Choices - A Perfect Pair Prince of Tennis Fanfiction AU

Chapter 7

Summary: Lu Xia runs into Qi Ying. Zhiming orchestrates a plot to check on him.

Lu Xia wanders the castle halls, his mind too jumbled to practice. 

Qiao Chen and Jiale left to go spy a few days ago, so now it's just him and grumpy Baiyang stuck in there. Of course, there's also Siyang, Zhuo Zhi, Zhiming, Xinglong, and the archer trainees, Huang Jing, Ma Xiuwen, and A-Mu, and all the servants and cooks and workers . . . but they don't count.

Actually, he doesn't even want to be around anyone anyway. He just wants to be alone. Lu Xia had been distancing himself for everyone for the last couple of days, but he doesn't feel any better.

"Ack!" Lu Xia stumbles away from the person he'd just ran into. It's Qi Ying, who smiles shyly at him.

Lately, it seems she's been following him everywhere instead of doing her duties in the medical bay.

What's her obsession with him?

"Hi, Lu Xia!" Peng Xiang, a trainee in the medical bay, chirps at Qi Ying's side. Lu Xia blinks.

"Um. Hi?"

He walks away uncomfortably, his mind getting even more messed up. He looks at the sun, squinting as he measures the angle. Then he ran to get to the war meeting.

***

He watches Siyang ride away on his gleaming white steed.

In the war meeting, Siyang had scrapped their original plan and sent messenger pigeons to Qiao Chen and Jiale about the new plan in a secret code.

Now, the plan is for Siyang to parley with Xing Yao and hope they see reason. Qiao Chen and Jiale will come back, even without information. Then, with or without Xing Yao beside them, Yu Qing and Yu Feng will launch an attack on Guo Zi and demand Dayong and Zhuo Yu back.

Lu Xia knows this is a risky move- one that will almost certainly backfire on them. But this is war, and Lu Xia does not want to see Yu Qing destroyed.

"What are you doing here?" Baiyang's voice says.

"Keeping a lookout," Lu Xia replies shortly without looking at him.

"There's nothing to look for," Baiyang grunts.

"You can go if you want."

"I'll stay."

"I'll go." Lu Xia walks away.

"Hey!" Baiyang scrambles to catch up, something he normally doesn't do.

"You said you would stay," Lu Xia replies.

"I—never mind," Baiyang groans. "Do you want to go train?"

Lu Xia thinks. He definitely needs to train—it would be an absolute horror if he got out of shape. But on the other hand, he honestly doesn't feel like it, and just wants to climb the nearest mountain and watch the peaceful scenery. But on the other other hand, he knows that isolating himself won't help in any way, so he should probably just train with Baiyang.

"Well?"

He blinks. He'd zoned out for way too long.

"I'll train with you," Lu Xia agrees reluctantly.

"You can come out now!" Baiyang turns and yell-sighs. Lu Xia looks around, confused.

Zhiming emerges, adjusting his glasses. Xinglong brushes his hands on his white apron as he also steps out from behind a stone column.

"What are you doing here?" Lu Xia blurts out.

"Checking on you," Xinglong replies.

"What for?"

"We wanted to make sure you're okay," Zhiming jumps in.

"But I'm fine," Lu Xia protests.

"Usually, when people say that, it means they are actually not fine," Zhiming says seriously.

"You've been acting a little distant lately," Xinglong says gently. "We wanted to make sure you weren't going to do anything rash."

"What would I even do? Fling myself from a cliff?" Lu Xia scoffs. "I would never do that."

"Okay," Xinglong says calmly. "We were just checking. Also, lunch is in a few minutes, just so you know."

Lu Xia nods. Then Xinglong, Zhiming, and Baiyang all walk off in the direction of the kitchens, the former two chatting quietly while the latter just glowers at every passing column.

A/N: I don't really do filler chapters, but this one was more on the useless and short chapter side. (lmao it was literally the shortest chapter ever) Don't worry though—next chapter we'll skip right to the battle part. Wait I just gave you a spoiler—whoops. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Leave a vote or comment if you did :) Love you guys!

~ Willow