Chapter Text
Benedict Reed was a fair, no nonsense kind of man.
At least, that’s what the students say about him when they think he’s not around. Of course, some students say less than appropriate things as well but after so many years of being in this profession, he had learned how to ignore them.
He might be someone who appeared intimidating to others but he cared about his students and colleagues that were genuinely interested in his subject and wanted to learn more. Which was why he was on his way to Sophie Preston’s office.
She was a shy young lady, whose talents and capabilities were overshadowed by her higher ups and Benedict often felt frustrated that someone as knowledgeable as her would be put up to the most mundane tasks by Miller.
He had been curious about her when she first requested to join the reading club and after a few sessions, he came to the conclusion that when given the chance, she got her opinion across to the others fairly well. And that’s why he wanted to know why she hadn’t been showing up for the last couple of meetings of the club.
It wasn’t hard to do that once the classes had ended and there were only a few students and the staff left. He had asked his students to come a bit later than usual that day so he could check up on Sophie first.
He passed Professor Miller’s office, whose reputation preceded even outside her own department. The door was closed and he only hoped that he wouldn’t have to come across her.
Sophie’s office door was partially open and Benedict hesitated. Does that mean she wasn’t here? Maybe he should knock?
In the end he decided to knock thrice on the door. When he received no response, he slightly pushed the door open and came face to face with a sleeping Sophie.
She had her head in between her arms and didn’t show any sign that she had heard him. A small smile crept up on his face as he looked at her peaceful expression. She was usually so tired and flustered, so it was a rare treat to see her so relaxed.
He heard a crash from the room next to her—Miller’s office, he realised—and thought about what to do. If Miller came in when Sophie was asleep, there would be no doubt that she’d be enraged and Sophie would have to pay the price. So he decided that the best course of action was to wake her up, if only to save her from Miller’s wrath.
He walked to her desk and sharply rapped his knuckles on the table. Sophie only moved slightly, mumbling about how she didn’t want any more cake. As amusing as her sleep drunk ramblings were, he whispered her name sharply, trying to convey his sense of urgency.
She awoke with a start at the sound of her name and blinked her eyes. Benedict stepped back from her table and crossed his hands behind his back, trying to appear nonchalant.
“Professor Reed?” She shook herself awake and when she realised that he was actually in her office, she sat up with a start, banging her knee on her desk in the process.
He had to suppress a smile at her cursing and cleared his throat.
“Did you know that you talk in your sleep?”
Sophie looked at him horrified and he winced, realising that it probably wasn’t the best way to start a conversation.
“No I didn’t. I'm–I’m so sorry if I said something weird, I had no—”
“It’s alright, Miss Preston. I didn’t hear anything properly anyway,” he paused, “and I thought we agreed on first names.”
“Oh, right.” Sophie looked away, embarrassed and just as he was about to say something, Professor Miller entered her office.
“Sophie! I’m going, make sure to—”
She stopped in the middle of her sentence, realising that they had an audience and schooled her annoyed features into a cool facade.
“Professor Reed, I didn’t realise you and Miss Preston here were…close.”
The way she said it clearly implied more and judging by the way Sophie tensed, she had caught up on it too.
“Oh yes, Miss Preston joins my students and I for the Literature Club that’s held a few times a week. Although she had been missing a lot of meetings so I just came to check whether she was feeling alright.”
Miller clenched her jaw and looked at Sophie with a fake smile.
“I didn’t realise! Sophie tends to stay in the office most of the time, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, I have to do the work assigned to me after all,” Sophie said, in a rather snappish tone and the other occupants of the room reeled back in surprise.
“On second thought, you do look tired, Miss Preston. Perhaps you’d like to skip today’s meeting to go rest? Everyone else has already gone back,” Benedict said, flicking his eyes towards Miller’s purse, clearly noticing that she was about to leave as well.
Miller looked as if she had swallowed something sour and had a hard time maintaining the fake smile on her face.
“Yes, Sophie. Do take care of yourself. I have to head out now if I want to reach home on time, you should also finish up here and go home.”
And after saying that, she turned on her heels and walked away, presumably too angry to maintain false pretenses after Benedict had caught her overworking Sophie.
“She’s not going to stop, you know,” Sophie said, clearing away the sheets on her desk and looking up at him, “but thank you. At least she’ll lay off me for a few days.”
Benedict smiled.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Although, the offer to join m–us for a reading is definitely open. We’re having another meeting in a few minutes.”
Sophie smiled shyly and nodded.
“I’d like that. It’ll help me unwind a little.”
Benedict tilted his head towards the door.
“Shall we, then?”
Sophie looked for her copy of this week’s read and followed after him, locking her office.
On the way to Benedict’s office, they made conversation and asked each other about their most and least favourite reads and Benedict realised that when given the chance, Sophie was not shy to talk about what she loved.
He looked at her as she spoke about her thoughts on a certain book, her eyes burning with passion to express herself, the upward curve of her lips as she talked about what she loved about it, her hands gesturing to get her point across and Benedict was mesmerized.
“—shouldn’t have done that. What do you think?”
He blinked out of the trance he had found himself in while gazing at Sophie and saw her looking at him expectantly.
“Could you say that again?”
Sophie frowned, looking away
“Were you not listening?”
Only then, Benedict realised how it must have come across. She was probably thinking that he only humored her by asking and wasn’t actually paying attention to her words.
“No, I was. I just like hearing your voice.”
She looked at him again, eyes wide with surprise and this time it was him who looked away.
“Looks like we’ve arrived.” They were in front of his office already. He hadn’t even realised.
“Shall we?”