Chapter Text
Ryland had been sitting in his chair with his feet propped up on his desk throwing his beanbag made of "lava" up into the air, and catching it before throwing it back up again for a good 15 minutes now.
It was a week before school was supposed to start, and he'd been waiting for Stratt to introduce him to the new teacher he was supposed to be working alongside with this year.
The school was going to try something new; one day, students would learn life science, and the next day, they would go to the classroom next door to learn physical science, and vice versa.
Ryland would teach life science like usual, and the new teacher would teach physical science.
In past years, physics had only been an 8th grade subject, but based on state testing scores, it was obvious that students had been completely forgetting everything they learned the year before.
So, Stratt being herself, managed to convince the entire board of Ed to let her change the curriculum.
Just as the beanbag fell back into his hand for what seemed to be the hundredth time, the classroom door finally opened, and Stratt walked in along with a man who he presumed was the new physics teacher.
"Mr. Grace, I would like to introduce you to the school's newest hire, Simon Fischer."
Simon was not anything like Ryland thought he would be.
Ryland expected the new teacher to look like your common everyday person with a matching overly cheery, fake personality that would allow him to choose to only interact with them during staff meetings and in the hallways, and just leave it at that. That's the impression most staff seemed to leave on him anyways, and he's never failed to act the same towards them every time.
However, Simon didn't fit that description at all. He was probably around Ryland's height, maybe a bit shorter, with shoulder length dark hair half-tied back into a bun, and scars that climbed from beneath his shirt collar on the left side of his neck up to the corner of his eye.
It took a second for him to realize Simon had a prosthetic left arm, since he was wearing a black long sleeved button-up that covered it, but his hand being made of metal was a giveaway.
Another thing Ryland couldn’t help but to notice was the fact that the man was absolutely built.
Ryland was usually pretty proud of his own figure, but holy cow, what did a science teacher need with all of that?!?
Before Simon could notice his staring, Ryland got out of his chair to stand up and properly greet his new colleague.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Fischer, I’m Ryland Grace. I'm looking forward to working with you this year," he said with an awkward small wave of his hand and as much enthusiasm in his voice as he could muster at 7:30 in the morning.
Ryland has never been one for weird formal handshakes, and Simon thankfully didn't look like he was going to offer his hand anytime soon either.
"Nice to meet you too, and just Simon works fine," he said with little-to-no emotion in his voice, not like he was being rude, but just like he didn't find it necessary to fake his excitement, which Ryland appreciated.
"Well, now you've met, so Mr. Fischer, you can continue to follow me to discuss more about how this year is going to work," Stratt said flatly, already starting out the door.
Simon gave a small nod in Ryland's direction before turning around to catch up to Stratt.
Ryland found the man way more interesting than he should be, and immediately knew he was going to want to talk to Simon a lot more than just in the hallways and in meetings like he originally thought.
Simon, as Ryland was soon going to discover, was going to be a bit of a problem.
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Fifteen minutes later, on the way to the official first staff meeting, Ryland stopped by the guidance office to meet up with Rocky and Adrian.
Ricardo and Adrian Eridani have been his closest friends since college, they're practically his only family at this point. So Ryland was more than delighted that they all ended up working at the same school.
Rocky was shorter than Ryland, with huge black-gray hair, brown eyes, and the craziest utility belt full of tools that Ryland had ever seen to this day. He also always seemed to have some sort of mechanical grease stain on his overalls or himself, even if he hadn’t touched any work that day.
He was the workshop teacher, so he taught robotics, mechanical engineering, and even occasionally filled in for the wood working teacher. Along with all of that, another job he seemed to enjoy quite a lot was being as loud and bothersome as all of his machines combined when he didn't have something in his hands to work on.
Adrian, being much more calm, was the school's main counselor. They were excellent at their job which was amazing for the kids, but not so great when it came to Ryland wanting to keep things to himself.
They were much taller than both Rocky and Ryland, with dark brown skin and greenish eyes that matched the same green color weaved into their braids. They always had on some sort of musical jewelry, like their gold earrings that sounded like wind chimes when they moved, or the charms on their bracelet that made a tinkling noise when they clinked together.
The two of them had been Ryland’s first friends that dealt with and even joined in on his college shenanigans without instantly finding him too weird or nerdy for their liking.
They were also his first exposure to queer relationships and identities outside a TV or computer screen, which helped him figure out his own with tons of support along the way.
Before Ryland had the chance to even open his mouth, Adrian dived into declaring, "You look more alive than you normally are before staff meetings, you're usually a lot more sweaty. Is the new teacher on your mind instead?"
"Well good morning to you too I guess…" Ryland grumbled, used to being greeted with questions, but was still thrown off every time it happened.
"And hey! I have no idea what you mean, I'm never anxious before staff meetings!"
Rocky turned his head towards Ryland from where he'd been tinkering with his newest project in the corner, and gave him one of his signature doubting stares.
"Ryland, I've literally seen you give yourself pep talks in your empty classroom when you think no one is looking," Rocky stated, causing Ryland to protest with a series of incomprehensible sounds.
"Hey! There's no way you've seen those!" Ryland shouted back as soon as he could form actual words.
"I can see through walls Ryland, I see everything. And, you never put down your classroom shade, so anybody could see you anyways," Rocky responded with a grin.
Ryland rolled his eyes, and then seemed to just pick up that Adrian mentioned Simon before, and suddenly perked up again.
"Adrian, you've met Simon? And wait what would he have to do with my mood?" Ryland inquired, tilting his head to the side.
Adrian looked at him with amused curiosity and raised an eyebrow.
"Yes Ryland, as a school counselor I have to get to know all of the teachers and students, so of course I met him. And I know you had to meet him too, so my question was very reasonable."
"First, I only got to know his name because Stratt believes in efficiency and speed instead of human connection, so no, he’s not the reason I'm supposedly 'less focused' on the upcoming meeting today.”
He narrowed his eyes at both Adrian and Rocky, “Which I’m not, by the way, I’m acting the same as always."
Even though he isn’t at all interested about Simon (definitely), Ryland paused before asking, "However, what do you think about him?"
Adrian looked over and locked eyes with Rocky without saying anything, and then turned back to look at Ryland like nothing happened.
"Dude that's not cool, stop using your weird couple communication magic!" Ryland objected, frowning.
"Don't know what you're talking about,” they responded innocently. “The only time you ask me about new hires is when you want to complain about them, but this doesn't seem like one of those occasions," Adrian said, using a tone Ryland was scared of hearing from anyone, but especially the Eridanis.
"It’s not you’re right, I was just wondering..?" Ryland worded extra cautiously.
Adrian hummed in reply, still not showing any hint of what they were implying on their face.
Ryland looked at the clock on the wall and was insanely happy to have an excuse to change the topic.
"Well, the meeting starts in 5, so we should get going."
Adrian agreed with a nod, and started gathering some of their things.
On the other hand, Rocky sighed loudly with disappointment, really not wanting to put down his project just yet, and directed his eyes at Ryland like he personally scheduled the meeting.
Before Rocky's death stare actually killed him, Ryland decided to slip outside of the office and just wait for the pair outside.
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They made it to the meeting with 2 minutes to spare, but still ended up being the last ones there.
The only open seats anymore were two next to each other on the right side of the table, and one by the end, in between Simon and Martin.
Adrian and Rocky already started to walk towards the two seats, leaving him alone to sit with his new colleague and someone he's been trying to avoid ever since the he thought Ryland wanted to be let in on all the details about his relationship with Annie a few years back (yes, all the details).
Thankfully, Ryland didn't have to say anything to either of them to pass the time because as soon as he sat down, Stratt immediately launched into the presentation.
A few minutes in, Ryland, being always ever so prepared, realized he forgot to bring a pen to take notes with.
On his left, Martin was too busy being all up in Annie's personal space, so Ryland decided not to ask him for anything.
However, on his right, Simon was squinting to read the slides and attentively listening to everything Stratt was saying, his notes neatly organized but mostly made up of random and short reminders than actual sentences.
Ryland didn't want Simon's second impression on him to be bad, so he was nervous even thinking about asking.
But, Ryland needed to ask soon before it was too late to say anything, so he leaned slightly towards the other man and whispered, "Pst, Simon."
This immediately caught his attention and he responded with a partially bothered, "..Yes?"
"Really sorry to ask, but do you happen to have a spare pen I could use?" Ryland asked, fidgeting with his lanyard and tapping his left foot on the floor.
"If not, that's ok too I’ll just have this as a reminder to bring one next time," he added, trying his hardest not to come off as needy or annoying.
"Sure, I have one you could borrow," Simon responded, looking confused as to why Ryland looked so nervous just asking for a small thing.
He handed over the pen he apparently had tucked behind his ear and then looked right back up at the presentation before Ryland could thank him.
Ryland was left dazed for a second, partly because he was happy that interaction didn't completely blow over, and partly because he wished the interaction was longer.
Ryland wasn't one for conversations that lasted any more than a minute with people he didn't know, especially with his colleagues, and for years now, he was pretty sure that fact was never going to change.
He really didn't appreciate how Simon Fischer was becoming an exception.