Archive of Our Own

“I heard he’s the best psych professor in the department, even though he’s only been teaching for a few years.”

“Yeah, he’s supposed to be, like, a genius at reading people and figuring them out and stuff.”

“Isn’t this class super hard though? I heard he can be pretty harsh…”

“I heard he’s a total dick, but I had to take this class, so…”

The first day of the school year had rolled back around, and the students of PSYC 464 – Criminal Behavior were awaiting the arrival of their professor, with more than just a little trepidation.

“One of my friends said he’s really hot…” One of the girls sitting toward the front said. “That’s kind of why I picked this one.”

“Well, I’m flattered.” A dry voice said, and all twenty-something students turned towards the door in a swift, combined movement to stare at the man entering the room.

“Oh, ffff—” The girl said, thudding her head on her desk. Everyone else laughed.

“Bigger class than usual this year.” The professor observed. “Eh, doesn’t matter. Most of you will be gone in a month.” He dropped his bag in the chair behind the desk, pulling a notebook and a stack of paper out of it. He slipped on a pair of thin glasses.

“Uh… Professor—”

“Nick.” The professor interrupted the boy. “Don’t call me professor, it makes me feel old.” And shot a glance at the girl who’d embarrassed herself before. “And unattractive.”

She groaned, but managed to laugh along with the rest of the class, and Nick pointed at the boy.

“You had a question?”

“Yeah. Is your class as hard as people say it is?”

“Worse.” Nick said calmly. At the silence that followed, he shrugged. “Psychology is hard, kids. People think it’s not, because everybody and their mother majors in it. But you’re studying the human mind, here, the criminal mind, and regular people are fucked up enough as it.” There were a few more nervous laughs. He handed the stack of papers, the syllabus, to one of the people in the front row. “Okay. First rule. I don’t take roll, attendance doesn’t count towards your grade. If you don’t come to class, you won’t have a clue what’s going on, and you’ll fail. Participation does count, however, so as long as you show up and don’t say anything stupid, that’s twenty percent of an A to you.”

“There’s no homework?” Someone else asked, flipping through the syllabus.

“No. I hate grading shit.” Nick sat down on the edge of the desk. “A couple quizzes, two midterms and a final. That’s it. Don’t screw it up.” He opened up his notebook. “Shall we begin?”

The first day would be basic stuff, nothing too difficult, but the students scrambled to take notes as quickly and accurately as possible. Nick didn’t repeat himself often, and he rarely stopped, until nearly an hour into the lecture, when he trailed off, staring at the back of the room. One by one, everyone else noticed, and turned in their seat to see a boy at the back of the class—dead asleep, head tipped back, eyes closed and mouth wide open.

Nick picked up a pen from the desk and threw it at the boy, hitting him in the chest. He came to with a start, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes.

“You back with us?” Nick asked, sarcasm evident, peering over the rim of his glasses.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” The kid responded. He had an accent, a strong, southern one, very redneck. Nick raised an eyebrow. “Damn, didn’t mean to doze off like that.”

“Good to hear.” Nick said. “What’s your name?”

“Ellis.” The boy said.

“Yeah?” Nick crossed his arms. “Listen up, Ellis: either stay awake, or leave. You don’t have to show up, but I don’t like it when people don’t pay attention to me.”

Ellis actually had the nerve to grin at him. “Yessir.”

Nick looked at him impassively for another second, before continuing. “So, like I was saying…”

He came to a halt ten minutes later when a loud snore broke through the lecture. A few people laughed, which did nothing to stir Ellis from slumber whatsoever.

“Hey!” Nick said loudly. “Tow truck!” He called, referencing the blue baseball hat the boy was wearing. He snorted awake. Nick jerked his head at the door. “Out.”

“Ah, man, I’m sorry—it won’t happen again, I swear—”

“Are you deaf?” Nick said coldly. “I said out. I don’t deal with idiots.”

The kid got reluctantly to his feet. “I promise I won’t fall asleep again—”

Nick pointed at the door wordlessly. Ellis sighed and shuffled toward it. He paused in the doorway.

“Does this mean I’m kicked out for goo—”

He didn’t get anything else out before Nick shut the door in his face. He turned back to a silent classroom. Everyone was watching him nervously.

He cocked his head and jerked a thumb at the door. “Seriously. Can you believe that guy? I thought I was too fascinating to fall asleep on.”

It broke the tension, eliciting a burst of laughter from the class. He shook his head. “You know what, that’s enough for today. I’ll let you go a little early, hopefully some of you will be back next week.”

The kids all packed up their belongings, bustling past him on the way out, chattering animatedly. He dumped his things in his bag, and glanced back at the door, thinking how glad he was that he wouldn’t have to see that Ellis kid in his class again.

How very wrong he was.

***

Two days later, Thursday, he walked into class again to see that same face grinning back at him. From the front row.

It was early, and none of the other students were there yet. He slowed his pace, staring back at the boy, setting his bag down on the desk without really looking.

“Uh… Ellis, right?” He asked.

“That’s right.”

Nick nodded. “Why… are you here?”

“Class starts in ten minutes, right?” The boy asked innocently. Nick leaned back against the desk, staring at him.

“Yes. But if I recall correctly, I kicked you out already.” He said dryly. “Don’t make me do it again.”

“Wait, you meant permanently?” Ellis exclaimed. “Man, that ain’t right!”

“It ain’t right that you are sleeping in my class.”

“I’m not gonna do it again.” Ellis said. “Please, you’ve gotta let me stay.”

Nick turned away from him, annoyed, to rummage in his bag. “You already blew your chance, buddy.”

A hand slapped down on the desk next to his bag. Nick turned slowly, eyebrow raised. The kid was staring at him, eyes all intent, mouth set, leaning close. Shit, hadn’t he heard of personal space?

“I’ve gotta take this class.” He said. “If you kick me out, I won’t be able to keep my scholarship here. My ma can’t pay for my schooling otherwise, but she’d really like to see me finish college. Really.”

You managed to get a scholarship? Nick thought. Out loud, he said,

“If I start making exceptions…”

“You could just say it was for the one day.” Ellis wheedled. Nick pressed his lips together, and Ellis, clearly sensing indecision, pounced. “Tell you what. I got somethin’ for ya.”

Nick furrowed his eyebrows, confused, as Ellis went back to his desk to dig around in his bag. He emerged victorious with…

A six pack of beer.

Cheap beer. And one was missing.

Nick stared.

“What the hell is this?”

“It’s a gift.” Ellis offered it to him.

“We can’t accept those.”

“Then it’s a peace offering!” Ellis pushed the beer at him. “C’mon, you can take those, right?”

“You drank one.” Nick said in disbelief.

“I got thirsty on the way over.” Ellis admitted. “Hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?”

Nick shook his head, incredulous. Ellis’s face fell.

“Well, alright.” He said, retracting the beer. “I just thought… anyway. I guess I’ll go, then—”

“No, sit.” Nick cut him off.

Ellis burst into a smile. “Aw, see, I knew you’d come around! Knew these would help too—” He offered Nick the beer again, and Nick pushed it away.

“I don’t want the—would you just sit down?”

Ellis did so, eyes wide and questioning.

“You can stay, alright?” Nick sighed. “And you can keep your beer. So quit looking at me like that.” He really was too nice. And a small part of him—well, a large part of him, really; the psychologist part—was a little interested in this kid.

The rest of the students were beginning to file into class now. Some grinned to see him facing off with Ellis, and Nick waved them to their seats impatiently.

“You know what?” Ellis said, leaning back in his chair. “I think this is gonna be a good semester.”

“Yeah, you keep on being optimistic, Tiger.” Nick said, rolling his eyes. “Anyone sees him sleeping, feel free to kick him out yourself.” He announced, as he turned around to write on the chalkboard behind him, ignoring the way Ellis grinned at him as he did.

***

Fast forward to mid-October. Everything was going exactly as Nick had thought it would. All the kids he thought would drop out already had, the others who stayed were doing reasonably well, they were on chapter nine, right on schedule.

And then there was Ellis.

True, Nick had expected him to stop showing up after the first or second week. When he’d continued coming to class on time, he’d revised his expectations—Ellis had been telling the truth about needing to take the class, so he wasn’t going anywhere. But, he’d move to the back again soon enough, barely staying awake, content to listen to the other students talk, only saying something when he absolutely had to.

This, too, did not happen. Ellis stayed awake and in the front of the room, and contrary to what Nick had thought he would be like, he could not get the kid to shut up. Ever. It seemed to amuse the class to no end to watch Nick stare in dumbfounded shock at the southerner as he rambled on about some ridiculous incident or another (that always seemed to involve a friend of his named Keith). The stories only ever loosely seemed to connect to whatever the topic of conversation had been at the time, and Ellis never got to finish them before Nick interrupted him.

All in all, though… it was a good class. Contrary to what many people might actually believe, Nick genuinely liked teaching; granted, there were times when he wanted to kill some of his students, but in the event that they proved themselves a capable group, a semester could be pretty enjoyable. He liked figuring out the new dynamic of each class, and his current one was, on the whole, smart, amusing—and even, a little, unpredictable.

As evidenced by the most recent midterm scores. It was their first one, and mostly, they’d done well.

Ellis had failed. Miserably.

Nick stared at the sheet of paper in his hand and shook his head in confusion. What the hell had happened? He’d done fine on the quizzes, better than fine. The midterm itself hadn’t been that much harder—it just covered a greater amount of material.

A hand clapped him on the back, and he looked up to see another man joining him at his table. They were in one of the on-campus dining halls, surrounded mostly by students.

“Hey, Coach.” He nodded a greeting at him. “Where’s Rochelle?”

“Parking her bike.” The big man said, looking amused. “I saw her on my way in.”

“What, does she still think she’s an underclassman?”

“No.” A woman’s voice said, and Rochelle pulled out the chair across from him. “But I do like the idea of staying healthy, while the two of you grow old and fat.”

“Whatever you say, sweetheart.” Nick said as she sat down. He stuffed Ellis’s test back in his bag.

“Bad test?” Coach asked, catching sight of all the red markings. He and Rochelle both taught at the school, as well—they were all in completely different disciplines, but had started around the same time, and ended up friends. Coach taught Kinesiology majors, and Rochelle was currently a journalism grad student and TA.

“Midterm, actually.” Nick said, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. “I have this one kid who just—”

“Bombed it.” Rochelle supplied. “But you weren’t expecting them to.”

“Yeah.” Nick shrugged. “I don’t know, he can work it out himself. Not my problem.”

“That is such flawed logic.” Rochelle said disapprovingly, peeling an orange.

“He can come see me about it if he wants.” Nick said defensively.

Right on cue, a voice yelled out, “Nick?”

Nick straightened in his seat. “Oh, God.”

He turned to see, of course, Ellis beelining for his table, a glass in one hand and a plate piled with food in the other.

“Hey, it is you!” He said excitedly, and upon reaching the table, set his food down next to Nick. “Mind if I sit here? I gotta go get my shit, I’ll be right back.”

He loped off. Coach and Rochelle both turned, eyebrows raised, at Nick.

“That’s the kid!” Nick hissed.

“Kid?” Rochelle repeated. “I was picturing some nerdy, skinny freshman. You cannot call him a ‘kid’.”

“I wonder if he plays sports.” Coach mused. “He’d be good on the football team…”

“He’s got a scholarship for something. Maybe it’s that.” Nick said. “But that’s not the point. He can’t just eat with us.”

“Why not?” Rochelle asked.

“Isn’t that weird?”

If it was or not, he didn’t get to find out, because a backpack dropped to the floor, and Ellis slid into the seat next to him.

“Hi, y’all.” He said cheerfully. “I’m Ellis, I’m one of Nick’s students.”

Nick sat and watched the three of them chatter away. They seemed to all get along right away, the professor status of the other two not deterring Ellis in the slightest, it seemed—although clearly, Nick’s didn’t either, so that was to be expected. And Ellis, Nick could tell, was the kind of person who could make friends with just about anyone.

Ellis, apparently, had gotten some obscure scholarship via his ability to fix anything and everything. He was majoring in engineering while he went to school, although his one real ambition was to work in the auto shop he and his friends had started while they were all still back in high school.

“But,” Ellis told them, “My ma wanted me to keep goin’ to school, and my friend Keith said it’d probably be good for the garage if one of us got a degree so… here I am. At least I got three years off.”
 
“So you’re what, twenty-one?” Nick guessed.

“Yup.” Ellis said.

“Well, how do you like school so far?” Coach asked.

“S’alright.” Ellis said contemplatively. “Gotta take a lot of science and math shit, which I don’t really like. But I’m in an auto mechanics class, which is sorta just like shop, and it’s really easy ‘cause I already know how to do it all.” As an afterthought, he glanced over at Nick. “Oh, and your class ain’t so bad either.”

Nick cocked an eyebrow. “Thanks, Ellis.”

“Sure thing. Hey, how’d I do on that test, by the way?”

Dammit, Nick thought. “Uh, well—”

“I thought I did pretty good.” Ellis rambled on. “I mean, I felt like I knew pretty much—”

“Actually, you kind of failed it.” Nick said bluntly. He ignored the fact that Rochelle was rolling her eyes at his lack of tact. Ellis stared blankly at him. “You… literally got like, two right.”

Ellis frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“Well, shoot.” Ellis scratched the back of his neck. “I coulda sworn I knew the answers.”

“You knew the answers two weeks ago.” Nick said. “What happened?”

“Got harder, I guess.”

Nick opened his mouth to say that no, it hadn’t, because there was such a thing as a learning curve, and if Ellis was doing fine before, it stood to reason that he should be doing fine now. He didn’t get to say any of this, because Ellis snapped his fingers in a eureka moment and said,

“Hey, I know! You could tutor me!”

“What?” Nick spluttered.

“I can’t fail your class, man!” Ellis reminded him, sounding a little desperate.

“You have another midterm, and the final.” Nick pointed out. “You’re overre—”

“But they count for a lot.” Ellis said. “You barely have anything to balance ‘em out.”

“I don’t tutor—”

“Nick.” Coach said, frowning. “Give the boy a break and just give him a few lessons, it won’t kill you.”

“If I do it once, soon everyone will want the same thing.” He glared at them. “See, this is why I need TAs.”

“One: don’t flatter yourself.” Rochelle said. “Most people are too intimidated by you to ask you to tutor them. And two: a TA could probably tutor him better than you, this is true, but you’re all he has.”

“I’m not intimidating.” Nick growled. “And I’d be a good fucking tutor, okay.”

“Then you won’t have any problem tutoring Ellis.” Rochelle said, with an air of finality.

…Okay, he’d walked into that one.

“Nick?” Ellis asked in a small voice. “Please? I… I really need this scholarship.”

His final mistake was turning to the kid, to tell Ellis no, and looking into those big blue eyes. Dammit dammit dammit.

“Alright.” Nick sighed. “Yes. Fine.”

Ellis, Rochelle, and Coach all beamed at him.

“Great!” Ellis said. “I’ll come over to your place, make it easier on you.”

He hated his friends.

***

Nick sat back in his chair, rubbing at his eyes. “That was… not bad, I’ll admit.”

“Yeah.” Ellis said. “Yeah, I think I got it!”

It was now early November. They were on their sixth and last tutoring session. They’d been meeting at Nick’s apartment for a few hours a night, twice a week—and to Nick’s relief, Ellis proved to be both a fast learner and capable of actually focusing on one topic without an excessive amount of tangents. At the end of each night, they would go through a series of rapid-fire questions and answers, and on this most recent pass, Ellis had nailed all of them.

It hadn’t been horrible, tutoring Ellis. True, he tried Nick’s patience sometimes, but he was learning quickly when to shut up (a steely glare and ground out “Ellis…” were usually pretty good indicators). There was also something strangely satisfying about helping someone just to help someone, and Ellis was so grateful that Nick almost felt bad for considering letting him flounder along on his own.

Ellis, Nick had noticed, also seemed to have become strangely attached to him. Maybe it was the shock of being in an unfamiliar place, away from all his friends, but he had apparently found something in Nick that he liked. He would tag alongside Nick if they ever ran into each other on campus, often eating with him, Coach, and Rochelle, who were both extremely fond of him. In class, he was as talkative as ever, and had even managed to make Nick out and out laugh a few times. It was a product of getting to know Nick better, of them getting to know each other.

Ellis glanced at the clock on the wall. “Guess that’s it, then.”

Nick nodded. “I’ll see you in class on Tuesday, though. And so help me, if you fail the second midterm…” The three weeks had taken them up to the next one.

Ellis laughed. “I won’t, I swear.” He gathered his stuff and stood, clearing his throat. “Thanks again, for helping me out. I really appreciate it. And this was kinda fun…” He trailed off awkwardly.

“Listen.” Nick said. “I think I’m gonna go for a drink. You want to come?”

Wait, what?

“Yeah, sure.” Ellis said quickly. “Where at?”

Nick’s apartment was relatively close to campus (he hated waking up early, and a short commute was the most effective way to avoid this), and consequently, close to several bars and all night eating places as well. At a mention of being hungry after all the studying from Ellis, they picked one of the restaurants Nick knew best and headed over, Nick letting Ellis rattle on without interruption as they walked. The younger man managed to carry the entire conversation until they’d reached their destination and were seated at one of the booths, at which point he stopped to draw breath and order mozzarella sticks and a beer.

“So what made you decide to become a teacher, Nick?” The younger man asked as their drinks were set in front of them. The question caught Nick a little off guard.

“What is this, a first date?” Nick asked.

Ellis went a little red, but grinned. “Well, sorta. You takin’ me out for drinks, and all.”

“You better not be expecting me to pay.”

“Nah, I’m only kiddin’.” Ellis said anxiously.

Nick laughed. “Yeah, I know. Uh, okay.” He removed his glasses absentmindedly. “I guess it’s not so much why I decided to become a teacher as why I decided to become a psychologist.” He thought for a second, while Ellis watched him curiously. “I spent a couple years when I was younger just traveling around; never stayed in one place for more than a couple weeks. I met a lot of people that way, got really good at reading them. And, well, most of them were a little on the shady side, if you know what I mean.”

“Were you like, in the mafia, or somethin’—”

“No, no, not me. I just liked to gamble, I guess. Anyway, once somebody turned me on to the idea of how much money you could make with your own private practice… I decided to try it out. I started going to school, but realized pretty early on that I’d get bored of listening to people’s problems all the time. I was a TA for a couple years while I was working towards my doctorate, and actually liked it, so after I got my Ph.D, I just came back to teach instead.”

“Damn, you must’ve flown through school.” Ellis observed in awe.

“Well, surprisingly, I’m a pretty smart guy.”

“Modest, too.” Ellis grinned.

“You bet your ass.” Nick sighed. “I still think I’d’ve made a damn good conman.”

“Hell no.” Ellis protested. “You’d’ve been a shitty conman, you’re way too nice. You’d offer to tutor people in how to play poker and stuff…”

“You—” Nick’s mouth dropped open. “You son of a bitch, you tricked me into tutoring you!” He said indignantly, as Ellis laughed at him. “Did you?”

“Can’t you tell? I thought you were good at figuring people out.” Ellis teased.

Nick’s mouth quirked. “Not everyone, I guess.”

“Not me?” Ellis sounded surprised. Nick shrugged.

“You should be an easy one to read. But you’re not.”

“Huh.” Ellis said, smiling at him around the mouth of his beer bottle, and Nick was suddenly struck by just how true it was, that Ellis was hard to read. He never told anyone this much about himself—but something about the way Ellis seemed just as willing to listen as he was to talk and talk made it easier than it should be. He gave a small smile back.

The moment was effectively shattered by an unexpected arrival, a man in a suit and tie, sliding into the booth next to Ellis, completely uninvited. He leaned his elbows on the table. Nick blinked across at him.

“Friend of yours?” He asked Ellis, but before he could answer, the man cut in.

“Well, I was here for you, actually.” He drawled, leering a little. His speech was slurred, and his eyes a little bleary and red—from the alcohol?

Nick raised an eyebrow, realizing what was about to happen. Oh, hell no.

“Keep moving, buddy.”

Ellis was watching the exchange, looking amused, when the guy jerked his thumb at him.

“What, don’t tell me you’re here with this guy.” He said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ellis protested.

“Shut up, man, the grown ups are talking.” The man said, shoving Ellis’s shoulder lightly, almost missing his mark he was so uncoordinated in his movements. Nick snorted. The guy was more than a little drunk—no way he would ever try something like this otherwise.

“Yeah, no.” Nick said bluntly. “It’s probably best if you just leave now.”

“Yeah, man, he’s not interested.” Ellis said, grinning sideways at Nick, then advised sagely. “You should go, ‘fore you embarrass yourself some more.”

The man turned to stare at him. “Didn’t I just tell you to shut up?” His lip curled. “Fuckin’ hick.”

Ellis’s grin faltered.

Nick set his drink on the table, having just figured out the reason behind the man’s red eyes.

“What’s your name?” He asked the man calmly.

“Jeremy.” The guy replied, grin on his face growing.

“Uh huh.” Nick said. “And Jeremy, what’s your wife’s name?”

Jeremy gaped at him, dumbfounded. Next to him, Ellis did a double take.

“Let me guess,” Nick cast Ellis a ‘pay-attention’ glance, “You’re still in a suit and tie, which is by and large not the standard of attire around here, so you must either have come straight from work, or—and this is what I really think happened—you got home from work a little early, much to the surprise of your wife, who you, unluckily, found in bed with another man. Probably a much younger man, wasn’t he? That bit about the ‘grown ups are talking’? You trying to get him to shut up?” He nodded in Ellis’s direction. “You felt threatened by him right away.”

Shaking his head, still speechless, Jeremy looked frantically between Nick, then Ellis, and back to Nick. Nick continued on.

“So you chose a bar, one you wouldn’t normally frequent, so you wouldn’t run the risk of being recognized, and then you proceeded to drink yourself into a coma, or as near as you could get, for the better part of several hours. And as you did so, an idea started forming in your head: why not get her back?” This was somewhat a leap in logic, but Nick could tell from the guy’s eyes, his expression, that he was dead on. “Why not cheat on her like she did you—except, you were going to one up her, just to feel like you’d completely and utterly moved past her.”

Ellis whistled. “Daaamn. That’s messed up in so many ways.”

“No—no, I was—” Jeremy stammered faintly.

“Well, people don’t usually think straight when they’re smashed, to be fair.” Nick replied to Ellis, cutting Jeremy off. “And actually, subconsciously, that’s not really what you wanted to do, is it? You kept drinking, because it would be easier that way, and you chose someone who you realized would probably say no. You wouldn’t have to go through with it, but at least you’d have the satisfaction of thinking you’d tried to spite her anyway.”

The guy was white faced, and Nick knew he’d pretty much nailed everything.

“You should book a couple sessions with a marriage counselor.” Nick smirked. “I’d do it myself, but I can’t stand married couples.”

“How—how did you—” Jeremy stuttered, causing Nick to roll his eyes, and give a disgruntled snort.

“You forgot to take your ring off, you idiot.” He told him.

Jeremy looked down at his hands. “Oh.”

“Go home.” Nick implored. “Maybe the reason your wife cheated is because her husband pulls shit like this when he gets drunk. Jesus.”

Nodding shakily, Jeremy rose from the booth and stumbled his way out the door. The second he was gone, Ellis burst into laughter.

“What?” Nick asked.

“Man, that was like some ass kicking, hardcore Sherlock Holmes shit, right there!” The younger man cackled. “That was awesome!”

“That’s how you do it.” Nick said knowledgeably.

“Thanks, man.” Ellis grinned. “That was nice of you.”

Nick thought about telling Ellis he hadn’t put the smack down on poor Jeremy because he’d insulted the kid, but decided to let it go.

“Yeah, well, made it even easier to turn him down.”

“How’d you know he knew you’d say no?”

Nick fixed Ellis with a blank stare. “Do I look like I’d say yes?”

“Not your thing, huh?” The younger man asked, watching him.

Nick paused, wondering how to answer. He settled upon decisively shaking his head. “Definitely wasn’t attractive enough.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Ellis cocked his head.

“So… you are gay.”

“I don’t really differentiate between either sex.”

“Oh.” Ellis nodded. Strangely, he didn’t seem very surprised. “Well anyway, I dunno, he was alright looking…”

“He was also a dumb ass.” Nick scoffed, then realized what Ellis had just said. “Wait. You—”

“I don’t really differentiate.” Ellis told him, smirking. Nick, who had not seen that coming—and who had, frankly, expected Ellis to be weirded out, at the very least—raised his eyebrows.

“…Huh.” He said.

They paid the bill, and Ellis convinced Nick to give him a ride back to his dorm: “By the time we get back to my car, you could be home.” “You wouldn’t make me walk back alone, would you?” “What could possibly happen to you?” “Predators, Nick!”

Ten minutes later, they were arguing about the temperature.

“Hey, roll up the windows, would you? Damn, it’s chilly.”

“We’re in Southern California, Ellis, it’s like seventy degrees outside.”

“Yeah, but with the window down, it feels colder.” Ellis complained, rubbing at his arms.

“We’re almost back, suck it up.” Nick told him, turning onto Ellis’s street. He could tell the younger man was glaring at him from the passenger seat and refused to look in his direction, registering the movement as Ellis shifted agitatedly from side to side. “It’s that one, right—”

His voice died in his throat as Ellis suddenly moved toward him, one hand on the back of his seat, the other stretching past him as he leaned across Nick’s lap.

“What… are you doing?” He asked slowly.

“Rollin’ up the window.” Ellis replied. He glanced up and back at Nick, throwing him a cheeky grin. He was warm, Nick couldn’t help but notice the heat radiating off the younger man’s body—the little liar.

He swallowed, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. “Ellis—”

The younger man pulled back, but the heat didn’t go with him.

“Oh.” Ellis said, contemplating him. “Hm. Guess it is a little warm.”

Nick ignored this last comment. “We’re here.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Ellis said, finally looking away to dig around in the seat behind him for his backpack, shirt riding high up his side—Nick looked away. “Thanks for the ride, Nick.”

“Uh huh.” Nick raised a hand in farewell as Ellis hopped out the passenger side. “Don’t mention it.”

“See you in class.” The kid called as he pulled away. Nick rubbed at his eyes with one hand.

This was not good.

***

In fact, it was really, really bad.

Tuesday, they were taking the test, so all Nick really had to do was sit at his desk and read, occasionally answering a stray question here and there. Ellis finished first, turning in his exam and then lounging in his seat. He tapped his pencil lightly on the desk, legs slightly apart, completely relaxed; smug, even. Nick considered telling him that everyone was free to leave after they were done, but decided against it when he caught the little smirk on the younger man’s face. He knew.

One by one the class trickled out, until just the slow test takers were left.

“You’ve got a minute left.” He announced. He had a department meeting after the class, and had told them he couldn’t give them extra time at the end. “Start finishing up whatever you’re writing.”

He chanced a glance over at Ellis. The boy cocked his head innocently.

What? Nick mouthed at him, annoyed. Ellis shrugged, grinning. Nick looked away, watching the clock.

“Alright.” He said. “Time’s up, turn in your test.” There were several heavy sighs. “Cheer up, people, only a few more weeks until the final, and then you’re done with this class.”

They filed out the door, a few of them looking in confusion at Ellis as they handed Nick the tests, which he collected in a neat stack to grade later.

“Bet you anything I got an A.” Ellis said from his seat.

“Isn’t that what you thought last time?” Nick smirked slightly. Ellis got out of his chair to lean against the front of Nick’s desk next to him.

“Check my answers.” He insisted.

Nick sighed. “Meeting…”

“Just check.” Ellis wheedled.

A glance at the clock told Nick he was already going to be a little late, but he reluctantly fished the test out of the stack and scanned over the answers.

“Huh…” He said slowly. He flipped to the next page. “What’d’you know…”

If he’d taken the bet, he would’ve lost. As far as he could see, every answer was right. He fought down a grin, feeling distinctly proud.

He looked up to find that Ellis was also smirking, and also, inconveniently, right in front of him. He jerked back, only to get trapped by the edge of the desk. Ellis leaned forward a tiny bit, resting his weight on one arm—he was slightly shorter, Nick realized, as he looked down at the younger man, and tried not to panic.

Ellis licked his lips, and the room suddenly got extremely warm.

“Ellis—” Nick said in a strained voice. “Stop.”

“Stop what?” Ellis asked. “How’d I do?”

Nick put a hand on his chest and pushed him away, firmly.

“You did well.” He told him, straightening and scooting farther along the edge of the desk. His heart was pounding; he mentally ordered it to calm the hell down. “But you need to cut this shit out, right now.”

Ellis seemed to consider this. He nodded.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” He said, not sounding it at all.

Nick looked at him suspiciously, but decided not to push it. “You understand why, right?”

The other man shrugged. “It’s ‘cuz you’re a teacher and all, right?” He paused and raised his eyebrows. “Gotta admit, that’d be kinda hot—”

“Ellis.” Nick said in exasperation. “Get to your next class.”

Ellis left, laughing, and Nick shook his head. Well, at least he’d stopped it there. It wouldn’t be a problem, now. And he’d had plenty of students with crushes on him before, he knew. He could handle this.

He looked back at the clock.

“Shit!”

***

If Nick had thought Ellis would be any less forward than he was on a regular basis after their little talk, he was proven wrong the next day, at lunch, when the younger man found the table he was sitting at with Coach and Rochelle, as usual. He slumped into the seat next to Nick, and groaned.

“What’s up?” Rochelle asked.

Ellis wordlessly handed her a sheet of paper, which she took, looking bemused. Her eyebrows shot up. Looking over her shoulder, Coach shook his head.

“Boy, what subject is this?”

“Calculus.” Ellis said, then thudded his head down on the table and laid there unmoving.

Nick looked between all of them, but it didn’t seem anybody was going to tell him what was going on. Irritated, he reached across the table and snatched the paper out of Rochelle’s hands. As might have been inferred, Ellis had not done well.

“Damn.” Nick observed. “You really failed this. This a midterm?”

“No, it was a quiz.” Ellis said, rolling his head to the side so he could look at Nick out of the corner of one eye. “I was doing fine in that class until I started having to study all that psychology.”

Nick snorted. “Don’t even try blaming this on me.” He flipped the quiz over. “Come on, man, this stuff isn’t even hard. I took Calculus how many years ago? And I could still ace this.”

“I guess we can’t all be geniuses, Nick.” Ellis grumbled.

“This is true.”

“Well, Nick, maybe you can help Ellis with his math homework, now.” Rochelle said serenely.

Nick snapped his head up from the quiz to look at her.

“Hey, that’s a great idea, Ro!” Ellis chirped. Nick turned to him, narrowing his eyes.

“You—”

Ellis grinned at him.

No way, Nick thought. No way had he just walked into that again. He was supposed to be smarter than that.

“Same time, same place?” Ellis asked.

Nick opened his mouth to tell him no.

“Don’t be an asshole, Nicholas.” Coach cut him off, calmly.

Dammit. He wracked his brains, trying to think of an excuse that didn’t end in he wants to jump my bones, and failed to come up with any.

“Fine.” He said through gritted teeth.

“You’re the best, Nick.” Ellis said cheerfully.

***

This was ridiculous. Nick flipped through the Calculus textbook in front of him, wondering what the hell he was doing. He knew full well that Ellis didn’t need the help.

The person in question was lounging on the floor, empty box of pizza next to one hand, bottle of beer grasped firmly in the other. He was wearing some stupid t-shirt that Nick had been vaguely wondering about for the better part of the night—was that a gigantic tire with a mouth on it? And what did Bullshifters even mean? He wondered if the fabric had shrunk in the wash—it seemed tight on Ellis’s frame, clinging to him, even. He could see the tattoo curling from under his right sleeve better than ever, the black ink faded almost to blue with time.

Focus. What was he looking at? Derivatives. Right.

“Why didn’t you ask your actual Calculus teacher to help you with this?” He grumbled, flipping a few more pages in the book.

“Well, ‘cuz, I wanted you to help me.” Ellis lolled his head around on the carpet.

Obviously, Nick thought. He rubbed at one of his eyes, nearly dislodging his glasses.

“Thought you said you were good at this.” The younger man said. “Anyway, it worked last time…” He pushed up his shirt, lazily scratching his stomach, exposing tanned, defined abs. Nick slammed the textbook closed.

“It worked because you didn’t need the help in the first place.” He snapped. “Ellis, it’s probably best if you leave. Now.”

Ellis pushed himself into a sitting position, looking slightly hurt. “It’s not like I was trying to manipulate you into doin’ anything bad.” He said. “I just liked hangin’ out with you—”

“Cut the bullshit.” Nick ordered, and Ellis fell silent. “Take your book and go. And I’m not driving you home. And no more tutoring.”

The other man dropped the hurt look, and Nick almost let out a triumphant HA. The kid was just going to have to realize that when it came to manipulating people, he was out of his league. He held out the textbook.

Ellis came for it on his hands and knees.

Before Nick had time to think oh, crap, the kid was in front of the couch, on his knees in between Nick’s legs. Not good.

“It’s prob’ly a good thing I didn’t actually need to be paying attention all this time.” Ellis said, sounding for all the world like he was just making a simple observation.

“Oh, yeah?” Nick asked, against his better judgment. “Why’s that?”

Ellis smirked. “You make it hard.” He said in a low voice, and Nick didn’t even have time to work out whether that was a double entendre or not, before the textbook was tugged out of his hands, and he was being pulled forward by the front of his shirt, and kissed.

It was a good thing Ellis had been drinking a brand of beer Nick liked. Because it was oh, so hard, to not kiss back.

“No—” He managed to say, and Ellis ignored him completely, rising from his knees just enough to crawl into Nick’s lap, without breaking the kiss, and straddled him. Nick groaned.

“It’s really not that bad, if you think about it.” Ellis breathed, mouth against his ear now, making him shiver. He slipped Nick’s glasses off, reaching over blindly to set them on the coffee table. “I mean, it’s not like, high school. I’m legal.”

“We still can’t do this.” Nick said, by way of explanation, even though his reasoning was getting murkier by the second. Even more so as Ellis scooted closer, sliding his hands down Nick’s chest, slowly, taking his time. “I’m your teacher.”

“Yeah, I think we both got that figured out by now.” Ellis’s hands found the bottom of the sweater Nick was wearing and tugged, forcing it over his head, leaving his hair mussed and everywhere. The younger man raked his fingers through it, sealing his lips over Nick’s again and rolling his hips needily. Nick gasped into his mouth, grabbing him by the arms and pushing him away.

“Then—” He panted, “—you should have figured out why this can’t happen.”

“Actually, I think that’s exactly why it should.” Ellis smirked. “Professor.”

Nick barely managed to stop himself from grinding his hips up and into Ellis’s at the title, at the tone of his damn voice, heat pooling in his stomach and lower. “You get off on that, don’t you?” He asked, as realization dawned. “That’s why you’re like this.”

“Damn right I do.” Ellis growled, leaning forward to nip at Nick’s ear with his teeth. Nick swore. “You finally ready to do this?”

Nick stared at him for a second, considering his options. Ellis shifted his weight in his lap again, and he closed his eyes. “Shirt. Off. Now.”

The younger man flashed a self-satisfied grin. “Yes, sir.”

Oh, fuck me, Nick though as Ellis pulled his shirt off in one smooth movement, slow, muscles taut, so he could fully appreciate how hot the stupid kid was. He couldn’t help it—he urged Ellis forward eagerly, teeth grazing over his collarbone, the slope where his neck met his shoulder, kissed his bare chest—when he slid his hands over the younger man’s sides, Ellis gave a pleased little shiver.

“…Swear I wasn’t trying to make you do—do somethin’ you didn’t want to—” Ellis stuttered out as Nick experimentally flicked his tongue over one of the younger man’s nipples, wondering if it would shut him up. Ellis inhaled sharply and tightened his arms around Nick’s neck.

“Really, Ellis?” Nick asked. “This wasn’t what you wanted from the start?”

“I mean, yeah, it’s what I wanted.” Ellis admitted, looking at him pleadingly. “But it’s what you want, too, isn’t it?”

Well, he couldn’t blatantly lie now and say it wasn’t. Kid was fucking sneaky. And that wasn’t even touching on the way the way Ellis was looking at him, ‘innocent’ eyes half-lidded and filled with lust.

Nick wet his lips with his tongue. “Yeah.”

Ellis smiled contentedly at this, and kissed him again, softly slipping his tongue into Nick’s willing mouth.

“Lie down.” He murmured, lips brushing Nick’s again and again, hands gently pushing him to lie back against the couch. Ellis flicked his zipper down for him, and Nick’s breath hitched—he was hard as hell already. Ellis shimmied out of his own jeans, shoving his boxers down with them. He locked eyes with Nick, looking slightly amused.

“What?” Nick asked hoarsely.

“You like to be in control, don’t you?” Ellis mused. He reached down and fisted Nick’s cock in his hand, running his thumb over the head.

“You like to be annoying, don’t you?” Nick ground out, teeth grit, as Ellis stroked firmly down his shaft.

The younger man grinned. “Gimme just a second.” He reached down to rummage in his discarded jeans’ pocket for something, emerging victorious with a tiny bottle. He squeezed some of the lube into his hand, and slicked it over Nick’s shaft. Nick hissed at the feeling, cold, but Ellis’s hand was hot.

Without breaking eye contact, Ellis lowered himself onto Nick’s cock—gradually, giving himself time to adjust. He pressed his palms to the couch on either side of Nick, leaning back on them, knees spread on either side of the older man’s waist, head tilted back, eyes closed and mouth slack. Nick stared openly, mouth dry, both hating and loving the fact that Ellis knew how hot he was.

Ellis opened his eyes, barely, to peer down at him. “Shit, you feel good.”

Nick felt his stomach clench. “Move.”

The younger man moved his hands to Nick’s shoulders, and then, finally, he did. He bit his lip as he rode Nick slowly, deliberately.

“Fuck—Ellis—” Nick gasped, gripping his hips by reflex.

“Yeah…” Ellis moaned, leaving Nick unsure as to whether he was actually responding to him or not. Ellis wrapped one hand around his cock, jerking himself off in time to his and Nick’s thrusts, little mewling sounds of pleasure falling from his open mouth. “Oh, hell yeah, that’s good…”

Nick grabbed a fistful of Ellis’s hair, forcing his head back down, to kiss him roughly, sloppily. Ellis moaned into his mouth and rocked his hips harder, without pulling away, which was so fucking hot—

“Nick…”

Nick came, hard, Ellis’s own obvious arousal and the way the younger man was riding him sending him over the edge with a low groan. Ellis lasted a little longer, coming into his own hand a few seconds later.

He wiped his hand on his jeans, ducking his head to kiss Nick messily, tongue dipping into the older man’s mouth.

“F–finally.” He said breathlessly, climbing off of Nick to lie beside him on the too small couch. “I’ve been waiting two and a half months for that.”

“I’m going to regret this in the morning.” Nick murmured, eyes closed.

“Probably.” Ellis agreed, draping an arm over his waist.

***

He woke up the next morning blearily, disoriented, before registering a warm weight across his bare chest. He looked down to see an arm draped across him, felt something brush against his shoulder—and memories of the night before came flooding back.

“Sorry,” a voice whispered from next to him. “Didn’t mean to wake you.” Ellis pressed his lips to Nick’s shoulder again, running his fingers lightly over the older man’s stomach. Nick stared at him, their faces inches apart. 

“Morning.” He said, voice gravelly. He cleared his throat. 

“I was kinda hopin’ you’d wake up before I had to leave.” Ellis confessed, stretching languidly. 

Nick felt a vague stirring of unease. “You have class today?” He asked.

“Yeah.” The younger man grinned. “Calculus, actually.”

Nick sat up, oddly on edge. “Oh.” 

“Where’re you—”

“Coffee.” Nick cut him off. He stood, grabbing for his jeans at the last second as they slid off of him, still undone from the night before. “Shut up.” He said in irritation when Ellis chuckled, heading for the kitchen without looking at him. A few minutes later, he was standing in front of the boiling coffee. He rested his hands on the counter top, and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes. 

He felt a warm body press up against his, hands sliding around him from behind, and he jerked away from the counter.

“Stop that.” He ordered, pulling away from Ellis a little roughly. He was somewhat relieved to see that he had at least put his jeans back on. 

“What?” Ellis asked. “What is it?”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Nick shot back. “Class, maybe?”

“I don’t have to leave right now—”

“Well, I wish you would.” Nick snapped. 

Ellis recoiled. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me.” Nick told him. “I just came to my senses.”

“Yeah?” The younger man challenged.

“Yeah. We were both right.” Nick said harshly. “I am regretting last night.”

Ellis’s eyes widened, hurt, for the briefest of seconds. For some reason, it made him even angrier, to think that he was actually upsetting the kid with what he was saying. Ellis hadn’t thought the sex had meant something, had he?

“Shouldn’t have happened.” He continued. “So just forget about it, and go home.”

“What if I don’t want to forget about it?” Ellis said, heatedly.

“Then too fucking bad, I guess.” He turned away, back to the coffee. 

“Don’t just fucking ignore me!” Ellis yelled, and Nick spun around, glaring. 

“Somehow, I have a feeling that’s the only thing that’d work with you.” He spat. “Otherwise, you just won’t take no for an answer, will you? You—” He broke off, took a deep breath. “Ellis, as far as I’m concerned, last night never happened. So take your stuff, and get out of here.”

Ellis stared at him, expression unreadable. Finally, he said, “You’re an asshole, Nick.”

Nick shrugged, turning his back and pouring a mug of coffee for himself. He heard Ellis storm out of the kitchen, heard him grab his stuff, heard the front door slam. The mug overflowed, and he burned his fingers.

“Son of a—”

He gritted his teeth and slammed his palm on the countertop, frustrated.

Dammit.

***

Ellis didn’t show up for class the next week. His absence didn’t go unnoticed by anyone—lecture was quieter, everyone laughed less, and Nick was easily irritated, to the point that most of the students stopped volunteering answers altogether.

“What is wrong with you?” Coach asked irately, after the fourth time Nick had snapped sarcastically at one of his more innocuous comments in under ten minutes.

“Seriously, Nick.” Rochelle said, “You’re being pretty unbearable today.”

Nick glared at both of them, at least seven different, angry replies on the tip of his tongue; then he sighed. 

“Yeah, I know. Sorry.” 

Coach and Rochelle exchanged concerned glances. 

“Are you okay?” Rochelle asked.

“You’re not sick, are you?” Coach added.

“Oh, God.” Rochelle said, sounding horrified. “Are you dying? You’re dying, aren’t you?”

“What—no!” Nick shook his head at them. “Why would you even—” He caught sight of their faces, and realized they were both trying to not to laugh. “Oh, fuck you both.”

“I don’t think you’ve ever apologized for being a jerk.” Rochelle said fondly. She wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. “Not once. What was I supposed to assume?”

“I’ve just been having a… a strange week.” Nick said wearily. 

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with Ellis, would it?” Coach asked seriously. “Noticed I haven’t seen him around, lately.”

“He hasn’t been in class for the past week.” Nick admitted. 

“You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” Rochelle rested her cheek on her palm, observing him.

“The final is the week after next!” Nick said quickly. “We’re reviewing all this week and the next. He’s going to fail it.”

“So you’re worried about him.”

“Well, he’s always going on about how he needs to do well or whatever to keep his stupid scholarship.” Nick pointed out. “I mean, what if something happened to him? And he can’t come to class.” 

“Yeah, like, maybe the professor of the class was a complete asshole to him.” Rochelle mused. “For no reason whatsoever. That would make me not want to show up.”

Coach nodded in agreement. Nick looked from Rochelle, to Coach, and back. 

“Are you trying to imply something here?”

“I don’t know, Nick.” Coach shrugged. “You tell us.”

“He told you?” Nick asked in disbelief.

“He ran into us a couple days ago.” Rochelle said. “He looked awful, so we asked him what was wrong. I don’t think he told us everything… but we know you well enough to guess what happened.”

“Wait, so, you are aware of all the circumstances, basically.” Nick said. They nodded. “And… you don’t see anything wrong with it? You’re not going to turn me in to the Dean, or something?”

“We also know you well enough not to be worried.” Coach said. “And I’m pretty sure Ellis can handle you.” 

Nick looked down at his potato salad, picking at it apathetically, and mumbled, “He looked awful?” 

“Yeah, he did.”

“Well, he’s apparently alright enough to come to school.” Nick said defensively. “Just not to my class.”

Rochelle sighed. “Nick, I can’t tell you what to do. I can only say, go apologize to him.”

“…Isn’t that telling me what to—”

“Apologize.” Coach rumbled.

“Alright!” Nick said hurriedly. “If he’s not in class next week, I will.”

And he fully intended to. He would find Ellis, and apologize to him for what had happened. He would say he was sorry, but there was no way they could have any kind of a relationship, and that he hadn’t meant to lead him on; it had just been a mistake. 

And that would solve that.

Except then, there were the nights in between his making the decision, and actually carrying it out.

Nick started awake, breathing hard, feeling hot and uncomfortable, wound up and—

“Dammit—” He hissed. How old was he, sixteen? Stupid, stupid dreams. Stupid Ellis, and his stupid wandering hands, even when he wasn’t even there—

He rolled over and squeezed his eyes shut, massaging himself lightly through his pants. He couldn’t think of anything but Ellis, little things like the way the younger man got flushed all over when he was turned on, bigger things, like how his class was so much more boring now. 

Nick grit his teeth and slipped his hand inside his boxers, wrapping his hand around his cock and jerking himself off, panting raggedly, failing entirely to not think of how much better it would be if Ellis was doing it for him. 

He also couldn’t quite ignore the little voice in the back of his head telling him that if he wasn’t such an asshole, he wouldn’t be having the dreams in the first place.

***

“Alright, I guess that’s it for today.” He told the class tiredly. “I’ll see you Thursday, and we’ll be going over the practice final.” 

“Uh, hey, Nick?” One of his students asked. “Do you know where Ellis is?”

Nick blinked at her, having not anticipated the question. It sounded innocent enough, however.

“No.” He said. “Why?” 

She shrugged. “It’s just weird he’s not here, I guess.”

“I saw him on campus today.” A boy towards the back spoke up. “He said something about working on his truck, or something.”

“Yeah?” Nick said, packing up his bag. “Well, if any of you see him again, tell him he’d better show up, or he’s probably not going to pass the class.”

The students murmured, nodding. 

“I’ll see you all Thursday.”

He headed out first, thinking about what the boy had said. If Ellis was going to be working on cars he’d probably be…

Ten minutes later, he was standing outside the school’s auto shop—this must be where Ellis had class, and, he hoped, where he would still be. He wandered inside, amongst the cars—there was no one there. It was much warmer in the shop than the cool early December weather outside.

“Hello?” He called out. “Ellis?”

“What?” A voice responded bad-temperedly. There was a sliding sound, and he turned to see Ellis roll out from under a truck on a dolly. 

Nick stared blankly at him, arms hanging loosely by his sides, at a loss for what to do or say. He settled on,

“You haven’t been in class.” 

“Nice observation, Nick.” The younger man said, standing up and walking around to the other side of the truck. He was shirtless, Nick noticed, which would make it so much easier to concentrate on the whole apology thing. 

“What’d’you want?” Ellis asked him. Nick opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again. “Spit it out, man, I’m kinda busy, here.”

“You know,” Nick said, “You’re going to fail the final if you don’t—”

“Dammit, if that’s what you came here to tell me, then you can get out!” Ellis snapped, eyes burning with anger. “I don’t care if I fail your stupid class, alright?”

He lay back down on the dolly, and disappeared underneath the car again. 

Nick looked around himself, turning on the spot hopelessly—what the fuck was he supposed to say? Gingerly, he walked over to sit on the ground next to the truck. 

“Is this your, um… this your truck?” He asked. At first, Ellis didn’t reply. Finally, he received a curt,

“Yeah.”

“You drove it all the way here?”

“No, it teleported.” The kid said sarcastically. “What do you think?”

Nick snorted. “Right. Stupid question.” He was silent for a few seconds. “What are you working on?”

“Ah, hell, why do you even care?” Ellis asked, irritated.

“I’m just trying to—” Nick broke off. “Okay, I don’t, honestly.” 

“Then why are you still here?”

“Because Rochelle and Coach are making me apologize.” Nick pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his arms on them. “I was going to say I was sorry for that night. And for leading you on. Because I don’t feel anything for you, at all. I mean, it was great sex, but that was it.”

Ellis rolled angrily out to look at him. “That’s great, Nick. Well, you can tell them you did, and then get the hell out before I hit you, ‘cuz I don’t ever wanna see your face again.”

He glared fiercely at Nick, the effect slightly weakened by the fact that he had a grease smudge right by his nose, which was, frankly, adorable. 

So Nick leaned down and kissed him. 

Ellis didn’t respond for about two seconds, then suddenly shoved Nick away, scrambling to his feet. Nick fell back on his ass ungracefully.

“What the fuck—?!” Ellis looked outraged. “That’s what you want? That’s why you’re here? You figure you’ll just—”

“Ah, shit, shit.” Nick shook his head. “No, that’s not—”

“That ain’t even right—”

“Ellis!” Nick interrupted loudly. “Shut up for a second while I try to fucking explain! Jesus, dramatic speeches are lost on you, I was actually going somewhere with that.”

Ellis furrowed his eyebrows, suspicious. “What?”

“That was what I was going to say.” Nick said, standing up and dusting himself off. “But it’s not what I’m going to say now.”

Ellis stared at him. “Nick, you are not makin’ a whole lotta sense right now, and—”

“I’m sorry.” Nick said exasperatedly. “For being an asshole and saying all that shit. Because I didn’t… you know, mean it. I was just panicking.” He sighed. “I didn’t regret it.”

He managed to avoid looking in Ellis’s direction for as long as possible, finally glancing over to see the younger man had his head cocked to the side. 

“Nick… man, I’m sorry.” Ellis said, shaking his head. “Because that was a terrible apology.”

“Okay, well…” Nick took a step closer to him. When Ellis didn’t show any signs of shying away, he reached out and took his face in his hands. “Let me give you a better one, then.” 

“W-wait—” Ellis gasped some minutes later, as Nick pushed him against the front of the truck, bending him over. They were standing on a small platform in front of the car, that Ellis had put up so he could get under the hood easily without having to jimmy the whole thing back down. “Someone could see—”

“Better hope no one walks in, then,” Nick murmured, running a hand down Ellis’s back, all the way down, to push his pants off of him slowly, hand brushing over his ass. 

“You don’t care?” Ellis asked hoarsely, and Nick detected a note of surprise in his voice. He turned the younger man over to face him.

“Not at this moment, no.” He answered, bending forward to graze his teeth over Ellis’s shoulder; Ellis’s skin was slick with a thin sheen of sweat from having worked on the truck, a little salty, Nick noticed with a slight thrill, as he ran his tongue over the hollow of his throat. The younger man hummed in appreciation, but kept speaking.

“But what about—” Ellis broke off when Nick reached a hand down to rub his palm over the head of his cock. He tilted his head back, panting. “What about later,” He moaned. “After you ain’t horny anymore?”

Nick felt a surge of guilt. “I won’t care then, either.” He reassured Ellis. “This isn’t just because I—I mean, I kept having these dreams, Ellis.” He stroked Ellis hard at the memory.

“W-what kind of dreams?” Ellis asked, squirming impatiently. 

“Good ones.” Nick breathed in his ear. “Shit, they were good.”

“Tell me.” Ellis said, voice near a whine. He pushed his hips against Nick’s, breath hitching when he felt the older man through the jeans Nick still had on. Nick pulled his hand away, moving it to the kid’s mouth, and Ellis let him in eagerly, sucking on his fingers. And there was that flush, Ellis’s cheeks and stomach and even his damn thighs flushed pink, and it made Nick even harder.

“There was one where I fucked you on my desk.” Nick told him, voice low and heady, watching Ellis hollow his cheeks, “In my classroom. In the middle of the day too, in between classes I think.”

Ellis made a surprised noise and pulled away from him for a second. “W-with people around?”

“Don’t know.” Nick said. “I didn’t really care.”

“Jeez, you’re really throwin’ yourself headfirst into this public sex thing, aren’t you?” Ellis asked, sounding a little pleased, before licking at Nick’s fingers, encouraging him back in.

Nick gazed down at him, considering, feeling hot and excited. “I’d let them watch.” He said intensely. “I’d let them get a good look at all the things I’m doing to you. Make them jealous.” 

Ellis ‘mmm’-ed around his fingers, and Nick withdrew them from his mouth. 

“What are you gonna do to me?” The younger man asked breathlessly. Nick let his hand drift down until he found Ellis’s opening, pressing two slick fingers against it, teasing him.

“There was another dream,” Nick continued in the same, low tone, brushing his fingers over Ellis, loving how his breathing quickened, “Where I just watched you. You let me watch while you opened yourself up for me, you moaned for me—”

“I can do it now—” Ellis gasped, “If you want me to—”

“No, Ellis.” Nick shook his head. “Just relax.”

Ellis did moan, shuddering as Nick pushed his fingers inside of him, spreading them, taking his time bringing Ellis to the edge. 

“That okay?” He asked, thrusting his fingers in and out slowly. They had nothing to use for lube, he realized.

“More than okay—” Ellis groaned. “Fuck yeah, that feels nice…” He made a little keening noise in the back of his throat, pressing down on Nick’s fingers, writhing his hips. “Damn, Nick, you gotta hurry—”

Nick pulled his fingers out.

“Every single one of those dreams made me so hard, Ellis,” He said, leaning in, “But enough about those. What do you want me to do?” 

Ellis looked up at him, looking a little dazed at the loss of contact, eyes lidded, and licked his lips. “Huh?”

Nick brushed his lips over Ellis’s ear. “Tell me,” he purred, voice seductive, irresistible, “what you want me to do to you.” 

“Oh, God—” Ellis moaned, sounding like he was close to losing it, “I—fuck, kiss me, just—” 

He fell silent when Nick claimed his mouth, sliding their tongues together, hard and frantic and burning. 

“Lower—” Ellis said, between gasps when they broke apart for air, and Nick dipped his head, pressing his lips to the other’s collarbone, his chest; “—lower—” and he had to drop to his knees to kiss Ellis’s stomach, and trace his tongue over the place where the younger man’s hips dipped sharply. He looked up. Ellis had both hands braced on the car hood, legs spread apart, panting, watching him. 

Nick held his gaze as he ran his tongue up the vein on the underside of Ellis’s cock, from the base to the head, and Ellis’s knees almost buckled. Wordlessly, Nick pressed his palms against the other man’s thighs, spreading them farther apart, and took him fully into his mouth. 

The younger man made surprisingly little sound, now; Nick could hear him panting above him, groans truncated into short, needy little grunts. He had dropped one elbow to the hood of the car, leaning his torso back against it, the position raising his hips up. Nick swirled his tongue over the head, fingers gripping the kid’s thighs hard enough that Ellis would have bruises, and Ellis only managed to gasp out, “I can’t—” before his voice broke. 

Nick pulled away, knowing what he wanted, sliding his hands up Ellis’s body as he stood. 

“Turn around.” He said firmly.

“No—” The younger man shook his head fervently. He caught Nick’s face in his hands, kissing him unsteadily, breathed, “I want to see your face, I want to see when you—”

Nick nodded, undoing his jeans and pushing them down, lifting one of Ellis’s legs up to wrap around his waist. He spat into his hand, running it over his length, hoping Ellis was ready.

“Come on—” Ellis urged, cutting off as Nick lined himself up and pushed inside of him steadily. Nick exhaled slowly, trying to remember to breathe, every instinct screaming at him to fuck the kid senseless. Ellis clung to him, one arm around his neck, the other arm hooked under Nick’s, hand gripping his shoulder. “Nick, you have to—”

Nick thrust into him, pulling almost all the way out and slamming back in, and Ellis clutched at him tighter, fisting his sweater in his hand.

“Go faster.” The younger man ground out, which would have amused Nick if he hadn’t been so completely lost in the heat, the way Ellis tightened around him, rocking his hips desperately, like he needed this more than anything. Nick held onto him and pounded into him again and again, closing his eyes, moaning low in the back of his throat because he couldn’t help it.

“Shit—” Ellis groaned, “Nick—sound so fuckin’ hot—”

It was like a camera flash went off in Nick’s face, and the next second, he was coming hard inside Ellis, gasping for air; and Ellis arched his back, mouth open, but silent, and ruined the front of Nick’s sweater. 

He relaxed, slumping into Nick’s chest, still panting for breath.

“Ah, shit.” Nick mumbled. “I liked this sweater.”

Ellis laughed, and kissed the side of his neck. “For the record, I’m glad you didn’t regret it.” He said.

Nick turned his head so he could kiss him fully. 

“For the record, but don’t tell anyone I said this? I’m a fucking idiot for thinking I could.” 

***

Mid-December and finals were over and done with. Nick strode hurriedly down the hall towards his (now old) classroom, hoping that he was remembering correctly and that he had, indeed, left his glasses there. He pushed open the door. 

“Stupid fucking glasses,” He muttered in annoyance, “why can’t you just stay put—”

“Looking for these?” There was a slight knock on the door and he turned.

Ellis was leaning against the doorway, smirking, twirling Nick’s glasses in one hand. 

“Yes.” Nick said, putting his hand out for them. “Incidentally, are you stalking me?”

“No, I’m just making sure you don’t lose your shit.” Ellis said, rolling his eyes and walking towards him. “You left them in the auto shop the last time you came by.” 

That had been probably about two days ago, as Nick’s visits had become rather frequent.

“I just went by the Psych department and they told me you were over here.” The younger man said, dropping Nick’s glasses into his hand. 

“Thanks.”

Ellis grinned. “There is kinda another reason why I’m here.”

“Oh yeah?” Nick raised an eyebrow. “And what might that be?”

“I was just wondering what I got in your class.” Ellis said nonchalantly. 

“Let’s see… you did fine on the final…” Nick contemplated for a second. “I’d say you pulled off a B. Maybe a B plus.” 

Ellis did a double take. “A what?”

“You heard me.” Nick said, lips curling into a smirk. “Nothing that happens outside the classroom counts toward your grade.”

“After all the times I raised my hand?” Ellis protested.

“Ellis, you just talked whenever you felt like it. And almost none of what you said related to the lecture.”

“If it weren’t for you,” The younger man said, stepping closer threateningly, “I’d have straight A’s.” 

“You manipulative little—” Nick shook his head. “I knew you were just faking all of that.”

Ellis cocked his head to the side. “Not all of it.” He took one more step, closing the gap between them. “You know that, right?”

Nick grinned a bit. “Yeah.”

Ellis leaned in to kiss him.

“You’re not going to change my mind about that grade.” Nick murmured.

“That’s not what this is for.” Ellis replied, right before their lips met. 

As Ellis just barely managed to nudge the door closed behind them with the tip of his foot, grinning mischievously as he tugged Nick forward by his tie, Nick reflected briefly on the irony of that semester. 

If he didn’t know better, he’d say the teacher had become the student. 

“Hey, Nick,” Ellis said, with that look on his face that told Nick he was about to make a really bad joke, “If I had to give you a grade for this semester, it’d probably be a—”

“Don’t. Say it.” Nick growled. 

“I’ll just keep you guessing then.” 

Smiling lips pressed against his own once more, and, he decided, he could live with that.