Work Text:
Hugo Vega is a literature teacher, he often says. He educated middle schoolers and high schoolers about literature, English, writing, and in his own opinion, common knowledge that everyone should know by the time you graduate.
But when one teacher begs him to cover her history class, Hugo is stumped. People often seem to assume he knows history, and love it, but Hugo isn't much of a historian. While he took pride in trying to learn alot of different subjects, mostly to help Ernest whenever the boy allowed him to attempt at help him with homework,
And why the Victorian era, of all? Sure he knew some authors from that era, Bram stoker, Mary Shelly, to name a couple but the history itself, he knew the bare minimum. Most of it he wasn't even sure was true history either, due to it being taught from Damien, and as much as the man was educated, he had a tendency to enjoy misleading people for a laugh. Hugo by time had managed to notice when Damien joked, but sometimes, the man was so good at that joke style, it was difficult to know when he was and wasn't joking.
gathering his courage, he walked the short distance from his house, to right next door, the big Victorian house towering over him, Quickly pounding the door with the bat-shaped knocker, waiting for the door to open.
Damien wasn't slow in opening up, smiling as he noticed the guest at his door, and opened the door more. "Why hello, Hugo. I apologize, I didn't expect you to arrive. Would you like some tea?"
Always the gentleman, Hugo noted, smiling at the gothic male, before nodding and entering the foyer, allowing Damien to hang up his coat. "So, dear friend, what brings you here?" Damien asks, guiding Hugo to one of his sitting rooms, which he remembered Lucien complaining about, because why would you need more than one sitting room?
"Ah-- I came to ask if I was allowed to borrow your knowledge, if it's not too much trouble.." Hugo answered, sitting down on the couch as Damien hurried to prepare some tea. Hugo could hear Music from upstairs, indicating the younger Bloodmarch was at home.
"Oh? well gladly, but um, I always assumed I would not be able to educate you at all, seeing as you seem to know everything." Damien commented bringing the tea set over, setting a hot,steaming cup by Hugo, then sitting next to him with his own.
"well, you see, I'm supposed to stand in for a history teacher... and the subject is the Victorian era."
Damien looked like a child on Christmas. Bright smile, as if he just got told he was 16 and his parents had bought him a car. Hugo just laughed. "Things are, I don't really know alot about it, so... I need your knowledge."
"Why, Hugo... I'd be honored to help you." Damien smiled, and got up. Before Hugo had the chance to ask why he stood up, Damien disappeared to the direction of the library. A couple minutes later he came back, with two huge books.
"This is going to be an introductory class, right?" Damien asked, and put the books on the table, opening the one on the top. "then you should probably start with talking about Victoria herself..."
<Text to: Orangeboy>
Yo
why is ur dad here
<text to: emo-Poe>
??
the fuck should i know
did u do shit?
<Text to: Orangeboy>
fuck u no
do u think he knows about the fish in colins locker?
<text to: emo-Poe>
Nah
we made sure no one saw us
<Text to: Orangeboy>
okay tru
w/e, see ya later nerd, gotta eavesdrop
Lucien tossed his phone onto his bed and stood up from his desk, opening his door to walk downstairs. Easiest way to eavesdrop, pretend you don't care. Hearing his dad rambling about the Victorian era though made him roll his eyes. Did Mr. Vega really come over just to hear everything about the Victorian era? Waste of time. Oh well, his dad seemed happy, Lucien could hear his excitement.
"Lucien?" Damien' voice stopped talking, calling for his son, and Lucien huffed a bit. Shit, caught.
"yeah?"
"what are you doing, darling?" Damien walked over to look at his son, who realized he hadn't planned WHAT to even claim he was doing.
"um... wondering why Mr Vega is here." Lucien confessed, sighing. Might as well get an answer.
"Oh, he's just here for guidance." Damien smiled, crossing his arms slightly. "if you're hungry I can prepare some food, darling, you could have asked."
"Uh... no, that's okay, dad. Thanks." Lucien quickly brushed it off, continuing over to the kitchen to grab a carton of milk, and drinking straight from it, much to his father's displeasure. "Lucien, what have I said about that?"
"Jesus, is it illegal to drink?" the boy huffed, moving his fringe to behind his ear, but begrudgingly grabbing a class, and poured the milk in anyway before setting the carton back.
"happy?"
"Very." Damien smiled, nodding in approval, turning to go back to Hugo. Lucien just rolled his eyes, and went upstairs with his glass.
<Text to: Orangeboy>
went down 4 a drink, got a lecture about proper drinking, fuck me.
<text to: emo-Poe>
lol
Almost two hours later, Hugo felt like his head was going to explode with information. Damien was a patient man, for sure, taking breaks when he noticed Hugo getting overwhelmed, and Hugo for once, pitied his students.
"Next time I notice a student losing focus, I should be softer on them.." he mumbled, taking off his glasses to rub his temples while Damien poured another cup of tea. If Hugo remembered right, this was the fifth cup.
"So Lucien isn't exaggerating when he claimed that you got punished for yawning?" the gothic man asked, and Hugo let out a laugh. "well, yes and no. Depends on the teachers. One teacher apparently got angry that a student was mumbling to themselves, and made them sit out in the hallway for the entire rest of the class, missing valuable time to study for a test." he spoke, and Damien frankly looked horrified.
" That sounds so... ancient. Actually that's very similar to how children in the Victorian era were disciplined for disrupting class."
"really?" Hugo asks, almost expecting Damien to use his 'no' type of joke, but Damien just nods.
"Really. Well, very similar, they would have to sit facing a corner for almost an entire hour for being 'slow', but of course losing so much valuable class time just made them get even further behind." Damien rambled, and Hugo could feel his headache come back.
"Victorians were rough..." He sighed. How in the hell would he even have time to come up with a good class plan with so much information?
"If only I could go back in time and bring a Victorian person with me, so they could do the talking..." he mumbled, earning a chuckle from Damien as he got up to serve more refreshments.
"If only time machines were true.." he heard Damien mumble, but that seemed to tick something in Hugo's head.
".. but I CAN bring a Victorian person with me." he smiled while Damien came back in, looking as puzzled as if Hugo had just sprouted a second head. "Pardon?"
"You!" Hugo exclaimed, excitement, and relief flowing in his face. "You can come and co-teach!"
Damien was silent as he looked at his friend, not seeming as excited as Hugo was, as he gently sat the tray back down on the table, now refilled, He let out a small sigh. "Hugo, dear friend, I do not believe I am able to be a valuable asset for you, and I doubt your students would be interested of hearing me ramble for an hour."
"You don't need to ramble-- I was thinking I could just show them a documentary, and then if they had questions, you could answer them, seeing as I really do not believe I would be able to do so in the right way!"
Damien fidgeted slightly with the hem of his sleeve, then nodded slightly. "Alright."
Lucien hadn't expected to see his dad stride into the school on a Tuesday, during lunchtime. He hadn't done anything special today, not gotten in a fight, not gotten caught passing notes, or anything. So why was he here?
Quickly excusing himself from his Goth friends, the teen quickly made his way over to his dad, who was standing and talking with a teacher that recognized him. "dad? The hell are you doing here?" He asked, getting a smile from his father.
"Ah, Lucien! Glad to see you're actually attending today." Damien smiled, as the teacher seemed almost confused, looking in between them, then smiled. "Your father was asked to come over and help teach a class today!" She explained, and Lucien had to hold back a groan. Well there went the plan of skipping history. Now if he skipped he'd have his dad physically drag him back to school most likely.
"why? You're not good at teaching anything other than Victorian stuff." he huffed, wincing when he realized his father's smile fell from his face quickly. Shit.
"Well, I happen to have been called to help a history class, so you do not have to worry about be embarrassing myself by attempting to help math class or such." He snipped back, and Lucien wanted to go right though the floor, as he huffed and stared at the ground. Well, that was one lecture he'd have to deal with when he got home today.
"whatever, Good luck I guess." he huffed, and made his way back to his friends, who had been staring at him, one poking him right as he sat down. "dude, that your dad?"
"yep." Lucien just scoffed, focusing on staring at him as he walked away with the teacher.
"Earth to Lucyyy!"
"Sandy I swear to whatever fucking god your family believe in, call me Lucy again and I will ram this fork through your throat." Lucien threatened as the girl next to him laughed and pulled on his hair. "we were planning on skipping history! It's our next class, you in or not?"
"of course he's not, you saw that his dad is here, you really think Luce would skip when his dad is here, guarding him? he's too much of a baby to." Another boy grinned, quickly pulling his hand away from the table when Lucien slammed his fork down, missing the hand by a second. "Fuck you Mike. What's history even about today anyway?"
"aren't we talking about British history today?" another asked, and Lucien felt himself zone out, taking a bite of his veggie nuggets. Why the hell did they have to learn British history? This was America.
"yeah we're talking about that British queen right? Villie?"
"Bitch, her name was Victoria."
The table went silent as Lucien's fork dropped from his hand, staring at his friends, wide eyed and mouth agape.
"we're... we're learning about the Victorian Era today?"
Damien had not expected Lucien to walk into the classroom he was in, but there he was, his own son, in a seat. He gave him a small smile, while Lucien looked frankly miserable at the moment. Damien couldn't blame him, it wasn't the most fun to have your parent know everything you did in class. He must think Damien planned this to keep an eye on him.
'I'll have to explain to him later that this is a pure coincidence... That I respect his private life..' The man thought to himself as Hugo patiently waited for the students to all sit down, noticing five chairs empty, he saw Hugo slump his shoulders. Having students skip must be more serious for teachers than he assumed. Oh well, at least his own son was good and was attending.
Most students were staring at him, he realized, and Lucien was avoiding his gaze, or rather, avoiding looking at anything but his desk. God he felt bad now, but it was a bit too late now to back out.
Hugo coughing lightly brought Damien's attention to the man, who seemed very nervous. "Um... I know you all often have Mrs. Bickings as history teacher, but she's sadly out of town this week, so I'll stand in for her." he spoke, but the students seemed more interested in Damien. One raised his hand.
"Uh, sir... who's that?" the girl asked, pointing straight at Damien, and the male could see Lucien gripping his pen tighter. Damien stood up, smiling at the group of eighteen students, and bowed lightly.
"My name's Damien Bloodmarch, and I'm here to help with today's lesson." he explained, and almost immediately regretted it, as a lot of people turned to Lucien. Damien saw how tense he was, and had to hold back from walking to him, but sent him a slight apologetic look.
Hugo coughed again, to gain the attention back. "A-as you may know, we'll be discussing British history today, and sadly, I cannot guarantee that I will be saying the exact things Mrs. Bickings would have, So if she says something I have today, I apologize, but I hope you still take information in. Damien here happens to be very well-read on the Victorian era, so I asked for his help." Hugo almost stuttered out, Damien gave him a small smile to attempt at supporting him.
A student in the front started snickering. "why is he dressed like you robbed some guy's grave, and gave the clothes to him?" he spoke, and a couple laughed along. Damien suddenly felt very self conscious. Maybe he should have worn his casual clothes for today.
"Adrian, don't be rude to a guest--" Hugo attempted, but now more people started snickering and whispering. "Hey! how old are you, Five-hundred?" another kid burst out,a and a couple started to laugh loudly.
"Actually, the Victorian era was only about two-hundred years ago." Damien attempted, mostly out of habit than trying to educate. Ask questions, that was his job right now. Not get hurt by some teenagers.
"Do you sleep in the same coffin you were buried in?" He heard a question pipe out, and he felt a lump in his throat, and stayed silent. Now more people were laughing, and Hugo seemed to have difficulties getting the class under control.
A loud noise of a book slamming against a desk made everything eerily silent, and Made everyone's attention go from Damien to the source of the noise, which turned out to be Lucien angrily standing up, he had slammed the book they were supposed to use to create a disturbance, as he glared at all the students.
"Will you bastards shut the fuck up and stop bullying my goddamn dad? fucking dickheads." He angrily yelled, and it did silence the entire class, but Damien was staring, wide-eyed at the boy, who was glaring, hands curled into fists, and seemed ready to explode.
Hugo quickly coughs to get the attention back. "Ah-- Thank you Lucien, but uh... please sit down.." Damien is shocked, still staring at his boy, who's red-faced, and glaring daggers, but reluctantly obeys. Sadly the momentary shock drips away from a student right then, who snickers.
"Yeah Lucy, or you might catch nerd disease and look like you're five-hundred years!"
One second everything is calm, and Damien almost feels like he can take a breath, but the next second a book collides with that students face, and Lucien is on top of him, punching his face. Damien doesn't even know when he got up, but he quickly is by Lucien's side, holding his shoulders steady to keep him in place, while Hugo quickly runs over to guide the student out, while the rest of the kids are in a frenzy, screaming, and backing away from Lucien, who doesn't even care that he has blood from the student on himself, nose blood due to where he punched him.
His head is spinning in panic, not knowing what to do, and for a second, he just stands there, hands on Lucien to keep him still. Eventually, he guides Lucien out of the classroom, shocked at how easily it is, and how Lucien isn't resisting.
There's a trail of blood out the door, but Damien doesn't care, as he leads Lucien out into the hallway, and sits him down on a bench, hearing how heavily Lucien is breathing. Damien looks down at Lucien's hands, to notice they're busted up from the punch. He might have possibly broken that boy's nose. Damien isn't even sure whether he should be lecturing, or reassuring him that everything i over now.
"... I couldn't just let him say that shit."
Damien blinks and looks at Lucien, who's avoiding his gaze, probably expecting his dad to be furious with him, but Damien oddly isn't. He's worried, for the student who Lucien punched, for the possible lawsuit this caused, and worried for Hugo, who's probably devastated his lesson went so badly. The chaos inside is quieting down, but he can hear voices still loudly talking about it.
"..Dad?" Damien's focus blinks back when he hears Lucien's voice, and looks at him, and realizes he looks like he's about to cry. By instinct, he brings Lucien close, for a hug, and hushes him as he feels Lucien start crying.
He should be upset with him, he should be scolding him, he should be telling him this was completely wrong, but hearing his own son's sobs makes all those things not matter, as he just hugs him, and rubs his back, to attempt at calming him down.
"... I'm sorry, dad." He hears Lucien choke out, and Damien can't help but smile. Lucien just wanted to defend him, like he always does. He doesn't want his dad to feel bad about being himself, of dressing in a way that makes him happy. Lucien doesn't feel ashamed of his dad, he was worried this would happen.
Lucien is a good kid, Damien decides, waiting for Lucien to calm down. Lucien's a good kid, and he is very blessed to have such a supportive son.
Three days later, Hugo knocks on the Bloodmarch residence's front door once again, ashamed when Damien opens the door, and seems surprised to see him.
"Hugo? Ah, I didn't expect you! My apologies, I'll prepare some tea for you, if you wish?" He smiles at Hugo, who is surprised Damien is even willing to talk to him. He couldn't help but blame himself for what happened, for Damien to be subjected to bullying due to who he was, and of course, for not controlling the situation enough for someone to get hurt.
"Ah... that would be great.. Thank you." He speaks, walking in when Damien walks back in to make some tea. Hugo spots Lucien on the couch in the living room, reading a book labeled "Violence Is Never The Answer."
"... How are you holding up, Lucien?" he asks, sitting by the boy, looking at him, when a heavily-lined eye moves to look at him. Lucien just huffs, earning him a sharp "Lucien" from his father. The teenager sighs and sits up straight, letting the book drop to his side.
"Barely. Dad's not letting me do shit but read this stupid book. He also keeps mentioning how getting suspended for violence is something that can't happen again." he speaks when Damien comes back, serving the tea, and hands one cup to Lucien, who gratefully takes it. Hugo just gives Damien a look.
"going the educational way of discipline?"
Damien just smiles and looks at Lucien again, who rolls his eyes and picks up the book again. " While I am happy he defended my honor, I do not approve of violence at all. And suspension should be obvious that it's not tolerated."
Lucien just groans, and flips the page. He wants to text Ernest, but he had his phone taken away as well. Hugo lets out a loud sigh.
"Listen, Damien... I really want to apologize for what happened... If I had controlled the situation better, Lucien would not have had to defend you himself.. You shouldn't have had to be defended at all." Hugo speaks softly, looking down into his cup, almost ashamed to look at Damien.
The Goth male just lets out a light chuckle. "I am only relieved the student is alright, his parents did not press charges, and that thankfully Lucien wasn't expelled." he mentions, Lucien huffing at the last sentence.
"He's a fucking idiot anyway.." he mentions, getting a glare from his father, but drops it almost immediately to give Lucien a small squeeze on his arm. "Language.."
The teenager lets out a groan and stands up from the couch, decidedly had enough, and leaves the adults to themselves. Damien looks after him a second, before his focus is all on Hugo.
".. I apologize your lesson didn't go at all how you planned... I know you were excited for it, but you did not anticipate this would happen... You have nothing to apologize for.." he speaks with the most gentle voice Hugo's possibly heard.
"It uh.. it actually so happens, that... Mrs Bickings is apparently going to be gone another week, and I was asked to stand in for her class again... but um, Only if you're interested, we could try again...?" Hugo takes a deep breath, ready for Damien to reject right away, and looks down at his cup, too scared of seeing the other man's reaction. To his surprise, he hears chuckling.
"Hugo. my dear friend.. I would be very honored to try again." Damien speaks gently, and Hugo feels like he might cry. He figured Damien hated him for this fiasco, but no. He is really willing to try again.
Without realizing, Hugo gets up from his seat, and almost pushes the air out of Damien, with how fast he gets to him and hugs him tight. Damien looks surprised, but hugs him back, smiling.
".. so next Tuesday?"
Damien gives a nod. "Next Tuesday." Suddenly his face twists up to a frown.
"Lucien, what did I say about drinking out of the milk carton!?"