\nRating\/Warnings<\/b>: PG for tennis anger.
\nSummary<\/b>: Guo Guang tells Zhen Zhi that it’s enough, already.
\nAN<\/b>: for prillalar<\/a>. Happy birthday, Hal! It’s nothing brilliant or anything, but it’s for you. also, I was really struggling with these Chinese names, so if I have the wrong one anyplace, somebody let me know. <\/p>\n
1+1 Has Many Answers<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to fall off the face of the earth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zhen Zhi assured Ju Wan and Zhou Zhu during class. Except for the part where that was exactly what he did for several days. <\/p>\n
The problem was that the tennis team tended to run in a pack, as good teams do, which meant that where any of them were, Hai Tang had a sixty-to-eighty percent chance of being as well. Zhen Zhi wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ready to face him yet, and so he busied himself in the library, the lab, the street courts, only returning to their room to sleep when he was sure that Hai Tang would have returned to his own room and the others would likely be asleep. <\/p>\n
Most of them. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Zhen Zhi.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Guo Guang crossed his arms and eyed Zhen Zhi from his chair, turned from the table to face the door. Ju Wan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s snores whistled softly from the top bunk. Zhen Zhi resisted the urge to shuffle his feet like a freshman. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been several days. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to end it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what you mean,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zhen Zhi said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I neglected my schoolwork during the ranking matches, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve merely been catching up.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Guo Guang turned his chair back to his desk and his own work. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you speak to Hai Tang, you can help him out with his studies as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Zhen Zhi stood a moment longer, blinking, before crawling into bed. He fell asleep thinking of Hai Tang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s scowl and listening to the soft scratch of Guo Guang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pencil. He woke the next morning with his glasses denting his nose. <\/p>\n
He heard Guo Guang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice in his head when he came around the corner during classes the next day and found Hai Tang leaning against the wall outside his classroom door. Hai Tang didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice Zhen Zhi at first, and Zhen Zhi nearly turned around to go back the way he had come, but in the second that he hesitated, Hai Tang lifted his head and spotted him. <\/p>\n
Zhen Zhi didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need any data to read Hai Tang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face. Anger changed to surprise and back to anger before Hai Tang smoothed his expression and dropped his eyes back to the ground. He gave a polite bob of his head and said a gruff good morning. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was just going to the bathroom,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he added. Zhen Zhi calculated there was a three percent chance that Hai Tang had ever lied successfully. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Are you angry with me?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zhen Zhi asked, which made Hai Tang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shoulders tense. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What do you think?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he asked. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a ninety-eight percent chance you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re angry with me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zhen Zhi answered automatically. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ninety-eight\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hai Tang started. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Plus or minus two percent,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zhen Zhi finished. <\/p>\n
There was an awkward moment of silence, the only noise the shift of their uniforms and the scrape of chalk on the blackboard inside the classroom. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fine if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re angry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zhen Zhi finally said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you just hit the BALL?!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hai Tang exploded. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Whether you won or whether you lost, it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter! Why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you just swing?! Even if I won, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t this worse for both of us?!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afraid of you winning.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zhen Zhi stared studiously at a spot over Hai Tang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shoulder. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you won, Seigaku would benefit. If I won, if you lost your Regular\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spot, there was a twenty percent chance you would come to hate me for it. The risk\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it was unacceptable.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Zhen Zhi chanced a look at Hai Tang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face and found him scowling fiercely at the ground, cheeks colored. Zhen Zhi put a hand on his shoulder. When a moment passed without him being shaken off, he added,<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I thought, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fine if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re angry.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too much,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hai Tang snapped, and then, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re too much.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
A ghost of a smile flickered over Zhen Zhi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mouth, and under his fingers he could feel the heat of Hai Tang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s skin through his uniform, the thrum of his heartbeat. The moment stretched out as if it were endless, although Zhen Zhi would have estimated it lasted no longer than twenty-five seconds. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The captain says,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zhen Zhi said at last, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that you might need some help with your schoolwork.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Go away!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hai Tang snapped, shoving Zhen Zhi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hand off his shoulder. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m angry with you,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and Zhen Zhi laughed until Hai Tang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s teacher came out to yell at them.<\/p>\n
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