A.N.: I went back to school today, my second teacher never showed, I did some drabbles out of spite! Three more coming after this one, a couple others on my tumblr, please enjoy!
Of course this is how Niall would spend his first day back at college, rushing through the halls as he tries to simultaneously munch down on a piece of toast and pull his letterman jacket on the right way and shove his binder filled with loose leaf into his back pack.
Honestly, it’s not his fault. He can’t be blamed! It’s not his fault the frosh party went on a few more hours than scheduled and he just had to stay for all of it, downing a half kegger at one point all by himself. It’s a god given miracle that he’s even out of bed right now.
But late is late and Niall does not want to be late for his Intro to Literary Criticism class because the teacher is Mr. Jones and he is one of the laxest professors in the English department ever. He’s an old man and he doesn’t have the best eyes in the world so it’s easy to just slip into the back of the class and still get a hundred on participation and that’s exactly what Niall plans to do today.
Except, when Niall pushes open the classroom door and stumbles over the threshold, it is definitelynot Mr. Jones standing at the front of the class. Niall’s toast falls from his lips because they’re parted in a sharp gasp and, if his stomach growls at the fact that the only meal it’ll probably get today is now on the floor, Niall doesn’t notice.
Standing at the front of the class is the most attractive man Niall has ever seen, with perfect caramel skin and a fine dust of scruff over the line of his jaw and when he turns to look at Niall he feels like he’s been shot with a bolt of pure amber, shining through black wire rims. Niall wonders why the hell a God is teaching their class and maybe he’s stumbled into the wrong room because this cannot be happening.
"Mr. Horan, I presume?" Okay, so not wrong class. Even worse, this man’s voice is like smooth silk gliding against Niall’s skin and he feels like throwing his hands up in the air and doing a pirouette because it is just that good. Niall barely manages to nod his head in assent, mumble a completely undignified ‘yeah’ but the man doesn’t seem to notice (or care) anyway.
"I thought as much. The seating arrangement is in alphabetical order. You’re in the fourth row." The man gestures vaguely at the seats before he turns back to the blackboard to scrawl something else out and Niall takes that as his dismissal, throwing his toast into the garbage resignedly before he starts to climb the stairs.
Niall edges along the row with a friendly nod at Eoghan before he settles into his chair but he can’t help but think about nagging question on the tip of his tongue. The man starts talking again, “So, we’ll continue now,” but Niall just has to know and he is just hungover enough to not care about the backlash.
"Are you the teacher?" Niall pipes up, cocking his head to the side, but he full out winces when the man sighs and throws the notebook into his hand onto the front desk with a loud thwack. The man takes off his glasses and rubs a tired hand over his eyes, adjusting them on the bridge of his nose a moment later but he looks really tired and Niall regrets asking in the first place.
"I am the teacher’s assistant to Mr. Jones.” The man says and he makes for his notebook before he pauses and he turns back to look at Niall with dead eyes. “Before you interrupt my class for the third time, Mr. Horan, Mr. Jones will not be here for the first month of classes due to the fact that he is recovering from a spinal injury he incurred over the summer.”
"Since the first few weeks of material is still rather simplistic, the school has seen fit to simply let me take over for a short while instead of hiring a substitute to replace Mr. Jones." The man picks up his notebook again and pushes his glasses up with the tip of his finger so the glare blocks his eyes. "Are you satisfied now?" Niall has never nodded his head quicker. "Great," The man gestures grandly at the blackboard. "Shall we continue?"
Niall hunches down in his chair and crosses his arms because, though this man is a completeasshole, he is still ridiculously attractive and Niall’s dick is really really confused. Niall cocks his head back over his shoulder so he can just see where Eoghan is sitting out of the corner of his eye. “What the fuck crawled up his ass?” Niall mumbles just loud enough for him to hear and Eoghan stiffles a laugh into the palm of his hand. Niall glances over at him with a grin before taking in his alert face and he frowns. “How the fuck are you on your feet?”
Eoghan doesn’t even get the chance to reply because Niall feels something with a hard shell thwack against his head and he twists around to see the teacher still tossing half a piece of chalk in his hand. The soft laughter around Niall is telling enough but the way the man points a stiff finger dead at Niall’s head makes things certain. “See me after class, Mr. Horan.” He speaks in a calm voice but that just makes things worse, doesn’t it?
Niall spends the rest of the class biting down his nails to the bone, trying to pay attention but they’re just going over the syllabus and, really, was throwing a piece of chalk really necessary? Niall will never know but he does know that, when the man dismisses the class, he wants nothing more than to escape out the door with the other students. Eoghan ruffles Niall’s hair softly before he disappears out the door and Niall shoulders his bag with a shaking hand.
Niall traipses down the stairs with slow, thumping steps, watching as the man erases the black board with long, visually pleasing sweeps before he claps the dust off his hands and turns around. “You were late to my class,” Niall bites his lip softly because, wow, this guy really doesn’t fuck around with introductions. “And you interrupted me not once, but twice, and that makes me wonder if this is your usual behaviour or is it just because it’s the first day back.”
Niall stammers and waves his hands wildly as if that will help his argument any. “No! It’s just, I slept in and then I was expecting Mr. Jones and then my friend,” Niall trails off and gestures behind himself as if Eoghan is still there even though he isn’t but he ends up just hunching over and scratching sheepishly at the back of his head. “I’m sorry, sir. It’ll never happen again.”
Then, the unexpected happens and Niall almost feels like he’s still in bed and this is all a dream because the man smiles at him like he hasn’t been on Niall’s ass all morning, yelling at him for every little thing. ”It’s Zayn.” The man says softly and Niall furrows his brow because he is really really confused now.
The man - Zayn seems to grin even wider at that, as if in some perverse delight at Niall’s confusion, and he turns to his desk to start shuffling his papers. ”You don’t remember. I thought you might not.” Zayn shoulders his bag and stops in front of Niall again. “We met yesterday. At the party.”
Niall fists a hand in his hair where he can still feel a soft throb. “You threw chalk at me!” Niall stomps his foot a little childishly before he remembers and he gasps, slides his head around to his mouth, because he knows how he is as a drunk and he is a very very friendly drunk. ”Oh god,” Niall chokes and stumbles back, covering his hands with his face in complete shame as he glows bright red. “What did I do?”
Zayn throws his head back in a knowing laugh that just makes Niall shiver down to his toes, before he feels the press of Zayn’s hand against his shoulder and he nearly whines at the mere thought that they did something even remotely sexual and Niall doesn’t have the mind to remember it and, if that isn’t the epitome of unfair, Niall doesn’t know what is.
"You can spend the rest of the month trying to figure it out." Zayn squeezes his hand at Niall’s shoulder lightly before he starts making his way out of the room in casual strides and Niall just groans before chasing after him. Of course this is how Niall would spend his first day back at college.
