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Goku stepped quietly into the classroom and was pleased when he realized that his presence had not yet been detected. He did not attribute his successful entry to any real stealth on his part, but rather the fact that the man was engrossed in whatever likely dreadfully boring thing that required his undivided attention. The eighteen-year-old felt a familiar and embarrassing ache in his chest upon seeing him, as he had most of the school year, and he cringed against the flood of emotions that washed over him, making him feel all girly and gross in his affection.
“Mr. Cho?”
The man looked up and smiled, causing Goku to ache all over again. It was a warm smile, a kind smile, and far removed from the usual eerily polite and seemingly forced upturn of the lips that chilled many students to the bone. Some most deservedly so.
“Hello, Goku.” Mr. Cho stood up to greet the young man. “This is a pleasant surprise. Why aren’t you out celebrating your freedom with your friends?”
“High school was hardly a prison,” Goku said with a sheepish grin.
Coincidentally, this was one of the most egregious lies that he had ever told.
“Oh?” Mr. Cho raised a brow. “I think that some of your classmates would beg to differ.”
He rounded the desk and leaned against it. His body was tall and lean and lovely and fuck if Goku wasn’t having the hardest time trying not to look at it.
“So,” he continued, pushing up and his glasses and regarding the teenager, curiosity evident in his green eyes. “What can I do for you?”
A loaded question if ever there was one. Goku could think of plenty of things that the older man could do for him.
Or to him.
Whatever he decided to say, he knew that he had better say it quickly, before the opportunity was lost. With that in mind, Goku gathered his nerve--what was left of it--and shut the door behind him. He swallowed hard, the bravado he felt at first now fading fast. Although he had eagerly anticipated this moment all year, now that it had arrived he was uncertain how to proceed.
I’ve been madly in love with you for the past ten months.
Corny as hell.
I know I’m barely legal but I’d really like to fuck your brains out.
Accurate, but not exactly appropriate.
Since he was at such a loss to say something, he decided to do something instead. And so he marched straight over to Mr. Cho, grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled him down into a quick and clumsy kiss, a brief and awkward smashing of the lips that was over before it hardly began.
“Hakkai,” he whispered after they parted, emboldened by the darkness found behind tightly shut eyes to use the name that he had, until that moment, only uttered in the privacy of his own bedroom.
The room was silent, and painfully so. Knowing that he couldn’t very well stand there forever, Goku finally worked up the courage to peer at his teacher through half-open eyes. While not exactly surprising, the look of shock that greeted him was still disappointing. It wasn’t as if he had expected Mr. Cho to be swayed by his admission. But even so, it would have been nice.
“Goku…”
“I’m sorry,” he muttered immediately, stepping away from him, gaze to the floor and face on fire. “I just…” Goku vigorously shook his head, his brown hair spilling over his eyes. “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s... It’s alright,” Mr. Cho said, clearing his throat. “I imagine that must have been rather difficult for you.” He pushed up his glasses again and let out a shaky sigh. “However, I would be remiss if I did not remind you of the perils inherent with kissing former teachers on school property.”
“I know,” Goku said, wincing at the subtle rebuke. “It’s just that…”
Wait a minute.
He stopped as the man’s words hit home.
Was he implying that if they weren’t on school property—?
“Goodbye, Goku.” Mr. Cho moved away from the teen and retreated to the other side of the desk.
Although he knew that he was probably reading way too much into the unexpected statement, Goku decided not to tempt fate twice by asking for clarification. Besides, he did what he had set out to do and made his feelings known. That would have to be enough.
“See you later, Mr. Cho.” His hand had barely brushed the doorknob when he heard his name being called. He turned and found the teacher watching him with an expression that was pleasant enough yet otherwise unreadable. “Yeah?”
“Seeing as how you are no longer my student… Hakkai is fine.”
Goku smiled. And smiled and smiled and smiled. He suspected that his face would be sore from it by the time he was finally able to stop.
He exited the room and made his way down the hall. While it did occur to him that Mr. Cho… Hakkai… probably extended the same first name courtesy to all of his former students, Goku was content to think himself the only one until proven otherwise.
It wasn’t a declaration of love.
It wasn’t wild monkey sex over a desk, either. Pity, that.
But it was, quite possibly, a start.