Fic: Edification
Back to the small stuff.
Title: Edification
Rating: PG
Pairing: Glitch/Wyatt
Words: 710
Summary: Glitch turns down one offer, only to accept a better one.
~*~
The suite was silent when Wyatt came home from work; he’d already looked in on the kitchen on his way up to see how dinner was coming. It was an old habit from before, one that Adora had found annoying and endearing at the same time. The palace chef more often than not just threw a dinner roll at him and told him he could wait with everyone else.
The rolls were always hot from the oven and buttery, soft and sweet so Wyatt kept up his pestering.
“Glitch?” Wyatt called, shucking off his coat and hanging his hat on the rack just inside the door. There was no answer, so he made his way around the corner into the comfortable den they had created.
Glitch was sitting under the light of a floor lamp, slouching low in one of the oversized chairs Glitch had claimed from a ground level storage closet. On the side table, next to a short tumbler of amber liquid, was a torn ecru envelope and a scattering of tri-folded papers.
“Everything okay?” Wyatt asked softly, crouching next to the table and resting his hand on Glitch’s on the chair arm. He leaned over as if to inspect the papers, surreptitiously sniffing the air as he did. It smelled of apples, not alcohol.
“Just juice, no need to send in the troops,” Glitch muttered, but without irritation. “How was work?”
“Boring and tedious,” Wyatt replied promptly, balancing himself on his free hand so he could stretch out his legs. Reluctantly, he let his hand slide from where it covered Glitch’s and rested his temple against Glitch’s knee, closing his eyes. A moment later, he felt Glitch begin to stroke his short hair. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Everything’s fine,” Glitch sighed. “The - university offered me a teaching position.”
Wyatt shifted, raising his head to look up at Glitch. From this angle, he couldn’t see the zipper at all; it was a disconcerting illusion of normality. “Teaching what?”
Glitch shrugged. “Engineering. But it doesn’t matter. I turned them down.”
“Why?” Wyatt inquired kindly. “You’re brilliant and you love teaching.”
Leaning forward, Glitch rested his elbows on his knees and scrubbed his hands over his face wearily. “I don’t remember much about my education, but one thing that always stuck with me was how much I hated it when the professors lectured from the textbooks. How they used notes and slides and references.”
“Isn’t that how they’re supposed to do it?”
“I always felt that if a teacher was any kind of expert in their field, they should know all of those things they lectured about; it should be here,” Glitch tapped the end of his zipper. “A professor shouldn’t have to use notes.”
Wyatt opened his mouth to argue then stopped, realizing what was upsetting Glitch. In his previous life as Ambrose, Glitch had prided himself in his ability to think on his feet. To produce knowledge and understanding and answers from his head, not from a book. Now, that gift was gone; torn from him in the most brutal fashion.
Unable to formulate a proper response, Wyatt stood and walked over to one of their bookshelves, picking a volume at random. He glanced at the cover and his brain glazed over after the seventh multi-syllabic word in the title. Putting that one down, he chose another. “Hey, Glitch,” he spoke finally, waiting until Glitch’s head rose in question. “Will you teach me how to build one of these?”
Glitch stood curiously, wandering over and peering over Wyatt’s shoulder. The book in Wyatt’s hands was open to a page on electric fans, powered by the sun. “What would - “
“Thought it might make a nice gift for Jeb. His house gets like an oven in the summer.”
Glitch studied the page, nodding slowly. “It’s simple enough,” he said, then rested his chin on Wyatt’s shoulder. “I know what you’re trying to do, you know.”
“I know you do,” Wyatt replied with a shrug, shutting the book and setting it on the shelf. He turned, sliding his arms around Glitch’s waist. “That’s one of the things I love about you. Smartest man in the O.Z”
“You’re such a sap,” Glitch rolled his eyes but kissed Wyatt anyway.
~*~
End
Title: Edification
Rating: PG
Pairing: Glitch/Wyatt
Words: 710
Summary: Glitch turns down one offer, only to accept a better one.
~*~
The suite was silent when Wyatt came home from work; he’d already looked in on the kitchen on his way up to see how dinner was coming. It was an old habit from before, one that Adora had found annoying and endearing at the same time. The palace chef more often than not just threw a dinner roll at him and told him he could wait with everyone else.
The rolls were always hot from the oven and buttery, soft and sweet so Wyatt kept up his pestering.
“Glitch?” Wyatt called, shucking off his coat and hanging his hat on the rack just inside the door. There was no answer, so he made his way around the corner into the comfortable den they had created.
Glitch was sitting under the light of a floor lamp, slouching low in one of the oversized chairs Glitch had claimed from a ground level storage closet. On the side table, next to a short tumbler of amber liquid, was a torn ecru envelope and a scattering of tri-folded papers.
“Everything okay?” Wyatt asked softly, crouching next to the table and resting his hand on Glitch’s on the chair arm. He leaned over as if to inspect the papers, surreptitiously sniffing the air as he did. It smelled of apples, not alcohol.
“Just juice, no need to send in the troops,” Glitch muttered, but without irritation. “How was work?”
“Boring and tedious,” Wyatt replied promptly, balancing himself on his free hand so he could stretch out his legs. Reluctantly, he let his hand slide from where it covered Glitch’s and rested his temple against Glitch’s knee, closing his eyes. A moment later, he felt Glitch begin to stroke his short hair. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Everything’s fine,” Glitch sighed. “The - university offered me a teaching position.”
Wyatt shifted, raising his head to look up at Glitch. From this angle, he couldn’t see the zipper at all; it was a disconcerting illusion of normality. “Teaching what?”
Glitch shrugged. “Engineering. But it doesn’t matter. I turned them down.”
“Why?” Wyatt inquired kindly. “You’re brilliant and you love teaching.”
Leaning forward, Glitch rested his elbows on his knees and scrubbed his hands over his face wearily. “I don’t remember much about my education, but one thing that always stuck with me was how much I hated it when the professors lectured from the textbooks. How they used notes and slides and references.”
“Isn’t that how they’re supposed to do it?”
“I always felt that if a teacher was any kind of expert in their field, they should know all of those things they lectured about; it should be here,” Glitch tapped the end of his zipper. “A professor shouldn’t have to use notes.”
Wyatt opened his mouth to argue then stopped, realizing what was upsetting Glitch. In his previous life as Ambrose, Glitch had prided himself in his ability to think on his feet. To produce knowledge and understanding and answers from his head, not from a book. Now, that gift was gone; torn from him in the most brutal fashion.
Unable to formulate a proper response, Wyatt stood and walked over to one of their bookshelves, picking a volume at random. He glanced at the cover and his brain glazed over after the seventh multi-syllabic word in the title. Putting that one down, he chose another. “Hey, Glitch,” he spoke finally, waiting until Glitch’s head rose in question. “Will you teach me how to build one of these?”
Glitch stood curiously, wandering over and peering over Wyatt’s shoulder. The book in Wyatt’s hands was open to a page on electric fans, powered by the sun. “What would - “
“Thought it might make a nice gift for Jeb. His house gets like an oven in the summer.”
Glitch studied the page, nodding slowly. “It’s simple enough,” he said, then rested his chin on Wyatt’s shoulder. “I know what you’re trying to do, you know.”
“I know you do,” Wyatt replied with a shrug, shutting the book and setting it on the shelf. He turned, sliding his arms around Glitch’s waist. “That’s one of the things I love about you. Smartest man in the O.Z”
“You’re such a sap,” Glitch rolled his eyes but kissed Wyatt anyway.
~*~
End