Chapter Text
The University of Luofu’s law school, despite its grand appearance, was surprisingly a mundane setting, all things considered.
The architecture of the buildings was gorgeous and definitely had the vibe of a prestigious academic institution, Blade had to admit, but the students walking around the halls and sitting on the benches looked just like the students he saw around campus when he was in undergrad. Weren’t they supposed to look more…lawyerly, or something? He’d seen Legally Blonde — Elle Woods was an icon, and he didn’t regret following in her footsteps — so he expected everyone to dress more professionally. Instead, they were wearing the typical jeans, hoodies, and backpacks, not slacks, coats, and messenger bags.
Though, Blade was also wearing an all-black ensemble that would likely be more appropriate for an alternative rock concert, so he supposed he didn’t have much room to speak.
Outside of the way the students dressed, though, the first day felt like any other day. Blade wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he certainly didn’t feel like a law student.
Maybe if Blade had wanted to be a lawyer his entire life, his first day of law school would’ve been more exciting, but as it was, he cared more about getting to run into Dan Heng on campus.
“Hey, what the hell are you doing here?”
Blade scowled. Of course, he would run into him first instead of Dan Heng, the love of his life, the apple of his eye, the main reason he had taken the LSAT in the first place.
“I go here,” Blade deadpanned, turning around to face Jing Yuan.
Huh. What do you know? Some people did dress like lawyers: Jing Yuan was wearing khaki slacks, a brown cardigan, and reading glasses, and he absolutely looked the part of a nerdy law student who probably got happy about being cold called by a professor.
“When did you ever want to be a lawyer?” Jing Yuan asked, crossing his arms and looking exactly like an aggrieved high school history teacher. “Last I checked, you were planning to go work somewhere after getting your bachelor’s and live a simple life.”
Blade laughed dryly. The last time he had dreamed of living such a simple life had been a year ago — though he had also lost touch of all his friends around that time, so it tracked that Jing Yuan still thought that of him. “A lot can change in a year, Jing Yuan. How would you know what I do or don’t want if you never even asked?”
Jing Yuan’s expression softened, the guilt on his face palpable in the downward slant of his eyebrows. “I’m… I’m sorry, Blade.” He reached out hesitantly as if to pat Blade on the shoulder but stopped himself at the last moment.
Sighing, Blade forced himself to calm down; he breathed in and out slowly and counted to ten repeatedly in his head until he could think through the haze of hurt that had welled up in his chest. “Thank you.” He didn’t say it was fine, because it wasn’t — hadn’t been — fine, but he appreciated Jing Yuan apologizing, nonetheless.
Apologies couldn’t change the past, but at least his reaction had been…much better than it had been. His therapist would be proud of him.
Jing Yuan wasn’t likely to break the silence now, considering the awkward air surrounding the two of them, so Blade decided to be the bigger person and continue their conversation. “But yeah. This was a last-minute decision.”
“I can imagine.” Jing Yuan readjusted his cardigan. “Are you doing patent law? I’m sure your engineering degree would be really helpful there.”
“Criminal law, actually,” Blade replied, checking his phone for the time. He still had twenty minutes left until his contracts law class, a required first-year course that he was absolutely dreading, considering how boring the syllabus looked, but he figured it would be good to arrive early for the first day. “I’m going to start walking to class now.”
“For sure.” Jing Yuan checked his watch briefly before refocusing his gaze on Blade. “I need to go to class now, too. Maybe we can…catch up later?”
Hm. Catch up later. Blade considered the idea, rolling the possibility around in his mind, and he found that he did want to talk to Jing Yuan more.
“Yeah. I still have your number. I’ll text,” Blade said, and was relieved to see Jing Yuan smile, nod eagerly, and wave him goodbye before walking off in the opposite direction.
The past year had been excruciatingly lonely without anyone to talk to besides his therapist and LSAT tutor; Blade didn’t have anyone to blame, really, except for himself for beign self-destructive, but he was going to treat law school as a fresh start.
It was time to right old wrongs and reconnect with the people he had driven away.
With a newly found spring in his step, Blade left the main plaza of the university and headed toward Astrum Hall. He had familiarized himself with the university layout a few days beforehand after he had finished moving into his apartment off-campus, so he knew exactly where his lecture hall was and quickly arrived at his destination — and he had already planned to sit in the very back.
Yeah, Blade wanted to get good grades, and he cared about being a good lawyer so he could eventually take up a job at the prosecutor’s office, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be smack dab and center in a contracts law class.
(It would be easier to sneak a few naps here and there if he sat in the back, anyway.)
The door to the specific lecture hall was already open, and Blade could hear quiet murmurs from inside; it made sense that law students would come early for class, but the noise still made Blade’s stomach turn. Blade wished he could’ve had a few moments to himself, but, after sending a quick prayer to his parents and reminding himself of his desire to make them proud, he walked right in, ignored the other students, and stepped calmly up the stairs to the last row of seats.
Only to see someone already sitting in that very row.
In the scheme of things, it didn’t matter. Blade knew that required courses, like this one, would be filled to the brim with students and every seat in the room was likely to be filled before class started; however, it was less about the fact that there was already someone sitting in the last row but more about how familiar that head of hair looked.
Blade’s combat boots squeaked against the floor. The person looked up, and Blade was immediately face-to-face with the most beautiful azure eyes he had ever seen in his life: the very eyes of his (former) best friend, Dan Heng.
Oh, shit. Even if Blade had applied to the University of Luofu law school specifically because Dan Heng was attending, Blade realized he was definitely not ready to face Dan Heng so soon.
Dan Heng looked good — too good. The last time Blade had seen Dan Heng, he had had long layered hair that reached down his back; now, Dan Heng’s hair was cropped messily short, and while a small part of Blade mourned the loss of the beautiful locks, the haircut emphasized the boyishly handsome shape of Dan Heng’s face and framed the brightness of his eyes, even under the dreary lighting of the lecture hall.
As for what he was wearing… Blade tried not to stare too obviously, but Dan Heng looked so effortlessly chic and cozy in a simple emerald cardigan, black turtleneck, and high-waisted light-wash jeans.
Dan Heng looked so different from how he had the last time Blade had talked to him — a memory Blade both treasured and regretted — and yet, he was still the same man Blade had fallen in love with all the way back in high school.
“Oh.” Dan Heng’s mouth fell open slightly, shock evident in his face. “You…”
Blade cleared his throat and rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. “Hi, Dan Heng.”
As if startled by actually hearing Blade’s voice, Dan Heng’s eyes widened momentarily before he sharply turned his head to the side, fixing his gaze to some random point on the ground. “Hi, Blade,” he said without making eye contact, his voice quiet and stilted.
Blade inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. Baby steps, he reminded himself. Take everything one step at time.
“Is anyone sitting next to you?” Blade asked. Internally, he cringed at the stupid question; after all, the entire row around Dan Heng was completely empty.
“…No,” Dan Heng said, moving his bag closer to his legs so that it didn’t stick out so much in the walking aisle.
If that wasn’t a clear invitation to sit down next to him, then Blade didn’t know what was — even if Dan Heng still refused to look at him.
Blade shuffled awkwardly into the seat next to Dan Heng and set his bag down on the floor, his mind racing a million miles a minute.
Okay. Okay. Blade’s biggest goal for going to law school was complete…or, well, the first part of it was complete. Seeing Dan Heng again was just the beginning of Blade’s carefully thought-out plan to apologize for being an asshole and driving Dan Heng away their last year of university together, return to Dan Heng’s good graces and become his best friend again, and eventually win his heart.
Easy. Totally easy. Blade had gotten a 180 on the LSAT after studying for only a month and hadn’t skipped any of his therapy sessions in over three months; how hard would it be to befriend Dan Heng again?
“Dan Heng, I —"
“You should take out your book and syllabus,” Dan Heng interrupted in a whisper, his words leaving no room for argument. “Class is about to start.”
Blade blinked and tore his eyes from Dan Heng’s side profile and toward the front of the lecture hall, where, sure enough, a middle-aged man was standing at the front while loading up a slideshow.
“Dan Heng,” Blade said again, twisting in his seat to fully face Dan Heng and tapping on his desk. “After class, could you —”
“You, there, wearing all black and sitting in the back!”
For the second time in however many minutes, Blade was forced to look away from Dan Heng, sit properly in his seat, and face the front of the class and the ire of the professor.
“It’s only the first day of classes, and you’re already trying to slack off?” the professor tutted and shook his head. “I hope you did some of the readings in advance, then, because you’ll be my first cold call of the semester.”
Well, shit.
Blade snuck a hasty glance to his right.
Dan Heng still refused to look at him.
Blade straightened up in his seat and plastered on his most neutral, unaffected expression. “Sure, Prof. Hit me with what you’ve got.”
Maybe things weren’t going to be as easy as he had hoped, but Blade was not going to give up easily.