Work Text:
“Gregory… We’ve talked about this.”
“What was I supposed to do?! Everyone else was saying their parents were coming to conferences so I said my dads were coming too.”
Jeremy rubbed a hand down his face, “I can’t even be that made because that’s really sweet, but hun, one of your dads has brain damage and the other is a walking half corpse. I don’t think they’ll want that in school.”
Gregory was currently sitting in the backseat of Michael’s pickup, school bag in his lap. Jeremy had picked him up from school earlier - he and Michael switched off days - and the kid had decided to drop the teacher conference bomb onto his father.
Jeremy was aware of the conferences, but it had been such a long time since he had been in elementary school that the idea of having to go to one sort of slipped his mind. The conferences were practically required, especially since Gregory was still in elementary and hadn’t really had a proper school experience before; it was for the best that Jeremy went. He sighed, “I’ll go, it’s Friday right?”
Gregory averted his gaze, “Yeah, at five… but I did say both my dads would be there.”
“Aw shit.”
They were in the school parking lot again - Freddy and the rest of the gang were watching over Gregory, they would be fine for the next hour - at least Jeremy hoped so. Michael was behind the wheel now, glancing at himself in the car’s mirror, “I don’t look too dead right?”
Jeremy pressed a quick, somewhat tired, kiss to Michael's cheek, “You look fine Mikey, now let’s go. Time to deal with Gregory’s teacher.”
Michael smirked, “You think he’s anything like I was back in school?”
Jeremy nearly snorted, “Oh sure, big old class ruler of fifth grade.”
The two men stepped out of the pickup, following some of the other parents who were making their way into the school building. A tightness formed in Jeremy’s chest - anxiety that he hadn’t truly felt since he was a teen. The moms and dads walking together, seemed so comfortable together; Jeremy bit back the bitterness that was seeping into his thoughts. There were so many times when he and Michael couldn’t be themselves out in public - having to conceal their relationship - especially in a small town like Hurricane.
Lovely small towns.
Michael gripped onto Jeremy’s hand, not letting go, it caused a smile to form on his lips. Michael’s father hadn’t been accepting of his, then again there were few things that William Afton actually supported. That history had caused Michael to curl into himself. Still, recently, especially after the addition of Gregory into their lives, he had opened up - not caring what other people said about him and his boyfriend. Jeremy’s stomach did flips.
The classroom was painfully bare. You’d think an elementary teacher would want to decorate her classroom with all sorts of things, making it a childlike environment. Not this one - not at all. There was a placard on her desk that read ‘Mrs. Higgins’, even her desk was depressing. There were a few orderly stacks of papers, presumably work from the students, and a couple of office supplies - that was it. How cheery.
“You must be Gregory’s fathers.” She opened a drawer, pulling out a file, “Mr. and… Mr. Schmidt?”
Michael rolled his eyes, even as he aged his respect for authority was low, Jeremy took over the conversation, “Y-yes ma’am, tha-that would be us.”
Mrs. Higgins side-eyed him; Jeremy gulped. Gregory had failed to mention his teacher was god damn terrifying. “He’s an… interesting boy.”
Michael peered at the woman, “What do you mean by that?” Jeremy put a hand on the man’s under the desk, trying to calm him down before he said, or did, anything rash.
The teacher was writing a few things, “Oh, I mean no harm, usually we don’t have students transfer in during the school year so the adjustment has been a bit difficult. I do have some concerns about his prior schooling though, there are many concepts that take him much longer to grasp than they should.”
Michael looked like he wanted to say something, but Jeremy was quicker, “Thi-this year has-has been rough for Gre-Gregory,” he mentally cursed his stutter, especially after Mrs. Higgins's reaction to it, “T-this has been a-a transition period for him.”
“Gregory was in a foster home before, he wasn’t provided with the best education. We assumed placing him in a more stable learning environment would be best.”
The was a silence between the three adults: the tension between Michael and Mrs. Higgins could be cut with a knife.
“If all goes well during the next quarter he won’t need to be placed in remedial classes.” The woman stared daggers at Michael.
The man returned the stone-cold stare, “My son will accept any assistance he needs in order to learn, if that means remedial classes then I will happily sign off on them.” The scribbling of a pen filled the silence that followed.
Mrs. Higgins passed over a few sheets of paper, “I hope for the best with your son.”
Jeremy took them, “It was a pleasure meeting with you tonight.” Michael said nothing as he stood up, following Jeremy out the door.
“The teacher was a bloody wanker, let me tell you.” Michael shifted through some of the paper, “Nobody will talk such rubbish about my son, she has no idea who- are you laughing at me?”
There was indeed a series of chuckles escaping from Jeremy, “I can’t help it dear, you always use so much of your British slang when you get angry.”
Michael rolled his eyes, “Okay, whatever love, but still. This teacher is spouting utter bollocks. I know for a fact that Gregory has been doing fantastic in his lesson, look here - perfect scores, she has no idea what she’s talking about.”
Jeremy wrapped his arms around Michael’s torso, leaning into his side, “I understand Mikey, our son is brilliant-”
“He is!”
“And nobody will say any different.”