Ina Kingsley x MC: Words of Affirmation
A lil mini series idea that I came up with, concerning of the 'five love languages'. Bae doesn't have any fic on here, so imma fix that.
I'm tired of my problematic and bitchy MC, so she's been canceled in favor of my OC, Aliyah Diaz. For the sake of the story, Ali is actually a decent person.
When Aliyah came around the corner, she could start to hear the murmurs of someone's rage coming from Ina's office. And at first, she considered anyone but the Professor herself. Because why would she? There were maybe two people Ali knew more mellow than Ina, and Ali had only spoken to them while they were on weed.
But as she got closer, Aliyah realized that those murmurs were awfully reminiscent of Ina's low timbre.
"…of factuality?!" Ina practically bellowed. Aliyah stopped in her tracks, and she had a 'sorry, Professor' halfway up her throat before remembering she wasn't the one being yelled at. "…are you- no, I'm not raising my voice," Ina continued, raising her voice.
Aliyah paused outside the door, resting her hand on the surface. She chewed the inside of her cheek pensively and looked down at the takeout bag in her hand. Would the food be considered thoughtful or a nuisance in this very moment?
She decided on trying to her luck. With a quick silent prayer to the big man, Aliyah rapped on the door twice before coming in.
"-for months. Forgive me if this isn't something that I'm willing to sweep under the rug!" Ina exclaimed. Her back was turned to Aliyah as she stared vengefully at her bookcase, fist resting firmly against her hip.
"Uh, Professor?" Aliyah called softly.
Ina turned profile as she paced- or stomped- around. Her lip pouted out in extreme agitation, and her brow furrowed with a vengeance. Aliyah likened her to an angry pitbull puppy. Still, she didn't notice her TA. "I don't see your point at all, practically to the extent that I don't think you so much as read my article," Ina continued to rant.
"Professor," Aliyah called nervously. Maybe she should leave the food on the floor and run…?
Ina's heels clicked on the floor as she stopped, and whirled around on Aliyah. In spite of the good ten feet between them, Aliyah still flinched back because holy shit, she had never seen Ina Kingsley look so livid.
And yet in spite of the horror movie type of fear she'd just inflicted, Ina's eyes still didn't seem to register Aliyah's presence.
"I'm not- would it not be a fair assumption?" Ina demanded, squeezing her hands into fists. She walked around her desk, breezing by Aliyah, and flopped down into an armchair by the coffee table.
"Professor Kingsley," Aliyah called more firmly this time. She didn't know if Ina was shaking her head at her or the poor sap on the other end of the line when she did. Aliyah let out a sigh when she figured it was the latter.
"I- fine then! Call me tomorrow, when you've had time to come to a more intelligent conclusion!" Ina exclaimed, throwing her hands up before ending the call and nearly yeeting her phone across the room.
The Professor let out a sigh as she laid back in the armchair, pinching the bridge of her nose. She started when she heard some shifting behind her and whipped her head over her shoulder.
"Aliyah!" A blush crept up the back of her neck. Judging by the look on the younger woman's face, there was no way she didn't just hear her tirade. "How… how long have you been here?"
Aliyah shot Ina a grin as she moved to sit adjacent to her. "Long enough to catch the end of your reality tv episode," she replied. Ina let out a groan, pushing her palms up against her face. Aliyah dropped the bag on the table and made her way over to Ina with a laugh. "Hey, don't do that," she coaxed, "Lame joke, I'm sorry. Is everything alright?"
"Everything couldn't be further from alright," Ina replied, running her hands through her hair.
Was this a breakdown? Had she had a breakdown since grad school? Should she ask Aliyah what a breakdown should feel like? (I mean, she is a college student)
"I still have several dozen essays to grade, there's a faculty meeting at 6 in the morning tomorrow, and my publisher is being an absolute ass," Ina grumbled.
"Alright, alright, slow down," Aliyah patted Ina's shoulder hesitantly. Was this professional enough? Judging by how Professor Professionalism not so subtly leaned into her hand, it didn't matter. "You've got the best TA on campus, I'll get those essays done," Aliyah said with a grin.
Ina dared look up from the little prison she'd made for her eyes with her hands. "It's not your bur-"
"Not my burden? Yeah, I think I'm getting compensated for it to be my burden, teach," Aliyah retorted swiftly, "And it's only 6:30. If we finish early enough, you won't have to drag your ass tired as hell into that meeting."
The tiniest smile poked at Ina's lips. "You shouldn't use that language around the Professor you're TA'ing for, Miss Diaz," she said.
"I've yet to have been struck down by lightning," Aliyah replied, arms splayed out like Jesus or something . Ina let out a small chuckle before turning her gaze back to the floor. "So what's up with your publisher?" Aliyah asked as she sat back down.
A growl made its way up Ina's throat. She picked up a thin stack of papers from the coffee table, and stared unappreciatively at them. "We were arguing about publishing my next article," she replied as she flipped through the pages.
Aliyah took it gently from her hands and adjusted her glasses before starting to skim through it. "Wait, this is your 'Egoism of the Collegiate Bourgeoise' article!" Aliyah exclaimed. Ina nodded. "But… this is the most solid one you've written this year!" Aliyah threw Ina a confused pout, and Ina couldn't help but find it absolutely adorable.
In spite of her prevailing annoyance, Ina's lips perked up. "I'm glad that you think so. Unfortunately, my publisher doesn't agree," she said, leaning back in her seat as she frowned, "He says it's too biased. What the hell does he mean by bias? It's purely based off of meticulous research!"
Aliyah hummed as she continued to flip through the article. She looked up at Ina, an off handed word of encouragement on the tip of her tongue. It faded when she saw the weight with which Ina's shoulders were sagging.
With a sigh, Aliyah took off her glasses and scooted her chair closer to Ina. Ina shot her an odd side-eye as the chair scraped rather obnoxiously across the floor. Aliyah stared right back, lips pursed and eyes unblinking.
For a long moment the two just stared at each other, until Aliyah suddenly crossed her eyes and Ina burst into laughter. "You're ridiculous," she managed to say, clutching her stomach.
"You're even more ridiculous," Aliyah replied, "Why are you so down? Just because your stupid publisher doesn't approve of the article? We both know you're an awesome writer."
Sobering back up, Ina breathed out a sigh. "I need to have this article published. I've put too many months of work in to just scrap it," Ina said with a groan, "But I feel like I've been slipping. Ever since…" Ina cut herself off.
But Aliyah wasn't an idiot. Ever since you came around, she finished in her head.
Ina cleared her throat, rubbing her hands together. "Not that you need to worry about it. This isn't among the numerous burdens that I throw on top of you," she said, shooting Aliyah a hint of that charming smile.
"I'm not worrying because you're asking me to, I'm worrying because I care," Aliyah replied, "You just don't look confident right now."
Ina's shoulders sagged as her smile weakened. "Wow. Thank you for that, Aliyah."
"You're welcome," Aliyah said simply, "Look, forget what your publisher thinks, you're brilliant. And mind you, I don't compliment people often, because I hate everyone here." Ina shook with silent laughter, and Aliyah did a mental self-high five.
"Current company excluded?" Ina asked.
"Of course," Aliyah said with a nod, "Look, if push comes to shove, we'll just find a new publisher."
"I don't think you understand how difficult that could be," Ina lamented.
"Uh, hello? Are you forgetting that I run an entire blog with my own crap on it?" Aliyah asked, pointing at her head, "I've got connections. And I've already gushed enough about you to my people to be able to convince them to get you a slot in some high-end website."
Ina arched a brow slowly. "'Gushed'?" Beet red creeped up Aliyah's face even as she smiled sheepishly. Ina laughed richly. "I'm flattered."
"You should be. There's a stigma around Belvoire professors that I had to work around to convince them you were great," Aliyah replied.
"I… you never told me any of this," Ina said. Was that why Aliyah was always asking for copies of her latest work? And her incite on every single one of them?
"Well think about how it'd sound if I just brought it up out of the blue," Aliyah said with a grin. Hey, teach! Guess what? I've officially kissed your ass both literally and metaphorically! Which Aliyah couldn't say she wasn't proud of, but Ina didn't need to hear that vocalized.
"Fine, point taken," Ina said with a grin, "I appreciate it, Aliyah. Really, I do." Both of their hands twitched, a similar instinct in mind. Alas, Professor Kingsley and her undying loyalty to professionalism always prevailed.
"Remember, you're Professor Ina Kingsley, Belvoire's residential badass educator," Aliyah said, gesticulating in a jazz hands motion.
"I don't think anyone calls me that," Ina replied, trying not to laugh.
"Yeah, you're right. They call you other things," Aliyah averted her eyes to the side as Ina groaned inwardly. She was all too aware of her reputation as 'Professor Dreamy'. "But my point still stands. A bunch of people on the internet are always looking forward to reading your work, so what if your publisher disapproves?"
"I suppose you're right," Ina said, nodding. I mean, she wasn't about to brag about those five thousand reads her last article got, but… her publisher could kiss her ass (metaphorically).
"Of course I'm right. So. Confidence boost effectiveness confirmed?" Aliyah asked, leaning forward with a grin.
"Confidence boost effectiveness confirmed," Ina said with a nod. The two of them burst into laughter, like two nerds with extremely poor senses of humor- which they precisely were. "I… thank you for your words of encouragement, Aliyah," Ina said after a short moment.
"Hey, even you need a reminder of how awesome you are every now and then," Aliyah replied, "Don't worry though, I take my TA position very seriously, so I've got you covered."
"I really do need to get you a mug or something," Ina said with a laugh.
"Yeah, I'll hold you to that," Aliyah chuckled, and reached over to squeeze Ina's shoulder.
Ina smiled softly at her, and reached up to squeeze her hand. Slowly, their fingers entwined and the two of them sat in a peaceful quiet.
"I know I might not be able to help you out as much as I want to, but… I'll always have your back," Aliyah smiled sheepishly at her.
She was sure she wasn't the first to make a claim to Ina's side. The Professor probably had loads of much more capable peers that could help her in a pinch…
Ina felt her throat tighten, and she nodded vigorously in replacement of a vocal thank you. She squeezed Aliyah's hand a little tighter, before replying, "I know."
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