Quarters for a Five Dollar Bill
Chapter Two
Warning: Sexual content.
Stan woke up that Tuesday very early in the morning. He decided to go out for a run, smiling to himself as his feet automatically found his old jogging route through the paved streets of South Park. When he got back to the house he showered and changed into fresh clothes. It was still very early and Stan decided on an impulse to take up Craig's offer and visit the school. Truth be told, ever since the reunion he had been thinking about Craig and feeling this indescribable pull to see him again. He explained to his mother that he wanted to head into Denver for a bit of sight seeing and to catch up with some of his classmates. It wasn't entirely a lie and she smiled happily as she handed over her car keys. Stan promised himself to take the car in for an oil change, tune up, or whatever else it needed before he left at the end of the week.
He wrote down directions from the house to the school and jingled the keys absentmindedly as he headed to the car. The trip seemed to go by in a blur and it only took him twenty minutes to locate the campus. He triple checked that he was parked in the appropriate visitor's section and followed the signs instructing visitors to sign in. He smiled shyly as the personnel and scant students in the office recognized him.
"Hi, I'm here to visit Craig Tucker?"
"Mr. Tucker?" The receptionist looked shocked. "Oh, honey, ain't that… wow." She clacked the keys on her keyboard and instructed him to sign in on the visitors' clipboard while she printed him a pass. "My son loves you, by the way," she smiled as she pressed the pass into his hand.
"Thank you," he smiled. "Which direction is his classroom?"
"Oh, he's in room 317 at the other end of the building, I'm afraid. This'll be a surprise for him for sure," her tone suggested something was a little off.
"Isn't he already here?"
"He has first period for conference so he gets here a little late most days," she explained.
He nodded and thanked her again, giving small smiles to students as he passed them in the hall. It didn't take long for him to find the classroom and that was mostly because first period was still in session. When he got to the room, he found it was unlocked and the light inside turned off. He let himself in and flipped the switch. He whistled low under his breath as he surveyed the classroom. Familiar looking desks were lined up with beat up textbooks tucked underneath them, a sign of massive budget cuts. He looked at Craig's desk; it was littered with stacks of papers, office supplies, and gifts from students. On the walls behind his desk were posters for bands Stan had never heard of, mostly indie and new wave bands from what he could tell. He smiled widely when he spotted a few posters of musicians Craig's students obviously hung up for him.
He nearly jumped out of his skin as a very loud, grating ringing echoed through the room. The halls exploded with the sound of teenagers shouting and laughing as they made their way from one class to the next. Stan looked at the floor, shoving his hands into his pockets, and smiled as he listened. There were sounds of chattering gossip, boys free styling, and an endless stream of Spanish. Stan wondered what he should say to explain his unannounced presence in the classroom to Craig when a small group of students entered the room.
They immediately stopped whatever loud conversation they were having when they saw him.
"Holy shit! It's Stan Marsh!"
Stan smiled at them, "Hey, guys."
They danced around with surprised and excited looks on their faces. Stan laughed as they shook his hand and told him how great he was. Soon more students had entered the room and while not all of them knew who he was the rest were all too happy to rattle off his statistics and fill them in.
"So what are you doing here, man?"
"I happen to know Craig… I mean, Mr. Tucker. From high school."
"No fucking way! Oh, my bad. No way!"
"Mr. Tucker never mentioned you," one of the students sulked. "This is so awesome can we get your autograph?"
Stan laughed and said they had to wait until Mr. Tucker showed up. They groaned but continued getting excited about his presence. They directed him to a desk and he sat on the table top with his feet up on the seat since he was too big to fit inside it. Several of the boys emulated him after pushing desks closer to him and before he knew it the entire class was gathered around him.
"So," he cleared his throat amazed at how instantaneously the students fell silent, "tell me what Mr. Tucker is like."
"Yo, dude, Mr. Tucker is fucking crazy, man," one of Craig's students laughed. "We'll be all like talking still after the bell and he gets up and goes 'Shut the hell up you little shits!' it's super bad ass man."
Another kid waved his hand for Stan's attention. "He was trying to show us something with the science teacher last week. Something about how they used to think the universe worked in the past or something."
"Geocentric system, dumbass," one of the girls jeered.
Everyone laughed, calling the kid out before letting him finish. "Anyway, the science teacher thought it was stupid but Mr. Tucker took us outside and showed us with these basketballs and footballs and stuff how it all worked. He can't throw for shit but it was fun."
Stan laughed with the other students huddled around him in the classroom. As excited as they were to see him walk in the door they seemed even more excited over the fact that Stan Marsh knew their history teacher. After talking about his past few games, Stan encouraged them to tell him all about Mr. Tucker and they were only too happy to oblige.
"He's the only reason I even come to this lame ass school," one of the girls said. "I don't give two shits about the subject but he doesn't hold stuff against us. You know? Like, I can mess up and he'll say I can do better and I know he's right. He takes a lot of time to work with us."
"He's kinda cute, too, right? For a white guy, I mean," another girl spoke through a thick Latin accent.
"I know that's right," another girl said from the back of the group. Some girls started teasing her while others agreed.
Stan found himself laughing with them and rubbed his chin with his fingers. One of the biggest parts of an athlete's contract is doing community outreach. Stan could be the face of all the toy drives, all the recycling ads, and plant all the trees handed to him and still not make this kind of an impact on another person's life. These kids adored Craig. He was a much better role model than he could ever hope to be and that was the fucked up part because it was Craig Tucker.
People change, Marsh. That's exactly right, Stan thought.
"What's all this?" The entire room turned to see the topic of their conversation standing in the doorway. Stan pursed his lips together as he studied him. Craig looked sharp in a form fitting white dress shirt with dark grey vest and slacks. He had a beaten up leather messenger bag across his lanky torso and was holding a cup of coffee. His grey eyes were narrowed until they met Stan's when they widened a fraction. "Stan?"
"Dude, Mr. Tucker, why didn't you say you knew a football player?"
Craig snapped out of his reverie and blinked at the student standing in front of him.
"Uh," he said intelligently, "it never came up in conversation, did it?"
"If I knew him I'd be bragging about it," a different student shouted and received permission from some other students to brag about knowing them when they were famous.
"Now that's just fantastic," Craig pointed with an extended index finger. "Now you went off and got those poor bastards' hopes up." Stan laughed with the rest of the class. Craig gave him a warm smile eyes twinkling with amusement as he passed them to put his bag at his desk.
"Well, we were going to start talking about the shift to the Han Dynasty in China today," he sighed dramatically, "but I guess we could take a break with a guest speaker?"
The class cheered and shouted out questions pleasantly overwhelming Stan as he tried to isolate one question at a time.
"All right, all right, all right!" Craig raised his voice over the din and glared at the intermittent giggles that spread through the classroom. "First thing's first. Sit down in your seats properly. Stan, don't set a bad example."
"Yes, sir," Stan murmured in amusement. Craig shot him a warning look and fished out a spare chair for him from behind his desk. The students hurriedly set their desks back in order and sat down for their surprise lesson. "What should I say?"
"How about the importance of goals? Motivate these kids to go to college," Craig smiled at him coyly and sauntered backwards to his desk. Stan had to force down the sudden animalistic desire to charge at Craig and pin him down to something and… well, he couldn't think about that at the moment with children in the room.
Stan sat down in the chair Craig brought out for him and shared his experiences in high school and the temptations fame led you to.
"Yeah we know about that," two guys in the back high fived, causing the class to laugh.
Stan nodded and made a 'you caught me' kind of gesture before looking at them seriously. "It isn't as exciting as you'd think."
He took a deep breath as they fell silent. "You all have problems at home, right? You feel a little alienated because your parents work a lot or just aren't around. You feel pressure in school to be like everyone else and not make an ass of yourself." They laughed and nodded in understanding. Stan was amazed at their maturity.
"Fame is kind of the same thing. You get pressured into going to parties or taking certain endorsement deals that end up working against you. You get caught in a scandal because even though you endorse Coke you were drinking a Pepsi at a team barbeque and someone posted the picture of it on their Facebook account. You are told you have to go to this party because it's a great opportunity to make some connections because let's face it, an athlete's body doesn't stay like this forever," he gestured to himself noting how Craig stilled and tensed from the corner of his eye.
"Well, that's when you get overwhelmed by the atmosphere and make mistakes. I have made plenty of mistakes and I can sit here and tell you that I should have listened to the advice of my old teachers and coaches until I'm blue in the face. The fact is once you're out in the real world you don't have those people helping you out or giving you guidance any more. What's important is to become the person you want to be now, while you have them around to help motive and encourage you. The earlier you develop good habits the better off you'll be down the road."
"But is it really so bad," a student piped up from near the door, "getting to party with all those babes and sleeping with them?" Chuckles spread softly through the room.
"In the moment, when you're not using your best judgment," he bit his lip at their questioning looks, "with alcohol, you think it's great. What you're doing is losing control, though. How many of you have been told by your counselors that you lack self-control?" Quite a few hands rose and Stan nodded. "You think they're giving you heat now wait until you've done something you can't take back."
"Have you," Craig's voice broke through the stillness, "done something you can't take back?"
Stan looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Yes."
"What do you plan to do about it?"
"Wait, Mr. Tucker," a student interrupted. "Those pictures at that party of him with the girls aren't anything, man."
"Oh?" Craig raised an eyebrow without looking at his student. He continued to stare at Stan eyes shining with intelligence making Stan felt like he was being tested.
"It hurt my family," Stan turned back to the students. "You think that getting fined, divorced, or losing your rank is bad? I'm not going to lie, the parties are a lot of fun but it is up to each of us to be responsible. My family is disappointed in me and that hurts more than anything else."
"Why is that?" Craig didn't let up at all; Stan licked his lips nervously not wanting to back down. He felt like he had something to prove not just to Craig but himself.
"My family is the most important thing. The people I care about are hurt. It doesn't matter if it was something a small as getting your photo taken. What I have to do now is set a better example and prove I'm better than that."
The students nodded in understanding. Craig gave him an approving smile and allowed his class to ask whatever questions they wanted. Most of them were about celebrities Stan had been seen with but didn't really know, they asked how hard training was, and they asked if he knew what he wanted to do after he couldn't play anymore. He did his best to answer the questions honestly and freely shared embarrassing tidbits with them. Craig looked down at his crossed ankles and smiled Stan continuously eyeing him from the corner of his eyes.
"So what was Mr. Tucker like in high school?"
Craig looked up his face beginning to flush and Stan couldn't help the teasing grin that spread on his face.
"Oh let's see, he was totally anti-social," his grin grew as the class laughed. "Somehow he had a lot of friends, though. He was one of those guys who walked around like they were too cool for the rest of us." The class made faces and Craig laughed indulgently.
"Did you think he'd be a teacher?"
"No," Stan replied honestly. "I never would have suspected it but after catching up I can tell he's good at his job, right?"
"Sometimes," a student teased. The rest laughed.
"So Raoul will be joining me in detention this afternoon," Craig made a show of writing the student's name down on a legal pad. The student sputtered with a smile on his face and Stan observed Craig had one on, too. He had never seen Craig Tucker smile so much.
The class period ended and Craig said Stan was free to talk with the next group of students. The period went about in a similar fashion as the previous. The students were eager to hear about his experiences and excited to learn more about their teacher in the process. Stan wished he had more things about Craig to talk about. The second class period ended quicker than the previous.
Craig stretched at his desk, reminding Stan of a cat again and stood up. "This is my lunch break. We can head outside for a bit after one of my students stops by."
Stan nodded and occupied himself with looking at the other decorations on the classroom walls. Craig had decided to forego the usual inspirational posters and instead there were maps and projects created by other students. Suddenly a small, scared looking Hispanic student entered the room and nodded shyly to Stan before walking to Craig's desk. Craig spoke to him in a low, soothing voice the student nodding and finally giving him a smile. Craig opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a few prepackaged crackers, raisins, and granola. He handed them to the student and said something else before they turned around and quickly walked out the door.
Stan looked at Craig questioningly and Craig smiled. "He's one of the homeless kids. The school board cut a lot of funding with the free lunch program and his social worker is a complete failure."
Stan was stunned speechless. That kid looked completely innocent and was undeserving of the harshness he was experiencing. Craig motioned for Stan to follow him and the two made their way outside and around to a secluded corner of the building. Stan supposed it was the back drop off for students in the morning.
"Is there anything I can do to help out?" Stan asked sheepishly.
Craig glared at him, "We don't need money to support at-risk kids from someone trying to get his own shit together."
Stan flinched. Craig had a point, but still. "I just want to help. Those kids love you, Craig."
He watched as Craig crossed his arms and looked away hastily. Seeing Craig rejecting him like this made Stan feel despair. He wracked his brain for a way to make things right between them.
"I don't mean to insult you, Craig. Or what you do. I'm just so used to being around fake people that when I finally get to be with normal ones I kind of want to back off," Stan looked down at his hands. "I forget how to get involved when I want to."
Craig looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Fake people aren't good for you, Marsh. If you keep surrounding yourself with them you'll wake up one day and find yourself utterly alone."
"I don't have anyone else around me but fake people," Stan laughed sardonically.
"You just reconnected with people from your past," Craig suggested. "You just sobbed to those kids about how important your family is to you. You need to put in the effort to keep those connections open."
Stan nodded. "It sounds kind of weird hearing you say that, no offense."
Craig shrugged. "Like I told you, people change. It's an inevitability of human nature. We adapt to survive."
"And you're surviving?"
Craig looked at him in surprise. "Barely," he admitted after a few minutes of silence.
"What is it we're missing then?"
"We just need to let someone in," Craig stared at him levelly.
"Easier said than done," Stan replied a little too sharply.
"Easier than you think."
Stan looked at Craig. He had always equated him with a brick wall since that had always been his backdrop. At the moment, he found it had a different meaning altogether. He looked at Craig and saw that Craig was a wall, unyielding and sturdy and constant. Before he knew what he was doing he had leaned in and kissed him. Craig stilled under him for a moment before softening and snaked his arms around Stan's waist pulling him closer. Stan cradled Craig's head with his hands and deepened the kiss gently stroking his jaw with his thumbs. Craig made the most astonishing sound as his tongue explored the inside of Craig's mouth. Craig responded by pressing his hips against Stan's and sliding his hands over his shoulder blades to grab at his shoulders from behind sending a wonderful thrill up his spine.
The far off, shrill giggling of a student brought them out of their own world and Craig slowly pulled his face away allowing Stan to put his fingers into his hair. It had felt so good and right that Stan wasn't ready for the repercussions of his actions; yet again he moved before thinking. Only this time Craig wasn't disgustedly pushing him away or trying to advance his own status in life. He tightened his grip on Stan and breathed with the most heartbreaking look of longing in his eyes.
"Stan, are you sure about this? You're only here for a short time," Craig's voice threatened to break.
"I don't know," he brought their foreheads together and breathed in Craig's scent of hazel nut coffee co-mingling with generic body wash. It felt so right being with him at that moment he didn't want to think about anything else.
"Is it okay if we try?"
Stan opened his eyes, gazing into two warm grey orbs. "Can you handle it?"
Craig smirked. "If this is just for the rest of the week then you're an ass but I think I can deal."
"If?" Stan smiled and wrapped his arms around Craig.
"This could be a purely physical thing," Craig murmured, eyes fluttering closed as Stan gently rubbed his back. Stan studied his face and realized that Craig had a void inside him just as big as Stan's. Maybe it was a glorious mistake to try to fill them in with each other.
"Or maybe not," Stan pressed a kiss to Craig's temple.
Craig's eyes flew open and he looked at Stan very seriously. "Don't make me any promises."
Stan nodded and the two detached themselves sharing one swift kiss before returning inside. The next few classes were as much fun as the first two. Stan glanced often at Craig as he took the opportunity to get caught up on grading papers. Occasionally Craig would look up and smirk at him with dark eyes Stan couldn't wait to find out what they were promising him. Once the school day was over Craig made his preparations for the next day while Stan watched.
"So," Craig flung his bag around his torso and shoved his hands into his pockets, "do you want to come over?"
Stan studied him for a moment. "Is it a good idea?"
Craig blinked at him. "Let's find out."
Stan smirked and nodded. They agreed that Stan would follow Craig to his apartment so that they wouldn't have to return to the school. Craig lived on the other side of Denver from the campus. Stan felt his adrenaline kicking in during the drive and wondered how much longer he had to endure it before they got to Craig's. Finally they pulled into a drive and after Craig opened the gate it was only a matter of carefully driving over speed bumps that sent wonderful thrills of anticipation through his body. He pulled into a parking spot and Craig waited for him before they made their way upstairs to Craig's apartment. Stan watched as he turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. Craig turned just enough to give Stan a smirk over his shoulder causing something deep inside him to snap.
He knocked their bodies together grasping Craig's waist and fiercely attacking his mouth. Craig backed up into the unit and broke the kiss long enough to toss his bag to the side letting out a breath as Stan kicked the door closed behind them. Craig immediately threaded his hands into Stan's hair and brought their mouths together again. Stan felt the blood in his body rush to his head as Craig lightly grazed his scalp with his nails and widened his mouth more so he could thoroughly invade Craig's mouth with his tongue. Craig let out a breathy moan as Stan freed the back of Craig's shirt and slid a hand up across his cool skin. They broke apart long enough for Stan to fumble with the buttons of Craig's vest and dress shirt. Stan found it difficult to focus on the little pieces of plastic and metal, however, as Craig licked, sucked, and bit his neck.
Finally Stan got the last of the buttons undone and clawed the fabric off his shoulders. Craig slid his hands up the front of Stan's shirt starting hungrily and slowing down the higher he pushed it up.
"God," Craig breathed and took a step back, holding the front of Stan's shirt up with his fist.
"I'm not that into voyeurism, Craig," Stan teased reaching behind himself to start gathering up the back of his shirt and pulled it over his head.
"Baby, you better get used to it," Craig's voice dropped into a husky whisper. His eyes were half lidded and darkened with lust. Stan smirked and let his shirt drop to the floor. Craig breathed in deeply as he ran his hands over the muscles of Stan's chest. Stan dipped his head to trail kisses long Craig's jaw and bury his nose in Craig's hair. Craig let out pleased murmurs and began pulling Stan with him as he walked backwards through his apartment. Stan found Craig's mouth again, kisses growing increasingly feverish as they neared Craig's bedroom. Craig bumped the back of his knees against the end of his mattress and broke apart long enough for the two of them to kick off their shoes.
Stan watched as Craig undid and removed his belt in one fluid motion dropping it to the floor with a lusty smirk. He grabbed Stan by the back of the neck and climbed backwards onto the bed on his knees, pulling Stan with him. Stan looked at him and placed both hands on Craig's hips to steady him as Craig leaned in for another kiss. Stan made it a brief one and ran his hands up and down Craig's sides licking his lips and letting out a small sigh.
"I haven't exactly done this with another guy before," he felt weird admitting it at that particular moment but pleased with himself for being honest.
Craig smirked again and pressed closer, Stan hissed a little at the feeling of Craig's growing erection against his leg. "I kind of figured."
Stan nodded and slid a hand down Craig's back, over his ass, and down the back of his leg to grab hold of the back of his knee. He resumed their feverish kissing as he tilted Craig backwards onto the bed. Stan pressed himself onto Craig, feeling his lower extremities twitch as Craig let out a superb moan when Stan's thigh pressed between his legs. It was almost too much for Stan feeling Craig writhe beneath him and he lifted some of his weight off of him by pushing up on his elbows.
"I take it you know what you're doing," Stan raised an amused eyebrow.
Craig let out a shaky breath, "Don't think about it, Stan. I know how to get mine."
That did it for Stan and any other reservations he had threatening to spill from his mouth about them flew away. He full on attacked Craig's neck made easier by the fact that Craig had arched his back and threw back his head when Stan added just a little more pressure with his thigh letting another moan escape his lips. Stan felt a little bit of instinct take over and rolled his hips against Craig's grinding their clothed erections together. Craig hissed and groaned as he bucked his own hips in response while running his pale fingers deliciously through Stan's hair.
"Fuck, Stan," Craig groaned into his ear and reached between them to start undoing their pants. Stan rolled to the side to assist and within moments they were both finally naked. Craig hooked a leg around Stan's hip as he rolled back on top of Craig. Stan wasn't sure what he should do next when Craig tilted his head back towards his nightstand drawer, stretching his lean, catlike body for Stan's eye to feast upon. Stan barely registered him rummaging through the drawer as he ran a hand over Craig's ribs and placed kisses along his slightly toned stomach. Craig slinked back and handed Stan a condom while keeping a small tube of lubricant. Stan freed the condom from its wrapper and rolled it onto himself. He could barely pay attention as Craig took that moment to be quite distracting by preparing himself with the lube. He watched as Craig's chest rose and fell while he probed himself with slicked up fingers. His pale skin had begun to flush pink and only got worse when his eyes met Stan's. He smirked at him then raised an eyebrow. Stan heard him recap the tube and let it drop to the floor.
"Need some help?"
"Christ," Stan hissed and checked the condom before rolling back between Craig's spread out legs.
Sex with Craig was different from what Stan was used to. A jesuschristthisfeelsfantastic kind of different. He figured all he had to do at first was just get his dick in there and keep thrusting but Craig wasn't kidding when he said he could get his. He arched his back in a way that when Stan thrust in he felt something that made Craig hiss all sorts of wonderful sounds. After he had gotten into the rhythm he figured, what the hell, he was already this far into a gay venture and grabbed Craig's cock with one hand while steadying his hips with the other.
Craig hadn't been expecting Stan to take any initiative like that apparently and his eyes flew open and rolled in his direction. Stan liked it more and more the way Craig's kiss bruised lips formed around his name.
"Oh God, Stan, more," he moaned and Stan was only too happy to oblige. He only half wondered how much longer he could hold out when he couldn't anymore and came inside Craig grunting his name at the same time. He still felt hard and kept thrusting albeit at a lessened pace. Craig let out another moan and after a few more strokes he came all over Stan's hand. Stan stopped thrusting and slowly stroked Craig from base to tip, biting his lip as Craig's head fell back his face twisted in ecstasy over his prolonged orgasm. Stan wondered if he had done something wrong with the way Craig was trembling but when those grey eyes finally trained on him he saw it hadn't been wrong at all. He slowly pulled himself out letting Craig stretch his legs while he searched for something to use to clean off his hand.
"Goddamn, Stan," Craig breathed and gestured to a towel. Stan leaned over, still trying to catch his breath, and grabbed it. He cleaned himself up with half of the towel and helped Craig with the other. Craig tugged it from Stan's hand and threw it on the ground himself and inched over to make room for him. Stan allowed himself to sink into the space and felt Craig entwine their fingers together as they came down. Stan studied Craig's profile feeling incredibly at peace and warm as his heartbeat slowed. Craig's lips were parted as he controlled his breathing eyes half lidded and wandering in Stan's direction.
Stan rolled over onto his back and gestured for Craig to come closer. Something warm flashed in Craig's eyes and he rolled over to rest his head on top of Stan's chest. Stan smiled at the feeling of Craig's hair tickling his shoulder and after Craig snaked an arm around his middle Stan wrapped both of his around the smaller body.
"This is nice," he murmured, nuzzling into Craig's hair.
"Mm," Craig replied, pulling away briefly to tug his comforter over them before melting back into Stan's embrace.
"That was great, thank you."
"No, thank you," Craig sighed contentedly. "For a fucker whining about not knowing his way around a dick that was pretty unbelievable."
Stan felt himself chuckle and relished in the feeling of Craig's smile on his skin. They fell silent, just enjoying the feel of each other's skin and running their hands over shoulders and plains of muscle getting used to the touch. Stan stared at Craig's ceiling, it really had been nice and Craig was an incredible human being. He glanced down at him feeling Craig's steady exhale and stilled fingers signaling he had drifted off to sleep. Stan pressed his face into Craig's hair and inhaled. He liked the scent of him; he liked the feel of him. He continued to gently rub warm circles over Craig's shoulder as he felt exhaustion get the better of him. All he knew as he closed his eyes and let it was that he could be persuaded to use his extra week of vacation to stay if it meant more time with Craig.
A/N: This is pretty much what the whole fic was about. Just… them having sex or something. Heh.