Work Text:
The Middle Ages had been getting… weird, lately.
Not the Middle Ages, the historical time period, though that was always reliably weirder than expected, in Daisy’s experience. No, what was truly weird nowadays, and getting weirder by the minute, was The Middle Ages, history and literature class taught by Professor Robert Gadling.
Daisy had heard a lot about Professor Gadling before enrolling in his class. She’d heard he took a common man’s approach to history, focusing at least as much, if not more, on the experiences of average people than on the movements of kings. She’d heard he’d read everything under the sun and was far better than Google if you needed a source for your paper. She’d heard he had a playful lecture style that the burned-out older students, in particular, appreciated.
She had not heard about the boyfriend.
This was, admittedly, a new development, at least according to the gossip mill. Which was feverish, as Prof. Gadling was both well-liked and mysterious, a deadly combo.
But now there was the boyfriend, and what a boyfriend.
If Daisy had been asked to picture what any boyfriend of Professor Gadling might be like, she would definitely not have pictured this pretty goth thing, this being with a preternatural elegance to him. Where did this guy even come from? He even managed to look elegant dressed down and comfy in jeans and a sweatshirt as he was.
The rumors said that he was way younger than the professor, but Daisy didn’t think so. There was something… unaccountably ancient about him, no matter how young he looked on the surface. An old soul, she supposed.
One who just happened to win the genetic lottery and age – or rather not age – like a god.
Morpheus, which was apparently what his name was – and that was a whole other trip – was reclining in one of the seats near the front of the lecture hall. Reclining, quite literally, as he had his feet up on the back of the seat in front of him, notebook balanced on his thighs.
And he was writing with a quill. A fucking quill.
Daisy would have thought he’d just be listening, not being a real student and all (she assumed and also hoped), but he seemed to be taking proper notes, unreadable, swooping cursive notes though they were.
He was also doodling birds in the margins of the page.
Daisy should really stop staring. She forced her gaze back to the front of the room.
Professor Gadling was in the midst of explaining the historical background of the text they were reading, The Book of Margery Kempe. It was a fascinating book, actually. If only Daisy didn’t keep getting distracted by whatever strange competitive game it seemed to be inspiring in her weird professor and his weird boyfriend.
The first time Morpheus had interrupted the lecture with a comment, Prof. Gadling had straight up ignored him, just steamrolled over him, waited until he raised his hand, and then called on him. Morpheus had not seemed embarrassed or chastised about this in the slightest, just blithely asked, “Professor, are we certain that Margery’s visitation from Jesus was a psychotic break, or could it have possibly been a dream?”
Professor Gadling had sighed, hands on his hips. “I think you’re going to have to answer that one for yourself, Morpheus. Also, we haven’t even gotten to that part of the text!”
“I read ahead.”
“Yeah, I’m fucking sure that you did.”
This sort of thing had continued apace for the rest of the lecture.
Then there had been the eye-fucking. Dear God, the eye-fucking. Every time Morpheus made a snarky comment. Daisy wondered if they knew how obvious they were being.
Daisy had to give the prof credit, though. Despite all the antics he never skipped a beat in his lecture. Didn’t miss a goddamn bullet point.
Daisy really hadn’t thought university would be like this, though.
Now it seemed they were again having an argument over the book.
“It’s said that Margery’s tale is the only surviving firsthand account of an ordinary person’s life in the late thirteen-hundreds,” Prof. Gadling was saying, when Morpheus interrupted, very much in a drawl—
“Oh, but I don’t think that’s quite true.”
Prof. Gadling raised a challenging eyebrow at him. “Is that so?”
Morpheus smiled, very snake-like. “Quite.”
“Care to share with the class, Morpheus?”
Morpheus leaned further back in his chair, arms crossed. “I think you know whereof I speak.”
“Oh, I see.” Prof. Gadling’s smile was pleasant. Too pleasant. “You’re talking about that one lost manuscript. Very much lost and not accessible.”
“If that is how you wish to interpret my words.”
“That’s how I wish to interpret it, you git. Stop interrupting the class.”
“I’m simply engaging with the material,” Morpheus protested, pouting. “I believed this was a modern classroom.”
“You can engage with the material later,” Prof. Gadling said, with a significant look, which brought a smirk back to Morpheus’s face.
Oh God, back to the eye-fucking. Daisy did not need this. Right in front of her lecture notes and everything.
“Right,” said Prof. Gadling, forcibly dragging himself back to the classroom and the present. He pointed at Morpheus. “You, quiet. Does anyone else have questions or comments?”
Based on that one class, Daisy might have assumed they had a sort of contentious and snarky relationship. But at the end of the lecture, she caught something different.
She’d lingered behind to ask Professor Gadling a question about the assignment – though she was starting to think that question was better left for office hours later.
As the students were filing out, Morpheus climbed down from his lounging position in his seat, picking his way down the steps until he was standing by Prof. Gadling at the board. Daisy hadn’t noticed before that his notebook had ravens on the cover; why was that so cute?
Prof. Gadling ran a hand through Morpheus’s hair, then let it fall to rest on the side of his neck, softer than Daisy would have expected after their snappy conversation from earlier. “Going to have to ban you from sitting in on lectures, love.”
Morpheus raised an eyebrow. “You would dare?”
“I would dare.” There was something soft about the way he said it, though. Like he was daring to steal a kiss rather than kicking him out of the lecture hall.
Morpheus tipped his head back, looking at Professor Gadling from under his eyelashes. “What if I promise to behave myself?”
Prof. Gadling played with the hair at the nape of his neck. “You can’t be giving away all my secrets.”
“Never,” murmured Morpheus, his free hand finding Prof. Gadling’s jacket. “Though it has occurred to me that your students are missing out on some unique historical knowledge.”
Prof. Gadling sighed. “Can’t do much about that. Such is life.”
“Full of frustration?”
“Full of give and take,” Professor Gadling corrected. “Most blessings require a sacrifice of some kind, too, you know.”
“Oh?” said Morpheus. “And which am I?”
Professor Gadling smiled, fond. “Which do you think?”
Morpheus gave him a look that was sly, mischievous. “Nightmare.”
“Oh, too right.”
Prof. Gadling pulled him into a kiss, tilting his head into it with a hand on his jaw, and Morpheus dropped his notebook to bring his hands up to Prof. Gadling’s shoulders.
Daisy realized she was staring again, and slunk out of the classroom before she could be caught.
Yeah. She’d definitely just be waiting until office hours.