Chapter Text
Ryland Grace was beyond relieved when Stratt finally relieved him of his duties on Project Hail Mary. He’d done his job and watched the ship launch before she finally let him go home. Although home wasn’t very much of a home anymore. He’d been evicted for multiple reasons. It was rough, but at least he was heavily compensated for his work with the astrophage. He was glad for it, too. It made up for having to deal with so much incompetence. It was awful having to work with some of the scientists she had recruited. And he had told her as much.
‘I had a kid in my class a few years ago who was smarter than half the PhDs on your staff.’
She hadn’t taken that very well, but instructed him to continue his work anyways. And he did. Now all he had to show for it was his duffle bag of clothes and a very large number in his bank account.
He eventually gave up on trying to find somewhere livable in San Francisco, and took a very out of character leap to a nicer apartment in New York.
It was definitely a culture shock, but his general awkwardness covered for a lot of different things.
His work for the government did end up helping, though. With one call to his reference, Stratt, he was able to become a high school science teacher. He was glad to be a teacher again, but more than a little nervous since it was for the most brutal age group of kids. He was still sure that he could deal with their shenanigans enough to be able to do his job.
He took a deep breath as he walked into his classroom for the first actual school day. His nerves were all over the place, but he’d calm down once he actually started working.
He got through a bunch of halfhearted greetings before his eyes widened a bit at the next student to walk through his door.
“Mr. G?” Peter froze with wide eyes as he took in the teacher in front of him.
“This is quite the surprise,” Grace let out a breathy chuckle, getting a bit louder when the rowdy teen launched himself into a hug.
“You dropped off the map for over a year!” Peter shouted when he pulled away, “I could even find you on the school’s old website!”
“Eheh, got pulled away to work on some government project,” Grace shrugged when his arms were released.
“What?” Peter blinked a few times.
“Can’t really talk about it,” he hummed then chuckled again when Peter’s expression soured.
“Is this the new teacher?” A masculine voice came from behind Peter.
“That would be me, yes. My name is Mr. Grace,” he nodded and waved.
“Literally the best teacher,” Peter promptly added as he pulled the other teen up beside him. “Mr. G, this is my best friend, Ned.”
“Sup,” he waved before raising an eyebrow at Peter. “You never told us your old middle school teacher was teaching here.”
“I didn’t even know he was teaching here!” Peter defended.
“Honestly, I didn’t know he’d be here either,” Grace admitted. “Last time I saw him he was setting a paper towel dispenser on fire.”
“That was an accident! And it was one time,” Peter groaned.
“It was two times, Peter.” Grace looked at him with a knowing expression.
“It was the same dispenser, though!”
He could see Ned trying his best to hold back from laughing.
A girl stepped into the classroom a moment later, taking in the scene with mild confusion.
“Why does Parker look like he’s being publicly executed?” She asked with her eyebrows furrowed.
“MJ!” Peter waved with a wide smile. “This is my old science teacher.”
“Ah.” She nodded. “That explains it.”
“Explains what?” Grace tilted his head.
“The reaction,” she smirked and glanced teasingly at him before looking back at Grace.
Peter looked personally offended. Grace had to hold back any reaction that may have seemed targeted.
“MJ, this is Mr. Grace,” Peter introduced. “Mr. Grace, MJ.”
“Nice to meet you,” he nodded with a smile.
“You too,” she hummed and gave a nod back before dropping into a nearby seat. “You seem significantly more professional than Peter described.”
Peter whipped around with a faint flush spreading across his cheeks.
“You talked about me?” Grace’s smile widened despite the probable diss hidden beneath that comment.
“Constantly,” MJ said.
“That’s not-”
“Entirely science-related,” Ned cut him off and added with a quiet laugh.
“Okay, that’s actually worse.” The first bell rang before Peter could continue arguing.
Grace smiled despite himself.
Maybe teaching high school wouldn’t be so bad.
*~*~*
Over the next few weeks, he quickly remembered why Peter Parker had stood out so much years ago. The kid was absurd. Not in the way that every teacher thought their favorite student was smart.
No.
Actually absurd.
One week into class Peter corrected an error in a college-level article Grace had referenced.
Two weeks in he solved a problem Grace had intentionally designed to take the entire class period.
Three weeks in he accidentally started a debate with Grace about theoretical extraterrestrial biochemistry.
The debate lasted forty-five minutes.
The class loved every second of it. Both the entertainment along with not having to work.