Homework buddies

"Think, think, think."

"Who was the commander of the Australian forces during World War II?"

"Think, think, think."

"The noise in the cafeteria is not helping me."

"Think, think, think."

"Why didn't I do my homework earlier in the week?"

"Think, think, think."

"Whatcha doing?"

"AHH"

Captain jolted in his seat, throwing up his hands in a startled karate stance at the unexpected female voice…Who ended up being his English Setter best friend, Mia…who had a slight frown on her face

"Oh…" Captain slowly lowered his hands when he figured it was her. "Hi, Mia."

"If I had a nickel for every time I scared you," Mia said, sitting beside him and frowning. "I would be a millionaire."

"Sorry…" Captain shyly scratched the back of his head. "Im trying to do my homework."

"For who?" Mia changed her frown to a worried yet curious face.

"Professor Martin, history class"

"The 1940s assignment?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Let me see, I still remember the answers." Mia leaned in towards Captain's paper

"Actually," Captain surprisingly said, quickly putting his hand over the paper and dragging it away from Mia. "I think I got this."

"You sure?" Mia leaned back and questioned with a confused grimace

"Yeah!" Captain moved the paper and hand back in front of him and removed it to see the question. "Like this one, 'Who was the commander of the Australian forces during World War II?'"

…

…

…

"Eh…"

"Thomas Blamey Cattle"

"Yes!" Captain snappily turned to her. "I had it on the tip of my tongue. I was just about to write it down."

"Ughh," Mia exclaimed, letting her head look down in disappointment before looking up to see her best friend. "Captain…"

"Huh?" The American Hound raised eyebrows and ears to listen

"You are not slick. You did not do your homework at all." Mia said, borderline schooling him

"What!? Pffffff," Captain dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "What are you talking about? I've made a lot of progress! I just need to finish three questions, and I will be ready for Mar-"

"Captain"

"Yeah, I haven't even started," Captain finally confessed. Letting his gaze drop to the floor out of shame

"Buddy…" Mia scooched closer to him and touched the demoralized shoulder of her secret crush. "Do you remember what we said at our primary school graduation?"

Captain raised his head to look at her friend extremely close to him; he stayed quiet to appreciate the beauty of his secret crush until he finally gathered the courage to recall. "We are going to stay together."

"Exactly!" Mia beamed, giving his shoulder a playful push. "That never meant just attending the same school. It means helping each other through thick and thin."

"Yeah…"

"So why won't you let me help you?"

Mia finally asked the question of the day, a question that shocked the world inside of Captain, who responded by looking away from her and fidgeting his fingers.

Captain kept looking around and nervously twitching his mouth, figuring out a way to answer until he finally stopped looking around and lowered his sight to say a carefully edited truth, "I just…don't wanna bother you."

"Eh?"

"I don't wanna keep bothering you so much." Captain finally mustered the courage to look back at Mia. "I don't wanna be annoying."

"You were never annoying to me," Mia said comfortably. "This is what friends are for—to help each other."

"Yeah, but… I don't wanna be totally dependent on you."

"I know the difference between a dependent person and a guy who just needed a little help," Mia said softly, caressing Captain with her words. "And you just need a little help…please, there is no shame in asking for help. Let me help you."

Captain's eyes flickered between Mia and the cafeteria table before him, absorbing and meditating on her words until he breathed out. With the weight of impressing Mia off his shoulders, Captain finally gave in, "Yeah, help me with this."

"Yay!" Mia exclaimed and moved close to Captain, to the point their fur made contact while their eyes were totally focused on Captain's homework.

Captain's makeshift attempt to impress Mia might have failed, but pretending he is something else can only get him so far… especially when Mia cares too much about him.

This fic was made as a Valentine's gift to one of my friends, and with his permission I was allowed to upload this. It was definitely a challenge to do this in less than 24 hours but phew, it was fun.