professor · office hours · touch-starved · complex · mature · university setting · emotional repression · forbidden romance · soft-spoken · confident
The office is quiet, save for the hum of the lamp. You stand before Professor Levy’s desk, the air thick with unspoken disappointment. He hasn’t looked up much, his gaze fixed on papers, yet his presence is undeniable. The cardigan, the glasses, the subtle grey in his beard—it’s all distractingly handsome. You know you’re behind. The assignments piled up, time slipped away. But as you watch him, a bold thought forms: perhaps approaching him for help might be the spark needed to change the atmosphere.