(requested by anonymous! prompt: "people like you have no imagination." fic/AU: nepenthe.
i had fun doing this one! i always want to write more of the nepenthe teachers, they're a lot of fun. this takes place after the event of nepenthe chapter 13, which isn't finished yet, so there's some mentions but no spoilers.
content warnings: swearing (i think), mentions of prescription drug abuse
enjoy!)

Fictober #2 - "People like you have no imagination"

"Reim."

No reply.

"Hey Reim~"

Still nothing.

"Reim~!"

After the third time calling his name, Break decided to take matters into his own hand. Scanning the mess of a desk in front of him, he picked up the first thing he saw – which happened to be an eraser – and flung it across the room. Sure enough, it hit Reim square in the face, the other teacher wincing, placing the pen down, and directing a stern, irritated glare at Break.

"What do you want?" Reim grunted, pulling the glasses from his face and scrubbing them aggressively.

"I'm bored now~" Break whined, as he spun his pen skilfully between two fingers. "Besides, Reim is just being pedantic. It's 5pm, we can goooo~!"

"Has it ever occurred to you that I have papers left to mark?" Reim shot back, repositioning his glasses before reverting his focus back to the test papers. "If you don't want to wait, you don't have to."

"Oh, but walking home alone is just dull."

"Hmph."

Needless to say, the residential area surrounding the college was also rather upper class. Almost all of the teachers who taught there lived around that area of the town, and Break and Reim were no exception to that. Today was also a Saturday, all teachers being required to work from 11 in the morning to 5pm, either planning lessons or marking tests.

"Fine, I'll finish at home," Reim sighed, frankly giving up at this point. "I must also remind you, however, that History tests take significantly longer to mark and grade than Chemistry."

"Possibly, but I do have more classes than you," Break chuckled, placing the papers back into his bag. "No one likes History, nor do they want to do an A Level in it, fufu~"

Reim frowned, filed away his papers, and picked up his coat. "I think you'll find my two classes of 12 students would disagree."

"Nonsense~" Break resumed snickering, flicking the light off and kicking the door shut in the most over-the-top way possible. Reim internally facepalmed; everyday he would question how this person somehow managed to get a position teaching at somewhere so prestigious.

"Hnn, it's been a tiring day, indeed~" Break chimed as he led them out of the Science block. "How would Reim like to come and have a drink with me, hm?"

"Alright," Reim said, somewhat in defeat, but also partially willingly; most Saturdays, he and Break would get a couple of drinks after work. It was a tradition for them, you could say. "Do you want to invite Gilbert?"

"Hm, that sewer rat would have to come as well…"

"Yes, and you're colleagues. You're supposed to be civil with him."

"Hm," Break pouted, but spun on his heel towards the Maths corridor nevertheless.

Sure enough, both Gilbert and his brother, Vincent, were in his classroom, the two packing up among idle chatter.

And without a moment of hesitation, Break barged in, grabbing Gilbert's attention first and grinning madly. Winking, he leant against the door frame, dragging his fingers over the display board beside the door. "Gilbert~!"

Visibly, Gilbert sighed. "What do you want?"

"Rude~" Break pouted teasingly. Bouncing into the room, he instantly ignored the threatening glares from Vincent, and pranced over to Gilbert. "I was just going to invite you for a drink with Reim and I!"

Gilbert seemed unwillingly to accept at first, but eventually sighed, glanced up, and caught his brother's gaze. "Vince?"

"Yes?" Vincent's expression morphed from pissed off to twinkling within a millisecond.

"You want to?"

"Whatever Gil wants, I'll be happy with," he smiled, sinisterly.

"Right," Gilbert deadpanned, and then turned back to Break and shrugged. "Alright, whatever. Do… you guys want a lift? I don't want more than one drink."

"Yes please~" Break said cheerfully, spinning back to Reim and frolicking back to the door. Impatiently, he stood waiting by Reim, before the two followed Vincent and Gilbert out to the car.

The car journey was fairly awkward, an awkward, heavy silence stopping anyone from attempting to make conversation. Fortunately, however, the drive to the nearest pub wasn't too long, and within 5 minutes, they reached their destination. And once they'd gotten their drinks, things were a little less awkward. Remotely less awkward.

Within a few minutes of sitting down, Gilbert stood up again, bringing out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and picking his drink up. "I'll be right back," he said briefly, and then turned on his heel.

"Ooh, I'll follow~" Break declared, leaping up from the seat, grabbing the pint of lager from in front of him, and bouncing after Gilbert.

"Why?" Gilbert groaned under his breath, lighting the cigarette with the hand which wasn't holding the drink.

"Oh, just tradition, you know~?" he chimed.

"… you don't even smoke anymore."

"Hmm, no, but don't act so glum~" Break snickered. "Haah, there's nothing like a good bit of passive smoking to go with a drink."

Gilbert facepalmed internally, as he inhaled on the cigarette. "You confuse me."

The silence lingered further.

"I'm not an idiot, Break," he sighed. "There's another reason you followed me out here."

"Mhm…" Break hummed ambiguously. "Tell me, Gilbert, are you aware of anything that's been going on with Elliot?"

"Some of it…" Gilbert seemed reluctant to give a full response, instead dragging deeply on the cigarette. "I don't, uh, really know what's going to happen. So I'd… rather not talk about it too much."

"Fair enough."

"Alright, let's go back inside," the other prompted, snuffing the cigarette out into the overflowing ashtray and then leading the two back inside.

The moment he sat down again, Break immediately shuffled up annoyingly close to Reim, throwing an arm around his shoulder. With a beaming grin, he downed over half of the drink, before slamming it down on the table and just relishing in the detestable glare he received from Vincent. "Ah, what conversation have I interrupted here then~?"

"Nothing of importance," Reim threw his arms off his shoulder. "We were just discussing one of our students."

"Ooh, which one?"

"Oz, if you must know." Meticulously, Reim cleaned his glasses again. "He studies both Literature and History, remember? He has potential, I believe. His essay writing skills are remarkable."

"Ah, yes! Oz, one of my favourite students, I'll say~"

"Of course, he doesn't study Chemistry," Vincent commented slyly, sipping on his drink. And the smirk donning his lips suggested he, in fact, knew he'd provoked the other. Thus, he continued. "A pointless subject, really. It's no wonder he chose not to take it to Advanced Level."

"Chemistry is pointless, you say?" Break sipped his drink, mirroring the other's bitter smirk. "I think you'll find the Chemists are the ones who formulated those Risperidone pills you take. I doubt the Literary scholars had anything to do with that."

The glare Vincent responded with told Break rather bluntly that he should not have said that. But the fact that he could tell he'd pissed him off only made him grin more.

Reim was, of course, frantically cleaning his glasses, as he nudged Break and spoke discreetly to him, "B-Break, I'm not sure you should be making this so personal-"

"I need not be defended, Reim," Vincent promptly cut him off, the sinister, unsettling smile creeping back onto his lips. But the glare, directed at Break, remained stern, and just as threatening. "People like you have no imagination. Getting personal is the only way you can win an argument."

"People like 'me', you say?" Break raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

"Scientists," Vincent spat. "Nighty percent of what they say is a conspiracy, and nothing more. There is no talent to it."

From beside him, Gilbert frowned, turning to Vincent and flashing him a rather confused, slightly offended glance. "Um… Vince?"

Within an instant, Vincent's glare just… disappeared. "Yes, Gil?"

"Did you, um, forget that I teach Maths?"

"Of course not." That smile. That smile scared him. "I would never question what you say."

"Um, I-I don't mean to start discourse or anything, so please forgive me…" Reim interjected, and – sure enough – began anxiously scrubbing his glasses. "But if we're thinking about the significance of subjects, surely History would be one of the most? Studying past humanitarian disasters are surely the only way to prevent them in the future."

"Ah Reim, humans are going to mess things up regardless," Break chuckled, downing more of the alcohol.

"For once, I agree with him," Vincent spat.

"Hang on… why is no one talking about Maths here?" Gilbert spoke quietly, and fairly unpersuasively. "It proved the beginning of the universe, right?"

"Hmm, strictly speaking no…" Break countered. "Physics combined with Maths proved that. And I did Physics A Level so I'm clearly the smartest here."

"No one here teaches Physics though," Gilbert deadpanned. "Plus I did Physics A Level too, so that point means nothing!"

"Fufu, indeed you did. I bet you didn't do four A Levels though~"

Next to him, Reim cocked an eyebrow judgementally. "You did four A Levels?"

"Aha, yes!" Break snickered. "Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Fine Art. I do believe I got AAAB. The B was in Maths."

"… why did you do you Fine Art? That's so… irrelevant to Chemistry?"

"Hmm, yes, but I enjoyed Art, so I thought I'd mix things up a little bit, you seeee~"

Reim blinked at him. "I… never considered you to be very intelligent."

"Rude~" Break pouted, nestling up to the other teasingly. "So, Mr Lunettes, which A Levels did you do, hm?"

"History, Latin, French, and English Literature. My A* was in History, the other subjects were A's. Naturally, I was a hard-working student, hence I became a teacher almost immediately after graduating. How you landed a job so soon after graduating, I have to say, I am not so sure…"

"Pfft, I was charismatic. You were just a nerd," Break laughed. "And you, Gilbert? Care to share which A Levels you took?"

"Well… my college didn't let us take four, so… Maths, Further Maths and Physics…"

"Wait, Vincent…" Reim said abruptly, turned to the blonde, who appeared to be staring at Gilbert devotedly. "You did four, right? You… didn't start working with us until a year after, but they liked you, and I remember them saying something about you studying four subjects?"

"Yes," Vincent smiled. "I did not attend the same college as Gil. I was not allowed to join him. Instead I enrolled at a more… specialised college. I failed Philosophy, but obtained A's in Language and Psychology, and a A* in Literature."

"Of course you failed Philosophy…" Break commented under his breath. "I suppose it would be difficult to think about the world from multiple perspectives when you're drugged up on Zyprexa. Is that why you went to a 'specialised college', too?"

Once again, Vincent's smile broke, his expression morphing into a bitter glare. "Do you enjoy memorising every medication I've ever taken?"

Break shrugged, and snickered to himself. "I'm a Chemist. What can I say?"