riftan and maxi with their daughter (she has riftan’s grumpiness lol). i like to imagine riftan loves being a father and carrying his sleepy kid back to their room thanks for the prompt @demonairs!
It makes the prettiest, most delicate sounds; but it also knows how to be powerful.
fandom: under the oak tree (light novel, webcomic) characters: maximillian calypse, riftan calypse ship: maxitan (aka lipmac) genre: romance, fluff themes: maxi plays the piano, canon-tangential, fanart included, dialogue only, lack of narrative text, drabble word count: ~370 rating: K+
A/N (12.28.2021): For the Creative Secret Santa on discord! @sophiemaye requested art of Maxi and Riftan playing the piano together. Alas, my drawing skills aren’t that great, so I only drew one of them playing. Partially in apology for being flexible with the prompt and partially in explanation, I wrote two different headcanons as to how they could end up in that scene. For a bonus challenge, I wrote only in dialogue / without narrative text.
There are TWO distinct scenarios in this one post! The piano emojis serve as a page break.
Thanks sophiemaye for the prompt and for letting me share the work! Happy holidays, everyone! ❤
~~~
“Oh! R-Riftan, you scared me.”
“Sorry, my love. I heard the piano from the hallway, and I was curious who it could be. No one has ever used the piano in this room before.”
“I’m s-sorry! I didn’t mean to ov-verstep…”
“You know everything in this castle is yours.”
“Right.”
Plink, plink.
“I didn’t know you could play.”
“I c-can’t. I was just trying to fig-gure out the tune to a song I heard Rudys h-humming earlier … then I s-started playing around with the keys. It’s noth-thing.”
“You seem to enjoy music. Should I hire a live-in bard?”
“No, no! Not to th-that extent!”
“Hmmm.”
Plink, plink.
“It’s a lovely instrument, d-don’t you think? It makes the prettiest, most delicate sounds; b-but it also knows how to be powerful.”
“I can’t say. Not much room for a lyre on an expedition caravan, much more a piano.”
“Oh. R-right, of course not.”
“Er, um, why don’t you play me something?”
“Ah, no. I c-couldn’t.”
“You seemed to be doing just fine before I came in.”
“I-I wasn’t really playing, th-though.”
“Okay, play fake piano for me then.”
“Riftan!”
“Just let me stay and listen. Please?”
“ … Well, alr-right. I did figure out part of Rudys’ lullaby. I’ll pl-play that so Riftan has something nice to l-listen to.”
“Go ahead.”
“You were right. That was lovely.”
“I’m g-glad it pleased Riftan.”
“I didn’t know you could play the piano.”
“Yes! It was the onl-ly form of noble training I received back in C-Croix Castle… I did not need t-to speak to learn.”
“That’s nonsense! I shall hire a vocal tutor right away. You should be able to sing while you play if you so desire!”
“No, n-no thank you! I like playing the piano by its-self, truly! The piano can do all of my talking f-for me.”
“I love your voice.”
“Oh, thank you… But, d-does that mean Riftan does not l-like my piano then?”
“Of course not. You’re so talented you could go on tours. I shall hire a tour planner.”
“Riftan!”
“All of Whedon needs to hear you play! There will be stadiums packed with admirers—”
Riftan does manage to hear that the new bio teacher is supposed to start today, and that’s enough for him. He’ll meet this Max guy eventually, and if not… well, who cares.
fandom: under the oak tree (light novel, webcomic) characters: riftan calypse, maximilian croix, everyone else in supporting roles ship: maxitan (aka lipmac) genre: friendship, humour themes: teacher!au, middle school setting, pre-relationship, fluff, purposeful open ending word count: 2.7k rating: T for canon-typical cursing
A/N (12.24.2021): It’s midnight in France already which means… Time for a short surprise holiday present for @purplecatsketchs! I’m so glad we met and became friends.
~~~
“Heyyy, Riftan,” a sensual voice greets him as someone falls into stride alongside him. “Did you have a good weekend?”
Riftan only takes a sip from his coffee—black, no sugar, just like he likes it—instead of responding.
“I was rather lonely myself,” the voice continues. “If only I had a big, strong man whom I could spend my evenings with…”
“I’m not going out with you, Ms. Reuben,” he finally cuts in, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose. It’s too early on a Monday for this conversation.
The pair reach the teacher’s lounge, and he enters first, not bothering to hold the door open for the person following behind him.
Agneshmphs as she follows Riftan to his seat. “At least call me by my first name when you turn me down. It feels like I’m getting rejected by a student when you call me ‘Ms. Reuben,’ and I don’t want to think about why I would be asking out a student anyway.”
“We teach middle schoolers,” a new voice sardonically cuts in. Riftan groans as Ruth easily slides into the open seat on Riftan’s opposite side, one arm already poised to support his lolling head and the other arm bringing the straw of some saccharinely-sweet iced latte to his lips. “Why would you want to ask out middle schoolers?” Ruth continues with a bored tone that doesn’t match the topic of conversation at all.
To Agnes’ credit, she does not let his twist of her words faze her. “‘Cause I’m not qualified to teach at the college level,” she quips.”
“You’re not qualified, alright.”
“Listen here, you little—”
Riftan has had enough. “Ruth, shut up. Ms. Reuben, go sit somewhere else.”
It’s clear Agnes wants to refuse, but Principal Triden walks into the lounge just then to begin their Monday morning all-hands. She pouts but slinks away nevertheless.
“Good morning, everyone! Today’s meeting is an exciting one for Whedon Academy…”
Riftan takes out his phone and scrolls through his social media feeds instead of listening to the principal. He respects the guy and everything, but come on. Riftan’s a gym teacher. You know what they say: Those who can’t do teach, and those who can’t teach teach gym . He’s not expected to carry any responsibility around here unless said responsibility is a passed out student to the nurse’s office.
To his credit, Riftan does manage to hear that the new bio teacher is supposed to start today, and that’s enough for him. He’ll meet this Max guy eventually, and if not… well, who cares.
Finally, a clap brings him out of his distraction. “… And that’s it for me!” Principal Triden concludes. He stretches out his right arm and takes a look at his watch. “Hey, I ended with fifteen minutes ‘til the start of the school day. Not bad.”
Taking that for the dismissal it is, Riftan joins the rest of his teachers as they gather up their things and file out of the lounge to head to their first stations of the day. He meets Gabel’s eyes on their way out, and they exchange friendly ‘sup nods in acknowledgement, knowing they’ll have time during lunch to catch up.
He turns his head forward again, and that’s when catches sight of an amazingly red bushel of hair. The head turns to reveal a face he doesn’t recognise: pink, pale skin with a smattering of freckles across her dainty nose and… are her eyes silver?!
Without taking his eyes off the devastatingly adorable goddess in front of him, Riftan reaches out his arm directly and grabs hold of the cloth of Ruth’s elbow before the other can head to his 8am math class. “Who is that?!” he demands to know.
“Um, weren’t you paying attention? That’s Max Croix, the new bio teacher.”
Riftan whips his head to face Ruth so fast there was an audible crack in his neck. “Bio teacher?!” he repeats, voice gruff and threatening. …At least, it would seem that way if Ruth didn’t know better.
He takes stock of how Riftan’s intense eyes cannot help but once again flit towards the petite retreating figure, the clench of his jaw, and the noticeable bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallows—and Ruth smirks.
“You’ll have plenty of time to get to know her later. After all, you’re both on hall duty today during lunch,” he offers faux-flippantly, looking out of the corner of his eye to judge Riftan’s reaction.
For the second time in as many moments, Riftan faces Ruth again in surprise. “Hall duty?!?!”
~~~
Riftan loves being a gym teacher, seriously. Fitness is so important because, contrary to some other subjects taught in school, it’s something every student will have to use for the rest of their lives. Middle school is the time to start learning healthy life habits, and he’d rather the kids learn those from him rather than from some other person in the presumably unsavoury cast of characters that appear in their lives.
… But if there’s one thing he loves more than gym class, it’s hall duty.
Maybe ‘love’ is too strong of a term, but Riftan certainly takes it seriously. In fact, he’s been known to take it too seriously, which is the problem here. If he wants to make a good first impression on the cute new bio teacher, their first interaction should not be hall duty, of all things!
He spends the morning desperately trying to get one of the other teachers to switch with him, but it’s all in vain. Somehow everyone he asks is otherwise preoccupied.
( Ruth Serbel started a group chat with Agnes Reuben, Hebaron Nirta, Uslin Rikaido, and 10 others.
Ruth Serbel: under NO circumstances is anyone allowed to switch hall duty with riftan today, got it?
Ruth Serbel: spread the word
Hebaron Nirta: what if i want someone to switch hall duty with me?
Ruth Serbel: that’s not what this group chat is about
Agnes Reuben: quick question
Agnes Reuben: is this gonna fuck with calypse’s head?
Ruth Serbel: yes
Uslin Rikaido: ooo then count us all in~
Gabel Laxion: Uslin does NOT speak for me.
Gabel Laxion: That being said, I’m in.
Uslin Rikaido: wtf come over here and say that to my face
Ruth Serbel: … right well it seems like everyone understands the assignment so
Ruth Serbel deleted the group chat. )
His frustration mounts as the lunch hour draws near, which is exactly the kind of mood you want to be in when you meet someone you want to impress for the first time.
“Hi,” Max greets him as he meets her outside the teacher’s lounge to begin their rounds. Her voice is soft, but not as soft as the hand she stretches out to shake his. “I’m Max Croix, the new biology teacher. It’s nice to meet you…” she trails off, waiting for him to introduce himself.
Riftan wishes he had a water bottle on him; his mouth feels so dry all of a sudden. “Riftan. Riftan Calypse,” he grunts out. “I teach gym—physical education. I teach physical education.”
He has never been one to care about the distinction before, but it seems especially important now for some reason.
Max’s mouth forms a small ‘o’ as she gives him a quick once-over, and the effect it has on his blood flow is decidedly south-bound. “That makes sense,” she comments politely.
He didn’t realise it from afar, but she’s so much shorter than he expected. She’s only a head taller than the tallest student in the school, and she barely comes up to his sternum. From this close, however, he can also confirm what he noticed earlier. Her eyes are an inviting silver. He can’t look away, and he doesn’t want to.
The annoyance Riftan felt before is immediately replaced with intense and just-as-annoying embarrassment. He turns his back on her to hide his blush and to re-focus on his mission. “Right, well. Let’s get going. We’re already three minutes late.”
He strides forward purposefully but takes care to stick to one side of the hallway so that Max could walk alongside him once she catches up.
“So is there anything special about hall duty that I should pay attention to?” she asks quietly. Not out of meekness, he can tell. She’s simply soft spoken, and Riftan wonders how she can command a classroom of unruly eleven-year-olds with a voice like that.
“Kids are either supposed to be in the classroom or the lunch room. If they’re in the hallways, they should have a hall pass signed by a teacher; and the location on the pass should align with where we find them. We also patrol the bathrooms and the immediate perimeter outside the school, just in case.”
Max stares up at him with astonished eyes, and Riftan tries not to lose focus with such dazzling beacons trying to draw his attention. “To that extent? Principal Triden didn’t mention those this morning when he explained hall duty to me.”
He hesitates to admit that these are indeed not part of the expectations of hall duty. Luckily he’s saved by the first set of bathrooms on his route, which he had optimized after many iterations of hall duty. He gestures to the women’s room with a nod of his head. “Call me if you need backup.”
He barely even pushes open the door to the men’s room before a touch on his elbow holds him back. Riftan looks over his shoulder at Max, who suddenly has fear written all over her face. “Wh-why would I need backup?” she stammers out.
Riftan absentmindedly shrugs his shoulders in response to her question. Max lets go of his arm at the movement, and he internally berates himself for it. The frustration with himself colours his tone more than he would like. “You never know what you’re going to find behind a closed door, and I don’t know what you can handle,” he defends. “If you see a bunch of girls trying to give themselves piercings, what are you gonna do?”
Max gives herself a moment to think. She looks chastised, which he supposes was his intention even though it really shouldn’t have been. God, why couldn’t he have met her under better circumstances, like dismissal duty? He’s a totally normal man when it comes to dismissal duty.
Riftan is ready to do something drastic to save this botched interaction, even if it means skipping bathroom patrol entirely today, when Max speaks up. “I would confiscate the needle and escort them back to the lunch room… After noting their names down, of course. And I’d arrange a meeting with their parents.”
Her eyes, which were looking into middle distance as she thought and spoke, raise to meet his at the conclusion of her sentence. She may speak softly, but she looks and sounds sure of herself—as she should be. He would have done the same thing.
Riftan regards the determined look on Max’s face with something he would recognise as affection if only he felt it more often. “Maybe I should be the one calling you for backup,” he says with levity, hoping it’s not too late to salvage the situation.
“Maybe you should,” she retorts. She walks around him and enters the bathroom without another word.
He looks after the closed door with regret settled into his bones. Fuck, he should have just bailed hall duty and taken the flack for it later.
~~~
Riftan doesn’t get the chance to see Max again until the end of the week, which is disappointing but not surprising.
It isn’t even surprising to see her eating lunch in the break room, though he was taken aback for a moment. If they were both on hall duty this past Monday, then they must have the same lunch schedule Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This is an implication he did not internalise until now, and he would have loved to make use of it in the future if only he didn’t supremely fuck up his first impression with Max.
Whatis surprising is that she’s sitting and laughing with Ruth, of all people.
Ruth spots him as soon as the door swings shut behind him, and he nods down to the empty seat next to him in invitation. Riftan hesitates at the way Max’s happy smile dims a little at the sight of him, but he pushes himself forward anyway. He needs another chance, and here is Ruth giving him one on a silver platter (… on a linoleum table?).
He directs a nod to his friend, but his eyes don’t leave Max’s as he sits down.
“Hi, Max,” he greets as pleasantly as possible.
“Hello, Mr. Calypse,” she responds cooly.
Don’t ask him why, but Ruth gets the distinct impression it was not love at first sight for Max the way it was for Riftan. He sighs internally. He loves the guy—well, on second thought, does he?—but honestly Riftan can not be left unsupervised around others.
Luckily for him, Ruth is around to supervise this time.
“So, Riftan, how’s Talon?” he asks, knowing fully well that Max loves animals.
Max tilts her head in interest. “Talon?”
“His horse,” Ruth explains.
Max’s eyes widen comically. “ His horse?! ”
Hook, line, and sinker . He is the best wingman ever. “Yep, you heard me right.” He reaches up to slap a familiar hand on the shoulder of Riftan, who can tell Ruth is up to something but is smart enough not to interfere. “He may not look it, but this man rides.”
The biology teacher looks at Riftan with new eyes. “Wow,” she intones with awe.
“I know, right?” Riftan sends him a glare for taking Max’s first positive attention off of him, but Ruth ignores it easily. “Now, you may be wondering to yourself, ‘How can he afford such an expensive hobby on a teacher’s salary?’, at which point I will inform you about Riftan’s amazing personal finance maintenance, and—”
He’s embarrassed, Ruth notices. Cute. “Max is new to the area, Riftan,” he faux-admonishes. “How is she going to get to know new people if she can’t start with her coworkers?”
“Actually,” Max speaks up. “I was hoping I could ask you about that, Ruth. Where do people go for fun around here?”
“Funny that you mention it,” Ruth acts like he didn’t come up with this idea just this moment, “but I was thinking of hitting up The Apothecary this weekend. It’s a small little bar Riftan and I found in the next neighbourhood over. Helps minimise the chance of running into a student’s parent; you get it.”
“That sounds like a great place to start,” Max says happily. “Can I join you?”
“I’d be offended if you didn’t. Riftan, you in, too?”
Riftan looks appalled to be included in these impromptu plans so suddenly, and Ruth wants to facepalm. Instead, he uses his eyes and eyebrows to mime for Riftan to hurry up and agree already.
Riftan, for his part, looks at Max. If she doesn’t want him to attend, he’ll make plans to leave for the weekend entirely so that she has no chance of running into him.
Max sends him a small smile, all lovely and silver. His second chance.
“Yeah, I’ll go,” Riftan confirms in that no-nonsense baritone of his.
Ruth rolls his eyes. Would it have killed the guy to smile? He shakes it off and paints a smile on his face, ready to take charge of the conversation again, but Max speaks up first. “So, Riftan, do you have any pictures of Talon?”
Both Riftan and Ruth look at Max like she just recited the phattest bars in hip hop history, delighted but deeply surprised.
“Uh, yeah,” Riftan says eventually, fishing for his phone in his pocket. He pulls up his gallery and offers Max his phone, but she scoots her seat closer to his so that she can see better instead. She excitedly asks after Talon’s personality, what it’s like to ride, and other equestrian things; and Riftan gives detailed responses, sentences growing longer and longer as they continue.
Ruth leans back in his seat and observes their exchange with a pleased gleam in his eye. It couldn’t have worked out better even if he had slipped them some sort of love potion.
