#finding pleasure in anything: leib

[coldbrewghoul]

From Top to Bottom - Richtofen University AU

Chapter 12: A Reason for Calculus

Peck visits the classroom to toss a pebble of insight at Reader and Richtofen.

Notes: POV swap: Reader (X) and Edward Richtofen (Primis) | both characters are switches | hurt/comfort, angst w/ a happy ending, mutual pining, smut heavy plot | This started as a one shot, but I couldn't walk away from it so it's been expanded into a full work.

TW: age gap, situationally inappropriate relationship

-Richtofen-

Mein Gott, what a perfect woman she is! She clung to him as he kissed her, running his fingers over her skin and through her hair. “I love you,” he crooned, “you were so good for me, meine liebe.” She shivered and kissed him, mumbling her love to him as she focused on calming back down. He sighed contentedly, happy to lay there as long as it took for her to recover. After a while, she groaned and went to sit up.

“I promised Lea I’d help her with dinner,” she said, scooting to the edge of the bed to go find her clothes. He grumbled, annoyed that his time with her in his arms had come to an end, but followed her out of the bed. Their clothes were strewn all about the floor and as she tried to step around them on her shaky legs she stumbled, tried to grab her desk and instead toppled her school bag to the ground. Richtofen rushed forward to catch her.

“Careful, meine leibe.” Guilt twisted his gut. Why did he enjoy doing this to her? If anything, anyone, ever hurt her he knew exactly all the terrible things he’d do, the immoral extents he would go to protect her, but during sex… he was a monster, and she loved it, even begged for it. “Only I can hurt you, and even then, it is only in ways that bring you pleasure,” he whispered, and she rewarded him with an adoring smile.

When he was certain she was steady on her feet he gathered his clothes and made himself presentable. He collected her study materials back into her satchel for her, putting the bag back on her desk. He took one last look to see if he missed anything and… panic hit him. While checking to make sure (y/n) was busy at her closet he patted his jacket pocket. Where there had once been a square box he found an empty pocket. It was on the floor near her desk chair so before she turned around, he quickly snatched it and tucked it back into his pocket. She finished dressing and grabbed his hand to leave the bedroom.

-X-

Both Lea and you blushed when your eyes met. The men just stood there and sized each other up, Richtofen smirking proudly. You ignored their machismo and started helping Lea with the meal she had planned. Eventually, the guys sat down at the table, not speaking to each other. Lea shifted closer to you so you could hide your whispered conversation amidst the noise of the kitchen. “So, it sounded like you two had fun.”

“Yes,” you sighed happily, still feeling sore. “You too, huh?”

“Mm, definitely. Tank started putting in some, ahem, extra effort… when he heard you two next door,” she winked.

“Richtofen… lately he’s been having more fun in bed in general, but I think he also put some extra effort when he realized we had a bit of an audience.”

“I think the word you are looking for is ‘competition.’ Imagine what they would have done if they’d been in the same room…” Lea mused. You both looked back at the men, stifling giggles.

“Honestly, those two need to be locked in a room together to resolve whatever the tension is between them,” you muttered, turning back to your work.

“Well, they already tried war and that hasn’t helped so maybe they need to make a little… love.” Lea winked and you looked at her surprised. Your friend was dating her boss who was also a teacher at her school and now she was suggesting said boss fuck out his aggression with your boyfriend, another teacher… You weren’t sure when she got so bold, but you were warming up to it quickly.

“Honestly, if Edward and Tank wanted to fuck out their feelings… I’d let them in a heartbeat if it meant they no longer did… well, that.” You subtly nodded your head in the direction of the men avoiding each other at the table.

Lea sighed dreamily. “God, that would be so hot to watch…”

You raised an eyebrow at her, but didn’t disagree.

When you finished with dinner and started setting it out, Richtofen produced wine he’d purchased along with a bouquet of roses. It all felt so… normal. Like this is how life was supposed to be. Even having Lea and Dempsey with you seemed to fit perfectly. The men relaxed just enough to not be overly argumentative during dinner, joining in the conversation. This is my family, your heart seemed to say as you looked at the people who surrounded you.

When it got late, Richtofen insisted you head to bed so you wouldn’t be tired for your classes tomorrow. You’d thought about seducing him one last time as you both stripped down for bed, but he’d quite worn you out, so you settled in against his chest and fell asleep easily, murmuring your “I love yous” and “sweet dreams” to each other.

-Richtofen-

Even Dempsey’s presence couldn’t mar what a perfect evening this turned out to be. He had to give the man credit for being so obviously and unabashedly in love with the woman he was dating. The best part was seeing (y/n) glow all evening, well fucked and happily enjoying the company of people she felt safe with. He glowered a bit when he realized that included Dempsey, but from the way the American had acted so far it seemed the fierce protection he had for Lea extended to (y/n) as well and he couldn’t help but appreciate that another person would have her back if she needed it.

He needed to protect this, and yes that included Dempsey. Looking around the table he felt firm in his unspoken decision that for (y’n)’s sake he would do anything to keep nights like this happening, keep her surrounded by people who cared for her. When the girls got up to clean up after dinner both men vehemently ordered them not to touch a single dirty dish, glowering at each other for speaking up at the same time.

As Edward washed the dishes and handed them to Dempsey to dry, he tried to think of something to say, but Dempsey annoyingly beat him to it: “You’re maybe not as much of an ass as I thought you were.”

“That’s the gist of what I was thinking of you as well,” Richtofen replied dryly, handing him a freshly cleaned wine glass.

“Look, you cocky bastard, I think you’re a stuck-up egghead, but I gotta give you props that your first instinct when you thought a girl was being forced upon was to throw a punch.”

Richtofen nodded. “And I appreciate you building the furniture.”

There was silence for a moment before the coach spoke up again, stopping his dish drying to look at Edward’s face. “Hey, I gotta know… are you as serious about (y/n) as you seem?”

“Yes,” he said with no hesitation, meeting Dempsey’s gaze.

The American nodded. “Good. Lea talks about her all the time, and she seems like a good lass so you better fucking take care of her or I’ll have to drag you into a back alley and finish that brawl.”

“Then you’re lucky I plan to make sure she remains as happy as I can make her. It’d be terrible for your ego to find out you were going to lose that fight.”

“Fuck, never thought I’d be spending so much time with you of all people…” He went back to putting dishes away.

Richtofen smirked, continuing his scrubbing. “I’m sure you never expected to be so lucky to enjoy my delightful company this often.”

After that they stopped glaring at each other every time their elbows bumped while they worked. It was a start.

-X, next day, end of class-

You were still riding cloud nine when the bell signaled the end of class. When the last students rushed out the door, you’d just finished packing up your bag, having delayed to squeeze a few more seconds with Edward. He subtly smiled at you from his chair at his desk, fiddling with a familiar blue pen. Just as you were about to leave, Professor Peck showed up, walking in and closing the door behind him. Richtofen frowned and stood up as Peck flipped the lock.

“Excuse me, can I help you?” Edward said coldly.

“I don’t know, pretty boy. Let’s find out.” Peck vaulted forward towards you and Edward tried to get there first, but his desk delayed him. Everything seemed to happen too fast to track as your Mathematics professor reached out, ignoring your flinch away, and lifting the hair near your ear. Richtofen’s eyes widened and you remembered the hickey he left on you there. Before you could knock Peck’s hand away, he’d already withdrawn it.

“Get your hands off my student,” Edward said, reaching Peck and placing himself in front of you, grabbing the front of the man’s clothes roughly.

“Your student, huh?” Peck smirked, unfazed. “Did you forget she’s in my department too?”

Richtofen sneered. “That doesn’t give you permission to touch her.”

“Yeah? It sure as hell didn’t give you permission to touch her either. At first I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but your reaction–”

“Stop!” You hissed, grabbing Edward’s arm as he raised his fist back.

Peck calmly looked past Richtofen at you. “Is it your choice?”

You nodded. “Yes… I pursued him.”

Peck nodded and then raised his hands up in surrender, smirking at Edward. “Alright then. You don’t need to get so fuckin’ violent. Gee, doc, you better see someone about that anger problem of yours…”

“I will show you an anger problem if you ever touch her again.” Still, he let go, crossing his arms and glaring.

“All I did was check if the rumors were true. You’re the one fucking her, Richtofen.”

“Professor Peck…” You stepped around Richtofen in case you needed to intervene further. “Maybe you could just come out and say why you’re here instead of trying to fuck with him?”

“Fine! It’s hard not to poke at him when Mr. Ego here loses his cool so quickly…” He smoothed out the front of his clothes. “I’m here because you two have been sloppy. It’s all just speculation for now, but people are asking the kind of questions you don’t want them to ask. Now I personally don’t care if (y/n) has bad taste in men – that’s her business – but if it affects her education…”

“What have you heard?” Richtofen snapped.

“Someone’s been asking your students about you, doc: what you’re like in the classroom, if you have any favorites, why you look like your face got hit by a brick... And as for pretty little good grades here, rumors are going around about her history of promiscuity ever since a little incident with the dress code in your class… and it’s gotten worse since someone caught a glimpse of a hickey. People are trying to figure out who (y/n) is dating, and some speculation has been sprinkled around about what she does to stay at the top of the department…”

You swallowed, looking at Richtofen who placed a protective arm around your waist.

“Now I’m going to make a guess that you and Doctor Freak in the Sheets have caught a bad case of the feelings just based on his attitude,” Peck said, looking between the two of you, “and if you plan on getting away with this, I suggest you both start diverting attention fast. Maxis has been spilling the beans about how he’s finally gotten his precious prodégé to agree to go out with some dame he’s got visiting over the holidays. Publicly making that look like it’s going well is a good place to start, but it wouldn’t hurt for (y/n) to maybe spend some time with boys her own age too.”

“I’m sorry…” You turned on Richtofen. “What?!”

“Ah, well, about that… I meant to mention… find the right time to bring it up…”

“The Dean has been trying to set up little Eddie here with women for ages. This ain’t nothing new, doll. And right now, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for you two, so I suggest you suck it up and let the professor pull out some charm he has stuffed in a forgotten storage unit somewhere and let the campus focus on that for a bit.”

“Ludvig basically forced this on me and I was going to talk to you about it,” Edward whispered urgently, ignoring Peck and turning to grab your face, searching your eyes. “I love you and nothing sounds more miserable than having to give anyone else an electron of my attention.”

You tried to swallow down the hurt. You didn’t doubt Edward loved you, but the thought of him charming another woman for any reason… getting to publicly romp around with her… your stomach twisted into knots.

“Stop pouting at him and go find a boy to parade around with. Better yet, get caught doing something scandalous so everyone is focused on that instead of looking deeper at what might be happening on that desk,” he jerked a thumb to the desk at the front of the classroom and you blushed. Richtofen’s ears turned red. Peck noticed and chuckled. “Damn, Richtofen, and here I thought you were some kind of robot. Looks like you’re a hot-blooded man after all.”

“Why did you come to us instead of the Dean?” Edward glowered at the other professor.

“Because (y/n) is a smart woman who is strong enough to put up with the men who don’t think ladies belong in science and the world fucking needs her theories out there, but if she gets caught fucking a professor who can’t keep his hands to himself, and she doesn’t get her degree… Well, let’s just say I’m going to be all kinds of pissed off, yeah? Now I’m hoping you enjoy her brain as much as you’ve been enjoying other parts of her to make sure she doesn’t burn at the stake for giving you the time of day.”

“Sir, do you have to be so damn crass…” You gave him a disapproving frown.

“His word choice is disgusting, but he’s right. Your theories about pattern mapping and controlling random particle movement won’t be given the attention they deserve if your education is jeopardized and it’s important you are able to back your future work with a degree.”

“Edward, please stop worrying about me. I can find ways to research without a degree—”

“Oh, fuck no.” “Absolutely not.” Both men spoke at once, sharing a glare that somehow communicated they were on the same page. Men are weird.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page. Look, I’ll keep my ears out. In the meantime, you both should separately start creating some drama for people to notice.” Peck turned to leave but stopped at the door. “Richtofen, if this shit hits the fan you better be the one to dive under the bus.”

When he was gone the two of you were left in the thick air of awkwardness he left behind. You were about to reach out to Edward for comfort when he grabbed you in a crushing hug. You relaxed in his tight embrace.

“I’m so sorry, meine liebe, this is my fault,” he murmured into your hair. “I should have had better control when it came to you.”

“I pursued you! I created this mess,” you mumbled into his chest miserably. “I just don’t want you getting in trouble… or giving another woman the time of day.”

“Maxis talked to me Sunday evening. I should have remembered to bring it up last night, but… I got distracted.” He pulled back to look at you intently. “You know I love you, ja? That nothing I do to appease Maxis or pull attention elsewhere means anything and as soon as we no longer must hide, I will make sure there the whole world has no doubt that I am yours completely.”

You responded by kissing him, but he pulled back with a nervous look at the door Peck left through. “That man, as much as I hate him and how he said it, is right. If you could…” Edward looked pained, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists. “If you feigned interest in a boy your age…”

He could barely get out the words. You just nodded. “I… I could go on a couple dates…?” Just saying it disgusted you.

“Gott, the thought of another man anywhere near you…”

Why did love have to be so complicated?

[leibxedelman]

There were some things Leib looked forward to in his life, summer vacation being one of them because then he could go on his trips and see the world. He supposed he could technically do that now- maybe even easier than before given the whole having wings and the teleportation thing- though he didn’t have exact control over either just yet. But another thing was the theater. He loved going to the theater, and he had some time off during the day, so he had found himself at the theater on the island. The door had been unlocked, so he’d let himself in, and found himself walking down the isle of seats, fingertips running over the backs of the seats lightly before he spotted a piano on the stage. 

It had been awhile since he’d played and his fingers twitched slightly before he looked around. He hadn’t met anyone there yet, and that made his mind up for him. He moved over to the stage, climbed the stairs and made his way to the piano. He rolled his shoulders and then let his fingers fall onto the keys, just running his fingers over the keys for a moment. It was like a brick wall was holding back the music, he desperately wanted to play, but it was just so hard for him to do it right now. Finding pleasure in anything was just so hard. 

He sighed deeply, running his hands over his face before he turned away from the piano and found himself staring at the Method Acting Professor. “Sorry,” he said, a little taken aback. “I uh... I don’t really know what I’m doing here.” 

@watfletcher​