Forbidden To Love You, My Dragon Professor

Slacker

"Professor, I'm sorry about class," Nina began as she turned to him.

"I understand your frustration, but showing up to class is useless if you're not going to be engaged with what's going on. I happen to know that Hannah does record the classes, but that's no excuse to slack off," Professor Landrick said, and put his hand on his forehead.

"I'm not a slacker," Nina said, trying to sound strong in the words but felt like she was sounding more like she was begging him to keep her in his class.

"What I tell everyone in class is important. I don't talk about anything that might not be on the final exam. I trust Hannah has told you that."

"Do you still have a thing for Hannah?" Nina asked suddenly. His expression darkened as she spoke the words.

"I see she's told you more than you needed to know," he said, inhaling and exhaling loudly. "No, Nina, I don't. She and I are two very different people-"

"You're not interested in the same things, yes, she's also told me that."

"What is it that you think you'll be getting out of this conversation, Nina?" he asked suddenly, making her pause in what she figured she was going to be saying next. She hummed and tried starting a sentence for a few seconds before finally grabbing onto some real words for him.

"It doesn't have anything to do with Hannah, Professor. How am I supposed to focus on anything when I've just learned that what I am is also supposed to be a legend? A myth?"

"You put it as far back in your mind as you can until class is over," he growled and stood up. Nina found herself doing the same thing, but in a sort of protective manner since he was moving around the desk to her. "Sit down," he demanded, and she found herself listening to him, even if he felt very threatening at the time. Hell he always did, no matter how nice he was. Probably the whole dragon thing.

"Professor," Nina said slowly, in a small voice, almost choking on the words.

"You will sit there for ten minutes, until I get back, and think about what I told you just now. Do not get out of the chair. I'll know, believe me."

Without waiting for her to respond, he walked around her chair, unlocked the door and left, closing it behind him. He didn't lock it, and she briefly thought about bolting at the five minute mark. The question was whether he was standing just outside the door to see what her reaction was going to be. Chills ran down her spine and up her sides as she wondered what to do here.

She shook her head, and decided to just do what he said. Wasn't like he locked her in. He was giving her the choice to leave if she wanted. She took a deep breath and thought about it. If Hannah wasn't recording the sessions or a vigorous note-taker, she'd have lost the whole lesson. She knew about the creatures already that he had been talking about, but that didn't excuse her from listening. He'd had to talk to her in her mind to get her attention.

He didn't have to do it that way. He could have made her look like a fool in front of everyone. Instead, he sort of made her look like she had been paying attention the whole time. Definitely not what a normal teacher would have done.

He was right though, she should have come to class prepared to be there. She should have known better than to bring her thoughts of that in with her like she had. She knew he could hear them, and she still drifted off in thought.

The door clicked open and she froze. Then the aroma of French Vanilla coffee drifted into the room. She furrowed her eyebrows. He had seriously left to go get a coffee?

"The french vanilla is yours," he said suddenly, closing the door behind him and locking it again. "I'm impressed that you hadn't run back to your dorm room."

"Oh, I thought about it," she whispered.

"I know, I heard it before getting the door closed." Nina tried not to smile as she cleared her throat. He placed the coffee tray on the table. "I'm glad you didn't."

"First time for everything, right?" She asked, making a smile play on his lips. She idly thought about how soft they must be, if they were anything like his hands. Her eyes widened at the thought and she turned away from him slowly, focusing hard on the dragon statue. She needed to be more careful about her thoughts. He chuckled.

"It's alright," he said softly. "You wouldn't believe the things I hear from other students. Not all about me, either. About their respective partners, their plans for the weekend... anyway. What did you think about while I was gone?"

Nina was relieved he brought them back to normal conversation.

"That I shouldn't walk into class and not listen if I'm going to be there. I could just as well not be there to think about things, being there and not listening to the lecture is rude," she answered, glancing in his direction. He had leaned on his desk enough to sit and face her while she talked.

"You're right, it is," he said, frowning at her. "So what are you going to do next time?"

"I'm going to listen, or not bother coming to class."

"I hope it's the first of those things, every time," he added, tilting his face down to look at her directly. "I figured I'd get the coffee before they closed," he added, taking hers and handing it to her. She took it without hesitation, loving the fact that he'd thought about doing that. Did he know that she always got coffee after his class?

"I did know," he added. She looked at him. While it was nice he could do that, he was also hearing things she didn't want him to hear. "I also know that, and I apologize. It's a hard thing to turn off most of the time."

"Right," Nina nodded. "I mean, in some ways it's good, too."

"Yes, things you need me to hear yet can't say out loud."

"Mmhm," she hummed, taking a sip. She held the cup like it was the source of her warmth, or her power. He watched her as she sighed. She opened her eyes and looked back at him after a moment. "Thank you for getting it for me."

"You're most welcome," he said, standing up and offering his hand to her to get her to her feet. She took it, standing, and he stared deep into her eyes for only a moment. She didn't look away this time. "Will you be going to the gym tomorrow?"

"Likely, yes," she answered, and he nodded. "I'm sorry, again. About class. It won't happen again."

"Consider it forgotten. Have a good night, Nina."

"You too," Nina replied, picking up her bag and heading out the door. As she got to the stairs leading out, she wondered if he could hear her still.

"Yes," he called from his office. She laughed a little before heading up to the door. She couldn't keep the thought begging to be let out any longer. The thought that she was glad he'd asked about her whereabouts for tomorrow. She glanced back quickly as she opened the door, and he was looking at her with a smile just barely visible from where she stood. She slipped out of the lecture hall and ran back to her dorm room, careful not to spill her coffee.

"Hey! What happened?" Hannah asked as Nina came through the door. She looked down at Nina's hand. "Couldn't have have been that bad if you managed to still get coffee."

"He knew I wasn't paying attention in class, he basically lectured me about it, and said just because you're recording the lectures doesn't mean I get to slack off."

"So he does know, oh man," she said, sitting in a kitchen chair. "So he's known the whole time?"

"I think so."

"How am I not in trouble?"

"Well, he likes you, doesn't he? Even teachers have students they like, regardless of whether they had relationships before class."

"I guess, and hey, why were you slacking off anyway? Weren't you the one spouting off about 'Everything you do, do it with passion'? Hmmmm?" Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Nina rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, having personal issues got me distracted today," Nina said quietly. Hannah nodded and dropped the subject.

"So, if you actually like Tyson, you should go for him. He might say no right now, but after school is out, he might reconsider."

Nina laughed and then turned back to Hannah, all amusement gone from her face. "What?"

"Well yeah, he seems to like you, so it's only a matter of time before you end up liking him too."

"That's ridiculous," Nina said instantly. She wasn't wrong, but was it obvious?

"Not really. He was interested in me first, he was actually the one that asked me out. I didn't even know he was a teacher until he told me I was going to be in his class at school."

"Wow, that's a game changer."

"Yep," Hannah said, sighing. "But anyway, I broke it off totally after a while. I told you that, right? So I don't care if you end up going out with him."

"You want me to or something?" Nina laughed, leaning against the refrigerator.

"Well, I don't know, he seems kind of lonely," Hannah answered. "Not that you should feel bad and get with him because of that. You should definitely share similar interests and stuff."

Nina smiled at Hannah. She cared for him, even though something separated them that she won't quite say. Maybe she would if she knew Nina actually was interested. Or maybe she'd just have to find out herself.

The next morning, Nina found herself ready to get out of bed. Hannah was already up, like usual, but this time when she came to Nina's room, Hannah found her already stretching to wake up.

"Wow, good morning," Hannah said, a smile bright and amused on her face. "What are you doing up already?"

"We," Nina corrected her. Hannah raised both eyebrows. "Are going to the gym."

"Oh," Hannah said and clapped. "Saturdays are great days to go to the gym. Wait a minute," she paused, looking at Nina. Nina kept her expression sleepy but emotionless. "Are you using me to get closer to Professor Tyson?" Nina tried not to, but she ended up laughing at Hannah who had been trying to copy her outburst the weekend before.

They walked into the gym about half an hour later, and started again with the treadmill. Nina hit level 10, again, going at a fast run. Hannah made it to eight, trying to keep up with Nina. At the end of that, Hannah had found the professor standing by the doors, watching them. As soon as Nina looked over the professor walked in and acted like he hadn't been watching. That telltale smile told them the opposite, though.

Hannah went over to the weight training, on one side of the professor, and Nina went over to the open space to do her usual HIIT circuit. She kept her back to everyone so she could pretend she wasn't being watched... except for the mirrors on both walls that were generally used to watch yourself. She saw the professor watching, along with at least half of the other people in attendance. Nina did her best to focus on herself, and noted that her eyes went back to dark as soon as she looked back at herself. She hoped no one else noticed.

Once she was finished, a few of the guys in the room whistled at her, and some of the girls clapped. Nina's heart raced from both the applause and the intensity of her exercise. She turned to look at everyone and nervously smiled and waved before moving back over to Hannah, who was giving her cat-calls.

"You're truly amazing, you know that? I don't think any of them could do that," Hannah said, nodding, very sure of her comment. "I can't do it, that's for sure. My body doesn't move that fast. Ever."

"Well, like I said before, I trained myself to be able to do that, I didn't just learn it overnight."

"It was still awesome," Hannah shrugged. Nina sighed and shook her head, but kept her smile on. She saw Professor Landrick from the corner of her eye, and he was lifting weights now in the opposite corner. Being a dragon, she figured he could likely lift every weight with one arm, so he was just doing this to look modest - though everyone else probably thought he was showing off.

"He's really good, isn't he?" Hannah said from beside Nina's face. Nina jumped, turning her face to look at her friend. "I know you were looking at him. You do like him, don't you?"

"No, why would you say that?"

"Oh please, you're both practically flirting with each other from across the room the way you two keep glancing back and forth at each other."

"I think you're seeing things," Nina answered, but could feel her face flushing slightly.

"Yeah, you two eye-flirting."

"You're crazy. Let's go."

"Wait! I thought you did more than that during your time at the gym?" Hannah nearly yelled as she ran to catch up to Nina. Nina shook her head, needing to get out of there. "Nina!"