Work Text:
"You're sidetracking again!" complained Kazuha as she squinted at Heiji's notepad, where he was writing - or rather should be writing - his art homework. Instead, there was another one of his sketches emblazoned there. She couldn't see what exactly he had drawn, though, because he quickly turned the notepad away from her.
"I'm not!" he claimed stubbornly. Kazuha narrowed her eyes. Had his cheeks turned slightly red, or was she just imagining it? Maybe it was from the heat, they'd been stuck in this stuffy room for far too long anyway. That was also the reason why she was getting so impatient.
"You're supposed to be analyzing the picture, not scribbling something." They could have been at the beach by now, jumping into the waves, but no, the dear gentleman just wasn't getting off the ground. Pretty ironic considering that he was usually the one urging them to finish their homework quickly so they could go somewhere. Heiji might be good at quite a few subjects, but art wasn't one of them, at least not the writing part. On the other hand, he was actually pretty good at drawing, but that was precisely the problem. He preferred to draw instead of getting the essay done.
"I am not doodling, and besides, it's not my fault that this assignment is so stupid," Heiji grumbled. "I have no idea what's so special about a few strokes on an otherwise white canvas." And just making something up went against his honor as a detective.
Kazuha rolled her eyes and settled down next to him to help him out a bit, otherwise they'd never be able to leave. "The horizontals and verticals bring stability to the image, while the diagonals add dynamism," she explained as Heiji hastily turned the pages. He must be really embarrassed by his scribbles, she thought. She would have liked to catch a glimpse of it.
Now, after only a blank sheet was visible, Heiji was back to his old self and wrinkled his nose. "You can really write that crap down for every picture. Why should we repeat ourselves a thousand times?"
"If this 'crap' is just repetitive, why don't you just write it down the same as last time and you'd finally be done?" retorted Kazuha. "I'm going to die in the heat!"
"I'm hurrying," Heiji growled. No talking back, at least; the heat had to be getting to him, too. Kazuha sighed and pushed the door open a bit.
"I'll get us some ice and then I'll help you." She too could think better with a cool head. Since the whole thing wasn't an offer but just a communication about her next steps, Heiji didn't thank her, he didn't have to. They both kept it that way, and when he helped Kazuha with her math again, he didn't expect it from her either.
Indeed, the ice not only helped against the heat, but also soothed his nerves so that he was less reluctant to do the art assignment. Maybe it was Kazuha's proximity too, but all that mattered was that things were moving faster and soon they would finally be able to jump into cool water at the beach.