i think that's beautiful. pieces solving a puzzle.

[compsci]

Comments

[compsci]

i'd have to protest my innocence! i was clearly taken advantage of by my incredibly persuasive professor.

[asyndeton]

I'm not your professor anymore, sweetheart.

[compsci]

[ the smug smile softens, and she huffs out a breath, glad he can't see the way her expression melted like butter on warm toast. ]

then tell me what to call you

[ and don't say sir ]

[asyndeton]

I tend to answer to Matthew, most days.

[compsci]

spoilsport

[ that's not what she meant and he knows it. but he could have gone the polite route, too. nothing wrong with a little affectionate terminology. ]

[asyndeton]

[ He doesn't know it, actually, because she's being very vague and he's kind of oblivious to what she's trying to hint at. She should be more direct about things like this. She's very direct about other stuff. ]

Honestly, I think there's very little I wouldn't let you call me.

[ Is that better?? ]

[compsci]

[ she'd have to work up her nerve for that. there's too much uncertainty to just lay that sort of thing out bare in the written word. ]

what if i drop 'professor' and leave the rest?

[ 'mine'. that's the part that matters. even if he isn't, in the ways that matter to other people. ]

[asyndeton]

[ She should try telling him in person, then. It's nice to have a permanent record, of course, but Matt can go, and has gone, on lengthy rants about how some things are just better experienced aurally, and this might be one of those things. ]

That sounds like a good start to me.

[compsci]

so what are we seeing at the movies?

[ she doesn't own a skirt, but she could always be persuaded to hit up a thrift store for the occasion. ]

[asyndeton]

That depends on if you want to actually watch something you're interested in or if you want to fool around in a darkened theater.

[ No point in beating around the bush, here. He'd hate to take her to see something she might actually enjoy and distract her the whole time. ]

[compsci]

why not a double feature? you could quiz me afterwards.

[asyndeton]

That doesn't really answer my question.

[ Except in all the ways that it does. She should tell him about her skirt idea, he'd like that.

A minute or so later, he sends her a link to an actual drive-in theater, less than an hour outside the city. It wouldn't be that far to go for a date, and they could have a good time cooped up in his economical hatchback and be home before bedtime. ]

[compsci]

they still have drive-ins? i thought those were extinct like dinosaurs and parachute pants.

[ but she wants to. she very much wants to. ]

think we could make a pitstop first? it'll be a little hard for me to climb in your lap in skinny jeans.

[ maybe he'll want to pick it out. ]

[asyndeton]

Not only do they still have drive-ins, this drive-in shows double features. You're getting your wish.

[ He can't lie, the thought is appealing to him too, and not just because he likes the idea of being crammed into the back seat with her in the dark with nothing to do but ignore the movie and touch each other. ]

I think we can schedule a few stops along the way if you need to.

[ With incentive like that he'd be stupid to turn her down. ]

[compsci]

you're so good to me.

[ in more ways than just this single date night idea. if she was the kind of person to gush, maybe she'd tell him all about them. ]

how can i ever repay you?

[asyndeton]

[ He is good to her, he knows, but she's good to him too. She's good for him. It's been an embarrassingly long time since he's had someone touch him with tenderness and care, and even if they haven't Talked About Things, he's so grateful to have her that he'll take anything she wants to give him.

Keep it together, Matthew. Play it cool. ]

You already have.

[ Whoops, did he make it uncomfortably emotional there? It just slipped out, honest. ]

[compsci]

[ better his words than his dick, right?

she's quiet for a moment, the uncharacteristic delay all too obvious, but after fifteen minutes or so (plenty of time to overthink), a message eventually comes through. ]

are you busy on saturday?

[asyndeton]

[ The last time his dick slipped out in her presence it worked out pretty well for them both, so... ]

Never too busy for you, sweetheart.

[ Patently untrue, as loath as he is to admit it. There are times when he is too busy to see her, times when he has to work, or has to see his family, or has to just go home already instead of spending all his time at the university. But he can absolutely make time for her this weekend, even if he has to move other things around.

She's worth it. ]

[compsci]

[ as a child, daisy had wondered who she was. where she came from, what kind of family she might have had, what her mother or her father might have looked like or how they lived or what they filled their time with. as an orphan without any history or even a birth certificate to prove her name, there was no public record to look into, no social media to stalk — all she had was the imprint of a flower on a gold chain and a generic last name given to her upon arrival to saint agnes.

but some things were obvious. the shape of her eyes, the color of her skin, the way she saw herself reflected in the girls who wandered the streets of chinatown — always almost, never quite. when she was younger, still debating the merits of public school educations, daisy had picked up odd jobs on those streets. dog walking, courier services, trash delivery: anything she could do under the table for cash, anonymous and simple.

one of those jobs had found her on the steps of nom wah, an old-fashioned tea parlor deep in the heart of chinatown, and after a few weeks of lingering in the kitchen, they'd invited her to a booth in the back, a place where she could slowly but surely learn the foods of a world she might have belonged in. it's to nom wah she goes almost every saturday, sitting in the same corner booth for hours, her laptop and notes splayed out on the oversized table — and though she doesn't order much, she never leaves hungry.

and it's to nom wah she'll take him, if he'll go. ]

11th and 21st
11:00 am

[ it'd be too obvious to meet him at the lobby of her apartment building, too many eyes around. better to meet him at the nearby subway station, where they can ride the line outside the immediate area of the school in relative anonymity. ]

[asyndeton]

[ Hopefully Daisy is ready for Matthew to be both absolutely hopeless at figuring out the tiny dumplings and chopsticks and woven steam baskets, as well as embarrassingly open about how touched he is that she's sharing a part of her like this. He hasn't ever asked her too many probing questions about her family or her past, appreciating the fact that she doesn't ask him about any of that either, but he has absolutely no frame of reference for not knowing about who you are.

His family can trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower, for god's sake. Even further, if they try.

He will gladly meet her at the subway station and accompany her to her secret hideaway, and make patently obvious cow eyes in her direction the entire time. ]

I'll be there.

[compsci]

[ thank god for text. he can't see the way her face tucks down, the way she smiles all warm and pleased and relieved. ]

try not to miss me too much until then.

[ blame her computer forensics class and the fact that she's procrastinated like crazy on this project for why she won't leave her room until saturday morning... ]

[asyndeton]

Impossible.

[ It's fine, he's got a lot of grading he's been putting off so he can swan about with her, so he can keep himself comfortably busy until Saturday. He'll still text her a lot between now and then, of course. ]

[compsci]

[ swans mate for life, matthew. did you know that? ]

don't be cute.

[ it makes it hard for her to stay away. ]

[asyndeton]

[ Stop that, don't give him ideas. ]

Also impossible.

[ What on earth makes her think he wants her to stay away? ]

[compsci]

yeah, i know.
you and your boyish good looks.

[ he wants her to graduate, doesn't he? and if she doesn't stay away, how's he going to cope with her just sitting around in his sweatshirt angry typing on her keyboard ... ]