Dottore x Aether — Modern AU
Sfw
Synopsis: Aether signs a contract with a mysterious fatuus hidden behind a crow mask, the man becomes his mentor in exchange for Aether to work for him with a very generous pay on hand. But Aether's suspicions keep growing, and the obvious flirting from his tutor gets to his head.
Part 1/???
Idk if i'll keep writing more on this idea, plot lines keep popping inside my head and i'm struggling to get them all out-
Please share your opinion on this! I'm curious about what you guys think
--------------------------------------------------
Anxious scribbling and quiet grumbles of protest are no strangers to a teacher, some even embrace like a sweet symphony of agony. This teacher is no different, or the title of "tutor" is more fitting, in fact he finds it very amusing to see his star student struggling this much on simple grammar. Well, it is Snezhnayan grammar, a whole different grammatical structure from his student's first language. Although, the Akademiya mandates the learning of a minimum of five languages; Aether already knows four from his travels around Teyvat: Mondstadtian as his mother tongue, Teyvatian which is taught to everyone from a very young age, Fontainian, and Sumerian. The last piece of the puzzle was a long-lasting debate in Aether's mind, language learning was never his favorite subject and everyone uses Teyvatian like they would use Mora - the only exception was Snezhnaya, with its very patriotic culture. His tutor closed the debate for him, in fact he didn't have a choice to begin with. It was part of their verbal contract: he would tutor him and finance his medical studies at the Akademiya, but in exchange Aether had to work for him, be his lab assistant, be solely his. Therefore, he had to learn Snezhnayan. And there's no escaping it.
"You wrote the soft sign wrong, here." The voice of his tutor interrupts his trail of thoughts, he looked where his tutor softly tapped his finger before quickly erasing his embarrassing mistake. "... You're distracted, Aether."
That observation puts the student to a stop, his pen in the middle of correcting; a deep sigh leaves his mouth, as if trying to purge the frustration out of his body.
"I'm just- I can't wrap my head around all of these rules. I can't grasp the logic behind them... And I keep making the same mistakes over and over again like a child. I'm supposed to be better than this." He grumbles before instinctively grabbing his forehead and hair with his left hand, squeezing as if he wanted to juice out his learning capacity and finally memorize everything.
"This is your first lesson on this matter, of course you're going to make mistakes like a child would. However, it does not change the fact you are one of the most brilliant man I know. I've seen you figuring out molecular formulas and trigonometric equations with a few glimpses. I'm sure a little bit of grammar won't be too much for my little star." These soft words are then followed by a soothing caress on his back, like you would to comfort a good friend, or a troubled child, or even a pet. It pleases Aether to hear these praises out loud, it's comforting to him, soothing, he wishes he could hear them more from his close circle of friends or his twin sister. It feels like it's almost natural for him to be a top student, always getting straight As or higher, it even feels like it's expected of him to have a perfect score. His twin was the same but she was more carefree than him, with this ever-growing thirst for adventure. She quickly gave up on her studies to be free, like the breeze, or a golden finch. Aether dreams of giving his sister this freedom, that's why he's here, that's why he needs this job, he has to put himself into this cage so his sister can fly away freely, without the need to worry even a bit.
"I'm not that little, you know?" Aether replies with a chuckle, putting aside the flirtatious nature of the nickname his tutor keeps calling him. His shoulders finally relaxing which brings out stings of pain around his lower neck from being hunched over papers all day.
"Really now? You're barely higher than my shoulders." He gives a snarky smile back, resting his head against his knuckle as if to take a better look at his student.
"Oh, come on! I wasn't talking about height!" - The tutor chuckles at his student's frustration, knowing it's a common subject of teasing from everyone around Aether - "Besides, I might be small but I can still take you in a fight! So I advise you not to push me too far, mister!" He states this fact in a jokingly manner, leaving his tutor to speculate on the veracity of the information; the information is taken as a mere joke to the latter, he is the one in control here after all, there is no need to be wary of his little star, right?
"How could I not 'push' you when you act in this adorable way every time?" - Aether feels a faint heat get to his cheeks at this statement. - "It just makes me want to keep pressing for more." If it wasn't for the mask, Aether would have gotten lost in his tutor's eyes. He can only imagine them, deep, handsome, shamelessly checking him out, scrutinizing every detail of his being. Maybe even.. Hungry. Starving. Famished. For him. After what felt like an eternity (which was really just half a second), Aether laughs again, as if not getting the hint behind that remark.
"First you call me small and now adorable? Wanna add fuzzy to all of this so i can be your lab rat?" Aether laughs again, scratching the back of his head to feign a natural look.
His tutor gets set back from this joke, his smile fades away almost immediately; mayhaps he doesn't enjoy the idea of his precious star being compared to a mere rat. For now, at least. "Oh, absolutely not! A rat is not adorable at all, and they barely last long enough in my lab, unfortunately."
"Well, hopefully I last longer than them during your experiments." Aether awkwardly say, trying to brush away the clear confession of animal cruelty.
"Oh don't worry, I'll make sure of it." - Something feels off in his voice, but Aether decides to brush it off as his tutor's heavy Sumerian accent. - "Now let's get back to this grammar... Maybe we can try a different approach than mindlessly copying everything down on paper."
The tutor takes away Aether's worksheets, making the table more bare, less suffocating in a way, he ponders for a moment on the optimal way to proceed. The star student, however, gets lost in thoughts again. As much as he wants to ignore it, he can't help but think about this relentless flirting from his tutor, a behavior that is very inappropriate, yes, but also that Aether can't help but lean into. Alarms keep ringing inside his head to get away as far as possible from this man while he still can, but another is actively seeking this obscene behavior and even finds it comforting. I mean, Aether isn't really a role model himself, the only good thing he has going for him is the academic prowess. Other than that he was always closely tied to the fatui, mostly because of his father's connections and debts, but also most of his former partners are related to the fatui... Some of them way more than the others... And maybe one of them just became the eleventh harbinger, but we do not talk about Ajax. That jerk. Point is that a potential dangerous-but-flirtatious mentor is not out of the ordinary for Aether, but still he would like to keep this relationship as professional as he can. But it really doesn't help that this tutor is his type, and Celestia knows how long Aether has been craving a good ti-
"Aether? You're distracted again." A few snaps from authoritative hands instantly drags him back to reality. Just when the thoughts were getting interesting.