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Anaxa's 'Advanced Functions' class was straightforward and incredibly easy to get high marks in.
If you were Phainon, that is.
Phainon jerked to attention, discreetly hiding away his phone as Anaxa reached his desk. It didn't matter how obvious his flailing was, though — all that the teacher did was place a graded test paper on the desk with a simple, "Good." Then, Anaxa moved on.
Phainon blinked, then reached out for the paper. A shiny '100' was written in purple ink (Anaxa had a fondness for the colour — Something about a dog? A horse? A giraffe??) at the corner of his test. Phainon idly flipped through the papers, and found that Anaxa hadn't even bothered to waste another drop of ink beyond the mandatory checkmarks on each question.
Same as always, then. Phainon casually stuffed the test into his backpack. Then, he turned to his seatmate, Castorice, who had also gotten her paper back.
"How'd you do?" Phainon asked curiously, beginning to pack up the stray pencils that he had scattered on his desk. Beside him, Castorice lightly frowned, turning her paper towards Phainon so that he could get a better look. There, at the corner of her page, was an innocuous '95'.
"I made a mistake on question three," Castorice replied quietly. She sighed, her form slackening. "I forgot to flip the inequality around when I multiplied it by a negative."
"Ah," Phainon said, sympathetic. "That's alright! At least you got everything else correct."
Castorice nodded, though the small pout on her lips had yet to fade away. Still, she genially responded: "Yes. I'll remember it for next time."
"You guys are kinda annoying," a dull voice sounded from behind the two of them. Phainon turned around in his chair to see Stelle, who wore a large scowl on her face as she draped over her chair lifelessly. Her distress was evident to see — her uniform was askew, her hair was frazzled (had she been running her hands through it?), and Phainon couldn't spot any trace of light in her eyes.
A glance at her paper told him all that he needed to know: a glaring '48' was written in bold ink at the top. Even more damningly, Anaxa had deemed it fit to waste precious ink on something else: a small '??' that spoke a thousand words.
"Oh —" Castorice cut herself off. At the sound, Stelle groaned, becoming even more sullen.
Phainon slightly tipped over his chair to get a better look. "Can I see…?"
"Whatever, man," Stelle muttered. She was slowly slouching in her seat further and further. "It doesn't even matter. I don't even care. Who cares, really? Like, honestly."
Castorice patted Stelle's hands consolingly while Phainon took the invitation to start flipping through the paper.
Phainon hummed as he ruffled through. "You didn't make too many mistakes."
"Dude," Stelle said, eyes dead. "I didn't even pass."
"No, I mean it!" Phainon said, sincerely. "You just kept making small mistakes at the beginning of your questions that messed up the rest of it. You have the methods down, for the most part."
Stelle pouted, but the light in her eyes was back, now. She sighed, taking back her paper and throwing it in her bag. "Whatever. This class is a nightmare anyways."
A gentle cough was heard nearby. Stelle abruptly straightened her spine when Anaxa met her eyes.
"Did I say nightmare?" She asked, her voice squeaky. "I meant… uh…"
Just then, the bell rang and cut her off, signalling the end of the second period and the start of lunch. Stelle took the opportunity: she quickly packed her things and left the room as soon as possible. Phainon chuckled as he watched her go.
In comparison, he and Castorice chose to leave at a more leisurely pace. He patiently waited for Castorice to finish packing up the last of her items before walking with her to the cafeteria.
With the end of the period, the hallways quickly flooded with hundreds of students that were either rushing to get in line for the food court or to get to their next class. Despite the sheer volume of the crowd, the two of them navigated through the swarm with practiced ease, and they eventually reached their destination.
Phainon quickly spotted their usual table. There, he saw Cipher scarfing down her meal, while a familiar head of blond hair sat across her.
Phainon brightened up. Then, he went over and punched Mydei in the shoulder.
"Ow!" Mydei's head shot in towards Phainon. His arms moved to hit Phainon back, but Phainon only giggled as he evaded it easily. Mydei growled, but the effect hardly made him look intimidating: "Phainon, you asshole!"
"What?" Phainon innocently asked, his grin widening. "I didn't do anything, though?"
Mydei stared at him in utter disbelief, his face warped and his right eye twitching. So, of course, Phainon took that as a cue to sit right beside the ticking time bomb that Mydei seemed to be trying to impersonate.
Castorice took a seat across from them, right next to Cipher. She waved at Stelle, who had gone ahead to sit with her own friends at a table nearby.
Phainon also waved at her, before turning back to Mydei. He told him: "Move your bag to the other side."
Mydei grumbled, but didn't hesitate to do so. With the space between them clear, Phainon took the chance to sit closer. Their knees knocked together under the table — the pressure familiar and ground — making Phianon feel lighter and even more giddy than finding out what mark he had gotten on his recent test. Did he get full marks? He couldn't remember. It was probably full marks, right? Ah, what did it matter when he could be talking with Mydei!)
Phainon placed his cheek in his hand as he stared at Mydei up and down. He pointed out: "You know… you're gonna get dress-coded again if you keep wearing the uniform like this."
Mydei scoffed. The recent heatwaves in their area had the school working overtime to fix their barely-working ACs. However, it still wasn't enough — especially when over a hundred students were congregated in one area. To combat the heat, Mydei had taken to rolling up his sleeves all the way to the top, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his collared shirt as much as he could.
Phainon blinked. Mydei unbuttoned… a lot, actually. Phainon stared, transfixed. His eyes traced a path down Mydei's jaw, down his neck, past his collarbones, and if he squinted, he could almost catch a glimpse of —
Phainon coughed, his face heating up (because of the heatwaves! Right?) while his head felt faint from the sudden rush of blood. Phainon subconsciously inched away from Mydei, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
Mydei looked at him weirdly. "What's wrong with you?"
"It's hot," Phainon croaked desperately. He fished through his bag for his water bottle, taking a massive swig.
"It's because of these uniforms," Mydei started, with the tone of someone who had made a point countless times. "The fabric is too thick, and the sleeves are too long for no reason — who even made these, anyways?"
Mydei crossed his arms. Phainon couldn't help himself from staring at the way that it enunciated Mydei's biceps. Phainon could feel a heat rush to his face again. He took another desperate swig of his water bottle.
Mydei looked at him curiously, before he let the issue go and took out his homemade lunch. He opened the container — beef sandwich with a side of pomegranates.
"How was Anaxa's?" Mydei asked, digging in. Phainon hummed. Mydei took Anaxa's class during fourth period, about an hour and a half after lunch ended. Since Phainon always took it before lunch, Mydei had developed a habit of asking Phainon what happened so that he could be more prepared for class.
Phainon finally felt calmer, so he allowed himself to scoot closer and reach for Mydei's spoon.
"Good," Phainon replied, scooping up a spoonful of pomegranates to eat. When he finished swallowing, he dropped the news: "He handed back our chapter 2 test."
At that, Mydei's face fell. He paused mid-chew, his cheeks full with a slight pout on his mouth.
Phainon was entirely endeared, his heart feeling lighter and warmer than ever. He tried to cheer him up: "Don't worry! I'm sure you did just fine. How bad can it be, really?"
"Twenty… four percent?" Phainon muttered in disbelief, flipping through the papers. Mydei tried to swat him.
"Say it louder, why don't you!?" Mydei yelled. Phainon winced, slightly drawing away. Phainon glanced around them — it was the end of the day and most students had vacated the school as quickly as possible. It was only because Phainon and Mydei had to find each other first that they were still on school grounds. Aside from the stray student or two, there was no one else around. Phainon allowed himself to be more childish:
"You're the one that's yelling!" Phainon whined. "And don't get mad at me! This isn't my fault!"
"It's your fault," Mydei muttered, snatching his paper back. He didn't even bother to look at it again — he only stuffed it in his bag impatiently. "You're the one that's tutoring me."
Phainon pursed his lips, his mood sinking. He never liked it when Mydei was upset. However, he didn't want to wallow in misery. He slung an arm around Mydei's shoulders, who slightly stumbled from the sudden weight.
"Alright, it's my fault," Phainon conceded. He couldn't bear to see Mydei wear a frown a second longer. "I don't think I explained it enough last time. Are you free now?"
Mydei sighed, but nodded, his tense expression loosening up. "Yeah. I don't think my mom would mind if I went to your house to study again."
"Your mother's the best," Phainon gushed. "She definitely won't mind. Plus, she loves me!"
It was true — Phainon wasn't just being egotistical. Gorgo had fallen in love with Phainon ever since Mydei first brought him home all those years ago. Both of them had been overwhelmed with how accommodating she had been — Mydei, for his part, was incredibly embarrassed about the whole thing while Phainon had been more stunned at how domineering she was — but eventually, Phainon learned how incredibly sweet Gorgo was and just how much she loved her son.
She had even taken Phainon aside with a wink and had a quiet conversation with him a few months ago. The memories of what she said was still fresh in his head:
"You know, my boy's one of the most honest ones you'll ever meet," she had said, whispering quietly as if it was the world's greatest secret. Phainon hadn't understood — wasn't that obvious? Still, she had continued:
"But sometimes he tends to get overwhelmed," Gorgo giggled. "So make sure that you're always sincere to him, alright?"
Phainon was jolted out of his reverie when Mydei flicked him in the forehead.
"Let's go," Mydei said. Phainon blinked, then smiled, before taking him by the elbows and leading them both towards the bus stop. There was already a large crowd of students that were waiting, so they chose to stay back when the first bus came and picked up the masses.
Even when they boarded the second bus that arrived fifteen minutes later, it was still relatively full. There weren't any available seats, so they stood and held on to the bus handles. Their elbows knocked together ever so often, but neither shied away from the touch. In fact, Phainon only felt all the more lighter for it.
It was Mydei who pressed the signal when they reached Phainon's stop. He had been to Phainon's house so often that Phainon no longer needed to warn him to get ready to disembark. Instead, it seemed more like they were going to Mydei's house with how natural he was acting.
The corners of Phainon's lips twitched. He couldn't help but feel warm.
When Phainon didn't move right away, Mydei looked back.
"What?" Mydei asked.
"Nothing," Phainon said. Fortunately, he had all of the time in the world to tell Mydei about how happy he felt when they were together. "Let's go."
They made their way to Phainon's home: a small, quaint house in the middle of a quiet and cozy neighbourhood. Phainon waved to the neighbours that were out on the street.
"Phainon!" One of them called out. It was Galba — one of their next-door-neighbours. "And Mydei! You two studying again, then?"
Mydei nodded. "Yes, sir," he said respectfully.
Galba chuckled. "Alright, good! You boys go on ahead. And Phainon — I think your mother came home early from work. I saw her hanging around."
Phainon perked up. "Thank you!"
Phainon led Mydei to his house, taking his keys out of his bag before unlocking the door. He held it open.
"You first," he said teasingly.
Mydei played along, turning his nose up as he loftily spoke: "Many thanks."
They both chuckled as they took off their shoes by the front door. The sound of it was enough to attract someone to the door:
"Oh, Phainon! You're home," Audata — his mother — said, grinning wide. She always seemed twenty years younger whenever she smiled. She moved her head and noticed who was behind him. "And… Mydei? Hello, dear!"
Mydei abruptly stopped laughing, instantly becoming more subdued as he bowed his head. "Hello, ma'am."
"Please!" Audata laughed. "How many times do I need to say it? Our home is your home — no need for the formalities."
Mydei nodded, but it was evident by the light blush on his cheeks and the way he shuffled awkwardly that he was still shy. Audata smiled warmly.
"I'll leave you boys to it," she said. "I'll just let Gorgo know that you're with us, Mydei."
"Oh," Mydei still seemed shy, but was able to naturally reply: "Thank you."
"Okay!" Phainon impatiently took Mydei by the elbows and led them towards the dining room — the only room in the house that had a table big enough for the two of them to properly study together.
They had studied together at Phainon's house so often that at this point, they both had their designated chairs. Mydei sat to Phainon's left without any need to prompt him to. The blond boy placed his bag on his knees, ruffling through it.
"Alright," Phainon said, laying out his stuff across the table. He took out several pencils, an eraser, a sharpener, a blank page, and of course — opened up his own test. He put on his glasses: a pair of thin, black wire frames. "Let's see…"
Mydei took out his own test, placing it on the table while he carelessly placed his own pair of thick red glasses on his face. Then, he started to tie his hair back with a rubber band. Phainon stared.
"What?" Mydei said, finishing up. His hair was in a cute little ponytail, his glasses slightly askew on his face. Phainon felt a little nervous, for some reason.
Phainon shook his head, abruptly looking away and refusing to look at the other boy anymore. "Nothing!" He said, but the sound came out way too high-pitched. He coughed, forcing his voice to be deep, and smooth, and cool, and impressive, and — ah, who was he kidding? He squeaked: "Okay! From the beginning?"
Mydei nodded, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he scooted his chair closer to Phainon. "Walk me through everything," he demanded. Frankly, Phainon was honoured to.
"Is there a specific question you had trouble with?" Phainon asked, to start.
Mydei tsked, leaning back in his chair. He huffed, looking away and acting nonchalant. "Just go through everything."
"Okay." Phainon smiled, seeing right through him.
Phainon started at the beginning, like he said he would. He quickly read the question, muttering it slowly as he twirled his pen in his hands. " — Given that x = 1 is a solution of the polynomial 2x³ - 5x² = 4x - 7, find all other possible solutions. Round to two decimal places if necessary."
"Yeah," Mydei said righteously. He frowned heavily. "I solved it, but Anaxa didn't give me any marks for that one. I lost 5 marks completely because of this."
Phainon blinked, reading through Mydei's answer:
2x³ - 5x² = 4x - 7
2x³ - 5x² - 4x + 7 = 0
2(1)³ - 5(1)² - 4(1) + 7 = 0
2 - 5 - 4 + 7 = 0
9 - 9 = 0
0 = 0
Yes. X = 1 is a solution.
"Mydei…" Phainon trailed off. "You didn't answer the question at all."
As if to prove Phainon's point, Anaxa had written a comment in purple ink: "Wrong approach."
"What?" Mydei asked. "Was I supposed to write '0.00', or something?"
Phainon passed over his own test as a reference, showing Mydei his methodical approach to the question. When the two tests were side by side, it was obvious to see that Phainon had written way more than Mydei did.
"Erm, actually... You're supposed to factor the polynomial when you get to this part," Phainon stopped twirling his pen to point at Mydei's second step. "… Then, use the rational root theorem to factor the polynomial." He pointed at his own paper for reference.
Mydei squinted, adjusting his glasses and bringing Phainon's test closer to his eyes. After a few moments, he let out an understanding 'oh'.
Phainon waited a few more seconds, before he couldn't help but adding more: "And then, you have all the possible solutions —"
" — To the polynomial, yeah," Mydei finished, scratching his head. "I didn't read it right, when I took the test."
Phainon smiled wryly. He couldn't help but tease him, pushing closer as he asked: "What? You thought all that blank space was for show, then?"
"No!" Mydei puffed out in outrage. "I just thought… that Anaxa messed up the layout. Whatever! That question's dumb, anyways."
"Sure, sure," Phainon folded easily, as always. "What was wrong with question two?"
Mydei frowned, looking at Phainon's answer. "How did you get this answer?"
Phainon read the question out loud, slowly: "Solve the following inequality. Negative 6x + 5 is less than x + 3."
Mydei's answer was concise and clean, ruined only by the "-1" in purple ink:
-6x + 5 < x + 3
-6x < x - 2
-7x < -2
x < 2/7
"How did you get x is greater than two over seven?" Mydei asked, tilting his head. A bit of stray hair escaped his ponytail and fell into his face. Phainon gawked.
"What?" Phainon asked dumbly.
"How'd you get x is greater than two over seven?" Mydei repeated slowly, as if he was talking to a baby. Phainon pulled away in embarrassment, fixing his posture and acting cool.
"Oh, that's easy," Phainon started, ignoring the scowl on Mydei's face. "This step, here. You forgot to flip the inequality when you divided by a negative."
Understanding dawned on Mydei's face, before he pouted and made a small note on his paper. "That's a dumb rule."
"Yeah, it is," Phainon agreed. He scratched his head. "I almost forgot to do it too, actually." He was lying. He didn't even bother to double-check his answers during the test.
Time passed in much of the same manner. Phainon would either teach Mydei how to solve a question, or give gentle corrections on the mistakes that Mydei had made. He also made sure to take a step back and give Mydei plenty of time to try the questions on his own — in which case, Phainon would open up his history textbook and continue making notes on Tribbie's history class.
It was during one particularly hard question that Mydei had asked to try on his own that Phainon took off his glasses, allowed himself to take a step back and just… stare, for a second.
He doubted that Mydei even noticed his gaze, anyways. When the blond boy became focused, he would tune out everything else in order to solve the problem in front of him with a single-minded focus. Phainon laid his arms on the table, resting his cheek against them as he stared up at the sight of Mydei.
A truth in his heart that he had acknowledged long ago resurfaced to the forefront of his mind once again:
Mydei really was… beautiful.
Phainon took a deep breath to calm his fluttering heart. However, even if his heartbeat miraculously stopped racing, the butterflies in his stomach still wouldn't go away. He couldn't help but softly smile as he allowed himself to indulge in this quiet moment between them.
"Ha!" Mydei cheered. Phainon didn't move from his spot, still staring up at Mydei with his head resting on his arms.
"You've got it?" Phainon asked, the words coming out slightly muffled. Mydei startled when he saw Phainon, blinking before answering.
"I think so…" his voice trailed off hesitantly, before he tilted his head and used the rubber end of his pencil to poke Phainon's cheek. Phainon let him play as he wished.
"I know where I went wrong," Mydei commented, though it seemed that now he was more preoccupied with drawing imaginary lines on Phainon's face. Mydei used his pencil to brush away the bits of stray hair that were falling into Phainon's eyes before he continued: "I just hope I don't forget during the exam."
"You won't," Phainon reassured, completely sincere. "I believe in you."
Mydei paused his movements, before he drew back with a scoff. There was a small smile on his face that he was clearly fighting to push down, but Phainon relished in the small upturn of Mydei's lips. "Whatever. Can you walk me through the next question?"
"Of course," Phainon said. He ignored the incessant mantra that had been repeating itself in his mind all day; the one that would appear whenever he was with Mydei. "Let's see."
Perhaps, only someone as mythical as the Demigod of Romance would be able to hear the silent 'I like you's echoing in the warm space between them.
Another day, another Advanced Functions class complete, and the same familiar routine in the cafeteria:
Phainon swatted Mydei's head. Mydei rubbed the back of his neck, scowling.
"Stop doing that!"
"Stop doing what?" Phainon asked innocently, taking his designated seat next to Mydei.
"Can't you say 'hi' like a normal person?" Mydei muttered, scooting away from Phainon.
Phainon sat closer. He said, cheekily: "Okay. Hi."
Mydei scoffed, but he didn't move away any longer. Instead, he softly replied: "Hey."
"Ourgh," Cipher groaned, dragging out the sound. "You guys are so — blegh." She stuck out her tongue and mimed retching to further drive home her point. "Where's Castorice?"
Phainon told her: "She wasn't here today. She texted me that she was feeling a little sick, so she stayed home."
Instead of looking dutifully concerned, Cipher just looked angry. "And she didn't text me?" she cried in outrage, whipping out her phone. Her thumbs flew at a rapid pace — probably to text their missing fourth. Phainon looked away and talked to Mydei.
"How was Anaxa's recent quiz?" Phainon curiously asked him.
Mydei pulled out his paper. Phainon took it, smiling at the '45' written at the top right of the page.
"Nice!" Phainon said, flipping through it.
Mydei scoffed, crossing his arms. "Hardly an improvement."
"Still an improvement, though," Phainon reassured. "Maybe our study sessions aren't a waste after all!"
"Why would they be a waste in the first place?" Mydei asked, slightly affronted.
Phainon blinked, then replied honestly: "Because… I might not have been teaching you well — or something? I don't know."
"It's not a waste. I like hanging out with you," Mydei said simply, easily.
"Oh," Phainon said, continuing to flip through the quiz. Then, his hands stilled.
Wait a second. What did Mydei say?
"What?" Phainon asked, perking up. His cheeks hurt from how much he was grinning. Phainon moved closer to Mydei, whose eyes widened from the sudden movement.
"No way," Phainon said. "You likeeee me!"
"No I don't!" Mydei screeched.
"Yes you do!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"You're an idiot!"
The sound of theatrical retching broke through their tirade. Cipher didn't look apologetic at all, just downright disgusted by what was in front of her.
"Can we change the subject." It was a question, but she made it more of a demand. She put away her phone and turned to Mydei, addressing him as she asked: "Why do you even want to do well in math, anyways?"
"I am literally failing the class right now," Mydei deadpanned. "Success. I want to pass the class."
Cipher whistled, unwrapping a lollipop. "Is your grade really that bad, right now?"
Mydei pursed his lips, not wanting to answer. Phainon jumped in by asking him a question.
"Come to think of it, Mydei…" Phainon trailed off. "What's your grade goal for the class, anyways?"
Mydei's frown let up. He took a couple of seconds to think, before he resolutely replied: "I want at least a 70% in the class."
"Seventy?" Phainon asked, then pulled out his calculator. He had memorized all of Mydei's previous test grades and quizzes already, so after a minute of pushing a couple of buttons, he got a number. He pushed the calculator towards Mydei.
"This is what you'll need on the final exam to get a seventy percent in the class," Phainon announced. Cipher leaned over to take a peek, popping the lollipop in her mouth.
She hummed. "An eighty on the exam, huh?"
Mydei wilted. "It's over."
"No!" Phainon said. "Don't give up just yet! You can definitely improve enough to score an eighty for the exam in …" He opened up a calendar app to check how much time was remaining. "Three weeks. Three weeks is plenty of enough time!"
Mydei looked horrified. "The exam is in three weeks?"
Phainon paused. "Is that… too soon?"
"Yes!" Mydei looked slightly frazzled. "Phainon, my most recent quiz was a forty-five. How am I going to double that for the exam?"
"Technically," Cipher mumbled around her candy. "Technically, double of forty-five would be ninety, not eighty."
Both Phainon and Mydei sent her matching glares, but she only giggled. She ignored them and continued.
"You know, I have a suggestion," Cipher said liltingly. Mydei raised an eyebrow, but Phainon was intrigued.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Well~" she drew out the word, then addressed Phainon: "You take the math class before Mydei, right?"
Phainon nodded. "Yeah. I take it during second period and Mydei takes it for fourth."
"And I heard that Anaxa takes away everyone's phones during tests!" Cipher noted. "So obviously, you can't just take a photo of the test and send him the answers. But that's fine! You're smart, aren't you?"
Phainon tilted his head, confused. "Where are you going with this?"
Cipher pointed at him: "I know you have crazy good memory and math skills. No one passes Anaxa's class with full marks in every test without those. So…"
Cipher clapped her hands together. "Just memorize the answers to the test and help him cheat! Why do we need to be so stressed?"
Mydei growled. "I'm not cheating for math. What do you think of me?'
Phainon nodded. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by Mydei: " — Besides, there's no way Phainon could take a test and memorize the answers."
Phainon blinked, recoiling slightly. He was a little offended: "What, you don't think I can do it?"
Mydei startled, as if he had forgotten that Phainon was sitting right next to him — which, by the way, only served to bruise Phainon's ego even further.
"No," Mydei said, then repeated: "You don't have enough time to finish a test and memorize the answers. Besides, I wouldn't want the answers anyways. It wouldn't do me any good for the exam if I just memorized the answers without learning the methods."
"Fine!" Phainon cried, but it was louder than he meant for it to be. He calmed down, before another thought appeared to him: "Why don't I memorize the questions, then?"
"What?" Mydei breathed out, his face warping into confusion.
"Yeah!" Phainon was hyped. "Yeah, yeah — I could memorize the questions, and that way I'm not giving you the answers, not really! It's not cheating at all if you ask me what was on the test and I answer, right?"
Cipher looked absolutely stricken. She muttered: "What kind of goody-two-shoes cheating approach is this…"
Neither of them paid her any attention. Mydei seemed more onboard with the idea, but he still looked at Phainon skeptically. "Memorizing the questions is even harder, Phainon. Are you sure you can do it?"
Phainon scoffed. "Yeah! Just watch — the quiz in a few days, I'll memorize it. Then, we can go over it together."
"Okay," Mydei said, but he said it with the tone of someone who was only indulging another person's delusions.
"Just you wait," Phainon muttered. He could lie to himself and say that he only wanted to do it to prove Mydei wrong, but, well. There was a part of him that wanted to impress Mydei, above all else. "You'll see."
Anaxa placed a test right before Phainon. This time, Phainon was on a mission.
As soon as Anaxa called out the beginning of the test, Phainon instantly flipped it open. He quickly read through all of the questions before taking a glance at the clock nearby — one hour remaining. He could finish in forty minutes and spend the rest of the time memorizing the questions.
He brandished his pencil, then got to work.
Phainon solved the questions as quickly as he could. His scribbles were loud and quick, and his answers were slightly messier than they usually were in favour of speed and efficiency. He didn't bother taking another glance once he wrote the final answer to the third question before flipping his paper to the second page.
He heard a heavy sigh from behind him. Stelle, it sounded like. He spared a second to huff a laugh, before focusing back on his task.
Time passed by, though he hardly noticed. Beyond the equations and numbers in his head, he barely had any attention left to spare on anything else. The only other thing that he noticed in his periphery was Castorice, who had glanced at him when he flipped to another page within minutes of the last. He continued moving forward.
Once he got to the last question, he spared a glance at the clock. Only thirty-five minutes had passed, which left him plenty of time to do his other task. He quickly finished off the test, the numbers and answers coming to him easily.
Finally, he sighed, dropping his pencil and loosening his wrist. He leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of his water bottle before sitting straight and returning to the beginning of the test.
Now came the second battle.
He read the first question multiple times, committing it to memory by mouthing the words silently. He took special care in memorizing the numbers and the equations. When he had said it to himself thrice, he moved on to the next question, repeating the process.
The rest of the period followed in this manner. While the sound of frantic pen scritching and scratching echoed around him, Phainon stayed silent, closing his eyes and trying to memorize all of the questions. Eventually, Anaxa called for a stop.
Anaxa went around collecting papers off the tables, shutting down anyone who was still sneakily trying to write more. When he got to Phainon, Anaxa raised an eyebrow, shooting him a weird look. Phainon didn't care if he looked crazy with his unintelligible mumblings — he had a point to prove.
Once the bell rang, Phainon quickly told Castorice and Stelle that he would see them at lunch before he started making his way to the cafeteria alone. He took out his phone, opened the notes app, and typed at world-breaking speed to write down all of the questions he had committed to memory.
He kept his head down, weaving through the crowd with practiced ease. Once he finally made it to the cafeteria, he grinned bright. He made his way to a familiar table.
"Hey," Phainon greeted, before he swatted the back of Mydei's head. Honestly, Mydei should move to the other side of the table so that he could at least see Phainon coming. However, all Mydei did was wear a familiar scowl that made Phainon laugh.
Phainon sat down next to him, urging Mydei to move his bag to the other side so that they could sit closer together. Their knees knocked together under the table as Phainon slid over his phone towards Mydei.
"What's this?" Mydei asked, before scrolling through it. Phainon rummaged through his bag and ripped out a blank page from his notebook.
"The questions that were on the test," Phainon answered, proud of himself. Mydei raised an impressed eyebrow.
Phainon started writing down the questions that were still fresh in his brain on the blank piece of paper, leaving plenty of space in between each question for Mydei to work with. As he was making this mock test, Mydei started talking after taking a few moments to read through Phainon's phone.
"Don't tell me…" Mydei started. "Don't tell me you rushed through your exam to do this. Did you?"
Phainon's pencil paused for the slightest millisecond, before he continued naturally. "Of course not," he replied. "I finished early and just happened to have time left over. That's all."
Phainon refused to look at Mydei as he continued creating the mock test. After a while, Mydei spoke up.
"You really are smart, Phainon," Mydei muttered to himself.
"Shit —" Phainon muttered as he accidentally drew a big line through the whole page. He used an eraser to desperately erase the mark.
"Shut up," Phainon told him, blushing and ignoring the butterflies fluttering in his stomach. He held out one hand to ask for his phone back while his other hand loosened the tie around his neck in an attempt to cool down the heat in his face. "Give me my phone back. I'll finish making this practice test, then we can go over it before lunch ends."
Another week, another failed (but improving!) test had Mydei following Phainon back home once again. They settled into the dining room familiarly.
Mydei passed over his notebook, dropping his head down with a defeated sigh. He pointed to a specific question. "This one. I spent nearly 30 minutes doing this question and I still don't think I did it right."
Phainon read through it, then started solving it in his own notebook. Lines quickly appeared on the page, but Phainon's pencil stilled when he got to a certain step. Phainon tilted his head, mouthing to himself as he ran the calculations in his head.
"You need to use the quadratic formula," he realized. He started to factor the polynomial using it, and found his suspicions to be correct: he ended up with fractions. "You can't just guess and check or use decomposition for this one."
Phainon looked up at Mydei, who had the most disgusted look on his face. Mydei scoffed, crossing his arms before saying: "That's dumb."
Phainon smiled. "What, did you forget that you can use the formula? No wonder you spent a whole thirty minutes on one short question."
"Shut up!" Mydei cried. "I didn't forget about the formula! It's just — that. Well."
"Well?" Phainon tilted his head, curious.
"I…" Mydei looked away, tongue pressing against his inner cheek before he bit the bullet and confessed. "I sort of… forgot. What the formula was. That's all."
Phainon raised an eyebrow, before he grinned. "I don't blame you. You know, there's an easy way to remember the quadratic formula!"
"There is?" Mydei asked skeptically.
"Yup!" Phainon said, popping the 'p'. He cleared his throat, then brought up his pen to theatrically wag it around — like a conductor would — before opening his mouth:
" — X is equal to negative B, plus or minus the square root of B squared minus 4AC, all over 2A!"
Silence. Then:
"Did you just sing a fucking song so I would remember the quadratic equation?" Mydei deadpanned.
Phainon wilted. "Why? You didn't like it?"
Mydei stared at him, but in the end, he huffed out a laugh. Then, the laugh became louder, and louder, until the sound of Mydei's joy echoed throughout the room. Phainon watched him with a goofy smile on his face.
"You're so stupid!" Mydei said, wiping his eyes. "God, Phainon."
Phainon opened his mouth. A sincere truth that came from the bottom of his heart ran through his mind — I want to make you laugh like this forever — but he wasn't brave enough to say it just yet. Instead, all that he said was:
"You're stupid," Phainon retorted dumbly. Mydei laughed again.
"Is that all you've got?" Mydei egged on. "What a weak response."
Phainon blushed profusely. "No, it's not!"
"Yes, it is," Mydei said slowly, patronizingly, as if he was talking to a child.
Phainon puffed out, trying to think of something intelligent to say.
"Nuh uh," Phainon crossed his arms.
Mydei raised a brow. "You can't just use 'nuh uh' as an argument —"
"Yuh huh."
Their argument dwindled into teasing banter — as was so often the case with the two of them — which brought them both to soft chuckles and quiet giggles. However, once the laughter died down, Mydei exhaled.
Mydei leaned back in his chair, staring Phainon up and down. Phainon pretended not to notice, ignoring how electrified he felt at having Mydei's attention focused solely on him. Mydei curiously asked: "Why are you trying so hard to help me?"
Phainon acted as though he didn't understand the question: "What do you mean? I'm not trying that hard, am I?"
Mydei saw right through him. "You literally go out of your way to memorize the test questions and make me mock tests based on them."
Phainon smiled awkwardly.
"I appreciate it," Mydei assured, then started to look more hesitant, more insecure. "But… why are you going so out of your way for me?"
Phainon's breath caught in his throat. Should he continue the banter, and answer with a lighthearted response?
I want to keep making you laugh.
He wasn't brave enough to say that just yet, but… maybe he was brave enough for something else. An idea that he had been toying with for weeks came to the front of his mind.
Courage sparked up inside of him. He licked his lips nervously, then said: "If you… If you reach your goal and get eighty percent on the exam… I'll give you a surprise."
Mydei raised a brow, tilting his head curiously. "A surprise?"
Phainon gulped, wringing his hands together nervously. He had the idea to confess to Mydei for ages, but saying it out loud made it more real, more concrete. He tamped down his anxiety and nodded, committing to the idea.
"Yes," he was glad that his voice didn't shake. "Yes, I'll give you a surprise. But only if you get an eighty on the exam."
Mydei looked equal parts intrigued and suspicious. "This won't backfire on me, will it?"
Depends on what Mydei's definition of backfire was. Was your best friend confessing to you a good thing, or a bad thing? For the sake of his own mental health, Phainon chose to ignore the latter possibility completely.
"Of course not!" Phainon chirped. He scratched his neck. "I just… really hope that you'll like it."
Mydei grinned easily. "Now you're just making me more curious. Fine, alright. It's just more motivation for me to do well, I guess."
Phainon nodded vigorously. "Exactly!"
Mydei huffed, then nudged Phainon's shoulder. Mydei pushed his paper closer, tapping his pen rhythmically against one of the questions.
"Then here," he said, drawing ever closer to Phainon. Phainon basked in the warmth between them. Mydei softly muttered into the delicate distance that belonged to just the two of them: "Teach me how to solve this one."
As the end of the semester drew near, the stress of finals season was clearly starting to weigh on everyone. It was obvious — students would rush through the halls, hurrying from one classroom to the next and hardly any students lingered by their lockers anymore.
Phainon, for his part, started spending all his free time at the library. His glasses were blurry, and his hair was a mess, but he couldn't care less if he looked less than perfect — he had to study.
Honestly, he should be reinforcing his understanding on the concepts and classes that he wasn't confident in — Tribbie's history class might actually kill him, this year — but instead, he was knee deep in mathematical equations once again.
By all means, his stellar performance in Anaxa's Advanced Functions class throughout the semester should be enough for Phainon to exhale a breath of relief and spend no longer than maybe an hour or two reviewing the subject. However, he wasn't going in that exam room just to take an exam — no, he needed to finish the exam at least twice as fast in order to make sure that he had ample time to memorize the entirety of the exam.
So, not only did Phainon have to study hard enough for himself, he also had to study hard enough for —
His phone lit up with a new notification. And there, on the screen, was the answer:
Mydei: Hey how would you do this question?
Mydei: [Attachment]
Phainon blinked, then took a second to stare at the desk in front of him. It was a mess: pencils and highlighters of different colours were scattered all over the place, eraser shavings were still over his papers, he had three different notebooks open along with a couple of Anaxa's previous tests, and above it all, his laptop was still playing a video on the World Wound Web about solving specific word problems.
He was busy, and extremely stressed, but…
Phainon heaved a heavy sigh, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. Then, he wiped his glasses clean, put them on, then opened a new page in his notebook to answer the question that Mydei had sent him.
It was always hard for him to say no to Mydei, anyways.
Now came the day of truth.
Phainon's own exam had gone pretty well. He even had enough time to double-check his answers and memorize — at the very least — the gist of the whole exam. He had quickly told Mydei the concepts that he should keep in mind before sending him off.
And now, a few days later, Anaxa had given out the graded exams. Phainon had gotten his exam back and barely glanced at it (a 94% — he'll take it). He cared more about what Mydei got. Unfortunately, the truth would only come at the end of the day.
Phainon tapped his foot anxiously, somehow eagerly awaiting and dreading the moment that the last bell would ring at 3:30. Once it did, he rushed out of his seat and went against the flow of the crowd to go further in the school, towards Anaxa's Advanced Functions class.
Phainon quickly made it outside the classroom. He peeked through the door, and saw Anaxa handing out the final exam grades.
Phainon ran a stressed hand through his hair, watching as Anaxa placed a paper down on Mydei's desk. He saw Mydei flip it over, his features twisting into —
Nope! Phainon turned away, and walked to the other end of the hall to wait. He could see Mydei's reaction later, maybe. He placed his bag down by a locker, sliding down to the floor and sitting down. His heart raced as he waited for Mydei to find him and tell him the verdict.
Phainon turned on his phone anxiously. '3:35' it said. It was already 5 minutes past the bell; what was taking so long? He opened up an app and scrolled mindlessly, but his mind wandered far away and he hardly registered anything that he was watching.
He turned off his phone, pocketed it, then took it out and checked the time again. 3:36. There was no way that only a minute passed.
He thunked his head against the cool metal of the locker behind him, closing his eyes and trying to take deep breaths to calm his racing heart. It was fine! Everything was fine! Nothing to see here, except for the fact that Phainon (might) be confessing to his best friend in a few minutes!
He kept his eyes closed as he heard footsteps come closer and closer to him. He didn't dare open his eyes just yet. What expression could possibly be on Mydei's face? Would it be a sad one, and therefore Phainon would have to throw away his plans completely, or would it be a —
"Hey, that's my locker man," an unfamiliar voice spoke. Phainon jolted straight up.
"Sorry, sorry," Phainon apologized profusely, incredibly embarrassed. He picked up his bags, moving away.
Then, he felt himself bump into someone else. "Sorry!" Another apology left his lips as he turned around and came face to the face with —
"Phainon?" Mydei asked. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing!" Phainon squeaked. Then, he brightened up. "Hey!"
"Hey," Mydei replied softly, but it was hard to read him. His face seemed as cool as always.
Phainon's heart beat faster. He asked tentatively: "How… did it go?"
At that, Mydei frowned, his brows furrowing. Phainon's racing heart suddenly sank in his chest.
Phainon let out a soft 'ah', his shoulders dropping and his arms hanging uselessly at his sides. He gulped, ignoring the loss that he was feeling as he tried to comfort his best friend: "It's okay…"
Mydei continued frowning heavily, staring at Phainon. Phainon didn't dare look away, only watching as the lines on Mydei's face suddenly… softened? Lightened up?
Mydei smiled, his grin big and bright as he laughed right in Phainon's face: "You look like a kicked puppy."
What? "What?" Phainon asked, tilting his head. Mydei snickered.
"It went well," Mydei said, after he finished chuckling to himself. Phainon was… so confused, and slightly overwhelmed. The sudden whiplash of emotions did nothing to help Phainon's brain start working.
Instead, all that was going through his head was: What? What???
So, does that mean…
Mydei flicked Phainon's forehead. There was an easy grin on his face as he asked: "So, where's my surprise?"
Oh, fuck.
"Uh…" Phainon stuttered. He was one wrong move away from chickening out, but he couldn't — he had promised Mydei a surprise. Beyond that, he owed it to himself — perhaps to the both of them — to finally take a step forward and to put a name to that unspoken thing that had been stewing between them for years.
Still, he found that his legs refused to move. He opened his mouth, but only silence came out.
Mydei's grin was slowly fading, confused. "Phainon? Hello? What's wrong?"
Phainon harshly bit his lips, before he decided to bite the bullet. "Nothing's wrong!" he said with false bravado. "Just. Follow me."
Mydei did, but he didn't forget to ask: "Where are we going?"
Phainon didn't answer. Instead, he took Mydei to the nearest empty classroom that he could find.
"Do you really wanna know what my surprise is?" Phainon asked, though his voice shook slightly. His palms were sweaty, so he discreetly wiped them on his pants before reaching for a chalk.
Mydei still seemed confused. "Yeah…?"
"Okay, here it is," Phainon announced, before writing down the equation that he had memorized for the past few weeks.
9x - 7i > 3(3x - 7u)
"Are you serious," Mydei deadpanned. "More math? That's the surprise?"
"Just," Phainon begged, licking his lips anxiously. He gulped, his foot tapping against the ceramic tiles. "Do it. Trust me."
Mydei raised an eyebrow, but extended a palm out. Phainon took the signal to drop the chalk in his hand, clapping away the chalk dust on his fingers.
Phainon's hands were simultaneously clammy and sweaty. His heart raced in anticipation, and the heat in his cheeks was only multiplied by the fact that the ACs in the school still hadn't been fixed. Phainon felt like his uniform was suffocating him (maybe Mydei did have a point about the uniforms), so he loosened his tie.
Despite the fact that Phainon was about five minutes away from fainting, Mydei, for his part, seemed cool and completely composed. If anything, he just seemed a little irked at having to do more math.
Phainon couldn't look. Phainon had to look. He watched as Mydei solved the question, each line appearing one by one and each line serving to increase Phainon's heart rate more and more.
9x - 7i > 3(3x - 7u)
9x - 7i > 9x - 21u
9x - 7i > 9x - 21u
-7i > -21u
"And then I flip the inequality around, right?" Mydei muttered to himself, evidently remembering that tutoring session from a lifetime ago. Phainon watched with bated breath as Mydei completed the last line.
i < 3u
Silence. Phainon could only hear the blood rushing in his ears.
And then.
"Now what?" Mydei asked. There wasn't a change in his expression. "What do I do with the 'i' and the 'u'?"
Phainon was about two seconds away from fainting. He said, weakly: "Read it. That's the surprise."
Mydei blinked, then turned back to the board, chalk still in hand. His voice trailed off hesitantly: "'i' is less than three 'u'…? Wait."
Mydei dropped the chalk. He slowly turned to Phainon. Then:
"Did you just confess to me using a math equation?"
Why did he sound so offended at the fact that it was math of all things? Phainon wiped his palms against his pants, before coughing and straightening his spine. "Yeah. What about it?"
"Phainon," Mydei demanded. Phainon looked away, gulping nervously.
"Phainon," Mydei repeated, kindly. Phainon still refused to look at him, though — instead choosing to look at the board with the equation.
Maybe confessing with such a stupid equation was a dumb idea. Who confessed to their crush like this, anyways?? God, why didn't he ask anyone for help? Maybe he should've asked Cyrene, even though he knew she would've teased him about it for months and months —
A pressure on his chin startled him out of his inner frenzy. Phainon widened his eyes as Mydei used his hand to take Phainon by the jaw and force them to make eye contact.
Phainon let out a high-pitched noise. At first glance, Mydei looked angry — there was a great furrow in his brows, and his eyes were narrowed into slits. However, the raging blush across his cheeks and the way that his mouth was half-smile, half-wince made it too easy for Phainon to read him.
Mydei was… embarrassed. And not in a bad way…?
And not in a bad way! Phainon blinked rapidly, brightening up but still holding his breath for what else Mydei may have to say.
Mydei continued staring at him silently, before he seemed to register the lack of distance between them. He released his hold on Phainon's jaw. He missed the warmth already.
"Phainon…" Mydei spoke. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah," Phainon admitted. A conversation from months ago — "So make sure that you're always sincere to him, alright?" — allowed him to brush off the anxiety to finally say: "Yeah. I've liked you for a long time, Mydei."
Mydei's jaw dropped, at a loss for words. Phainon watched as he flailed for an answer, before Mydei crossed his arms and said righteously: "You're an idiot."
"What?" Phainon's heart dropped.
"You're an idiot," Mydei repeated, which — wow. He did not need to say it again. However, before Phainon could spiral or finally succumb to his long-overdue heart attack, Mydei continued. " — If you don't think that I feel the same."
Phainon furrowed his brow, taking a few moments to mull over what Mydei said before the message registered. Phainon's eyes widened.
"Wait!" Phainon cried. "Wait — does that mean — ?"
"Yes, yes," Mydei rushed impatiently, still nursing red in his cheeks that seemed to only get stronger by the second. Was it creeping down his neck, now? "Yes! Be my boyfriend, or whatever."
Phainon was incredibly charmed by the sight of Mydei looking so flustered. He grinned hard. "'Or whatever?'" He teased. "What does that mean?"
"Fuck you," Mydei cussed. He outstretched his palm. "Do you want to hold my hand or not???"
No one else had to know how quickly Phainon took the opportunity to do just that.
"Wait, Mydei."
"What?"
"Can you stop for a second? I've always wanted to try something."
"?" Mydei let go of his hand, standing awkwardly in the empty hallway. "Okay."
Phainon smiled, looked both ways to make sure the coast was clear, then pushed Mydei against a locker and slammed a heavy arm right next to his face.
"What the fuck," Mydei breathed out, gawking. Phainon proudly watched as red bloomed on Mydei's cheeks, neck, and ears.
Phainon smiled, then smirked. "I've always wanted to do that."
Then, he walked away, whistling a happy little tune. He could hear shouts from behind him, and the sound of hurried footsteps running to catch up. Phainon let out delighted laughter as Mydei chased him down the halls.