Title: Unfair
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: General
Length: 1300 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: University!au, also for trope-bingo.
Summary: Clef has glasses. Both Umi and Ascot think this is unfair.

oOo

Umi had run into Clef within a week of being hired - unsurprisingly, really, as she'd landed the role of research co-ordinator for the university and Clef was head of physics, with a role in signing off all the research his department did, and directing what they wanted to find funding for. She'd had three loud arguments with him within a fortnight, and had been on the verge of declaring him her nemesis - he was so bloody stubborn when it came to what he wanted to apply for, he wouldn't unbend at all and rework any projects so they fit what funding was available to bid for. Then two things happened at once.

First, she saw him unbend and actually be gentle with one of the overwhelmed undergrads who was running up against the limits of their attention span deficit in ways high school hadn't prepared them for - she didn't mean to overhear the conversation, but the door had been left open when the kid broke down and she'd heard him both offering tissues and practical tips on things that might help while they tried to get an appointment with their doctor before he'd got around them to shut it.

Then, when she came back three hours later, she witnessed The Glasses.

Clef didn't wear his glasses that often - probably, if Umi's suspicions were correct, he didn't even wear them as much as he was meant to. But later in the day, and if he'd been reading a lot or needed to use his computer - then, they came out. Thin frames, rectangular lenses that were rounded off at the corners. Nothing special at all, except for the way they somehow made Clef's eyes brighter than usual, softened his appearance, and made Umi's attention falter.

She liked the days when the glasses came out. Not that she was going to admit this to anyone, except Ascot who happened to be her best friend (apart from Hikaru and Fuu, her best friends from childhood, who came first) and to also have a similar issue with Clef in glasses. They'd met when she'd walked into him because they'd both been watching Clef glare at a set of results like it had betrayed him, and had coffee to jointly commiserate over the fact the physics professor didn't seem interested in anything outside of his studies, defending his department's funding, and scaring undergraduates into doing their work to the best of their ability.

Caldina - head of marketing and outreach, but also Ascot's unofficial adopted sister and official housemate, sighed at both of them whenever she caught them at it. "I don't know what you two see in the man! Is the hot-professor-in-glasses thing really that interesting?"

"Yes?" Ascot and Umi chorused back at her, every time. She'd taken to just rolling her eyes at them now.

Ascot was a research assistant in zoology, which had labs shoved in at the end of the physics building, which they were eternally defending from encroachment by the physics researchers who had apparently been complaining they needed more space for the forty-something years since the zoologists had been there. He had met Clef in his first week, when he was completely overwhelmed and turned around - Clef had pushed a cup of tea into his hands and then drawn him a map before escorting him back where he was meant to be - Ascot had realised he was one of their rivals, but not that he was the head of department, until it was far too late to do anything about the attachment he'd formed, traitorous though it probably was. The glasses had just been the final straw.

Between the two of them trading notes, they'd also realised that unless chased, Clef mostly failed to remember to do things like eat a decent meal, or leave at the end of the day. Over the months, they'd got into a habit of one or the other wandering by his office and the labs just to check he'd gone home, and to harry him out if he hadn't. Tonight, it was both of them - they were headed out to eat, as Umi had run out of food three days ago and hadn't gone shopping yet, and Ascot was essentially exiled from his house because Caldina was entertaining the head of security. She'd been working on getting LaFarga out of his uniform since Umi had known them, and she wasn't allowing any distractions - Ascot was going to be sleeping on Umi's sofa.

The door to Clef's office was open slightly, as normal, and there was a warm light spilling out of it. Umi sighed, and pushed it further open, Clef's name on her lips - until she looked in, and blinked. Ascot stumbled to a halt beside her, glanced into the room, and froze just as badly as she had. "…Oh," he murmured, and Umi nodded agreement. Clef was sat at the desk, as usual, but he had one elbow wedged firmly on the desk, head propped on his hand… and his eyes shut behind those glasses.

"That's just unfair," Umi grouched, and Ascot nodded fervently beside her. "…Do we wake him up?"

"I don't think he meant to sleep in his glasses?" Ascot muttered back. "Or all… propped up?"

"True. Guess we wake him, then." Umi slipped into the room, realised that being quiet so she wouldn't wake him probably wasn't the point, and walked across to poke at Clef's shoulder. He came awake with a jolt, and she grabbed his shoulder before he managed to fall forward and slam his head on his desk.

"Wh- heh?" He blinked at her, then at Ascot in the doorway, looking horribly confused and fuzzy. "...What? Umi?"

"I think it's time you got out of here," Umi told him, trying not to grin as he visibly realised what had happened and flushed. "Come on, shut your computer down, we're making sure you leave."

"I - no? I need to-"

"Sleep? Eat?" Umi eyed the shadows under his eyes, and the sharpness of his cheekbones. "Maybe eat first, and sleep for a week."

"Hah." Clef shoved his glasses up his nose, and poked his laptop until it came on - but he glanced at the two of them, sighed heavily, and shut it down. "Eating's too much effort. Sleep will do."

From the doorway, Ascot shifted. "Eating's important," he said, sounding worried. Clef waved him off with one hand.

"I haven't had time to get anything in, and I won't stay awake long enough for take-away to turn up. It's fine, I'll get something tomorrow."

Glancing back at Ascot, Umi saw the face he pulled, and spoke before thinking it through. "Come out with us," she said, looking back at Clef, who froze. "We'll keep you awake until you eat, and see you home - how are you even getting home? I don't think you're safe to be on that bicycle of yours tonight."

"I couldn't-" Clef looked between the two of them, a flush high on his cheeks. "I wouldn't want to intrude on your evening. It must be hard enough, dating around your schedules, I can't get in the way-"

Slowly, as Clef's flustered expression sank in, Umi started to smile. She looked back at Ascot again, raising one eyebrow - he flushed hard, but nodded.

"We aren't dating," Umi said, and Clef's attention snapped to her. "Mostly we just complain about how hot you are and how you aren't interested in either of us."

"You. What?" Clef's eyes were wide.

"Come to dinner with us," Umi told him, aware she was starting to smirk. "Come out with us. Somewhere quiet. And then we'll get you home safe, and when you've had more sleep - you can decide whether it was a date or not."

He was so startled that they managed, between them, to get him packed up, into his coat, and out of the door before he even managed to splutter a half-hearted protest. Umi grinned at Ascot behind his head, and got a small, shy smile back.

Dinner was going to be fun.