Title: Ezra Fitz
Summary: Maka Albarn loved teaching in college, especially the advanced classes; even if the students weren't always easy to deal with. And rude like Soul Evans. And undeniably attractive like Soul Evans. Written for the Tumblr prompt Ezra Fitz: teacher/student tension.
Maka sipped leisurely at her coffee and sighed before she glanced out of her window longingly. It was such a nice day today; the sun was bright, the sky cloudless. It was the perfect day to be outside and take a stroll in the park, or at least a nice walk on campus. Maybe she would do just that, but only after she was done grading at least one half of these tests from her Advanced Chemistry lab.
Not that she minded though; Maka Albarn loved teaching in college, especially the advanced classes and the students who picked chemical and biomolecular engineering as their major, because she could always be certain of the fact that they were interested in the subject at the very least, and loved it at the very most. It brought her joy to know that she was helping these young people. Granted, they weren't that much younger than she was, but still. It was nice, being a mentor and guiding figure, being relied on, being able to give a helping hand to the undergraduate students.
Perhaps she'd like to acquire her PhD once she was done with her Master's degree and become a professor, or maybe she would go out into the world and work in a field where her degree would be put to practical use.
As much as she loved her job as a teaching assistant in chemical engineering at the DCU - Polytechnical School of Engineering and the nice paycheck that came with it, it also gave her some headaches about the kind of students that were most certainly not looking for a major in the natural sciences. They were the ones that were the most difficult to deal with since they only had to take the course because it was a part of their core curriculum before they could put the ghastly two years of their general education behind them, and actively take courses that they were interested in. She really did not enjoy working with people like that, especially not since graduate school was already so demanding to begin with.
She sighed again, watching the stack of tests in front her blankly. She really, really would like to be outside right now and enjoy some fresh air. Her office was nice and spacious, definitely not stifling, but such a pleasant day just called for a walk outside. Smiling to herself, she placed her empty cup onto her desk and stood up. However, the moment she did so, three insistent knocks on her door made her freeze on the spot, her shoulders sagging as she slumped down onto her seat with a resigned sigh.
"Come in," she said, trying not to sound as lethargic as she felt. The feeling of listlessness only doubled when an annoyingly familiar mop of white hair poked through the crack of the door, red eyes blinking blearily.
"Um, hey, Ms. Albarn," he called out awkwardly, and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. Maka fought off the urge to groan. Soul Evans was the last person she wanted to see right now. He was one of those doing-chemistry-because-I-have-to-students. Maka wouldn't have cared much, if he hadn't mouthed off to heron the third day of lab for Stein's Natural Science lecture. Admittedly, she had been very nervous about teaching that lab, since it was the first time for her, and this nervousness had translated into extreme anxiousness and a bit of a clutter during the first few sessions.
It had been disheartening and humiliating to be called incompetent in front of the whole class, and the quiet laughter of a few other students hadn't exactly done her pride any favour either, nor the students who had looked at her with pity. Suffice to say, she and Soul Evans had had a rocky start. He had apologized right after class for what he said, but since that day on something about him had always rubbed her the wrong way.
At first it had been things like how he seemed constantly tired and how he didn't even attempt to hide his rude and loud yawning in class, or how his hair always looked unkempt, or his bloodshot eyes- either a sign that he wasn't getting enough sleep or some other unsavory habits that she wouldn't put past this slacker. Speaking of slacker, he was lazy. His homework, if he did it, was sloppily done, and he never participated actively in class, his grades seemingly unimportant to him.
Needless to say, a lot of things about Evans rubbed her the wrong way. But then there were certain things about him that also rubbed her the right way, even though they should not. Things like how his hair swept over his half-lidded eyes, the strong shape of his jaw, his broad shoulders, and the deep, sultry shade of his red eyes, or the husky dark timbre of his voice. Things she should have never taken note of because she was his teacher!
"What do you want?" she asked, trying for a polite conversational tone, but judging from his slight flinch it came out more snappy than she intended.
Wordlessly, he held out a slightly crumpled sheet of paper towards her. She took it from him with a raised eyebrow. Ah, the lab quiz from last week, the one he had failed because he obviously hadn't studied enough.
"Why are you giving me this?" Maka looked up at him, seeing him shift from foot to foot. He actually looked… nervous? He muttered something under his breath, something she realized after a few seconds was something she was meant to reply to, as he regarded her expectantly.
"Pardon?"
His eyes narrowed into a petulant glare, but he repeated his question nonetheless. "I said, could you look it over again?"
"Huh? Why?"
He stuffed his hands into his pockets, which she had realized was some sort of defense mechanism of his whenever he felt particularly uneasy, and said, "I don't think I should have failed that quiz."
"Ex-excuse me?!" Her eyes widened as she gaped at him, before she managed to gather her wits. "I mean, I can look it over real quick, but I doubt that the result is going to be any different. I'm sorry, Soul."
She wasn't sorry. He really should have studied more. She was not one to hand out good grades like candy.
His glare deepened. "No, I don't want you to look it over 'real quick'. I want you to give it a good look again."
Her eyes skimmed over the page, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. She had marked legitimate mistakes as such, and had given him points for his few right answers. "I don't think that's necessary. I see nothing wrong with how I marked the quiz. And I don't think that-"
"You're biased."
She blinked, processing his words slowly. "What?"
"You're biased, you grade me harder than the others."
She frowned. "And why do you think I would do that?"
"Because I'm an asshole."
"Haah?" Maka could not argue that point, but she hadn't expected to hear it so blatantly and with such frankness.
Soul gave her a flat look. "I'm an asshole, and you don't like me. That's why."
Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to think of the right words to say. Her first instinct was anger, white-hot anger at his implication that she was playing favorites with her students. The next was surprise that he was so frank. Aside from his brusque outburst in the first session, he had always been a rather quiet fellow.
The silence between them stretched on, the seconds ticking by as Soul Evans held her flabbergasted gaze steadily.
"I… I know we had our differences," she began, careful to contain her voice, "-but this is ridiculous. If you think I am still holding your rude behaviour from months ago against you, you're mistaken. Here, take this back." She carelessly thrust her arm out, the quiz dangling from her fingers as he refused it, his eyes gleaming in challenge.
"I just want you to have a look at it again, please. Even if you don't believe me, I studied my ass off for your difficult as fuck quiz, and I think I at least deserve a C."
She hated herself for noticing how his jaw clenched, how the nerves jumped in his forearm as his fingers curled into tight fists. She hated herself for finding this alluring, for noticing it in the first place. His eyes were wild, his lips enticing, and she would like to kiss him- Maka shook her head, wide-eyed and aghast at her thoughts.
"Please, leave," she said, her voice wavering as she placed the quiz on her desk and stood up, her legs shaky. "I will look at it, okay?" She needed him to be gone, away from her vicinity, away and not within a five-mile radius of her, or she would do something stupid and impulsive.
"Hey, hey, hold on!" He looked at her from over his shoulder as she started to push him out of her office, her gaze downcast. "What made you change your mind so suddenly, huh? You didn't stop hating me all of a sudden, did you?" he asked, his tone stuck between joking and serious.
"I don't hate you." Her gaze shot up, green meeting red. Hating him would be much easier than being attracted to him.
Before she could completely push him out of her office, he turned around fully, his eyes imploring and maybe a little worried. "Is there another reason why you might be grading me more harshly?"
"I am not-urgh, just shut up and-" She swore she wanted to push him out, her hand was even at the doorknob! But he was there, strong and broad and warm and handsome. She stopped, her hand moving from his shoulder down to his chest, her fingers fisting in the fabric of his shirt. His eyes were wide, and God, what was she doing? She wasn't seriously contemplating the things that had been carefully buried beneath her sense of propriety and professionalism, was she?
The breath she took when she closed the half-open door again rattled her lungs, and suddenly his hand was on her elbow and she was grasping his jaw and slamming her lips against his. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she savored the texture and taste of his mouth. He let out a breath through his nose, as she pressed more urgently against his chest, relishing in the gasp he released when his back hit the door. This was everything she had fantasized about after that damned heartfelt apology of his after session three. How he had declared that it hadn't been 'cool' of him to say that, how he hoped she would forgive him and that dumb, endearing, boyish smile he'd given her when she assured him that it was alright, and that she couldn't always expect as a teacher that every student would be-
She tore herself away from him, stumbling back against her desk, her hand shooting out at the last moment to steady her. Abject panic spread in her bloodstream once it hit her what she had done. There was no way she could talk herself out of this, there was no way to pass this off as a figment of his imagination. He was decidedly out of breath, his hair more disheveled than usual (had she run her hands through it?), his pupils blown wide. His gaze flitted up and down her body, the question in his eyes clear and pronounced as if he had spoken it aloud. Seconds passed by as both didn't dare to move from their spots. Eventually, the tension in Soul's shoulders vanished, his breathing evened out, which Maka couldn't claim for herself, and he was back to sporting his usual slouch.
No words were exchanged, no apologies, no questions, as he silently left her office, the door shutting behind him with a firm click.
What had she done? Oh God! She buried her face in her palms with a frustrated groan as the dread seeped into her bones. What if he reported her? She would so lose her job! Why had she done that? She had never been this impulsive when it came to the matters of the heart. No, her impulsiveness was strictly limited to her short temper, to maybe hitting people lightly with books when they annoyed her, but never to planting a big one on one of her students. Granted, he couldn't be that much younger than her; she had after all, at 22, only just begun grad school, and from what she had overheard, it was his last semester of general studies. So he had to be about 20, not much younger.
But he was still her student! And she was still his teacher! This was wrong, wrong and unprofessional and stupid of her. How did she even make it this far when was still capable of making such epically moronic decisions? Maybe she should resign voluntarily from her position. At least, that might save her from more-
The door was opened again, and she really didn't need a rude fuck who ignored the proper courtesies of knocking to interrupt her crisis.
"Haven't you heard of knocking- Soul?"
And indeed, it was him. He closed the door absentmindedly. She had no time to question him because she was being backed against the wall. His hands danced along her sides before they settled on her hips, his gaze resolute, his jaw clenched just in the way she liked it.
"I always thought you were hot," he said. All critical thoughts were banished from her brain with those words, and this time it was his lips that descended upon hers. A switch in her was flipped and her arms found lives of their own as they wound around his neck. Her tongue pushed against his mouth, prodding against his and she mewled, enjoying the sensation of kissing this man. They awkwardly stumbled around as their hands roamed and explored.
Her blood was on fire, her skin scorching as his touch left behind goosebumps on her arms. His breath was loud against her ear as he moved his attentions there, his tongue skilled and nimble, and she gasped and writhed, her hand flailing aimlessly around before it took refuge on his butt and pressed their hips together. He groaned against her lips before he kissed her again, his mouth sliding sensuously against hers. His teeth didn't feel as sharp as they always looked, and the careful way he nipped at her bottom lip did all sorts of weird things to her body that left her even more hot and bothered than she was.
Maybe she should take a moment and think this over, especially the revelation that he was as attracted to her as she was to him. Maybe she should also consider the moral complications of hitting second base with her student. Maybe she should, but she didn't, because his butt was nice and firm, oh, and his shirt was coming off. She grinned like a dope when his well-muscled chest was revealed to her foggy green eyes. She licked her lips, her gaze roaming up and down his body before it settled on his crotch and the rather pronounced bulge there. It was kind of ego-boosting to know that he got an erection so fast because of her, and well, she should probably do something about that if she started it…somehow.
She emptied her desk of the stacks of paper and everything else she didn't want to break before she eagerly pushed him on top of it. Kissing him fully on the mouth, she smiled and locked her door first with a satisfying click this time, and the pulled the curtains over the windows, bathing the office in darkness.
Yes, it was a nice day, a pleasantly sunny day, the perfect day to be outside for a walk, but Maka figured, as she watched him discreetly squirm just waiting for her, it was also the perfect day to fuck this man on her desk.