Fandom fluff ficlet? (Make that two of them) Gundam Wing
Title: Kids
Author: Ellie Biel
Fandom: Gundam Wing
Characters/pairing: Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy, random OC
Warnings: fluff? Duo and Heero as children
Notes: merith decreed this as a fandom fluff day as a break from some angsty storylines, and in search of an inspiration I went looking through her icons. I hope she'll recognize which one this is based on. =)
She should have known better, she told herself, but she'd been so excited that her students had all not only remembered their left from their right, but also knew the alphabet in both upper and lower case, that a small afternoon party seemed just the thing to celebrate their success.
She hoped that none of the parents complained about the honey. At least it wasn't peanut butter; she'd been very careful to avoid anything that might cause severe allergic reactions in her students.
By the time she'd wet a stack of paper towels in the fountain just outside the room and returned, she stopped in her tracks and stared.
The excitement for most of them was over, although one of them was pressing honey-covered fingers on the desk, making what she assumed was a cat with her prints. The others had either gone to play with the Duplo blocks and plastic trucks or had decided to quietly sip their milk and color in a corner, away from the rowdier children.
Her eyes returned to the two boys sitting on the floor by themselves.
When the bottle of honey in the smiling bear-shaped bottle had been introduced, by a young girl with blonde ringlets, there had been a flurry of excitement. That was followed by a brief tussle over possession of the plastic bear, and after reminding them that such behavior was unbecoming for young ladies and gentlemen, she'd thought the crisis had passed.
She really should have considered the possibility that the top might have come unscrewed, but she hadn't until the bear was handed over to her. She'd begun to crouch down so the child wouldn't have to reach up overhead to give it to her, but impatient as children often were, he'd not waited. The bottle had tilted backwards, covering not only Duo's hand with honey but a good portion of the braid that was draped over his shoulder.
Sitting with Duo now was one of her quieter students, a young boy named Heero who seemed more advanced than his peers as far as his reading went but who also seemed to shy away from socializing with the other children.
With his thick brows furrowed in concentration, he'd already unraveled the bottom of Duo's braid and was carefully picking apart the strands, licking his fingers on occasion and sliding them over some of the hairs to separate them.
Duo yelped once and she was about to intervene, to thank Heero for his assistance before taking over, but as she got closer she could hear him talking.
"OK," he said quietly. "Now."
Each time he reached a particularly sticky section of hair he was warning Duo, and they seemed oblivious to her presence, Duo with his head tipped backwards and his eyes closed and Heero with his concentration focused on only the task at hand.
"I bet you can't," Duo said.
"I can, too," Heero rebutted, licking his fingers again and plying them to Duo's hair. "I can even show you."
"You're on," Duo said. "Right after school."
She dropped to one knee beside them. "Excuse me," she said, "I thought you might be able to use these instead."
Heero took the towels from her and nodded at her gravely, as if she'd just entrusted him with the class pet. "Thank you."
"I'm sorry," Duo said, opening one eye to glance over at her. "I didn't mean to spill it."
"You know what they say," she smiled brightly. "No use crying over spilled milk."
"It's spilled honey," Heero pointed out pragmatically.
"Same principle," she said. She looked back over toward the rest of the class. "Are you two going to be okay?"
Heero looked at her with an exasperated expression, but Duo just grinned and nodded, only to wince as he realized Heero still had a good grip on some of his hairs.
She got to her feet. It looked like she had her answer. Another glance over at the other children had her racing over. "No, Derek, do not dip the crayons into Alison's milk!"
Heero shook his head and rubbed a section of Duo's hair with the wet towel. "Kids."
ETA: And embedded in the comments below, to avoid spamming f-lists: Chocolate Kisses - Moved to new LJ post.