Alright! bring on the Soumomo week!

Day 1- Glasses

10 Years in the future. Momo is a bio professor, Sousuke thinks he's cute.

You are twenty-eight years old, Sousuke scolded himself, it's been ten years since you've been to school, why the hell are you this nervous?

But that was it really, the ten years part. The fact that he was surrounded by bright-eyed students ten years his junior.

Why am I even here? He thought over and over again. Surely it was too late for the likes of him to start college, even if it was at a two-year technical school.

You're here to learn new-age business techniques, so when you take over dad's business you can keep up with the modern world. He repeated this until he started to believe it.

A business degree wasn't his main issue, it was this damn Biology Gen Ed that weighed on his nerves. Even with a two year degree, they still required him to take these things. He tapped the end of his pencil absently on the spiral binding of his notebook as the professor finally sauntered in - three minutes late.

"Awright class! Look alive! This ain't no eight-am, so I expect you all to be bright eyed and bushy tailed by the time you hit this class, capiche?" The professor strutted to the center of the class, slamming a dark green briefcase onto the table up front.

"Now for the formalities: I'm Professor Mikoshiba, you may address me as such, or Dr. Mikoshiba, or The Supreme Stagbeetle Lord. Any of those will do."

The class gave a muffled reaction of giggles and murmurs. Sousuke kept his attention trained on the professor, tall and gangly, a good six feet tall with bright orange hair slicked partially back - just enough to keep his spiky hair off his forehead.

"Today we will be doing everybody's favorite: STAG BEETLES!" Professor Mikoshiba made a dramatic motion with his arm to a crudely drawn beetle on one of the whiteboards. "Did you think I would say syllabus? Naw, that'll be next time," he straightened a pair of dark rimmed glasses with his index finger before continuing.

Sousuke watched the entire display with a mixture of enjoyment and skepticism. This professor was animated...almost to the point of being annoying. Bright angled yellow eyes flashed behind the rims of his glasses. Sousuke rather enjoyed the mischievous quirk of his mouth. It was really...cute.

Stop it. He could have smacked himself. First day of college and he just had to have a crush on his professor - what was he? Some blushing schoolgirl? Certainly not.

The professor continued his lesson, rambling on and on about how majestic stag beetles are, craftily throwing in scientific technique and actual relevant information. Most of the kids seemed to be enjoying it. When the class ended, Sousuke packed up his things and made the slow trip down to the lecture hall door.

"So Mr. Yamazaki, are you going to say 'hi' or pretend like you don't know me?" The professor drawled as Sousuke headed for the door.

"Do I...know you?" He paused, perplexed.

"Oh come on! We were on the high school swim team together! Don't tell me you've forgotten...all of that."

Sousuke deadpanned him.

Professor Mikoshiba sighed in a resigned manner and pulled off his glasses.

Sousuke let himself take a closer look, orange hair, yellow eyes, obsession with stag beetles…

"Momo?"

"Give the boy a prize!" He cheered, replacing the spectacles, "looks like someone didn't read the syllabus."

Sousuke couldn't retort, for of course he hadn't.

"In my defence, you look so...different."

"Heh, yeah, you look pretty different yourself - might not have noticed you if you weren't on my class list," Momo shrugged, grinning a thousand lumens.

"But seriously, how much did you grow? And what's up with the glasses?" Without warning, Sousuke reached forward and pulled the spectacles off Momo's face.

"Hey! It's not my fault my eyes decided to fail me!" He flailed his arms, trying to take them back.

Sousuke chuckled vaguely and handed them back. "What's up with your hair too? You look so...grown up."

Momo rolled his eyes, "I am grown up. And there's this dastardly thing called a dress code that says I have to look respectable. At least they let me keep the stagbeetle tie."

"This your first teaching job?"

"By myself yeah, I did some student teaching in grad school, but this place decided to give me a chance," he grinned again, "pretty great of them, huh?" He playfully smacked Sousuke on the shoulder.

"Ah!" He winced.

"Oh, sorry, I uh, forgot which one was the bad one. You can forget a lot in ten years. Did you...ever get that taken care of?"

"Yeah, I did some physical therapy awhile back," he sighed.

"Did it fix things?" Momo pried.

"It works well enough," Sousuke made a rueful face.

"My big brother would be proud," he enthused.

"How is Seijuro?"

"Doing great! He's about to open his own physical therapy practice, oh and he and Gou are expecting their first kid!" He beamed brighter at the mention, "but, I suppose you already knew that through Rin, right?" Sousuke looked away. "Oh you...haven't been in touch?"

"Not for a couple years," he swallowed hard.

Momo nodded quickly and changed the subject.

"Wanna head to lunch? My next class isn't until two."

"Uh, sure," Sousuke followed.

Once they reached the cafeteria, Sousuke asked, "don't you think it's a little strange for professors to be eating in the cafeteria?"

"Um, I wouldn't normally, but I forgot my lunch today. You know, classes starting is stressful and crazy."

"And I'm certain your organizational skills didn't have anything to do with it," Sousuke nonchalantly sipped his drink.

"Hey, I roomed with Nitori-senpai for two years - I learned from the best! Or in this case, I suppose, the worst," Momo shook his head, "I meant to ask, what brings you here? It was surprising to see a twenty-eight year old on my roster."

"I need this as a Gen Ed, figured science was better than math-"

"That's the spirit!" Momo cheered into his coffee.

"Otherwise I thought I should pick up a degree before I'm thirty."

"What for?"

"Business. I'm gonna be taking over dad's business in a few years, seemed appropriate that I know what I'm doing," he shrugged.

"Good plan! Education rocks!" Momo raised his cup.

"The kid I knew ten years ago wouldn't have said that," Sousuke mused.

"Yeah well, things change…" He trailed off. "Er, to clarify, you're not taking over the family business because your dad is sick or anything, right?"

"Oh no, nothing of the sort," Sousuke waved his hand, "Dad wants to retire, as long as he's got someone to keep the business running, he figures why not sooner than later."

"I see...wow, look at the time!" Momo exclaimed, "I have prep in ten minutes!" He gulped down the rest of his coffee and lept to his feet. Sousuke too rose out of his chair.

"It was nice talking to you, Momo," he murmured, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, we should do this more often," Momo grinned broadly. Without skipping a beat, he leaned forward to wrap Sousuke in a hug.

The taller man jumped slightly as Momo's wiry arms snaked their way around his neck, unabashedly crushing him close in the middle of the cafeteria. Sousuke squeezed him back, arms resting around his waist. It didn't occur to him to treat this instance any other way.

Momo's chin fit perfectly atop his shoulder, and the red head inadvertently pressed his cheek against Sousuke's as they embraced. It was a gesture so intimate, maybe if he just -

The two pulled apart a moment later, returning to, what they supposed, was an appropriate distance for friends and professionals.

"Well, see ya in class Sou-chan, don't be late!" Momo called over his shoulder as he put his tray on the conveyor belt.

"Yeah, see ya…" Sousuke echoed.

The redhead scampered off, and Sousuke's eyes followed him until he disappeared from sight. Momo had been avoiding the elephant in the room, and since the cafeteria was a public place, Sousuke was glad. He just wondered how long the professor would wait before saying something.

Or maybe he had chosen to forget altogether.

(To be continued 3/24 for the prompt "I've Waited Here For You")