Work Text:
You were so happy when Biology class rolled around. It had always been one of your favourite subjects, and the lesson plan for today was especially interesting; dissections.
There was only one downfall to today's lesson. You were partnered with the supercilious playboy and bad-boy James Buchanan Barnes, known to every girl on campus as Bucky Barnes. You weren't a fan. Sure he was attractive, but you weren't really into the whole 'conquer and move on' strategy Barnes had.
Besides, you were from two different cliques - no matter how much you refused to label yourself - he was a jock, one of the popular's and you were a geek. It would be shameful to ever interact.
So when Mr. Warren placed the dead frog in its packaging on the tray between them, you were surprised to see Barnes turn away in disgust. "What's wrong?"
"That's gross." He pointed at the frog.
You rolled your eyes and pulled on the latex gloves in front of you, pulling them on with a snap. You set to work opening the packaging and pulled out the frog carefully, not to break anything before the experiment started. You laid it on its back and carefully massaged the limbs until they were stretched out.
Barnes had begun to turn pale. You looked around to see that most of the class was having trouble too. Were you weird for being completely fine in this situation? You didn't care.
"It's a male." You murmured, turning to him and insisting, "Write that down."
Bucky swallowed and asked, "How the hell do you know that?" He scribbled down the sex of the animal, before dropping the pen on his book.
"The thumb pad on male frogs is generally fatter than on females." You shrugged as if that was information that everyone should know. "I'm gonna start cutting it open, do you need to turn away?"
"I'm fine." He shook his head. He really didn't look fine.
"Sure." You shrugged, picking up the scalpel and slicing the first incision between the frog's hind legs, on the cloaca. Swiftly you swapped the scalpel for scissors and cut up the length of the frog, you also cut just inside the arms and legs and opened up the skin flaps. You heard Bucky groan as you pinned down the flaps to a board and raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Squeamish much?"
"You know you're kind of an asshole." He replied, before glancing at the frog and shaking his head. "How can you be so calm about this?"
"It's not that bad." You replied, nodding to Mr. Warren to let him know you'd finished the first part. "It was already dead. What's wrong with cutting it open and taking a look at how everything works inside?"
"You know you sound like the perfect example of a serial killer right now."
You shrugged. "I wouldn't be complaining if I was you. I'm helping you pass this class."
"Thanks." He replied sarcastically, settling as your biology teacher came over and praised you over your work, and allowed you to continue on without the rest of the class.
"Ha, the fat bodies look a little bit like spaghetti." You chuckled, repeating the action when Barnes groaned in disgust. "Speaking of; isn't spaghetti on today's menu?" You thought that if you were going to disgust this guy, you were either going big or going home.
"Don't compare it to food. I like food." He waved his hand at her. "Just get on with it."
"Alright." You resigned, pushing on to the other organs. "If I'm correct, that's the liver and oh yes, the heart." You nudged Barnes with your elbow, "Look!"
"Nope, I'm good." He shook his head, closing his eyes and refusing to look at the specimen. "Also please stop with the commentary, I think I'm gonna hurl."
You'd had your fun and so continued the experiment in silence. After locating the lungs and the stomach, and after getting the go-ahead from the teacher, you started cutting organs out. You were so focused on your work you hadn't realised just how closely Barnes was watching you.
Once you'd done all your work, you handed your sheet of answers to Barnes and smiled. "The answers." You waited until he accepted them before taking the tray to the back of the classroom and cleaning up the tablespace. "Y'done?"
Barnes nodded and handed the sheet back to you. You slipped it in your book and packed up your stuff, the bell ringing in your ears as you left the classroom, a smile on your face as you did so.