The Wing pilot spared him a quick glare before going back to his laptop. "Homework."

"Eww..." Duo grimaced, plopping down on the bed and opening up his Happy Meal. "For what class?"

Heero resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Folklore of the Mexican American."

"Oh, you mean that survey thing we gotta do," Duo nodded. "I'm not gonna do it. I mean, we'll be gone soon, right?"

"Not before we have to turn it in," Heero argued. "And some of us want more than a C average."

"But it's a survey," Duo said. "Doesn't that mean we have to talk to people? You hate that."

"True, and it would jeopardize the mission." Heero, in a rare obliging mood, turned his laptop so Duo could see what he was working on. "I'm coming up with twenty fake people and writing their responses, so I don't have to actually talk to people."

"So much work just for a grade?" Duo gasped. "That's insane! Why don't you just post the survey online and see if you can get twenty people to respond?"

A glint entered Heero's eye, and his familiar crazed smile broke over his face. "Perfect..."

*****

"Duo."

The braided boy mumbled something and tilted his head further to the side, a happy smile on his face. "No, Heero...don't use my hair...use the cuffs..."

"Duo, wake up."

Duo opened his eyes and raised his head from his desk. "Huh, is class over?" he asked, noticing as the other students were packing up.

Heero nodded and collected his things. "Yes, get ready to go. We're leaving the school in a few hours."

"All right..." Duo sighed and stuffed his books haphazardly into his bag. He stood up to go, then turned when he saw Heero still sitting. "Um...Heero?"

"Hold on," the Japanese boy ordered him. "I think she's going to hand back the projects."

"So you turned it in, huh?" Duo asked, smirking as he sat back down.

Heero nodded.

"Did you get all the people you needed? I mean, you used the one I gave you, right?"

Heero nodded once. "Almost."

"Almost?"

Heero glanced at Duo out of the corner of his eye. "I...only got fifteen people to respond...I needed five more."

"Did you make them up?"

Heero shook his head. "The others responded."

Duo gasped. "Others..as in...?"

Heero was about to say something when the teacher stood up.

"Well, class," the teacher started, "I've finished grading your survey projects, and I must admit, some of them were quite...creative this semester. Several A's, plenty of B's, and not as many C's and D's as I usually give out...although there were a few F's." She said the last part while looking directly at Duo, who just smiled back.

The bell rang as she handed the projects back, and Duo waited for Heero to get his before immediately taking off to the food court as usual. As the students filed out, however, both of the gundam pilots started to fidget (which in Heero's case was odd). The class was really starting to get empty. Finally, as the last student left, they noticed his paper still on her desk.

"Heero Yuy?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Yes, ma'am?" He stood up and walked straight in front of her.

She glanced down at the strict handwriting on his paper. "Um...your project...may I ask who you found to answer the survey?"

"Twenty people, as required by the parameters of the project," he responded.

Duo snickered. If she was gonna try to start something, boy had she picked the wrong person!

"Yes, but...to be honest, I've never seen these kind of responses before!" she cried, holding the paper up. "I mean, look at some of this. Response to All that glitters is not gold, 'only the weak would believe such a foolish notion!' There is honor among thieves, 'true, but the mercenaries honor only of money and self-preservation'." She shook her head in disbelief. "And this one...a chip off the old block...'no, I won't believe it! I won't be like my father, I just won't be!'"

Duo stifled a laugh.

"But the worst of them..." she sighed. "Every rose has its thorn...'yeah, every pretty rose has a prick, and baby, I love your thorn!'"

Duo stopped laughing. "Hey, what's wrong with that?"

Heero shot a glare at him to shut him up. "You said to write down exactly what the respondent said."

"But who on earth did you get to respond?" she cried. "Mental patients? There's enough neuroses and obsessions in here to fuel a psych book!" She flipped to one page and turned it around so he could read it. "I can practically tell five distinct person's answers through the entire project. 'True, justice is a beautiful rose with many sharp thorns that only the strong may grasp'. 'All thieves are weak and therefore have no honor'. And this person...'I've heard this saying, but rather as a bullet from the same case and even the best magnum can jam.'"

"People...come from different backgrounds, ma'am," Heero said.

She turned to another page. "I feel sorry for this one, the one who said he doesn't want to be like his father. 'There is honor among thieves, even those who steal life. Thieves steal so others don't have to. All roses have thorns, and its up to the lover to help the rose see past their thorns. And true gold doesn't glitter, you have to dig it out of the mud and take care of it'. I mean, I was starting to get depressed reading this person's answers."

"Aw, he's not that bad in person," Duo sighed.

"Duo, quiet."

"The worst, though," she cried, flipping to the last page. "I've gotten some pretty raunchy answers in my time, but this...'oh yeah, baby, I'd love a chip off of your block! You may not glitter, but you're all gold, sweetheart! Thieves have honor, but they have to steal it. Can I steal yours?' And then that rose and prick one..."

"I fail to see the problem," Heero said, beginning to lose his patience. "I fulfilled all requirements. What's wrong?"

She sighed and gave the paper to him. "Nothing, it's just...do you have friends who need counseling? We have a good student counseling service on campus."

"No, ma'am."

She frowned at the terse reply, but she simply gave up and turned to take her frustrations out on Duo. "And you...you're Duo Maxwell, right? Why didn't you hand in an assignment?"

Duo shrugged and sat on top of his desk. "Um...the dog ate it?"

"Duo, I know you're smart. You're one of my brightest students, but why don't you ever turn anything in?"

"Look, are you sure you want an honest answer?"

She nodded.

Duo took a deep breath.

Heero tried to rush over and shush him up, but it was too late. Duo had started.

"It was a boring assignment, it was more work than it was worth, and I don't know twenty people. I don't want to talk to so many strangers since I would just be bugging them about something neither of us care about, and why should I worry about something that's just gonna give me a little red number in a grade book? I mean, in the big scheme of things, isn't a project just a little low on the priority list of life? I would rather taste a new flavor of ice cream, help someone thresh the wheat in their field, work on new positions--um, I mean, work on new equations so I can finally figure the tides out correctly..."

"Tides?" she asked in confusion. "Wheat?"

"Duo--"

"...and maybe even rack up a new high score at the local arcade. I mean, in the long run, just how much is this project gonna matter? Will I remember it years from now because it was fun, or would I remember how much I hated it, how embarrassed I felt asking total strangers these dumb questions, and how awful it was missing out on fun things because I had to work on the stupid graphs. In fact--"

"Duo, enough!" Heero snapped, pushing his hand over Duo's mouth. He felt a kiss placed in his palm, Duo loved teasing him in front of others, and he scowled.

Duo backed away and grinned. "It was boring. That's all."

The teacher, a little surprised by how much he could ramble, just sat back. "You're going to fail at this rate, Duo."

"Ah, I'll get that fixed later on, don't worry," he grinned. "Can we go now? Lunch'll be over soon!"

With a wave of her hand, she dismissed the two. Heero managed to hold himself back until they got to their dorm room, but once they were finally alone, he yanked Duo's braid.

"Ow! Heero, what was that for?" Duo cried, putting his hands protectively over his braid.

"You're attracting too much attention," Heero said.

"Oh, and you're not?" Duo countered. "She seemed to spend more time on you than me!"

Instead of answering, Heero turned and sat down in the swivel chair at the desk, working at his laptop. Curious as ever, Duo draped himself over Heero's shoulders and watched him type. He laughed as he saw Heero up his grade from a B to an A, but he squawked in protest when he saw his own grade stay at zero.

"Heero, wha'cha doing?" he cried. "Give me an A, too!"

"You didn't turn anything in," Heero argued.

"Since when did you turn so honest?"

"I thought you never lied."

"It's not lying," Duo sniffed. "It's creative writing."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Duo--"

"Heero, if you make things hard for me at the next school, I'll have a headache for the whole semester."

Heero didn't even cringe at the threat. "You would be so vindictive?"

Duo sighed and forced the swivel chair around so he could straddle Heero's lap. "No...I wouldn't..." He started to trail kisses along Heero's throat, running his fingers through the dark hair. "I never have a headache when you're around."

Allowing himself to be seduced, Heero undid Duo's braid and let the long hair cascade down Duo's shoulders, and he wrapped his arms around his lover's waist. As he buried his face in Duo's hair, though, the American pilot put one arm out and silently typed in a new grade point average for himself.

"Duo..."

"Mm-hmm...?"

"When are you going to learn you can't fool me?"

Duo sat back and saw a smirk spread onto Heero's face. "What?"

"Really, the lengths you'll go to just to get a good grade. It makes my work seem like child's play."

Duo huffed indignantly and tried to stand up, but Heero wouldn't let him go. "Oh no, you've got to pay for what you just did. Now, choose, the bed or right here on the floor?"

Duo grinned and gave him a long kiss. "Heero...after that rotten survey, no more questions. Just don't give me any rug burns, got it?"

The End