Archive of Our Own

The kids were acting off lately. 

They had been sneaking around him more than usual, taking peeking glances before quickly looking back when they saw Meng Huai staring back at them.

He doesn't know what kind of mischief they've gotten themselves into this time, and he'd opt to ignore it if they hadn't usually made it his problem by the end of the day. 

Just thinking about all of their mishaps already sent a headache to his head. 

Seriously, Meng Huai had taken Class F for a break from hellions like them, but then they forcefully dragged him back to Class S like he was the babysitter everyone feared of…

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, not missing the way Jiang Tianming’s eye hastily flickered back to the other troublemaker. 

Those two, talking… 

He's going to have a migraine by the end of the day.

Suddenly, Mo Xiaotian jumped from his seat, seemingly about to yell something—given from the glint in his eyes—but he was quickly shushed by everyone frantically making gestures to him.

..Scratch by the end of the day, he's going to have a migraine by lunch.

“Not to alarm anyone,” Li Shu spoke out of the blue, reading lazily at the edge of Jiang Tianming’s bed. “but I think Teacher Meng is on to us.”

A lot of them sighed. 

“This is a mess!” Qi Huang said, pointing at whatever amalgamation of a gift they had made for their teacher.

“I don't know if this is a dragon or a wet cat.” Wu Mingbai muttered.

To be honest, Jiang Tianming agreed with them.

The Class had attempted to make their teacher a gift, some sort of handmade craft for him. Instead, what they ended up with was a mess of papers, colours, and paint.

The sad looking.. dragon? lizard? looked back at him mockingly, its ear falling off not a second later.  

Yeah.. it was.. it was pretty bad. He was worried that they wouldn't get a gift in time, some sort of disappointment flooding through him.

“We can always buy flowers and call it a day.” Li Shu spoke, subtly inching closer to Jiang Tianming. 

“Just flowers is a disgrace, Li Shu.” Si Zhaohua frowned, crossing his arms. “We can buy a sculpture of a dragon, we certainly have the funds to do so.”

Jiang Tianming scooted over to Wu Mingbai, ignoring the pout Li Shu was most certainly giving to him.

“But I want it handmade!” Mo Xiaotian said, his eyebrows furrowed, and he only did that he was thinking really, really hard.

“Well,” Jiang Tianming startled at Su Bei’s voice. He had forgotten that the blond was there, always so quiet and mysterious.

“If handmade is the issue, we can just buy a wooden sculpture of a dragon and paint it ourselves.”

That… 

Many of his classmates eyes fluttered at that idea, and they all started furiously speaking at high speeds.

Su Bei smirked at the noise, and Jiang Tianming smiled as well.

It looks like everything would be fine, afterall.

“Teacher Lei! Teacher Lei!”

Lei Ze’en turned around to see Meng Huai’s entire class staring at him hopefully.

He felt like he just encountered something he shouldn't have, but these were his friend’s students, he would hear them out at least. 

“Ah, yes, Meng Huai’s rascals. What do I owe you guys today?” He said, hoping that the friendly tone was enough to make them know he wasn't insulting them by calling them rascals..

“We need you to cause a distraction.” Mo Xiaotian pleaded, clasping his hands together and looking at him with puppy eyes.

Lei Ze’en felt sweat slide down his neck. 

“Ahah, a distraction? From who?” If the kids were asking him to do this because they got attacked again, he's without hesitation calling Meng Huai. Who cares if the kids will pout at him.

“Teacher Meng.” Feng Lan nodded graciously, opening his mouth to explain why.

“We want to surprise him by giving him gifts for today, but..” The prophet trailed off, looking a bit hesitant to say something.

“Frankly, it's annoying that he hasn't gone out of the classroom since the morning.” Su Bei said straight out, ignoring the indignant squawks his classmates let out.

Lei Ze’en chuckled at the students' antics. He doesn't think there's been anyone that brave and bold to say that out loud for a couple of years now.

“Alright, alright. I'll help you kids.”

The cheers of Class S were loud, and it's good that classes were over or else they would've gotten berated.

He hopes they can crack down Meng Huai's hard shell.

Something had changed today. 

The kids were much more skittish than they previously were, boldly stealing glances at him with amusement(or worry?) in their eyes. 

It's putting him on edge. Meng Huai felt like a surprise was coming soon, and he doesn't particularly like surprises.

It didn't help that Lei Ze’en pestered him earlier, too. The little shit had started off by saying he wanted to spar, and then he wanted to eat, and then he wanted to hang out…

Seriously, what the hell was he doing? His acting was so bad, and he kept chuckling out of nowhere every now and then.

Meng Huai kept staring at him weirdly when he did that, the urge to hit the man growing stronger with every passing moment.

Now, walking back to the classroom(with a throbbing arm), he wonders what the kids had said to his friend to make him actually go with their absurd plans.

He just hoped that when he walks back to the classroom, he won't get bombarded by bombs.

He was nearing the classroom now, and something in his mind was tingling. It didn't scream danger at him, but it did make him wary to enter the classroom.

Meng Huai opened the door, and was met with silence.

Alright, at least he didn't get bombed.

He quickly noticed the suspicious wrapped thing on the teacher's desk, though, and he slowly walked to it.

After he realized that nothing was about to happen, he pulled the ribbon that was tying the thing together, and slowly tried to remove the haphazard tape that was spread around.

Eventually, what was presented to him was a sculpture of a dragon, easily the size of a box, and it was.. 

It was clearly hand painted, but some of the spots barely had any paint, while some of the scales had too much of them. 

There was a bouquet of flowers beside it, full of orchids, carnations, roses, and other flowers he most likely forgot the name of. 

Meng Huai looked at the scales of the dragon, and he was met with the realization that it was similar to one of his Dragons.

There was a sticky note on the corner of the gift, and he picked it up gently with his hands. It's writing was obviously rushed, with the way some of the letters were barely readable