#(steban just wants to be discreet)

[weepylucifer]

Ulixes looks very stern and buttoned up at first glance, and firsties are scared of him. Grades very strictly, once returned a term paper to a student with a bite taken out of it. But if you take a couple of his lectures and learn how to get him going, you can witness him go on very entertaining rants about whatever research he's currently doing or about what cretins his colleagues are (there will be graphic threats of violence against his academic enemies!). He'll casually drop in references to his husband at all times, about how great he is, mostly. He'll never drop a name, but his students can discern that this dreamboat of a husband is some kind of academic also, is a communist or researching communism, possibly fought in the Return (???), and is, according to Ulixes, the most intelligent, erudite, altruistic, talented, gorgeous, charismatic, and all around awe-inspiring person in the world. Furthermore he cooks, raises houseplants, likes poetry, stress-cleans, stargazes, doesn't like cat hair on his clothes, and talks in his sleep. Now, Ulixes will clam up when asked directly about his personal life, but his older students know how to lead him up to it organically.

Steban is the easy-going nice prof who sits on the desk and chucks the textbook in the trash on day one of the semester and whose office door is (genuinely) always open to his students. Firsties adore him, grad students pray at his altar, everyone wants him as a thesis advisor (he actually gets really overworked bc he can't bring himself to tell anyone no, so his desk is constantly flooded with everyone's theses). As beloved as he is by students, they eventually do notice that they know Nothing about his personal life. At all. He might be in a relationship. With. Someone??? But nobody has any information on that, and he always somehow laughs and deflects when asked

Eventually, some of the grad students might figure out that they're commie-married To Each Other

In a scenario where older Steban and Ulixes are both lecturers at the same university, i want them to be the classic Professor Brick Wall and Professor Overshare, and it would surprise you which is which

[palin-tropos]

oh yes it is very likely that it’s Steban and Ulixes projecting their desires onto the ghosts and then doing “what the ghosts want” which doubles as making the ghosts themselves overcome their repression. everyone in this situation is pretending it’s someone else’s idea to be having sex and they’re just going along with it

and I’m sure both of them are Noticing that the other is very into it but perhaps it’s polite not to call attention to it! just how ridiculously chivalrous and discreet can people be while naked and in bed together? time to find out

@excalibutt had some good ideas about what I guess is called ghost foursome AU