((A 3000-word oneshot so prepare yourself.))

Scott pointed up at the whiteboard, where his scrawly handwriting had written out some of the basic rules of grammar. Revision for the Grade 9 English exam. "And that, guys, gals, and our non-binary pals, is why we never use an apostrophe after-" 

The door creaked. Scott paused, his arm falling to his side as he straightened up, clearing his throat, "Can I help someone? Samuel, if you are late to class agai..." 

His words died in his throat as the door opened fully. It was the teacher from AP English, Vincent. He raised an eyebrow, pure white teeth splitting mocha skin as he grinned, "Having a bit of trouble keeping your students in check, are we, Scott?" 

Scott's stomach dropped to his feet all at once, his heart jumping in his chest. Was it just him, or had Vincent gotten a whole lot more handsome since this morning? "Ha... haha, no!" He grinned back, one hand reaching up to rub through his hair, "Vincent, what... what are you...? How can I help you?" 

"I, uh... I kind of snapped my whiteboard ruler, and I was wondering if I could borrow yours. You're not using it, are you?" Vincent stepped inside, closing the door after himself. He turned to Scott's students, "Sorry to interrupt, folks, I'll let you get back to..." he glanced over at the whiteboard, "...Apostrophe use? In a second." 

Scott trilled nervously, "O-Oh, no, y-you're not interrupting at all, we were just wrapping up. E-Everyone say good morning to Mr. Bishop, alright?" He scrabbled through the pile of paper on his desk, looking for his whiteboard ruler as his students chimed in with 'Good mor-ning Mister Bishop...' He let out a deep breath and muttered, "G-Geez, is it just me or should we turn the air conditioner on?" 

"Sir?" One of the girls piped up, as a handful of last night's homework fluttered off the desk and all over the floor, "Sir, the ruler's behind you, sir, it's on the whiteboard."

"On the-" Scott wheeled around, only just remembering that earlier this morning he'd shown off the ruler's brand new magnetic strap by sticking it on the whiteboard, "Oh yes, you're quite right. S-Sorry everyone, my..." Scott let out a deep breath, walking over to the whiteboard, "My brains have been fried for some reason..." 

Scott pulled the magnetic ruler off of the whiteboard and stepped backwards. He spun around again and almost ran straight in to Vincent's chest. 

Vincent smiled, placing the homework that had fallen on the floor in a neat pile on Scott's desk, "You've really got to keep a more organised work space, Scotty. Especially somebody as clumsy as you." 

Scott giggled nervously, his heart hammering against his ribs. He was so close he could feel the warmth radiating off of Vincent's body, "Th-Thanks for picking t-that up. I-I'm not always this clumsy."

Vincent chuckled, "You're not, huh? Well it must be just when I'm around, then." He grinned as he glanced at Scott's students, "You should have seen him yesterday in the staff room. He spilt tea all down himself when I walked in." He reached out, his fingers brushing against Scott's as he took the whiteboard ruler from him, sending shivers up his spine. 

Scott could feel his face burning as Vincent stepped back, and laughed, "Oh, come off it, Scott. Being clumsy is nothing to be embarrassed about." He reached out and tapped Scott on the end of his nose, "I'll have this back to you by the end of the day. Bye, everyone!" And he turned, and walked out of the classroom.

The door swung shut with a bang, and Scott's shoulders slumped. "Bye..." he whispered dazedly. 

And 3... 2... 1.

"OoooooooooooOOOOOOOOOoooh!" The whole class let it out in chorus. Here they go again... Scott knew they'd been waiting with bated breath from the moment Vincent walked in the door until this moment.

He set his face and turned back to the class. "Now before you say anything-" 

"O-oh, V-Vincent, I'm n-not always this clumsy...!" One of the girls, Karen, sighed out dramatically, turning to her best friend, Jo. 

"Hm? You're not, are you? Well it must only be when I'm around..." Jo leaned forward, brushing Karen's chin with her fingers.

"Oh, Vincent, just kiss me already!" She exclaimed, and they both broke into exaggerated kissing sounds, broken up with "Oh, Scott..." and "Oh, Vincent..." . 

"N-Now come on, I-I-I never said that," Scott stuttered, his face a-flame with embarrassment. "Don't put words in my mouth." 

"Oh, but you were thinking it," A girl called Piper shouted out. "We could see it on your face!" 

"This is great," Rachael laughed, "I came here in the hopes of finding a gay best friend, and I end up with a gay teacher, instead!"

Scott's eyes widened, "N-N-Now, c-come on! I-I- W-When did I say I was gay!?" 

The laughing abruptly stopped, and Scott found himself itching uncomfortably under the gaze of all thirty of his students, staring him down with the kind of look you only hear of in nightmares.

Scott glared at them, "Alright, fine! So I might have a bit of a partiality for men, but that doesn't mean-" Scott had to raise his voice to shout over the instant uproar from his students. He hung his head and groaned as a chorus of 'Scott's in love with Vincent~! Scott's in love with Vincent~!' rang out. The kids started to bang on their desks, all chanting it at the same time, and Scott glanced at the door, suddenly acutely aware of the fact that Vincent's classroom was just down the hallway. He glared back up at the students, "Alright! That's it! Everybody quiet, or you're all getting detentions for the next month!" 

The ruckus died down, apart from the odd whisper, and Scott sighed. He turned away from all the student's smug looks and back to the whiteboard, "Now, as I was saying..." 

--

 The bell rang through the halls, signalling the end of the school day. 

Scott let out a long, deep breath, kicking his feet up on his desk, "Alright, alright. Off you all go. Shoo! I want to see all those revision sheets handed in by this Friday, okay?" 

The students all started to file out of the classroom. Karen appeared on the other side of Scott's desk, "Mr. Adams, sir? You still haven't got your whiteboard ruler back."

Scott blinked, "Oh. You're right. I'll..." he huffed in frustration, "I'll have to go to Vincent's classroom and go get it back." 

"While you're there, why don't you ask him out?" Jo appeared from nowhere, apparently having overheard the conversation. Not that that surprised Scott. He had often wondered if they had some kind of telepathy.

He sighed, letting his feet fall off the desk as he turned to face the girls. He leaned in across the desk, "Look, guys... if I could, I would, but it's just not that simple, okay?"

"What do you mean?!" Karen whispered, leaning in like they were discussing some top-secret information, "All you have to do is say something like, 'Hey Vincent, we should go on a date sometime, here's my number', or, 'Hey Vincent, I like like you, do you want to be my boyfriend?' See, simple!"

Scott sighed, shaking his head, "It doesn't work like that when you're grown up, girls... Plus..." He looked up at them, "What do you think he's going to say? If he found out I..." he shrugged, "Felt something for him, he'd be grossed out. I'm a man, he's a man... he'd think I'm creepy. That's just how it works. It sucks, but that's how it works. It's happened to me way too many times before." 

"So you're admitting it!" Jo hissed, and Karen slapped her across the arm quickly.

"You're never going to know if you never man up and try it, Mr. Adams," she pointed forcefully at him, as though she expected him to leap out of his chair and run to Vincent's classroom to confess. 

Scott rolled his eyes, and he did in fact get out of his chair, but with much less enthusiasm. "Look, I'm going to go and get my whiteboard ruler back. I'm sure your parents will be waiting for you. See you tomorrow." Scott walked over to the door, opening it and watching as the girls ducked through with a quick 'bye, Mr. Adams!'. 

Scott couldn't help but smile grimly as he closed the door after himself and started walking down the hallway towards Vincent's classroom. Oh, he could just see it now. Bursting into the classroom and exclaiming, 'Hey Vincent, I like like you, you wanna be my boyfriend?'. 

Despite himself, he chuckled, shaking his head. Ah, the simplicity of being a 14 year old. He'd go back to those years any day. 

Well, actually, no, he wouldn't. At 14 years of age, he'd had his first kiss... and it hadn't been with a girl. 

...And it hadn't been with a gay guy, either. It'd been with a very straight (though, to be honest, he was probably closeted) bully, who'd been out to prove that the camp kid from 9A had the hots for him, after all. 

Of course, Scott had only realised that after he'd ratted to everyone in the grade. 

He blinked when he suddenly found himself in front of a door. Vincent's classroom door. It seemed his feet had walked him there themselves. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and knocked three times, short and sharp. 

"Come in," Vincent's baritone voice from the other side of the door stirred something deep within Scott's stomach, "It's not locked." 

Scott took a deep breath to compose himself, and then tried the handle. He swung the door open, and stepped inside, "Hey..." 

"Oh, Scott!" Vincent put down the homework he'd been marking, his dusty violet hair loose around his shoulders. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

And, there it went. Scott's knees turned to jelly as he grinned sheepishly, "Oh, I-I was just... " he pointed, "Y-You've taken y-your hair out... it's so long."

"Don't you like it?" Vincent grabbed a red hair-tie from the bench. "It's such a pain to have it tied up all day, I like to let it down and get rid of the headache those brats give me..." He started to tie his hair into a ponytail.

"Don't!" Scott had said it before he really thought, Vincent pausing and looking up at him with those beautiful, stern eyes questioningly. "I-I mean..." Scott stuttered, "D-D-Don't worry about it. I-It looks... it looks r-really nice out. By the way. I-I'm just here for my whiteboard ruler." 

"Oh... right, about that..." Vincent cleared his throat and stood up, "Listen, Scott, there's something I need to get off my chest."

"Is it your shirt?" Scott joked, laughing nervously. Please be your shirt, please be your shirt, please be your shirt, please be your shirt, please be your shirt-

"Uhh," Vincent gave him an odd look, "...No. Actually, the thing is, I kind of-"

SNAP! 

Vincent and Scott wheeled around to look at the door, which had just slammed closed. The entirety of Scott's class was standing outside, Karen holding what Scott recognised to be the keys to Vincent's classroom in her hands, grinning evilly. 

"What the hell!?" Vincent sprinted over to the door, trying the lock, "They've locked it! The little gremlins- Is this your class, Scott?!"

Scott walked over to the classroom windows, staring out at all the kids, "Uhh... yeah. Yeah, this is my class. Every student...?" 

"What do they think they're doing!? Is this some kind of prank!?" Vincent glared over at Scott, "Well come on, don't just gawk at them, come help me open the door!" He went back to rattling the doorknob. 

Scott placed his hand on the glass, looking out at all the kids. He tried to put on his most convincing teacher's glare, 'What are you doing?' he mouthed, and pointed at the door. 'Let us out!'

The mob of students shook their heads. One of the front-most girls pointed at him through the glass, then made a heart symbol with her hands, and pointed across. 

Scott frowned, turning his head to look where she pointed, his eyes widening as his gaze landed on Vincent and the signed message became clear. They want me to confess!

He turned back to the window, his heart pounding in his chest. His eyes were wide-blown as he shook his head fervently.

All the students nodded back, just as vigorously. 

'I can't!' Scott mouthed at them, his heart beating faster as panic threatened to overtake him. Flashbacks of ninth grade were flooding into his mind, flashes of countless University crushes, of rejection, denial, disgust. He couldn't deal with any more heartbreak. 'I can't do it!' 

The kids just, grinned, looking absurdly pleased with themselves, and stuck their fingers in their mouths. Scott frowned at them, confused until he realised they were whistling some kind of code.

Karen stepped away from the door and skipped over to the drain that was underneath the bubbler across the hall from the classroom. She dangled Vincent's keys over the gap, holding on to them with just the tips of her painted fingernails.

"Hey! Those are my keys!" Vincent shouted. He turned to Scott, "Alright, that's it! You better tell me what's going on right now, or I'm giving your whole class detentions for the rest of the year! And not to mention, if you're in on this, I'll-"

Scott turned to face him. Something about his expression must have made Vincent pause, because he stopped talking all at once. Scott could imagine what it was. He was probably as pale as a sheet, looking sick, "Vincent... I know why they're doing this."

"What?" Vincent's tone changed all at once. Now he sounded soft, and concerned. "What's wrong? Are you okay, Scott? You look like you've seen a ghost. You're not claustrophobic, are you?"

"No..." Scott swallowed, avoiding Vincent's stern gaze, "Look, there's... something my students want me to do. A-and, I don't think they're going to let us leave until I do it."

"Okay..." Vincent nodded, "So... are you gonna do it? What is it that they want you to do?" 

"Um..." Scott barely whispered, his throat closing up as a lump formed in his esophagus. "I t-think they want me to admit that... t-that... I'm... that I'm in..."

Vincent blinked, then frowned, sighing, "Come on, Scott. Just spit it out.It can't be that embarrassing." 

"Oh, I... I b-beg to d-differ," Scott grinned awkwardly, then looked down at Vincent's feet, "See... t-the t-t-t-thing is, t-they want me to ad-admit t-that... that..." Scott took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second before meeting Vincent's eyes, and letting the breath out, "I've fallen in love with you." 

Vincent's eyes widened. "Oh." He blinked a few times, and took a step forward, and then another, "And... is it true?" 

"Uhhhh," Scott's expression was bewildered. He was feeling even more so, "W-W-Well, y-you know how kids this age are. A-Always looking f-for some kind of drama!" Scott laughed, taking a step backwards shakily, because Vincent was still advancing on him, and the panic was setting in again. "Y-Y-Y-You know, t-t-there's hardly e-ever a-any t-truth to w-what they say, t-they were just letting their i-imaginations get away on them!" Scott's back hit a desk and he shuddered, gulping. "H-H-Honestly, y-you should have s-seen the f-fanfic th-they w-wrote a-about us, I-I c-caught them d-during lunch, i-it w-was th-the kind of s-stuff kids s-shouldn't kn-know about at their a-age! H-Had m-me b-blushing f-for th-the rest of the d-day... Hhh!" Scott gasped slightly, leaning back as Vincent stopped right in front of him, his hands either side of Scott's body. "Y-Y-You w-wouldn't b-believe t-the k-kind of scandals th-they dream up, t-they were e-even writing a-about y-you b-being a v-vampir-- Vincent!" Scott whimpered as Vincent leaned in closer over him, his whole body trembling as Vincent's head titled slightly, "N-N-Not in f-front of the childre-MMF!"

Scott's eyes shot open as Vincent's lips met his, and the rest of the world swirled away in a spiral of ecstasy. The classroom, the desks, the screaming children on the other side of the window... they all melted into nothing. The only thing that mattered was Vincent.... Vincent. His lips were softer than Scott had ever imagined, his body pressed firmly but not forcefully against Scott's, and the slightest of moans was dragged up Scott's throat as his eyelids sunk over his dark eyes, and Scott began to kiss back.

His arms slowly moved, wrapping around Vincent's neck and pulling him close, their lips caught in a gentle, intimate dance. It felt better than he'd ever fantasized, felt more wonderful than he ever could have dreamed about. Part of Scott didn't believe it was really happening. He was completely in shock. 

Their lips parted with the softest smack, and Scott sighed, his eyes half-opening once again dazedly, "What... what was that for?"

"What do you think?" Vincent asked, smiling. "Surely you don't think you're the only queer English teacher out there...?" Vincent looked to the side, "You think we're going to get complaints from the parents for this?"

Scott followed his gaze, finding the students from his class jumping at the window. The girls were clinging to each other, babbling fangirlish nonsense. Karen and Jo were in each others' arms, sobbing helplessly. Most of the boys were gaping, as if to say, 'He really did that?'. One of them was smiling, looking at Scott with something close to admiration. Phones were out, and Scott could tell that hundreds of photos had been taken. He didn't even care.

His smile widened as he looked back at Vincent, "Oh, yeah. We're gonna get in massive trouble for this." He tilted his head slightly, his hand sliding down Vincent's chest, "So... there's a... new movie out on Friday... I was wondering... since we don't get to see each other out of work often... maybe... if you're free...?" 

Vincent chuckled, leaning in and kissing Scott softly on the lips once more, "It's a date."

"...Oh, and... this might be a bad time, but... I kind of broke your whiteboard ruler... sorry."