Like A Dream

Chapter 22

"But Lima," Harry whined with a playful pout on his lips, "I really don't understand this!"

Liam scoffed, clicking his pen open. "That's why I'm helping you," he said with a grin, pecking Harry's cheek. "You're my smart boy, yeah?"

Harry shrugged sheepishly. "If I were smart I wouldn't have needed to cheat," he muttered, avoiding Liam's gaze. He still felt guilty about what he had done even though Liam assured him it was going to be okay — as long as he didn't cheat again, that was.

The Dom tipped his chin up with his finger, looking deeply into Harry's eyes. "Don't say you aren't smart," he chastised gently. "Because you are. You're so, so smart, Angel."

"Okay," Harry whispered, though he still didn't seem too convinced. "Thank you."

"You'll see when you get an 'A' tomorrow," Liam teased, elbowing Harry playfully in the side, making the boy giggle. "You'll ace this test. So let's get started."

The Dom pulled out the study guide he had made to help his students prepare for the test, the one Harry had failed to complete. Harry blushed when he saw the packet of problems, embarrassed that he hadn't done his work. "Sorry," he whispered when Liam slid it in front of him.

"Don't worry, Angel. We'll do this together; it's okay," Liam promised, eyes soft and caring. "Now, let's start with the first one. Do you know what to do first?"

Harry fidgeted in his seat, eyeing the first problem. The various numbers, letters, and symbols printed on the paper made his head hurt. He didn't even know where to begin. "Uh ... no," he said sheepishly, looking to Liam for help.

Liam smiled kindly. "That's alright. I'll help you." The Dom solved the first problem for him, going over each step as he wrote things down. He pressed various buttons on the calculator that Harry was trying to keep track of, but he knew he would need some guidance when he tried to solve one on his own. "Get it?"

"I think maybe a bit more," Harry said uncertainly, biting his lip.

The Dom grinned. "Good. Let's do this one together, yeah? Tell me what to do first."

Harry blinked, scanning over the next problem. Again, there were tons of numbers, letters, and symbols he didn't quite understand. But he remembered Liam starting with the calculator, so he tried to think of what he'd pressed. "Uh, use your calculator?"

"Good boy," Liam praised, hitting the 'log' button.

"Now enter in the numbers?" Harry guessed.

Liam paused, twiddling the pen in his hand. "Not quite. Do you remember what's next?"

Harry thought about it for a moment before he eventually shook his head no. "I don't," he admitted. "Sorry." He looked away shyly.

"That's okay, Harry," Liam assured. "You're learning. I'm here to help you."

"Sorry," Harry repeated, biting his lip. "I'm just wasting your time."

"Harry," Liam said, sounding slightly sterner. "Angel, please don't put yourself down. You know you can do it. It's okay to make mistakes."

"Okay." Harry took a deep breath.

"Let's take this slowly, from the beginning," Liam soothed the obviously distressed sub. "Just remember that functions are the relationships between two numbers and they're used to map real-world relationships."

"Right." Harry nodded.

"Now think about the concept of infinity," Liam said, twirling his pen. "What do you know about infinity?"