Chapter Text
It was a sunny thursday afternoon, and Akk was on his way to the principal’s office. Akk had offered to help Thua with some errands while the class president was tutoring some of the younger students during lunch break. That was how he found himself walking to Teacher Sani’s office to deliver a stack of English assignments.
He rounded a corner and was just about to enter the office when he heard a familiar voice inside.
“Just because Teacher Chadok doesn’t keep me up to date about these things anymore doesn’t mean I have forgotten all the ruckus he has caused in the past. We need to know what Ayan is up to now. If he still intends to cause chaos, I will not hesitate to set him straight. We already lost so many sponsors, we can’t afford to lose more!”
Akk froze and slowly put down the fist he had raised to knock on the door.
“If I may, principal, I don’t think that is necessary. Ayan has been behaving well; he is one of the top students in his class and with the work we have been putting in to make the rules more modern, he has no reason to break them anymore.”, Teacher Sani remarked, politely but resolutely.
The principal harumphed. “That will be for me to decide. You are young and have a soft spot for the students. For all I know you could be covering for him. I want to see for myself if what you are saying is true.”
Sani sighed and agreed quietly.
“Perfect. Go look for him now, and bring him to my office right away!”
There was the rustling of fabric to be heard, followed by the sound of both teacher’s heels on the linoleum floor. Akk quickly stepped away from the door before it opened and hoped that the distance would be enough to cover up the fact that he had listened in on the teachers’ conversation.
Akk grit his teeth as the two women walked past him. Teacher Sani was very popular with the students of Suppalo. He hated how rude the principal was being towards his favorite teacher. Had he been in the room with them instead of eavesdropping outside he would have defended her.
The exchange between the two adults was worrying him for another reason: The principal wanted to interrogate Aye? After all the bullying the teachers had already subjected him to before? Hell no!
Ever since it had been revealed just how cruel she had been to Teacher Dika and Chadok, and then after the things she had said about Thua and himself, Akk had started to strongly dislike the principal.
The thought of his beloved boyfriend anywhere near that woman made him grimace. He quickly finished his task by leaving the stack of papers on Sani’s desk and then set out to find Aye, hoping to whisk his boyfriend away before she could find him.
He found him by the bulletin board, talking to some boys from the Youth Rights Club. When he saw Akk, he bid them goodbye and jogged to where Akk was standing and stepping from one foot to another impatiently.
“What’s up?”, Aye asked with his trademark broad grin when he finally reached him.
Akk was relieved to see him. He took his hand.
“Come on, let’s get away from here.”
“Where to?”, asked Aye, curious and eager to follow him.
“Uh…”, Akk thought about it for a second. He hadn’t really considered it on his way here. He needed a place where Teacher Sani wouldn’t look for him, where they could stay until break was over. “The rooftop?”
That was the one place where no teacher would go. Back when Teacher Chadok was head of the welfare department, he always took Akk there for their secret briefings because they both knew nobody ever went there.
Aye still looked a little confused, but shrugged and let himself be led through the school towards the rooftop.
As he was dragging Aye through the corridors, he suddenly heard the voice of the principal somewhere behind him. What was she doing here? Akk had expected her to go to her office and wait for Teacher Sani to come back with Aye, but it seemed like she had decided to come look for Aye as well.
He reacted on pure instinct. “Hide!”, he hissed and shoved Aye into the nearest open room.
Only when he closed the door did he realize he had landed them in the infirmary. To their right, the old school nurse was sitting at his desk with some half-filled out forms in front of him. He had paused and looked up at his two young guests. After a moment of awkward silence, Akk smiling apologetically and Aye mimicking him, a little confused, the three people in the room heard the principal walk by the door, telling Teacher Sani: “I suppose if we cannot find Ayan soon, we will have to postpone the meeting till tomorrow. I don’t have the time to be running after one student.”
Akk quickly ducked his head as the women walked past so that they couldn’t see him through the tinted window that was built into the infirmary’s door at eye level.
The nurse gave an understanding grunt at that. He rolled his eyes and pointed his thumb at the supply closet behind him. The boys gave their wais and shuffled into the closet. Akk made a mental note to send the nurse a fruit basket at some point. This poor man did not get paid enough to be witness to his and his boyfriend’s antics.
Once inside, Aye dissolved into quiet chuckles. “What was that?”, he whispered to his taller companion.
Akk checked his watch to see how much time they had left of their break before they had to head to their next class. 15 minutes. Ok. They could stay here for 13, then Akk would smuggle Aye into class. He mentally mapped out the route that was the most likely to get them to class without being seen.
The good thing about being the former head prefect was that he knew the school like the back of his own hand. Every nook naughty students could hide in, every corridor the teachers frequented during breaks, he knew it all.
He thought of all the students he had fished out of their hiding places back when he was prefect. How the tables had turned; now he was the one hiding, and he had even dragged Aye along with him.
Akk didn’t mind though. Where just two months ago he would have felt a shameful pit in his stomach at the thought of going behind a teacher’s back for Ayan, now he only felt a prickle of excitement, the adrenaline still in his veins after their jog through the school.
“What’s on your mind?”, Aye interrupted his musings. He had a true talent for that, Akk had noticed very early into their relationship. Whenever Akk started to get lost in his head, Aye would immediately sense it and snap him out of it. Often he did it with the most random and outrageous comments or accusations, other times, like now, a simple What are you thinking about? would suffice.
“Nothing. I’m having fun.”, he told him honestly.
Aye shot him an incredulous look. “What, you like acting like a criminal on the run? Akk, tell me what’s going on, na?”
He asked his question without any urgency, leaning against Akk and smiling at him with mirth in his eyes. Akk was struck by how much his boyfriend trusted him, to let himself be dragged across the entire school and not be worried in the slightest.
He suddenly felt uncertainty creep in. He had acted irrationally and without thinking it through, and taken Aye away without asking if he was okay with that. Maybe he wanted to talk to the principal. What if Aye got in trouble because the teachers couldn’t find him? Then it would be his fault! Would Aye be angry? No, Aye was never angry with him. But still, Akk felt bad.
He told Aye about what he had overheard in Teacher Sani’s office.
Aye cocked his head to the side. “And that’s why you tried to hide me from them. But… why?”
Akk ducked his head. “I don’t want you to talk to her.”, he admitted quietly. “You know she isn’t a good person. She’s going to interrogate you like she did with Thua and me, and it won’t be pretty. I don’t want you to have to face her alone. I don’t want her anywhere near you.”
The words came pouring out and when they stopped, the storage room became quiet. Was Aye mad after all? Akk wondered, and finally raised his head to look his boyfriend in the eye.
Aye was fully turned towards him, and he was smiling, and suddenly Akk felt transported back in time to a couple of months ago, to that nerve-wracking moment when Aye had caught him looking at the photo of their cheek kiss in school.
Once, during an event with the prefect club and the student welfare teachers, Teacher Chadok had told them about a man named Alhazen, who was the first to prove that the human eye could absorb and process – or rather, transport the information to the brain to be processed there – the light that got reflected from the objects around it, and that that was how sight worked. Before him, the Greek philosopher Euclid had thought that the light came out of peoples’ eyes instead.
Akk had wondered how anyone could believe that crazy theory.
But when Akk had seen Aye’s face then, suddenly he could understand the ancient Greeks a little bit better.
Ayan had looked radiant. The sun had bathed his face in a warm glow and the way it had caught in his eyes really did make it seem like the light was coming straight out of them.
It wouldn’t remain the only time he had this thought. In fact, as their relationship progressed in the months following this moment, the thought became a regular occurrence. Akk had even blurted it out to Ayan once. He was still a little embarrassed about that, but the way it had made Ayan’s face glow even brighter had made it worth it.
Now, the slight gap between the door and frame provided the two boys with a ray of light that fell on Aye from behind and cast a gentle, halo-like glow around his silhouette. And with the bright smile on his face, bottom lip caught between his teeth… he looked angelic.
“That’s… you’re so adorable. Thank you. For looking out for me.”, Aye spoke.
His gaze softened, if that was even possible with how soft it already was.
“But you know, tomorrow I’m still going to have to talk to the principal. It’s not something we can avoid forever, Akk. What are you going to do then?”
Akk scrunched up his nose in reluctance. Aye laughed at his expression.
Akk decidedly shook his head. “Tomorrow, I’m just not going to let you talk to her alone. I’ll go with you to her office and stay there until she’s done talking.”
“So you’re just going to follow me around the entire day?”
“Exactly.”, Akk had to smile. “You’re not going anywhere without me tomorrow.”
Aye pretended to think about it, then nodded, grinning. “Okay, I like the sound that.”
And then, because he couldn’t help but tease the taller boy: “Can’t get enough of me, bigfoot? So you need to follow me everywhere? So obsessed with me, eh?”
He stepped forward into Akk’s space and started tickling his sides. Akk squirmed and pressed a hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter. His back hit the shelf behind him and something on it clattered to the ground. He hoped the walls were thick enough for the unfortunate nurse outside not to hear the noise. Two fruit baskets, he corrected himself.
“Since we’re already here…”, Aye pursed his lips at Akk. His eyes were twinkling playfully.
“Ayeee, no making out at school!”
꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳
The thirteen minutes passed more quickly than Akk had anticipated. Once it as time for them to head back to class, they opened the door to find that the old nurse had left the room, probably not wanting to get caught up in whatever mess he thought they were in.
They walked down the schools corridors hand in hand. Akk had chosen a route that wasn’t too populated, and despite the many kids rushing back into their classrooms just a bit ahead, it was quiet enough to hear the echo of their footsteps, mixed with the chatter of the other students.
They were nearing their classroom now, the door already in sight. Akk was about to walk the last meters and go inside, but Aye’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. His boyfriend gently pulled at his arm with the hand that was still in Akk’s. Akk turned around to face him.
Aye looked at him so softly, a slight smile playing around his lips. His thumb caressed Akk’s knuckles, and Akk felt a swarm of butterflies flutter in his stomach at the gesture. Aye seemed to want to say something, but then decided against it. He pulled at his arm again, this time a bit harder, stood up on the balls of his feet and planted a kiss on Akk’s cheek.
“Thank you. I had fun too, you know?.”, he whispered as he pulled away.
He started walking towards the classroom, pulling Akk along by their still joined hands.
Akk followed along, smiling and ready to face today and tomorrow alongside his boyfriend.