Summary: Logan is a high school math teacher and although he doesn't have any kids, since he's only 25, he treats his students like his kids and they treat him like a Dad.
Words: 1321
Logan loved being a teacher. He was always passionate about math, and once he realised he was gay he became passionate about helping LGBTQ+ kids find themselves and feel confident. Those two passions of course lead to him moving back to his hometown after college and becoming a teacher straight after graduating.
This meant he was quite young compared to his coworkers. But it worked - he was quite relatable to the kids and they felt comfortable enough to explain any memes he didn't understand.
As Logan opened the boot of his car he could spot two of the seniors he taught a few years ago from the corner of his eye - Roman and Remus. They were identical twins and only Logan could tell them apart, even when they dressed the same to confuse other teachers, they just had such different 'vibes' (Logan believed that was the word a student taught him). "Mr Berry! Do you need help?" Roman ran over when he spotted his teacher trying to carry a double dozen exam papers.
"Can you two help me carry out these freshmen books?" Logan mumbled, only able to carry four in his hands and six in his backpack. He felt like a student again with all his books. Luckily Roman and Remus seemed happy to help and had a couple of friends help too. "Just make sure you don't read them OK buddy? Privacy reasons."
"Sure, sure Sir we got you." Remus grumbled back, an earphone still in his ear. Logan tilted his head to the side to indicate that earphones weren't allowed in the school building, and luckily Remus understood and placed the strings in his pocket. The bad thing about being a teacher was discipline, since Logan was only a few years older than the kids he taught he wasn't particularly taken seriously. Just reminding kids kindly of the rules went a lot better.
"Are any of these Pat's?" Roman asked, flicking through the exam papers to look for his cousin's exam. Luckily Logan knew it was in his backpack.
"I already told you not to look through them Ro." Logan laughed softly, spotting the sheepish look as the teacher and seniors started walking. The teacher really appreciated having the help around him.
****
Logan's second period was a junior algebra class, probably the worst class to get through. There were some promising kids in there - but they were few and far between and there were plenty of chaotic students to distract him from them. All students were promising though.
"Right - before class ends I should check your homework." A chorus of groans erupted the class as they were preparing to pack away their books - a select few students brought out their homework sheets while others carried on packing, hoping Logan didn't recognise them. Only one student gave their teacher a knowing look, a person dressed in all yellow who constantly looked tired. They never did homework unfortunately, so Logan could suspect this situation. He whispered to the student a short 'see me after class' and collected the limited papers that actually had work on.
The juniors left Logan's class quickly to their more exciting classes like art and business studies, and the teacher could sit at his desk and take a breath. Until he saw the student come up to him. "I'm sorry I didn't do the homework Sir..." The student started, spitting out nervous reasons why. Unlike most teachers though Logan was always willing to listen. "My mom's been sick this week so I've had to take care of my little brother, and Thomas is really hyper when Mom's 'sleeping'..." OK, so was this student a young carer? Logan checked the registers and - yes they were.
"It's alright, I can give you extra time on it if that's the case. Is there anything I can do to help?" The student looked surprised at Logan's reaction, but nervously shook their head again and stroked their arm. "Is there anything I could do to help you in my lessons?"
The student's eyes seemed to glow softly in realisation, and their eyes flicked to the rainbow pride flag Logan proudly hung up on his wall. Logan had many students come out to him so this wasn't a new occurrence - although he usually suspected it a few weeks before. "Actually Mr Berry... Do you know what pronouns are?"
"Of course I know what pronouns are, mine are he/him. What are yours?"
The student smiled wider than Logan had ever seen them smile. "I think I use they/them? And - um - I prefer the name Janus." Janus looked like they'd gotten a huge weight off their chest, finally telling someone about their identity. Logan nodded and took a note of the name and pronoun change on a post-it note, hiding it in the drawer where all the name/pronouns changes were kept.
"Thank you for telling me Janus. I'll keep that in mind, you're excused." Janus trotted off to class slightly happier that day. And Logan was happy to see a student happy.
****
During lunch break Logan often enjoyed the silence. Unlike when he was a student, he could just eat his peanut butter and jelly sandwich alone while correcting the homework given to him earlier that day. No-one would disturb him until he wanted them too.
A knock came to the door from another student Logan taught, the nervous new student named Virgil. "Mr Berry? Can I eat lunch with you - I can eat in the toilets but I don't want to get dunked."
"Take a seat Verge." Logan laughed, pointing to the nearby desk. The sophomore looked relieved and immediately took the desk, getting his lunch of a Walmart sandwich out of his backpack and starting to eat too. Luckily Virgil was quite a quiet student and let Logan work in peace. After eating the student got out some homework... Mr Berry's homework in fact. And he seemed to be struggling. "Impromptu homework club?" Logan inquired, and Virgil looked sheepishly at the work and then at his teacher.
"Yeah, yeah. Cheers Sir." Virgil whispered, letting Logan explain the formula he had taught only the day before and turning his lunch period into yet another class. Virgil was always thankful when this happened though. His math class scores weren't that high in his previous school even though he was trying his best. Having extra help made him achieve grades he never thought possible.
At the end of the lunch period Virgil thanked his teacher yet again, packing away his things and handing in the now completed homework early. Another knock at the door came before the next period began from the smiling freshman Logan knew very well by now. And Virgil knew him too - as they were very close friends. Logan was the one to introduce them in fact since Patton was always confident and happy with his bisexual identity and Virgil needed someone like that to mirror. "Pat? I swear you follow me everywhere." Virgil chuckled at his freshman friend, and said freshman laughed in return.
"Do you want strawberry cupcakes Mr Berry?" Patton cheered, revealing a large box of strawberry muffins that must have been made in a previous cooking class. Patton always seemed to have food to share with teachers just to show his appreciation that they were still in the job even with a bad pay.
"Don't mind if I do." Even though the pay was bad Logan was happy to be a teacher. He did impact a lot of kids' lives in a positive way, if they didn't have such support at home he was glad to be there for them. He wasn't the type of teacher to care about his grades, he just cared about high spirits, and that was all a real parent should care about. So... Was Logan a Dad at 25? Probably.