[$] A Sketchbook Heart [CLOSED]

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||R u l e s||

///MUST follow all Gaian TOS and Guidelines, as well as the Guild Rules. No exceptions. This means no mature themed actions, and everything must be kept at a PG-13 level. When it gets too intimate or over PG-13 we will time-skip.

///If you are not Troubled Monster or xXyaoiXyaoiXx please refrain from posting on this thread. However, feel free to read along if you like.

///Lastly, let's have some fun shall we? c:
 

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||C h a r a c t e r s||

— n a m e >> Professor Alex Hart

— a g e >> 27

— g e n d e r >> Male

— p o s i t i o n >> Uke

— p e r s o n a l i t y >> Though talented and professional, Professor Hart has a secret edge that is reflected in his art. He is not bubbly, but not particularly introverted either. He'll say what he thinks, often without fearing the possible consequences of less than political statements. Alex is a risk taker. He seeks out new experiences to add to his collection his inspirations and utilizes them to create breathtaking and controversial works of art. A street artist by night and a capable Professor by day, Alex Hart is a mysterious man indeed.

— h i s t o r y >> Originally from a well to do family, Alex lived a privileged life along with his older sister. Despite being a brilliant child that excelled in both academics and athletics, Alex never made it onto a varsity team while attending his elite private school; he was too consumed by his confusing thoughts to subject himself to what he deemed meaningless three-hour long games of catch. Like many an adolescent, nobody understood Alex. His parents became concerned that he was hanging out with the wrong crowd, but were amazed to find their son didn't share the piercings or tattoos his friends seemed so proud of. They didn't realize Alex was only surrounding himself with the town goths because he found them visually interesting. He would do weird things like that, do his homework upside down, walk around the house in his sister's high heels, just do things for the sake of experiencing them, so that he could catalog them, then recreate them using paint, ink, and pencil. It became very clear Alex was destined to be an artist. He went to RISD and got an amazing artistic education. And after his graduation, he sold one piece for fifty thousand dollars. Despite his initial success, life as an artist proved unstable, and Alex needed to eat. So he scavenged for a job and eventually acquired a teaching position.

He has projects on the side, but his adult life isn't as free as it once was. No more clubbing, no more occasional drug use and a lot less sex with strangers. His anonymous street art career is flourishing, but his traditional pieces are on the decline. Alex needs some excitement, something to act as his muse, and at this point, he's willing to do something daring-just like the old Alex would.

— u s e r n a m e >> Troubled Monster





— n a m e >> Marcus Blair

— a g e >> 21

— g e n d e r >> Male

— p o s i t i o n >> Seme

— p e r s o n a l i t y >> Marcus isn't much of an extrovert, and tends to prefer peace and quiet. Though his height is intimidating at a good six-foot-eight, he is actually a kind-hearted person. He’s not a very sociable guy, unless it’s with close friends, and tends to avoid parties, large crowds, etc. Marcus is especially shy around cute guys, and since he’s still a virgin at the age of twenty-one, a little ignorant as well when it comes to romance.

— h i s t o r y >> Marcus grew up in a pretty stable environment with an average family of five. Though they weren’t the richest family around, he lived a pretty normal life. He was a quiet kid, and spent most of his time in secluded areas away from the other children. Instead, he focused his attention on honing his art skills shortly after finding out he had a natural talent for the subject. As he got older Marcus gained a few friends, but always stayed very close to his family. After he graduated from high school he worked for three years to save up money to attend a high-ranking art school. Now Marcus is currently in his second year, and is one of its top students.

— u s e r n a m e >> xXyaoiXyaoiXx  

[Troubled Monster]

xxxxxAlex H A R T
_____________________________________

The new year: a new start with new faces, new art supplies, new concentrations, new concerns, new frustrations and new lackluster strokes of paint on new canvases that projected new doubts and new worries. Yes, it was all very new, too new, and yet Professor Hart felt that this little game of teacher was beginning to get very old. The irony of it however, was that Alex was a new teacher. Well he was newish. He'd been teaching for about a year-if shadowing an old man with a penchant for all natural deodorant (that really didn't work) counted as teaching. Technically this year would be his first year as an independent professor. So why the hell wasn't he excited? This should be exciting; Alex was taking his first steps to his classroom for his first class. It was supposed to be exciting.

The shrill squeak of sneakers on linoleum floor shook Alex from his wide eyed slumber. He caught the clock with his eyes, "s**t", looks like he'd be late on this new year for his first class. Well maybe like, two minutes late. With an inhale and a mental 'you got this', Alex picked up the pace, rounded the corner and made it to his classroom. He made sure he slowly walked through the door. He didn't want his students to see him flustered, that would be embarrassing and just so...not cool. His grand entrance had to be well, grand, but also subtle, controlled and effortless. So Professor Hart walked through the thick door into the studio style classroom slowly with his hands gently clasped behind his back: the composed posture of an art curator.

The class was mid sized, well mid sized for an art school anyway. The students seemed to know what they were doing, were all poised and positioned correctly. That was nice, but for someone like Alex, it was a little too stiff. He always preferred something in his pane be just slightly off kilter.

"So, new year huh." That first statement, disguised as a friendly question, would be these students' first spoken meeting with their teacher-and when Alex thought about how this situation could never be repeated, he let out a subtle sigh of relief. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all, he was already making art.

"I'm not going to do that thing where I make you guys raise your hands if you've never taken my class before because that's stupid. And, none of you have ever had my class before anyway because, I'm new, well newish."

Alex surveyed the scene...maybe he should just get right down to it.

"Okay, well I'm assuming since you guys are here, you know that this class is less about technicalities and refinement and more about composition. I'm also assuming you guys know that I am Professor Hart. But, uh, you don't have to call me that. You can call me Hart or Alex, I like either or. Professor just isn't a word that should be used in a studio, it's just not conducive to good art." Alex shook his head at the thought. He felt like he was trapped on Gilligan's island every time he was called professor.

"I'm passing an attendance sheet around everyone sign it...or don't sign it just to see what would happen, that might be fun."

He handed a clipboard to the first girl on his right then shortly returned back towards his original position.

"First things first, everyone make something. I wanna see what raw material we're dealing with."


 

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Rubbing his tired eyes, Marcus took a drink of coffee from the travel mug he used for early morning classes such as these. He spent the majority of the last two days moving back into his dorm room after winter vacation, so to say he was exhausted would be a complete understatement. Most of the professors at the school were pretty laid back though, especially the ones who taught this early in the day. They didn’t mind the students bringing in drinks, or small snacks to give themselves some energy. And since the classes were relatively long, ranging from one to four hours, that students could really use said boost of energy. He wasn’t really a morning person, never had been, but coffee was the key he needed to wake up. Looking around the classroom, he noticed there was a pretty average amount of students, around twelve to fourteen that he could tell, and they all seemed rather comfortable with one another. Well…everyone besides him anyway, but that was just fine with Marcus.

He wasn’t much for socializing when he didn’t have to, especially when it involved strangers. His family, few close friends, and teachers were the only real exception to that. He adjusted his glasses, pushing them back on his nose with a single finger, and glanced up at the clock. It was time for class to start, but the teacher was nowhere to be seen as of yet. Oh well. That would just give Marcus more time to wake himself up. A couple more minutes went by before the teacher walked through the door, an air of confidence about him that Marcus could only dream of having himself. Well at least with anything that didn’t involve art. Art was his passion, and he knew he was good at it, but that was about it. He gave the teacher, who apparently was named Alex, a once over. His cheeks flushed the slightest bit. Alex was a pretty attractive man, and given his title, looked rather young for his age.

Since he sat at the back of the classroom, Marcus was the last to sign the attendance sheet before passing it back to the girl in front of him. He watched the teacher from behind his glasses as he resumed speaking, basically telling them to create something out of the blue. Not a moment later, the class suddenly became a blur of students scrambling around to gather their materials. Marcus on the other hand always brought his own medium, so he just stayed in his seat. After taking his second gulp of coffee he opened his eighteen by twenty-four sketch pad, and began sketching without anything particular in mind. Everyone else seemed to be trying to put out something overly extravagant to impress the teacher, doing anything from clay molding to painting on a canvas.

Marcus was pretty confident in his own work that he didn’t feel the need to go overboard, especially on the first day. As he continued sketching it started to become a rather detailed sketch of his older brother hoisting their younger sister across his shoulders. Even though he just got through visiting them a few days ago, he found he missed them quite a bit. He began sketching in a grassy background, adding a couple scarce trees to go along with it. He focused solely on his work, not paying attention to the idle chatter around the classroom, and soon was fully immersed in the picture. At least until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He glanced over, and saw a brunette girl standing there with a smile on her face.

“Hey, do you happen to have a X-ato knife I can borrow?” She asked politely. “I’ll be sure to bring it right back.”

“Uh…sure.” Marcus wasn’t one to normally let others use his tools, but felt inclined to agree since she was so nice about it. He quickly grabbed what she required from his art box, and handed it to her.

“Thanks.” She said, before heading back to her table.

He let out a mental sigh, and continued on with his work, silently hoping this didn’t become an everyday thing.
 

[Troubled Monster]

xxxxxAlex H A R T
_____________________________________

And so the frantic search for materials began, and God did Alex love it. It was always interesting to see people stressed out, or nervous, either would do. The little ticks people had were so odd and so beautiful. Alex smiled to himself absently as he let his gaze wander around the room and take in the delightful panic. The jitteriness of the room was somehow negated by the cool sturdy demeanor of one student. One enormous student. That kid was actually huge-so big he made the slightly larger than usual sketchpad he'd come equipped with seem tiny. Alex actually almost laughed when he zeroed on his giant student's incredibly large hand around what appeared to be a toothpick, but was actually a pencil. Boy did Alex want to study this kid. Visually he was so enchanting. Almost instantly Alex realized he actually had the perfect opportunity to make first contact and secretly, or maybe less secretly later, observe this man. It was settled, Alex would talk to this guy, and then stare at him for a long time...today! He had to be sly about it. It would be too weird to ignore everyone in his class for the sake of an interest-and a superficial one at that. He needed some sort of game plan, it didn't even need to be well thought out. That kid was kind of far back, maybe Alex could go through his students individually, ask them their names, comment on their work, professor stuff, then make his way over to Bigfoot and take some extra time to catalogue that kid's crazy proportions.

Perfect.

Alex stuck to his plan. He waited about a half hour before wandering (ever so aloofly) to the nearest student. He asked her her name, if she had a concentration, what her favorite medium was, then commented on her art. She had some passion, but honestly her style needed some refinement.

The pattern continued: "Hi what's your name", "What year are you", etc, etc. Some of these kids were great artists with a lot of potential. Some had too much potential and not enough technique, others needed a lot of work. Strangely, this was a diverse group of kids.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity to the slightly flippant professor, he made it to giant boy. Alex was a little nervous to engage. He'd built this guy up so much in his mind, what if up close he hated him? That would be terrible. But maybe Alex could turn a hateful experience into some sort of inspiration anyway-this wasn't necessarily and win or lose scenario.

Alex grabbed a dirty stool and slid it on the floor. After a terrible screech and an internal wince, Alex lifted the stool an inch off the floor, sat it next to the big guy and sat in it. He scooted forward a little closer to his student for good measure...and a better angle.

"Hi...who are you and how's the drawing coming?" Alex was a little informal, but what was the point of being overly traditional? He was almost these people's age-if they weren't his students he'd be having sex with them. Well he'd be having sex with the boys. He'd tried having sex with girls before, but that was a phase he was glad to be done with.

Alex inhaled then released a cloud of warm air through his nose and onto his splayed out hands. The drawing in front of him was begging for attention and it was probably better to actually do his job before he indulged in personal interests.

"Very nice technically." He said lowly, more to himself than to his student. This piece was nice. It was well done, the faces had character and everything seemed to be in order. But...Alex hated order. He wanted something edgier because, well obviously this kid had talent. One look at this drawing which he'd cooked up in like what, an hour or two, could tell anybody that this kid was great. However, Alex wanted to see more. Sure it was the first day, but Alex had a feeling this would be he and this boy's struggle. No more clean compositions.

"This looks like a portrait of some sort, are these people family members?" Alex looked up from the drawing at at his student's face. He blinked, his eyes darting towards the painting then back to the glasses.
"They look like you, well happier versions of you." This boy, well maybe he was more of a man (up close his size really was emasculating to those not the size of a gorilla) seemed awfully weighted. Alex both liked and disliked that simultaneously.

The professor pursed his lips in thought. Maybe he could use that numbed out kind of sadness in an experiment.

"I like what you've done but I also really hate it at the same time. It's very confusing for me, you should be ashamed of yourself for causing me this internal grief." He leaned back and crossed his arms then tapped the table with his knee. "But you should also feel kind of good, because I think you're already talented enough for us to experiment a little."

Alex learned forward again then turned his torso to face his student. "I want you to stop working on this portrait. Finish it later if you need to but you're going to do this now. I want you to draw or paint, or whatever you need to, I need you to create what it would feel like if these two people in your drawing, died. Think horrible death here."

This was possibly a foreign concept and it stressed Alex to think he'd have to maybe explain it further, as was reflected in his furrowed brow. "I don't want an image of you...necessarily, but what you know it would feel like if these people died. I think that would be very interesting."


 

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Marcus was barely even aware of the older man’s presence, at least until a screeching noise rattled his eardrums with its irritating high-pitched sound. However, he continued on with his work as if he hadn’t even heard it at all. In fact, he didn’t even acknowledge the other man until he spoke up, asking Marcus his name, and how his work was coming along. He drew a bit more, wanting to finish a certain part of the sketch before pausing in his endeavor. With a mental sigh, he placed his pencil on the desk, and glanced over at the professor with a somewhat uneasy look in his eyes. He hadn’t had this problem with the other teachers since they were mainly all older men, but this guy was a whole other story. Reaching up with a single finger, Marcus pushed his glasses back on his nose.

“Marcus.” He replied, his eyes mostly shielded by his long bangs, a fact for which he was thankful numerous times. It was hard for him to make eye contact with people he was unfamiliar with, and always had been. He was about to answer the second part of the teacher’s question when the older man continued on, commenting on his technique and questioning him yet again.

Marcus simply nodded, answering Alex’s question about the subject of his work being members of his family. He wasn’t quite sure how to take the comments that followed, and he arched an eyebrow in slight confusion at the professor’s words. He wasn’t bad with criticism. In fact it was the complete opposite. That was how he had continued to get better over the years. Though, at the same time, he sort of understood the underlined meaning of what the older man was saying. It was an odd instruction to say the least, but he would go through with. He had experimented with similar works in the past, so it wasn’t really new ground for him. It just wasn’t something Marcus did often.

With a slight nod, Marcus flipped to a blank page of his sketchpad, and pulled his set of charcoal pencils from his art box. After thinking for a short moment, he began to lightly sketch something that wouldn’t be obvious to anyone other than himself. At least at this stage anyway. Keeping Alex’s words in mind, he started to work intently on his piece. If the professor decided to leave or stay and watch, then Marcus wasn’t aware. He was at the point where pretty much nothing short of a natural disaster could distract him.

‘Dead.’ He thought to himself. ‘My brother and sister are just that…dead.’

He needed to convince himself that it was true, at least for a while if he wanted it to show in his work. Marcus picked up one of his charcoal pencils, and began using it to create hard strokes on the surface of the paper. He closed his eyes briefly, letting a deep breath of air escape his lungs.

‘Why are they dead? How did they die?’

The strokes became harsher, more brutal in design as he continued to think about it. His imagination invented a scenario that played over in his mind like a bad dream. Terrible images of Todd and Michelle dying in ways he would normally never think of.

‘Dead.’ He continued to repeat in his mind. ‘Dead…dead…dead…dead…DEAD!’

Days could have passed by at this point, and he would have been completely unaware of it. Roughly an hour later he finally put his pencil down, giving the final piece a look over, ignoring a tear that slide down his cheek. Sometimes he just really got into his work, maybe more than he needed to.

The piece itself consisted of a very dark setting, and what looked to be a forest of shadowy hands, clawing and grasping for something at the center of the page. There a realistic heart was drawn, oozing blackness from its severed blood vessels. Parts of the heart seemed rotten, exposing an unrealistically placed ribcage underneath its flesh. This is what it would feel like if he lost his siblings. His heart would be ripped from his chest, and fed to the darkness that would shadow over him if anything were to happen to them.

The other students were still hard at work on their own projects, and possibly wouldn’t be finished for another day at least. Looking down at his charcoal covered hands, Marcus reached into his art box again to retrieve a wet towelette to clean them off. He glanced up at the clock. Only fifteen minutes left of class. He was out longer than he normally was when working on something so intense. Pulling his glasses off his face, he cleaned the lenses with the edge of his shirt, before taking a much needed gulp of his now cold coffee. He scrunched his nose in distaste. He hated cold coffee almost as much as he hated socializing.

Almost.
 

[Troubled Monster]

xxxxxAlex H A R T
_____________________________________

Well, this kid was definitely very focused. Marcus looked removed from his surroundings the instant he was given an assignment, and Alex didn't know if he liked that or not. Surely it wasn't unusual for some who took their craft seriously to get lost in it. There had been times Alex had been utterly consumed by something as trivial as getting the gunky not quite hardened, but definitely no longer liquid, layer of glue off of the orange cap of an Elmer's. It was probably better Alex not over analyze Marcus based on his tremendous focus. For all he knew it was a good thing this kid tuned everything out-maybe that was just the way Marcus worked.

Nonetheless, Marcus was unnerving. He was so distant, so quite, he'd barely said anything at all, which was so unlike the usual people who tried to get on the teacher's good side. Of course it occurred to Alex that Marcus was just shy. The giant man did fit the description. It was just always a little uncomfortable when people purposefully avoided eye contact. Alex just loved uncomfortable situations. There was a soft spot in his heart for them and as a result, Marcus was just a little bit more important than he initially appeared.

Alex breathed quietly and he leaned back to 'watch Marcus work'. He didn't really give a ******** about what Marcus was producing...well right now. He'd probably care later. The elephant in the room was literally Marcus and examining how his body was up close and in comparison to everyday objects was kind of addicting.

The professor tapped his index finger to his lips as his eyes almost seemed to glow with mirth. Marcus' feet proved to be irresistible. Somehow Alex had caught sight of Marcus dinosaur feet next to his own, and it was great. All things considered Alex didn't have small feet. They were normal sized, like a ten, sometimes and eleven, but they looked like feet of a child next to whatever size feet these were. What size shoe was Marcus, like an eighteen?

Alex focused in on his own sneaker feet. He smiled to himself. What was it about perceiving things as small that made them so cute?

"Professor?" The sound of his title was too compelling to ignore and so with some lackluster, Alex abandoned by far his largest student to go answer the call of a student in need.

He spent some time looking at other students and their works. They'd progressed nicely for the most part. After a little while, well, more like an hour or so, Alex returned towards the front of the class, kicking his feet in front of him like some kind of cartoon character.

Marcus looked finished. He also looked...emotional. That was a great sign. With nothing to stop him, Alex meandered over towards his student and sat back down in the dirty little stool.

"So we're done?" He asked while gently sliding the drawing pad towards himself for a better look.

"I'm just going to take a long look." This drawing had a lot of emotion. It was ugly, and violent, scary and sad. And the calamity of it all, well it made sense-but not in that too sensical kind of way.

"It's a good piece. Real emotion, classic kind of center composition. But honestly, I don't care about how good or bad your art is right now. There's more to being an artist than making art. You probably know that though."

Alex twisted his lips in thought. It was the first day, so maybe he shouldn't get philosophical on this poor kid's a**, but what the hell, why not?

He leaned closer to Marcus, hoping to close most of the distance between them. He liked being dwarfed by this guy, it wasn't something he often experienced and it was giving him some inspirational vibes. He also didn't want the whole class to hear him this was better kept a private conversation.

"You know, a lot of people go to art school because they aren't good academically. They have some sort of artistic flair so they decide to wing it and make some glass pots and pans. I don't think you're one of these people. I think you're a real artist okay. You're not like Bethany over there, she has no idea what she's doing...don't say anything to her about this though. But here's the thing, you're a very reserved guy, which is good, it's fine but that's not going to get you from being a good artist to a great artist. You don't need to be a social butterfly but start seeking out experiences that make you want to create. Now I might be totally wrong about you. For all I know you might be trying to be calm and shy because you're actually an extrovert and you want to see what it's like to be introverted."

In the middle of his speech Alex's pants vibrated signaling that class was over. He pulled the thin iphone out of his pocket and clicked off the red buzzer. Leaning his head back to uselessly look at the whole room Alex shouted, "Class is over, you can stay or leave, see you Wednesday!"

"Okay well, you're allowed to be rid of me now. I'm going to go get myself some coffee." He looked over and noticed the travel mug by Marcus's drawing. "If you don't have class, you can join me. I might even pay." He raised his eyebrows and stood up, wondering if Marcus actually would join him.


 

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A blush spread across Marcus’ face when the older male leaned in beside him, lowering his voice to almost a whisper. He wasn’t quite sure what to think of the words the professor spoke. Flattered? Yes, he did feel a great sense of that. Not to mention surprised at the blunt forwardness of it all. When Alex shouted to everyone that class was over for the day, Marcus began to pack up his materials.

He didn’t really give much thought to the girl who returned his X-ato knife, and just gave her a curt nod when she thanked him for a second time. He placed his art box in his bag, zipped it up quickly, and gently threw it over his shoulder. Not a second after he closed his sketchpad, Marcus froze in place for a short moment. Did the professor just invite him to go out for coffee?

He blinked a few times behind his glasses, more at a loss for words than he was normally. Well this certainly was unexpected. He quickly came to the assumption that Alex simply had an academic interest in his work. It was kind of odd to say the least. Sure, a lot of the other teachers were intrigued by Marcus’ art, but never had they asked him to do anything outside of the classroom like this. Then again, Alex was a lot younger than the other professors. Maybe this was normal for him?

His social anxiety clawed at his conscience, practically begging him to turn down the offer. And any other normal day he would do just that, but for some reason Marcus found himself drawn to the aspect of it. The older male’s speech about how he should seek out new experiences ran through his mind for a brief moment. Marcus knew it would further his artistic talents, but he never really had the courage to get out and try new things when it came to socializing.

Heck, that was probably one of the main reasons he was still a virgin at twenty-one. Perhaps this would be good for him. Besides, it would be with a teacher. For some reason over the years, with the exception of his family and few close friends, Marcus never had as much trouble socializing with his educators. That fact had always puzzled him, even when he was younger, and still continued to do so.

So why not? He gave a nod to the shorter male, before standing to his full height. “Uh…sure.” He replied, although it sounded like more of a low murmur. “I could use a new cup.”

Marcus gathered up his sketchbook in one hand, and his coffee mug in the other, before following the older man up to the front of the classroom, albeit hesitantly. The other students had already packed up and left, leaving him alone with the professor. They were probably heading off to their other classes. This was the only class Marcus had been scheduled for today, so really he didn’t have anything better to do. But that didn’t make him any less anxious. Maybe if Alex wasn’t so attractive he wouldn’t be this nervous. He always had a thing for good looking men, not that he’d ever asked one out before. Hell, even if he wasn’t socially awkward, he wouldn’t be able to snag a boyfriend if his life depended on it.

‘Not like anyone would want to have a relationship with me anyway.’ He thought to himself, adjusting his glasses once more. The stupid things were always falling off his nose, and it was starting to get annoying. He’d have to remember to fix the broken screw in them.
 

[Troubled Monster]

xxxxxAlex H A R T
_____________________________________

So the gentle giant would be accompanying him for a cup of caffeine, great. Alex smiled broadly. Three years of braces and a complimentary whitening when he was fifteen left the educator with a great smile. Alex was funny when it came to appearances though. His parents had forced him into the orthodontist's office, but he was actually really grateful and protective of his teeth now that they were picture perfect. Often what was beautiful to Alex was rarely considered so by the general public. He liked when people and animals had a lot going on, or were slightly different from the stereotypical perception of beauty. Despite his affection towards oddities, when it came to his personal appearance, Alex was actually very dedicated to keeping himself attractive. Maybe that was his biggest secret. For some reason, Alex wanted his peers to think he put zero effort into how he looked. He wanted nonchalance to be a part of the persona he had cooked up for himself. And when it came to certain things, he really didn't care and didn't put work into them. But it would be a total lie to say Alex didn't work out at least five times a week. He even did a little manscaping. How could he not? He liked d**k-the hairless look was very in the gay scene!
Then again, his shoes were covered in a layer of matte medium which was never coming off.

"Great" If possible, Alex's smile grew wider once Marcus stood tall at his full height. "I just need to shut down the computer."
It took about thirty seconds to walk to the front of the room and power down the large mac desktop. Alex hadn't brought much with him, but he checked his pockets to make sure he had everything on him. It would be so annoying to have to come back here just to grab a forgotten item.

"Okay, we're off." Alex figured it would be best to start a little conversation on the way to the coffee bar so that they could already have an established relationship before he drove forward with more intimate questions of Marcus's art and his...size. Once they were out of the classroom and into the hallway Alex turned his head, looked up and asked, "So, Marcus, tell me about yourself. You seem like a quiet guy."

Looking up at Marcus proved to be more difficult than Alex originally thought. He was really high up there so Alex had to really force his neck to cooperate. It wasn't so bad though. If anything being under someone like this provided an interesting view. The downside was that Alex couldn't get a good view of Marcus's face, not in these close quarters anyway, but what was cool was that he was kind of shaded by his student's broad shoulders. He could kind of see up Marcus's nose, which was kind of funny, and he could also see under his glasses, which was really interesting.

Being small was interesting but hard to accomplish. Marcus was a walking experiment that Alex was growing more fond of by the second. It did occur to Alex that he only liked Marcus for superficial reasons. It wasn't like he knew this kid at all, so why was he projecting onto him? It probably wasn't a good idea to project all these personal feelings onto this guy, especially because they were one sided and selfish. But Alex was trying. That whole speech about experiences was meant to help Marcus out, and even though Alex didn't have Marcus's best interest in mind when he invited him to accompany him for coffee, didn't mean the giant wasn't going to get anything out of it.


 

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“Yeah…I guess you can say that.” Marcus replied with a slight shrug of nonchalance.

He wasn’t much for conversations. Never had been. It was such a foreign concept to him, especially with his frame of mind. To talk to strangers for long periods of time about trivial matters wasn’t exactly fun on his part. Although he did talk rather freely around his family and handful of friends, it wasn’t often that he found himself doing so. Why waste time on small-talk when he could be honing his creative skills? There was so much that could be done. At least…that’s what he always grew up thinking anyway.

Even as a child he would pull himself out of the social circle, standing off to the side as the other kids played games of hide-and-seek and tag. He was never a bad student though. Quite the opposite in fact. Marcus graduated with some of the best grades in his class. But he mostly kept to himself, too worried about being rejected that he never tried stepping out of his comfort zone. The few friends he did gain in high school had approached him first, and kept at it until he was at ease around them. Although it did take a while, mind you, and a large amount of courage on his part.

“There really isn’t that much to tell.” He added, trying to keep himself from biting the inside of his cheek. It was true though. He didn’t really think his life was that interesting. At least it seemed that way to him. “I’m a middle-child. Worked for three years after graduating before coming here. My life’s a bit boring to be honest.”

He glanced for a brief moment down at the shorter male, a slight flush crawling across his cheeks, before he quickly looked away. Alex seemed like a very confident man, one that was able to speak his mind, and Marcus found himself slightly envious of his new teacher. Yes he was short, but he held himself in a way the taller boy could only dream about pulling off.

Aside from his artwork, Marcus really had no confidence in himself or anything else he did. It was as if art was the only way he could find to relay his thoughts and emotions to the world, without having to socialize. But if his work was to get any better, he would have to suck up his feelings on the matter, and at least attempt normal human interactions. What could it hurt? In fact, he really couldn’t think of a downside other than his irrational fear of simple relations and possible rejections.

He thought to himself for a short moment, knowing that he should probably ask something in kind to keep the conversation going. But he wasn’t really sure what to ask. He knew that he should stick to something simple, and try not to over-think it. Marcus began nibbling absentmindedly on his lower lip as the nervousness started to creep in. What if he said something stupid? What if insulted the professor in some way?

All these worrisome thoughts weren’t making it any easier for him, so he quickly pushed them to the back of his mind. As they continued to walk side by side, he couldn’t help but notice how well Alex was able to keep up with his long strides. Normally his friends would fall a few steps behind, and then start to whine at him to slow down his pace. Then again…Alex did seem like a rather fit guy.

“Uh…what about you?” Marcus asked, adjusting his glasses once more, chancing another quick look at the professor.
 

[Troubled Monster]

xxxxxAlex H A R T
_____________________________________

Right off the bat, it was clear Marcus was quiet. Based on that nifty personality trait, it wasn't hard to presume he was also a man of few words. all the evidence thus far pointed to that anyway.

Alex furrowed his brow as Marcus barely shed any light on his past present...or future for that matter. So Marcus thought his life was boring huh? There was a strong possibility the only truly boring thing about Marcus's life was his explanation's delivery.

"Oh me?" He asked, momentarily lost in his head. "I don't know if I should share any details of my life with you just yet Marc. I only know but two details of your apparently "boring" life. What if you're some sort of sociopath intent on using the more exciting parts of my journey through life against me as some sort of leverage? That knee-up combined with your height, and I'm guessing elephant-like strength, would surely kill me." Alex raised and eyebrow and looked up at Marcus with an expression that meant the artist was not only serious, but also not falling for any shenanigans. The lopsided smirk that spread across Alex's face however, melted the whole charade and revealed to the art student that yes, Alex was only kidding. Sort of.

"If you really want to know about my escapades I'll tell you, but despite what you think, you're more interesting than me-or at least I perceive you to be."

The campus affiliated coffee bar creeped into the frame with each of the duo's widely spaced strides. This place was convenient to say the least, and it wasn't like they made a bad cup of coffee. It had occurred to the professor to venture off campus and find some outside coffee house, but Marcus was-well Marcus, and Alex felt that maybe a little familiarity would keep the student from feeling like he was being kidnapped, or less drastically, dragged through uncharted territory.

"You shouldn't say your life is boring-it's not. Once you die and your life is you know, done, then someone can say 'oh that Marcus, yeah he had a boring life'. But you don't know if your life is boring yet. You're just setting yourself up for disaster. I mean, if you find boring disasters beautiful then I guess you're really doing it right." Alex shook his head and chuckled to himself. "Wow, I guess I can really talk a person's ear off."

This was probably an strange second conversation to have for someone, and for all Alex knew, with the way Marcus was turning out to be, it would become a second, one-sided conversation. How quiet and unforthcoming Marcus was didn't necessarily irk Alex, but he did feel the need to somehow fill the silence. He was over talking a little, because he felt he needed to somehow make up for the fact that he was barely having a conversation. Sure awkwardness was kind of enjoyable in a very weird hard to understand way, but it still made him react accordingly. Alex figured he liked Marcus, but at this point in his relationship, there wasn't much to the giant aside from the fact that he was a giant. Despite the initial impression, Alex knew better than to trust his psychology, because people like Marcus, who were reserved, were never bland. It was appealing to think of Marcus as a silent genius who thought in wild, crazy, fantasies and secretly had some wickedly insightful inner dialogue with himself. If Alex's fabrication of Marcus was true, then the art teacher desperately wanted to crack the chilly facade and bask in the warmth of talent and interest (the gooey stuff) nestled in the student's core. Marcus was like a cadbury cream egg; Alex needed to bite into the exoskeleton in order to get to the sugary goodness.

Inevitably, they arrived at the counter of the coffee bar. It was kind of a cute place with a nice artsy theme thanks to the student art all around the walls and counter.

"Hi what can I get you?" Their barista was cute, he was a bit too hipster for Alex's personal taste but that was art school for you.
"I'm just gonna get a large coffee-and uh, whatever this kid wants." He said jabbing his thumb in Marcus's direction. Without much thought, Alex pulled his wallet out, grabbed some money from the leather flaps and handed it to the cute barista who was getting less and less cute the more Alex looked at him. The kid was just too little. Maybe he just looked little because he was across from Marcus who was anything but small. Oh s**t, did that mean Alex looked tiny because he was next to Marcus too? It was one thing to feel small, for some reason it felt kind of good, but something entirely different to look small. Hmm, Alex wasn't sure how he felt about that.

A soft thud signaled the cheap cardboard cup full of Alex's coffee was ready to be snatched up, and almost instantly, it was. The material wasn't very insulating, so the heat was kind of painful, but then against the warmth of a hot beverage was pretty much entirely its appeal.

"Pick a spot and we can talk about whatever you want, or whatever I want, doesn't matter."


 

[shortyfluff]

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“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind.” Marcus replied to the older man, managing to give off the tiniest of smirks. “I’m a better listener anyway.”

He’d never been much of a talker, that much was certain. Instead Marcus had become a very avid listener over the years, and much preferred listening to others than conversing himself. Ever since he could remember his younger sister was quite the chatter-box, always talking his, as well as many others, ears off about random things. Even when she couldn’t talk in whole sentences, her mouth was constantly moving. He was caught slightly off guard when Alex gestured to his person, stammering slightly as he looked over the menu. He didn’t want to impose the teacher by getting anything too fancy, not that he really liked that stuff anyway.

Handing the barista his own mug, he ordered a large coffee as well, but with extra cream and sugar. Though he didn’t look it, Marcus had a rather large sweet tooth. Thankfully he had a very high metabolism, so he never gained any weight from consuming large amounts of sugary sweets. Heck, just thinking about it made his mouth water profusely. You could say it was a major weakness for him. Soon after the barista handed him his coffee, he continued to walk alongside Alex, quickly taking a seat at a nearby booth with a large window.

“I am sorry though. I’m just not used to conversation.” Marcus apologized, tapping idly on the sides of his cup as he tried not to look as nervous as he felt at the moment. “So uh…how long have you been at it? Teaching that is. I haven’t seen you around campus.”
 

[Troubled Monster]

xxxxxAlex H A R T
_____________________________________

Alex followed Marcus, relinquishing his dominance for a few short seconds, though he didn't quite move behind the large man and instead opted to continue his following alongside his student. His student.

The booth they sat at was nice, but only because of the window. This placid scene was reminiscent of Alex's own college days. A hot cup of coffee in hand, sweet scenery to his left and a boy across from him. Yup, this was very much like the good old days, maybe even Alex's dating days. That was what was kind of weird about this situation. It was so date like (yet somehow so not like a date) and Marcus was his student. Was this inappropriate? All he'd done was ask Marcus to coffee because he was curious about the kid who's size could potentially become his muse.

Alex blinked. Marcus has started talking and the only word he'd even fully registered was 'conversation'. Maybe it was best he stop having an internal dialogue and actually pay attention to the verbal one taking place right in front of him.
"Oh, this is my first year as a real teacher, it's not actually something I've ever wanted to do." Wait, why did he say that? Alex lowered his brows, momentarily annoyed that he was putting a negative twist on a conversation his opposite was so obviously already uncomfortable with. Then again, what was the use of sugar coating everything for Marcus? Maybe the younger man would find Alex's bunt honestly refreshing. Although, blatant lies were sometimes nice to hear as well.
"I'm hoping the teaching experience will be rewarding. I always liked the professors who made an effort to get to know me, so maybe I'll like the students I try and get to know a little about." Alex took a sip of his coffee, it was scalding hot and brunt the roof of his mouth. In an effort to ease the pain, Alex parted his lips and inhaled sharply. That's what he got for drinking this stuff black.

"So my attendance sheet said you were a sophomore. Who are your favorite teachers here?" This was idle conversation. Alex didn't know how to subtly say he wanted to study Marcus's body without sounding like a pervert, so he'd try and get his artistic fix by producing some kind of innocent relationship with the giant.


 

[shortyfluff]

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_____________ W H A T xxxx i s xxxx y o u r s ? xxxx

___________╣ M a r c u s x B l a i r


Marcus was somewhat surprised at the older man’s response, although he did understand where Alex was coming from. Even if teaching wasn’t his first choice, he would gain something out of it in the end. The experience Alex would achieve would most likely better his own work. Even Marcus had to admit he was slightly curious about the style of art the other male produced. When the professor took in a quick breath of air, Marcus found his eyes drawn to Alex’s lips, as well as other facial features. They looked so soft. At least…compared to his own strong features that is. Almost immediately he found himself yearning to draw those lips, but he quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, as he felt a blush creeping up on his cheeks. He raised his coffee mug to his lips in an attempt to hide his face, if only for a short moment, and took a sip.

Damn his eidetic memory. More than likely he would be sketching out pictures of Alex’s lips later on in private. Once his mind was set on drawing a particular thing, he wouldn’t be able to ignore the urge until it was done. Marcus had grown used to it, but every now and again it would get on his nerves. When the teacher inquired about who his favorite instructors were, he had think for a short moment before replying.

“Well…Professor Mileston had a keen eye for detail.” Marcus said as he tapped the edges of his mug. “Then there’s Professor Davis. Her sculptures are rather impressive.”

In truth, there were only three teachers, excluding Alex of course, who really intrigued him. The rest of them were made up of lazy know-it-alls who didn’t seem to care about the students, or their job. It normally made the other students upset, but Marcus just really didn’t seem to care one way or another. It wasn’t his business to tell a professor how to do their job.

“I was going to volunteer for Professor Niccals’ work-study this semester, but it seems he’s already filled the opening.” Marcus added, before taking another swig from his mug.

Wow…how long had it been since he talked that much with a stranger, let alone anyone outside his personal circle? He couldn’t recall, but he seemed more at ease with Alex, though that was probably due to the fact that he was his professor.