Chapter Text
Elsa spun her pen between her fingers, looking down at her phone as Anna excitedly and very rapidly texted her a stream of thoughts. This wasn’t an uncommon thing for either of them; Anna was wordy and that extended to text.
>> there are so many hot people here elsa
>> raps keeps staring at our history professor
>> i mean I can't blame her
>> she's super hot
>> i mean she might be your type too
>> ARMS
Rolling her eyes, Elsa glanced around. As usual, she was early for the first day of the semester. She'd learned over the past four years that it was important to make a good impression, especially with a new advanced physics professor.
As she waited, she tapped out a few responses.
>> Keep it in your pants
>> You guys can't seduce your professors
>> That's just not realistic
>> This isn't fanfic
>> Plus I took her class and trust me you’re better off looking elsewhere
Anna responded quickly.
>> challenge accepted!
Snorting, Elsa set her phone screen down as heels clicked on the floor. Looking up, she forgot how to breathe the moment her eyes caught the curvy figure walking into the classroom.
Professor Jaina Proudmoore was a tall woman with white hair and a golden witch’s lock that was threaded throughout her braid. She wore a white blouse, pencil skirt that showcased her hips and legs in ways that Elsa very much appreciated. The blouse was unbuttoned just enough to give Elsa ideas.
Proudmoore set her binders down and then seemed to jump a little when she realized she wasn't alone. Her flustered smile made Elsa’s heart race, "Ah! Hello. I wasn't expecting anyone just yet."
"I had an early start and didn't want to hang around outside," Elsa explained, which was kind of the truth. It was quiet in here, with no people. She'd been like that since High School. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to handle large crowds for longer than an hour or two, no matter how much therapy she had. And she’d had a lot.
It never made her many friends but she preferred a few close friendships to being surrounded by people. Anna, she thought, would do a lot better than her. With her sunny personality, optimism and open nature, Anna was going to excel in this setting.
"Ah, I understand." Her smile made Elsa's heart stutter again, "I was the same way. Much preferred time to myself to study."
Feeling seen, Elsa smiled, "It’s less noisy in here, Ms. Proudmoore."
"Oh lord, call me Jaina."
"All right." Elsa tucked some hair behind her ear, eyes locked on the woman as she turned around, and decided she was going to really enjoy this class.
📚
It had been nearly a month of classes with Jaina and Elsa thought it was a miracle her grades hadn’t suffered. Jaina was on her mind nearly constantly, and when she was in class she had the hardest time not staring at her. It was disconcerting in a way; Elsa had had only a few crushes in her life, none of which had panned out beyond a couple of tight friendships.
But she couldn’t get Jaina’s smile out of her mind, and her mind provided many thoughts as to what it would look like to unbutton Jaina’s blouse.
Despite her nerves, she made herself indispensable, putting her sharp mind to use to help wherever she could. A teacher’s pet, maybe, but that had always been Anna. For Elsa, it was about being a good student.
Usually.
It was at least a little less distracting. Focusing on school work, equations and science problems made it easier to stand near Jaina without the gears of her mind grinding to a halt as she overheated.
Familiarity was helping, as they were alone for ten to twenty minutes before every class. Elsa could listen to Jaina talk about almost anything and discovered they had a similar taste in music. Jaina also liked to use music as examples for science, which Elsa also appreciated. She appreciated that Jaina had a sense of humor too, frequently adding wry commentary to a lesson that only a fellow nerd would find funny. Elsa was in fact a fellow nerd and loved herself good science puns.
Elsa even caught herself doodling … doodling on occasion. Jaina’s profile, her stunning jaw, the braid that reminded Elsa of how she used to wear her hair, just everything about her face or her hands or some other things Elsa was a little embarrassed about.
Today, she had a recorded lecture up on her laptop as a refresher for a test, and caught herself doodling again, this time Jaina’s upper torso with the cute little smile she got when she was explaining complex equations. Elsa sighed, added it to her secret stash and restarted the lecture to try to pay attention this time.
Maybe if she used a sticky note to hide her professor she could actually process what was being said.
“Wow, she’s hot.”
Elsa nearly jumped out of her skin. She paused the lecture and swiveled in her chair to glare at Anna, “Don’t you have work to do?”
“Finished it.” Anna popped some candy into her mouth and draped herself over Elsa’s shoulders. Then she caught herself and asked, “This okay?”
“Yes.” She leaned back against Anna, “My mind is all bees today, Anna.”
“Probably because you keep staring at your science teacher like you want her to pin you to the white board.”
“Anna!”
“Do you have any idea how happy I am?”
“There are at least five things wrong with this whole thing.”
“Yeah? Name ‘em.”
Frowning, Elsa ticked off on her fingers, “She’s my professor, I wouldn’t want her to think I’m trying to seduce my way to good grades. She’s my professor, I don’t want her to develop a bias and make it easier for me. She’s my professor, I don’t want her to develop a bias and make it harder for me to compensate. She also doesn’t need someone in therapy who’s as messed up as me.”
“So that’s four but technically only two. If she’s worth her salt she won’t care about the therapy and depression stuff. I mean she’ll care but it won’t be a deal breaker, I mean. She’ll accept you, bumps and all.”
Anna pushed off of Elsa’s chair and then leaned against her desk, “Is it age? I mean I’d jump Daniel Craig and Oded Fehr so I can’t really judge.”
“She’s not that old!” Elsa made a face, “You could have at least used Angelina Jolie for that example. Or Lucy Liu. And she’s a lot younger than them.” She could think of a couple others too, without even being prompted.
“I’m omnivorous, I’d jump them too but obviously you have dibs.” Anna leaned in and grinned at her.
“You …. That’s not even the right … word! “ Elsa swatted her hands at her sister,
“Elsa’s got a thing for the ~MILFS~,” Anna sang, bouncing up and out of reach.
“Stones in glass houses, Bond-lover,” Elsa retorted.
“I would love to be a Bond girl. Not one of the dead ones but like one of the ones that kicks a lot of ass, gets that bond ass, then goes off doing her own shit,” Anna replied.
“If Bond was a woman I’d concur.” Elsa got out of her chair and stalked after her sister and tried to change the subject from her own thirty-something crush, “What about your plans for Professor Windrunner?”
“Blew up in my face but I think Raps might have charmed her.”
That brought Elsa up short, “Sylvanas Windrunner? The history professor famous for making half her class cry at least once a semester? Myself included??”
“Elsa you cry at the drop of a hat. And yep!”
“Charmed by Rapunzel, a woman so relentlessly cheerful she might as well be sentient sunshine?” Anna was exhausting sometimes but Rapunzel was Exhausting.
“Yep!”
“Oh my god if someone can make her crack a smile that isn’t sarcastic hell might literally freeze over.”
Anna laughed, “She’s not that bad.”
“Just you wait,” Elsa warned. “Just you wait.”
📚
Windrunner did in fact make her class cry a week or two later, but the scuttlebutt on campus was that she actually apologized. According to Anna, all Raps had to do was quiver her lips at Sylvanas and the Professor had practically melted. That was surely some kind of exaggeration but Elsa picked up enough from the rumor mill that made her think it was at least partly true.
Elsa arrived early to a late October class with coffee for both herself and Jaina. Not that Anna could ever know that Elsa knew Jaina’s coffee order. She told herself that she was simply observant.
“Good morning!” Jaina smiled when she saw the coffee, “Thank you, Elsa. You’re a life saver.”
“Anything for you, Jaina.” Elsa offered the coffee and almost dropped it when Jaina’s fingers brushed her own.
She liked to think that so far she’d done a good job of keeping her attraction in check, and was mortified at the thought that the professor might have noticed.
“Do you have plans for Halloween?” Jaina asked.
Elsa was so surprised by the question that she tripped over her words a little, “I uhm. My sister likes to go out to parties but I usually prefer to stay home. Study or read, maybe play some games.”
“Ah.” Either Elsa was imagining it or Jaina’s cheeks darkened, “I was wondering if you wanted to attend a costume party I’m throwing.”
“I’d love to.” Elsa wondered what she was doing and where she was going to get a costume on short notice, “Is there any kind of theme? Something I shouldn’t wear?”
Jaina grinned, “Come as whatever you want.”
“Is it a… sexy costume party?” Whatever the answer was, even Elsa didn’t know which one she wanted.
“I want you to feel comfortable,” Jaina said. She reached over and squeezed Elsa’s hand, “Mine might be a little spicy. But just wear something comfortable.”
Well, if Jaina was going to be a ‘little’ spicy, then Elsa felt the spirit of a challenge.