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He was trying to help Tao Mo study. Trying being the operative word.
It wasn’t that Tao Mo was a bad student, or that he didn’t put the effort into practicing, because he did! He tried very hard. It was Gu She that was failing. He kept finding himself distracted by the Magistrate at odd moments and by odd things.
Yesterday it had been the way Tao Mo stuck his tongue between his lips when he concentrated. Today it was the shape of Tao Mo’s ears. Tomorrow it would probably be the bow of his lips or the shadow his eyelashes made. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter - what mattered was its effect on his teaching.
Gu She leaned back and away from Tao Mo just to take a quiet breath. He had to tear his eyes away from the curve of Tao Mo’s right ear for fear of leaning forward to kiss it. The thing was, Tao Mo’s ears stood out. They were rounded, like the petals of a dusky peony, and stuck out from his head at such an adorable angle that was only accentuated by the high topknot he wore. His hair, long and straight and fragrant, sat neatly behind each ear. The temptation to sink his fingers into that hair, to draw it aside and kiss a path up his neck to his ears was-
“Aha!” Tao Mo cried, turning to face Gu She with a bright smile that lit a parade of lanterns in Gu She’s heart. “I did it! Look,” he pointed to the sheet of paper he had been writing on and, sure enough, he had written his name and title in large and only slightly shaky characters.
Pride burst in his chest, a fanfare to join the lantern parade, and Gu She smiled at his student. He knew Tao Mo liked it when he smiled. The Magistrate had said it made him look charming.
He wanted to charm Tao Mo.
“Well done. Now try my name,” he said after a moment, reaching to take the brush from Tao Mo’s hand.
Their fingers brushed, a pretty flush blooming over Tao Mo’s cheeks as the contact lasted for longer than was strictly necessary. Gu She cleared his throat and tried not to stare. He put the brush to the paper, wrote his name as clearly as he could, and gestured for Tao Mo to take the brush again.
This time the touch was deliberate. Tao Mo looked across at him, their eyes locked as he took the brush from Gu She’s fingers. His skin was warm and soft. Gu She wondered if it was fragrant as his hair. Did he know what he was doing? Had he any idea the fire he had lit in Gu She by simply touching his hand in such a way?
The moment passed, Tao Mo’s eyes leaving his to focus on his slowly improving calligraphy. He wrote Gu She’s name with delicate strokes, his tongue poking out between his plush pink lips, and it was almost too much. Gu She closed his eyes and tilted his head back, ignored the nervous energy in his hands that wanted so desperately to reach out and touch.
Tao Mo held the paper aloft and held it out once the ink was dry.
“Here,” he said, “I know it isn’t pretty, but… Now you can have our names side by side whenever you wish.”
The sentiment struck at Gu She like a knife. He wondered if Tao Mo had mistaken another idiom… But no, he was just being beautifully kind, as usual.
“Thank you,” he said back in a soft voice that was so unlike his usual tone. “I… thank you.”
What could he say in response to that? What could he say when given the name of the man he was falling in love with?