[ where tim finds his courage when he least expects it, he doesn't know. any other confrontation like this, any other kind of conflict, he might find a way to diplomatically remove himself to avoid trouble, to avoid an argument that can't be stopped. but timothy laughlin has always been much like a freight train, in some respect. idle when in the station, waiting marching orders, and thunderously charging ahead when seeking out a destination. it's no different now, his heels cemented to the concrete, jaw jutted out, not quite defiant but expectant.
the ringtone follows hawk as he makes the slow walk back toward him, but tim hears nothing but static for a moment, coupled with the rush of his blood thumping in his ears and in his chest. it's stopped by the time they're close enough to speak, and his own phone has been deposited back into the pocket of his slim jeans, ignored. ]
You did. But not for at least twenty-four hours.
[ like chess, he moves his pieces, putting hawk into an unspoken check.
quiet, low to match professor fuller's, but there's an intensity burning in his eyes that he knows will belie his utter cool. it's white-hot in comparison to the cold, stony thing making up the older man's face. gone is the warmth and the affection he'd seen moments before, a mentor overlooking his pupil, a man showing concern and care for another human being and replaced instead with high walls, a stony tower. ]
Why?
[ it's not soft, not hurt - direct and simple. not unlike the amount of times professor fuller himself has pried tim to dig deeper, to extrapolate more where there had seemingly appeared to be nothing. ]
We're both consenting adults. It's to be kept utterly private. Besides, you've submitted payment at this rate without the offer of goods in return. But it isn't about the money, I don't think. Not for either of us.
[ it had been, at the outset. everything tim has done on that little site had been originally for the goal of making money. and in many ways, it still is with all others but the man standing across from him now. somehow, in the blip of a message and the face connected with it? all of that has changed. ]
Trying to lie to me, too. I know that I am... naive, maybe. Idealistic. Those are your words, mind you. I'd hoped by now that you have learned that I'm not an idiot. Convincing me that I'd made all of this up somehow, that I was just making wild conjectures.
[ a sigh and he shifts his weight finally, inching closer still, and his voice does begin to come back up to its normal timbre, hitching with the passion the other man has no doubt seen in classes when tim gets carried away in the heat of a good debate. ]
Before all of this, I'd never imagined you'd be the type to even look at me. To pass a second glance. But now that I know it's been you this whole time - which, I didn't know, by the way. I wasn't trying to trick you. Never. I'm glad it's you. All of this - if you want this - we can draw whatever rules or lines you want.
[ he lets out a breath, shaking his head. ] And if not, you need to take your money back either way. I don't have friends back at the dorm, nor do I even have a date now. But I'll go, but only if you take it back. I don't want hush money. Whatever we do or don't do, there's nothing to hush.
no subject
the ringtone follows hawk as he makes the slow walk back toward him, but tim hears nothing but static for a moment, coupled with the rush of his blood thumping in his ears and in his chest. it's stopped by the time they're close enough to speak, and his own phone has been deposited back into the pocket of his slim jeans, ignored. ]
You did. But not for at least twenty-four hours.
[ like chess, he moves his pieces, putting hawk into an unspoken check.
quiet, low to match professor fuller's, but there's an intensity burning in his eyes that he knows will belie his utter cool. it's white-hot in comparison to the cold, stony thing making up the older man's face. gone is the warmth and the affection he'd seen moments before, a mentor overlooking his pupil, a man showing concern and care for another human being and replaced instead with high walls, a stony tower. ]
Why?
[ it's not soft, not hurt - direct and simple. not unlike the amount of times professor fuller himself has pried tim to dig deeper, to extrapolate more where there had seemingly appeared to be nothing. ]
We're both consenting adults. It's to be kept utterly private. Besides, you've submitted payment at this rate without the offer of goods in return. But it isn't about the money, I don't think. Not for either of us.
[ it had been, at the outset. everything tim has done on that little site had been originally for the goal of making money. and in many ways, it still is with all others but the man standing across from him now. somehow, in the blip of a message and the face connected with it? all of that has changed. ]
Trying to lie to me, too. I know that I am... naive, maybe. Idealistic. Those are your words, mind you. I'd hoped by now that you have learned that I'm not an idiot. Convincing me that I'd made all of this up somehow, that I was just making wild conjectures.
[ a sigh and he shifts his weight finally, inching closer still, and his voice does begin to come back up to its normal timbre, hitching with the passion the other man has no doubt seen in classes when tim gets carried away in the heat of a good debate. ]
Before all of this, I'd never imagined you'd be the type to even look at me. To pass a second glance. But now that I know it's been you this whole time - which, I didn't know, by the way. I wasn't trying to trick you. Never. I'm glad it's you. All of this - if you want this - we can draw whatever rules or lines you want.
[ he lets out a breath, shaking his head. ] And if not, you need to take your money back either way. I don't have friends back at the dorm, nor do I even have a date now. But I'll go, but only if you take it back. I don't want hush money. Whatever we do or don't do, there's nothing to hush.