Being in Love Is Never Easy
By: Sailorjj07
3. The Project, Part 1
A/n: I've updated!! And I learned something new! In french the words "chaud" means hot and the word "froid" means cold. Ever wonder why Chaud's name is chaud? Cause he's hot! And Tory's last name, Froid, is that way because of Iceman. Ice is cold, hence the last name Froid. Neat, isn't it? Now that I've given you your weekly dose of facts on with the fic!!
Disclaimer: I do not own!
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Actions
(Me!)
"Time to go back to school, everyone!" Ms. Mari said, watching the lined up class in front of her. "Everyone say thank you to Ms. Sunny."
"Thank you, Sunny!" Then entire class cried together, receiving looks from the other nurses in the area. She smiled and waved as the class left the hospital. They walked to the subway and the entire class got on.
"I wonder what we're going to do now?" Maylu asked, turning from the window. Lan sat beside her with his arm around her, looked at her curiously.
"I do too." Natalie added, scooting a little closer to Tory, hoping he didn't notice.
Tory did notice though, and turned to look at her, "Nat, what's the matter?"
The subway made a weird screeching noise and Natalie jumped, and then turned to face Tory,"N-nothing."
"Nat," He whispered, leaning closer to her so she could hear him, "Are you afraid of the subway?"
"N-no." The subway made another weird noise and Natalie grabbed the pole beside her, closing her eyes.
Tory hid a smile, "Yes, you are. You just jumped from that noise."
"I did not."
"Natalie, would you feel better if I held your hand?" Natalie nodded almost as soon as Tory asked the question, grabbing his hand. The subway train made another noise and she squeezed his hand tighter. Tory smiled and laced their fingers, grinning when Natalie blushed.
"Would you look at that, Lan? All on their own too." Maylu whispered, watching her two friends.
Lan nodded and then grinned at her, "Maybe they won't need our help after all."
"Maybe not."
At School
Ms. Mari's junior high class arrived at school, an hour before it was time to go home. But as soon as everyone was seated, Ms. Mari told them she had an announcement to make.
"I'm assigning you all a project."
The class groaned, but let her continue.
"It will be very fun, I promise. You project is to take care of a baby for three weeks. I'm choosing partners and I know, you'll all like them very much. I'll be giving you your babies, requirements, and daily assignments tomorrow. Right now, I want you to meet with you partner and discuss a baby name, how you want the baby to look, and what gender you want your baby to be. By the end of the day, all of you will have babies of your choice." The class nodded excitedly and Ms. Mari took out some papers from her desk.
"Ok! The partners are: Lan Hikari and Maylu Sakurai."
"YES!" Lan cried, grinning at his happy girlfriend. She grinned back and blushed at the giggles from the other girls in the class room.
"Yai Ayanokouji and Chaud Blaze."
"That's good." Yai said, with a sigh of relief. She knew if Ms. Mari put her with anyone else, Chaud will kill him.
Ms. Mari named off a bunch of other people, then,"....Natalie Yankonojii and Tory Froid." Natalie grinned, and watched Tory walk over to her desk. He sat down next to her and smiled brightly.
"So I guess we should start calling you Natalie Froid, huh?" Maylu said, turning around to face the two. Natalie blushed bright red and looked down at her PET to find her navi laughing at her as well.
"Yup." Tory answered, smiling proudly and making Natalie and Maylu both laugh. Maylu turned around to keep talking to Lan and Tory grinned at Natalie, facing her. "So what should we name our baby?"
"Anastasia." Natalie said, grinning back.
"Like the one we saw today?"
"Yeah. I think I like that name."
"Well then the name and gender is decided." Tory said, thoughtfully. Natalie nodded and then thought of how the baby should look.
"Tory, you decide how she looks."
Tory nodded and his look changed to one of thoughtfulness, "Just like you."
Natalie blushed brightly, "Just like me? I'm not that pretty you know."
"Who told you that?"
"No one."
"Well then I hope you don't think that way about yourself. You're the most beautiful person I know, so somebody must have told you otherwise." Natalie smiled at Tory and he smiled back, trying his hardest not to be too bold.
"Well I think she should have...light brown hair. Like you."
"Then she really will look just like Anastasia."
"Except Anastasia has dark brown hair and her's is really curly." Natalie said, smirking. Tory laughed at her and they walked up to Ms. Mari together.
At 3:30 p.m.
"I'll see you guys later!" Natalie said, waving at Maylu, Yai, Lan, and Chaud.
Tory walked slowly up to her, blushing, but smiling all the same, "Nat, I'm walking you home."
"Really?! I mean.....really? That's really nice of you, Tory. Thanks." Natalie said, blushing as well.
"Your welcome."
They started to walk in silence when Iceman broke it, "Why aren't you two talking? Geez, you'd think the way Nadalia talks so much, her operator would be just as talkative!"
Tory took his PET out of its case and glared at his navi,"Iceman..."
"I heard that! Natalie, hook me up. I'm about to make me some ice cream!" Nadalia cried, from Natalie's PET. Natalie grinned and hooked the PETs together. "Come here, Iceboy!"
The two NetOps watched as Nadalia tackled Iceman to the ground and started to tickle him. Iceman's already red cheeks turned redder and he started to laugh loudly, making the two Ops laugh at them.
"Well, we know those two get along really well."
"Lia, get off!" Iceman cried, making the taller navi giggle and get off. Nadalia helped him up and then sat on the ground of Tory's PET.
"I like the new nickname, Iceman." Nadalia said, grinning at him.
"Thank you, I made it up myself." Iceman replied, proudly. Nadalia blushed, and then looked up at Tory. "You should really be a little bolder with Nat. She'll love you for it."
"I'm not very good at that, Nadalia." Tory whispered back to her, trying not to let Natalie hear him.
"Well get good at it. At least with Natalie."
"I'll try." Tory looked up then and with a face of determination, turned to Natalie, "I think I'm gonna start calling you Mrs. Froid from now on." He smirked at Natalie, who blushed a very bright red and did not turn to face him.
"I-I'd like that alot, Tory." Natalie said, quietly. She was surprised by the comment, but decided if he was gonna start calling her by his last name, she might as well tell him she liked it. That way he'd call her by his last name often.
Tory smirk turned into a very big grin at Natalie's quiet confession, "Really?"
Natalie smiled back, "Yes, I would. But you can only call me that on one condition."
"And what's that?"
"You can only say it when we're together. When it's just me and you."
"I can't say it in front of Iceman and Nadalia?"
"Oh yeah! You can say it in front of them too. But no one else. 'Kay?"
"Deal."
Natalie looked up, realizing they had reached her house. She and Tory walked up to the porch together and stopped at the front door, "Thanks for walking me home, Tory."
"I had fun doing it."
"Good. See you tomorrow?"
"Yup." They looked at each other, as if at a loss on what to say.
"Tory..."
"Hmmm?"
"Thanks. Alot." Natalie stepped forward and kissed him on his cheek, blushing. She almost burst into laughter at the look on his face when she moved away, smiling and going inside her house.
"Your welcome." Tory whispered to himself, walking away from her front yard.
Later
"I KISSED HIM, MAYLU! I KISSED HIM!!" Natalie cried, into her phone, jumping on her bed. She plopped down on her bed with Nadalia, who was on the computer desktop, watching her NetOp and best friend, jump around in joy.
"It was on the cheek, Nat, don't forget to tell her that." Nadalia said, rolling her eyes.
"I don't have to tell her where it was! The only thing that matters is that I kissed him!" Natalie cried, glaring at her navi.
"So where did you kiss him?" Maylu asked, twisting the phone cord around her finger.
"On the cheek, but that doesn't matter."
"You know you wanted to kiss him somewhere else."
"I kissed something on his face, right? So why does the rest matter?"
"Because it does and you know it."
"Oh whatever, Maylu. Don't rain on my parade, cause guess what? I'm not canceling it."
"Nat, I don't know who's crazier, you or Lan."
"Lan, of course. I'm just mildly crazy." Natalie said, laughing. Maylu laughed and then told her she had to go. "See you, Maylu!"
"Bye Nat."
With Tory
"Lan, she kissed me." Tory said, quietly. Lan burst into laughter, making Tory glare at the phone. "What's so funny about that?"
"You shouldn't sound so sad, Tory! If your anything like me, then you'd be happier than when Iceman got that new attack."
"I am happy, but...what do you mean if I'm anything like you?"
"You're a male right?!"
"Yeah, and?"
"That means we have something in common, Tory and that's why I think you should be happy. When Maylu and I first kissed I thought I was going to burst with happiness." Lan said, watching Megaman walk around the computer screen. He was looking for something, but Lan wasn't sure what it was.
"I am really happy."
"I can tell by the tone of your voice."
"Lan! You're not helping!"
"I'm supposed to be helping?" Lan asked, still watching Megaman.
"YES!"
"Oh. Whoops." Lan replied, laughing. Megaman looked at him and rolled his eyes, then went back to looking for what he was looking for.
"Lan, you're hopeless."
"You're just as hopeless as I am. You care for Nat and you know it."
"I know and that's the problem..." Tory sat in a chair and sighed loudly, making Iceman look at him. Iceman watched Tory for a couple of seconds, then rolled his eyes and went about his business.
"Why is that a problem?"
"How am I gonna tell her? Yai isn't planning on having another co-ed sleepover anytime soon."
"Well...how about this project? You know the one we're doing in class."
"What about it?"
"You could use it as a way to get closer to her. Show Natalie how kind and caring and sweet and loving you are and she'll decide to stay with you forever." Lan grinned at his own idea. He never knew he could be so devious.
"You know what, Lan? That might actually work! Thanks!"
"You're very welcome, Tory. I gotta go now though, cause Mega needs help looking for something."
"See ya, Lan!"
"Bye Tory."
The Next Day
Everyone was waiting for Ms. Mari to get into the class. They were sitting in a new seating chart with their "spouses" and the entire class was ready to work. When Ms. Mari finally came in, she smiled and set her things down on the desk.
"Good morning, class! I have your babies!" The door opened and people began to come in with cart after cart of babies. They were in little baby beds like the ones in the hospital and they were color coated as well. The babies looked like real babies and they were making noises and breathing like real ones too.
"These babies are made by navi technology, but are used in the real world. They breathe, they cry, they blink, they giggle, they do need to be fed, and they do use the bathroom. Both ways." After all of the babies were rolled in the people left the room only to come back with baby blankets, diapers, diaper bags, bottles, strollers, and carriers. The class was amazed by all of the things that were required for a baby. Ms. Mari waved at the people as they left and then she turned to the class, who was watching the robot babies move.
"They also can get hot and cold. So I warn that you make good use of the things given to you. In a real household all of these things would have to be bought, but I will provide you with these things," Ms. Mari picked up a baby boy with red hair. The mechanical baby moved in response to her touch, but soon stilled himself. "These babies respond to touch, sound, and smell. They don't taste their food, but they do know they are being fed. For today, you daily assignment is to create a budget. You all have two bedroom apartments and only one of you has a job. While you're working on that, I'll call each of you up by partners to get your babies." Ms. Mari walked back to her desk and took some papers out,"Let's get to work!"
End Chapter 3