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The day had been balmy and beautiful, filled with brilliant sunshine that melted away the last heaps of gritty snow. Daffodils are blooming in the park. Zhou Fei and Chuchu had spent an hour sitting by the fountain, crowded in among everyone else who had come out to absorb the cheerful air.
The sweet plume of spring lingers indolently in Zhou Fei now, and though the sun has set, it feels like summer evenings are right around the corner. The tree branches outside the physics classroom's narrow window seem ready to unfurl into leaves. At the board, Xie Yun is going over the specific gravity formula for the third time, but Zhou Fei has grasped little more than a string of words. Maybe she'll ask him to explain it to her later. She perishes the thought with a wistful sigh. It would cross too many boundaries to do so, even though she is certain that he would do it in a heartbeat if she asked.
Zhou Fei zones out watching Xie Yun sketch out another four lines of equations, the chalk held delicately in his long fingers. He folded her that origami crane himself. The lines of it are so clean. Chuchu, who did a lot of origami as a teenager - it was a respectable pursuit for a young lady, she joked wryly - had much admired the clear creases that showed precision on each fold on the first try.
Who knew that Xie Yun was into origami? Certainly no one else in this room does. A wave of smug possessiveness buoys up Zhou Fei's warm-weather inertia. She glances at the clock. Scarcely five minutes have passed, and there are twenty minutes left before section is over. A full eternity.
The person next to her has had her hand up for a while. Zhou Fei jumps when Xie Yun looks at their table. Before he calls on her deskmate he gives Zhou Fei a brief smile, warm and secret even if it has nothing on his smiles in private, and Zhou Fei has to duck her head to hide her besotted swooning. Ridiculous. She bites her lip to surpress the foolishness, but it accomplishes nothing. Chuchu's ribbing about her being a courtly maiden was clearly right. But Xie Yun looks so good at the front of the classroom. Zhou Fei doesn't care much for physics, except when Xie Yun is telling her about his research. It carries through when he runs their problem session.
He's animated, despite the dry material, and even though Zhou Fei hasn't learned a single thing about mass in the past thirty minutes she is held rapt by Xie Yun's voice and bright eyes. He has such clever hands. She lets her chin fall onto her hands and pretends to pay attention to what they are supposed to be learning.
Another student asks a question. Xie Yun starts a new graph, pauses, and casts around for somewhere that has more space for labelling. The lower boards are full, so he pushes one of the sliding boards up and then stretches to pull down a clean one. His shirt rides up to reveal a bare sliver of skin. Zhou Fei swallows. The motion also showcases the swell of his backside against what were otherwise very respectable jeans, as well as the muscles in his arms, and Zhou Fei feels a little faint. She glances around to gauge everyone else's reaction to this scandalous display. Her classmates just look the usual mix of bored and sleepy, with a couple of people looking down at their notes.
Zhou Fei's eyes are inexorably drawn back to the front of the room. Xie Yun is tall enough that he barely has to reach up to write on the new board, but her gaze still zeroes in on his ass. Eyes up here, she thinks to herself wildly, even though looking at Xie Yun's face barely feels more respectful. This is insanity.
"You've got it bad," the girl next to her whispers, friendly and conspiratorial.
Zhou Fei tries to scowl at her, but her heart isn't in it. Sarah isn't wrong. She relents and lets her lips quirk up in a self-deprecating smile before picking up her pencil. Given that she can't absorb a word, she should at least copy down whatever is on the board for her future self to decipher.
The minutes continue to drag. Zhou Fei drinks half her water bottle in an attempt to focus up. It helps, and by the time they reach the end of the problem set, she can follow the broad strokes of how the equations they've learned this week are supposed to be used. It's a battle won against the infuriating wisp of hair that keeps falling into Xie Yun's eyes.
Someone asks a theoretical question in the last few minutes, and Xie Yun perches on one of the tables while answering it. Zhou Fei can't ignore how confident and clever he looks, speaking easily in front of the class. His hands idly trace shapes in the air. As Xie Yun asks the student if they follow what what he is saying, he smiles, and Zhou Fei is once again lost. The explanation continues. Xie Yun crosses his legs. The jeans pull tight against a long stretch of his thigh, and Zhou Fei has to stop herself from cursing out loud. She is better than this, she swears to herself, as her gaze follows that line of leg down to where it meets the table and then back up to his hips. The plastic edges of the chair dig into her hands as she tries to ground herself in the public reality of this classroom.
"Okay, that's all for the this week!" Xie Yun says, punctuating it with a clap that makes Zhou Fei jump. "I'll be here for another five minutes, if anyone has individual questions."
He glances at Zhou Fei at the very end of the sentence, and she looks down to hide her grin. She almost never stays to ask questions - as a general rule, she learns better by doing than talking - but of course she will wait downstairs until Xie Yun is finished. Five minutes is nothing. She's waited after class every single Tuesday for the past few months, and Xie Yun always finds her by the same door.
Zhou Fei scrolls through her notifications to look occupied while she waits. There are a few texts in the fencing team groupchat. Things have calmed down since Nationals ended, but the team has kept up their practice schedule, replacing some of the extra sessions with study breaks. Leadership applications are coming up. Zhou Fei is thinking about applying for girls epee team captain, though she isn't sure if either of the two rising seniors might want the position instead.
"A'Fei," Xie Yun calls from down the hallway, and Zhou Fei puts her phone away with a smile.
"Xie-meimei," she says, and suddenly cannot think of anything else to say under the bright force of his attention.
"Which way are you going?" he asks.
"I'll walk you to your rehearsal," she replies, taking refuge in motion and stepping forward to open the door for him. "I guess I'll go home after that, or see if Chuchu's still on campus."
Xie Yun frowns at her. "Won't that put you out of your way?"
"I can't focus anyway," Zhou Fei admits. "It was so nice out earlier. Besides, I like to walk with you."
Saying so makes her cringe, but it makes Xie Yun beam at her with the same helpless, sun-warm smile she had been treated to when they first sat down together in the cafe. He doesn't say anything, and Zhou Fei is content to let the moment rest between them, glowing in the early spring wind.