Work Text:
Heimerdinger had been the dean of the Academy for many years. His job could be... repetitive.
However, today was not going to be a boring day.
A student named Viktor had been brought to his attention by a professor. On the surface, he was a great student, very smart, always on time to class, and always eager to engage with his teachers. The only issue was, the administration office had been looking for his enrollment papers, or anything that could prove he was officially a student, and they hadn't been able to find anything.
Sure, the odd document could get lost from time to time, but this student, who had been attending classes for several months, didn't have a paper trail.
The whole situation was odd, that was why he'd asked the student to come talk to him today.
He just wanted to talk. He hoped this wasn't just some spoiled kid who thought bureaucracy didn't apply to him.
Heimerdinger walked into his study, to find the boy already sitting in the chair opposite his desk.
He sat in his own chair, ready to finally figure out what was going on.
"Viktor. They tell me you're the best in several of your classes."
The boy grinned. He looked so young. They seemed to get younger every year.
"However, there seems to be an issue. You're not actually a student."
"I am. I've been studying very hard this year," he said, nodding profusely.
Heimerdinger sighed.
"You know this isn't what I mean. You're not regularly enrolled at this school."
"No, no, I am," Viktor shook his head. He launched into a very convoluted excuse as to why all his paperwork was missing, but he lost conviction three sentences in. Heimerdinger let him talk, and soon, his voice started getting quieter and quieter. After a couple of centuries of teaching, he could tell when a student was bullshitting him. His papers hadn't gotten lost in some abandoned drawer, he was sure of that now.
"Why didn't you enroll through the regular procedure?" he asked, both as a way of stopping him from making up even more excuses, and because he wanted to know.
"I..." the boy stared at him with eyes as big as saucers, shocked his masterful act of deception hadn't worked. "There was no way for me to. I'm from the undercity. I don't have most of the necessary documents."
"Now I see the problem." Heimerdinger nodded, clasping his hands. "And I appreciate your honesty."
Because he was a councilman, too, he knew the kid wasn't lying.
And he knew the kid was brilliant. He wasn't going to go hard on him.
"I don't want to expel you," he said. The boy's whole body relaxed, he was now slouching on the chair he was sitting on. "I just don't know what to do with you."
Viktor nodded, breathing a sigh of relief.
"This sure is a hairy situation, professor."
Heimerdinger looked at him dead in the eye, clearly waiting for something. Was he joking at a moment like this?
"This is serious, my boy."
Viktor shrugged, a bit disappointed. "I know."
"You will have to do some things for me."
He waited for Viktor to agree with him. He didn't, instead, he looked at him suspiciously. Heimerdinger sighed.
"You're lucky, my assistant quit a few weeks ago. If you do his job, and you do it well, I'll turn a blind eye on the situation."
Viktor finally nodded. "I will do my best to assist you."
"Good," he said. It was a good compromise: he didn't want to kick out such a promising kid... but he didn't want anybody else to get ideas. He was making an exception, not a new rule. People can't just walk in and become students, there's a process, but he was ready to tweak the process a little bit, for those who needed it.
Heimerdinger jumped down his chair and walked to the door.
"Come on, you're starting now!" Heimerdinger said, gesturing for the boy to follow him.
Viktor smiled, stood up with the aid of his cane, and walked towards him.