Summary: Kwan meets someone unexpectedly at the grocery store.
Characters: Dash x Danny x Kwan
Afterward 08
Kwan browsed the shelves as he walked through the snacks aisle of the grocery store. After Valentine's day, he couldn't help feeling tense on the way to school the next day. Would the students still be talking about them? Would they suffer a never ending slew of questions from their students during classes? Would their fellow teachers catch on? Or worse, would the principal or vice principal learn of their relationship? Would any of the parents hear about it from their teenagers? So many questions flew through his head that morning, he nearly walked right into the doorframe on his way into his first class.
Surprisingly, all was quiet. His students weren't interrupting class to ask him about his personal life. No one came in to tell him the principal asked to see him. He was impressed, and perhaps a little concerned, by how well the students could keep the secret, at least among themselves. The whole student body might know of their relationship, but they never let it slip out to any of the other teachers. After a few quiet days passed, Kwan managed to breathe out in relief and relax. As long as they continued to act professionally at school, it seemed they would be all right.
"Kwan?"
He tore his gaze away from deciding whether he should get the cool ranch Doritos or the spicy nacho to see who spoke. "Will?" he replied, his eyes widening. "Isn't this a little out of the way for you?"
"A bit, yeah." Will ducked his head with an embarrassed smile. He closed the distance between them. "Noah has a bit of a cold and has been crying practically day and night." He sighed, his exhaustion clear on his face and in the dark bags under his eyes.
"Oh wow," Kwan winced, imagining having to deal with a sick baby, "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope he gets better soon."
"Me too. Especially since Mirabelle's mom decided to stay with us until Noah gets better." Will's eyes lost a little glimmer of life. "She thinks literally everything I do is wrong."
"Yikes! Is that why you decided to come all the one out here?"
"I thought a nice long, long walk to pick up a few things would keep me from going insane around her," Will answered. "I can only hope by some miracle she'll be gone when I get home. She's not a completely terrible woman, but she can be trying sometimes."
Kwan patted him on the shoulder with a sympathetic look. He supposed he was lucky that Danny and Dash's family seemed to like him pretty well. He couldn't imagine either of his boyfriends' mothers visiting them and telling him he was doing everything wrong. He dreaded to think how his mother would treat Dash and Danny if she knew of their relationship. He was the only one that hadn't told his immediate family. He felt a little guilty about it, but Dash, at least, understood why he wasn't leaping at the opportunity to tell them. Danny was still in the dark about Kwan's family, but it would need to come up eventually. His cousins practically wanted to drag him out and get him drunk in celebration when he told them about his relationship with Dash and Danny.
"So," a smirk curled onto Will's face, "how was your Valentine's day?"
"Um," Kwan felt his cheeks growing warmer.
"Oh! You're turning red." A mischievous gleam entered Will's eyes. "Who did you spend it with?"
"Um," Kwan glanced away, "Danny never said anything to you?"
Will's smile probably grew about eight times bigger. "Did he finally ask you out? I wasn't sure if he was going to end up with you or the blond guy."
"Dash. His name is Dash." Kwan's eyes narrowed just slightly, silently warning Will not to say anything bad about his friend. "And Danny actually got both of us."
"That's great!" Will clapped a hand to Kwan's back. "I was hoping Danny would find someone he could be happy with for the rest of his life. He's a good guy and deserves it. I'm glad he has the two of you. Mirabelle will be so happy to hear this too. She'll probably want to have the three of you come over again to celebrate." He chuckled. "She really liked you after meeting you."
"I liked her too. And Noah is adorable." Kwan rubbed at his ear. "Though I guess not so much when he's sick and crying."
"I love the little guy, but I would also really love for him to sleep through the night so I can get some sleep too." Will rubbed at his face.
"Stay strong! I'm sure Noah won't be sick too much longer."
"I certainly hope so. The doctor said he should be fine in a couple of days. I hate seeing my little boy suffering like this, but it would be a lot easier to deal with if my mother-in-law would just leave."
"Hm," Kwan gave it some thought, "I don't know that I can help with the mother-in-law thing. All I can think of is just try not to let her get to you too much. The last thing you want is start any unnecessary fighting with your in-laws."
"So pick my battles and let her aggravating judgmental comments slide?" Will's mouth pursed to the side as he thought about it. "You do have a point. I don't want to upset Mirabelle by fighting with her mother."
Kwan nodded. "Though if you want to delay going back home to deal with your mother-in-law, you're welcomed to help me finish up my shopping."
"I have been away for quite a while now." Will stroke his chin thoughtfully. "But I'm sure Mirabelle will understand when I tell her I bumped into you."
With his decision made, Will walked through the store aisles with Kwan, who picked items from his list off the shelves as they passed them. They moved away from the topic of mothers-in-law and moved onto other topics, like stories of working at a high school. Kwan could see why Danny liked him. Other than being attractive, Will was friendly, easy to talk to, smart, funny, and Kwan might have felt worried about Danny keeping a friendship with Will, but it was pretty clear the two men no longer had romantic feelings toward each other. And Will had some funny stories about Danny, who probably would have found them utterly embarrassing, but Kwan was more than happy to hear them.
Just Will: XD Couldn't resist. I guess none of the students got it right. I guess you could say our boys are a little naive about how they look to their students. XD The three of them often seen together in one pair or another in and out of school? The students are naturally going to be curious. XD
Lexosaurus: Oh no! *hands a box of tissues* Don't cry!
YumiStar: Of course! XD How could they resist do something a little romantic? I hadn't thought about white day! But maybe that'll be a chance for Kwan to do something special. XD
Kittalia Phantom: Still thinking of how to bring her in to the story!
Kimera20: Thanks! 8D
Casper97: Dash is pretty good at making stuff. 8) I bet he'll make a teddy bear or two for his future nephew or niece.
PsychePetras: Hm, I don't remember if it was really said or not if people forgot about Ember. I still like the idea of Dash and Kwan remaining fans. Mostly so Danny can do something like this for them. X3
Rosie dragoneel: Danny's always so cute when he blushes!
AstroGravity Phan: Thanks! =)
RedHeadsRock1010: 8D Ember loves to tease Danny.
xXRainbowCleoXx: Maybe unconsciously. XD
Just Will: You know it! ;) It took a bit of time, but they eased him into it until Dash was comfortable with it. And you can bet Dash is happy to show them how much he appreciates them being patient with him. I got a little stumped with what else I could to have Kwan do something special that night.
Author's Note: I was stuck on writing something angsty. orz But since Danny is up next, maybe he'll be easier to come up with something. XD
