This is PG- I know. I'm shocked too. Trying to get a hand on AU writing, hope you enjoy! For @ariannamosser5 😊
Mitch almost jumped in his seat when he heard a loud succession of knocks on his door. Before he got a chance to swivel around in his chair and ruin a student's evening by telling them he was too busy for office hours today, he heard a familiar voice and almost sighed in relief.
"Professor Grassi? Can I come on in? I brought coffee."
He tried to wipe the smile off his face before turning around to greet him. Of course. None of his English students ever visited him this late, he shouldn't have had any doubt that it would just be Scott. He swiveled around and greeted his admirer with a warm smile. "Haven't seen you in a while. Did you say coffee? Come right in, Professor Hoying. Close the door behind you, please."
Scott winked at him as he nudged the door shut with his knee, handing Mitch his coffee before settling into the extra chair in the cramped office with his own cup of espresso. "So, what brings you in today, Scott? Or did you just wanna see me?" he teased, abandoning his papers and turning to face the cute blond.
Scott rolled his eyes and smiled in defeat. He had been visiting Mitch for "help" with classes all semester and was well aware that he wasn't quite as sly as he had intended to be when he had visited him for the first time. Not only was it extremely strange that Scott, as a Psychology professor, was always consulting an English professor for advice, but the questions he brought him got progressively sillier as the semester went on and Scott ran out of real issues to bring to him. As awkward as he felt walking into his office once every couple of weeks, Mitch's warm response every time he had him coming back every few weeks.
The first time he had seen Mitch was during freshman orientation a few months ago, when Scott had decided to tag along with the new students and get a feel of the college campus where he was about to start his first teaching job. He had seen a good looking brunette guiding students around the humanities building and immediately latched on to the group, following them through the various divisions of the huge building. Minutes into the confusing maze of hallways, Scott had almost forgotten where he was and let himself get lost in the tour guide's sweet, enthusiastic voice, deciding he wouldn't need to know his way around this building anyway. The boy leading the tour- was he a grad student? he seemed so young- was definitely more interesting than these narrow hallways and empty rooms.
He had approached him after the short tour, introducing himself as the psychology department's newest hire and was pleased to find that the other man was also relatively new to teaching, having graduated just one year before him. He couldn't help but find comfort in how welcoming the young man, introduced to him as Professor Mitch Grassi, was and didn't fail to note that the warmth radiating from the brunette wasn't just kindness. There were moments in their little conversation where Mitch would intentionally touch his hand or shoulder and blush a little, and Scott couldn't help but feel butterflies in his own stomach thinking that he might be interested in him. Was he overanalyzing their coy little introduction? There was no doubt in his mind that the brunette was gay too, but even putting that aside the way he looked at Scott and even subconsciously licked his lips a couple of times made him hope he was right in assuming that the English professor felt some kind of a spark between them as well. When Mitch offered to help Scott if he needed assistance with adjusting to the job, he accepted and visited his office just one week later, coffee in hand.
"Um, helloooooo? Hoying? Did you need something? I have papers to grade, buddy." Scott snapped out of memory lane and looked up to meet to dark brown eyes peeking at him expectantly from over the rim of his coffee cup. Scott mentally facepalmed himself for getting distracted and set his own coffee down on the edge of Mitch's desk.
"Right, um..." he shuffled through the folder in his hand twice before pulling out a students assignment, two papers stapled neatly together. He flipped to the second page to where he had hilighted a sentence in yellow and stared at it for a moment. After trying to mentally phrase his question in a way that didn't sound completely idiotic, he felt blood rush to his cheeks and sighed. He hadn't come prepared and he was about to pay for it.
"Well, uh, I gave my Psych 201 students an assignment last week to take a personality test and write a two page assessment on it. I got this one back from a student, uh...great girl. She's really smart, works hard and pays attention and stuff" oh god, he was rambling. "This paper is definitely an A, but I just didn't know if... if this sentence was grammatically correct?" He held her paper up to Mitch, his finger hovering above the hilighted sentence.
He looked up at the brunette when he was met with over ten seconds of silence. His plump lips were pressed together in a weak attempt to suppress a laugh and Scott pulled the paper back and covered his face with it, immensely embarrassed. He couldn't help the groan that left his throat as he shut his eyes in an attempt to avoid Mitch's teasing expression. "I know, I know. I'm sorry." He wanted to get up and run back to his own office, he didn't think his cheeks could possibly get any pinker.
Mitch gently tugged the paper from his hands, still grinning, and read over the supposedly problematic sentence as Scott covered his burning cheeks with his hands. He meant to give him some sort of consolation by attempting to answer his ridiculous question, but sighed when he read the sentence twice and found it perfectly coherent.
"Oh, Scott" he whispered, shaking his head sympathetically. He was almost ready to succumb to second hand embarrassment and give him the answer he wanted but he couldn't even fabricate an error into the student's paper. "I hate to add on to your um...whatever you're going through right now, but this sentence is perfectly fine."
Now Mitch couldn't help but chuckle. Scott looked distraught and Mitch quickly got up and locked the door, genuinely worried that the man would still try to diffuse into the air and seep through the crack under the door to escape this incredibly awkward situation.
Scott looked up when the door clicked, sighing as he realized he wouldn't be able to make a run for it. Well, technically he could but now that Mitch had "locked him in," it would have been incredibly rude. He loosened his tie and propped his head on his fist, leaning forward in his chair. "Sorry. That was so embarrassing. The semesters ending and I'm completely out of questions and...you know." He was sure he had singed all of the nerve endings in his cheeks and was glad to feel like he would probably physically have to return to his natural color soon.
"Yeah, I know." Mitch smiled. "You know you can come over any time, right? We both know you're not fooling anybody, there's no need for formalities." He meant it, too. He knew why Scott was there, and Scott knew he knew. Why he still came with silly questions and fake problems was beyond him. They got along just fine without them and always ended up chatting over coffee for hours, the questions Scott always formulated thrown aside in mere minutes.
Scott stayed quiet for a minute, thinking it over. Mitch had said it before but it was still a bit embarrassing visiting him during his office hours that were meant for students, especially without a good excuse. He was surprised when Mitch scooted closer in his chair, his hand landing lightly on his knee. He felt another wave of pink rise under his cheeks when Mitch's thumb started rubbing back and forth on his thigh over his khakis. If this was meant to be a comforting gesture, it was definitely not working. Scott felt himself begin to sweat and thanked whatever it was that resulted in him wearing a black cardigan over his shirt today.
"Actually, I have a question for you now" Mitch offered, smiling softly at him. Oh god, that dimple. And his hand. He almost wanted to push that thin hand off of him, the intricate pattern that his index finger was tracing above his knee was so distracting. Scott thought he might combust from the combination of his touch with the deep eye contact that he couldn't make himself break. He didn't respond, so Mitch kept talking. "You're right, the semester is almost over and we won't be seeing each other until next spring. That is, if you ever come back to my office after this" he giggled, and Scott couldn't help smiling back despite himself. "Unless, of course, you want to. Do you?"
Scott raised his eyebrows. This, he wasn't expecting. "Do I want to see you, you mean? Like, over winter break?" Mitch nodded. "Oh. Okay. Okay...but how?" He rolled his eyes, almost annoyed. "For someone with a masters degree in psychology, I expected better. You couldn't even take a wild guess after our monthly hour-long flirt sessions in my office? Well, Scott, we have two options. I could take you out, or you could take me out" he suggested, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because it was. "I've been waiting for you to ask for a while but if you're too wimp to do it, I'll do it myself" he stated, watching Scott's face as he met his realization.
"O...okay. Oh. I didn't know that you...I can do that. I would really, really like to, actually. Um, are you free tonight?" he mumbled, hopefully. Mitch smirked. He had just told him he was interested, why was the man still so nervous? The fact that Scott's hand was trembling while his own was still unwaveringly tracing little stars above his knee made him feel in control, and he liked it. Despite his efforts to talk some confidence into the other man, of course.
"Eager, huh Scotty? I like that. We do have a week left before break though, you know" he teased, making Scott hide his face in his hands again. Mitch rolled his eyes, taking his hands in his own before meeting his gaze again. "I'm kidding, I'd love to. These papers aren't gonna grade themselves, though, and I'm not letting some silly boy distract me from my work, honey. How about you let me get back to work and then meet me at my place at 8:30? I'll grab some food if you grab a movie" he offered, finally pulling his hands away from him.
Scott was taken aback by his assertiveness. Why hasn't he just asked him before? Mitch seemed more than willing, and Scott wanted to slap himself thinking about all the time he had wasted making a fool of himself in his office when he could have just asked him on a date months ago. "Are you sure you'll be free by then? I could take you on a nice Saturday brunch tomorrow morning" he suggested, pleased with himself. That was probably the only thing he had said right all evening. "It would be classier that way, too. You deserve a real date for putting up with me all semester."
"Oh, I am not a morning person. Not on weekends, anyway. Are you saying you don't like a little Netflix and chill?" he asked, feigning surprise. Scott immediately shook his head no, turning pink yet again at Mitch's implications of the Netflix and chilling that might be happening tonight. Oh god, he wasn't ready for that yet. He could barely compose himself just talking to him yet. He was about to experience cheek failure from the amount of blushing he had done in the past half hour.
"No? Alrighty then, give me your number and I'll text you my address. You'd better bring a good movie, I'm putting a lot of responsibility in you hands" he smiled, handing Scott a paper and pen to write on. "See you at 8:30 then, Professor Hoying."