Chapter Text
Eric was going to be late. Somehow, he was going to be later than the kids he was supposed to teach. When he was hired to work at Samwell, Eric never expected he would be late on the first day of school. All that was going through his head was Oh god I’m going to be fired on the first day of school oh no my mama will be so disappointed in me.
He finally got to Samwell High School, and was caught off guard, not for the first time, of the beauty that was Faber, the ice rink for the hockey team and general skating. While he would also be working there, he was in fact late for his first home ec class, and should stop being caught by Faber. He pulled up to the front building, before running down the empty hallways, before reaching a classroom that was surrounded by twenty something students milling around the closed, locked door.
“Sorry I’m late, y’all. Don’t have a reasonable excuse, unfortunately. Let’s get inside, and start day one of Home economics!” Eric pulled out his set of keys and unlocked the door, swinging it open and ushering the students into the room. Before he himself entered, he checked his watch, and was thankful he was only five minutes late. He went to the front of the classroom to the cooking bench, placing his bag on the counter, next to the fridge. At least he had had the foresight to stock the fridge and pantry with quality ingredients. Too bad today was only syllabus day.
“Thanks for payin’ attention, y’all. See ya tomorrow!” Eric waved the last kid out the door, and breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t taught seniors before, and was worried about all the horror stories he had heard from his last school. Luckily, everything went smoothly, and he would also be in time for the next class after the break.
Eric was looking over the roster for his next class and counting out the next set of syllabi, when there was a knock at the open door. He glanced up, and hoped to god that he wasn’t slack-jawed, because the most gorgeous man stood in the door, with a look of annoyance on his face. Eric cleared his throat and put down his papers, turning fully to the man that he finally recognized as one of the other teachers from the first staff meeting.
“Hi, what can I do ya for?” He tried really hard to remember the man’s name, but all he could remember is that he taught history.
“You were late,” the man said bluntly, and Eric’s smile faltered. “I was trying to find you before school, so we could talk about today’s classes, but you weren’t here.”
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.” Eric wasn’t smiling anymore, too confused to even put on his usual front. He was pretty sure that the man standing in front of him only taught history.
“For the gym classes, that happen later in the day? You know, that we’re joint teaching? After lunch?” The man said it in monotone, but still managed to convey his major annoyance in Eric’s lack of memory. But Eric finally did remember. It clicked. The man before him was Jack Zimmermann, the senior history teacher and the gym teacher that Eric would be working with in the afternoons.
When Eric was hired, they had made a note that they needed a gym teacher, and Eric had made the offhanded comment that his dad was a football coach and that he himself was a junior figure skating champion, and that, at his old school, he was sometimes brought in to sub for the gym classes. And suddenly, he was hired for two positions. At the first staff meeting, which was mainly used as a way to tell the new rules for the new school year, Eric tried to meet everyone, and had met Jack, and had learned that he was also a gym teacher, but hadn’t put two and two together that they would be working together.
“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! No one told me that we would be workin’ together. I’ve got time now, if you wanna talk about it.”
“No, it’s fine. Today is just syllabus day anyways. Just come in half an hour early tomorrow.” And with that, Jack turned around and left, presumably to go to his own class. Eric pursed his lips, but instead of saying anything, he just sighed and set an earlier alarm on his phone anyways. He was lucky that the syllabus for the gym classes had been sent to him already, so at least he knew what to expect for today. He sighed again and finished preparing for the next class.
The next two home ec classes ended without much problem, and Eric was beginning to feel confident that nothing else would go wrong today. But it was time for the gym classes he would be joint teaching with Jack. These were the last three classes in the day, and from his first interaction with Jack that he actually remembered, Eric wasn’t looking forward to working with him. He may be drop dead gorgeous, but with a personality like that, Eric didn’t think he’d have any fun.
As Eric walked towards the gym, he became determined to make these classes fun to teach, even if it was working with Mr. Handsome-yet-dull. Eric picked up his pace, weaving between the kids in the hallway, giving a few nods to the kids he recognized from his classes earlier. He was determined to try to beat Jack to the gym, even if he’d have to rush every day from his other classroom.
However, once Eric reached the gym, Jack was already waiting there, even though it had only taken Eric three minutes to walk the distance between the two classrooms. Even being slightly early brought a disapproving frown to Jack’s face, and Eric had to try really hard not to look disappointed. He didn’t understand why he wanted to impress Jack so hard, but he also didn’t want to let Jack know that he was trying to impress.
“Oh good, you’re finally here. Did you look over the syllabus, or do I need to hand you one too?” Jack said, offering one of the printed copies, like Eric was a student, not a teacher.
“I did read it, thank you very much, Mr. Zimmermann.” Eric was a bit indignant, he’ll admit. Jack didn’t seem to catch it though, nodding.
“Good, good. We have three classes of 40 students each, which is why they put two teachers together. I wouldn’t want to do all the work,” Jack said. Eric was trying really hard not to frown visibly with every word that came out of Jack’s mouth.
“Well I wouldn’t want that either. Look, the kids are coming in, let’s just get ready for them, shall we?” Eric went to the back room, to the coaches’ office in the locker room. There were two desks, one that was empty of decorations or anything, and the other desk had minimal decoration. A few pictures, a couple trophies, and a couple medals. Eric didn’t look too closely at any of it, instead lying his bag down on the other desk, before going back out to where Jack was directing the kids to sit on the floor.
Eric watched him for a moment, noticing the soft look he had for the kids, that changed almost instantly when Jack noticed Eric standing off to the side a moment too long. Eric started at the intense stare, and went and joined Jack up front, only a little bit sheepishly. Jack gave him another look, but went back to telling the kids who were entering to sit on the floor, making it known every so often that roll would be taken, but it wouldn’t make any difference where they sat.
Once the kids were situated, Jack handed over the roll sheet to Eric quietly, and Eric took it with a nod. He was glad that Jack was actually going to give him some of the work, despite all that he had said earlier.
“Hi, kids. My name is Eric Bittle, and y’all can call me Bittle or Eric. Coach Bittle is my father.” Eric nodded over to Jack, who gestured back for Eric to continue, before leaning back with his arms crossed. “This here is Coach Jack Zimmermann. We will be joint teaching you for this semester. Now, I’ll be going through the roll call and Coach Zimmermann will be going through the syllabus, which he will pass out after roll. Let’s get started. Tera Anfera?”
Eric began going through the roll, marking every so often an absent student, or a correction in pronunciation, or a preferred name. Jack seemed content to stand off to the side for the time being, gripping the syllabi, and watching the students.
“… Steve Zallipski? Alright, that’s everyone! Now, turn your attentions back to Coach Zimmermann, and we’ll go over the syllabus.” Jack nodded, pushing off the wall.
“After I pass out the syllabus, I want you all to look it over for a few minutes, and then we will go over it. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask me or Bittle.” Jack handed out stacks to the kids in the front corners, with directions to pass it to the center, and to return the rest to Eric.
Whereas Jack had leaned against the wall while Eric was talking, Eric stayed standing where he was, and smiling whenever he made eye contact with the students. Eric was determined to continue with a better first impression with the students than he made with Jack. Eric had recognized a few of the names from his earlier classes too, and wanted to continue the good impression on them.
Jack glanced at his watch, and clapped his hands once. “Alright. Time to go over what you just read. The class will be broken into different units, with the first unit being general track, and the last field being the swim unit. The winter unit, the longest unit, will be the skate unit, conducted at Faber. It is broken up over winter break, but Faber will be open, and there will be some classes that will be conducted if you want to retain what you learn over the two weeks.” After the summary, Jack proceeded to give a more in-depth go over of the syllabus. It took a total of ten minutes to go over completely.
“Since this is a joint class, we will each be taking half of you each day, and although what we will each be teaching you will basically be the same, there will be different structures to our teaching styles. Especially during the winter skate unit: I will be teaching those of you who would want to learn hockey skills, and Bittle will be teaching those who would rather learn figure skating. You have until the end of November to tell us exactly what you want to learn in that unit, so I would think long and hard if I were all of you. We will be reminding you of this at the beginning of November.”
Eric was impressed that Jack could even say that much. He didn’t look like someone who spoke all that much in his classes, but athletics seemed to bring out another side to him. Eric hoped he could match his passion. He wasn’t as interested in it as he was in cooking.
Once Jack finished with the syllabus, he told the kids to just hang out for the rest of class. He reminded them again that they could ask any questions, and then dismissed them for the remainder. Eric nodded his agreement, flashing one of his bright smiles to the kids. The majority of them went off into groups, chatting and playing around. A few others went up to Jack, and Eric watched them quietly talk, excitedly offering pens and paper, to an exasperated Jack. Eric didn’t make much note of it, as a few kids from his home ec classes came up, excited to see a teacher they knew already.
The rest of the class went the same, a few kids coming up to each of them through the last 20 minutes, but the two of them didn’t talk until the class was over and it was time to get ready for the next one. But in the five minutes between the two, Jack only wordlessly handed over the next roll sheet.
“Let’s do everything the same for the next two classes. There isn’t a difference between the three classes in terms of syllabi. I think you’ll do a better job reading their names.” Eric had noticed his accent earlier, and nodded. It was fine for him that way too, because this way he would learn everyone’s names quickly. Though he had a feeling that Jack wouldn’t have any issues after today. Eric thought that Jack would probably spend time looking over the names for all of his classes, and learn each and every one. Eric knew that he himself would, and despite the way Jack had interacted with him, Jack didn’t seem like all that bad of a guy.
The next two classes ran smoothly, just like the first, and Jack was again pursued by a few students after he released them for the remainder of class. After the third time, Eric finally began to get curious, but wanted to wait until they were in their shared office. After the final bell, Eric left to go to get his bag, and Jack matched his steps. They wordlessly walked back to the office together, not hostile but not friendly either. Eric reached the office first, and held the door open for Jack, who nodded in thanks.
Again, Eric glanced at the two desks, and sighed at his empty side. He looked over to Jack’s desk, and finally looked at the photos and trophies and medals, just a little closer. It was then that Eric decided to ask Jack.
“Some of the kids came up to you with pens and paper, what for?” Eric didn’t want to ask yet about what he was currently looking at. He wanted Jack to confirm his suspicions first. His parents didn’t raise him to assume anything.
“Oh uh haha that. I used to do hockey in juniors until… uh well something happened. My dad was also a pro player though. So, they were asking for my autograph.” Jack laughed, a bit uncomfortable, Eric could tell. Eric wondered why, until Jack continued. “You don’t want one, do you?”
“Oh no. I had no idea about you or your father. Err… Who is your dad, if I may ask?” Eric didn’t have any clue, despite watching hockey all his life. After Eric asked though, Jack visibly untensed.
“Ah, he’s Bad Bob Zimmermann. He last played for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Won a couple cups with them too. And has… a lot of cups.” Jack kind of chuckled uncomfortably, but Eric was already nodding.
“Oh yeah, I guess there was a Zimmermann in the NHL. I played a bit of hockey in high school myself, only on a co-ed team, but I didn’t go to a college that had a team, so I only got to skate a few times in college. I keep up to date with the league these days though, since I always loved the sport. My team is the Falconers,” Eric said. He was glad this conversation they were having, although a bit uncomfortable, wasn’t accusatory anymore. With each thing Eric said about hockey, Jack seemed to relax.
“Oh, yeah, the Falconers… I know a few of the players from back in juniors...” Jack seemed like he wanted to say something more, but decided against it. Eric decided that that was ok, since it was only day one, and they had an entire year of talking like this. He was sure that they could be friends after all. Eric checked his watch, and waved good-bye to Jack.
“I’ve got to run, but I’ll be seeing you half an hour before school, right?” Eric said. Jack stumbled out a ‘bye’, and with that, Eric grabbed his bag and was out the door, on his way home.
The next morning, Eric woke up an hour earlier, and managed to get to the school 45 minutes early, instead of five minutes late. Definitely a marked improvement, but Eric was determined to get there an hour early tomorrow, even if just to prove to himself that he can. Since he had time to kill before his meeting with Jack, Eric decided to stop by the staff lounge, to meet again the teachers he was only able to say hello to at the summer staff meeting. There was one each week, but it wasn’t until Friday. Being only Tuesday, he wanted to at least be able to talk to them.
When Eric entered the lounge, there were four teachers in there, all casually chatting. Eric recognized the art teacher, the economics and government teacher, gender studies and psychology teacher, and the biology teacher. He had met them all briefly, but didn’t remember their names. Luckily, or unluckily, the gender studies psych teacher noticed him.
“Brah! Dude! Come over here, let’s get to know each other!” The man came over to Eric, and pulled him closer. “The name’s Shitty Knight. Shitty is a nickname, because the first name’s shitty. You can call me Shitty. Including around the other students. Although… probs not around the principal.” Eric was quickly overwhelmed by Shitty’s energy, but he was catching up.
“Oh, my name is Eric Bittle. I’m teaching home ec and, uh, gym with Jack. Err. Zimmermann.” Shitty whooped, and Eric started.
“Jack! I love that man. My best friend. We do some joint classes too, especially when talking about the history of gender studies. And he’s got an amazing butt,” Shitty sighed, and Eric nearly choked. Luckily, the art teacher pulled Shitty off him, and with a small punch, turned to Eric.
“Don’t listen to Shitty. He’s always like this whenever someone mentions Jack. How anyone could handle that, I couldn’t tell you. The name’s Larissa Duan, I teach art.” She gave Eric a warm smile, and he matched it, though he was still a bit off guard from Shitty.
“I’m Justin Oluransi, and this is Adam Birkholtz. I teach bio, and he teaches econ and gov. Don’t mind Shitty.”
“Although, he isn’t wrong. Jack does have an amazing butt.” Adam butted in. Eric was slightly overwhelmed by everyone, but they were all friendly enough. He didn’t think he would have to make a good impression on these guys.
“We missed meeting you yesterday. Jack told us you were late to school?” Larissa asked him, both genuine, accusatory, and curious, seemingly all at once. It was both disconcerting and reassuring.
“Ah yeah. I overslept, and then the traffic was just dreadful and I got a bit caught off guard by the windows and overall building that is Faber.” The other four nodded sagely, and Eric was reassured by the fact that he wasn’t the only one.
“So, instead of being five minutes late, you got here 45 minutes early?” Shitty asked this question, with a joking tone. Before Eric could reply, a sixth voice chimed in.
“Yeah, I asked him to get here half an hour early, so we could go over the day’s lesson plans.” Jack entered the room, and Shitty immediately went over to give him a giant hug, which Eric was surprised to see that Jack accepted with a laugh. He seemed in a better mood today, but that might just be because he was with all his friends.
“Ah, makes sense. Jacky-boy here likes to be extra prepared, and gets annoyed if something doesn’t go exactly to his plan. He seems to forget that other people don’t know his plan,” Shitty said. He ruffled Jack’s hair, Jack objecting, before continuing. “He’ll warm up to you eventually. Don’t take anything personally, and if you do, tell me about it.”
“Shitty, come on! Bittle, we need to start discussing what to do today, and I want to finish before we have to get ready for our first classes.” Jack pulled himself away from Shitty, who tried one last ruffle, which Jack brushed off with a laugh. Larissa, Adam, and Justin watched the interaction with amusement, but Eric just felt confused. He had just thought the day before that he and Jack could be friends, but seeing how Jack interacts with his friends compared to how he interacts with him, that hope dwindled just a little. Eric allowed Jack to direct him over to the other end of the staff lounge, away from the noisy quartet.
“What’s the plan for our classes, then? Split the class, one in the gym, one out on the track?” Eric asked. He hadn’t actually been a gym teacher before, and appreciated that Jack was there to direct him. They may be equals, but Jack had been working here longer, and Eric was fine letting him take the lead.
“Pretty much. For this unit, it will just be split evenly for the classes. For each day, we’ll switch off. I was thinking that you would take the ones inside first, and I’ll go outside. We’ll teach the same students,” Jack said. He was in full business mode, or sports mode, or whatever it was.
“How ‘bout I just take the students inside? I’m not all that used to coaching yet, and I think it would be easier for me to control the kids in a smaller space. Next unit, we could switch off from inside and outside, with a different split of the kids.” Eric had done some thinking about it all. First unit, he would think that it would be easier to meet everyone that way. Switching the groups for the next unit, and each unit.
“Hmm, alright, makes sense. For today, then, let’s discuss what we’ll each do,” Jack started saying. For the rest of the discussion, it was strictly professional, and Eric was only a little disappointed. It was interesting just to listen to Jack speak. Eric could hear the passion despite the professionalism.
It took another ten minutes of discussion, but Eric knew exactly what he would be doing today, and for that he was thankful for Jack telling him to come in early. And he was determined even more so to get in early for the rest of the week, month, semester.
“… And that’s how we make a pie crust. Now, we will put the crusts in the fridge for the night, and make the filling tomorrow!” Eric began to patrol the cooking benches that the students were working at. He had decided ahead of time that the first lesson would be to bake a pie, then he would get into the actual curriculum. Being able to make a pie was an important thing. And Eric was willing to share his moomaw’s recipe.
“Oh Amanda, that crust looks beautiful! Sam, I love what you did with the edges. Georgie, I’m impressed! You told me you hadn’t done any baking before, but your crust is spot on!” Eric went around, complimenting or fixing, never criticizing. He wanted his kids to enjoy cooking, because a kid who could cook was a kid who could live. Sure, a pie isn’t very nutritional, but it was only the first of many recipes that Eric would teach his three classes.
“When y’all are done, bring your pans up to my counters, and place them with the note card in the center with your name on it. And once done with that, please clean up your workstations, and return to your seats.” The kids began to bring their crusts up one by one, and Eric began to take them out to the industrial fridge. Once they were all loaded, and the kids were back in their seats, Eric told them how good of a job they were doing, but reminded them that this was only the first week, and that they would get into the actual school stuff and learning in the next few weeks.
Just as he was finishing up, the bell rang, and the kids all got up to leave. Eric watched them go. They all seemed engaged and interested in what he had to teach, and that was frankly the biggest compliment. Eric always liked to know he was doing a good job at his job.
The next two classes went just as smoothly, with just as much praise to give around, and by the time Eric was to head off to the first gym class of the day, he had a full fridge of pie dough and a happy heart. He hoped that mood would carry over to the next three classes. Even if it had to deal with cool and professional Jack Zimmermann. Eric set off for the gym, and was surprised to see he was the first one there. There wasn’t anything to do until the students finished changing, so Eric went to his office.
He and Jack shared an office at the gym, and it was obvious which side was Jack’s. There were pictures on the desk, and a row of trophies on a shelf. Eric glanced at the other side of the room, frowning at the plainness. He didn’t have time to fix it before class, so he made a mental note to put things up later. Eric sat at his desk, with nothing to do for ten minutes.
He messed around with his phone for a minute before he got a phone call from his mom. Eric checked the clock before answering. He had a little time, and if he didn’t, he always made time for his mom.
“Hey mama. Is something going on? You make it sound like I'm a student again, mama. I have a few minutes to talk right now. Not bad, my home ec classes are amazing, and the kids are already so good! It's so fun to teach them. Haven't had them yet... But there's another teacher who's already got a problem with me, seems like. I think he hates my guts. All It was was that I was late to school! I only overslept a little bit. But this guy... Jack is the most dedicated and most insufferable guy. He wants me to be early from now on.
“Not like I didn't try. Got lost along the way and ended up later than even oversleeping would get me. And he comes in ready to bite my head off! How was I supposed to know that he wanted to talk to me before school? I ain't a mind reader! Wish he'd at least tried to get in touch with me before today. Instead, I feel like this class is just going to be awful with him mama. Jack Zimmermann is gonna be the worst coworker I've ever had, mark that down.” Whatever else Eric was going to say to his mom was cut off when Jack walked in.
The two men stared at each other for a moment. Eric’s mom was talking on the other end of the line, but Eric wasn’t listening anymore. He had just insulted Jack to his face, but not by talking to him. And that’s probably the worst part. Eric was shit-talking Jack to his own mother.
“Mama, I’m gonna have to call you back. Yeah, class is starting soon.” Eric hung up, never taking his eyes off Jack. Jack for his part didn’t look angry, just a little sad. “Jack, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean--”
“But you did. You meant every word,” Jack interrupted. He grabbed a bag that was sitting in the corner, and left before Eric could say anything in his defense. Eric watched the door close behind him, mentally kicking himself. He’d have to wait to apologize to Jack until after class. Maybe even until after school was out. This was going to be a long rest of the day.
He waited a few more minutes before deciding to just go out to the gym and wait for everyone. The small office was just a little too small for his comfort right now. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing Jack again after that interaction, but Eric was a professional. He wasn’t going to let his interactions with another teacher affect his work.
Eric had brought the clipboard with the two roll sheets on it, one for him and one for Jack, and was waiting for the kids, and Jack, to join him for roll call. They had decided to split the roll into two before class, and Eric had volunteered to do it during the fifteen minute break. That way, since they were both still learning everyone’s names, they wouldn’t have to ask.
Eric pulled the two sheets from the clips, and put them side by side. He watched as the last of the kids, and finally Jack, came out to join him on the gym floor. Jack had changed, but Eric was horrified to learn what his athletic wear was. T-shirt, leggings, shorts (which would’ve been the worst), and bright yellow running shoes (which were the worst). It almost was bad enough for Eric to talk to him, but he was still mortified about what had happened earlier, so he kept his comments to himself. Once all the kids were there, Eric began the class.
“Alright everyone. Today we will start our first unit, track and field. We will be splitting the class in two, and one group will stay inside with me, and the other will go out to the track with Coach Zimmermann. As I go through roll, the first set of names will be going outside. We’ve already divided the class, so we’re sorry if your friend groups get split up. For Coach Zimmermann’s group, we’ve got Freddy Baines?” Eric went down the first set of names, and when he got to the last one he handed the list off to Jack. Jack called for the kids standing to come with him, and after they had all shuffled out the door to the fields, Eric turned to the remaining group.
“Now, y’all get to stay with me, but I gotta make sure y’all are all here. So, Tera Anfera?” Eric went through is set of the roll, and after the last kid, he called for the kids to get into rows of four. Eric began to teach the class, joining them on each exercise, and he was glad that the next time he would see Jack would be in 40 minutes.
The next two classes were far less mortifying, and Eric and Jack managed to get through their entire curriculum without a hitch. Afterwards, Eric went back to the office, and pulled open his gym bag, taking out his own decorations for his desk. He had another desk in the home ec classroom, which he had nicely decorated, but he didn’t like how plain his side looked compared to Jack’s. He placed a photo of his family, a photo from his college graduation, a photo from his last school with the kids he gave diplomas to. He Command-stripped his own few medals to the wall, the gold glinting back at him like a proud memory. On his desk, he set down a pen cup filled with pens and pencils and a pair of scissors. Eric glanced over at Jack, who was clicking away at his computer instead of watching Eric, but still Eric was wary as he pulled a small rainbow flag out of his gym bag and stuck it into the pen cup.
Satisfied that he was well decorated, Eric began to do his own work on the computer, filling in his side of the rosters. He was proud that he was already starting to remember the names of the kids. He was sure by the end of the week, he would know all one hundred or so kids that he taught. He made a mental note to figure out how many kids overlapped in his classes, and then to figure out how many kids from that that he taught total.
He was broken out of his thoughts by a cough from the other desk, and he looked up to see Jack looking over at him.
“I’m sorry you think I’ll be the worst coworker you’ve ever had.” Jack said bluntly. Eric flinched, but didn’t look away from Jack.
“I’m so sorry you had to hear any of that, really. I was just venting about our conversation from earlier. I don’t really think any of that, you know. I can’t know anything just from the first day, right?” Eric said. It wasn’t a great apology, but Eric didn’t want to stick around longer, or talk about it anymore. He picked up both his bags, giving a small wave to Jack, before leaving for the day. Any hope of being friends with Jack were put on indefinite hold after all that.
The next two days, Eric did all that he promised himself: he arrived an hour early, hanging out in the staff lounge and meeting some of the other teachers. It seemed each day that there were different people in the room, with a few of the others from before. Each day it seemed that Shitty was there, though Eric only had the three days to base it on. Shitty always seemed excited to see him though, and Eric appreciated his eccentricity.
Larissa was there on Thursday, and Eric found that she sort of mellowed Shitty out, even just a little. Eric figured there was more to that, and hoped he’d find out eventually. Justin and Adam were never seen apart, despite the fact that their subjects couldn’t be more different. They were always popping into each other’s classes, Eric found out, and he wondered if they even had a full set of classes.
In his own classes, Eric’s home ec students began to finish their pies, and he told them that they would be able to take them home come Friday. The kids were excited, and Eric again thought how lucky he was to have three engaged classes. He hoped it was the case, anyways. None of them even seemed disappointed that they would be doing something far less interesting the next week. Maybe because they had made something all on their own, that Eric was reassuring them would taste delicious.
Even in the classes he taught with Jack, nothing went wrong. Eric chose to change in the bathroom instead of the office on Wednesday, but when he left he was met with Jack’s surprised face, waiting outside the office. It was enough to break any lingering discomfort from the day before, as they both burst out laughing. From then on, the relationship between the two was mostly professional. They didn’t talk past their classes anymore, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable atmosphere anymore either.
Eric wouldn’t deny that he was a little disappointed, but at least he knew that he could try to build on their relationship with more time. They’ve only known each other for less than a week, so it wasn’t like it ruined any chances of becoming friends. They would meet in the staff lounge for twenty minutes to go over the lesson plan each day, but for the first week it was all the same as the first day, just with a different group of students.
It went smoothly, that is, until Friday morning, and the first staff meeting of the school year. Eric was nervous, but determined. He had met everyone before at the meeting in the summer, but he wanted to try to become friends with everyone, and try to build a system. A system of friends, but a system nonetheless.
Eric entered the meeting room a few minutes before the start of the meeting. The meeting itself was more of a check in from the last week and an introduction for the next week, but Eric didn’t really know what to expect. Shitty and Jack were already there, sitting next to each other, with another man on the other side of Jack, who Eric partially recognized as the weird math teacher that he heard more about than he saw. Larissa was sitting next to Shitty, and when she saw Eric, she gestured for him to join her on her other side.
He saw Adam and Justin across from Jack and weird math teacher, but everyone else he had only met in passing: the English teacher and woodshop teacher who couldn’t stand each other but were still friends, the happy-go-lucky counselor that Eric wanted to protect at all costs, a very confused sub, a dismissive special ed teacher, and a loud theater teacher. There were a few other teachers he hadn’t met yet, but he was determined to meet everyone.
Once everyone settled down, the principal and vice principal walked in. Principal Hall looked around the room, making a mental count of the teachers, and with a satisfied nod sat at the head of the table. Vice principal Murray stayed standing.
“The Samwell senior staff meeting will now come to a start. Anyone have anything to report?” Eric understood this to mean ‘anything bad’, and so he kept his mouth shut. A few of the others around the room shook their heads, and Hall in turn nodded his. “Good. The first order of business then is discussing classroom policies…” For the next half hour, this was all they talked about, and Eric couldn’t help but check the clock every once in a while. If he wanted to meet any of the other teachers more, he wanted this meeting to end quickly, especially if Jack still wanted to talk about their plans.
“Now that that’s all out of the way, you are all dismissed. Please keep up the good work. Remember, these kids are the future,” Hall said, bringing Eric out of his head. Most of the people Eric hadn’t met took their leave, but those that he had only met once chose to stay, which Eric would take.
Before he could go introduce himself, again, to them, though, Larissa turned to him in her chair.
“Yo, Eric. How’s the school treating you? You’ve only been here a week, and I bet it isn’t at all like your last school.” She wasn’t wrong, but it’s not like the last school was all that different.
“Hey now, this school is only a bit bigger, so it’s pretty much the same. The kids are wonderful, responding well and excited to learn. I’m glad to be here teaching them.” Eric smiled easily at her, and she matched it with a smirk.
“Oh brah, tell us ‘bout your last school. I hear your graduating class was only ‘bout fifty,” Shitty butted in. Eric noticed that his conversation with Larissa had a bit of an audience, and the attention was a little uncomfortable. For some reason, Eric looked over to Jack, who was holding his own conversation with the math teacher, and Eric was surprised to find he was relieved.
“Ah yeah. The whole school was pretty small, but my daddy had coached football there, and he said he could get me a job as a starting point. I even went to the school, and so I ended up working alongside people who had taught me.” Eric left out the part where he left because he was gay, and wanted to go somewhere he could be more open about it. A small high school in Georgia didn’t seem the place. A staff meeting on the last day of his first week didn’t seem the place to tell the staff that either.
“Oh that’s cool. Does that mean you played football?” This question came from the English teacher, Derek Nurse. He had talked some in the meeting, and Hall had addressed him by name.
“Only a little. It wasn’t for me.” Eric paused, wondering how much he should say, but decided, since it’s what got him the second part of his job, that it was ok to mention it. “Actually, when I was younger, I did competitive figure skating, and was a junior figure skating champion. We uh… moved to a different town though and away from my coach so I couldn’t continue. Instead, I did some co-ed hockey in high school.”
Eric’s audience gave some oo’s and ah’s to his mention of being a champion, and some “That sucks, man”s because of him having to stop. The guys all chimed in with their own sports stories, and it was going well, until Shitty brought Jack into the conversation.
“This guy, he used to do hockey, but was also almost pro . Woulda gone number one in the draft, but dropped off the face of the planet right before. Imagine my shock upon coming to Samwell to teach, to find out Jack fucking Zimmermann had stopping doing hockey… to become a history teacher. Can you believe it?” Shitty slung an arm around Jack’s front, dragging him away from his conversation and into theirs, turning him around so that Eric could see just how uncomfortable Jack was with it all. Eric remembered Jack mentioning having done juniors, but had assumed by ‘something happened’ that Jack was talking about an injury.
“Shitty, we talked about this. I don’t want to talk about this.” Jack looked like he might bolt at any second, and Shitty took his arm from around his shoulders.
“Sorry brah.” He held up his hands in an appeasing manner, and Jack turned back to talking to the math teacher about who knows what. Eric’s curiosity was piqued though, and he wanted to know just what happened. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to look it up, and he definitely didn’t want to ask. He didn’t want to make Jack hate him.
For the rest of the time they were there, Eric chatted with everyone left, including Derek Nurse, Will Pointdexter, and Chris Chow, who Eric learned was the main reason the other two were friends. He was jostled around by everyone, people who Eric found were much taller than himself, but were all making an effort themselves to be friends with him, which he both appreciated and reciprocated.
He invited them to come by his home ec classroom during lunch, to offer the three pies he had baked with his three classes, since they would all be done by then. Everyone said they would stop by, even Jack, though Shitty had to threaten bodily force to get him to go. Shitty even made the argument that if Eric would be going to his classroom at lunch, since the two of them would be teaching a class right before and right after, that it just made sense to go with Eric. And after that well argued point, Jack conceded.
Once everyone shifted to their own groups, spilling out of the room, presumably to go to their own classrooms, Jack came up to Eric.
“Bittle. Let’s talk about where we want to go with the next week.” He was again purely professional, but Eric couldn’t help but feel the odd tension that came up after Shitty talked about Jack’s days in hockey. It was like every interaction they had went one step forward and two steps back. Eric wasn’t sure how to fix that.
Eric mulled it over for the majority of the day, even as he smiled at his kids, congratulating them on their pies, even as he ran laps in the first class of gym. He grew almost restless come the end of class, as he went and grabbed his bag to head back to his home ec classroom, to have pie with a bunch of his fellow teachers. Including Jack.
Eric almost forgot that Jack had agreed to go with Eric, which is why he was surprised when Jack fell into step with him, making almost no sound. They walked like that in silence, until they happened to run into Shitty in the hallway, and Eric listened mostly as Shitty talked about his classes.
He was surprised to find a whole group of teachers mulling around outside his door, reminiscent to the first day of classes when Eric was late to school. He pushed through to unlock the doors, listening to the excited chatter. He couldn’t help but smile, considering none of them had even tried any of his baking before. If they were this excited already, who knew what their reaction would be upon eating it.
Eric pushed open the door, and the group of nine teachers pushed past him, before he could even set foot inside. Only Jack looked a bit sheepish, but Shitty had a hand on his back, shoving him forward.
“Y’all can go make yourselves comfortable as I go get the pies,” Eric said. He had brought a portable pie warmer from home, because he had intended to take the pies with him, but it wasn’t like he could finish off all three pies by himself, so he was glad he had so many people to share them with. He came out carrying all three pie tins, and everyone visibly quieted, staring at the pies with hungry eyes.
“They’re all apple, if that’s all right. I had thought about making three different pies for the three different classes, but figured it worked out better this way, ingredient and expenditure-wise.” He placed the pies on the counter, and gestured for the group to help themselves.
Eric grabbed his own slice, and sat at one of the tables, watching as these grown men and Larissa tore his three pies to pieces, helping themselves to generous servings. Eric would be horrified if he hadn’t expected it from the way they had acted beforehand.
“Eric, brah, you are a god. How can anyone even make something that tastes this good?” Shitty moaned. There were a few other similar noises from the other teachers, and Eric noticed that only Jack seemed to be eating the slice he had with even a little grace.
“Yeah, how did you make this? Can you make other things? Like cakes? Birthday cakes? Possibly?” Eric laughed at Chris’s less than subtle attempt to hire him for a birthday cake, but still gave him his number to talk details. To the rest of the group though, he explained himself.
“My moomaw baked the best pies and cakes and anything really, and my mama and me got the recipes straight from her. It’s what I want to teach down to my own kids. I’m lucky I get to help out here in spreading the deliciousness.” A few of them were nodding sagely, like they understood, as if they didn’t have their mouths full of pie. Eric was completely satisfied with their reactions, even Jack’s, who was quietly eating his second slice.
Eric always felt proud of his cooking when someone enjoyed it, but it was another thing to have people he wanted to consider friends enjoying it. It was enough to brighten his mood for the rest of the day.