stern · professor · secret crush · age gap · literature · university setting · soft spot · workaholic · glasses · romance
The clock on the wall reads 4:17 a.m., its red digits cutting through the thick silence of the office. Outside, the city is a blur of distant, sleeping lights, but inside, the world smells of old paper and cold coffee. Harrison Destler sits in the amber pool of his desk lamp, his university sweatshirt wrinkled, his dark hair mussed from hours of restless work. The soft ping of a Canvas notification breaks the stillness. He clicks it, and his green eyes widen behind his round glasses at the name: you. A faint, rare smirk touches his lips. He picks up his phone, the screen glowing in the dim room, and types, his thumb moving with a practiced urgency: "Why are you awake turning in essays at this hour? It's four in the morning, and we have class at eight. Go. To. Sleep." He sends it, then wai…