Chapter Text
You’re so good with numbers, they said. You should be a tutor, they said. It’ll be so much fun, they said. Diedrich’s math professor had somehow gotten him to agree to help those less fortunate in the world of calculus. Now he was standing outside of Vincent Phantomhive’s flat with his backpack full and his hopes empty.
Ugh, curse his good analytical skills and attention to detail for getting him into this job!
Maybe Phantomhive wouldn’t be needing his help if he actually did his homework instead of just spending his free time flirting with girls. Maybe Phantomhive would be smarter if he just cared a little about education. Maybe Phantomhive wouldn’t-
Phantomhive opened the door with a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. A smirk just to spite me, obviously! Damn that smirk with those perfectly straight, white teeth. He was wearing one of his classic button down polo shirts with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and a rolex watch sat on his wrist. He probably used that watch as a way to get the girls. Look at me with my nice things, ladies!
“Hello there, Diedrich!” Vincent greeted. “Glad to see you decided to drop by!” The boy winked. Was he mocking him?
“Of course I ‘decided to drop by.’ You requested a tutor,” Diedrich responded.Dummkopf.
Vincent swung the door open wide and motioned for Diedrich to come in. “Make yourself at home. Mi casa es tu casa, or whatever they say in Germany.”
Diedrich didn’t even bother to correct Vincent. He followed him into Phantomhive’s sitting room and put his stuff on Phantomhive’s coffee table. He laid out all of his textbooks and notebooks methodically while Phantomhive - the unorganized mess - shuffled around for his own work.
“I was told that you’re struggling with polar equations,” Diedrich said, flipping his book open to the correct unit. “It’ll be a big portion of your final, so I suggest we start with that.”
“I’ll do whatever you tell me.”
“Okay. Okay, well, okay…” Why did Diedrich suddenly feel so flustered? “Okay, let’s start with question number one, okay?”
“Okay~”
The two spent the next hour working their way through problems. Phantomhive wasn’t as stupid as Diedrich had originally thought. In fact, when he actually tried, he’d pick up on the patterns rather quickly. The hour went by without too many problems.
“Hey, Dee,” Phantomhive said once the session was up. He held out his phone. “Can I have your number?”
“Uh, w-well, I-” Diedrich stuttered. He must have sounded incredibly unprofessional.
Phantomhive interjected immediately. “For future study sessions! All I have now is your school email, but a text is so much more efficient.”
Diedrich took the phone. Were his hands shaking? This was so ridiculous. It was just a phone number. Pull yourself together, Diedrich. He entered his contact information into Phantomhive’s contacts and held it back out. “Here.”
Phantomhive grinned. He sent Diedrich a text with his name so he could add it into his phone as well. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to send you a text.”
Diedrich received the text a few days later. His heart shouldn’t have fluttered like that as his screen lit up with the name “Vincent Phantomhive.” Phantomhive was just some guy he tutored! It meant nothing.
Can you come next Monday at 1700?
Diedrich’s hands were shaking again. He took a few deep breaths and held the phone steady. He had to get his head out of the gutter. This was just for math. There was nothing attractive about calculus - or Phantomhive! Hell, calculus was more attractive than that spoiled playboy!
Yes, I’ll see you then.
Was that too flirty? Why was Diedrich even concerned about that? He wasn’t flirting! It was just a response for work!
It was hard to convince himself it meant nothing, however, when he found himself ready to go an hour early. This was after he spent about thirty minutes prepping himself. That next hour seemed to be an eternity, and by the time it was acceptable to actually leave, Diedrich was almost feeling sick.
Miraculously, he managed to drive himself to Phantomhive’s place without crashing from his delusional daydreaming. He made sure to arrive at 5:01, just so he wouldn’t look desperate.
But it’s a tutoring session, he had no reason to look desperate!
Diedrich clenched his teeth and banged on Phantomhive’s door. The door was already opening before he finished knocking. Phantomhive stood underneath the door frame in all his glory, with his raven black hair and his warm brown eyes and his perfect little grin and his well-toned forearms and his-
Pull. Yourself. Together. Diedrich.
“Hey there, gut aussehend,” Phantomhive said. Despite his horrible attempt at a German accent, Phantomhive looked proud of himself for figuring out what “good looking” was in Diedrich’s language. Damn it, Diedrich was proud of Vincent for looking that term up. It was a step up from the previous “casa” comment.
Diedrich just prayed that his face wasn’t as red as it felt hot, and he stepped around Phantomhive into his flat. Their arms brushed against each other in the process and Diedrich tried not to look too affected by it.
“Okay, shall we get started?” Diedrich said, clearing his throat. He needed a bucket of ice water thrown on him. Maybe a nice slap too. His mind immediately went to Phantomhive slapping him, however, and by the feeling in his pants, that was a bad idea.
Damn it all, damn it all!
“Yeah, let’s get started. In my bedroom this time,” Phantomhive said, tone insinuating many things.
Diedrich was so glad his pants weren’t tight.
They went back to the bedroom and laid everything out on the desk. Diedrich opened the textbook to where they left off. Vincent leaned in to be closer to the textbook, and their shoulders touched ever so slightly. Diedrich scooted over in his chair, which Phantomhive had already pulled over for him.
“Okay, chapter seven. This is about finding slope. This is very important when-”
“-I’m trying to find the slope of your nice ass!”
Diedrich dropped his pencil. It rolled underneath Phantomhive’s chair. He reached down to pick it up.
“Oh, you’re a forward one!” Phantomhive cooed as Diedrich’s face was down by the other’s hips. Diedrich clutched the pencil and stood up.
“That’s it!” Diedrich said, grabbing his belongings on the desk.
“Oh, we’re moving things onto the bed?”
Diedrich was really, really glad his pants weren’t too tight. “No, I’m leaving!”
Phantomhive paused. “We haven’t actually started the lesson, though.”
“And with your idiocy, we’d never start it!” Diedrich yelled. He threw his books into his backpack, zipped it up, and threw it on as he made his way to the door. “Text me when you actually want to do calculus.”
Without looking back, Diedrich left.
A day later, Diedrich received another text from Phantomhive. He had a thousand conflicting feelings, but he didn’t wait more than two seconds to open the message. He was just thankful he had the “read” notification turned off.
I was kind of a jackass yesterday. How about I make it up to you with lunch this weekend? Then we can actually do calc afterwards.
Diedrich shouldn’t have felt so happy. To play it off cool, he waited a few painstakingly long minutes to answer, and then responded with:
Sure. Just let me know when and where.
That Saturday at noon, Phantomhive took Diedrich out to a little cafe down the street from his flat. It was…romantic, though Phantomhive didn’t hit on him once. He stayed casual, and they simply discussed regular matters: Classes, TV Shows, Books, Music. While Phantomhive was known to be flirty, no girls were actually mentioned in the conversation. If anything, Phantomhive acting so cool and mature just turned on Diedrich more. The fact that Phantomhive paid as well only made the lunch seem more like a date.
They walked back to Phantomhive’s flat together, hands brushing against each other coincidentally a few times. They entered his sitting room and stood facing each other a moment. Phantomhive had that twinkle in his eye again. However, he had learned to respect Diedrich now and didn’t insinuate anything.
“Right, so uh, I guess we should start with the calculus,” Phantomhive said.
Verdammt!
Diedrich couldn’t take it any more. Without thinking, he reached out for Phantomhive’s shirt and pulled the other boy in. He passionately pressed his lips against his own, and was relieved when he felt Phantomhive relax in his grasp and put his own arms on Diedrich’s, kissing back. After a moment, they pulled away.
“Not bad,” he said. Phantomhive had that stupid grin on his face again.
Well, maybe calculus could wait a little longer…