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Mr. Way was babbling again. He did that sometimes, when he got really into a subject. Right now he was babbling about Monet. His students weren’t entirely sure how they got onto the subject of Claude Monet’s water lilies, seeing as they were currently making wire sculptures, but they were fine with it. Mr. Way could make anything sound interesting, even the colour schemes of water lilies, which apparently were “exquisite”. He wasn’t really the sort of person who commanded attention, but his students always gave him it anyway. He was an interesting man, and a generally nice one too. He always paid his students so much attention, and in return they’d listen as he went on about somewhat irrelevant things.
“Ryan!” he said, pointing the pencil he’d been twirling in his hand at Ryan Ross, who snapped upright, having been leaning tiredly on his hand. “What’s your favourite Monet painting?”
Ryan opened his mouth, about to respond, but was cut off by a knock at the door.
“Come in!” Mr. Way called. The door opened and into the classroom stepped Mr. Iero, the short, tattooed music teacher. Mr. Way immediately stood up from where he’d been sitting on the desk, almost slipping on a piece of coloured card on the floor, but righting himself jut in time, blushing slightly. “What can I do for you, Frank, uh, Mr. Iero…?”
Mr. Iero smiled a little at his colleague’s slip up. “I was just wondering if I could borrow a whiteboard marker. All of ours are out of ink and I keep forgetting to bring more in.”
Mr. Way’s face was blank for a moment, then he burst into action.
“Ah, yes, markers, uh- was there a particular colour you wanted, Mr, uh, Mr. Frank?”
A chorus of giggles erupted from around the room upon hearing “Mr. Frank”, which only made Mr. Way blush more.
“Any colour is fine.” Mr. Iero said, a smirk twitching at the edge of his mouth. Mr. Way rummaged around in his drawer for a moment, pulling out a green whiteboard marker and reaching over the desk to hand it to the other man. Mr. Iero thanked him, and, with a promise of returning it tomorrow, left the room. Mr. Way stood looking at the door for a moment, then turned back to the class. “Now, wire sculptures.”
“What about Monet?” Ryan asked. He was met with a confused stare, and the entire class chuckled before returning to their work.
-
“Dude, I’m telling you, it was motherfucking heart eyes.” Pete Wentz laughed as he explained to his friends what had happened in art class.
“Are you sure it wasn’t just that he was distracted from whatever he was talking about- water lilies, you said?” his friend Patrick asked, not one to jump to conclusions.
“Nah, I’m telling you, it was like this longing stare. It was great.” Brendon Urie piped up, having actually been in the class with Pete at the time. Ryan, who was sitting next to him, nodded through a mouthful of cheese sandwich.
“Damn, I wish I’d been there!” grumbled Ray. “What about Mr. Iero, what did he do?”
“He just sorta stood there real awkward, kinda smiling and kinda almost blushing.” Pete replied.
“He did look a little flustered when he came back to music.” Patrick piped up. “I just put it down to the fact that he doesn’t really like talking to the other teachers, but you might be right.”
“Dudes. Dudes.” Brendon said, the look on his face suggesting he’d just had an idea, which was usually never a good thing. “We should totally fucking hook them up.”
The looks he received from the group were varied. Pete looked ecstatic, while Ray and Patrick had doubtful looks on their faces, and Ryan seemed indifferent, only glancing up momentarily from his sandwich. He heard enough of Brendon’s crazy schemes on a daily basis to be entirely unphased by them.
“Yeah, yeah! We have to, holy shit!” Pete cried excitedly, earning a disapproving stare from a lunch lady.
“I don’t know… It seems intrusive, y’know?” Patrick voiced. Pete shook his head.
“Nah man, you know Mr. Way, he’s great, but there’s no way he’d ever make the first move himself, and Iero’s not gonna do it either.” he said. The group digested that for a moment. Mr. Way was, without a doubt, everyone’s favourite teacher. He was kind, a good listener, and funny, but Pete had a point- he was shy as hell. He wasn’t an out there sort of guy- he wore pastel colours, was soft spoken, and it seemed at times that he was more interested in the potted plants on the windowsill than the class at hand. He wasn’t ever gonna make a move by himself. They’d have to help him along. Eventually Ray nodded and Patrick gave in with a sigh. Pete grinned.
“What do you think, Ry?” Brendon asked. Ryan swallowed his last mouthful of sandwich and regarded the four boys staring at him.
“I think y’all are crazy.” he said expressionlessly. “So what’s the plan?”
-
First period on a Friday. It was a good period for the group- Brendon, Pete,and Ryan had art, while Ray and Patrick had music. It was the perfect time to put their plan into action.
Yesterday after school, Ray had snuck into the music room and taken the pen that Mr. Way had let them borrow, after much persuasion from Brendon and Pete. Now it was up to he and Patrick to convince Mr. Iero to go explain to Mr. Way that he couldn’t find the pen, and after that it was on Pete and Brendon- Ryan was their go to plan, if all else failed, they had a trick up their sleeve.
Pete’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket
the eagle has left the nest
That was the signal text that they’d agreed on, despite Ryan’s groans of how stupid it was. It meant that Ray and Patrick had been successful in their part of the plan- now it was his turn.
He made his way to the front of the classroom were Mr. Way was sat at his desk working on a drawing, planning on feigning a question about their current sculpture project.
“Hey, Mr. Way?” The teacher in question looked up from his drawing, which appeared to be of a large robot with ‘Destroya’ scribbled hastily below it. “What’s up, Pete?” he said with a grin.
“I just have a question about the wire sculptures-” Pete started, but was cut off by a knock on the door. Right on cue.
“Come in!” Mr. Way said. “Just one second, sorry Pete.”
Just as they’d planned, Mr. Iero stepped into the classroom, looking slightly sheepish. The same longing look that they’d seen yesterday seeped back onto Mr. Way’s face at the sight of the other man.
“Hi, Mr. Way.” Mr. Iero said, slightly awkwardly. “I, uh, I’m not sure what happened to your pen, I swear I left it on my desk, but I guess someone must have picked it up or something. But, uh, I’ll replace it on the weekend, I promise.”
“No, no, it’s fine.” Mr. Way said with a smile.
“No it’s not!” Pete cut in. “You can’t just sit back and let him loose your pen, Mr. Way! You gotta stand up for yourself! Gotta be assertive!”
Mr. Way looked surprised, his eyes wide. Mr. Iero looked embarrassed. “I, uh, I can bring it in on Monday, if you like.”
“Not good enough!” Pete said, ignoring Brendon’s muffled giggle from the other side of the room. “You can’t just loose a whiteboard marker and then make someone wait an entire weekend for a new one! It’s just not right. Mr. Way, give him your phone number so he can give it to you tomorrow!”
The look Pete got from Mr. Iero at that told him that he knew exactly what he was up to, but he wasn’t objecting, which was a good thing. Mr. Way, though, seemed unsure.
“I- I dunno, Monday is fine, Pete, he really doesn’t have to-”
Not good. It was time for their secret weapon. Pete glanced at Ryan, who was sitting at the front of the room especially for this. Ryan looked up from his wire sculpture, regarding the two teachers in front of him.
“Y’know, you two would make a cute couple.” he commented lightly, before turning his attention back to the wires in front of him.
“W-what?” Mr. Way stammered, blushing cherry red. Even Mr. Iero flushed slightly pink. Pete smirked to himself. They couldn’t possibly say no now.
“I, uh, um, alright.” Mr. Way muttered, scribbling his number down and handing it to a mildly flustered Mr.Iero, who took it and stuttered out a “I- I’ll call you”, before turning on his heel and leaving the room. Pete grinned and slunk back to his seat, leaving Mr. Way to figure out what had just happened while he and Brendon celebrated their victory while Ryan rolled his eyes at them from across the room.
success, he texted Patrick, before shoving his phone into his pocket and giggling. He should play matchmaker more often. Perhaps he should start with Brendon and Ryan…
-
Monday- another first period art class. Brendon, Pete, and Ryan were sat at their usual desks, still rather pleased with themselves from their good work on Friday, when the door opened.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Mr. Iero said, stepping into the room. “But you left this at my house on Saturday.” He handed a purple scarf to Mr. Way, who blushed and thanked him. Mr. Iero turned around and mouthed over his shoulder ‘see you after school’. It would have been unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for it, but it was all the boys needed to tell them their plan had worked. As if to confirm their theory, Mr. Iero winked at them as he left the classroom, causing them all to giggle and high-five each other happily. Poor Mr. Way still didn’t have a clue that they’d planned this whole ordeal- but hey, he’d gotten an entire pack of new whiteboard markers and a date with a cute guy, so he didn’t really care.
- end.