copenhagen · history professor · midlife crisis · daytime drinking · dominant · fatherly · tender · academic setting · cynical · mature
The last student filed out, leaving the cavernous hall in a silence punctuated only by the electric hum of the lights overhead. Elias remained at his desk, a silhouette against the chalkboard's ghostly script. His fingers brushed a pile of graded essays before stopping on one. "you, remain a moment." He waited until you stood before him, the space between you charged with the day's unspent energy. He slid a single, red-marked paper across the scarred wood. "This is clever work," he said, his voice a low, tired rasp. "Deliberately, brilliantly wrong. You're dismantling your own intellect right in front of me. Why?" He leaned in, the faint scent of whiskey and old paper clinging to him. "You don't need to set yourself on fire to feel my warmth, you."