Author's Note:

I have a new favourite fandom, and it's amazing. These two bits of the Whoniverse needed pulling together.

Charlie looked down the corridor nervously, and felt the knots in his stomach unravel when he saw Matteusz and Tanya in the middle of the crowd. Someone shouldered him out of the way and he ignored them, reaching for Matteusz's hand as soon as he was in reach and standing on his toes to kiss him, quick and chaste.

"He's only been gone half an hour," Tanya reminded him. "God, you two."

"So?" Matteusz dropped his bag on April's usual desk and gestured to Ram's. "Charlie, Ram is not here."

He didn't need to be told twice. Tanya sat down in front of them and dragged her books out of her bag onto the table noisily. "Still no Miss Quill," she observed loudly.

One of the boys from Charlie's form answered before him. "She's sick, isn't she? We've got another temp in."

"There's something going around," one of the girls muttered. "There's always something going around Coal Hill. How long do you reckon before this one disappears too?"

"Might make it to Christmas," the first suggested, looking back over his shoulder at her. "If the weird doesn't scare him off, the year 11s will."

There was laughter, and Charlie was amused to see that the young man who'd just entered the room joined in. "Don't worry," he said, and they all span back to face front and slammed into their seats. "I've been warned about year 11."

"Sorry sir. It was a joke."

"That's alright. We all need some of those." The young man smiled pleasantly, and Charlie privately agreed that he wasn't going to last long. He was even wearing a red shirt. Clearly not any sort of pop culture geek. He had a nice accent, not local to London and his tie was immaculate; he was even wearing a waistcoat under his suit jacket. Charlie glanced at Matteusz, whose eyes were fixed on their new teacher, and sighed. Alright, so he was cute, but not that cute. Was he?

"Are you all sitting in any sort of order? Alphabetical, perhaps?" He looked up at a sea of blank faces and shook his head. "I thought not. Alright, well, let's get started anyway. I know Mr Singh, Miss McLean and Miss Adeola are away…"

"Um, sir, I'm actually here," Tanya said, hand raised just above her shoulder. "Sorry. I'm not meant to be back, but…"

"Not to worry, Tanya. Is there anyone else not here I should know about?" They shook their heads and he marked off the register. "Alright. I'm Mr Jones, and I'm covering for Miss Quill at least until Christmas. She has, unfortunately, been taken ill, and I know she was a bit behind on what we need to cover for next summer's exams…" He turned a page and frowned. "So we'll get through as much as we can as fast as we can. I'm going to set some ground rules."

He stood up and walked up the aisle, picking up a phone and presenting it to its owner. "Phones away during lessons, unless I ask you to look something up. Don't want it joining the missing ones, do we? Now, I'm not a fan of the 'I'll respect you if you respect me' mentality, because I don't think it sets clear enough boundaries. If I'm talking, you don't. If I ask you to talk, you do. If you need to ask me something, I'll answer it to the best of my ability. If you need to leave the room, just go." He paused at Tanya's desk for that one and looked down at her. "We have a lot of ground to cover, and not enough time to do it. But other than that we should get on fine."

Charlie glanced at Matteusz, who raised his eyebrows and smiled at him. "Stop making eyes at each other, you two," Mr Jones told them. "You'll make the rest of us very jealous."

"But I've only got this lesson with him today," Charlie blurted.

There was laughter and he flushed red with embarrassment, but Mr Jones just smiled gently. "And love is very distracting, I know. But I don't get to see my husband until Saturday, so if I can cope, you can too." He turned back to the board with his hands on his hips. "A chalkboard, really? Anyway. Particles. Who can name a type of particle for me?"

Ninety minutes later they packed up their bags, brains full to bursting with more physics than they'd learned in months. Matteusz and Charlie packed up slowly, so they and Tanya were the last ones in the room. "He's quite good," Matteusz observed. "I feel like I learned something."

"He's quite cute, too," April's voice chimed in, disembodied. "Don't tell me you didn't notice."

"Matteusz noticed," Charlie agreed.

He opened his mouth to protest and then shrugged instead. "I have eyes."

"Yeah, and an observant boyfriend," Tanya laughed. "Definite touch of the green eyed monster there, Charlie."

"Monster?" he asked.

Matteusz chuckled and caught his chin to kiss him. "It means you are jealous. You do not need to worry. He is far too old for me." He picked his bag up and smiled. "And you are very cute too."

"You all need to get going if you're not going to be late," April reminded them. "Charlie, I'm going to follow along in your shadow, if that's okay?"

"That's fine," he said. "Just… do keep warning me." He tipped his head up for another kiss from Matteusz and settled his bag onto both shoulders. "See you at lunch?"

"At lunch," he agreed. "Back here."

They gathered in Miss Quill's classroom, where they wouldn't be disturbed and could talk freely without people thinking they were stranger than they already did. April found a dark corner where she could become visible enough for them to see her as she spoke, and Tanya slumped into a seat at the front. "It's so weird being back," she sighed, resting her chin on her hands. "People keep being nice to me. I didn't think they knew I existed, and now they're being so… nice."

"I know what you mean," April said. "If it's any consolation, they'll forget soon."

Charlie pulled out his sandwiches and didn't look up.

Matteusz was the last to arrive, chuckling to himself, and he greeted them both with a hug and told Charlie, "Maria thinks you are very cute. She says that all gay boys are."

"Does she? That's… who's Maria?"

Tanya raised her eyebrows. "Wait, you can speak Polish, Charlie?"

He laughed. "I don't speak English, do I? I use a translator."

"So… when he gets really cross and drops into Polish, you know what he's saying?" She looked up at him. "What if it's about Charlie?"

"That is how we found out," he admitted. "But it is okay. Easier, when I can't concentrate in English. He has that effect on me sometimes."

"Really?" She opened her mouth to say something at the same time as the door opened. "Oh, Mr Jones!"

He paused in the doorway and frowned. "What are you lot doing in here?"

"It's my form room," Charlie said quickly.

"And I needed some space," Tanya added. "You know. Bit… busy out there. We thought…"

He nodded. "Of course, I'm sorry. Be careful, though. With this raft of phone thefts going on, it's better if someone knows you're going to be alone in a classroom."

"Miss Quill is usually here. She doesn't mind."

"Alright." He looked down at his watch. "I have some marking to do, so I'll leave you to it. If you need me…"

"Actually," Matteusz said quickly, before he could leave. "You… you said you are married. You have a husband?"

"Yes. Jack, married seven years." Mr Jones looked between them. "Why? You need…"

Matteusz reached out for Charlie's hand and looked at him with a soft smile. "Charlie's parents are dead, and mine kicked me out. If you don't mind… not now, but sometime, we could use a role model."

"Of course. My door is always open. And I'm going to be Charlie's form tutor from tomorrow, so anytime you need me, just ask." He gave them a reassuring smile and, as he'd said, left them to it.

Charlie squeezed Matteusz's fingers and looked up at him, searching his face. "Are you okay? Do you need someone?"

"No, I am fine." He glanced at the door. "But there is something strange about him, don't you think?"

"Matteusz is right," April said, barely materialised and sitting on the desk. "And the way he keeps looking at you when you're working, Charlie. I don't like it."

He nodded and looked back to Matteusz. "Then we'll go and talk to him. Might get some things off our chests in the process. But you can talk to me, if you need to."

The door flew open again and Ram strode in. "I'm not back at school," he said, holding his hands out before they could say anything. "And I don't want to talk about It." The capital letter was audible. "But there's something weird going on here."

April sighed and took solid enough form to close the door. "Just like the Muppets. Getting the gang back together takes a major crisis."