The scratching of pencils echoed in the room behind him as he carved dusty yellow lines onto the chalkboard in front of him, the yellow dust drifting off of his fingers and staining his cuff. Words poured from his mouth in a near ceaseless river and the students behind him drank in the bitter tales of history like unsweetened syrup, pouring his knowledge onto their papers to be forgotten once a test was lying in front of them. The history of the world was Sephiroth's favorite subject, and what his classes all centered around. Every class was a story and every story flowed into another. Sephiroth loved to dictate the story he told now; the one concerning the ancient Cetra and their hazardous change from nomads to city-dwellers. The decision had ultimately wiped out the movement oriented race and now all that was left of them were the stories that flowed from his mouth.

He paused in his lecture long enough to look at the clock, catching movement in his eyes that wasn't the expected sway of pens and pencils. He caught the paper airplane with practiced ease and tossed it back to the student he knew was the culprit, grinning as it struck the attractive red-head on the nose. "Get back to work, Reno."

Reno's fellow classmates laughed as he rubbed his nose, their interest piqued by the attempt to catch their professor off guard. He tried to do so often, and Sephiroth always managed to catch his paper creations. Reno frowned and stuffed the wrinkled paper into his bag, glaring at the black-haired boy sitting beside him who made a grab for it. "Hands off, Rodney!"

Rodney chuckled and tugged Reno's ponytail with a playful grin. "Hell no!"

Reno growled and slapped Rodney's hand away, "Hell yes!"

Rodney grinned and opened his mouth to continue the verbal war, but Sephiroth interrupted him by walking between them. "If the damned plane is going to cause this much trouble give it back. I'll keep it and consider it a late birthday present since it's so special."

Reno blushed crimson and pulled the paper out of his bag, handing it to Sephiroth with a sheepish grin. "Happy birthday?"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and walked back to the front of the class, pretending he didn't notice the snickering of his students as he tossed the paper onto his desk and resumed his lecture. Reno and Rodney continued to bicker quietly behind him and he found his concentration slipping. What was it about a damned piece of paper that always made those two start fighting? He whipped around and faced the class, hands on his hips. "The next person to talk will lose fifty points on their final test! Since that test counts for almost half your grade I suggest you keep your mouths shut! Those of you who need this class for your major should think twice about breathing loudly!" He shot Reno and Rodney a pointed glare and was slightly surprised to see Rodney returning that glare. He held Rodney's gaze for a few moments and then looked at Reno, noticing the bright color that had bloomed across Reno's cheeks with confusion.

Sephiroth dismissed his class soon after his outburst, upset by the repeated disruptions. He normally didn't mind Reno's antics, but when Rodney joined in it was hard for him to feign tolerance or ignorance. Reno's disruptions were repeated at least once a week and Sephiroth was so used to them that they failed to faze him. Rodney, however, always seemed to want to cause trouble. He sighed and started packing his briefcase as the class filed out, dropping a few un-graded papers on the floor. He grumbled softly and bent down to pick them up, jumping as a small cough sounded near his desk. He swore quietly as he hit his head on the bottom of his desk and he heard a small and easily distinguished snort of laughter. He straightened and looked at Reno with a small frown. "You're still here? I dismissed class, Reno."

Reno blushed and cleared his throat, holding out a hand and lowering his face in embarrassment. "Can I have my plane back?"

Sephiroth blinked and looked his desk over for the plane he knew he had left there. "Why do you keep throwing these at me?"

Reno kept his face down and his hand out, answering with a small, nervous chuckle. "No reason."

Sephiroth frowned as he located the crumpled airplane, noticing for the first time that there were small scribbles inside the paper. "It would be more efficient if you would tell me you're bored instead of writing it down and tossing the message at my head. Paper airplanes are made to be thrown, not read."

Reno's face flushed darker and he grabbed at the airplane, "Don't read it!" Sephiroth pulled the paper back with a frown and gave Reno a piercing stare. Reno's eyes were wide and pleading as he tried to snatch the paper away from Sephiroth. "Please Professor don't read it! It's embarrassing!"

Sephiroth frowned and set a hand on Reno's chest, pushing him back as he single-handedly unfolded the airplane. "I think I should read it then. It might teach you to stop throwing your secrets at me. If you didn't want me to read it you shouldn't have thrown it in the first place."

Reno paled as Sephiroth shook the paper out. Sephiroth hadn't looked at the scribbled writing yet and he locked his watery blue eyes onto the sea-green ones above him. "Please Sephiroth don't read it! Give it back and I swear I'll never throw one again!"

Sephiroth chuckled softly and held Reno at arms length as the red-head made another snatch for the paper. "But you're aim is getting so good. Maybe someday I won't be able to-" He stopped mid-sentence as his eyes locked onto the paper. He looked at the words scribbled there and felt color rise on his cheeks. He turned to look at Reno, mouth hanging slightly open, but as soon as his head turned the door had slammed shut. Sephiroth rushed to the door and opened it, scanning the hallway outside for some trace of his student; but Reno was nowhere to be seen. He held the paper in his fist still and he pocketed it as students waved hello to him, ignoring their recognition as he wandered the halls looking for Reno.

Sephiroth was stopped partway down the hall by a paper airplane that hit his ear. In his distracted state he hadn't even noticed the projectile flying towards him, but now he was fully aware of it and he whipped around, expecting to see Reno giggling and running away.

Instead he came face to face with a smirking Rodney. "Distracted Professor?"

Sephiroth picked the plane up and handed it back to Rodney. "Slightly, yes."

Rodney's smirk grew and he shoved the airplane back into Sephiroth's hand. "You're not going to read my note, Professor?"

Sephiroth frowned, doing his best to hide the angry flush that colored his face. "No."

Rodney's eyes glinted maliciously and he snatched the plane back with a derisive snort, "Fine. Don't bother looking for Reno, Professor. He ran off so fast he's probably in another Sector by now." Rodney turned and stalked off, crumpling the plane into his pocket.

Sephiroth frowned and walked back to his classroom, un-fisting the hand in his pocket slowly. He had unconsciously started to crumple the plane and now it was a mashed-up wad in his pocket. He sat in his classroom beside his half-packed briefcase and un-crumpled the piece of paper. He sighed and looked at the paper, mind swirling with confusing thoughts.

He wished Reno hadn't run away. He desperately needed to ask what Reno meant by the words, "I love you." It should have had a straightforward meaning, but he couldn't wrap his stubborn mind around the words.

Author's Note: So this story is for a deviant on deviant art named SignedWithAnEcks. She requested a Seph/Reno story about school and I couldn't get it all in one chapter, I tried, but a one shot won't work on this. I can't make it cooperate and be a one-shot, so you're getting a full out multi-chaptered story. Congrats for being the first requester to make me need a multi-chaptered story!