Prompt: Honeyphos: Lab Partners AU (It'd be nice to see some fluffy Honeyphos) (A/N: you don't know how badly I wanted to write something not fluffy and then be like "Yeah, it would be nice to see some fluff. ONLY ANGST THOUGH! MWAHAHA!" I didn't do that though. This is fluff central.)

"And, as they say: the rest is history, ain't it Lom?" The dark-haired man nudges the woman, Lomadia, next to him with his elbow as she smiles at him. "So what's your guys' story?"

I look over at the love of my life, the man of my dreams. He's sitting in a plush La-Z-Boy recliner, one of his bushy orange eyebrows raising when we make eye contact. He absently rubs at his beard, a thing he's been working on for years now. "Well Xeph? You gonna tell it or am I?"

"We had been friends since Year Nine, but our story doesn't officially start until we were in Year Eleven."

We only had a couple classes together that year, Anatomy and an art class Lalna talked us into taking so we were guaranteed to be in at least one class together.

When I walk into Anatomy I immediately wrinkle my nose in disgust. The baby pigs we have to start dissecting reek of chemicals and death.

Honeydew is sitting at our table, frowning. "How're we supposed to dissect these poor pigus? They're so cute!"

I set my stuff down and take a seat on the stool next to him. "We'll get through it, friend." I pat his back reassuringly before looking down at the creature. It lays on its back, its legs drooping out slightly like its bathing in the sun instead of laying dead in a tray.

I turn around to see if Lalna is here yet, only to see him rushing in, his ponytail bouncing as he tries to beat the bell. He raises a hand in our direction as he makes his way towards the back of the room.

The bell rings just as Lalna disappears from my field of view. Mr. Trott jumps up from behind his desk, the mop of brown hair rising and falling back across his forehead as he does. "Ready for a fun day of dissecting?" The huge smile he has on his face reveals crooked teeth. "I know I am!"

He starts handing out packets that include instructions and questions we have to answer while we're dissecting. "Read the instructions carefully," he warns as he hands out tools to everyone.

"First it says we gotta tie the legs apart? What the hell?" I give Honeydew a look and he jabs a finger over his shoulder in the direction of Mr Trott. "Like he's gonna hear me all the way back there."

I shrug and we get to work dissecting the pig. I hold the pig's forelegs and read the instructions to Honeydew, making sure he's tied them tight enough before we tie the back legs together.

"Is our pig a boy or a girl," I ask after we've done that. "Where's the umbilical cord area?"

After determining our pig is a girl and marking the bottom edge of the rib cage with an 'X', Honeydew grabs the scalpel.

He moves the blade towards the pig, his face in a grimace. I try to hold back a shudder as he makes a small cut that isn't too deep, but deep enough to cut through the skin and muscle as the instructions say. I hand him the dissecting scissors and grab the forceps so I can hold the tissue away from the organs as he cuts.

"Oh fuck, Xeph," Dew mutters as he slowly snips his way up the pig.

As I pull the skin and tissue away from the organs, I see stringy tissue that connects the muscles to the shiny, red organs underneath. I watch as one of the connected strands snap, and then the world suddenly goes black.

"I'll take it from here," Honeydew says, folding his hands together over his stomach.

The forceps hit the side of the tray with a clang, the tissue it was holding falling back to hit my hand. I notice Xephos starting to tip off his stool, dropping the scissors.

"Xephos!" I quickly reach out and manage to grab a fistfull of his shirt, pulling him towards me. "Oh shit, Xeph's passed out! Mister Trott!"

I put my arms around him like I'm hugging him, his head hanging down towards his chest as I cradle him to mine to keep him from slipping to the floor. His bony shoulder digs into my stomach.

Mr. Trott runs over, taking in the scene with wide eyes. "Oh jeez, okay, uh." He runs a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face as he looks around the classroom. "Okay, uh, let's lay him on the floor for now I guess?"

He carefully takes Xephos' upper half from me. "Get his feet for me. Thanks, sunshine."

I nod, and together we carefully lay him on the floor. Everyone gathers around us in a circle, Lalna pushing his way through the crowd to stand next to me. "Everyone sit down, Xephos just passed out. It's fine, everything's fine, I'm just gonna go get the nurse. Just- chat with your neighbors while I'm gone. Honeydew, keep an eye on him please?" I nod, and he quickly leaves the room.

The others quickly lose interest and go back to their seats, leaving just Lalna and I with a passed out Xephos. "Is he gonna be alright, d'you think?"

I sit on the ground and take one of Xephos' hands. "He better, the bugger. Passin' out on me while we're dissecting."

Lalna laughs. "Hey Dew, maybe you should give'm a kiss. Like they did in that movie with the dwarfs? Maybe then he'll wake up."

"Wha- you can't just kiss someone while they're sleeping!" I look at Lalna, a smile on his round face.

"What if he never wakes up though? What if he'll only wake up if you kiss him right now?"

Before I can respond, Mr. Trott comes back with the nurse and what looks like a surfboard with handles all around the outside. "Okay, Honeydew, Lalna, you two are gonna help me and Ms. Galanodel carry him back to the nurses' alright? Everyone else, stay here and be good!"

It takes some effort, but we manage to roll Xephos onto his side enough to slip the board under him, and with even more effort, we manage to tow Xephos the short distance to the nurse's' office.

Mr. Trott says it's okay for me to stay with him for the rest of the period, and the nurse brings in a chair for me to sit on.

They leave us alone, leaving the door cracked open. I take Xephos' hand again, watch as his chest slowly rises and falls with each breath. With my other hand I brush the dark hair to the side, thinking about how similar it is to the scene at the end of Snow White.

Just do it, a voice in my head whispers. He's asleep, he'll never know.

"No," I say to myself. "I don't care how cute he looks, you can't just kiss someone while they're sleeping!"

Who said you had to kiss him on the mouth? What about a little kiss on the cheek? Or the forehead? People do that all the time...

I frown, staring at our hands. Xephos' fingers are splayed out across the bed, my hand covering his palm.

Time passes, and before I know it, it's almost the end of class. Remembering that I still have to go get my stuff from Mr. Trott's room, I carefully remove my hand and stand up.

Before I leave, though, I place a hand on Xephos' cheek. "I hope you're okay." I lean down to kiss him on the forehead.

"Does he wake up?" Nilesy is on the edge of his seat, staring at Dew intently.

Honeydew turns to me and nods. "Why don't you tell him what happens next?"

I slowly open my eyes, opening my mouth to ask what happened when I realize there's a hand on my cheek and someone is kissing my forehead. "What-" I start. The person jumps back, the orange hair and blue eyes wide in surprise the first things I notice.

"Oh shit Xeph- I didn't- I didn't-" Honeydew stammers.

"What...?" I slowly sit up and look around the room. Everything in the room is white, the beds, the walls, the floor, the door. The only thing that isn't is the wooden chair facing my bed. "What happened? Honeydew?"

"You, uh, you passed out. I should- I should go get the nurse." He turns and runs out.

Nilesy laughs. "Oh man, it is like a fairy tale or something! What happened after that?"

"Dew avoided me as best he could for a couple days, but I went to his house and stood in front of the door so he couldn't leave until we had talked about what happened. Dew was being stubborn though, and wouldn't say anything."

He sat on his bed with his back to me. Knowing I wouldn't get him to talk, I stood up and went over to him.

He turned around, his eyes darting to the door that I left exposed. I put my hands on his shoulders, and bent so our faces were level with each other. "Xeph?" Honeydew asked, his voice quiet. "What're you-"

"It's only fair." I moved slightly to the left, my intention to kiss his cheek. He turned his head though, and instead of kissing his cheek, I kissed his lips instead.

We both jerked our heads back, both of us looking equally surprised. After a moment, Honeydew smiled cheekily. "That's not fair. The kiss I gave you was way better than that."

I laughed, and leaned forward to kiss him again.

"And, as they say: the rest is history," Honeydew grins.

Lomadia rolls her eyes, while Nilesy and I laugh.