(A/N):

The two songs featured:

"Sweater Weather" / The Neighborhood

"Rather Be" / The Clean Bandit

One Beat, Two Hearts

They liked to play music while grading papers. Sometimes they would configure her iTunes to shuffle, sometimes Baralai would bring his own iPod for music, sometimes they would even burn CDs for each other with songs they thought the other might like; today, they decided to take turns playing videos on Youtube. They sat apart with their backs to each other, Yuna at her oblique desk and him at her small corner desk; no words were exchanged in the atmosphere of routine.

Yuna's grip on the pen slackened, and she stopped, distracted by the sound of his humming as the song he chose began to play. Glancing at the snowflake patterned video and the lyrics that spill on screen, she twined her fingers beneath her chin and closed her eyes, enjoying the acoustic guitar and smooth voice. Although its sensuality made her self-conscious, she strove not to let it show in his presence.

Until the song increased in tempo, motivating him to sing along, and she blushed.

"She knows what I think about, and what I think about: One love, two mouths. One love, one house. No shirt, no blouse. Just us, you find out nothing that I wouldn't wanna - ugh, that line!"

She awoke from her trance, startled by his remark. And thank God it stopped there, because her needs were starting to argue with her brain. "W-What?! What is it?"

Baralai rotated in his chair to face her, sheepish. "I'm sorry. It's just... Those double negatives never cease to piss me off. Or run-on sentences." He added as an afterthought, wrinkling his nose with a frown. "Sadly, even the best of songs are riddled with them."

She giggled. "Grammar Nazi."

"Good lady, I wasn't always a Grammar Nazi."

"And are you implying that I am to blame, good sir?"

"Why, yes. Lay your eyes upon me, and see the monster you have created."

She giggled again. His way with words never failed to entertain her.

Propping her cheek on the palm of her hand, Yuna stared at her drawer cabinet in thought. "I actually like it when the song is a little grammatically incorrect. It's nice to see people being creative. Here, if we write it down, we can even decipher it." She grabbed a blank page just in time for the song to repeat its chorus, and succeeded in capturing the perpetrator on paper.

Amused by her reasoning, he chuckled and stood up to peer over her shoulder. "Okay. Let's see it."

"Hmm... Oh! That's simple." She grinned, looking up at him. "He's basically saying that he has nothing to hide from... the woman he loves..." The implications finally caught up to her and she trailed off, hyperaware of his proximity, the expectant look on his face. She bowed her head, hoping that her long hair hid her blush well.

"You know, I was thinking..."

She gasped at the feathery touch of his fingers slipping through her hair, feeling him pull back the strands before tucking them behind her ear. His warmth lingered for a second, and then it disappeared, leaving behind a bittersweet ache.

"It's good to follow the rules, but it wouldn't be fun otherwise if we didn't bend them once in a while."

In only a moment, his words rendered her incapable of speech for fear of incriminating herself, and his touch - something so soft and subtle in its intensity - instilled an insatiable want so great, her heart wanted to explode. Desire and anxiety threatened to burst from her chest, and she inhaled, hoping to dispel her frustration.

And then, Baralai moved to sit back down in his chair, returning to his task. "You can pick the next song, if you like."

"O-Okay." Bewildered by his sudden casual tone, she cleared her throat. It took her a moment, but she finally managed to calm down again. Pretend that it never happened. It didn't mean anything. She picked up her pen and straightened out her papers, tip poised at the ready. Except her mind wouldn't let it go.

'Who does he think he is? He always teases me! I'm an adult, not some silly schoolgirl. This time, I must poke back. No more nice Yuna.'

Violin strings soon sliced through the heavy silence, accompanying an upbeat, unique staccato.

True to form, Baralai started to hum again, mumbling along to his favorite parts.

She sighed, covering her smile behind the palm of her hand.

'Oh, what am I doing...?'