Josh leant against his desk in the front row as he slumped down in his chair even further and peered out of the window that showed the nearby fields coated in the sun's rays; he had completely lost himself in the beauty of the outdoors, sure he didn't enjoy being outdoors but anything beats 5th period maths with Mr Munson. The bell rang loudly signalling the end of the day, all of the students hurriedly stood up and began to pack away "the bell doesn't dismiss you, I do!" Mr Munson exclaimed angrily. The student all silently slid behind their chairs and waited for them to be released. Mr Munson stood there tapping his foot and staring at the clock at the back of the wall as shouts of excited students could be heard from the corridors and through the windows. "Alright, get out of my sight" Mr Munson practically screamed and in no time the whole class bolted for the door, Josh hurried down the stairs and through a set of double doors leading to another corridor "hey freak" a voice snickered from beside him; the next thing he knew his foot was caught on something, or rather something caught his foot, and he stumbled through another set of double doors leading to outside. "Fuck off" Josh mumbled although not loud enough to be heard by the other as he began to walked faster to his bus.

He quickly got on the bus and rushed upstairs to the top deck; "Josh!" he heard a shout from the back of the bus to which he walked towards where his two best, and only, friends sat. "Hey guys" Josh muttered, "what's up now?" the quite long haired brunet asked almost sarcastically "just the usual dicks and Mr Munson with his inability to manage time" Josh replied clearly annoyed to which they all laughed. The bus journey continued onwards with what seemed like hundreds of student on but it slowly bit by bit started to decrease until it came to their stop. The three lads got out of their seats and made their way to the stairs until someone called out to them "hey!" the three of them turned to see a group of five boys their age "why do you hang around with that freak?!" the middle one asked smugly toward the two behind Josh. Josh's face dropped into a frown as he made his way down the stairs but the blond, which was behind Josh, didn't budge "he's a much nicer person than you bunch of dicks!" he exclaimed angrily. "Ooooh what yah going to do?" one of the group said teasingly to which the blond lunged forward but was stopped by the brunet behind him who put his hands on the others chest to stop him from moving "stop Will" he whispered; "aw you have to get your little boyfriend to stop you!" another one of the group mocked, Will growled and stormed down the stairs and out of the bus doors with William not far behind him.

The bus drove away leaving the three outside the bus shelter in the slowly falling rain, the clouds had soon been cast over the town and they day began to look grey and miserable like it had just given up hope. Josh pulled his backpack fully on and began to trudge down the street towards their houses, the other two left behind looked at each other with an angered yet concerned look on their faces, well one more angered than the other. "I mean what the fuck is there problem eh?" an angry looking Will asked the brunet, to which a reply was heard "I don't know but they sure push Josh over the edge sometimes", Will sighed as they looked at the soaked josh walking away "I just hope he doesn't try again" Will said with a sad expression on his face and a small tear threatening to spill. Josh was walking home covered head to toe in water, thoroughly miserable. As he walked through his door he stood and started to shiver, his mother came. She took his bag and coat and put them on the radiator to dry off whilst he walked up to his room, taking his clothes off as he walked up. He picked up a towel from the pile of washing in his room and dried himself off before looking in a mirror to check he still looked human. He managed to scavenge for a top and a pair of boxer shorts he sat down at his desk and stared into the black screen of his computer. He soon decided to acknowledge what one of his teachers actually said and look at a website he was informed about. Josh found himself fixated by the website and spending half the night on the site, the other half he spent on MineCraft building some 'marvellous' structure.

The next day was pretty usual until maths which he had 4th period, all the students were sitting in their seats waiting for Mr Munson to appear in the doorway. It normally took him five minutes to get there after lunch but they had waited for at least 10 minutes before a much younger and seemingly less boring man walked through the door and to the front of the class. In a brisk but firm tone the man spoke up "OK, settle down, I am Mr Peasy and I will be your cover teacher for the time being" Josh stared at the new teacher, thinking to himself 'why the hell would a guy like him be a teacher?' Mr Peasy walked over to Josh's desk and placed a hand down on it "do you have books that you use?" he questioned, Josh nodded and spoke up "u...uh... We have them with us s...sir" still staring at the cover teacher's quite tight shirt and pale face. Mr Peasy smiled. A voice exclaimed from the back of the room, "haha sir you don't want to be talking too close to that freakish arse" Mr Peasy stared at this person and raised his eyebrow which made the student get quite nervous, he slumped back down in his seat and seemed to be mumbling complaints to his friends.

"Right now we will have no more disturbances, can you all take out you exercise books and text books, you want to be on page 53 and will you continue with your equations please" Mr Peasy asked the class and he stood away from the desk and began to write the information on the white board. "Now before you all start any questions?" Mr Peasy continued and a few students raised their hand, mainly the girls who what to know anything and everything, Mr Peasy chose a short blond at the back of the class who had raised her hand "where's Mr Munson?" she asked sweetly to which Mr Peasy awkwardly scratched his chin, "I believe his is quite ill and may not return for a while, so I'm afraid you're stuck with me" Mr Peasy joked and made almost the whole class giggle or at least snicker but not Josh which to be honest worried Mr Peasy. "Why did you become a teacher? I mean it's so stupid" a girl exclaimed loudly which caused Mr Peasy to chuckle "well I just like working with young adults and helping them to learn it makes me feel like I accomplish something little by little each day" Mr Peasy explained honestly and the whole class continued on with their work.

The lesson dragged by but for once Josh didn't mind as whenever he got bored or finished he looked to the, quite frankly, handsome cover teacher. 'Wait, what?' Josh screamed to himself inside his thought, just the thought of what he was thinking was enough to cause a small blush to appear on his face. Mr Peasy's voice was enough to bring Josh out of his thoughts "right class please pack your things away and you can leave when you are ready" dismissed? Already? Josh knew then and there that he was certainly going to like the cover teacher already. Josh slung his backpack over his shoulder and began to make his way out of the classroom quite quickly as he was the last one there but Mr Peasy's voice stopped him "uh, Josh is it?" Mr Peasy asked and Josh simply nodded as he turned back around to face Mr Peasy only to find him a bit closer than expected. "Are you OK?" Mr Peasy questioned whole heartedly but Josh found it a bit difficult to answer so only nodded again, however, this time a little more nervous than the last. Mr Peasy frowned at the answer like he knew that Josh wasn't OK at all but he didn't dare interrogate the poor boy anymore "OK then, better get off to last lesson then don't want to be late" Mr Peasy indicated the end of the conversation and briefly put his hand on the younger boys shoulder that made Josh unintentionally shiver and he sped out of the class.

Josh's science lesson went pretty quick as he arrived quite late, spent most of it trying to calm his racing heart and tried to ignore the pen lids and pieces of paper being thrown at him when the biology teacher turned his back. The school bell rang and student filled out of the schools doors and onto their own buses, Josh soon met up again on the bus with Will and William. The ride went on like any other filled with insults and almost a fight on their hands again. The trio exited the bus and began to walk the row of streets to their houses until they came to Josh's house first, he said his goodbyes as he entered his house and the other two continued to their houses. "You okay hun?" Josh's mother asked once he stepped through the front door "yeah, I'm good" he replied forcing a smile onto his face "call me down when dinners ready" he told his mother as he walked the stairs to his room. As soon as he entered his room he collapsed down onto his bed, face first, and he begun to think the day over, think the week over, the month, the year, his life. Heck none of it was getting better or any of it would get better…or so Josh thought.

Things never got better for Josh the bullies got worse, in one case Will actually punched one of them, and Josh found himself not being able to concentrate in certain lessons anymore, well just maths as he found himself having certain feelings for the replacement teacher which he knew he couldn't let happen. Josh found himself softly crying into his pillow, on his bed at home, going over every single thing in his head; he couldn't let it continue like this, he thought over repeatedly.

Suddenly the home phone rang and Josh's mother answered it but all Josh could hear was muffled sounds of agreement from his mother. "Josh!" his mother shouted from the bottom of the stairs, Josh climbed off his bed, out his door and practically ran down the stairs like he usually does; "yeah?" he answered slightly confused at what his mother must have been on the phone for her to need him. "Darling, that was the school and they told me that you haven't exactly been doing your best in maths so they recommended some extra classes just with you and your teacher, is that okay sweetie?" his mother finished with a more than slightly concerned look on her face "uh…yeah that's fine" Josh replied trying to put on a smile not to worry his mother too much and he turned around to go back upstairs until his mother called out again "oh dear it'll start tomorrow night is that okay?". 'What?! After school?! No!' Josh panicked inside of his head but simply responded with a yes and continued back up the stairs. He slumped back onto his bed in the now looming dusk and grabbed his laptop from the desk next to his bed and opened it up to play a video game attempting to take his mind off the infuriating thought of after school sessions being arranged. "Josh!" his little brother, Alex, called from the bottom of the stairs "time for dinner" he continued, Josh pulled himself up to a stand and went to join his family for dinner. Once finished with dinner he went straight back to his room, it was about 11pm before Josh put his laptop back and slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Josh awoke lazily and got ready for his day ahead, unfortunately for him it wasn't going ti be easy. Push. Shove. Kick. Trip, just like every other day at school.

The bell rang to signal the end of the day and, yet again, student poured out of the school to the buses but not Josh he remained in his final lesson, which was geography, until the buses left and the school calmed down. He slowly opened the door of his class and walked the empty halls till he came to a staircase which he climbed and as he reached the top he came face to face with Mr Peasy, Josh's breath hitched at the sudden closeness of the teacher and himself. "Ah I was just going to come and see if I could find you" Mr Peasy said a little less formal that usual "this way then" he continued and led Josh to his maths class. The room was hot and the windows were steamed up due to the fact there had been classes in here all day but it just made Josh feel even more uncomfortable.

Josh stood in the doorway awkwardly as Mr Peasy strode down the aisle of the classroom, almost like a model on the catwalk, until he came to his desk at sat down. "Well c'mon!" Mr Peasy exclaimed gesturing for Josh to sit down in his usual seat directly opposite him. Josh did what was instructed of him; he sat down and took out his books. Mr Peasy sighed at the amount of paper lying on his desk; Josh almost stared at him as to say 'get on with it' Mr Peasy acknowledged this "um, can you turn to page 135 of the text book and do the questions there please" he spoke voice soft yet shaky but Josh ignored it, Josh nodded and flipped open the text book and started to answer the questions. Mr Peasy jumped from his seat and went to the cupboards at the back of the room, Josh found that his eyes were following Mr Peasy till he reached the back, but he didn't look away, Mr Peasy was frantically searching for something meanwhile Josh sat and stared laying his pen on the table; he couldn't stop watching and he certainly couldn't concentrate.

Josh shook his head violently, trying to get rid of his thoughts and try and concentrate; however, unfortunately, Mr Peasy noticed this "are you okay?" he asked pulling a folder from the cupboard. Before Josh could even think up an answer Mr Peasy pulled another file from the cupboard causing many underneath the one file to topple over and spill out, slowly, onto Mr Peasy; "oh shit!" Mr Peasy gasped as he brought his hands up to cover his head, Josh shot up from his seat and towards the back quickly placing his one hand upon the falling files and another on the shelf to keep it still. Silence fell upon the room, Mr Peasy removed his hands from his head as Josh begun picking up and putting back the files; "there's no need to it-" Mr Peasy started but Josh cut in "no honestly it's fine" he waved it off, picking up more files. "Uh, are you okay Mr Peasy?" Josh questioned, Mr Peasy simply nodded his head and begun to also collect files off the floor "please, just, call me Aaron; when there's no one else around there's no need to be formal" Mr Peasy, or Aaron, told Josh as they finished cleaning up the files.

Josh walked slowly back to his chair, Aaron following after closing the cupboard and sitting back in his chair. Josh picked up his pen and picked up where he left off with his questions but couldn't help glancing up at Aaron every so often who was sorting papers, marking exams and working on the computer. Soon enough it was time for Josh to leave as his mother was there to pick him up; sure he only got 12 questions done in an hour and fifteen minutes but he wasn't complaining.

~~2 week time skip~~

Mr Peasy glanced towards the computer screen yet again, the numbers in the corner red 4:26pm "Josh you better pack away, your mother should be here in 4 minutes to pick you up" he instructed. Josh stuffed his belonging into his bag and almost gracefully stood, Aaron unintentionally watching his every move; Josh quickly coughed to get the others attention. Aaron slid out of his chair and made his way to the door, motioning for Josh to follow but Aaron stopped short of the closed door and spun around, which caught Josh off guard and he stumbled backwards slightly but didn't fall as Mr Peasy's hand was firmly grasped on his hip. The pair blushed deeply, "uh sorry" Aaron mumbled while pulling his hand from the student's hip slowly almost as if he didn't want to let go, the truth was he didn't.

Josh chuckled nervously "uh, d-don't worry 'bout it" he spoke quietly wanting to tell him it didn't matter, he actually enjoyed it- no! It was wrong, and with that thought tears formed in Josh's eyes but a fake, weak smile made its way onto his face trying to make it seem like everything was okay but he was a terrible liar even without words. "What wrong?" Aaron asked concerned as Josh stumbled back till his reached a table which he leaned upon, "I-ah I-uh…" Josh stumbled over his words and brought a hand up to his, still, blushed face. Josh let out an angry sigh, almost like a growl, "listen I know it-I know that it's wrong but I just-I just can't help it, I-I thought the feelings would all just go away b-but they d-didn't" Josh let out a sob while tears spilled from his eyes "they didn't and I-I love y-you but I can't, I tried but…" he trailed off towards the end as louder sobs racked his body. "I-I'm so, so sorry" Josh sniffled, wiping away a few stray tears, Aaron stood there quite frankly shocked but relieved and excited however, that was soon gone as fear and worry took its place. Aaron loved Josh more than anything but they couldn't be, he couldn't just let his shook up student leave here in this state, and he knew he had to do something. "Josh" Aaron begun speaking softly, his voice sounding as velvet felt, "I-I love you too but I know we can't be so please, for my sake, don't beat yourself up about this but move on you're still young and have your life ahead of you so please just, just…" Aaron was at a loss for words so gently placed a hand on the side of Josh's face as he looked into the younger's eyes, he slowly leaned in and planted a kiss on Josh's cheek before pulling back and smiling sweetly.

"Come on, your mother will be worried about you" and with those words Aaron opened the door and lead Josh down to reception, which was now deserted, "uh thanks I guess" Josh muttered, focusing on the ground, he reached for Aaron's hand and firmly grasped it before leaning up to kiss his cheek before letting it all go and leaving through the doors to his mother who waited patiently in the car. Aaron stood there, shocked yet again, he turned to leave but not before squeezing his hand shut, bringing the opposite hand to his face where Josh had kissed him as he watched the boy leave.

It's been five years since their kiss; Josh is now a handsome 21 year old with a usual life like any other usual person, Aaron is now going on 26 and has quit teaching after the 'incident' but he is happy with how his life is turning out however, he can't help but imagine what would have happened if he saw Josh again. After their incident the few lessons that Aaron taught had been awkward but he didn't have to stay long as the regular Mr Munson was welcomed back, that was the last Josh ever saw of the man he actually genuinely loved. Aaron never told anyone why he quitted his job or that he kissed a student and Josh never told either not his friends or family, they would take this secret to their graves.

Josh wandered through the city centre, aimlessly tapping away at his phone, as he thought of the painful yet delightful memories; the memories of how soft Aaron spoke, the memories of how sweet and gently Aaron's lips were, the memories of how easily and sleekly Aaron's hand fit around his body. The memories brought a smile to Josh's face but a tear to his eye. Josh was so focused on his memories and not on where he was going he didn't notice a man in a suit, carrying many files and sheets of paper held against his chest as well as a hot drink, heading straight from him and by the time he did it was too late. The two collided with enough force to knock everything, which was loose on them, to the ground but not enough to make them fall over. Steaming hot tea spilled onto the two as they clashed, the pile of paperwork going straight to the ground as well as Josh's phone; an unfortunately large gust of wind swept past them almost taking the papers with them however Josh reacted fast placing his foot heavily against them before bending down and picking them up. On the other hand, the so called stranger had bent down and picked Josh's phone up, and now looking at the screensaver of Josh and his friends, Will and William.

"Uh, I'm so sorry about that, I didn't realise where I was going and I obviously wasn't paying much attention, so I- uh sorry" Josh rambled while pushing his glasses further onto his face "uh, here; I'm sorry about the footprint" he continued while handing over the pile of papers, not directly looking at the other as the embarrassment got the most of him, well that and the steaming hot tea all over him. "Oh, I am so sorry about that, here" the other apologised and returned Josh's phone which was only chipped at the edge, "um, thank you I guess" Josh quietly resorted but was not clearly heard due to the noise of the city centre. "I'm terribly sorry about your top…if you want you can, err, come back to my place and sort it out" the elder suggested, he also gestured to their both equally stained clothing, Josh though about it for a mere second but agreed.

They walked towards the elders home whilst they had a basic get-to-know-each-other conversation; they talked about what they did as a job, as hobbies, about their past but not in too much detail. As they approached his house the older fumbled with his keys and unlocked the door, letting the two of them inside before slamming the door shut just to be sure it had clicked closed. "This way" he gestured as they walked into the living room "you can just wait here, I'll get you a change of clothes" he began to exit "oh, and by the way I'm Aaron" he smiled kindly before wandering off. Aaron. That name whirled around Josh's head, making him slightly dizzy, as he thought back. 'It can't be him? But it could be him' Josh thought.

Aaron came back in a matter of seconds with a pair of jeans, a plain sea blue t-shirt and a black hoodie, "you look a good bit smaller than me so these may be a bit big" Aaron said brightly whilst handing the younger the clothes "the bathroom is just down the hall and to your right, I can just wash them afterwards if you want" he finished, gesturing to Josh's clothes, before exiting the room yet again. Josh followed the directions given and proceeded to change, his heart still racing and his mind still at work trying to figure out if it is him or not. Once he was finished he exited the bathroom only to find the other in the kitchen brewing some tea, "um…thank you I suppose" Josh spoke quietly but grabbed Aaron's attention never the less. "Oh, no problem, it's the least I could do" Aaron replied grabbing Josh's clothes and sticking them in the washer before turning it on.

"I'm making some tea if you want some" Aaron asked as the kettle boiled, "yeah that would be nice" Josh replied with slightly more confidence than before. "No problem, you can just sit by the table…um" Aaron offered pointing towards the dining table but quickly focusing his gaze back toward the shorter with a questioning look, the other quickly realised he had not given his name. "I'm Josh by the way" he added smiling affectionately at the other before walking to the table and pulling out a wooden chair, which matched the table, to sit on. "Josh?" Aaron mumbled under his breath while pouring the hot water into the mugs. Aaron grabbed the cups and placed them down on the table before sitting down opposite Josh.

"Um, I hope you don't mind me asking but did you ever work in a secondary school around this area?" Josh questioned quietly, looking down into his tea as if it would reveal the answer to all his questions. "I did" the other replied but it was more of a question than a statement "well, I was a substitute" Aaron finished. By now Josh was pretty sure it was him. "C-can you remember how long ago?" Josh asked, growing more nervous every second, but Aaron simply chuckled "uh, I think it was about five years ago, yeah five years" he replied before taking a sip of his tea. "A-are you Mr Peasy, by any chance" Josh spat out quickly; Aaron placed his tea down, well more like slammed, and began to choke but it slowly stopped. "Uh, yeah why?" Aaron chocked out loudly "wait! You're not-" sudden realization hit him, like a brick to the head; Josh didn't speak, he simply nodded his head.

"Oh man, uh…" Aaron stumbled to get his words out and struggled to get his thoughts straight, and to face the fact it was him…it is him. A small smile made it's was to Aaron's face as he finally found him, the boy he fell in love with and couldn't stop thinking about ever since that day; on the other hand, Josh was looking down at his tea, then the floor, then the table, basically anywhere else other than the other looking at him. Tears started to form in Josh's eyes at the other reaction, or what he saw of the reaction, "I think it would be best if I lea-" he begun before raising his head only to come face to face with Aaron, who was merely inches away from his face; soon their lips collided, still warm from the tea, the kiss was slow but sweet and they didn't want it to be any other way. They slowly pulled apart, slightly agape lips tugging upwards at the corners.

They spent the rest of the day together, and the next, and the next. Days together turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, months turned to years. They spent their lifetime together but they couldn't have been happier if they tried.