Chapter Text
It was a cold, wintery Monday at Columbia University. While most students slept in the wee hours of the morning, you were up, primping yourself for another day as a teaching assistant to none other than the infamous Doctor Otto Octavius. It certainly was not easy being able to get this position, but after such a good word from one of your favorite former professors, Doctor Connors, everything simply fell into place. You were a very good student and put your heart and soul into your work, something that the two men admired of you. Despite your stellar academic performance, you had really wished that you had a friend to talk to. Your roommates ignored you and left you out of their festivities, and the only time you talked to another student in class was to offer to help them with a question, which came naturally to you as a TA.
Your days with Doctor Octavius were like clockwork. You always arrived at his office at 8 AM sharp, sipped on coffee and went over the curriculum before heading to his 9 AM lecture. Then, in between lectures, the two of you had a little time to grade papers and other assignments. Finally, after the very last lecture of the day, the two of you divided and conquered the leftover assignments while answering emails. And, of course, there were office hours every Tuesday and Thursday.
At first, you were too shy to initiate conversation with your superior. You were always the type to only speak when spoken to, save for very few people. You were not sure if it was because you were intimidated by him or if you were really attracted to him. Probably both, you thought. There was always friendly small talk throughout the day between the two of you and exchanging information for academic purposes, but Doctor Octavius took your quietness as something simultaneously endearing and wanting to respect your boundaries. He, surely, was introverted too and understood where you were coming from. However, unknowingly to you, he had thought that you were very adorable. Oh, how you would stutter when handing him assignments or when you would squeak in surprise when one of his actuators reached for something out of his grasp. Oh, how he was so smitten with you…
The both of you, needless to say, were on good terms.
You had taken such comfort in the somewhat ho-hum of your work days.