Summer was the time for adventures, the time to play videogames and do absolutely nothing in the hot weather. And while the university had a strict policy of not giving summer work for their students, they also hated it when they revisited a class and became stuck in the endless loop of restudying. It did look impressing for the press, seeing how they didn't just let anyone pass the exams, but also scared away new students who were rather unsure about their knowledge.
However the professor in question didn't belong to the group of extremely strict instructors, who did everything to give F to their students. In fact, he took it as a personal failure whenever someone failed on his exams. In some way, it meant that he was unable to share his knowledge with the students, thus failing at his own job.
No wonder, that after the third failure that year, and the second semester spent with retaking the same class Fei's professor decided to give a boy one last chance before he has to pay the fee for repeating the lecture again. The main problem wasn't Fei's brain, no the boy was surprisingly clever, catching up on facts easily by connecting various historical events, but when it came to the student's ability to share his collected knowledge… That's where everything got complicated and the thoughts turned into a pile of unrelated words.
However, despite the professor's good intention, after hours of suffering, writing a seven page long essay seemed to be a bigger torture than the exam itself. Fei just couldn't grasp the topic and time was rapidly nearing 2am.
Ancient Greece, he had to write an essay about ancient Greece. Something, that wasn't related to Thermophule, Troy or Marathon aka the big three of Greek history.
"I'm going to fail," he growled as he took a gulp from his cold and bitter coffee. He was sitting at his dorm room, before him endless sea of notes and books restlessly reminded him of his goal. To find at least one interesting glimpse about these folks.
"When is the deadline?" he heard a sleepy question from the other bed.
"Tomorrow… or it's already today. Midnight. 0:00."
"Still the one about ancient cultures?" The English major sat up on his bed, shamelessly stealing the mug, before making a disgusted smirk from the amount of sugar Fei shoveled into the black liquid. Yet, he had to admit, it did wake him up.
"Geez, Alpha, what else would it be? That's my last exam for this semester… And, I kind of have the basic idea, but not the exact topic. The only thing that comes into my mind is the Roman Politics, but I always mix up the laws and the rulers." The youth growled.
"Also it has nothing to do with the Greeks." Alpha said, before he went back to his book.
That one time when Fei proudly listed the laws of the Babylonian empire instead of the reforms of Solon still lives in his memory, though he only heard the story from their friends. Chet couldn't help laughing when Fei appeared in front of the classroom after the exam and shared his answers with him as a way to ease the blonde's nervousness. His plan was a success. Although, he realized why the professor kept shaking his head.
Even now, they're trying to understand the reason Fei passed that exam on his first try.
"And what are you going to do about it?" Alpha asked, looking up from his book. The lucky guy had already completed his semester and finished his last exam the week before. All he had to do is to wait for Fei so they could finally celebrate with their friends and leave the dorm behind for two months.
"Besides punching the wall, having a breakdown from coffee overdose? I've no idea." Fei pouted intentionally, hoping that Alpha will play the role of the person who will drag him away from studying. Otherwise he would feel guilty if he just stood up and left. "But I'm all ears for recommendations."
No doubt the English major was surprised when he was given a free hand in the matter, seeing how Fei hardly ever let him meddling with his business beside rereading his essays and pointing out errors and typos hours before the deadline. He didn't answer immediately, letting the silence grow between them before putting down his book and sitting up.
He knew what would make a topic, but saying wouldn't do much as Fei needed to rest.
"Let's go out for a walk," he told the youth without batting an eye, but his suggestion met with a concrete wall.
"I don't know if you've noticed but I'm running out of time here!"
"Whose fault is that?" Alpha asked, taking the pen away from Fei's hand. "Some fresh air might be just what your brain needs right now."
His voice just as calm as always, but the actions behind them left no space for idleness. Fei had no choice but to follow him, leaving behind his scrapped drafts and unfinished notes.
::::::: :::::::
They were walking along the path that connected their dorm with the main building of the university. Lazily glowing lampposts showed them the way, but aside from that the campus was enveloped in complete silence. He could hear the orchestra of crickets echoing within the bushes and tree branches, slowly becoming quieter as the air started to lose its warmth.
"Why are we here again?" Fei asked, walking alongside Alpha.
"To get you some fresh air. And to find the topic for you essay." The answer was short and monotone, very Alpha-like, but at the same time that tiny little smile in the corner of his mouth revealed that the young English major was proud of his idea.
"In this case, we should just open the window in our room," Fei protested.
"Hmmm. But would it help?"
"Hey, it could help me. That, and coffee."
"Might I remind you, that you're prohibited from drinking too much coffee during finals' week."
"Fine, mom," he snorted.
Alpha was about to say something, to prove him wrong with an example. To be exact, he wanted to bring up the one exam week when they had to puzzle Fei together after he went three days without sleeping. His main goal was to pull of the longest all-nighter that was humanly possible, fearing the failure that would come out of not studying enough.
In the end he collapsed from fatigue right before stepping into the school's building.
"The library is closed at this hour, though," Fei tried again, fearing that Alpha might want to trespass as a way of helping him.
"However, our destination is not the library. In fact, we are already there you just need to look up once in a while."
Fei did as Alpha'd suggested. Indeed, the veil of night was filled with tiny little holes, not too bright ones, but he could make out the most well-known constellations, like Orion or the ursa minor. It took him some moments to register the sight, but after he connected it to history a pleased smile appeared on his lips.
"Hmm, I think I get the idea now," he smiled, slowly loosening his clenched fist in an inviting manner. Alpha wasted no time and their fingers soon intertwined as they continued walking side by side, turning back once they reached the school's soccer field.
"Thales figured out that the Earth was round, Anaxagoras solved the mystery of the eclipses while one of them solved the mystery of the solar system," he told Fei as they were heading back to the dorm.
"And if I'm clever enough I can turn this into a massive history essay," Fei finished, looking at Alpha. His gaze held both gratefulness and happiness, bringing a tiny smile to Alpha's lips.
"But first, we are going to sleep."
"In your bed or mine?" Fei hummed, obviously teasing Alpha. It's not like they didn't spent the night in the same bed every day.
He couldn't help but notice that their pace was a little slower than usually. But after finding the base for his essay, Fei felt like a time-millionaire.
And even if all of his freshly gained precious moments will be wasted on talking and being with Alpha, he will be more than happy to end up broke, before they start worrying about the essay in the morning.
A/N: Wowie, so school is on my tail and reminded me that I had this sweet UniversityAU. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever have the strength to write it out because for some reason my motivation drains quicker for modern time stuff. Maybe I'll try writing it out as a series of tiny drabbles… maybe. I would say this takes place right after "Anything is fine", right after that semester. I should really write something not exam related… Ha-ha.
Thanks for reading this tiny one-shot ~~! =w=b