[34]

The professor came back to his apartment with caution, tiptoing into the entryway and closing the door behind him without a sound. He clutched the paperbag of tea leaves to his chest, removing his shoes and putting on his indoor slippers.

Cold sweat trickled down his temples as he made his way towards the kitchen where he could hear his brother and his student's muffled voices. He couldn't discern what they were talking about, but if he had to make an educated guess, it could be that Ms Taniyama was crying right now, but he hadn't anything to worry about since Gene was there. His gentle posterior would ease away Ms Taniyama's worries.

However. What if he . . . What if he did comfort her in a way that would charm her and . . .

Would he allow his twin to take her away from him?

(Wait, no. He needed to review his facts. She wasn't his in the first place. Why would he think Gene would take her away? It was most certainly not like they were in any prearranged relationship to call her his and just because they had . . . touched lips once - maybe twice? -what was that this morning anyway, did he dream that up or was it real because the kick in the gut and the slap right after felt very real so the kiss might also be real because he'd have deserved the kick in the gut and the slap in the face if the kiss was real so in other words-)

A loud, ungraceful cackle cut through the air, pulling him from his thoughts. Ms Taniyama continued laughing, snorting as she hit the kitchen counter with her fist again and again.

"No way! Did that really happen?"

"Uh, yeah it did? I even got pics, wait a sec," Gene replied as he laughed, that evil, evil twist adorned on his lips as he scrolled through his phone. "Lookie there, my adorable idiot scientist, circa a bajillion years ago at age 11." He showed her a picture of Oliver sitting on the floor of a library, feet splayed as he cradled his forehead with both hands. A book lay right beside him, face down.

"Oh my gosh," she squealed, taking the phone into her hands and getting a better look. "Look at the little nerd."

"Tell me about it," Gene snickered.

"There was this one time in class when we were having a test and he brought a mug full of hot water with him," she started, laughter already apparent in her tone. "So he pulls out this tea bag and book at the same time - and he started to make tea and read a book at the same time, so when it was time to take the bag out of the water, he put it in between the pages and made it a bookmark and I laughed so hard that he kicked me out of class-"

They both laughed hysterically. Gene with his usual annoying guffaws and Ms Taniyama with a weird combination of snorting and hiccupping, which was unseemly yet strangely . . . adorable.

He could feel heat rising up his cheeks- but no. He stopped it. No. NO. He's had enough of this.

He cleared his throat and entered the kitchen. "Might I remind you that you failed your test that day with the disappointing grade of forty-seven percent."

He's met with silence as she faced him, staring open-mouthed.

"Now I know why."

Gene continued laughing.

a/n: hello everyone~~~~ i promised myself that i'm only gonna post this chapter after i've written more but... that might take forever :c i need to stay away from fanfic to focus on my own fiction for now