All Human AU, unconnected to the other ones I've written.

Years Gone By:

Kindergarten:

Ms. Alberta watched the class with a sharp eye.

Already Rosemarie Hathaway had thrown a school box and called her a fascist bastard. All she'd asked was for the students to write their names!

The petit blonde in the front, after the incident, had promptly pulled a dictionary out from her desk and told the class, "I think Rose may have a point."

"You keep a dictionary in your desk?" The wicked green-eyed Ivashkov boy next to her had sounded impressed.

"Actually, it's a gazetteer." She'd primly informed him.

Now, they'd seemed to settle down for naptime. Emphasis on seemed.

By the insistence of the majority of the class, girls were on one side of the room while the boys were pushed against the other.

"I still don't see what the big deal is." Adrian curled up underneath his blanket.

"The deal is that you need to be quiet." Christian Ozera mumbled, already half asleep on his cot.

"I'm just saying." Adrian said defensively.

"I think that's the problem." Sydney said, emerging from the small classroom bathroom in a set of pajamas.

"You brought PJ's?" Adrian asked, sounding more surprised than he had about the dictionary. "Were we supposed to bring PJ's?"

"I brought bunny slippers," Lissa showed off her feet, and indeed she had.

"It was optional," Ms. Alberta told him. "Now, let's all be very quiet."

1st Grade, playground:

"I'm just saying, I don't think a cootie shot works if someone with cooties gives it to you." Sydney said while working out the knots in her jump rope.

"That sounds like a valid point." Rose put in.

"Well, it's your choice: risk getting infected during the shot or wait to get them later." Adrian stated the situation.

"So, you're admitting boys are the ones with cooties?" Lissa asked.

"I am a firm believer that we all have cooties and we all need the cure." Adrian said.

"You keep contradicting yourself." Sydney criticized.

"Ooh, I bet you read that word in your dictionary."

"Gazetteer." Sydney-for what seemed to be the millionth time since their very first day of school-corrected him. "And yes, I did find that word in the gazetteer. You know what word I didn't find? Cooties."

"What are you getting at? Do you think I'm lying?" Adrian challenged.

"I'm saying I don't think they exist." Sydney shrugged. Finally having righted her rope, she walked away.

"She's a know-it-all. I don't need a fancy word book to know what." Adrian told the two remaining girls.

Rose giggled. "Yeah, but that hasn't stopped you from crushing on her."

"I'm don't have a crush on her." Adrian protested.

This time, it was Lissa who giggled. "You should go tell her you like her."

"I don't like her." Adrian fought back a blush. "Besides, she has cooties."

2nd Grade, after school:

The four children sat on the curb, watching the parking lot silently.

The big yellow school buses had long since departed, and so had the cars of parents.

"Are you sure you were supposed to be car riders today?" The young teacher asked kindly.

"Our father is getting us." Carly Sage, the eldest of the three girls, informed the woman.

"I never ride the bus," Adrian said.

"Well, maybe it is time for a call home," the woman smiled and led them to the office.

Carly made the call to their father while Sydney sat, blushing and slouched, by the door to the office.

Adrian slouched down next to her. "Look at us two, lost and forgotten, all al—"

"I wasn't forgotten," Sydney cut him off, her face getting redder. "He's just a little late. It could happen to anyone."

Adrian didn't press the matter. "So… you didn't bring your lunch today. You actually got school lunch."

Sydney scowled. "Yes. My mom is out of town. I think I'm just going to learn and make my own lunch from now on."

3rd Grade, art:

Sonya Karp looked over her student's shoulder and a small frown marred her pretty face. It was certainly an interesting piece, and the kid was good with watercolors, but…

"Adrian, the assignment was to paint a pet." She gently reminded him.

"That's what I kept telling him." Sydney put in from across the table.

"Then I told her to focus on her own work. She can't draw, though." Adrian was very pleased to have finally found something he could do better than kid-genius Sydney Sage. "She's tried to draw a dog, a bird, and three cats now."

"Well, you didn't even try!" Sydney huffed, cheeks red. "And you didn't check with Ms. Sonya before getting paints."

"No, you didn't." Sonya chastised him. "If you had, maybe we could've caught… this."

Sydney looked pleased as peaches.

"You want me to draw a pet?" Adrian, getting angry, ignored the wet paint and began drawing something on the back of his paper. "I'll draw you, because you're a teachers pet."

"Adrian," Ms. Sonya chided, gently turning the work back over, relieved to find it wasn't too smudged. "What exactly is this supposed to be?"

"Well, I don't have a pet, so I drew my neighbor's dog." Adrian told her.

"Your neighbor's dog is pink and purple?" Sonya asked.

"And a blob." Sydney mumbled.

"Yes, this is what he looks like." Adrian said, sounding absolutely sure. "Without the fur and body and stuff, this is what he looks like."

"That's a very creative way of thinking, Adrian," Sonya chose her words carefully, "but I was hoping for a more physical interpretation."

"Oh," Adrian deflated a bit.

4th Grade, field trip:

The petting zoo wasn't what Adrian had been expecting.

These animals in cages triggered something in him that empathized with the poor spectacles.

It set something similar off in Sydney, so it wasn't such a surprise that it was she who spotted what he'd been doing since the baby goats.

"Most of the openings you've made aren't big enough to fit through." Sydney reached out to stroke a horse. "Besides, they're just going to get locked back up."

"You won't tell anyone," Adrian ordered. "At least give them a chance."

Sydney agreed, but still said, "Someone could get hurt."

"These are nice animals."

"Just be careful."

"What are they going to do, dust for fingerprints?" Adrian rolled his eyes.

"They might. You never know."

"Sage, it's a petting zoo."

Sydney conceded.

"I hate it here." She said after a moment.

"Me too." Adrian said. "Sydney… I'd leave if you left."

Sydney shot him a look, but scanned the area all the same. "Splitting off from the group is a good way to get singled out, and if any of the animals do manage to get free, we don't want that. But… we can get to the end if we cut between this pen and the barn with the cows."

Adrian grabbed her hand without a second thought, and they sprinted for the small path.

They were out of breath and resting safely on a bale of hay at the end when they heard a commotion of goat baaaa-ing and upset adults.

They both smiled.

7th Grade, hallway:

Adrian grimaced. His luck couldn't get much worse.

"1,000 students in the entire school and I get stuck below you?" Sydney sounded dismayed.

"My thoughts exactly, Sage."

She bit her lip. "Well, we might as well work out a system."

"System?" Adrian raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Let me see your schedule." She didn't give him much of a chance to respond before snatching the paper out of his hand the next moment. She studied it for a moment, then compared it with her own. She chewed her lip for a few moments before saying, "If I get here at 7:00, and you get here at 7:30, and we grab all the books we need for the first few hours, then we won't run into each other until fourth hour, when you'll need your math book and I'll need my violin."

"You fit a violin case in there?" Adrian asked incredulously.

Sydney nodded. "It took some maneuvering, but it's easy once you—"

"Nevermind." Adrian took his back schedule and said, "How about if we run into each other, then fine, but since I'm the top locker I get to go first."

"That's not fair."

"Well, I'm not following your stupid system." Adrian persisted.

"I haven't even explained it all yet!" Sydney stamped her foot.

"See you around, Sage." Adrian closed his locker and walked away.

"You have to spin the dial or it won't lock." She called after him, but he just waved her away and disappeared into the stairwell.

She reached out and spun the combination lock, unknowingly starting a tradition.

8th Grade, mixer:

Why, oh why, had she let herself be talked into this?

Her dress hung off all her awkward angles, her shoes dug into her heels, and the makeup was making her eyes water. She hadn't been in the best of moods to start with, but half an hour at a school dance had definitely worn her worse for the wear.

As it turned out, it hadn't treated Adrian any better.

"I mean, it's not like I really liked her, but still. Slade? Slade over me?" His date had started, ahem, dancing with another man, and Sydney was stuck with the fallout. Adrian grimaced and downed some more punch. "Isn't this stuff supposed to be spiked by now?"

"Not with Terwilliger guarding the punch bowl like that." Sydney said.

"You're right. Maybe we can provide a distraction and give those no-do-gooders an opportunity," Adrian mused, swirling the drink in his cup.

"Definitely not." Sydney shook her head.

"Come on. Live a little." Adrian slugged her arm gently.

"I like my life just fine, thank you." Sydney sighed when he looked about ready to make another comment about his date. She cut in before he could start, "Why are you even over here?"

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Shouldn't you be talking this over with your guy friends?" Sydney clarified.

"First of all, guy friends don't 'talk things over'." Adrian finished off his punch. "Second, misery loves company, and you looked about as miserable as they come. So, I moseyed on over here."

Sydney felt something inside her cringe. She wasn't even sure where to start, or how to explain why she was so insulted. She was miserable. "Right."

"I've got to say, Sage. You should be a therapist or something. I feel way better." Adrian tossed his cup and it barely made it into the garbage bin.

"Well, it helps that you didn't really like her," Sydney pointed out.

Adrian turned that over for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I didn't, but it still hurts."

"Be happy for them. It looks like they're really enjoying each other's company." Sydney found them in the crowd and blushed a bright red. "And hey, maybe they'll make you the godfather."

Adrian laughed in amazement. "Sage, did you just make a mean joke?"

Sydney frowned, thinking back over her words. "I guess so. In my defense, though, it's a perfectly valid point."

Adrian laughed again. "Maybe there is something in the punch."

9th Grade, gym:

Coach Wolfe liked the class alright. A bit scrawny, but who wasn't in high school?

"Now, face your partner." He barked the order.

Sydney Sage reluctantly turned to Adrian, and he smirked. "Still can't believe you scored me as a partner?"

"Yeah…" She sighed.

Why couldn't she have been paired with someone else? Eddie would've been alright; they'd been partners for the dance unit and she'd liked him. Rose, who would've been another top choice, was with that handsome Russian exchange student. Even off-putting Christian would be preferable to Adrian.

"Don't worry," he promised, "I'll go easy on you."

"You're a bit confident," Sydney pursed her lips.

"Hmmm, you sound so condescending." Adrian brought a fluffy pad between them. "I'll give you some time to rethink that."

Sydney rolled her eyes, and at the whistle, her fist, soon followed by a foot, flew at Adrian. He felt them hit the pad in rapid succession. "You're going to have to do better than oomph."

He stumbled and almost keeled over as she struck again.

"Where did that come from!?" He gasped.

"Sorry. I hit from the wrong angle the first time." She said, getting back into the attack position. "Don't worry, I've adjusted."

11th Grade, language arts:

"I don't suppose this desk is open for business? I can pay."

Sydney shrugged and told him he was welcome to it. She'd long since given up escaping Adrian Ivashkov.

"Why the move?" Last Sydney knew he'd been happily seated next to Rose.

Adrian said, "Can't a guy change seats on a whim?"

"Not when you were sitting next to your girlfriend and future wife." Sydney said.

Adrian stayed silent.

"It's a valid question." Sydney said, and he still did nothing but shoot her a look. He only put on that face when she was missing something obvious.

She looked around and realized what it was when she made eye contact with Rose. "Oh—did you break up?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Took you long enough. Most people knew by second hour. Hell, most people knew before I did."

She blushed and turned her eyes to the writing prompt on the board. Adrian did the same.

"I don't suppose you still keep a dictionary in your desk, Sage?"

"Gazetteer." Sydney corrected automatically. Then, guessing which word he was having trouble with, she said, "Remuneration means to reward or to pay someone."

"Thanks, Sage."

"Anytime."

Wow, this has been in the works for a long time. I am SOOO happy I finally finished it. Review?