Work Text:
Charlie smacked his lips when the piece of chalk broke into two halves. The one half he was still holding in his hand was so short that he could hardly write with it. Charlie looked down at the holder but there were no spare pieces of chalk. At first he shook his head in frustration because he couldn’t finish writing the complicated equation. But then he smiled again and left the lecture hall to go to the desk clerk for some chalk. Technically, it certainly wasn’t his task to care about stock of chalk and then, even if he did, it would be more “right” to fetch them in the storeroom.
Of course, he could - or maybe even should - work in his office and not in a random lecture hall but he liked the change of scenery, even though the room was only a few yards away from his office.
Charlie knew that the receptionist always kept a box of chalk in his drawer though and besides, he liked chatting with the old man.
Charlie left the room, tried to rein in his long curls with his hand and went to the reception, well, the man used to be called a doorman but times had changed. He'd seen and experienced quite a lot of changes here. Charlie chuckled a bit. If there were someone mapping out the recent history of the California Institute of Science, he would make a good eyewitness. He was only thirty years old and yet spent literally half of his life here.
Charlie liked walking in the halls of CalSci. It felt like home. Not like home. The university was his home. One of his homes, one of the places he felt the most comfortable at; in his element.
On his way to the reception desk Charlie pondered that he should announce some themes for the theses. It was usually expected that the students would come up with a topic themselves, but especially the undergrads welcomed some form of a guidance with at least a broadly stated topic they could narrow down. And there were so many topics he’d love to explore. Charlie smiled slightly. In the past he’d probably hoard all the topics and would love to do all the research and experiments himself. Then, gradually, he grew to love teaching. Inspiring the students to make their own discoveries and guide them on the way to knowledge. Math was everywhere after all!
It was all Larry’s doing. He was the calming force, sometimes too lost in his own thoughts, philosophizing about random things, but it made Charlie stop and reflect too. He appreciated Larry and his sometimes un-teacher-like methods.
“Oh, Professor Eppes, how are you doing?” the receptionist asked.
“I’ve just used up all the chalk so I thought…” Charlie said, a bit shy, offering his boyish smile to the old man.
“Of course,” the receptionist bent down and took a pack of chalk out of the drawer.
He winked at Charlie as if he wanted to tell him 'Don't give the secret away that I have this big stash of chalk here.' They had been playing this game for years.
“Getting ready for the new academic year?”
“Yeah, it’s… kinda exciting isn’t it,” Charlie said, his eyes shining, he sounded a bit surprised, as if he realized anew how much he enjoyed teaching.
‘I should probably buy a new planner for the academic year,’ he thought.
“Thanks for the chalk,” Charlie said, he usually lingered a bit and chatted with the man, but right in this moment he couldn’t wait and immediately returned to the lecture hall to finish the equation. He also couldn’t wait for the room to be filled with students again.
A professor went by the lecture hall, the door was closed, there were no students yet in August but he recognized the unmistakable staccato of the chalk dancing on the blackboard. ‘Professor Eppes,’ the professor thought. He couldn’t imagine walking through the building without hearing these characteristic sounds.