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The hallways, not usually quiet, were no less loud today. You pressed your book bag closer to your chest, passing the jocks, primarily led by Itto, who were crowded at his locker.
“What’s up?” He nodded at you, raising a hand in greeting, before resuming his conversation with Kujou Sara. Surrounding him were Kuki, Beidou, and Kaeya, to name a few.
You returned his gesture with a timid wave, scuttling past them. It was almost third period, which meant the commencement of your calculus class was fast approaching.
Walking through the doorway of the classroom, you navigated toward your seat. Plopping down in your chair, you awaited the start of the mathematics class that you both despised and enjoyed.
You loved math itself. The intricacies of finding an answer through set formulas and having to try various things to get to the solution were never enough to satiate your love for learning. Being able to input variables and get a fixed outcome was the most comforting thing to you. The constancy of the subject made it one of your favorites.
Now, the resentment of the class. It was not due to any dislike or distaste for the subject itself. Oh no, not at all. In fact, you would have thought at the beginning of the school year that such partnership would have been beneficial. How wrong you were.
The presence of your enemy, archenemy as you liked to view him, continually dampened your enthusiasm for the class.
Cyno. The smartass of Teyvat High School. His social blunders never failed to enrage you, much less how he seemed to be doing these things on purpose . Just to get a reaction out of you.
Having been paired up with him at the beginning of the year, as the teacher thought that since you two were certainly the most intelligently gifted in mathematics, you would be a perfect match, you were looking forward to a brilliant and upstanding year with a solid and competent partner.
That, of course, was not the case. On the first day of class, he beat you to every single answer on the worksheet. And, to top it all off, he always ranked above you on class tests. Always. Even if he had scored higher than you by half a percent, he still maintained a perfect reign over the advanced subject.
And he would always tease you about your inferiority. Pointing out just how much better he was, even if he tried to appear unaware of the effect of his words, began to get tiresome. But, what could you do?
And so, you put up with his insufferable personality, no matter how much it pained you. Today would be no different.
Ah, there was the bane of your existence. He walked into the classroom, dressed in a dark purple sweatshirt and black jeans. His white hair possessed the volume of a cloud, fluffy and puffing out as if he hadn't cared to brush it before coming to school. The tips of his hair curled up, and through the thick wavy bundle of hair, you could barely see his face.
Dropping his backpack alongside his seat, he smirked at you.
“How are you?”
“Spare me the pleasantries.”
Rustling through his backpack, he glanced up at you briefly.
“You couldn’t pretend to be even a little excited to see me?”
“How could I? After you snatched the top score right out from under my nose, after that stupid word problem about surface area and volume, I can’t believe you think I’d forgive you.”
He shrugged, placing his folder on the table. “That’s your loss. It’s not my fault someone doesn’t understand how to set up two separate equations. You must have really enjoyed geometry.”
“For your information, I got As both semesters in Accelerated Geometry. Meanwhile you were struggling so hard in that class, I had to literally haul your ass behind mine in order to get you a passing grade. How’s that for stupidity?”
He narrowed his eyes at you, scoffing and flipping a strand of hair over his right eye.
“What, can’t handle the heat?”
“No.” He looked away, scanning his homework.
“You’re unbelievable,” you said, before directing your attention to your own homework.
The teacher started class, and not a word was said between you two for most of the period.
You furiously scribbled down the equation, writing it out to find the derivative. Looking at his paper, you scowled a little as you realized he was ahead of you by one problem.
You messily wrote the solution before moving onto the next one. Why, oh why, did it have to be a graph?
As you worked out the equation, grumbling under your breath as you had to derive a trigonometric function multiplied by a natural logarithm, you certainly weren’t focused on what Cyno was doing in front of you.
Having been a little ahead of you, he had already finished the problem. Glancing over his work, he huffed.
Red eyes concentrated on your hunched over form, currently clenching a mechanical pencil so hard that it seemed about to break. A tanned hand reached out, tapping your own in the middle of you drawing out a graph.
“What?” you snapped, looking up at him with annoyance glimmering in your gaze.
With a stoic expression, he lifted up his paper to show you something. It was the graph that you were aiming to draw. And…he was giving you the answer?
“Is this a joke?” You exclaimed.
He met your accusatory expression with something not condescending. Instead, he delicately pointed at the line on the graph.
“You’re the asymptote, and I’m the function.”
You blinked. What was he trying to say?
“I’m attracted to you. My love goes on for infinity.”
You scoffed at this declaration. “Nice joke, Cyno.”
His brilliant red eyes darkened. Huffing, he got up from his seat and walked straight out of the classroom.
Did you say something wrong? He had never reacted this badly to something before.
Your upper teeth tugged at your lower lip as your mind darted between countless possibilities. Should you go after him, or would that make things worse? Should you stay in here, but risk making him angrier?
Steadying your resolve, you got up from your chair and went out into the hallway, following the tracks of the white haired student.
Before long, you were able to locate him. He was leaning against a locker, slumped over so that the fluffy mane of hair shielded his eyes from your view.
“Cyno?” you called out cautiously.
A flash of red locked onto your figure through the white curtain shielding his tan skin.
He scoffed. “What do you want? Isn’t it enough to see me humiliated?”
“Well, I’ll admit that it is surprising to see you so worked up over me, the person you hate the most in the whole wide world, rejecting what said person believes is a joke just from how absurd it is.”
He muttered something.
“What?”
“I said, to you it may be a joke, but to me it meant my entire world crashing down.”
“Wait, so you actually like me?” You really couldn’t believe this boy who definitely didn’t make your heart flutter when he gazed at you with that intense scarlet stare, had the capacity to reciprocate even an inkling of what you felt.
“What do you think, you idiot?” His raspy voice did nothing to drown out the crashing waves of surprise cascading through your mind.
“I’ll be honest. I thought you despised me, Cyno.”
He turned his head so all you could see was the soft voluminous white hair that you had caught yourself daydreaming into a bit too often.
“I didn’t know how to tell you otherwise, so I challenged you at every turn. And now I feel like an idiot. It’s infuriating!”
He turned towards you, eyebrows furrowed and expression somber, trembling slightly as emotion threatened to spill over.
“Well, I guess that makes you my function. After all, I have to be the asymptote here, certainly infinite and with no end to my love for you.”
He shrunk back, looking for all intents and purposes like a small dog that had just been kicked.
“You do?”
Rolling your eyes, you reached out, grabbing his hand and placing it in your own.
“If this was what you were so worried about, you should have just told me straight up.”
Looking him dead in his stunning eyes, you explained, “I reciprocate all of your feelings. Honestly they’re probably tenfold to yours if how you’re acting is any indication.”
As he stood there, looking at a loss for words, you stepped forward, cupping his face with your hand. Your eyes flickered down to his lips before meeting his eyes once more.
He huffed a little, murmuring, “To hell with this.”
Cyno leaned in, capturing your lips in his. It was an innocent enough kiss, bordering on the edge of propriety as you felt his tongue flicker at the sides of your mouth.
You pushed him against the locker, pinning his shoulders to the metal surface as you leaned further into him. His hands roamed around your back before settling in your hair, gently twirling the locks.
It was everything you had dreamed of and more. His heavenly eyes were fluttering as you pushed him further into the locker, deepening the kiss.
“Cyno! Y/N!”
You shrank back immediately, dusting off your clothes and attempting to look as nonchalant as possible. Cyno looked just as flustered, his hair a mess and lips puffy. He looked down, hiding his face in the mass of white hair you had come to love.
One of your classmates rounded the corner. “There you two are! The teacher was wondering where you went. You guys better come back in soon. We have a quiz in a couple of minutes.”
Giving your assurances to them, you waited until they had gone out of sight before turning back to Cyno.
“So, what does that make us now?”
“Friends? More than that.” His gaze sharpened. “I’m not sure if we’re even dating. How about…frenemies?”
“I have something better. Adversaries in Affection.”
“I like that.” He smiled at you. What a beautiful smile. He looked so handsome whenever he wasn’t scowling at you.
You pursed your tender lips. “Are you ready to crush that quiz?”
“Only if I beat you,” he smirked, leaning forward to flick your forehead.
“Ouch!” you exclaimed. “Wait!” He had already bolted down half of the hallway.
“You idiot!” you screeched.
He only chuckled in reply as you ran to catch up with him, interlacing your fingers with his after only a moment of hesitation.
Math really could work wonders.