Chapter Text
Wufei’s Apartment
Paris, France
4 January 214
“So you’re back in France, then?”
Wufei hummed an affirmative, nudging his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose and turning his attention to the weather outside his small apartment. Snow fell in lazy spirals from the gray Parisian skies as the city below trudged on, blanketed in white. It had been falling like this since his train pulled into Gare du Nord and gave no sign of letting up any time soon. His thoughts drifted to his small but growing family tucked away and the German countryside and wondered if it was snowing there too, if they had the fire going...
He took a deep breath to bring his thoughts back to the conversation at hand. On his computer monitor’s video feed, Quatre Winner lifted a steaming mug to his lips and took a sip as he waited politely.
“Arrived two days ago,” Wufei said at last. “Classes start up again on Monday—”
“Ah, that’s right!” Quatre interjected, perking up. “You have your very own cadre of curious brains to mold. Not an ‘assistant’ instructor anymore.”
Wufei huffed a laugh. “Yes, but it also means I’ll be going back and forth whenever I’m not needed on campus, which should be more often than it was last fall…so long as I’m not eyeballs-deep in research.”
“Lots of travel then, on top of your dissertation requirements,” Quatre mused as he set his mug aside and leaned forward. His clear eyes cut through the distance between them, as if he was right there in the room with Wufei. “Be careful not to overdo it.”
Wufei snorted and shook his head. “Says the jetsetter.”
Quatre had the good graces to acknowledge the hypocrisy with a quick, wide smile. “I could argue the point, seeing as I’m not ‘jetsetting’ nearly as often now as I used to, but…touché,” he admitted. “Just be mindful. We’re not fifteen anymore.”
“As my knees regularly remind me,” Wufei grimaced, which earned him a hearty laugh from Quatre.