That afternoon, after the final bell had been struck, and many had abandoned the school for more pleasurable pastimes, Elfman found himself kneeling before a bookcase running through the process of pulling a book from the shelf, and then replacing it when he found that the title was nothing of interest to him, "Ah, Strauss," Porlyusica whispered with a hum in her throat, wondering why it was she found only Elfman in the library on that Thursday afternoon.

"There's nothing on the 'Carry On' films," Fell dejectedly from his lips, cheeks scrunching as his lips pressed tight.

The woman glanced at the bookshelf he was looking at, brow furrowing with confusion as to the films' relevance, "Why? Should there be?"

Elfman looked towards the bookcase, eyes narrowing as his head bobbing as though his next words made all the sense in the world, "The exam." Elfman was quiet as his head continued to shake, "Mr. Justine said the Carry Ons would be good films to talk about."

"How peculiar." Porlyusica sighed, lips pursing as he looked down at Elfman who continued to browse through the titles in hopes of finding something else to his liking, "Does he like them, do you think?"

"Probably not," Elfman said, standing and placing his blue folder on the top of the bookcase as he read the blurb on the back of a green-bound book, looking for clues as to its contents, and subsequent relevance, "You never know with him."

Folding her arms and leaning on the bookcase next to Elfman, the woman looked pointedly at his folder whilst brushing pink hair from her forehead, "I'm now wondering if there's something there that I've missed."

Elfman silently appraised his teacher, lowering book whilst flipping the cardboard top of the folder open, the notes from that day's class at the front of the binder, "Well, Mr. Justine says that," In preparation for the quote, Elfman puffed out his chest and lowered his voice an octave, imitating the teacher, "'Whilst they have no intrinsic artistic merit t-'" One of the other pupils in the library shushed him, and when Elfman looked up he found that many were looking at him and the pink-haired woman was laughing into her shoulder. Elfman continued with a softer voice, smiling to himself as he began closing the folder, "-'They achieve some of the permanence of art simply by persisting and acquire some incremental significance if only as social history'."

"Dear me," Porlyusica shook her head, looking up at Elfman, "What fun you must all have."

"Well, it's not like your stuff, Miss," Elfman gathered his books into his arms, nodding as he did so, brow wrinkled as though surprised, "It's cutting edge, it really is."

"Where do you live, Sir?" Gajeel asked, close to Justine's shoulder as the hurried to the classroom that had been vacated by the Comparative Literature teacher.

"Horsforth." Justine sighed, body turning as they passed Lucy who rushed along the hall with a skipping step.

"That's not far from Mr. Hector, Sir," Ren spoke as he moved to the other side of the hall, shuffling in front of their teacher, and speaking over his shoulder, "He might even give you a lift if you'll ask him."

Gajeel frowned quite seriously, leaning forward again, "It's not a loft, is it, Sir?"

"Do you exist on an unhealthy diet of takeaways?" Ren lifted his hand to his cheek, voice twisting into something mocking as his fingers curled, "Or do you whisk up gourmet meals for one?"

"Or is it a lonely pizza, Sir?" Gajeel asked with teasingly raised brows, rushing into the classroom after Ren.

Justine threw his head back in frustration as he entered the classroom, "I manage!" Justine turned his head as Natsu entered the room behind him, the boy having been silent their entire journey from the library to the classroom on the second floor, "No questions from you, Dragneel?"

Natsu smirked before answering the teacher, hand rounding to slap Rouge's shoulder, his friend standing guard by the door, having been roped into holding it open for Sting and everyone who followed after, "What they want to know, Sir, is do you have a life?" Ren made a hissing noise of agreement, face wide with a smile at the question, Natsu following him around the desk to dump their bags of the grey-wash tables, "Or are we it? Are we your life?"

"It's pretty dismal if you are, 'cause these are as dreary as ever!" Justine called, pulling the papers from his bag as the boys began removing their overcoats in favour of plain shirts in the humid morning. Justine smiled at their protests, "You get a question, you know the answer. But then, so does everybody else." Justine continued as he handed out the papers, setting them gently on the desks as he walked towards each pupil as they sat down, "So, say something different, say the opposite." Looking down at the top paper, Justine stuttered a little, "Okay, look, er-take Stalin," Placing the paper in front of Ren, Justine looked up, his sights on Gray first and he raised his hands as though coaxing a horse as he began to move towards the three, "He's generally agreed to be a monster, and rightly so," Drawing the syllables out, Justine bent at the waist to hand out the rest of the papers, looking into each of their eyes as he placed their papers down, the last in front of Rouge, "Dissent. Find something, anything, and say it in his defense," Justine was proud to see Elfman leap for his file-block, ink scratching into the surface whilst the others looked confused, "A question is about what you know, it's not about what you don't know." Begin his walk around the class, Justine's arm shot out as he spoke, exams coming easily to his mind, "A question about Rembrandt, for instance, might prompt an answer on Degas."

"Is Degas an old master?" Elfman's eyes narrowed, slumping in his seat as he struggled to write everything down.

Gajeel turned to look at Justine as he stopped behind Elfman and himself, pen raised to tap against his temple, "'About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters; how it takes place while someone's eating or opening a window.'"

"Have you done that with Mr. Hector?" Justine asked, folding his arms.

"Done what, Sir?"

"The poem." Justine muttered, "You're quoting somebody." Justine began his walk around the other side of the classroom, wondering as to exactly what the man taught, "Auden, isn't it?"

"Was it, Sir?" Gajeel spoke up to him, "Sometimes it just flows out, you know, brims over." Placing his hand on his chest, Gajeel brought the other to his forehead and played faint.

Justine set his hand on the book that Gajeel and Sting had placed between them, looking around the class, "Right, does he have a program or is it just at random?"

"It's just knowledge, Sir," Ren announced.

"The pursuit of it for its own sake." Gajeel let his hands fall, smiling dreamily up at their teacher as he moved away.

Ren hunched over himself, fingers stuffed between his knees, "Breaking bread with the dead, that's what we do."

"It's higher than your stuff, Sir," Gray leaned forward on his desk, bring a pen to rest between his lips, "It's nobler."

"Only not useful," Sting muttered, fingers spread on the cover of his book, "Mr. Hector's not as focused." Justine rolled his eyes at the compliment, moving past Ren.

"Not focused at all," Gajeel called, "He's blurred, Sir."

"And we know what we're doing with you," Jellal muttered into his pen, lounging back on his chair, "Half the time with him, we don't know what we're doing."

"We're poor little sheep that have lost our way," Gajeel flung himself from his chair, and around the room to steal a book from Gray's desk, walking away with it held in their as one would if holding a child in the air to play with it, "Where are we? Where are we, Sir?"

"Sit the fuck down," Rouge muttered, tossing a ball of crumpled paper at Gajeel as he rounded his desk.

"You're very young, Sir," Ren commented from the back, appraised Justine as he finally settled at the front of the room, looking out the window, "This isn't your gap year, is it, Sir?"

Justine raised his hands to his hips, eyes hooded as he gazed at the fluttering green grasses in the courtyard below, "I wish it was."

"Why, Sir?" Came Gray's grating voice over the classes protests, "Do you not like teaching us?" Gray had his arm bent, tapping his chest with his pen, eyes narrowed and face carefully blank, "We're not just a hiccup between the end of university and the beginning of life, like Auden, are we, Sir?" Gray's chair was tilted, almost shoulder to shoulder with Natsu.

Natsu's firey gazed traveled Justine's length, one side of his mouth twisting into a smile as he reached the man's eyes, "Do you like Auden's poetry, Sir?"

"Some, yes." Was the curt reply, the man's shoulders folding in as he questioned their motives this time around.

"Mr. Hector does." Natsu continued, precise in his words and the coy smirk that tugged at his face, "We know about Auden." Gray's lips curving in a small cupid's bow as his head fell to the side to evaluate Justine, Natsu's eyes never leaving the man.

"Oh, yes, we do." Was the collective response, the boys smiling

Natsu drew a small circle on his page, eyes looking down but facing up, "He was a schoolmaster for a bit."

"I believe he was, yes," Justine answered, wondering why it was that they felt the need to tell him such things, and why such a response had been triggered.

"Yeah, he was." The punctual reply, voice quick, Natsu brought the pen to eye-level pointing at Justine, voice almost singing with childish fun, "Do you think he was more like you or more like Mr. Hector?"

"I have no idea," Justine pushed his glasses up his nose, thankful for a reason to look away, "Why should he be like either of us?"

"Oh, I think he was more like Mister Hector," Natsu ran his tongue over his bottom lip, voice soft, "Bit of a shambles. He snogged his pupils." Natsu frowned lightly, glad that Justine's attention was solely focused on him and not the several other students who were watching him in an intent way. The other's in the class did not move as Natsu continued tentatively, their faces stiff and curious, lips parted as their eyes shifted from limb to limb, looking for any sign of weakness, "Auden, Sir, not Mr. Hector."

"So, you could answer a question on Auden, then?" Justine shrugged, turning away to lift his coffee from the table.

"No, Sir!" And just so, the spell was broken, the boys no longer interested in how the man might react to the invasive facts. Gajeel was the one that spoke, throwing his pen down onto his desk, "Mr. Hector's stuff's not meant for the exam!" Rocking his chair back onto two legs, Gajeel let out a shaking laugh, glancing to Gray for a second, "It's to make us more rounded human beings."

"Listen!" Justine hissed into the classroom of muttering boys, standing promptly and striding towards Gajeel, but stopping short, "Listen. This examination's going to be about everything and anything you know and are," Justine's arms flailed at his sides, focused on Gajeel as he spoke, "And if there's a question on Auden or whoever and you know about it, answer it."

Ren answered first, quickly, into the pages of his book, pencil underline words as he went, "That would be a betrayal of trust, Sir."

Gray sat up abruptly, the falling paper causing Natsu to start as he continued to look to where Justine had been standing at the front of the room, "Yeah! Is nothing sacred, Sir?" Gray fell back into his chair, folding his arms and shaking his head as he laughed, "We're shocked."

Sting's eyes rolled into the ceiling, looking at Justine as the teacher passed by him, "I would, Sir; and they would," Sting's lips twitched as Gray rose a brow at him, "They're taking the piss."

"'England, you've been here too long'," Gray began as soon as Sting finished, the blonde pursing his lips and giving his best withering look, "'And the songs you sing are the songs you sung'," Natsu began to mouth the words alongside Gray, recognising the words, "'On a braver day, now they are wrong'."

Justine leaned onto the table, looking at Gray then over to Elfman, "Who's that?"

Gajeel almost felt himself cry, voice warbling with laughter as the class protested, "Oh! Mr. Justine!"

"Don't you know, Sir!" Gray called, looking to the teacher who was now at eye-level, genuinely shocked that their know-it-all teacher for once knew nothing, "It's Stevie Smith of 'Not Waving But Drowning' fame," Gray lifted his pencil into the air and dropped it with disappointment.

"Right, well don't tell me that's useless knowledge," Gray turned away, but turned back when Jellal nod his head, wondering how it was that the teacher was missing the whole point of their argument, "Listen if you get an essay on- On post-imperial decline! You're losing an empire, finding a role; all that kind of stuff, and-and-and," Justine stuttered when he looked over his shoulder to find Natsu staring at him intently, the boy seeming to be confused, "A gobbet like that, it's the perfect way to end it."

The class was quiet, the soft sound of pens on paper stopping as they looked at Gray, the boy, in turn, asking Justine, "A what, Sir?" For a moment, they laughed, small smiles on their faces as they felt as if he had made up a word.

"A gobbet," Justine rolled his hand, nodding his head as if to elicit agreement, "A quotation." "How much more have you up your sleeves?"

Gray grinned, beginning to lean back and brought his arms above his head as though to rest his crown in his meshed fingers, "We've got all sorts," With a start, Gray jumped, pointing towards the blackboard, "Hey!" Shaking his hand, there was excitement as they knew what he had thought of, Justine stepping back to avoid being slapped, "The train, the train!" As the words left his lips, Gajeel whistled, other's shouting 'woo! woo!'.

Sting jumped from his seat, rushing towards the front of the classroom where he stood board straight and staring at the map at the back of the room. Rouge lunged towards the piano, fingers playing the melody to the film, "I really meant to do it," The words fell quickly from Sting's lips, voice pitched as it had been when in the Maison Passe, "I stood there trembling right on the edge," Bringing his head into his shoulder, Sting let out a strangled, but proper, cry, "But I couldn't. I wasn't brave enough." There was a moment of silence as Justine processed just how much Sting sounded like a woman in a 1940's film, "I should like to able to say the thought of you and the children prevented me, but it wasn't," Sting remained silent to allow Rouge to play a loud note, emphasising his words, "I had no thoughts at all," A small laugh came from him, his eyes completely fixed on the world map, "Only an overwhelming desire not to feel anything at all ever again," Sting was silent for a moment, looking to the floor and conjuring a few pin-prick tears, "Not to be unhappy any more." Sting's brows seemed to roll, rising and falling once in quick succession, "I went back into the refreshment room, that's when I nearly fainted."

"What is all this?" Justine muttered, the class immediately shushing him in favour of ardently watching the play at the front of the room.

The music stopped, and Sting lowered himself onto the edge of the desk, Rouge coming up to his side, voice deep and a mockery of the Middle Classes who played in the 1940's films, "Laura."

"Yes, dear?" Sting turned his head, seemingly finding the task difficult.

Rouge licked his lips a little, face softening, "Whatever your dream was," His chin tilted forward and head fell sideways, "It wasn't a very happy one, was it?"

"No," Sting choked back a sob, looking down to where Rouge's elbows lay.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Rouge stepped close, almost touching Sting but letting his hand fall.

"Oh Fred, you always help."

Rouge was silent, allowing Sting a moment, cheeks twisting into a second-long smile, "You've been a long way away," Sting looked up, as though horrified at the thought, "Thank you for coming back to me." Sting let out a cry, propelling himself forward into the other boy's arms and as they embraced the rest of the boys turned to look at Justine expectantly. Rouge and Sting joined them, rushing apart with eyes only at the back of the room.

Justine breathed deeply as they looked at him, and he locked eyes with Natsu as he slid his hands into his pockets, but answered their question whilst looking out the window, "God knows why you've learned 'Brief Encounter'," The boys erupted into cheers, clapping and smiling as Sting and Rouge returned to their seats and Justine began to return to the front of the room. As he passed Rouge, Justine pat his shoulder using it as a pivot point to turn to the front of the room, preparing to move his briefcase from the end of Elfman's desk, "I think you ought to know this lesson's been a complete waste of time."

"A bit like Mr. Hector's lessons then, Sir." Natsu sung in his chirpy voice, beginning to prepare things to be placed back into his bag, "They're a complete waste of time too."

"Yeah, you little smart arse," Justine leant towards Natsu as he spun around with his case in hand, lips pursed as he settled it on his desk, "But he's not trying to get you through an exam."

"Ooooh!" Was their reply, whistling following that sarcastic cry of joy as Justine's shoulders slumped and he muttered down to his hands.