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Just a coworker
Dr ratio x g/n! reader (i tried)
Part 1, Part 2
cw. angst, super slow burn, they eventually get tgt, hurf/comfort, jealousy brr, reader is unhinged, mentions of drugs, kinda cringe but who cares I've written worse, not proofread, dr ratio is a pussy
a/n: i js wanna say fck SCHOOL FOR GIVING ME 6 PROJECTS DUE TOMORROW. THIS FIC IS MEH BUT TRUST IT GETS BETTER (hopefully…)
Veritas Ratio is a lonely man. Only having his books and his sculptures as friends— regarding the rest as no use for him.
Up till now, you've been nothing more than the pest who waves hi at him every morning, bringing him coffee every now and then. You must be scheming something, there's no way someone could ever be this nice without asking for a favour.
“Dr ratio!”
The alabaster headed man stared at you, even with that stone head of his, you can clearly feel his piercing gaze.
“What is it?”
Veritas groans in annoyance, what is it again?
Lately, you've been struggling to teach this subject. As well-versed you were in topics such as literature, history and the likes, it was true that you were above average with maths.
“I've been tutoring this kid after classes and well…”
He doesn't move, just listening intently.
“He's been asking about quantum mechanics and I don't know much about the topic so…”
“so?”
so?
“I was wondering if you can teach me it.”
God damn it, he has better things to do.
“Then read a book about it”
His eyes were trained on your figure as he saw you tense, just why him of all people?
“Dr ratio, just this once. I just need to learn the basics once and I won't bother you again!”
He closed his codex and turned the other way, ready to walk away from conversation.
“I have better things to do than humouring your foolish antics—”
“Please.”
Your hands fidget nervously as he paused before looking back at you, pondering whether to do you a favour.
“I'll think about it.”
By the time you blinked, he was gone.
The next day passed, you were at his door, clutching your teaching materials as you waited for veritas’ class to end.
He scrunched nose as annoyance rose in him like a tide, he could see you waiting at the window and checking the time every now and then.
“That ends our discussion for today.”
His voice echoing on the walls as the bell rang, his students already out the door.
After a good 10 minutes, most of the students were out the door as he was left alone with himself (+ those eyes of yours that never seem to leave him alone)
“It's rude to stare.”
His comment caught you off guard, the corners of your lips twitching nervously as you hid behind the wall again— shit, he caught you staring…
Veritas let out a sigh before cleaning his desk of the sparse test papers he's collected last week.
A moment of silence passed before you mustered up the courage to enter the spacious room, it was… quiet to say the least.
“Dr. Ratio—”
“I'll tutor you but with one condition.”
Sweat trickled down your forehead as you nervously anticipated what he's about to say. (Did I mention he paused to rile you up?)
“You,”
A click on his cabinet was heard before he turned at your direction to get a better look at you.
“That I won't have to tutor you again next time, just this once”
It was odd, a teacher asking for tutoring from a fellow teacher? It wasn't uncommon but it certainly irked him of the thought. You could just read a book about it but you'd rather take his precious hours in his day for something you could do yourself.
You let out a sigh of relief.
“whew… I thought you were going to refuse.”
“Do you want me to?”
You shook your head no, gripping your satchel tightly.
“Tomorrow at the faculty room after classes—”
When you blinked, he was already behind you. Was he a magician or something?!?
“—Don't be late.”
Then, the door closed abruptly, now it was only you in the room.
…
The next day, classes already ended and you cleaned up your desk to get to the faculty room.
As you slid the door open, he was already waiting for you.
“What're you doing?”
Veritas moved another chess piece on the board, eating the white team's queen.
“What does it look like I'm doing?”
Why can't he just be nice for once?
“Whatever, so… do we start reviewing?”
You pulled the chair opposite to his and sat down. He didn't reply, only tapping his feet.
“Your turn.”
“Do I just?—”
“Just move a piece.”
Fine then. There were barely any pieces left on the board, leaving you with no other choice as you hid your king at the corner of the board.
“Checkmate.”
There was a visible annoyance on your face, making veritas chuckle.
“Seriously? When are you going to start tutoring me? I came here to learn something— not some stupid chess game”
“First of all, chess isn't stupid”
Before you knew it, veritas flicked your forehead.
“Second of all, learn patience.”
“ow!”
Veritas hid away the board and grabbed all the books needed, pulling out some notes and highlighters for you.
“Read”
The man in front of you flipped the pages and pointed at the highlighted paragraph for you. Was he making you read out loud? Were you 10 or something?
“Do I really have to?”
His fingers tapped aggressively on the board, his patience was thinning and you weren't even past the first page yet.
“Just do it.”
…
Who could've guessed two hours later you would be in tears, notes sprawled all over the table and veritas shouting at you.
“Idiot.”
He commented on your work before rewriting the entire thing for you and repeating it again.
“God dammit we're not even past the 20th page yet you're here crying like a child.”
Sniffles echoed in the room, only his lamp illuminating the room. You checked your phone and it was already 8 pm.
“Now read.”
“Q-quantum mechanics…”
He clenched his jaw, raising his voice at you before you could continue.
“You imbecile, not that— can't you read?!? Its wave function!”
“Whatever!”
Before he could react, you stood up, bag already in hand and walking away.
“We're not done yet.”
“I don’t care.”
Just like that, you were gone.
…
Despite you running off yesterday… There you were sitting on that same chair with the alabaster head man right in front of you.
“Again?”
You bit your lip nervously before tightening the grip on your pen.
“Yeah.”
Veritas nodded as he placed down his codex and walked to the sprawled shelves at his desk, his fingers tracing over the books (those books were rotting on those shelves, too dusty he had to wipe them)
“here.”
He took the book off the shelf and thrusted it into your hands.
‘The nonlinear schrodinger equation’
“Let's start with the ‘weakly nonlinear dispersion relation’ topic.”
Time flies by as he explains each term to you, giving definition after definition about each equation in front of you.
“Here, page 24.”
He pointed at the first equation but your eyes couldn't leave his stone head.
For an intimidating man, he's getting quite patient with you.
“— and let's compute the coefficients, after that,”
You couldn't stop wondering what he looked like under that stone head. It's hot out here, he must be sweating a tsunami in there. Is he handsome? or maybe he's wearing that stone head because he looks that bad?
“—the quantum mechanical pressure becomes negligible in the ‘semiclassical’ where nabla and—”
He hit your head with a codex, with no hesitation at all.
“ow!”
Oh shit— he must've noticed you staring.
“What were we reviewing?”
uh…
You gulped nervously, looking down at the page, you guys were already at page 26?!?
“0 points.”
He smacked you but with less force, though enough to leave a bruise.
“that hurt…”
“Then listen, don't waste my time.”
Under that alabaster head of his, a small smile formed from the corner of his lips due to the amusing sight before him.
“You're annoying, let's go over the fluid-dynamical form again.”
You weren't that boring after all.
…
You both were already at page 31, which was slow progress (at least to him, he can finish the book in under 3 hours.), yet still progress nonetheless.
“Do you get it now?”
It was already 9:58 pm, shit. You both got carried away…
“Yeah.”
Veritas handed the book over to you and hid away his highlighters.
“Go review at home— you better finish page 40.”
You nod, shoving the book into your satchel and your water bottle.
Today was… fun.
As you walked outside, one foot already out the door, you looked back.
“What?”
“and…”
There was a moment of silence, none of you moving before your voice shook,
“Thank you.”
He didn't say anything back, only putting back his folders in his bag as he removed his attention from you. You shook your head and just walked home.
…
It was the third day of him tutoring you, you were getting quite good.
“And how do you do the hamilton equation?”
There was a weird habit you did, you would bite your pen or sometimes click it nonstop due to stress (which you did now, don't do it too much though, you'll piss off veritas.)
You let out a soft hum before confidently writing the equation, no error in sight.
“And these quantities are called?”
“They're uh… momentas, right?”
“20 points— you're getting good at this.”
Receiving praise from others came by often, but to get one from the Dr. Veritas Ratio himself? You could wish.
Your eyes were glued at the scratch paper, unable to contain your smile; the aeons definitely smiled down on you and blessed you with his attention for today.
He takes note of this, but doesn't comment on that any further, only flipping the pages.
…
The fourth day. It was 2 pm, 3 hours earlier than the usual tutor hours. A new coffee shop opened in the food court at the university, which turned into the new buzz (the old coffee shops were shit.)
The line was long, your legs were about to give up but your students would occasionally suggest this shop, saying it's definitely better than the instant coffee at the teacher's lounge.
After 5 more minutes, it was finally your turn to order.
“Good afternoon! What can I get ya?”
The menu was definitely diverse, candy corn flavoured coffee? That's new.
“I'll take your special cappuccino”
The cheerful cashier jotted down your order, asking for your name then running to the back.
You sat down at some table and took out your laptop, fixing your schedules for this weekend.
“For ___?”
Eh? That was fast. It only took them 3 minutes to make your order despite the heavy line? Impressive.
“Thank you.”
You smiled and snatched the cup from the counter and walked back to your seat.
It tasted funny. Coffee jelly in cappuccino with sprinkles on top? At Least it tasted good.
“And here I was wondering where you are.”
“ack!”
You looked up and saw veritas in front of you, looming over you with his codex behind him after he hit you.
“that hurt…”
He sighed and sat down next to you while you rubbed the bruised area.
“Stop hitting people with your codex damn it!”
“I find it far more interesting to use my codex to get your attention.”
“Weirdo.”
He chuckled at the way scoffed, sipping your coffee and typing some requirements on an excel sheet.
“Anyways, why were you looking for me?”
He leaned back on the couch, before responding,
“Nothing, I was just wondering where the idiot was.”
“You little—”
Only a soft sigh left your lips as you continued to type, veritas beside you reading his codex and none of you saying a word.
Though this peaceful moment was short lived as the bell rang, signalling that the two of you had to go back to your respective classes.
Veritas sat up, closing his book.
“It's time for me to go.”
“Oh yeah.”
Veritas was gone in a blink of an eye, what's up with him disappearing so suddenly 24/7?!?
…
5 pm.
You were patiently waiting in the faculty room, what was taking veritas so long?
“You're late”
Veritas rolled his eyes— wait.
His stone head was… was this really the veritas ratio? He had nice purple hair, his eyes, he looked so… beautiful.
No way.
“When are you going to stop staring?”
“Oh— uh.”
You chuckled nervously before forcing a smile as he sat down in front of you.
“Let's continue where we let off.”
The sound of flipping pages reverberated across the room, your eyes locked onto his face. He would occasionally click his tongue at some parts of the book, guiding you through each equation as his face was close to yours; enough to feel his breath on your skin.
“—because its transformation φ is a symmetry and thus preserves the Lagrangian L and the action ,S=∫L”
Veritas ratio leaned closer to you, your hands touching as he got closer,
“Do you get it now?”
You didn't. You were too focused on his face, with every wrinkle of his brows, the tiniest details of his jaw and hell, even his eyes. How could you even focus? With his face inches away from yours? No way. The man right next to you stares at you, tapping his fingers on the mahogany table; he repeated himself.
“I said, do you get it now?”
Like the air was sucked out of your lungs, your last card was to lie but he was smart enough to not fall for that.
“Y-yes”
“Then what were we reviewing just now?”
He rolled his eyes hearing your mind blank out and confused ‘uhhs’ escaped your lips. You flinch from his harsh tone, as the cold stare turned into a glare.
“We should be reviewing the noether theorem, not my face.”
He made you solve equation after equation, his gaze not leaving you once as he crumpled your papers even after one minor mistake, “Idiot”, “Do it again.”, and “Are you really paying attention?” Constantly rang in your ears, you were not sure whether you asked for a tutoring session or a three hour insulting session from the revered professor.
“I'm sorry.”, He sighed at your visible frustration as you apologised through gritted teeth. He started to pity you when you struggled with just the terms at the next lesson. Was this theorem that hard? He dropped his pen and closed the book.
“Let’s end today’s session.”
A look of relief appeared on your face as he said those words, clearly, he’ll give you a break—
“Just read this book instead. It gives a more in-depth explanation”
— or not. He thrusted the book in your hands and put on his alabaster head, making you raise an eyebrow,
“What? You can’t seem to focus without this on”
You laughed an awkward chuckle while sliding the book in your satchel, a small squeak was heard when he stood up and moved his chair at his desk.
“Tomorrow again?”
“Sure.”
…
Veritas tapped his feet aggressively as time past by, you were late by 20 minutes, by now he would've left but for some reason he's feeling nice today that he'll wait for you.
The faculty room door slid open as light footsteps entered the room.
“Sorry ‘m late.”
You smelled different today. That would sound creepy to the average person but despite the tight alabaster sculpture that covers his face, he could smell your perfume and that he's gotten used to your scent by now.
“Did you wear something new?”
“Come again?”
He took one glance at you and shook his head and shifted his attention to the complex arithmetics on his codex.
“Hey, what did you mean by that?”
It was hard to ignore you as he tried to mute your voice but he let out an inaudible sigh before taking a quick glance at you.
“I meant your perfume, idiot.”
“No need to be rude.” you scoffed and placed down your bag at your desk.
He finds himself eager for a response as your right hand shuffled in your bag looking for the perfume bottle,
“I just tried something new.”
“Oh?”
He leans over the table to take a closer look at the bottle, inspecting it with a skeptical look one he's glad you cannot see through his sculpted head.
“It was a gift from one of our coworkers here”
There was a loud slamming sound that rang in the room when you dropped the materials Veritas made you read, it was a pain highlighting everything.
“From who?”
Why was he suddenly interested? He's not one to ask about anyone's affairs so suddenly, not that he'd care about something so miniscule about you like perfume yet you humour him.
“From Amir, the history prof guy?”
“I see.” For some reason, he finds himself feeling annoyed after hearing who you got it from. Why would you accept a gift from that idiot? He's a far better history professor, definitely? definitely.
Hours passed yet he couldn't concentrate. Not with that foul stench of your new perfume of yours.
Dr. Ratio scrunched his nose in disgust as he continued to guide you through each and every lesson, harsher than usual— you didn't know why.
“Wrong answer, 2 points.”
Veritas smacked your arm with his heavy codex and snatched your answer sheet, crumpling it and tossing it in the bin.
“Do it again.”
This fucker. You were starting to lose your resolve but you do not falter under his scrutinising gaze.
Again and again. Another 30 minutes yet your answers didn't seem ‘perfect’ enough.
Veritas clicked his tongue in annoyance as you failed to answer another simple question again
“Are you even paying attention?”
“If you didn't yell at me every minute I would've”
You continued to write more equations as he rolled his eyes at your reply, his eyes scanned your work and it was okay (atleast to his standards).
His eyes squinted, looking for any mistake but there was none, he gave up.
“50 points”, he spoke in a defeated tone.
“Just 50?”
“0 points then”
“Oh come on.”
It was hell getting tutored by him.
A/N: ITS TWO PARTS COS FUCK TUMBLR AND TOLD ME THERES A WORD LIMIT LOL. THE FULL FIC WAS LIKE 6.4K WORDS OR SHIT DAMN. ITS SO CRINGE ONG IMMA POST PART TWO TMRW GOD. IM LAGG>NG SO NAD RN HELP
what are the love languages of hsr men? — their love languages in a relationship
words of affirmation — verbal expressions of love, appreciation, and encouragement
dan heng, jiaoqiu, mydei, sunday: “know that i love you. you are loved, even if you cannot see it. you are cared for. i love every part of you, traits that you seem perfect or imperfect, your scars, every flaw. i love you.”
quality time — giving another person your undivided attention
jing yuan, dan heng, gepard, sunday: despite both of your busy schedules, you make time to see them. if you can, then you will. you know that they love spending time with you. making new memories as time flows.
physical touch — connection through appropriate physical touch (nonsexual or sexual)
blade, dr. ratio, mydei, phainon: you know that touch is what grounds them. subtle in public and obvious in private. you let them touch your hand, hug you, caress every part of your body. intimate skin to skin contact (sexual or nonsexual) is a must. perhaps begrudgingly in veritas’s case.
acts of service — selfless, thoughtful acts that make a person’s life easier
jing yuan, gepard: they truly appreciate it that someone in their life is being thoughtful of the situation they’re in. both are incredibly busy and you make their life easier by remembering the things about them. perhaps that’s what made them fall in love with you more.
receiving gifts — tangible tokens of love and thoughtfulness
jiaoqiu, phainon: oh they adore gifts, even little trinkets that remind you of them when you saw what you gave them. they found it adorable that you thought of them when you are buying or preparing this gift. they will always treasure what you give them. it’s the thought that counts, always.
of course, they try to do all love languages when it comes to you. after all, you are their lover. they treasure you the most. your happiness is their happiness.
divider by @saradika-graphics
© elixara