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"No, Kate, you went the wrong way!" Claire exclaims in exasperation, looking at how her twin sister playing what seems like a Nintendo Switch.
Ryland snickers to himself, he doesn't know what game she's playing in the handheld console, but Claire surely looks so close to grabbing the Switch from Kate's hands and play the game herself. Now Ryland himself is still staying in his class with them, grading his students' assignment from today. He can do it at home, of course, but he realized both Claire and Kate are still waiting to be picked up. As their last teacher of the day and at the same time also their homeroom teacher, the least he can do is wait and keep an eye on them. Quite an usual sight for the twins, actually. Since both of them are almost always going home by themselves as far as Ryland knows, but apparently today they, specifically Kate, insisted to be picked up.
"But Claire…" Kate pouts, whining to her sister with eyes still locked into the screen, "I want to see what's going on there first!"
"Hmp, fine, suit yourself. Don't cry to papa if you died again and again in that game," Claire finally looked away from her sister's game with her hands folded on her chest. She pretty much has given up from giving helps and directions to her twin.
"Mama!" Kate corrected her sister with her eyes still glued to the game.
"What?"
"It's mama, not papa."
"No, Kate, papa prefers to be called papa. You're the only one who called him mama," Claire tries to refute her sister's claim, now glaring at her sister. Ryland is watching with amusement. He understands how much they care about each other, yet at the same time, also frustrated at the other sometimes. Don't ask how he knows.
"I've always called him mama."
"That's the problem, and you're wrong."
"Mama never complained!"
"Papa corrected you million times but you were being stubborn."
Ah, there's also that problem, Ryland thought. The twins always refer to their guardian differently. Claire call him 'papa,' meanwhile Kate loves to refer to him as 'mama.' The first time Ryland heard them talking about their father, he thought Claire and Kate were talking about two different people.
Apparently, no, papa and mama is the same person. He found out after confirming with the twins. Ryland had talked to him and seen him a few times in passing, so he knows that Mr. Gentry is indeed beautiful in real life as well. He looks strong and gorgeous, Ryland definitely didn't focus on his arms. They have talked to each other for like one or two times only, though, and most of their conversations are obviously surrounding the twins.
If his inner alpha has a strong desire to stay close and seek out the omega all the time, he never entertain it. Why would the super cool and attractive omega want him anyway? Besides who knows, even if the dossier of the twins' information stated that the omega father has no partner, he can never be sure. Someone as dashing as Mr. Gentry definitely has many suitors. Someone who is much better than an asshole like him.
"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" a familiar voice reaches Ryland's ears along with a sweet scent of what he suspects as tuberose, a scent he never really smell before from the person he was thinking of. Which is quite unusual, because oftentimes he couldn't smell anything from the other omega, obviously wearing some kind of scent blocker. He can't help but to snap his head and turn his attention fully into whom the voice's owner could be. The science teacher could swear he was holding his breath for at least five seconds.
There Mr. Courtland Gentry is, standing with a dark black jacket which seems a bit bigger on his body. Ryland wishes it was his jacket wrapping the body of the sweet Mr. Gentry. Though he suspects the omega got bigger figure than his, so perhaps his cardigan would fit tightly on Mr. Gentry. Showing every curves perfectly— Alright, stop yourself right there, Ryland. You're not supposed to lust over your students' father.
"Mama!" Kate jumps from her seat and sprints to the stranger, hugging his waist tightly, Switch completely forgotten on the table. Claire, on the other hand, lazily packing her bag and getting ready to go home herself.
But now, tell him why, there is an unknown older man seemingly out of nowhere appears behind Mr. Gentry at the door of his classroom. Ryland identifies the smell to be of an alpha, and his inner alpha almost let out a threatening growl. That's odd. He's quite attractive though, Ryland has to admit. Who is that man?
"Uh, an argument need middleman?" says the unknown alpha. The alpha's hand creeps on Mr. Gentry's waist and Ryland had to bite his own inner cheeks to prevent him from reacting at all seeing that.
"Dad!" Kate lets go of Mr. Gentry and runs to hug the newly appeared man. Ryland almost let out a threatening snarl at this stranger hugging one of his pups.
His pup? Wait. What— What the heck is wrong with you, Ryland Grace. Yeah sure, all of his students are his 'children,' but come on. Don't encroach one's line. And 'dad?' The twins got a dad?!
"Wow, so I'm just being left alone here?" Mr. Gentry feigns hurt and clutches his chest, in which Kate squeals and quickly turns to hug her papa again. That did pull Ryland out of his swirls of thoughts. From the corner of his eyes, Ryland can discern Claire rolling her eyes.
Ryland stands up from his seat and walks toward both the new guests, though he shouldn't be wary because Kate seems to know the stranger well and Claire seems relaxed. Ryland can smell the strong alpha pheromones the moment he approaches the unknown man. Not too bad, typical musky scent, but there's some tangy scent under it? Oh. That's actually quite cute. He smiles and nods towards Mr. Gentry—who is still trapped in Kate's tight hug—to acknowledge him before slowly extending his hand to Mr. Hightower, "Hi, I believe we've never met. I'm Claire and Kate's teacher, Ry—"
"Mr. Grace," the man smiles widely and grabs his hand with the man's other hand covering the back of his hand as well, the other man's strong hands fully enveloping Ryland's hand, "I know you very well from the twins. They talked so highly of you! I'm Zack, Zachary Hightower."
"Ah, Mr. Hightower," Ryland returns the smile, trying not to look intimidated. He's an alpha himself, for God's sake. A sigh of relief escapes his lips when Mr. Hightower lets go of his hand. "It's nice to finally meeting Claire and Kate's… father…?"
The question hangs in the air.
Mr. Hightower laughs, unfortunately it sounds pleasant in Ryland's ears, while Mr. Gentry's eyes are completely focus on the ground, "Well, no, I'm not their actual father, that's dear Court here. I'm just a guy who's taking care of them on the side. I guess they're just calling me 'dad' to be funny."
"You're always with mama, so you're dad! Zoya can be second mama!" Kate explains her reasoning and Ryland has zero idea who she's talking about. He did notice Mr. Gentry's cough when Kate called him 'mama.'
Mr. Hightower shrugs, "Still, I'm just a guy on the side."
Ryland grins, but oddly it doesn't reach his eyes. "Well," he claps his hands once, "I'm glad to meet more of Kate and Claire's family members, or pack, I guess? Thankfully, you guys arrived at the right time! We almost had a huge brawl over here."
That actually does bring laughter out of his spectacles, including Mr. Gentry and even Claire. Ryland's alpha almost purred in content seeing that he made the omega giggle. Knock it off, he scolded himself for God knows how many times now.
Their pleasant interaction had to be cut short by the sound of someone's grumbling stomach.
"Oops," Kate grimaces, "I might need some refuel."
"Yeah, that's our cue to go home," Mr. Gentry says while Mr. Hightower grabs the twins' lunch bags. Both of them ignoring Claire's protest of 'I'm big, I can bring it by myself!'
"So, what do you girls want to eat tonight?" Mr. Hightower asks both Claire and Kate, wiggling his eyebrows. "We can do takeouts."
"No takeouts. I promised Zoya to cook dinner with her today. There's a new recipe she thinks I have to learn, apparently," Mr. Gentry cut him off. Both Ryland and Kate lets out a noise of disappointment for absolutely different reasons. Well, Ryland had to mentally smack himself, hoping none of them heard any of it.
"But, but I want the butter chicken from the restaurant that just opened I told you about, mama!" Kate voices out her grievance. Ryland wanted to tell Kate how good she has it because now the science teacher really, really, has this new wish to try Mr. Gentry's cooking.
Mr. Gentry sighs. "Zack, please take them to your car first, I still have some things I need to talk to with Mr. Grace."
Oh? Ryland didn't anticipate that. He's intrigued, and he's not ready to talk with his crush. Just the two of them. Hang on— Crush?
"Alright. Come on, Your Highnesses! Let's wait for your father at the car," Mr. Hightower cocks his head towards the door and Claire quickly stands up, she can't wait to finally return to her home. Ryland is sure that if either Mr. Gentry or Mr. Hightower was late picking them up, Claire's sour scent of fury and misery would fill the entire classroom.
However, Kate and Claire didn't leave the classroom before hugging their omega father one more time and leaving a kiss on his cheek. Mr. Gentry couldn't hide his affection for his children with how his eyes were practically full of honey while looking at the twins. Mr. Hightower also, to Ryland's dismay, didn't move without holding Mr. Gentry's cheek gently and leaving a peck on the omega's temple. So sweet, so tender, so warm.
Yeah, they're mates, alright.
That did not sting Ryland's heart at all. And his hands are not gripping the edge of the student table tightly, almost marking it with his nails.
Ryland Grace is definitely not in love with his students' omega father.
He is also absolutely not jealous of one Zachary Hightower.
Marissa, his best friend, would love to hear all the details of his heartbreak during their weekly meetups. Though, Ryland can't help but to squint when he catches the knowing smirk on Claire's face towards him before leaving the classroom. But, it was gone as fast as it appeared. Huh. Ryland wonders what it was about. Mr. Hightower walks to leave the classroom, looking back once in a while to make sure the kids are on his tail. Kate and Claire are following behind him happily, humming to different tunes.
Once the trio of Mr. Hightower and the twins are out of their vicinity, Mr. Gentry turns his body towards Ryland, a timid smile graces his handsome face. Ryland notices the omega's shoulders stiffen a little bit. He wonders why, but he decided not to think further about it.
"Sorry for the sudden interruption, Mr. Grace," he starts.
In which, Ryland smiles warmly and responds with, "No problem, Mr. Gentry. I'm your daughters' homeroom teacher after all, you can always talk to me about Kate and, or, Claire."
The scent of tuberose intensifies now that there are only Ryland and Mr. Gentry in the classroom. Ryland believes he could get drunk only by inhaling the sweet scent of Mr. Gentry's. He needs to calm down and get a grip, but Ryland gulps when he realizes Mr. Gentry is getting closer. No wonder the scent is getting even stronger.
"Please, just call me Court."
Ryland chuckles, "No, I can't do that. I'm your daughters' teacher, I need to show you some respect. Thus, 'Mr. Gentry'."
"I insist," Mr Gentry's voice is firm.
"Alright, Court," Ryland shows a crooked smile. "Then you can simply call me… Ryland?"
"Very well… Ryland." Ryland loves how his name rolls nicely from his tongue.
There's a comfortable silence after that which lasts for at least five seconds.
"So, uh, how may I help you, Court?"
Mr. Gen—Court smiles. "Not much, Ryland. I was just wondering how's my daughters are doing at school? I suspected Kate did something that upset her friend, but both Claire and Kate refused to say anything."
"Ah," Ryland nods his head, "You don't have to worry about that, Kate indeed accidentally pushed one of her classmates into a puddle of mud during P.E. But fret not! She already apologized and offered to help clean up her friend's clothes. So Kate and Amy, her friend, already made truce and all is well. As far as I know, of course."
Court breathes out in relief, "Phew, that girl could be a little troublemaker."
Ryland grins, "She could be, but your daughters are truly the sweetest, Court."
Court smiles sheepishly at him.
There is another pregnant pause. The feeling of wanting to escape from his own classroom is starting to gnaw inside his belly. Because if he didn't, he's scared that he would be suffocated by the sweet and calming scent of Court's. Before Ryland could grab his bag and excuse himself, nothing could prepare him for whatever Court will say next.
"Are you free this weekend, Ryland?"
"Huh?"
"Well, I'm just wondering, if we can talk more about my daughters' academical progress with a cup of coffee or something." Court might seem indifferent, but the scent doesn't lie. He was nervous. So does Ryland.
Ryland looks at him for a while before a grin appears on his lips, "Sure."
Court quickly jerks his head to look at Ryland's face, "Sure?"
"Yeah, I mean, totally. Just the two of us, talking about your kids' school stuff. Why not?"
"Of course, just the two of us, of course," Court says breathlessly, a smile forms on his lips as well, "This weekend, then?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm free. You?"
"I'm available this weekend too."
"That's good!" Ryland claps his hand once more, before his smile drops from his face. "Wait—just the two of us? How about your mate?"
"My mate?" Court asks in puzzlement.
"The alpha earlier… Is he not your mate?"
Court scoffs and shakes his head, "No, he's just… he's just a close friend of mine."
Court's voice choked a bit at that, but Ryland didn't ask further. It's not exactly his place to ask what their relationship actually is. Still, relief washes over him hearing the explanation, his alpha purrs in satisfaction. "Well, you have my phone number?"
"We haven't exchanged numbers?" Court oddly seems unsure.
"Right, sorry about that, let me write down mine. We'll text, yeah?"
Court nods his head slowly, he seems in trance with the whole things in which Ryland finds him quite cute, despite all that buffy meaty big body which definitely can throw Ryland across the room and beefy arms that he'd love to squeeze— KNOCK IT OFF.
After exchanging phone numbers, there's a painful realization it's finally time to leave. If it takes a whole lot time than normal for them to shake hands and hold each other's hands, if their touches linger and both of them are trying to bask into each other's scent far more than necessary, neither says a thing.
"So, how was it?" Zack asks smugly once Court sits in the passenger seat.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just, Mr. Grace seems like he'd love to bite my ass and tear me apart after that public display of affection," Zack smirks. "I'm not sure whether he was jealous of me, or if he wanted me."
"Whatever," Court cuts him off before Zack can spew more nonsense in front of Claire and Kate. "Also, don't bother me this weekend."
"Why?"
Now, it is Court's turn to become smug. "I got a date with Mr. Grace."
"Kate, you owe me a cookie!" Claire exclaims all of a sudden from behind them.
"Not fair!" Kate groans in despair.
"Kids, no betting! Who taught you that?" Zack has to step in, before mumbling, "OK, but I also owe you a pack of chocolate, Claire…"
"You guys were betting on me—what?" Court asks in disbelief.
"Don't blame the kids, Court. We were just wondering when you'll actually be on a date with the hot teacher you swooned about. And you should thank me!"
"I did not swoon," Court says through gritted teeth while looking sharply at Zack's eyes.
Court sighs. He can only hope Chance, his brother, or Zoya wasn't in it either. But oh well, his tactic on not wearing a scent blocker today worked like a charm. He cannot wait for that date this weekend.
For now, he has a gorgeous alpha to text.