gets bored, huh? This method of note taking is really bad if Heero Yuy can't even pay attention. He can be one of the most focussed guys I know.'
Duo heard a word from one of the questions and turned his attention back to the movie. A few seconds later, the answer to the last question was jotted down, and Duo's mind was free to wander once again. 'I seem to be thinking about Heero a lot lately. I can't figure out why. Sure, we're friends and everything now, but I've never thought about a friend so much before. Maybe I can't stop thinking about him because we're so different. So different, but still so alike.' A series of words from the video grabbed Duo's attention, and he shifted his attention the video again.
"There's another theory about the interaction of the Neanderthal and the Cro-Magnon which differs from the two previously mentioned. The theory states that the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon were thought to be so bafflingly different from each other as to disallow any successful cohabitation. Their brains worked differently, causing them to look differently, act differently, and think differently. However, it's believed that the two groups of prehistoric man accepted these tremendous differences and found a way to coexist. The interactions were not always peaceful, nor were they always hostile, but a balanced mix. After all, even though the two were so phenomenally different, they were also very much the same."
As the lights went back on and the papers were collected by the teacher, Duo smiled to himself. 'Different, but the same.'
-----
-fini-
Author: Tahlia
Pairing: None
Warnings: None
Feedback: Always helps a suffering ego.
Archive: Want it? Just ask.
Author's Note: Third and final part is here. I heard the comment near the bottom and knew it was how I had to end the fic. Hope you liked it. It was fun to write.
-----
Duo waved to a fellow class mate as he strolled down the hall, taking his time to get to his next class. He was on his way to World History, the last class of the day. 'What a bore. Maybe I can snag some extra Zs if I'm lucky.' He sighed. 'Sleep. Sleep is good.'
Duo walked into the classroom, still partially empty, and looked around. He saw Heero near the front, dutifully copying down the class objectives of the day. They had all been advised to write down the objectives since they were the only kind of study guide they would be receiving. He rolled his eyes. 'It's not like we're still gonna be here around exam time. What's the point?' he thought, sitting down behind Heero and muttering a hello.
Duo plopped into his seat, dropping his belongings next to his feet in the aisle. He laid his head down on the desk and closed his eyes, feeling the effects of the lack of sleep he'd been getting lately. He was so tired. His calf muscles ached and his eyes felt sore. His eyes still hurt after he closed them, but the longer they were closed the better they felt.
Heero turned when he'd finished writing the objectives down and looked at Duo. "Tired?" he asked sarcastically. Duo didn't dignify it with and answer, so Heero turned back around and faced the front.
The bell rang and Duo reluctantly sat up, still slouching in the chair, and looked up at the teacher, noticing that she was busy checking roll. He looked past her to the clock on the wall. 'Not good. I still have a whole hour before I can zonk out. It's hard to stay awake in this class even when I'm not dead tired. Please, please, please be playing a stupid movie so I can sleep.'
The teacher put away the roll sheet and began the day's class. "All right, let's discuss last night's reading, shall we?" she asked. Duo groaned quietly and pulled the handouts she'd given them out of his bag. He hadn't actually read them, of course. He quickly skimmed over the material and hoped she wouldn't call on him for any of the questions.
As the mini-lecture on prehistoric fossils and artifacts went on, Duo found it harder and harder to make his mind focus. His eyelids kept drooping closed against his will, and each time it was more of a struggle to pull them open again.
Duo didn't even notice his eyes had drifted closed once more before the teacher called his name rather loudly. His eyes popped open and he sat straight up in his chair. "Well, Mr. Maxwell?" she asked.
Duo smiled sheepishly. "Could you repeat the question, Mrs. K?" he asked. A few of his class mates giggled around him.
"Who was Mrs. Leakey of the famous Leakey family?" she asked, arms folded across her chest impatiently.
Duo grinned. "She was that eccentric old bat that lived in Africa, right? She dug up old bones and stuff."
Mrs. Kurtzman sighed and unfolded her arms. "Close enough."
She began to pace around the classroom, as was her fashion, and started on her lecture about the Leakeys. Duo looked ahead of him and saw that Heero was busy taking down notes, as were many of the students in the classroom. He figured it would help him stay awake, so he pulled out a piece of paper and pen and started scribbling little bits here and there, not paying attention to the lesson at all.
When the teacher announced that they would be watching a short movie on Neanderthals, a huge smile spread across Duo's face. Then she passed out the worksheet they were to fill in as they watched the movie. Duo's heart sank in his chest. 'Good-bye, blessed sleep. I'll miss you well.'
Duo took his paper and passed the rest behind him to the next student. He glared down at the 'video quiz'. It was short enough, but it was most likely spaced out with five or ten minutes between each question to make sure you kept paying attention, and making it much harder to stay awake.
Duo followed along with the video as best he could. He'd been right, the questions were in fact spaced out, proving their only purpose was to keep students from falling asleep during it. 'Crappy technique, if you ask me,' Duo thought as he yawned again. He caught the answer to one of the questions and jotted it down. He let his mind wander, knowing that the next answer wouldn't be coming up for quite a while.
He found himself staring at the back of Heero's head. He seemed to be paying attention to the movie, taking what appeared to be additional notes. His head was slightly bowed, and he was scribbling away. Duo raised himself a little in his seat and looked over Heero's shoulder as unobtrusively as he could. He smiled when he saw that Heero was doodling small abstract designs in the margins of his paper.
Duo sat back and watched Heero's hand as he drew. 'Even he gets bored, huh? This method of note taking is really bad if Heero Yuy can't even pay attention. He can be one of the most focussed guys I know.'
Duo heard a word from one of the questions and turned his attention back to the movie. A few seconds later, the answer to the last question was jotted down, and Duo's mind was free to wander once again. 'I seem to be thinking about Heero a lot lately. I can't figure out why. Sure, we're friends and everything now, but I've never thought about a friend so much before. Maybe I can't stop thinking about him because we're so different. So different, but still so alike.' A series of words from the video grabbed Duo's attention, and he shifted his attention the video again.
"There's another theory about the interaction of the Neanderthal and the Cro-Magnon which differs from the two previously mentioned. The theory states that the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon were thought to be so bafflingly different from each other as to disallow any successful cohabitation. Their brains worked differently, causing them to look differently, act differently, and think differently. However, it's believed that the two groups of prehistoric man accepted these tremendous differences and found a way to coexist. The interactions were not always peaceful, nor were they always hostile, but a balanced mix. After all, even though the two were so phenomenally different, they were also very much the same."
As the lights went back on and the papers were collected by the teacher, Duo smiled to himself. 'Different, but the same.'
-----
-fini-