teacher's pet

one-on-one

𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳

≛

"are you not coming?"

sapnap stops by their desk, his bag already on his back. he's looking down at karl, his brows furrowed and his head tilted slightly to the side.

"no, i'm staying back to give mister mcallister my first draft if he has time," karl explains, gesturing to the papers in his hand that he just pulled out of his backpack. "i'm going to the library after, so you guys can go and i'll just walk back."

"alright, if you're sure," sapnap replies.

"positive."

the pair exchange brief goodbyes and a playful wave before sapnap excuses himself, along with the rest of the class.

mister mcallister has his eyes locked on karl even before the last students have made their way out of the room, a smile playing on his plump lips. "may i help you?"

karl feels warm all over, and not just because of the school's poor circulation. "i finished the plan for my book," karl starts before embarrassment dawns on him and he immediately backtracks, "well like- a rough draft, you know? it's not perfect, i still need to-"

"bring it over," the older man interrupts, his voice stern but soft. controlling. it's like an order that karl can't argue with, and he sort of likes that. not having to make decisions for himself is nice, and it's easy to comply as he gets up, taking his backpack with him and moving around to sit opposite mister mcallister. "sit around this side, that way we can read together."

karl does so without arguing, tugging the chair around so he can take a seat beside his teacher.

the older man reads it out loud, having to take a few prompts from karl about pieces of the page that don't make sense to him, since karl has sort of written anywhere and everywhere he can. it's more of a mindmap than a written out plan, but the english teacher seems to love it nonetheless.

karl sits and listens to the feedback, all of which is good. it feels so nice to have someone gushing over his hard work and praising the thing he created. he hasn't felt this appreciated since... well, he'd like to say since alex, but recent thinking has told him that those feelings were never appreciation, it was just another form of manipulation.

"are you heading home to work on it some more now then?" mister mcallister asks as they both step out of the classroom. karl had stood around for a bit whilst the teacher was packing up his own belongings and logging out of his computer, continuing to talk through his ideas for the book and basking in the positive responses he received.

it honestly helped to talk aloud about it too. sharing his ideas made more come to him, like an endless stream of thoughts, and he felt lit up inside by the time they were heading for the door out.

"i'm going to the library for a bit first," karl answers, gesturing down the hall towards the school library as he watches his teacher lock up his classroom. he pretends like he's paying attention to the motions rather than staring at the older man's veiny hands.

"oh yeah?" mister mcallister looks at karl with a real smile, like the idea of his student going to the library genuinely pleases him. "to do what?"