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Ashton would never use his position to hurt a student. He’d been entrusted with their care, entrusted with their education, it would be wrong to do anything but teach them.
But he only agreed to teach human students.
The decision to let these inhuman creatures into Night Raven College is a recent one, within the past few years, and it’s one Ashton staunchly opposed. There had always been beastmen, and that was bad enough- Ashton remembers the little hyena runt who followed Leona Kingscholar around biting a silver fork in half, proudly telling an astonished student that hyenas have the strongest jaws of any land mammal. Ashton had given him detention for breaking school property, sharply told him to act like a human.
Leona himself is a general annoyance, sleeping through class or outright skipping, blatantly uninterested. He once caught and ate a bird during flight class, horrifying the other students, like some kind of feral animal. Ashton gave him detention for it, and he slept the entire time. He struts around the school like he owns it, barely shows up to class, as if he were a real prince and not a filthy, dumb animal.
And now there are fae and mermen, inhuman monsters with no knowledge of human society. At least beastfolk have some facsimile of culture, a crude copy of proper customs though their base instincts make it laughable, but these things don’t understand anything. Malleus shows up to class sporadically, does everything perfectly, effortlessly, scares the hell out of human students who didn’t sign up to be around this immortal, dangerous creature.
Somehow, one of the mermen has been made housewarden. It’s disgusting, Ashton thinks, putting a fucking animal in charge of a real dorm- letting Leona fuck around in Savanaclaw is fine, no one expects much from those brutes anyway, but Octavinelle is meant to be a house for academics, a merman doesn’t have the cognitive function needed to run things. “Damn school’s falling apart,” Ashton tells his friends after work.
He’d privately hoped the monsters would return to their natural habitats after a year or two, but they all seemed determined to stay, and he started taking more notice of the mermen in their second year. They seem fascinated by random things humans took for granted, often wandering off to investigate rocks or flowers in the middle of flight practice. Ashton hates having them in his class, having to teach these things that watch him with a predator’s sharp gaze and cover up their inherent savagery with false politeness.
The creature they put in charge of Octavinelle is objectively Ashton’s worst student. Azul spent most of his first year with an arm wrapped around one or both of the twins’ waists and tripping over nothing, stumbling like a baby deer, and he wasn’t any better at flying than he was walking. Jade was terrified of flying, backed away when Ashton handed him a broom like it would bite him. He usually just let him sit out, didn’t have time to coax a dumb animal into playing human.
It’s the other twin that interests him most. Ashton is a good teacher, an upstanding man, he would never hurt a real person, but mermen aren’t human and he shouldn’t have to deny his natural curiosity just because Crowley wants to be “inclusive”. Floyd is an animal, easily confused, easy to train- even after a year, his understanding of human culture is limited to the insulated world of Night Raven College.
They’re animals, yes, but Ashton isn’t blind, he can see that they look human like this. Azul has a pretty, delicate little face, and the twins are tall, athletic, handsome- Ashton isn’t going to pretend they’re repulsive. It’s a risk, telling Floyd to stay behind after class, but he suspects the boy is clueless in this area and wants to experiment.
“You know that Crowley comes in for special lessons,” Ashton says smoothly. “This is just like that- as the physical education coach, it’s part of my job to examine students, make sure they’re in good shape.” Floyd is naked before him, arms at his sides, completely shameless, smiling stupidly, naively. Ashton doesn’t hurt him, just explores his body while Floyd fidgets uncomfortably, eventually stops smiling. He hadn’t planned to do more than that, but it’s intoxicating to have someone at his mercy like this, someone who accepts what he does without question.
“There’s just one more thing,” Ashton says brightly. They’re in his office, Floyd awkwardly seated on his lap, squirming as Ashton touches him. “It might hurt a little, at first, but it’s perfectly normal.” He’s not gentle, but he doesn’t really hurt him, uses enough lubricant that he barely bleeds. He’s still shaky as he gets dressed again, unsure what happened, and Ashton claps him on the shoulder, makes him jump. “Just some advice, son- I guess no one told you, but this is perfectly normal between humans. If it’s not something you’re comfortable with, just try not to be alone with anyone.”
Jade has a softer, deeper voice than his brother, but as he expresses concern to Ashton, it becomes clear that he’s just as naive. He says Floyd’s been acting different since Ashton called him back after class, he’s started wetting the bed and lashing out more often, and he won’t explain what’s wrong, insists he’s fine when anyone asks. Ashton immediately decides Jade is the worst of the merman trio, too intelligent, too much like a human, smiling at Ashton with something threatening behind his eyes.
“If you hurt him, it would of course be appropriate to inform the headmaster,” he says, feigning politeness. “I may be misunderstanding the situation, of course, there may be some other underlying cause-”
Ashton cuts him off, throws him to the floor before he can react, slows his movement with a quick, murmured spell. This fucking animal, fucking monster, trying to ruin his life out of some primal sense of obligation to his brother, it infuriates him, and before he makes a conscious decision he’s pulling Jade’s pants down roughly, knows he must be hurting him but doesn’t care, grinds his face into the carpet to stifle his undignified pleading, easily ignores his weak, clumsy struggling.
Jade is crying when Ashton lets him up, smooth mafia demeanor gone in a flash, leaving a frightened teenager behind, one who scrambles to pull his pants back up and whimpers at every movement. “You know, I don't appreciate insolent brats questioning my teaching methods,” Ashton informs him. Jade stays crumpled on the floor, and Ashton enjoys feeling taller than him, enjoys his obvious fear. “Didn’t anyone tell you how human society works? This is normal, there’s nothing to get so upset about. If you go crying to another teacher, he’ll just do the same thing. This is part of being human.”