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When Punz first found out he was going to be supervising the school trip, he wanted to put his head through the wall. Nothing seemed less fun than having to chaperone a bunch of kids over the weekend. In the five years Punz had been working at the school, he had never had to supervise an overnight trip. He had been on plenty of day trips but nothing that had passed 5pm.
To make matters worse, the trip was for the English department, not anything to do with his history teaching. He had zero interest in the trip, but it was apparently his turn to take one for the team and ruin his weekend to look after a bunch of kids. Luckily for him, since it isn’t his department he doesn’t need to plan anything, just follow around the English teacher as if he was a student himself.
And the cherry on top of this whole ordeal, he would be missing date night. Every Saturday, he would make sure he and Foolish did something together, even if it was just cooking and eating dinner together or going out for lunch. It was a day for just them to spend together.
When Punz first met Foolish, he had only been working at the school for a year and a half. They had met through mutual friends and soon started dating. A few months into the relationship Punz was introduced to the new PE teacher. It was a bit of a shock to be face to face with the guy he had been seeing casually for the past few weeks, but it made them grow closer. Two years later, they moved into an apartment together and that is how their life has been for the past year.
It was weird sometimes working in the same building as his partner. They had to disclose it to the higher ups in the school. The headmistress just laughed at the coincidence but warned them to keep professional during work. However, the students had no idea and they were adamant on keeping it that way.
A sigh left him as he fumbled with his keys to get into their apartment. The meeting for the trip had left him stuck in the school for an extra 40 minutes after the bell. He had texted Foolish at the start of the meeting just to leave and that he’d get the bus home. That meant he didn’t actually get home until over an hour after he was meant to.
Walking into the flat he was expecting to see Foolish napping on the couch or in the kitchen making some sort of snack. Instead he walked in on his boyfriend sitting on the sofa, leg bouncing as he stared ahead at the TV that wasn’t even on.
“Foolish? Are you okay?” Placing his keys on the sideboard and making his way over to sit by Foolish.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just- I agreed to go on the school trip this weekend not fully registering that it would be over the weekend and now I’m going to be leaving you and missing Saturday. I’m sorry.” Foolish explained apologetically but Punz couldn’t help but smile. Relief flowing through him.
“You’re going on the English trip this week?” Punz asked excitedly.
“Uh yeah?” Confused at Punz’s excitement, Foolish started to pick at the hoodie he had on.
Punz pulled Foolish into a hug. He had built up the trip to be awful in his head and to hear his boyfriend was going to be there instead of another random teacher that he had probably only interacted with twice was a saving grace for the weekend.
“Oh my God, I’m also getting forced on the trip. This is going to be so much easier with you there.” Squeezing the other tighter as he mumbled into his shoulder.
“They never said you were going at the meeting during Lunch, Tina just said it was her and Gumi and they needed a male teacher.” Leaning into the hug, Foolish let out a sigh of relief.
“They cornered me during the last period, I had it free and was trying to photocopy in peace. Apparently I’m the first on the list to ask because I’ve never been on a weekend trip yet. It's not my fault I have a life outside work.” Grumbling Punz started to remove his tie, fed up with the uncomfortable work clothes. It was something he was always jealous of Foolish for. Foolish got to wear a t-shirt and shorts everyday to work while he had to dress up in a tie and shirt to look ‘professional’.
“You know, it might not be so bad then if we’re both there.”
It was bad. It was really bad.
They were only on the bus to the hotel and Punz was already done with the weekend. Kids were shouting, screech laughing and there was even a fight that he had to break up between a group of boys who started chucking food about. It was not fun.
The worst part was that although he was sitting next to Foolish, they had to keep it professional. That meant he couldn’t cuddle him, lean on him or even hold his hand. It was killer having him so close but not being able to reach out. The risk of being seen by thirty odd students was too high for them to risk it.
“It’s only Friday to Sunday. It’ll be over soon.” Foolish leaned over to whisper to him. It was like he knew what he was thinking, that or Punz really can’t hide his feelings from his facial expression.
Punz’s resting face was near a glare already. So when he was disgruntled, it only made it worse. He was seen as a strict teacher people warned their friends about, his resting face did not help him in that case. Only a few kids who actually enjoyed his class saw his dry humour and kind side. He wasn’t that strict, he just didn’t take bullshit or play into his students' attempts to derail his lessons so they don’t have to do work.
As much as it did him a favour, students are kind of scared of him and know they won’t get away with any shit so they just don’t try, it also does him a disservice. Like now for example, he’s the big scary teacher who students listen to, so he’s the one sent to deal with all the disturbances.
The bus ride felt longer than it actually was. When they finally reached the hotel it was late afternoon. They had already made a stop to a museum that Punz could honestly not remember a minute of. He walked through the building barely reading any information, his mind was too busy thinking about the hotel room, when they were going to get there and if the bed was going to be comfortable enough to get a decent sleep.
After making sure all the students found their rooms okay, the teachers finally got to relax.
“I can’t believe they let you two go on the same trip, I would’ve thought that there was something against it with the whole dating thing.” Gumi said while she made her way into Punz and Foolish’s room. They had decided to hang out before it was time to round up everyone for dinner.
“Oh, I didn’t even think about that. Is it an issue?” Foolish worried his lip between his teeth.
“Isn’t it just like at school? If we keep it professional we’re good.” Laying on top of the bed Punz replied while plugging his phone into the charger. He couldn't care less if it was allowed or not, he was having his boyfriend here no matter what.
“Oh great, I can’t wait to keep my weekend professional.” Rolling his eyes, Foolish gave the sarcastic reply, obviously tired from the day.
“Well, actually, I never asked. I knew no other teacher was going to want to come along at the last minute and I wasn’t going to risk it to ask if you two can go together. We’re adults, we can behave ourselves.” Tina admitted sheepishly.
“Oh yay! We can all get in trouble for this now!” Gumi exclaimed as she also sat on the bed.
“We won’t! God, it’s the English department. I doubt they give a shit.” Tina sat on the other bed that was about a metre away from the bed Punz, Foolish and Gumi had all squeezed onto.
“Aww Tina, come join us. You’re too far away.” Foolish reached out trying to grab Tina to get her to come over.
“Ew, no way. There is not enough room for the four of us.”
“Tinza, come on!” Gumi joined in leaning over to grab Tina’s arm. Tina didn’t resist the pull and let herself fall on top of the other three.
“Oft, I don’t think that was a good idea.” Punz groaned as Tina’s elbow hit his stomach.
The four of them burst into giggles and that’s how they spent the rest of the evening. Laughing and joking between the four of them. It made Punz realise that maybe the trip won’t be too bad. There were some of his best friends there with him to make it somewhat bearable.
The next day went fast, packed fill with ‘educational’ activities, some of them were a stretch to fit into the curriculum, and nice sightseeing tours while they were away in the city. It was a nice day and although they couldn’t be too close, Punz was glad he could spend it with Foolish.
Once they got back from dinner, Punz collapsed onto the bed completely exhausted from all the walking they had done. Two walking tours in one day was way too many for him. Foolish had excused himself to go shower as soon as they got in, hating the way his shirt stuck to him with sweat. Punz had showered in the ten minutes they had before dinner, he couldn’t stand the way he felt sweaty and tired, he just wanted to wash it all off.
“I am so tired, I just want to go home.” Coming out of the bathroom, Foolish flopped down on the bed next to Punz. Fighting with the covers to try and get under them.
“Well, I have something that could make this slightly better.” Digging through his bag, Punz pulled out a bottle of red wine.
“What the fuck? Punz you can’t bring that on a school trip!” Foolish exclaimed but Punz saw how he looked closer at the bottle trying to find the exact type.
Standing up to grab two mugs from the desk, he gave Foolish a look of disbelief. “Okay, you don’t need to have any, that just means more for me.”
“I never said I didn’t want any. Just that it's, you know, unethical, against school rules, probably a really bad idea.” Foolish listed off.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, but that’s not stopping me. It’s Saturday, it’s date night, we’re having a date.”
Sitting down he opened the bottle with his teeth, ignoring the noise of protest from Foolish. He always hated when Punz opened bottles with his teeth, something about it being bad for them. Pouring a decent amount in each mug before putting the cap back on and resting it on the bedside table. He handed over one of the mugs before taking a drink.
They managed to have a second of peace before there was a knock on the door. Groaning Punz went to answer it while Foolish hid the bottle the best he could in a panic.
Cracking the door open, he was met by a small group of students. “Sir! Andrew fell off the bed and now he’s saying his arm hurts!”
Punz was not impressed. Taking a look at Andrews arm it was clearly just going to bruise and nowhere near an emergency. “How did you fall off the bed?”
“Umm well, funny story-”
“Will I laugh?”
“Uhhh, probably not?” The boys looked sheepish, kicking their feet against the carpet in the hall. “I was standing on the bed trying to kill a bug on the ceiling.”
“Okay, so you were being an idiot, hurt yourself and now you’re telling me?”
“Stop being mean. Let’s see your arm.” Foolish interrupted Punz before he could tell the kids to get lost. Maybe he was being a little rude, but he wanted to have his date night that was already interrupted by the trip, he didn’t need students knocking at his door.
“Okay, let’s get you a cold pack, just hold that on your arm for a bit. It doesn’t seem broken so just get some rest and we’ll check up on it in the morning.” Foolish dealt with the issue as Punz sat back down on the bed.
“Hey, Mr. G how come your bed is still made?” One of the students asked loudly. It was clearly meant to be a joke towards the two. Punz knew the student and was way too familiar with their sense of humour and he was not about to play into.
“Maybe if you left Mr. G alone, he could finally get to his bed. Now, do you have any more concerns or actual broken bones?” Glaring towards the door, questioning why he ever became a teacher.
“Damn, okay, we’ll leave.”
“Chris, remember this is still a school trip. I know it’s the weekend but please behave.” Foolish kindly reminded them as he shut the door. Way too kind in Punz’s opinion, he would’ve shut the door on them ages ago.
“You need to be kinder to the kids, maybe then you’d be their favourite teacher.” Foolish jabbed at him lightheartedly.
“I don’t want to be a favourite. Anyway you need to be harsher, they’re little shits and you know that, you just need to tell them that.”
“They are also losing their weekend, y’know. I would hate to spend my weekends as a teenager with a teacher looking over my shoulder every minute.” Foolish tried to reason while bringing the bottle of wine back over.
“Whatever, let’s just forget about it until tomorrow or until someone else tries to knock down the door.”
The rest of the night was spent giggling and chatting over a mug of wine. Not the classiest Saturday they have had, but it certainly wasn’t the worst.
By morning they were packed and ready to get back home. The last activity was a bus tour that they thankfully could use the coach they had been in for the trip. It would be roughly an hour until the tour was done and then another four hour drive back to the school.
Most of the students fell asleep during the tour and Punz couldn’t blame them. It was an early start to the day in an effort to get them back as soon as possible. Even Foolish looked like he was on the verge of passing out, though that might just be his slight hangover. Punz himself was feeling groggy and was not looking forward to the long drive home at all.
“Sir, when are we meant to be getting back?” Punz suppressed a wince as a loud voice rang beside him. Maybe he was more hungover than he first thought.
“Around 2pm, Amy.”
“How is Mr. G sleeping already?” Punz looked to his right and sure enough Foolish had fallen asleep leaning against the window, hand barely holding up his head.”
“Maybe he’s just tired of putting up with your guy’s shit all weekend.” Punz spoke before he really thought about what he was saying.
“You can’t say that!” Punz winced at that. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to deal with a group of children while being tired and hungover as shit.
“We’re not at school are we? If we were, I wouldn't say that and you definitely wouldn’t get away with that shirt that has more profanity on it then I care to speak.” In reality the t-shirt had two swears on it that were already censored, but Punz was fighting for his career right now.
“Touché.” And with that Amy made her way back to her seat and Punz let out a breath, deflating in his seat a little.
“Nice job, Punzo.” The glare from Tina made him blush a little in embarrassment. Okay, he really needs to be nicer to the students.
Finally getting off the bus, the four teachers made sure everyone got home safe before they left themselves. Foolish drove them home claiming he felt much better after his nap while Punz still wasn’t feeling great. More tired than anything else.
As soon as they got in Punz near jumped on Foolish. Tackling the other in a hug before kissing him. “I’m never going on an overnight trip again. That was hell.”
“C’mon it wasn’t that bad, you had me there.” Foolish only giggled at his clinginess despite spending the whole weekend together.
“Yeah, but we had to be all ‘professional’ whatever that means. It sucked.” Tugging Foolish over to the sofa, he got the blanket and turned on the TV. “Now let’s watch a movie and order food and maybe more wine.”
“Don’t forget we have work tomorrow.” Following Punz’s lead, Foolish lay down on the sofa and opened his arms for him.
Punz just groaned and pushed his head into the other’s chest. “Don’t remind me, I will actually cry.”
Foolish just laughed and started running his fingers through the other’s hair. “Okay, just start the movie and I’ll shut up.”
Twisting himself round, Punz started to control the TV and soon Netflix popped up with their ‘watch later’ ready to be played through.
Now back in their own home, the two spent the rest of the day curled up together on the couch watching a variety of movies. It might suck keeping their relationship hidden at work but it was worth the cuddles at home.