Feliciano leant back in his new chair, running his hands over the distressed leather and letting out a happy sigh.
His first official day as head teacher of a secondary school. He'd been looking forward to this for years, since he'd stepped foot in the office almost 15 years ago. It was amazing, he'd always wanted it but he'd never dreamt of it actually happening.
It was more stressful than he'd thought it would be, though part of that was due to the changes he was making, but he knew from experience that they needed to be made.
The first thing on his list was smaller class sizes, the school was more than big enough to accommodate a few more classes, but it meant they had to hire new teachers.
He knew when he arranged for the interviews that he wanted to do them himself, but he'd not expected there to be so many applicants, he'd been at it two days already, and everyone he'd interviewed was competent enough but he'd not met anyone with the spark he was looking for.
"Mr Vargas?" his receptionist said through the loudspeaker on the phone.
"Yes Elizabeth?" he cooed in reply, "Is the next guy here?"
"Yes," she replied, sounding rather happy for someone who'd been filing paperwork on the rejected candidates for several hours, "His name's Ludwig Beilschmidt, you should have a file for him."
Feliciano looked through the stack of paperwork, picking out the one with that name on it. He read over the application, smiling softly. This man was 23, only 23, almost 20 years younger than Feliciano.
He was almost straight out of schooling, with a little experience here and there volunteering in schools.
Exactly the stage in his life that Feliciano had been when he's started the job, though Feliciano has been a little older.
His smile grew when the younger man opened the door, walking in and forcing a smile before taking his seat.
The poor guy looked so nervous, Feliciano remembered how bad it'd been for him; he'd been on interview after interview, waiting so long and trying so hard that he'd began to feel sick at the thought of going to another.
"Hello ," Feliciano said calmly, hoping his tone would help settle him. He couldn't believe how nervous he seemed, the poor man was almost visibly sweating. "Would you like a drink? Coffee or water or…?" he smiled, waiting for the man's answer.
He shook his head, beginning to speak in the sweetest foreign accent, "Uh, no, thank you, I think I'm ok." He forced a smile, huffing softly and tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair.
"Ok," Feliciano said softly, giving a nod, "I can see you're nervous ok? So let's just take this slowly, you have as much time to answer my questions as you need," he let out a small chuckle, "But please keep in mind that I have to go home by six or my cat will get upset."
Ludwig nodded, he was so nervous and cute, Feliciano couldn't help wanting to hug him. "That was a joke, Ludwig," he cooed.
He straightened himself up slightly, "Ok, first question," he looked at his file, "Let's start with an easy one. What made you decided to become a teacher?"
Ludwig shifted in his seat, letting out a slow breath before beginning to answer, the sentence sounding pre-planned, though Feliciano expected that.
"When I was younger I was bullied by my classmates. I was miserable but I was always interested in history, I had a history teacher early in my school years that got me interested in the stories, I was interested in stories anyway, but it was different with history because they were real. I want to be able to help people find an interest the same way my teacher helped me."
Feliciano smiled, leaning on the desk, escapism had been the same reason he'd become interested in art, he saw so much of himself in the younger man. "That's a good answer," he pulled back, smiling again, "Next question: What would you say is your teaching style?"
The man chewed his lip, glancing down and letting out a small hum before answering, "I like to let the children make progress on their own, I lay out parameters on the work they do, but the way they do it is up to them, though of course I'll help if I feel they're behind," he cleared his throat, looking up at Feli, "…Though of course I don't have very much experience in a real classroom, theory can only take me so far, I know I'll have to adapt and I'm looking forward to doing so."
Feliciano grinned at him, nodding and writing a few notes down on his file, he asked a few more questions, getting similarly decent answers, before he knew it half an hour had passed.
"…We've really only got time for one more question, uh…" he clicked his tongue as he tried to think of a good question, "How long do you hope to keep the position for?"
"Um," the man knitted his fingers, frowning as he thought. He was so damn cute! Feliciano had to bite his lip to keep from giggling. "A long time, I should hope. I want to form friendships with the other teachers and improve my teaching skills. I want to help improve the school."
Feliciano felt himself smile widely, nodding, "Well, I think you sound perfect, Mr. Beilschmidt. I promise we'll be in touch."
Ludwig smiled shakily and nodded, letting out a soft sigh before getting to his feet, Feliciano got up from his chair to show him out. When the man had entered the room Feliciano had been too focussed on the man's aura that he'd not fully noticed how large he was in stature, now Feliciano was standing by him he seemed bigger still.
"Thank you, ," Ludwig said politely as Feliciano opened the door for him, "Thank you for this opportunity."
Feliciano chuckled softly, watching as he walked off. He was definitely going to hire that man, he was positive. He walked back to his chair and sat down, sighing softly and pressing the com button on the phone on his desk.
"Elizabeth?" he said sweetly, "Call later and tell him he starts next Monday."
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, please leave a review
