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If you asked Beidou years ago, when she was still in college, if she would marry her academic rival, she would have called you crazy.
If you asked Beidou today, while she’s on the job as a professor, she would still say no.
However, she did marry her academic rival and she loves her so much . . . as long as they’re not at work.
Beidou met Ningguang in her first year of getting her masters in geospatial data science, when she wasn’t quite sure if this is what she wanted to go into. However, after her first conversation with her (really, it was their first argument), she knew she had to prove her wrong and soldiered on.
Over the years, they ended up working together and constantly butted heads when it came to anything in their field. However, the more time they spent together, the more time they had to talk about things other than school. That’s when they found that when they weren’t arguing, they got along well and the other was a pleasant person.
So, despite their friend’s warnings, they began to date. They graduated, got married, got a job at the same university, and started their own research. It became clear that despite their romantic entanglement . . . they still couldn’t get along when it came to their field. So, they have a rule: keep work at work and home at home. And it works . . . mostly.
Beidou likes her job, for the most part. She never thought she’d be going into geospatial data science, much less teaching it, but it seems to have worked out. She loves the students she gets to teach and work with, they’re always so bright.
So, she almost always has her office door open. Students will come in to ask questions, to eat lunch and chat, or to relax after a stressful test.
Today, her office is a little stuffed. Not only is her TA, Kazuha, here, but his friends Lumine, Xinyan, Thoma and Ayaka are as well. They’re all pursuing degrees in the College of Environment and Sustainability and have taken her classes at one time or another, well except for Xinyan. She’s dating Kazuha and Beidou has gotten to know her pretty well. She lets them talk among themselves while Kazuha reads through her lesson plans for her undergraduate classes.
“I still can’t believe Prof. Lin gave me a B+ on my last essay,” Lumine grumbles as she angrily taps away at her laptop. “I worked on it for a week. I swear it’s just because I used sources that used raster data.”
“She’s a great teacher, but also a hard grader,” Ayaka shrugs.
Beidou couldn’t help but overhear, and snorts, “More like a hard ass.”
Thoma raises an eyebrow, “Prof. Crux, should you really be saying that about a fellow staff member?”
Xinyan laughs, “Don’t you know? Prof. Crux and Prof. Lin hate each other.”
“Yeah, she is very well aware of my animosity,” Beidou huffs. “And it’s not like she’s without fault! Did you see her last paper? All she did was try to tear down my research. Also, she thinks vector data is better than raster data.”
“Are you filling these students’ heads with your incorrect opinions?”
Beidou stops spinning in her chair as Prof. Lin leans into her doorway. She looks annoyingly beautiful, with her alabaster hair styled perfectly and stainless white pantsuit. Hovering behind her is her long-suffering TA, Keqing. Beidou scowls instantly, “I’m just telling them the truth. Why are you even here?”
“I was walking to my office,” Prof. Lin says. Her office is right across from hers, “And I couldn’t help but overhear. I wanted to make sure that you aren’t hindering these promising young students with your addiction with raster data, when vector data will better help them in their careers.”
The five students’ heads go back and forth, like they’re watching a tennis match. Keqing just shakes her head in the background, she’s been working with Prof. Lin for over two years and is clearly tired of this.
“You can spread your own shitty opinions in your class,” Beidou says. “But don’t darken my doorway with them.”
“I have better things I can be doing anyways,” Prof. Lin says. She turns, but stops, “And Ms. Viatrix?”
Lumine’s head snaps up, “Yes, Prof. Lin?”
“The content of your paper was wonderful, but next time you should keep a better eye on grammar. You should know that well enough at this point in your career as a student. When you are writing professional papers, it will be more important than you think,” Prof. Lin leaves after that, walking over to her office.
“The grammar!” Lumine exclaims. “Dammit!”
“I thought I warned you about that,” Keqing says with a sigh.
“She’s always been a bitch about grammar,” Beidou says.
“I know, I just,” Lumine waves her hand. “Forgot.”
Keqing opens her mouth, but Prof. Lin calls, “Keqing! We have work to do!”
“Will I see you at my office hours?” Keqing asks Lumine.
“Probably,” Lumine sighs and hangs her head as Keqing leaves.
Beidou decides to take pity on the poor girl, “Go see Albedo in the writing studio on the floor above us. He’s taken a bunch of Prof. Lin’s classes and knows exactly what she’s looking for.”
“Thanks Prof. Crux,” Lumine sighs.
“Well,” Thoma blinks. “That happened.”
Xinyan chuckles, “Is this seriously the first time you’ve seen the argue?”
“I guess I’ve never noticed,” Thoma shrugs.
“You’re lucky, Kazuha has to deal with it every day,” Xinyan gestures to her boyfriend.
Kazuha sighs, “You can block it out after a while. Plus, I can distract her by bringing up her wife.”
Beidou smiles at that, thoughts drifting t her lovely wife. It’s well-known that she can be just as easily distracted in class when her wife is brought up, and students have used it avoid lectures in the past. When Prof. Lin heard about this, she ranted in Beidou’s ear about how unprofessional it was for about an hour.
“Well,” Beidou shrugs. “I do love her, a lot.”
“You two must be sickeningly sweet together,” Lumine chuckles.
“Did you know that Prof. Lin has a wife too?” Thoma asks with a smirk.
“How did you noticed that but didn’t know that she and Prof. Crux hate each other!” Xinyan exclaims.
“It’s just because her wife sent her flowers during a lecture on Valentine’s Day last semester,” Ayaka reveals.
“It was this beautiful, huge bouquet of expansive glaze lilies and all she said is ‘its from my wife’ and got back to lecture!” Thoma says. “And when someone tried to ask her about it, all she said is ‘I’m not like Prof. Crux’ and no one asked anymore questions about it.”
“Yeah,” Beidou chuckles. “I loudly proclaim my love for my wife! And, on Valentine’s Day, my wife baked me cookies! She left them in my office for me to find after one of my lectures, she’s so sweet. So, that’s another reason for me to dislike Prof. Lin.”
She laughs to herself. This is getting kind of ridiculous, but the boundaries are set in place for a reason. Who says that she can’t have fun with them?
“Is it though?” Kazuha offers. “She may just wish to keep her private life away from prying eyes and ears.”
“Prof. Crux,” Ayaka speaks up. “Are you sure you don’t just disagree with Prof. Lin because you prefer raster over vector data?”
“It’s more than that,” Beidou tries to insist, but is it really?
Beidou always gets home before Ningguang from work. They drive separately, and Ningguang has a few evening classes she teaches. That means that Beidou has enough time to prepare a surprise.
She manages to finish right before she hears Ningguang’s car park in the driveway. She drops what she’s doing and runs to the door, hiding behind it just as it opens. Ningguang sighs as she sets down her purse and sets down her shoes, but suddenly Beidou scoops her up in her arms.
“Beidou!” Ningguang squeaks as Beidou presses kisses along her neck.
“Hello my love,” Beidou grins. The kisses on Ningguang’s neck trails up the curve of her chin to her cheek. She looks amazing in that all-white pantsuit, and her hair is perfect like silk, “I just wanted to greet you as soon as you got home.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Ningguang sighs, but places a hand on Beidou’s cheek to tilt her into a proper kiss. “Hello to you too, love. Now can you set me down?”
“Oh, but that’s only the first of the surprises,” Beidou insists. “And you like being carried around, anyways.”
“I do, but I’d also like to get changed.”
“Let me show you what I got planned, first.”
“As long as you didn’t make a mess, I’m more than happy to see it.”
She carries Ningguang into the kitchen, where a candlelit dinner waits for them. Beidou cooked Ningguang’s favorite meal and made sure that everything is perfect. She sets Ningguang down at the threshold, who slowly turns to face her as soon as she takes everything in.
“What’s the occasion?” Ningguang asks.
“Can’t I just have a romantic evening with my wife?” Beidou insists. She brings Ningguang’s hand up to her lips to kiss, specifically on their wedding band.
“While I usually wouldn’t fault you for that, you have that glint in your eye,” Ningguang says. “You want something.”
That is true. Beidou crumbles instantly, “My students reminded me of those cookies you made me for Valentine’s Day, and I really want some again. Would you please bake them for me? I got the ingredients for you and everything.”
“You make it really hard to say no,” Ningguang chuckles. “Alright, I will. After dinner – and you better help.”
“Of course,” Beidou nods. “Now, shall we dine?”
Beidou pulls Ningguang’s seat out for her and pushes it in like a gentleman, causing Ningguang to laugh. She really loves her wife’s laugh. After the wine is poured, they dig in. The stresses of the day caused by their academic rivals are instantly forgotten as they bask in each other’s company.
“How did you even start talking about Valentine’s Day?” Ningguang asks. “It’s October.”
“Never to early to start planning,” Beidou shrugs and winks.
“I’m serious.”
“Some of my students mentioned that my rival’s wife got her flowers on Valentine’s Day this year.”
Though they uphold the boundary between home and work, they like to toe the line – especially to flirt. Their friends, like fellow professor Yae Miko, thinks it’s annoying. Beidou and Ningguang think it’s funny.
Ningguang smirks as she leans back, swirling her wine, “Her wife must be very sweet and breath-takingly beautiful.”
Beidou winks, “Not as beautiful as my wife.”
“Ridiculous,” Ningguang huffs a laugh into her wine glass.
“Isn’t it odd that my rival’s wife sent her flowers, when I also sent you flowers this year?” Beidou pushes it further. She waits until Ningguang is sipping her wine again, “I think she’s copying me.”
Ningguang immediately chokes, setting the wine glass down with a thud and coughing. Once she recovers, she glares at Beidou, “You did that on purpose.”
“Sorry babe,” Beidou tries to not laugh, and immediately refills her wine glass. If she wants cookies, she wants to stay in her wife’s good graces.
They drop any allusions to work after that, instead they chat about having their friends, Miko and Ei, over and what movie they should watch for their next movie night. Once again, Beidou suggests Muppet Treasure Island. Ningguang vetoes instantly. Despite that, this evening is truly blissful.
Beidou had never seen herself in domestic bliss like this. She never saw herself with someone who was once her most hated rival (and kinda still is) in this situation. But, she is sure glad that this is what she has now.
It’s another day at work, which means that there’s another chance for Beidou to one-up Prof. Lin.
“Yo,” Beidou strolls across the hall and knocks on Prof. Lin’s slightly ajar door. There’s a beat of silence before she hears a loud sigh.
“You may come in, Prof. Crux, but this better be good.”
Beidou nudges the door open with her foot and enters the room with hands tucked inside her jacket and a shit-eating grin on her face, “I just wanted to see if you had read my latest paper yet. Oh –” she walks around Prof. Lin’s desk and finds the journal publication on her desk, “– I see you got it already. What, are you a fan or somethin’?”
“No, this is my TA’s copy,” Prof. Lin says, grabbing the journal. She casually flips through the pages, “I simply asked to borrow it to see if anyone had written anything new or interesting of note. I wouldn’t have asked if I was aware your research was in it.”
That’s a bold-faced lie. Prof. Lin collects every edition of that journal, but Beidou decides that this isn’t the battle she wants to fight.
“Well, since I’m here,” Beidou sits on the edge of Prof. Lin’s desk – who shoots her a glare – and leans into her space, “Why don’t you take a look?”
The two of them have had a long history of retorting the arguments the other have made in their previous publication. She’s pretty sure that in her last paper, Beidou had at least footnotes on every page that mentioned Prof. Lin’s opinions on vector data. This paper, however, only has one.
She watches Prof. Lin quickly read her thesis before jumping to look through the footnotes, to see how she refuted her opinions this time. Her eyes go wide, and Prof. Lin gasps, “What. How did you use my last paper in the favor of raster data!?”
Beidou laughs out loud, “Ah well, I read through your last paper and noticed that you pointed out some interesting information that I thought supported my opinion very well. So, I wanted to make sure you got credit where credit’s due.”
This is the biggest ‘fuck you’ Beidou could have done: she spun Prof. Lin’s opinions in favor of vector data against it. That is quite the accomplishment, since Prof. Lin is very good at writing papers with solid stone arguments. Beidou just had to get creative, that’s all.
“You took my words out of context,” Prof. Lin insists. Her eyes flash back and forth, reading through the small text, trying to find proof.
“Not at all,” Beidou shrugs. “I know you don’t think that much of me, but everything’s legit.”
Prof. Lin’s face drops as she finishes speed-reading the paper. She slams the journal down as she stands up to look Beidou right in the eye, dangerously close to the point that the tips of their noses are almost touching, “You can’t do this.”
“I did do it,” Beidou insists.
“You . . .” Prof. Lin growls. “You . . .”
And she’s kisses her.
Ningguang is kissing her.
Beidou forgets where she is instantly – because her wife is fucking hot when she’s angry – and puts her hands on Ningguang’s waist while Ningguang snakes a hand behind her neck to pull her closer. When she bites on her lip, Beidou nearly moans, but the click of the door snaps her back to reality. They’re at school. They shouldn’t be doing this.
“Ning –” Beidou pushes Ningguang off of her, as much as it hurt. She glances behind her for a moment, but no one’s there. It must have been her imagination. “We’re at school.”
Ningguang’s eyes widen, “Damn it. I am sorry for acting unprofessionally.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Beidou insists softly, but her soft smile turns into a smirk, “Though, I am proud of the fact that I finally got you to break.”
The line between work and school wasn’t drawn easily. It took time to figure out what worked, and sometimes, someone crossed the line. That someone was almost always Beidou, either trying to see how far she could push it or stumbling across because Ningguang riled her up. So they have a way to deal with it: the one who crossed has to do whatever the other person asks, no questions asked, as long as the request is within the bounds of what they’re comfortable with.
“Don’t say that like it’s a good thing,” Ningguang hisses as she quickly straightens out her clothes.
“Well, now you have to make it up to me instead of me makin’ it up to you,” Beidou grins. “And you know what that means?”
Ningguang’s face drops, “Oh no.”
“Muppet Treasure Island!”
“Fuck.”
“But we can talk more about this at home,” Beidou finally hops off the desk. “How about we get back to work, but not bother each other for the rest of the day? It’ll be a nice reset.”
“That is agreeable,” Ningguang sighs. Beidou kisses her on the cheek, “What was that about getting back to work?”
“You were pouting,” Beidou insists. “I can’t stand seeing my wife so sad.”
“Well, right now I am not your wife, but Prof. Ningguang Lin,” Ningguang reminds her.
“So you’re not going to kiss me too?”
“I already kissed you, that’s how we ended up here.”
“Alright,” Beidou chuckles as she heads towards the door, trying to get back into her work headspace. She pauses and turns around, seeing Ningguang already sit down, “Oh, and Prof. Lin?”
Prof. Lin glares at her, “What?”
“Your lipstick is smudged.”
And it would be left at that. Ningguang would have to watch Muppet Treasure Island during their next movie night.
Or it would be.
If someone didn’t see them cross the line.
“Your students think that you’re cheating on each other with each other.”
Beidou and Ningguang pause their food preparation to stare at Miko. They invited her and her wife Ei over for their monthly dinner night, but they weren’t expecting that to be the first thing out of her mouth.
“Wait,” Ei is also struggling with that statement. “How . . . how can they be cheating on each other . . . with each other . . . when they’re married?”
“What do you mean?” Ningguang asks. Beidou does think it’s a bit insulting that their students would think she wouldn’t be loyal to her wife, but how did they come to that conclusion?
“It seems that one of your students-who shall remain anonymous for their own safety-saw someone breaking the ‘keep work and home separate’ rule,” Miko says, shooting an incredulous look at Ningguang, causing Beidou to smirk. Ningguang keeps her face calm, but elbows Beidou in the side. “And since you two have that ridiculous rule, they don’t know that you two are married. So . . .”
“They thought we were cheating on each other,” Ningguang repeats. “With each other.”
“But . . . we aren’t? So . . .” Beidou can only shrug. “Why do they care anyway? When we were back in college we had better things to do other than obsess about our professors’ love lives. Well, except for that twink Prof. Morax was dating . . .”
“The one that tried to destroy his office when they broke up?” Ei asks. “And got in a fist fight with the dean?”
“Yeah, that one! But that was more for the drama than anything,” Beidou insists.
“And what’s more dramatic than the rivalry between the two best professors in the department having a love affair?” Miko argues.
“Why are they focusing on us and not how you’re blatantly hitting on the new volleyball coach?” Ningguang argues. “You’re married too.”
“I mean, I’m also trying to flirt with the new volleyball coach,” Ei points out. “Sara’s pretty hot. So it’s not cheating if I also want to date her.”
“So,” Beidou sighs, and turns to Ningguang. “I guess we need to talk with our students . . . to clear things up and get them to stop being invested in our love life.”
As much as Beidou would like to avoid the problem to uphold the boundary between their personal lives and their professional lives (though her blurring that boundary is what got them into this problem in the first place), they need to clear it up before it goes any further . . . or has an effect on their student’s grades . . .
Beidou spins in her desk seat, fidgeting with a stack of post-it notes. She had just sent Kazuha to get the students Miko had mentioned after some cajoling, and Beidou shouldn’t really be surprised who it was.
“So . . . why does Prof. Crux want to talk to us?” Beidou hears Lumine’s voice echo down the hall. The door pushes open as Kazuha brings Lumine, Thoma, Ayaka and Xinyan inside. All students share a nervous look, they must know something’s wrong. Beidou doesn’t think she’s ever had to call some many students into her office, even when she caught a group of cheaters, and she isn’t too happy that she has to bring her home life back into work.
“Ah good,” Beidou sets the sticky notes down. “Kazuha found you all.”
“Uh . . . Prof. Crux,” Thoma nervously begins, trying to break the ice in the way only he can. “Is everything alright?
“Sure,” Beidou says, noncommittally. It’s so far from her usual, enthusiastic response. “But, we need to talk to you all.”
“We?” Lumine asks.
“You haven’t started yet, have you?” Prof. Lin walks into the room without hesitation, head held high, with Keqing following her. She steps around the students to stand beside Beidou. “Is there a chair for me?”
“No,” Beidou scoffs. “This is my office; I get to sit in my office seat.”
“Well, it’s not like there’s room for another chair,” Prof. Lin glances around. “You’ve filled this to the brim with random crap.”
“It’s not random crap!” Beidou says. She happens to like her memorabilia; it makes her office feel more welcoming than the sanitized library Prof. Lin has.
“Uhm,” Keqing clears her throat. “Is there a reason we’re all here?”
“Is this because Lumine accidentally saw you two kiss?” Thoma meekly asks.
“Thoma!” Lumine hisses as she punches her friend in the shoulder. She turns to the professors and raises her hands slightly, “Look, it was an accident I just wanted to ask Prof. Lin a question and Prof. Crux was in there and-”
“And you told your friends,” Ningguang says with a raised eyebrow.
“Erh, well . . .” Lumine looks like she wants to dissolve into the ground and not exist anymore. “. . . Sorry?”
“And that’s why we wanted to talk to you all,” Beidou picks up. “You’re all way too invested in our personal lives. We’re your professors, not celebrities. You shouldn’t need to gossip about us.”
“That’s fair,” Lumine admits.
“It’s probably not my place to say,” Thoma bravely continues. “But, you’ve both told us so much about your wives and how amazing and sweet they are. We just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Ah, did you hear that?” Beidou swivels and turns to Ningguang. She eagerly throws aside their work façade to smile at her wife. “They think you’re amazing and sweet.”
“Uh . . . what?” Thoma blinks.
“We usually like to keep our home and work lives separate,” Ningguang continues. “But Beidou and I are married.”
All six students stare at the two professors, but Keqing is the first to speak, “Why?!”
“Don’t you two hate each other?” Ayaka checks.
“Prof. Crux does often get on my nerves,” Ningguang begins. “But Beidou is much easier to get along with.”
“I do hate Prof. Lin,” Beidou admits. “But I didn’t marry Prof. Lin. I married Ningguang.”
“This sounds so dysfunctional,” Keqing groans into her hands.
“Well, like Ningguang said, we try to keep our work and home lives separate,” Beidou says. “We don’t talk about home at work, and we don’t talk about work at home. If one of us crosses that boundary, we have a way to make it up to each other. Since Ningguang kissed me at work, she has to watch my favorite movie for movie night.”
Ningguang frowns, “We’re watching Muppet Treasure Island tonight.”
“And this . . . works?” Lumine checks. Beidou figured this would be hard for the students to understand. The two are always at each other’s throats at work, they probably can’t imagine them being anything other than enemies.
“Yeah, for the most part,” Beidou shrugs.
“We have been married for nearly eight years,” Ningguang adds.
“I’m kinda surprised you all haven’t figured out that we’re married yet,” Beidou continues. She turns around and grabs a photo of her and Ningguang off her shelf. “I mean, I do literally have a photo of us on our honeymoon in my office.”
“We thought that was some kinda passive aggressive move against Prof. Lin!” Lumine argues.
“So now that you all know, will you stop trying to get involved in our personal life?” Ningguang asks.
“Yes, we’re sorry,” Lumine sighs.
“We’ll leave you two alone,” Ayaka adds.
“We’ll just have to find a different professor to obsess about,” Thoma jokes.
Lumine elbows him in the side, but Beidou provides, “Prof. Yae. Her and her wife are flirting with the new volleyball coach.”
The three of them stare at Beidou while Ningguang sighs.
“So,” Keqing continues. “Are we done here?”
“Yep, it’s back to normal now,” Beidou turns to Prof. Lin. “Now get the fuck out of my office.”
“I didn’t want to spend another second in here anyway,” Prof. Lin says as she leaves.
Keqing stares at Prof. Lin as she exits and turns to Beidou, “No really, how do you two function?”
Beidou shrugs, “We just make it work.”
“Alright!” Beidou basically hops onto the couch next to her wife but manages to not spill the popcorn and her drink. “Are you ready for Muppet Treasure Island?”
“I don’t think I have a choice,” Ningguang sighs.
“Oh, come on, I know you love it.”
“It’s just . . . a little too goofy for my tastes.”
“Some goofy will do you good,” Beidou hands Ningguang the popcorn so she can grab the remote and pull the movie up. The opening credits begin to play, with puppets singing about buried treasure and pirates, and Beidou shuffles into Ningguang’s side, “Thanks for watchin’ this with me, Ning.”
Beidou feels Ningguang untense next to her, the softness of her words helping her relax. She knows that if Ningguang really didn’t want to watch it, she would have told her and Beidou would have left it at that, crossing the line be damned.
“I have a hard time saying no to you,” Ningguang admits.
With a smile, Beidou kisses Ningguang’s cheek, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Ningguang cups the side of her cheek to pull her into a full kiss, much like the one they shared at the office, with teeth and hunger. But, Beidou knows what game Ningguang is playing.
“Hey, I’m trying to watch a movie here,” Beidou chuckles as she pulls away from Ningguang and rests her head on her shoulder.
“No good?” Ningguang sighs.
“Can’t distract me with sex right now.”
“Damn. Well, worth a try.”