Chapter Text
It was strange how quickly a school year could pass.
Six months ago, Y/N had walked into Grover Cleveland Middle carrying a box of supplies, a stack of lesson plans, and absolutely no idea what to expect.
She remembered standing in the hallway on her first day, staring at the unfamiliar classrooms and unfamiliar faces, wondering if she had made the right decision.
Teaching had never been part of her original plan. Academia was. Research was.
Discovering something new and being surrounded by people who were just as curious about the world as she was. That was where she thought she belonged. At least, that was what she believed.
Now, she was standing in the same hallway, holding a cup of coffee that wasn't hers because someone had forgotten theirs again.
"You know, most people remember where they put their coffee."
Y/N leaned against the doorframe of Grace's classroom, watching as he placed decorations around the room for the end of the school year.
Grace looked back at her, smiling slightly as he recognized the cup in her hand.
"You forgot it in my classroom."
He reached out for the coffee, and Y/N handed it to him. "Again."
"Why, thank you, Dr. y/l/n."
"You're welcome, Dr. Grace."
The familiar exchange made both of them smile. It was strange how something so small had become normal.
Months ago, she barely knew the science teacher across the hallway.
Now, she knew exactly where he kept his spare coffee packets, which students always forgot their homework, and how long he could talk about a single scientific concept before someone had to remind him that his class period ended five minutes ago.
And somehow, he knew just as much about her.
Grace walked back toward his desk, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Don't you think it's weird?"
"Hm?"
"The rumors."
Grace immediately knew what she meant. "Oh boy."
Throughout the semester, students had been "shipping" their math and science teachers whose classrooms faced each other. And honestly? Y/N couldn't blame them. There was evidence.
They had lunch together almost every day.
They left school at the same time.
Mr. Grace started bringing an extra coffee every morning.
They spent afternoons planning lessons together, arguing over whether science or mathematics was more important, and somehow always ending up agreeing that both were.
And neither of them questioned when the other became part of their routine.
Grace chuckled while erasing the board, while Y/N sat comfortably in his teacher's chair. "Honestly, it's amusing."
"You enjoy it?"
"Not necessarily."
"That sounded like a yes."
"It was an observation."
"Of course it was."
A comfortable silence filled the room.
The kind of silence that only existed between people who had spent enough time together that they no longer felt the need to fill every second with conversation.
Then Grace spoke.
"So what are your plans after this school year?"
Y/N looked up. The question was casual. Too casual.
She narrowed her eyes slightly. "That's a suspiciously specific question."
Grace paused. "It is June."
"That's not an answer."
He looked back at the board. "I was curious."
Y/N smiled slightly. "Well..."
She looked around the classroom. At the posters on the wall. At the projects displayed on the shelves. At the small reminders of the students who had spent the year learning inside these walls.
"I might start applying to research positions again."
The sound of the eraser stopped.
Completely.
For a moment, Grace didn't move. Y/N noticed immediately. "Ryland?"
"I'm fine."
"You stopped erasing the board."
"I was thinking." Slowly, he continued cleaning the board. But something about him had changed, and Y/N noticed. Of course she noticed.
She had spent months learning how to read Ryland Grace. She knew when he was excited. She knew when he was frustrated. She knew when he was pretending not to be either. And right now, he was pretending.
The following days passed differently. Not dramatically. Not enough for anyone else to notice. But Y/N noticed.
Grace started knocking before entering her classroom.
He stopped assuming they would have lunch together.
He stopped waiting outside her classroom after the final bell.
And instead of his usual: "See you tomorrow, Dr. y/l/n."
He started saying: "Have a good evening."
It was polite. Professional. Normal. And somehow, that made it worse. Because normal was what they were before. Before coffee. Before lunch. Before spending hours together arguing about presentations and experiments. Before she became someone he looked for when something interesting happened.
Y/N told herself it was probably nothing. Maybe he was tired, and the end of the school year was stressful. Maybe grading hundreds of papers had finally caught up to him.
But deep down, she knew. Something had changed.
The last day of the school year arrived faster than either of them expected.
The hallways were quieter. The classrooms were slowly being emptied. Teachers packed their belongings while students celebrated the beginning of summer.
Y/N stood outside Grace's classroom door. Normally, she would have walked in. Normally, she wouldn't have thought twice.
But now she hesitated.
Then she opened the door anyway without knocking.
"Did I do something?"
Grace, who was organizing papers on his desk, immediately looked up. "What?"
Y/N stepped inside. "You've been weird."
"I am always weird."
She sighed. Not the playful, annoyed sigh he was used to—The serious one. The one that meant she already knew something was wrong. And unfortunately for him, Ryland Grace noticed everything.
"Y/N..."
"What's wrong, Ryland?"
The change in nickname made him freeze. She only called him Ryland when she was serious or upset
He looked down, and for once, he didn't have an immediate answer. That alone scared her, because Ryland Grace always had an answer. Finally, after a long silence, he spoke.
"You might leave."
The words were quiet, almost like he was afraid saying them louder would make them real.
Y/N's expression softened. "Ryland..."
"You mentioned returning to academia."
"I said I was considering it."
"I know."
"And?"
He looked away, and that told her everything. Because Ryland Grace was many things. Brilliant. Stubborn. Overly analytical. A person who could explain complicated scientific theories without hesitation.
But feelings?
Feelings were different. Feelings were the one thing he couldn't solve with logic.
"I thought I was being reasonable." Y/N frowned.
"Reasonable?"
He played with his fingers. A nervous habit she had noticed months ago. "I thought if you left, I would adjust."
She stayed silent.
"I have adjusted to many changes before." He looked around the classroom.
The same classroom where he had met her. The same hallway where she had first introduced herself. The same place where she somehow became part of his everyday life.
"But I don't think I want to adjust to this one."
Y/N felt her chest tighten. "Adjust to what?"
The question was quiet. But Grace knew there was no avoiding it anymore.
He took a breath.
"To you not being here."
Silence.
"I know that sounds selfish."
"It doesn't."
"I don't want you to stay because of me."
His eyes finally met hers. "I don't want you to give up something important because of what I want."
A pause.
"But I also don't want to pretend that it wouldn't matter."
His voice became softer. "When you first arrived, you were just the new teacher across the hallway."
Y/N smiled faintly. "Very welcoming."
"I was adjusting."
"You were terrified of talking to me."
"I was not."
"You absolutely were." A small smile appeared on his face, then it faded.
"Then you became someone I discussed lesson plans with."
A pause.
"Then someone I ate lunch with."
Another pause.
"Then someone I looked for whenever something interesting happened."
Y/N's expression softened.
"And somewhere along the way..." He swallowed. "...you became part of my life."
The room went quiet. Not uncomfortable. Just full.
"I don't want you to stay because I asked." He stepped closer. "I want you to stay because you want to."
Y/N looked down. Because that was the thing—She had been so focused on whether she belonged in academia that she forgot to ask herself another question.
Did she still want the same thing?
She thought about research. She loved discovery. She loved learning. She loved finding answers. But she also loved watching students have that same moment of discovery.
The moment when something finally clicked. The same way it had during the SciMath Fair. When a student saw their prediction work. When they realized science wasn't just memorizing facts. When mathematics wasn't just numbers
It was curiosity. It was wonder. It was exactly why she fell in love with academia in the first place.
Except now, she didn't have to be the person discovering everything. She could be the person who helped others discover.
"Ryland..."
He looked at her.
"I think I finally understand something."
"What?"
She smiled softly. "When I wanted to go back to academia, I thought I was chasing the part I loved."
She looked around the classroom. "But I think I was chasing the feeling."
Grace listened quietly.
"And teaching gave me that feeling too." A small smile appeared on his face.
"I don't want to leave because I hate this."
She looked back at him.
"I wanted to leave because I thought this wasn't enough."
A pause.
"But it is."
Grace's expression softened.
"Y/N."
She smiled. "I think I want to stay."
For a moment, Ryland didn't say anything. Then: "That is good."
She laughed.
"That is your response?"
"I have several responses."
"Of course you do."
"But that was the most accurate one."
She shook her head, smiling.
And somehow, after everything, after months of arguments and experiments and coffee and routines... It felt like the simplest answer.
The thing they had both been looking for.
Not an equation.
Not a variable.
A constant.
"Also," Y/N added.
"Hm?"
"You still owe me coffee tomorrow."
Grace blinked.
"Tomorrow?"
She smiled.
"Yes. Tomorrow."
And for the first time in weeks, Grace smiled like he believed it.
"See you tomorrow, Dr. y/l/n."
Y/N smiled back.
"See you tomorrow, Dr. Grace."