gravity

tension

tension is the pulling force that guides an object

—————

(Y/N) wished she knew what had made Harry so quiet during tonight's study session.

He was still doing a phenomenal job as her teacher, but he'd been off the whole night. Since Monday even, (Y/N) felt like he'd been distant. Unlike before, especially given how close she'd felt to him after everything at the party, he wouldn't breach any topic of conversation that wasn't physics. If he wasn't helping her with notes during lecture or hashing out a concept she was having trouble on, he barely spoke. Even for as shy as she knew he could be, that wasn't the Harry she had gotten used to.

She worried that maybe something had gone wrong during the party that she didn't remember. (Y/N) felt like she was coherent enough through the night and remembered everything, but how was she supposed to know if she forgot an event if no one told her? She knew she had grown sleepy towards the end and even fell asleep on his shoulder when they were outside, but as far as she knew, that hadn't perturbed Harry at all. Maybe she had crossed a line that she wasn't aware of.

Even as he walked her to her car after wrapping up their tutoring session, he was uncharacteristically quiet.

"Goodnight, (Y/N)," he offered, one of the few sentiments he shared since leaving the library, "I'll see you in class."

A small smile curled his lips, but (Y/N) knew it was still wrong.

"Goodnight, Harry."

(Y/N) wasn't even sure if he stuck around to see her drive off.

—————

Sitting in biology, Harry realized he was bored.

For him, that wasn't normal at all. When he was in a scientific setting, especially one like today when discussion was based on molecular biology, Harry was typically fully engaged and ready to learn any tidbit of information. He'd never been the kind that found class to be boring—sure, there were times he wasn't completely present and participating, but he'd never actively checked out and been unable to focus before. But, Harry couldn't find it in himself to care.

Nothing had felt normal since that Monday in physics. (Y/N) had been on his mind since, and while that wasn't a huge difference, it was the context that had changed and made him revert into his shell more than usual. Every time he thought about what it was like to lay on the trampoline with her, the soft of her body tucked under his arm and her breaths coming out in puffs against his chest, he warmed until he was replaced with Trystan. It was no longer a story he was a part of, Harry feared. He had been replaced with someone he didn't even know was a character.

Harry knew he would be okay, that this would all blow over soon enough, but in the meantime it sucked. He hadn't realized just how deep this crush on her went, or the faith he held in all of his friends' assurances that he wasn't making a mistake chasing after her.

No matter the reason, class was dragging on and Harry wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else. Lecture hadn't started even ten minutes ago and he was already having to coach himself through the rest of the lesson, telling himself to stick it out and then he can go home and do all the things that had been put on hold (he was planning on filming some premium content tonight to go up this weekend, and those shoots tended to take a little longer). He tried his best to distract himself with his notes, but even then, they were lightyears away from being as detailed as he was used to. Maybe if he pretended enough, he would really end up focusing—at least that was what he was telling himself.

When his phone went off in his bag after a couple more failed attempts at being engaged, Harry had never been more grateful for the buzzing sound. Typically, he tended to push off answering any notifications in class in favor of participating, but today, this was serving as a safe haven from the boredom swimming through his head.