Despite the deep and profound sadness in his eyes, Igor spoke with such energy and determination. When he got excited, as he was now, he became especially animated and boisterous, speaking with an infectious passion. Jing Yuan could have listened to him talk for hours. Not to mention Igor had just finished a fight and was glistening with sweat. Sweat that dripped down his chiseled jawline and onto his chest to pool between his voluptuous pecs-

....

….Okay, maybe he hadn’t been paying attention.

But he couldn't help it! Igor was just so captivating. Trying to act normal around Yingxing was bad enough, but this was even worse. It wasn't fair for Igor to simultaneously be so utterly stunning and incredibly noble and heroic! He'd gone all across the universe to try and rally support for his home planet, and no matter how many rejections he faced he never stopped.

It was amazing.

And it didn't hurt that he was a very handsome man.

"Ah, I'm sorry." Igor suddenly paused, letting out a sheepish laugh. "I must be boring you."

"No! Not at all!" Jing Yuan quickly replied. Perhaps a bit too quickly.

"Are you sure?" Igor asked, raising an eyebrow. "You seemed to have your head in the clouds if you'll excuse the pun."

"The only thing I was lost in was your eyes..." Jing Yuan whispered. And those beautiful muscles.

However, he didn't seem to have said this as quietly as he thought he had, as both Igor and General Huaiyan (who Jing Yuan had completely forgotten was there) made noises of surprise. And perhaps amusement, in Igor's case.

"What was that?" Igor asked, clearly trying to stifle his laughter.

Jing Yuan felt his face beginning to grow warm.

"Uh, nothing!" He said. "A-Anyway, you were telling us about how you learned to box, weren't you?"

"I was," Igor confirmed with a smile. "Five minutes ago."

Jing Yuan's face grew even warmer. "Oh." He squeaked.

Thankfully, Igor didn't seem particularly upset. In fact, he let out a booming laugh at Jing Yuan's reaction.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." He reached over to pat Jing Yuan's shoulder, something that only served to make Jing Yuan's heart beat even faster.

"In any case." General Huaiyan politely cleared his throat, causing Igor to step back and remove his hand from Jing Yuan's shoulder. "It has been wonderful speaking with you, but I do believe Jing Yuan and I have some appointments we must attend to."

Appointments? What was the general-?

Jing Yuan suddenly stood up straighter as the realization hit him.

"I'm late for training!" He yelled.

Oh, Aeons... He would probably have to do so many sword drills to make up for being late.

"I'm so sorry, Igor, I really need to go. I'll see you later!" He quickly bowed to Igor before scrambling off toward the courtyard.

As much as he hoped Jingliu had also become caught up in War Dance preparations, he knew she would never be late for training. He didn't know if she'd been late to anything for the entire time he'd known her.

Sure enough, as he approached the courtyard, he could hear the sound of her sharpening stone against her sword. His stomach clenched. Hopefully, Jingliu wouldn't be too upset with him. He hadn't meant to be late. General Huaiyan would be able to back him up!

"I-I'm sorry I'm late!" Jing Yuan gasped as he skidded to a stop in the courtyard.

Jingliu didn't look up from her sword. Jing Yuan breathed an internal sigh of relief that she didn't seem upset. Her movements were slow and fluid, not jerky or forceful as they were when she was irritated with him.

"Normally this kind of tardiness would earn you an extra hour of practice," she said.

Jing Yuan stifled a groan, his arms already beginning to ache at the anticipation of the extra hour of sword drills.

"However," Jingliu continued, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Given what I imagine are the special circumstances of this tardiness, I think I'll spare you. Just this once."

For a moment, Jing Yuan was confused. Special circumstances? What did she-?

Suddenly, it hit him, and he felt his cheeks begin to grow warm.

"Special circumstances?" He squeaked.

Jingliu nodded, continuing to sharpen her sword with a calm and unhurried motion that made Jing Yuan feel all the more mortified.

"I heard you've been quite taken with a certain War Dance contestant," she said.

Jing Yuan wanted very badly for the ground to open up and swallow him whole. Had he been that obvious? He'd only talked with Igor a few times, he couldn't have made that much of an impression on everyone else in those few times.

"He's a very inspiring figure," he said. "I think there's a great deal I could learn from him."

"He is quite inspiring," Jingliu agreed, although from her tone Jing Yuan could tell she didn't believe that was the only reason he was drawn to Igor. "I hope your admiration for him won't affect your fight against him, should he reach you in the war dance."

"Of course not!" Jing Yuan immediately shook his head. "It would be an insult to all he's worked for to go easy on him!"

Jingliu smiled, clearly satisfied with this answer as she set her sword aside. "Good. Now, we've wasted enough time. Let's begin our training."

After that, Jing Yuan had hoped no one else would comment on his evidently obvious crush on Igor.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans for him.

"Heard you got a crush on that red-headed boxer."

Jing Yuan resisted the urge to scream as he watched Yingxing hammer away at the molten metal of his current project.

"Has everyone heard about that by now?" He groaned, covering his face with his hands.

Okay, so, admittedly he might have deserved this. He had dropped by to distract himself from his certainly unrequited crush on Igor by using his almost certainly unrequited crush on Yingxing. Surely, he'd thought, watching a shirtless Yingxing hammer away at a molten piece of metal would take his mind off the mental image of Igor in his undershirt trading blows with a sparring partner.

Yingxing gave him a sly grin that sent butterflies fluttering in Jing Yuan's stomach. "You haven't exactly been subtle. Everyone's seen you making eyes at him every time he's around."

"Wha-! I haven't been making eyes at him!" Jing Yuan sputtered.

He had definitely been making eyes at Igor. He knew he had. But he hadn't known he'd been so obvious about it.

Yingxing's grin only got wider. "Uh-huh. Sure. Then what do you call what you've been doing?"

Jing Yuan's face felt like it was on fire, and he was sure it was as red as the coals powering Yingxing's forge. "I don't know! Looking at him with admiration?"

"Uh-huh." Yingxing just kept watching him, still smiling wide.

"I just think he's very heroic!" Jing Yuan said. "And very knowledgable!"

"Sure you do." Yingxing nodded as he turned his attention back to his project.

"I do!" Jing Yuan insisted.

"Mm-hm." Yingxing was still smiling. "You know, he does seem to like you too."

Jing Yuan immediately perked up. "He does?"

"From what I've heard, at least." Yingxing shrugged slightly. "But you should probably ask him if you want confirmation."

"What... What does he like about me?" Jing Yuan nervously fiddled with the hem of his uniform.

"I don't know." Yingxing's hammer fell on the metal. "You should ask him.

Jing Yuan squirmed uncomfortably. He didn't want to just ask Igor. What if Igor thought he was weird? After all, Igor was on a noble mission to save his homeland. He probably didn't have time for Jing Yuan's silly little teenage crush.

"I can hear you overthinking it." Yingxing's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "Just talk to him. From what I've heard, he seems to think pretty highly of you. I doubt he'll react badly to you asking what he likes about you."

"You're... sure he won't think I'm weird?" Jing Yuan asked quietly.

"I'm not," Yingxing admitted. "But I doubt he will."

Jing Yuan frowned. That wasn't a guarantee. He did trust Yingxing's judgment, but... what if it turned out badly?

"Just talk to him," Yingxing pressed.

"Alright..." Jing Yuan conceded. "I'll... I'll go now."

"Good." Yingxing nodded in approval, shooing Jing Yuan away.

Jing Yuan made his way out of the forge, slowly heading toward the War Dance arena where he was sure Igor would be practicing. He could do this, he told himself. He could talk to Igor and not make this weird. It would be fine. He would be fine.

However, whatever plan he had went right out the window the second he saw Igor, sweaty and exchanging blows with a training partner. Worse still, Igor visibly brightened upon seeing Jing Yuan, gesturing to his partner to take a break before hurrying over.

"Jing Yuan! What a pleasant surprise!" He said. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon."

"Ah, uh, well, I... wanted to talk to you." Jing Yuan forced himself to smile back, even as he could feel his hands beginning to shake.

"Well, I'm more than happy to talk to you," Igor said. His smile was so warm and bright. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I... Uh..." Suddenly, Jing Yuan's mind had gone blank.

"Yes?" Igor waited patiently.

"Yingxing said you like me," Jing Yuan finally blurted out. "What do you like?"

Igor looked slightly confused by this declaration but did laugh.

"You're asking what I like about you?" He asked.

"Um... Yes." Jing Yuan nodded.

Igor's expression softened. "Well, I like how genuine you are," he said. "You have a good heart, Jing Yuan. I think you're going to do great things someday."

Jingliu had told him before that she thought he was going to do great things someday, but it felt different hearing it coming from Igor. It felt.... special.

"I'm sure you're going to do great things too," Jing Yuan said. "You'll definitely save your world. I know you will."

Igor's smile fell a bit, although he tried to hide it. "Thank you. I... hope so too."

They lapsed into silence after that. Internally, Jing Yuan was starting to freak out. He'd said the wrong thing! Now Igor was upset!

"Do you want to spar?" He asked.

The sadness left Igor's smile as he laughed and nodded. "I'd like that. I'll need all the practice I can get if I'm going to have a chance against you in the War Dance."

An edge crept into Jing Yuan's smile. "You know I won't go easy on you, right?"

A similar edge entered Igor's smile. "I wasn't expecting you to."

Jing Yuan's heart fluttered as he followed Igor back to the sparring area. No matter what happened after the War Dance, no matter how much time passed, he would always cherish these memories. He was never going to forget Igor. He was sure of that.