A/N: In celebration of my own midterms being graded, here's a little slice of life stories about our boys being professors.

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The condensation from his beer started to drip, landing on the back of his hand that was resting on the bar. It didn't startle him, but the sudden, cold, wet sensation was enough to cut into his focus and make him aware of his surroundings. He realizes he was holding his beer up, ready to take a sip, and never did. He quickly downs the rest of it, wondering how long he has been frozen like this while staring at the guy sitting catty corner to him.

He then remembers where they are at. He looks up at the weird lighting in the bar area, greatly contrasting the darkness of the standing area behind him, only occasionally illuminated by the background lights on stage. He looks over his shoulder some more, to watch the audience screaming and cheering and singing along to the band on the stage of this small venue. Someone is crowd surfing or trying to at least. He can't see the individual anymore, and strains to see if they were dropped or if they managed to make it to the front.

Before he can get his answer, he hears a clink on the bar and turns his head back around, to see that the bartender has finally given him the bottle of water and the Jack and coke he ordered what seemed hours ago. He takes the bottle of water and slides it over to the person he was so focused on only moments ago.

The other person doesn't notice, still frantically scrolling through his phone, occasionally biting on his bottom lip, like he has been the entire time. He almost gets stuck into a concerned trance again, staring at the way that pink bottom lip looks plump, with how it bulges around the persons teeth as he bites down on it, especially the part peeking through his gap.

There's a weird sensuality to the whole thing, but he knows what this look means. His friend is stressed. It is one of those all-consuming worries that will continue to disrupt his focus and functioning until the problem is resolved. The stressed behavior doesn't last long though, as the person stops toying with his lip before he locks his phone and closes his eye with a sigh.

"Hey… Hey… Hey, you…" He watches a little longer when the other person doesn't respond. Finally, he grabs the water bottle by the cap, and lifts its, slowly bringing the cold, dripping bottle up against the person's neck.

"YAH! KEVIN!" The other person yelps.

Kevin tries his best to suppress his laughter as he sips his Jack and coke, raising an eyebrow as if to say, "What? I didn't do a thing!"

His friend pulls out a handkerchief and wipes the side of his neck dry.

"You good, dude?"

The other guy just nods.

"Don't lie to me. We've known each other for what? Five years?"

"Three years. We knew OF each other for five years because of the new faculty training but didn't actually conversate outside of training meetings until three years ago."

Kevin waves his hand dismissively. "Eh. Semantics."

"I feel that it's more 'accuracy' than 'semantics,' though an argument can be made for 'perspective.'"

"Colloquial?"

"Vernaculars?"

"Lingo?"

"Ar-wait. What are we even talking about again?" He giggles. It's the first time he's cracked a smile that wasn't forced all night.

"We were talking about what's eating you. Spill, Edd. You know the drill."

Edd's smile fades quickly and he sighs. "You know how midterm grades are due tomorrow so academic warnings can be sent out?"

Kevin resisted the urge to be a smart-ass as usual, but he still couldn't help but think about what he would say if Edd didn't look so stress. Oh? They are? I had no idea! We only work at the same university, and have been turning in midterm grades for how many semesters? Still didn't know! Instead he just nodded and gestures for him to continue.

"Well… I'm a little bit behind on grading."

"Oh. Well you got until noon to turn the grades in. How much do you have left to turn in?"

Edd slouches. Edd never slouches. Edd looks away and fiddles with his phone.

"Edd. How much. Do you. Have left?"

"A lab quiz for both my microbiology classes, and the lab reports for my immunology classes..."

"That's not too bad. Do you still make the lab quizzes multiple choice?"

Edd snaps his head back to Kevin. "Yes, but-"

"Then after the show we can go back to your place and grade. You can tackle the lab reports and I'll do the lab quizzes. I'll even input the grades for you as you finish up the reports. No problem."

"I appreciate that but there's more."

"More?"

Edd closes in on himself and looks down to his phone as he mumbles, "All the midterm exams."

"ALL!?"

Nodding, Edd says, "All. For all five classes."

"What the-How did you get so behind!?"

"I had to push the exam back for three of the classes, so they were all this week. Plus, there was that student conduct issue in class yesterday that has taken up most of my time since then. Lost over 8 hours of grading time and lesson prep time because of it."

Kevin sighs out through his nose before taking a rather large swig of his drink. "Were you grading papers on your phone again?"

Edd doesn't reply, but he unlocks his phone and shows Kevin. It was a zoomed in view of a document that appeared to be a lab report. Kevin downs the rest of his drink and grabs Edd's water bottle. "Let's go."

"What? Where?"

"Your place. We're grading papers. All night if we have to. But hopefully not, that way you can get some rest before your Friday classes."

"Kevin, I appreciate your drive but the show-"

"Don't worry about the show. The only reason I suggested coming here instead of our usual Thursday night hangouts is because the tickets were free. I told you. A student gave them to me because his band was opening… They opened. My obligation has been fulfilled. And I rather go make sure you get your grades turned in than stay here and risk more of my students seeing me. It's always so weird seeing them out in the wild."

"'Out in the wild?' It sounds like you're spotting vicious animals in the jungles!"

Kevin stands. "So, you understand exactly how I feel!"

Edd rolls his eyes but laughs. "Fine. Let's go before you're spotted."

Kevin ducks and dives exaggeratedly out of the venue, pretending he was trying to sneak out while lacking any sense of stealth. It was enough to cheer Edd up.