Bruce was exasperated as he looked at his students, waiting for one of them to answer his question. Michael wasn't in this class, he was in the advanced Spanish class and it wasn't on until this afternoon. Bored faces, ignorant stares, no one to save the day. Bruce heaved a sigh and gave up on his students, deciding to keep on doing all the talking. He seriously started to wonder what kind of Spanish teacher these kids had before him. Spanish wasn't exactly Bruce's forte but he liked to think that he got through to his students, even a little. He had a great Spanish teacher back at Dalton Academy and he tried to use her way of teaching the language. It worked with him so he had good hope it would work with his students.

Lunch break could not have come sooner; Bruce was positively exhausted and thirsty. He had not anticipated just how tiring teaching could be and had a newfound respect for teachers all around the world. At least the students here were not too difficult to deal with—behavior wise— and he was thankful for that. Being here at McKinley was a great opportunity for Bruce to see Michael more often, yes, but it was also pure torture. He saw his boyfriend in his class, in the hallways but could not touch him. It was only his second day and the temptation was already driving him insane.

He locked his classroom, briefcase in hand and on his way to the teachers' lounge when his boyfriend came into view. There Michael was, leaning on a locker, messenger bag in hand, laughing and looking as beautiful as ever. Bruce gave him a look, meeting Michael's eyes briefly—earning a quick smile from him—before breaking eye contact. But then Bruce noticed whom Michael was talking to. Blaine. They were standing awfully close to one another; too close for Bruce's liking. And Michael was laughing at whatever Blaine had said and Bruce did not like it at all. He kept walking, eyes straight ahead as he passed by them and ignored the flare of jealousy that was rushing through his blood vessels. Blaine and Michael were just friends. Nothing more. Except Bruce knew better than that. He knew something was up with Blaine, his little brother's behavior yesterday was more than suspicious, and Bruce was no blind fool. It bothered Blaine that he was dating Michael, more than it should have, but Bruce didn't say anything. He knew better than to upset Blaine. He loved his little brother, but boy was he susceptible. He just tried to remind Blaine that Michael was his, with that one simple line. I really like him, Blaine. He knew it would be enough to guilt Blaine into doing nothing toward his boyfriend.

He entered the teachers' lounge—which was bereft of people for now, thank God—and leaned back on the door after shutting it, eyes closed and head resting back against the cool material as he drew in a deep breath. It was harder than he thought, being so close to someone and not being able to interact with them. Well, he could interact with Michael, but he'd have to come up with an excuse to talk to him, as a teacher. He wanted to have lunch with his boyfriend, but they'd both agreed that wouldn't be the smartest idea. On school grounds, there was no way for them to have lunch or to go out for lunch together discreetly, just the two of them. Bruce was stuck with the teachers' lounge.

The door moved behind him, prompting him to get out of the way and a strong voice addressed him.

"Hey! You the sub for Will?"

He turned to look at one impressive woman who studied him with a kind smile written on her face. Her muscled body was absolutely intimidating, Bruce had to admit, but the woman couldn't look any friendlier.

"Yes, I'm Bruce," he introduced himself and offered his hand to shake.

"I'm Sharon," she replied with an even brighter smile and a firm handshake. "How're you settling in? Not tired of your kids yet, are you?"

"I'm good, I've only started two days ago," Bruce replied, following her to a table and sitting down with his lunchbox. Sharon already had her meal set up, a dish of pasta so impressive in quantity it left Bruce wondering if she was sharing with all the teachers. But as it turned out, she was eating this entire dish by herself and Bruce kept a neutral face as he opened his own lunch box. As they chatted over lunch and were joined by the school's counselor, Ms Pillsburry—who, Bruce learned, was Mr. Schuester's fiancée—Bruce felt a little more at ease and found himself relaxing. He had a little apprehension about meeting the other faculty members and he was glad to be welcomed as warmly and kindly. So far he only had a couple classes in the afternoon, not a full day like today, he hadn't had the opportunity to meet any colleagues and even with the return of Mr. Schuester, he was told from the very beginning that there was a good chance for him to have another position at the school. That meant he'd stick around longer and have more time to spend with his family. With Michael. It also meant that as long as he was a teacher at McKinley and Michael a student, any hope of romantic interaction was scarce. He'd just have to wait for a few months, Bruce reasoned, a few months until Michael's graduation.

"Bruce, hey!" Mike knocked on the door to Bruce's classroom as the last student left, smiling as his boyfriend looked up at him from his seat on his desk.

"Why hello, Michael," Bruce beamed at him and Mike walked over to his boyfriend after making sure to close the door behind him, wrapping his arms around Bruce. It had been a long day and he had been looking forward to this moment the second he laid eyes on Bruce this morning. He was glad there was no club today and could afford to spend some time with his boyfriend.

"What do you have planned? I was thinking we could hang out," Mike suggested, not turning away from the warm embrace. He hugged Bruce a little tighter, nuzzling his cheek and taking in the familiar scent that Mike had come to associate with his boyfriend.

"Michael, we need to talk," Bruce's serious tone caused Mike to tense up, as he braced himself for the infamous 'talk' that that phrase usually announced. Mike just nodded in response and leant on Bruce's desk as the latter scooted over to make room for him.

"I don't want to make this decision alone, and I want to discuss this with you," Bruce started saying, having obviously noticed Mike's change in behavior. "Obviously this relationship is now more complicated, I want to know where we stand, considering the fact that it's not allowed by the school and might even be seen as statutory rape despite the fact that you are eighteen—"

"Almost eighteen," Mike blurted out, interrupting Bruce in his speech. He didn't know why he just confessed to that, his age having been something he'd tried to hide from Bruce for the very same reason the latter had just mentioned. Anxiety got the best of him, it seemed.

"Beg your pardon?" Bruce's eyes widened briefly and he was now looking at Mike incredulously.

"I'm not actually eighteen yet, I'm going to be in April," Mike bit his lower lip, looking down at his feet.

"Oh, okay," Bruce let out a huff that almost sounded like a chuckle. He looked at Bruce, trying to decipher how he was taking that new piece of information he omitted to tell him. Bruce looked ten years older at that moment, fingers rubbing at his forehead, worry written all over his face. "Well…you are over sixteen, so I'm not committing a federal offense, at least. Why did you lie to me?"

"What do you think?" Mike returned, not liking the reproach in Bruce's tone. He never liked being reprimanded in general, but he liked it even less coming from people he cared—his father being the exception to that, seeing how Mike was used to hearing it from him. "Would you have gone out with me if I'd told you I was only seventeen?"

"Yes! Michael…you're so wonderful," Bruce approached him, hands cupping his face and lifting his head up for their eyes to meet. "I wouldn't have said yes unless you weren't legal of age and quite frankly, you didn't look like you weren't when I met you."

Mike put his hand over one of Bruce's, leaning in the touch as he whispered, "I'm sorry I lied to you."

"Apology accepted," Bruce smiled softly before leaning down to give him a peck on the lips.

"So…You were saying…?" Mike prompted, wondering just what would come of this conversation. Were they breaking up? He had high hopes that they were not, seeing how Bruce was acting right now. He couldn't possible break up with Mike when he'd just kissed him, right? Or does that mean nothing?

"I just want to know what you think about our situation, there's actually a lot at stake here," Bruce picked up the subject. "Your college applications, my career. It could all be ruined if people found out about us."

Bruce did raise a good point, something Mike had not thought about thoroughly. He just knew that it could hurt Bruce's career and future applications for grad school but hadn't seen it from this angle. His own college applications. Surely a high school student who sleeps with a teacher would not get into any respectable college.

"I…You're right," Mike agreed, not really sure what would happen now. "So…what are you saying? Are you saying we should end this?"

"I'm not saying anything," Bruce put a hand on Mike's neck, his voice breaking a little. "I just…God, this is hard for me."

It really was hard. Mike could see where this was going. They were rational people, Bruce and he; they both liked logic and reason. They both knew this relationship wasn't reasonable, at least not anymore. And yet Mike didn't want to end it, he wanted to hold onto Bruce for as long as he could.

"I know," Mike breathed out, soothed by Bruce's thumb stroking his jaw. "You know, we could still try to keep this a secret. We'd see each other on the weekends so that we don't take the risk of being seen leaving the school together. I could come over, people wouldn't question my visits to your house since I'm friends with Blaine."

"That…That could actually work…" Bruce trailed off, leaving Mike hanging with only the pounding of his heart in his ears. "But then no interaction at school, right? Just the strict minimum."

"Yeah," Mike found himself smiling. "So…are we doing this?"

"All right, yeah," Bruce embraced him in a tight hug, relief washing over Mike, freeing his chest from the heavy weight that had been wearing his heart down. Mike pulled Bruce in a kiss, not caring about their recent agreement. He needed that one last kiss for the rest of the week, to reassure himself that he still had Bruce, as silly as that sounded.

"I'll see you tomorrow in class, then," he said as their lips parted, resting his forehead against Bruce's.

"Yeah," Bruce replied, his thumb still caressing Mike's jaw, that one simple gesture a real anchor keeping Mike from walking away. His own hand came up to grasp Bruce's, giving it a little squeeze before Bruce finally let him go.

Mike grabbed his messenger bag from the floor and sent one last look in Bruce's direction before turning to open the door. As he pulled the door open, Mike's eyes widened in horror when Jacob Ben Israel fell onto the floor of the classroom, his fall indicating he'd been leaning against the door when Mike opened it. His heart started racing as his eyes fell upon the recorder Jacob had in hand, the realization quickly dawning on him. The bastard had recorded everything Mike and Bruce had said.

They were screwed.

A/N: Here's chapter 3! Hope you like it, please do let me know what you think :)