# Arrows with different directions

I want to drawing two arrows which different directions from 1 edge to 2 edge.

I want to print a and b on the arrows respectively.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{stackrel}
\begin{document}
$1\stackrel[b]{a}{\rightleftarrows}2$
\end{document}


An answer with tikz overlays (1 and 2 are not in the tikz picture but could be)

\documentclass[]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\newcommand{\tikzmark}[1]{\begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]\coordinate(#1);\end{tikzpicture}}

\begin{document}
{\Huge 1\tikzmark{A}\hspace{50pt}\tikzmark{B}2}
\begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]
\draw[thick,->] ([shift={(0,0.4)}]A)--([shift={(0,0.4)}]B) node[midway, above]{{\large a}};
\draw[thick,<-] ([shift={(0,0.1)}]A)--([shift={(0,.1)}]B) node[midway, below]{{\large b}};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


it is not clear, if you like to have as math expression (as provide Fran in his nice answer), or you like to have picture with such content. for the latter is handy package tikz-cd (intended for the commutative diagrams):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz-cd}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzcd}
1 \arrow[r,shift left,"a"]
&
2 \arrow[l,shift left,"b"]
\end{tikzcd}

\end{document}