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The streets were Illuminatined by the faint falling sun just for Jiang Yang and Rong Xingye.
Who the hell was he kidding, why the fuck was Xingye even here? And more importantly, why did he have to be with him of all people?
With a not-so-steady step forward, the distant streetlights turned on row by row.
It’s almost like they acted on command. Like the cogs within the world's mysterious inner-workings had all aligned when the once dull globes lit up as the two walked by. Like the lampposts were awaiting their footsteps—Like they were waiting for the fated two to walk down this very path.
And like falling dominos, they shone down onto the pavement until every column was lit.
Maybe they were motion sensors–the product of human engineering and not fate, but it seemed too perfect. It was horrifying.
Xingye would have ran for dear life if it wasn't for the ball and chain that was Jiang Yang holding him back. It felt like they had been handcuffed together for a lifetime.
“Hurry up!!” Xingye practically yelped.
He yanked the handcuff so hard he himself winced. As he dragged the chain over, Jiang Yang stumbled a little. Xingye chuffed.
“Hey, Class 7. You walk so slow.”
“You walk too fast.”
Xingye rolled his eyes. “What the shit is your problem!?!”
“You’re the one with the problem.” Jiang Yang responds bluntly. “You're going to get indigestion if you keep running so fast.”
“It’s gonna be winter by the time we get home if you keep walking so slow.”
“Maybe by then you’d succumb to hypothermia.”
“Maybe by then you’ll shut the fuck up.”
“Maybe.”
Xingye wanted to pull his hair out. He didn't want to admit it, but their current conundrum of being forced on a 30 minute walk home was indeed his fault.
The two of them went out to eat with Jiang Yang’s school friends and their ride was full– almost full. There was one vacant seat. The wealthy philanthropist Qian Beibei devised that Xingye could just sit on Jiang Yang’s lap on the way home but Xingye insisted that they walked under the qualms of staying fit. Everyone let out a sigh of disappointment. Obviously, Xingye didn't actually want to walk the distance but he was too much of a nice guy to ask Beibei to just call one of his 200 chauffeurs to pull over in a limo.
Jiang Yang was the problem anyways. What was wrong with this guy? Xingye wanted to shut him up for real. The guy wasn't even talking, but his presence alone annoyed him. Jiang Yang genuinely deserved a whole unsolved mystery episode on his personality alone. Maybe the second episode could be on his bizarre ways of words, and after 2 seasons of microanalyzing his every move they could finally dive into his thoughts. Seriously, ever since their first meeting, Xingye couldn't read him at all. He was an enigma in every sense of the word.
It was then when Jiang Yang stepped on Xingye’s loose shoelace, causing him to lose his balance.
“Sorry.”
Xingye ignored the apology and crouched down to tie his laces. Jiang Yang lurched forward.
“Sorry–”
Jiang Yang pushed his hand into Xingye’s head, using it as a pillar to fix his stance. A clear petty gesture in response to an accident. Completely unwarranted. So the genius pink haired prodigy of hardcore class 3 liberal arts does the only sensible thing. He bites.
“You’re going to hell.”
“Being with you is hell.”
“Real creative. Which episode of Little Fucker Dabby did you learn that from?”
“It’s Little Chicken Dabby.”
“I don't give a rat's ASS about your little kids show.”
Jiang Yang, feeling insulted, sent a glare his way, “Seriously, What is up with you?”
Xingye groans again and then goes silent.
The fact was only now settling in– the fact that he’s stuck with Jiang Yang. Like stuck stuck. Potentially for life–or however long forever entailed.
Maybe they’d be bound in hell as well. Maybe after Xingye repented and was thus sent to heaven and Jiang Yang to hell, this would finally end. Or would Xingye get dragged to hell with him by force? Maybe the handcuffs were a symbol of their soul contract; forever damned to a fate worse than death. Like conjoint twins, if one of them were to sin, the other would be condemned alongside them. Or would they? Would justice’s moral principals rather let a guilty party roam free or an innocent party be condemned? Who knows, who cares? Certainly not Xingye.
In fact, he wrote an expression that symbolized the amount of shits he gave.
S = d/dt (∂L/∂(dq/dt)) - ∂L/∂q , where the final product equaled zero because he gave zero shits.
Wait.
That's just the Euler-Lagrange differential equation. Only applicable when optimizing distance.
Okay. Let's try again.
Xingye gave e^(iπ) + 1 shits.
No. That's Euler’s identity function.
What about e^(ix) = cos(x) + i*sin(x) ?
No.. That’s Euler’s formula.
Wait. But if n > 1…. Xingye began to sweat. Forget it. Functions wouldn’t get him anywhere. Leonhard Euler wouldn't get him anywhere. If anything mattered then, it didn't now because he's stuck here. In hell.
He turned to his side. Just as he expected, Jiang Yang's mind was on another plane of existence. Maybe he was also thinking about math, just on a fundamentally more concentrated level? No– those didn't look like the eyes of a concentrated person, or of a person who could comprehend math. Rong Xingye would know, he tutored the guy after all.
Xingye couldn’t believe he was the only one that was freaking out in this situation. How in the world was this dude so calm? How was Jiang Yang fine with this when he was the one who started the fight that bound them in the first place?
After the sun’s pollution had gone into suspension, the shining stars came out of hiding.
So many great scenes like this will have gone to waste with this man. Xingye looked down at his feet, starting to pace faster.
“Are you not mad at all?– Getting stuck with someone like me?”
“Extremely.” Jiang Yang responded without hesitation.
“Okay.”
….
“It’s still worse for me, though.”
Jiang Yang didn’t reply. No smartass quips or insulting words. Maybe this guy wasn't that bad and Xingye, 18M was the asshole? No– jumping to conclusions never bides well. He would have been speaking too soon anyways. Jiang Yang, being the enigma that he was, pulled on the handcuff hard, making Xingye lurch backwards.
Jiang Yang didn't speak. He didn't need to. He communicated the universal language the two of them were both fluent in, and Xingye received the message loud and clear.
He whipped his head around, “You wanna fight?!”
“I wanna walk.” He mumbled. “Slow down.”
Xingye chilled out for a second and murmured to himself. “Goddamnit.”
Why in the hardcore fuck did this happen to him?
“Nothing just ever goes my way.” He gnawed on his thumb nail. “Everyone just hates Rong Xingye, huh.”
Jiang Yang stared blankly at the pink haired idiot. Xingye continued his rant.
“Everyone–even the universe itself wants to see me hanging in the STREETS.” He put an emphasis on the word “streets" for some reason, huffing as he trotted forward. “It's me against the world here!!!”
“Why are you in such a hurry?” Jiang Yang finally asked.
“Wouldnt you like to know, Mr.Class 7.”
“Yes.”
“W– It doesn't matter!! It’s nothing.”
“Liar.”
Rong Xingye couldn't think of a proper comeback. He just continued walking.
“Is it too romantic for you or something?”
Xingye stops dead in his tracks.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?”
“The sunset. Is that too romantic for you?”
“H– No! What– What the hell?”
“You’re scared.”
“Okay genius, what am I scared of? I’m not scared at ALL. ” Xingye rambled on, not even stopping to take a breath. “ I swear all you Hardcore No.1 kids are so full of yourselves. Just because the entire school wants you doesn't mean I’m one of them. I would never degrade myself into becoming one of you NPCs. ”
Jiang Yang stared at the other boy blankly.
Xingye exhaled, and the streets were dead silent.
“This isn’t romantic to you? You’re an artist after all.”
More silence. Xingye turned, looking offended.
“Do you think there’s something between us? Why would I be interested in the likes of you? Do you really think just because I like to paint means I’d CONSIDER going out with you? I don't even like men!! Much less a man as dense and annoying as you. Not all artists are gay, asshole.” Everything came out in the form of a jumbled up word salad.
“Well I never said to paint me.”
“What?”
“You can just paint the sunset right? And the lampposts on the side, just don't include me. "
…
H u h ? ? ? ? ? ?
This was such a stupid situation. Could it really be that Jiang Yang was referring to romanticism the whole time and not– There’s no way. This guy oughta be ragebaiting.
Jiang Yang speaks. (Never good.) “..Since you’re so eager to go home and paint, let's just create a truce. We can speedwalk.”
Xingye felt an eye twitch. Did this guy think he was funny? Was he actually just that inept with words? Jiang Yang had a nice voice, if only he could put it to actual use. Or just didn't at all. Jiang Yang was so normal around others, and they adore him for his nonchalance. Why couldn't he be like that around Xingye too?
Rong Xingye didn't even wanna rush home anymore. All he wanted to do was dig a hole in the ground and kill himself.
“Seriously– how is half the schools population in love with you” He thought,–
“How is the entire school’s population scared of you? You’re pathetic.”
–outloud, apparently.
Either that or Jiang Yang was a mind reader.
When Xingye looked up, his eyes were met with the iridescent twilight. The sun was kissing the horizon. Something in the silver sunset was telling him to be dumb– to be impulsive, and he was too tired to fight it.
“Its been like that since I was little– I've always been weird I guess.”
“I think they're the weird ones.”
“But they love you. How could you say that?”
Jiang Yang doesn't respond. Instead, he just looks out into the distance like some misunderstood shonen deuteragonist.
“It’s been like that since I was little too. I don't know.” He pauses, then continues. “It’s inconvenient.”
Xingye felt a blood vessel pop. He would’ve killed to have people not hate him for once. Maybe he should kill Jiang Yang.
He contemplated for about half a second, then remembered the handcuff. He was pissed– but weirdly, knowing that he wasn't the only one who disliked his current social standing at the glorious Hardcore high no.1 was comforting. He felt less alone– and maybe even understood? By Jiang Yang of all people?
Xingye hesitated. “...Do you ever wonder if there's a reason why it's us two stuck together?”
“Your fault.”
“Okay no. That one's on you.”
It was then when Xingye looked back at his schoolmate, his features highlighted by the blue hour. Jiang Yang was looking back at him, and Xingye quickly turned away.
It was so unfair that the most annoying guy in the universe had to have such perfect features. Rong Xingye’s nemesis not only had a perfectly sculpted face but the body of a supermodel. If god was real then Jiang Yang must have been their magnum opus. He must have taken years to perfect,
He looked like he belonged in a vogue magazine, or a renaissance painting next to another naked man. He really fit that homoerotic era of
Xingye snickered to himself until a mental image of himself and Jiang Yang appeared in his head.
He screamed.
“GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!”