poeta nascitur, non fit ~ steven meeks x fem!reader

the lessons of mr.keating~

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

One by one, the boys and lady filtered into the fourth period English classroom. (y/n) had been here before, helping Mr. K put up his little posters, and she often spent time reading by the window as her older friend prepared lessons for the future. (y/n) laughs when Knox throws a sheet of paper at a poor boy named Spaz, while Cameron smacks him. Once again, (y/n) and Meeks - who the gang had nicknamed the "Latin Duo" - sat next to one another at the front of the room.

Cautiously peeking his head out of his office door, Mr. Keating makes eye contact with (y/n) who gives him an encouraging thumbs-up. He smiles, and suddenly opens the door fully before walking out, whistling. He ignores the students odd-looing stares as he quits the room.

Dumbfounded, the ivy league bound students all exchange glances. Meeks immediately looks at (y/n) who shrugs with an amused expression on her face. Cameron - teacher's pet that he is - looks at Knox as if to say, 'are you serious?'. As soon as he had gone, however, Mr. Keating poked his head back into the classroom.

"Well, come on!" he gestures to the students who are still sitting in their desks, very obviously confused at the non-strict start to the lesson.

"Is he kidding?" One boy wonders aloud while they continue looking at one another - searching for a leader. Of course, being the unofficial leader of the group, Neil says:

"Let's go, guys!" (y/n) is the first out of her seat, with Meeks and Charlie to follow. Like dominoes or a chemical reaction, the gang follows one another, until every last student has left the room and is walking down the hall.

"Things just got interesting." Neil whispers to (y/n), who chuckles, remembering some of her lessons at Chester.

"Never a dull moment with Keating." she responds. Todd looks around anxiously as he desperately tries to stay in the crowd and not stand out. He searches for his brunette roommate, which wasn't hard considering how Neil towers over just about everyone. He pushes past a few boys before falling in step between Neil and (y/n), with Meeks and Pitts behind them.

The class enters the foyer, which doubles as an honor hall. On the wall opposite the classroom's door, there proudly stands a display case - chock full of old photographs of alumni, trophies, and random awards. The students file into the cramped space, still very much confused.

Mr. Keating turns to face his attentive pupils before speaking "'O captain, my captain," he quotes "who knows where that comes from?" (y/n) rolls her eyes. This wasn't the first, nor would it be the last, time Mr. Keating quoted Walt Whitman.

Todd, for the first time in his Welton career - which isn't saying much - looks up at the teacher, knowing the answer. (y/n) and Meeks stood close to Cameron in the front row and (y/n) is about to raise her hand but is rudely interrupted by Spaz viciously blowing his nose. The girl recoils towards Meeks and the impact causes the poor boy's glasses to get mashed into his face.

"Agh!" he cries out quietly, while (y/n) makes fast-paced and apologetic hand motions.

"Oh, Meeks I'm so sorry," she says quickly and in a hushed whisper "here, let me right those." Gently, she places the glasses back properly on his face. His cheeks grow a deep red color, which (y/n) did not fail to notice. Smiling, the pair turns back to Mr. Keating who eyes her suspiciously.

"Not a clue? It's from a poem by Walt Whitman about Mr. Abraham Lincoln," he explains carefully, his blue-eyed gaze raking across each of his students in turn "Now, in this class, you can either call me Mr. Keating, or, if you're slightly more daring, O captain my captain." Knox looks the professor up and down, very visibly confused. Many of the students chuckle somewhat awkwardly, and Neil flashes a quick smile. Mr. Keating continues - quite happy with his first class so far.

"Now, let me dispel a few rumors so they don't fester into facts," (y/n) was absolutely sure she knew what he was talking about - his time at Welton. Mr. K had always been somewhat secretive with the girl, never going into great detail for his stories. "Yes, I too attended Hell-ton, and survived. And no, at that time, I was not the mental giant you see before you. I was the intellectual equivalent of a 98-pound weakling. I would go to the beach and people would kick copies of Byron in my face." At this Pitts, tries desperately to hold in his laughter, while Meeks nudges (y/n) slightly. The shorter girl looks over at him and he kneels close to her and whispers:

"Is this guy crazy?" (y/n) shivers before replying

"Not exactly crazy," she whispers back "just, very, very enthusiastic and charismatic." Meeks nods

"And for grading, how is he?" (y/n) smiles at the boy's question

"Meeks, darling, don't be a knob. Every teacher is easy for you." Meeks stutters, but hushes himself when Mr. Keating starts talking again.

"Now, Mr. Pitts.." his voice trails off "that's a rather unfortunate name. Mr. Pitts, where are you?" Everyone snickers quietly while the tall boy raises his hands shyly.

"Mr. Pitts, would you please open your hymnal to page 542 and read the first stanza of the poem you find there?" Mr. Keating asks and Pitts struggles to find the page. Meeks opens his hymnal to the exact page and when (y/n) goes to open hers, he shakes his head.

"Just read off mine." he whispers kindly, holding it closer so she might read. (y/n) smiles thankfully.

"Thanks, Meeks" she says and holds the right half of the book while Meeks holds the other side. Faintly, (y/n) can feel their hands' closeness and in the back of her mind, she notices that Meeks smells like expensive cologne and old book pages. Pitts clears his throat and begins to read.

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a flying, and this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying." His voice is clear in the dark academic space, yet he reads without much confidence.

"Thank you, Mr. Pitts" Keating says, turning on his heel to pace in front of the class once more. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. The latin term for that sentiment is 'Carpe Diem'" he looks to (y/n), who smirks confidently "Now who knows what that means?"

As if reading her mind, Meeks lifts his thin arm into the air quickly. "Carpe diem. That's 'seize the day'." the ginger boy says, and the other half of the beloved Latin Duo sticks her tongue out at her friend. He smiles back at her before Keating addresses him.

"Very good Mr-"

"Meeks." the boy says, smiling in spite of himself.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

a/n: OooOOoOoo i'm trying to have their relationship be a kind of slowburn but sometimes it's hard because the time in the film jumps around a lot! what do you y'all think? Also I have Word Replacer on my web browser so sometimes (y/n) changes in my writing to my actual name which can be awkard lol... just point it out if you notice is -danke!