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Although his students might be a handful sometimes, Suga thinks they’re still better behaved than the old Karasuno team was. At least they can make it through a bus ride without killing each other.
“Suga-sensei!” Akari shrieks, waving her arms to get his attention. “Are we there yet?”
Suga resists the urge to laugh. “No, not yet,” he replies patiently. “A few more minutes, ok?”
Akari pouts for about five seconds, before turning to chat with Hachiro next to her.
His elementary school recently got a larger field trip fund, and the principal thought it would be “educational” if the class took a field trip to the zoo. To be honest, Suga thinks he’s just as excited as the kids are. It’s been ages since he’s been to the zoo. He makes a mental note to keep an eye on Akari and Hachiro; the class troublemakers are sure to be up to something during this trip.
Kaoru taps his shoulder from the seat behind him. “Suga-sensei, I forgot. What do they have at a zoo again?”
“A zoo is a place where they keep lots of different kinds of animals,” Suga says.
“And we can go see all of them?”
“That’s right. We can’t touch any of the animals, but we can go see them and learn about them.”
Kaoru appears satisfied with that answer.
The bus turns into the zoo parking lot, and all the kids get off excitedly.
“Okay, class, remember what we talked about? Everyone needs to stay with their field trip buddy and line up.”
As Suga herds his children towards the zoo entrance, he suddenly stops in his tracks. You walk towards him, the zoo’s logo on your shirt.
Now Suga’s no stranger to beautiful women. He spent three years around Kiyoko, for crying out loud. But for some reason, the closer you get, the more Suga can feel his brain shut down.
“Hi!” you announce, smiling at him. “This must be the elementary field trip group, right?”
Suga simply nods, not trusting himself to speak.
“I’m one of the zookeepers working here,” you tell the class. “I’ll be spending the day with you guys and showing you all the animals, so you can feel free to ask me any questions you have! Let me just go grab you all some visitor passes.”
Suga watches you go, his face burning bright red. Akari tugs Suga’s shirt from next to him. “Hey, Suga-sensei, why are you so red?” she asks.
Hachiro laughs from next to her. “My mommy told me that people only turn red like that when they’re embarrassed.”
“Is that true, Sensei?” Akari gasps. “Why are you embarrassed?”
“I bet it’s because of the pretty lady,” Hachiro smirks.
Suga is mortified. These kids look sweet, but they’re devilish. He sees you approach again and quickly shushes them.
“Okay, kids,” you say. “First, we’re going to go see the monkeys, alright?”
The kids all cheer, and you tell Kaoru to lead the way to the exhibit. As the class makes their way through the zoo, you fall to the back of the group, walking alongside Suga.
“I’m guessing you’re the teacher?” you ask.
“Uh—yeah,” he stammers. “I’m Sugawara.”
“You can call him Suga,” Akari pipes up from next to him.
Before he can glare at her, Hachiro jumps in. “Zookeeper-san, are you married?”
You gape at him, taken aback. “N—no, I’m not. Why?”
“That’s crazy!” Hachiro exclaims. “Suga-sensei isn’t married either!”
Suga wants to die. These kids are too mischievous for their own good. Suga doesn’t know where they learned this, but it clearly wasn’t from him.
“Is that so?” you say. He sneaks a glance at you, and he can tell that you’re trying not to laugh.
“Ah, looks like the monkey exhibit is right over there,” Suga cries hastily. He rushes over and joins up with the rest of the class, listening as they gush about the animals.
As you come over and start explaining the exhibit to the students, Suga finds himself watching you. He laughs at the way you gesture excitedly with your hands as you talk. It’s clear to anyone listening that you love your job. That’s something you both have in common, he supposes.
To be honest, it’s been a long time since Suga’s been on a date. That wouldn’t bother him normally, but Daichi and Michimiya got married recently, Asahi and Noya have been dating for what seems like ever, and even Tanaka’s settled down already. And it would be a shame to let you go without asking you out.
All right, he decides. He’s going to do it.
Unfortunately, nothing goes as planned.
Throughout the day, he finds multiple opportunities to ask you. Every time he opens his mouth, however, his students find another way to jump in and embarrass him. At least you seem amused by their efforts, but every time he tells them to stop, it’s like they double back with twice the effort.
“Don’t worry, Sensei,” Akari reassures him. “We’re only saying good things! Hachiro told her how nice you are, and I told her all about that time you baked cookies for us and how they were so good!”
Suga isn’t convinced.
When his students move on to the last exhibit of the day, he walks over to a nearby bench and sits down heavily. Lost in his thoughts, he doesn’t notice you approach until you sit next to him.
“So, Suga-san,” you begin, smiling. “Your class is definitely fascinating.”
He runs his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry about that, I know they were bothering you all day.”
You brush him off. “No, it’s not a problem! They were fun to talk to.” Your grin suddenly turns into something sharper. “And, I must confess, they gave me lots of interesting information about you.”
“Oh my god,” he muttered. “I am so sorry about that. I don’t know what got into them, they’ve never acted like that before. I completely understand if you want us to leave or if you want to complain or something—”
“Actually,” you cut him off, “I wanted to know if you’re interested in getting dinner with me this weekend?”
“Oh,” Suga says, visibly confused. “Wait—what?”
“You’re pretty cute,” you tell him, laughing. “The kids say you’re good at baking, and I gotta be honest, I have one hell of a sweet tooth.”
Suga’s brain finally catches up. “I’d love to go out with you,” he says.
You smile and push a piece of paper into his hand. When he looks down, he sees a string of digits written on it. “Call me tonight,” you say. Standing up, you walk back over to the kids, preparing to lead them to the zoo’s exit.
As Suga follows, Akari and Hachiro run up to him. “Suga-sensei, what happened?”
Suga knows he should keep his private life separate from school, but at that moment, he’s so excited that he needs to tell someone. “We’re getting dinner this weekend,” he tells them, unable to hold back his smile.
They exchange a look. “Did we do good, Sensei?” Hachiro asks.
Suga bursts out laughing. “Yeah,” he says, “you guys did good. Where did you even learn how to do that?”
Akari immediately launches into a recount of a matchmaking TV show that she had watched the night before, and how she “wanted to try it out in real life”.
Although Suga loves his students, he’s changed his mind. They’re definitely just as bad as the old Karasuno team.