Phil Lester finished passing out exam papers to his students and readjusted his glasses. "This is your exam for the state," his voice carried throughout the room. "Remember all the things you have been taught this year, and remember them well. This goes on your record as a test." And with that he sat down at his desk and opened up his computer.
What he was greeted with, well, he'd never admit to anyone. (You know what it is, you dirty-minded perverts.) He glared at the classroom across the hall. Dan Howell stood at the head of the room, making sweeping gestures with his hands. When he caught Phil's look, he just winked. Phil could feel his cheeks growing hotter as he realised it was set as his background. He quickly pulled up instructions on how to change it, as he didn't actually know how, and managed to switch it back right before the vice principal strolled past the window to check up on the students.
Which made things even worse. The high school Phil worked at was a very loose interpretation of one. They didn't force uniforms; the students always were allowed to have fun in class. And the teachers' friendships were a bit complicated.
Phil had known for some time that a few of the teachers liked him as more that a co-worker, thanks to Dan so graciously pointing it out. It made Phil a bit uncomfortable. He had always gotten attention that he didn't want, "Thanks to your eyes," his mum had said, but it didn't mean he had to be used to it. Far from it, actually. The only person he thought he might be okay with was Dan, and Phil was pretty sure Dan wasn't bi like him. But who knew. All Phil knew is that he would die of embarrassment if anyone ever knew.
Which brought him to the vice principal. She too winked at him, but it was exaggerated and seemed a bit insincere. Nothing like Dan's, but Dan was the closest thing to a friend Phil had. The vice principal was nothing more than an interested co-worker. Besides, he had work to do. He couldn't always sit around and not do anything. He had six other classes that had already finished the test, and he had yet to grade them. So that what he started doing.
His students were pretty smart on average. Unfortunately, some people had no desire to do the work and put in the effort. He hated having to fail some students, but he reassured himself with the fact that he had offered help and they turned him down. Phil had just finished grading another failing paper when Dan walked in.
Thirty-eight pairs of eyes watched the space between Phil and Dan as if it were filled with electricity. And it kind of was. He was hyperaware of Dan being in the room. Or anywhere, really. And not to mention the fact that their students shipped them.
The electricity was singing in Phil's veins. Dan very rarely walked in on one of his lessons. The students giggled, glancing between the two teachers. "Phil?" he asked. "May I talk to you outside?"
Phil swallowed. "Yeah," and followed the taller man out the door.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Dan pulled Phil out of the classroom's view. They already could hear voices on the inside. Phil knew the phones would be coming out, and the rumours too. He just couldn't bring himself to care because there was Dan, with his warm brown eyes, within two feet of him. He didn't know what to expect, but he must have been thinking of something because as soon as the words came out from Dan's mouth, he felt a tiny rush of disappointment.
"I'm worried," Dan said, glancing toward his own classroom. "Kyle's failing nearly all of his classes. I've talked to his teachers and he seems to be really out of it in a lot of his classes. He had bags under his eyes-"
Dan broke off, seeing the debate in Phil's face. "What is it?"
What was it? Phil knew exactly what was happening, but he didn't know if he wanted to tell Dan. It would reveal his secret, the one thing he tried to keep from Dan.
"Well… I know what's happening."
Idiot! Phil's mind screamed, but he kept on talking.
"Kyle's father isn't the nicest of people. I'm not going to tell you details, but Kyle had bruises. All over his body," Dan looked horrified. "And I know about this not because I'm some saviour of his. Far from it. I've seen it but I haven't done anything about it-" his voice cracked, "because I still feel it. Deep down I know he can't hurt me anymore, but I can't get the feeling out of my head. He's rough, Dan. He hurts. It's just what he does."
Now Dan just looked angry. Phil would've loved for the floor to swallow him up right there. It was too much information. He had given away too much. But Dan seemed to have lost the fact that the conversation was about Kyle. He grabbed Phil's arm, but not in a hard way. More protective. "Phil," Dan said slowly. "Is Kyle's father abusive? Did he abuse you?"
Phil gulped before nodding. He wanted to open his mouth and say it wasn't that bad. He had a bad habit of getting with the rougher ones, and he was kind of used to it by now. But he didn't think it would ease the fury raging in Dan's face.
"We have to say something."
Phil sprung away. "No, no, and no. Dan, you don't know him. You don't know how he acts, you don't know the way he handles things. He'll stop soon enough. Kyle's almost eighteen, and laws here aren't the six years. It's six months, Dan. Then Kyle can't report child abuse. He's methodic. He knows his stuff. It's better just to stay out of it." Then Phil quickly rushed into the classroom and heard snippets of what the students were saying about him and Dan.
"Mr. Lester?" someone called.
Yeah?" Phil replied, removing his glasses and leaning against the far side of his desk.
"What were you and Mr. Howell doing outside in the hallway?"
The students laughed and Phil ignored the class. "Please pass up your tests." There were grumbles of complaints and one student asked why, they weren't finished. "Because, you people aren't the most trustworthy. I saw those phones. How do you expect me to know you didn't cheat?" All the wasted papers now in his hand, and with ten minutes left in class, Phil let them wander around the classroom and decided to return the favour to Dan by walking into his classroom.
Where Phil was an English teacher, which was his dream, Dan had just gotten a job in History with the right amount of charm and smarts. They were learning about Genghis Khan, and Dan was going into detail about the people he murdered, Phil chiming in when he wanted to. He could see the frustration building in Dan, and when the bell rang for the end of the day and the students were gone, Dan followed him to his car.
There was nothing going on between the two men. Nothing at all, Phil told himself as he saw Dan approaching. He braced himself for the fireworks.
"What the hell, Phil? You can't just waltz into my classroom-"
"Which is what you did," Phil interrupted.
"-and start spouting stuff that wasn't in the lesson. We stick to what we're doing. Not like your classes."
"Okay, Dan," Phil finally said, narrowing his eyes. "You need to lighten up a bit. You came into my classroom first, pulled me out into the hallway, and didn't even bother to say anything to the students. You're not very observant, which means maybe you don't know that the students ship us. As in, they want us in a relationship. And they're not big on teachers knowing about it, but everyone's heard. I don't want to have this conversation, because those students over there are filming us." As Dan's face shifted in surprise and he spun around, Phil closed his door and sped off.