"Did the teacher plan this or something?" Gu Xiao laughed to himself and slumped down. "We sit together, and now we're doing a presentation together. Maybe we are fated to be student president."
"You picked the number yourself," Lan Yuning said, unpacking his materials.
"That's true."
Lan Yuning opened his mouth, "Do you—" But closed it shortly after and turned his head around.
Gu Xiao was already resting his upper body down across the table, with his head sinking into his crossed arms. His arm covered half of his face, only revealing the line of his jaw and his relaxed eyes.
Spiked by interest, Gu Xiao slightly angled his head towards his deskmate.
After Lan Yuning swallowed back his words, the restraint riddled in his eyes returned once again, but the reflection of his glasses hid the complex emotions within them.
It wasn't until now that Gu Xiao got a good look at him. Not only was Lan Yuning dressed neatly, but even his face was also quite handsome. Perhaps not handsome, maybe pretty, or attractive, a bit of all, even.
His lashes were long, longer than most of the boys in this school, and the tips of his lashes slightly curled naturally. His skin was quite pale since he rarely stepped in the sun, and if Gu Xiao was to just press onto his skin with his fingers, a pinkish mark would be imprinted for a while.
"Student President."
Their eyes met, and Gu Xiao could see his own face reflected within the cloudy brown tones of Lan Yuning's eyes past his lenses.
When Lan Yuning didn't respond after a call, he always took that silence as a response to keep talking. His fingers were also slender, not rough with jagged nails like the others, but there was a slight indent and callus on his middle finger from that violet-coloured pen for too long.
Gu Xiao shifted his head towards Lan Yuning, who was still answering the short passages to the English comprehension. He didn't know how Lan Yuning's brain had this much stamina, but it was admirable.
"Student President."
Like always, there was no response, but he could tell that Lan Yuning's attention had become more focused on him. Yet, this only spiked more interest within Gu Xiao to annoy Lan Yuning, who was so concentrated on his work.
Although he knew that Lan Yuning probably hated his guts, he found it amusing to tease him even though his reactions were subtle.
Gu Xiao continued watching him sternly, his eyes wholly fixated on Lan Yuning's refined face and the tiny flutters of his lashes.
Finally, after sensing his poking stares, Lan Yuning stopped writing and turned around, eyeing him in confusion. The corners of Gu Xiao's lips raised, and he sat back up, propping his head up with his hand.
"What?" Lan Yuning said in his usual apathetic tone.
"Nothing," he said, continuing to admire Lan Yuning with the same smile of adoration.
Lan Yuning's brows knitted and went back to writing. He covered his mouth with his palm while he leaned on his elbow, as though he was attempting to hide the pinkish shade of his face.
"You should smile more, you know," Gu Xiao chuckled, and buried his head in his arms, dozing off immediately.
It might have been because half his face was resting, but his voice was rather husky. Lan Yuning didn't respond, and Gu Xiao didn't bat another eye to see his reaction either. But for a few seconds, Lan Yuning lowered his pen and watched the sleeping boy snooze peacefully, his lips slightly separated, then closed.
Silently, Lan Yuning watched Gu Xiao's white shirt carved out the shape of his shoulders and back as they lightly raised and sunk with each subtle breath.
"Before we conclude the lesson, Class Representative, can you please collect everyone's past physics papers that were set for homework?" the teacher asked.
"Past paper?"
Gu Xiao flung his upper body up, all colour leaving his face as their class representative walked down the rows.
Usually, he copied off Zhang Yongyin, while Zhang Yongyin copied off another student who copied off another student who also copied off someone else from another class, who copied off from another school, who copied off from another province, who copied off from another country, and it probably went on and on.
Luckily, Wang Xing, their class representative, hadn't reached his row yet, so he had plenty of time to copy answers.
Wang Xing was another person who belonged to the student council. He had spiky hair that stood up from his scalp, and his habit of shaking his legs during exam times, forcing the people who sat around him to suffer from the subtle tremors of the floor, was known to all.
Wang Xing always chased after Lan Yuning like some dog, but it was easy to tell he held a strong distaste for him. Perhaps it was jealousy, or envy, or something else.
"Where is your homework?" Wang Xing asked.
Gu Xiao smiled innocently and fluttered his lashes. "It's on its way."
"On its way to hell," Wang Xing scorned and raised his hand. "Teacher, Gu Xiao didn't do his study preparation."
Gu Xiao stood up and received another earful from their literature teacher, though this wasn't the first time.
Whenever their teacher lectured Gu Xiao, the noise and commotion were simply just background noise buried by others. In fact, Lan Yuning never paid much attention to Gu Xiao and his mishaps.
At most, they would only look at each other for a second because Gu Xiao would be blocking the classroom door, but it only lasted a breath before the attention of other students who constantly crowded around swept him away.