Teacher's Pet (Freewood)

“Top!” The boy hopped to his feet, smirking. “My name is Gavin Free and I’m eighteen years old. That means I’m legal.” He paused to wink at Ryan and the teacher quickly looked away, cursing under his breath for the thoughts that ran through his mind. “I’m a senior and I work with slow-motion cinematography in my spare time.” He bowed with a flourish of his hand before sitting back down to snickers from the small group of five boys that had gathered back there, and that Ryan was now sure would cause him trouble.

“Thank you for that… lovely performance, Mr. Free.” Ryan rolled his eyes, his lips pursing. “Now, I’d like to move on. Who can tell me the meaning of Chemistry?”

“What you and I have together?” Gavin squawked and Ryan turned to glare at him.

“Mr. Free! I will not tolerate that sort of behavior here, and I will be MORE than happy to stick you in lunch detention before you can squeal out ‘Long Live the Queen’. Do you understand that?” Ryan spat, blue eyes blazing into the younger man.

Gavin seemed to deflate, nodding weakly. “Y-yes.”

“Very good. Kids, that is a prime example of how I can be a totally fine teacher until pushed too far. Who knows the meaning of chemistry?”

Lindsay, a red-haired girl sitting on the other side of Michael, raised her hand, and Ryan could have sighed in relief. “The science of the composition, structure, properties, and reactions of matter, especially of atomic and molecular systems.” She smarted and Ryan smiled at her.

“Very good.” He praised, holding back a smirk when he heard Michael mutter “Smartass” under his breath, followed by her sticking her tongue out at him playfully. He always found young love like that adorable and precious.

He’d never really dated in high school; there were very few people who accepted gay men in Georgia, and even fewer openly wanting to date one, so he’d enjoyed watching his friends in relationships instead. He would enjoy seeing them happy together, loving one another, and always felt the stab of pity when the relationship ended.

“Mr. Haywood? Can I go to the bathroom?” A young man in the small group raised his hand, startling Ryan from his thoughts.

“Um, sure. What did you say your name was?”

“Jack, sir.” The ginger boy seemed respectful enough, and Ryan agreed with the condition that he brought down the attendance sheet.

The class afterwards went fairly well and easy, considering it was the first day, though Ryan couldn’t help but notice Gavin kept throwing him furtive glances (possibly because he was doing the same) and Ryan wondered if the student was angry at him for embarrassment on the first day.

When the bell rang, the small group in the corner left together, a bundle of Gavin, Geoff, Jack, Ray, Michael, and Lindsay.

“So, what do you think of the new teacher?” Michael asked as they made their way down the hall, pushing through other students.

“I think he’s beautiful.” Gavin swooned, holding his books to his chest.

Michael rolled his eyes. “Trust me, we could tell. You were so far up his ass you were tasting his saliva.”

“I’d like to taste his saliva.”

“Ew. Dude, no.”

“I personally think he’s nice. And smart.”

“Fucking marry the guy, Lindsay.”

“Aww wittle Michael is jealous.” Lindsay squealed, wrapping an arm around the curly-haired boy and planting a kiss on his freckled cheek.