Chapter Text
Lance McClain liked to consider himself someone who is always on time. It something he takes pride in because he was the exact opposite in high school. So when he happens to be late, it doesn't go over so well with him.
For example, right now he was running through the halls of to get to there class as quickly as he could. He was supposed to be at the school twenty minutes ago, but traffic had happened and he was unfortunately very late.
“No running Mr.McClain. ”The music teacher, Mr. Hummings, joked as Lance ran last the man's classroom. Lance unconsciously slowed down and waved as he disappeared around the corner, turning into the hallway that held his kids classroom.
Standing at the end of the hallway, was Mrs. Gibson standing in front of her classroom with the twins. The three were talking about something Lance couldn't hear, but that didn't worry him. What worried his was the disappointment in Mrs. Gibson's eyes when she saw him.
She was an old lady, about to turn sixty-three, and very nice when it came to kids and most parents. But when you were like Lance, occasionally late due to traffic and single, she was very scrutinizing.
“Sorry i'm late.” Lance yelled anyway as he slowed his run to a walk, ”Traffic was crazy.”
Mrs. Gibson gave him a strained smile and nodded. She gently pushed the kids towards him and straightened her posture.
“Yes, LA does have terrible traffic.” She said and Lance almost crumbled at the disappointment in her voice. Zelda and Link nodded like they completely understood, making Lance smile and almost be able to ignore the teachers disappointment in him.
“You ready for the Zoo?”Lance asked. The kids opened their mouth to respond but as Lance walked in front of the classroom door, someone came running out of it and ran straight into him.
Lance stumbled backwards and slightly pushed himself into the wall behind him to keep him from falling. The person who ran into him though was not as lucky and fell to the ground face first, dropping his papers everywhere.
“Mr. Matt!”Zelda yelled, quickly kneeling down to pick up the papers all over the floor. Unfortunately her backpack through her balance off and she fell down into the floor as well.
Link started to giggle which quickly turned into a laugh as he looked between Lance, Zelda and the man on the floor. Lance quickly stood up and Picked up Zelda, who was also laughing.
“Well everyone is just falling today.” The man laughed, sitting up and fixing the round glassed on his face. Lance slowly began to realize that this was the new student teacher. He then realized that the new student teacher was very cute.
“I think you’ve been doing most of the falling Matthew.” Mrs. Gibson said, knocking Lance out of his stare. Lance quickly stood up straight and held out a hand to help Matthew stand up.
“Thank you.” Matthew grabbed Lance's hand and pulled himself up. Once he was standing up he let go of Lance's hand and wiped his together with a smile.
“I'm Mathew, the kids new student teacher, but you can call me Matt.” Matt said, looking Lance up and down. Lance shuffled slightly and nodded, slightly flustered.
“I'm Lance, Link and Zelda's dad.” Lance smiled,”I've heard alot about you from the kids.”
“Good things I hope.” Matt laughed. Lance laughed and nodded before looking at Mrs. Gibson, ignoring the gay thoughts creeping into his mind.
“Again, sorry for being late.” Lance gave the women a small smile, which was not returned. He nodded again and turned to Link. He glanced at Zelda, seeing her help Matt with his papers.
“Ready to go?” Lance asked Link. The boy nodded quickly, moving his hair out of his face before talking.
“I want to go see the Lions when we’re there!” Link said loudly,” Tammy said that they are the coolest part of the Zoo.”
“Did you hear about the new lion baby?”Lance asked, remembering the Lion cub that was extracted from a exotic breeder.The zoo was a temporary holding place for it while the sanctuary it was going to made arrangements to come pick it up and make room for it.
“Can we see it?”Link asked, bouncing on his heels in excitement.Zelda handed Matt the papers, which he thanked her for, as she stood up and bounced on her heels with LInk in excitment.
“Of course, Rolo wouldn't mind you guys visiting.”Link cheered at this and hugged Zelda.The girl smiled, but frowned at the contact.She had her moments where she hated being touched and Lance was guessing this was one of them.
“You work in the marine part, right?” Matt asked before Lance could move LInk away from Zelda.
“Yeah,”Lance nodded, running a hand through his hair,“work with the sick animals and occasionally give tours.”
“Cool.” Matt said, quickly his face fell and he began to rapidly talk,”Not the sick animals part, that sounds terrible, but the whole working at a zoo and such is cool.”
“I understood what you meant.” Lance laughed waving his hand around in a dismissing motion, ”It’s a cool job, I can take the kids with me when I work on the weekend and they love it.”
“Today we’re going to see the new dolphin!” Zelda yelled, smiling widely and bouncing on her heels. Matt smiled and held up his hand for a high five, which Zelda quickly hit.
“Awesome, maybe you can tell the class about it on monday during story time.” Matt said, making Link gasp and look at Mrs. Gibson with wide eyes.
“Can we do that?” He asked, grabbing his backpack straps.Mrs. Gibson hesitated but smiled and nodded.
“Yes, you two can share your adventure on monday.”
“Yeah!” The twins yelled.Link fist bumped the air, making Lance and Matt laugh, while Zelda smiled widely.
Once the twins were done with there excitement, Mrs.Gibson tapped her watch and LAnce was reminded of the time.Lance straightened up and coughed before giving Matt and Mrs.Gibson a smile.
“Well, I think we should get going, don’t want to be stuck in traffic any longer than we need to be.”
“That would be ideal, I have papers to grade and Matt here needs to deliver some to the office for me.”Mrs.Gibson waved at the two kids and nodded sternly at Lance before walking back into the classroom.
Lance looked at Matt with a small smile, causing Matt to smile back.
“I'm actually heading out the way you are, I can walk you guys out if you want.”Matt suddenly said, moving the stack of papers from both hands to one so he could point behind him.
Just as Lance was about to tell Matt he didn't have to, Link spoke before him.
“That would be awesome!”
Matt laughed and looked at Lance with a raised eyebrow, silently asking if that was okay.After a few seconds of hesitation, Lance nodded.
“I don’t see any harm in it,”Lance shrugged, making Link and Zelda cheer.Link grabbed Matt's hand while Zelda grabbed Lances and began to push the two forward, rapidly talking about whatever they could think of.