Hard Rock Cafe {Gideon}

Usually Gideon was the one checking on Cole, and as much as he might gripe about it at the time, he’d come to appreciate the gesture. So when he’d shown up to class to find the Alchemy professor (who was probably his favorite, if he were pressed to name one) looking like he was still on the wrong side of a bender earlier in the day, Coleman was both terribly curious, and mildly concerned, seeing as he was supposed to be the one showing up to class and cursing the sun, only to be called out by the teacher, and not the other way round.

After he was done with classes for the day, the Horned Serpent had gone to the kitchens and filled up a tumbler with piping hot coffee and grabbed a cheap pair of sunglasses from his trunk, just in case. The route from the dormitory to Gideon’s office was one he could probably navigate in his sleep, and so it wasn’t long before Coleman found himself outside the familiar door, and knocked softly before letting himself in, poking his head in before the rest of him “Professor Salinger?” He asked, silently raising his eyebrows at the state of the room and the man within. He set the coffee and the glasses on the desk between them, and slunk into the seat in the corner, watching his professor with a bemused smile “So did you just go on a bender, or?” He asked lightly but feeling bold enough to leave the question open-ended.

It was nice in some ways to no be the one under scrutiny, but also strange, especially considering that Cole didn’t feel terribly moved to check in on others all that often, and even though he knew he was there to get the inside scoop first and foremost he wasn’t quite sure why he felt compelled to make sure his professor was okay, but there was no other way he could justify it to the little voice in his head. And so, he sat in the corner and waited to hear what his professor would say.

@Gideon Salinger

Gideon wasn't sure how he had got through his day of classes. It had been… different to say the least. He felt like he was somehow trapped in a parallel universe where he suddenly had no control over his life anymore. He had really believed he knew everything he ought to know about himself but… apparently not. It was confusing, irritating and, actually, also a little scary.

Knowing that he had not exactly behaved like a decent professor should, the man tried to force himself to get a grip again although, quite frankly, all that he felt like doing was to get drunk and try and cause himself amnesia so he could live in the illusion that he was the only one who determined his fate and that there were no interferences from other people, no unexpected revelations that affected him more than the issues his students had did.

The knock on the door did not really interrupt anything, not even any train of thought that was worth pursuing. By the time Cole poked his head into Gideon's office, the professor had felt almost hypnotised by fly that flew in circles above his head. The man had leaned back on his chair, his gaze lazily following the insects movements.

As the boy stepped in Gideon's attention immediately shifted to Cole. After all, any student was remarkably more interesting than the fly and the professor rather liked this particular Horned Serpent. However, the comment the boy made was not quite what Gideon had expected. Yes, they did usually talk quite openly and he found that his students should not hold anything back out of respect for him being a professor but this was still quite blunt.

“You brought me coffee?” Gideon decided to first pick up on the kind gesture before answering the question the student had been bold enough to ask. “That's nice, thank you.” He eyed the glasses, wondering if his state was obviously so bad. Truth be told, he still felt quite hungover and he vaguely remembered that he had not run a typical lesson either. However, he hoped he did not look quite as bad as the items Cole placed on his desk made it seem.

“Not exactly,” he finally answered the boy's question. “Just had an exceptionally strange evening that did admittedly involve some alcohol.” He sat up a little straighter and reached for the tumbler, taking a sip of hot coffee. “I guess if I wanted to keep this a secret I should not have held a class this morning,” he joked and hoped that his students in general and Cole in particular did not think any less of him because he had let himself go like that.