Holykeebler216
Pairing: blohyuk
Summary: Eunhyuk has been bothering Tablo for quite some time...but how is it the teacher manages to get cornered after class?
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"Be a pilot!" his mother said.
"Be a businessman!" his father said.
"Be a velociraptor!" his little brother said.
But no. Tablo had to be a teacher. And now he was stuck in this hellhole. With no. Way. Out.
***
Being a high school teacher, Tablo has been putting up with teachers-pets, less-than-enthusiastic students, and hormonal teenagers for 5 years. He's had to deal with inarticulate papers, gum under the desks, reprimands, snores in class, snarky retorts, and the heavy responsibility of sculpting the young minds of future generations, as his school likes to call it. He just calls it teaching.
But never, never has Tablo had to deal with all of that wrapped up in one, dangerous, unpredictable student.
It all started on the end of the first day of the new school year, after having decided to move on from teaching sophomores to tackling the increased workload of teaching seniors advanced English writing and composition. It all started the moment this kid walked into his class, seemingly innocent. It all started when he smirked at his friend and shifted from his seat in the very back to one in the very front, much to Tablo's surprise and slight pleasure that maybe someone was actually interested in learning for once. But Tablo knew, he knew that this...this boy, was out to destroy him, the little demon from hell (whenever he told this part of the story, everyone looked at him like he was paranoid, and there would be a break as he spent 5 minutes explaining that no, this student was actually the spawn of Satan in regards to getting people fired, and just listen.)
***
"Alright. Here we go. Here come the last batch of students, look calm, look professional, do not show any weaknesses." said Tablo.
"Got it," said Tablo.
"No, I'm serious. You do want people to take you serious this year, right?" asked Tablo.
"Yes, of course I do," reassured Tablo.
"Right then. We're on the same page." said Tablo. "AAAAND showtime!"
Tablo shook his head, silencing the voices inside, and cleared his throat to get the attention of the twenty bleary-eyed, fresh faces in front of him. He smiled a little nervously.
"Hello, my name is Professor Lee. Welcome to Advanced English Writing and Composition. I have a syllabus printed for each of you, with the book list attached to the back," he said, moving forward and handing a packet of papers to the student seated at the end of the first row, who proceeded to take one and pass the packet around. And then, without warning, Tablo shivered. He looked around, and saw that the brown-haired boy who had moved to the front had been following his progress with his eyes, never once having left Tablo's back as he walked around the classroom. As Tablo met his gaze, he saw the boy draw his bottom lip between his teeth and his eyes glinted with something hidden. Tablo paused for a second, stunned, before shaking his head for the second time that day.
"Er...right, so the syllabus—" he began again, nervously turning away.
The rest of the class passed without much interruption, but Tablo spent the rest of the hour fighting off the strange feeling from the boy in front. And he still felt like he was being watched.
"Hey, Songsaengnim," a voice called as the end of school bell rang and the students made a mad dash for the hall and freedom.
Tablo turned around to see the same brown-haired boy standing in front of the door, his friends waiting for him just beyond. "...Yes?" Tablo asked. His tone came off suspicious, cautious, and he chuckled inwardly at himself. He was being unreasonable, he really didn't have anything to be wary about, it was just another student, probably wanting to introduce themselves, ask for a college recommendation watch for later in the year—
"My name is Hyukjae, but call me Eunhyuk," the boy said, and he winked obviously at him before walking out the door.
Well. No one had ever introduced themselves like that before.
***
This new student...this Eunhyuk kid...was a problem early on. Tablo didn't like problems. He also didn't like the way Eunhyuk's eyes followed him wherever he went. In fact, he had taken to just standing behind the large wooden desk at the front of the room by now. The problem with this was that Eunhyuk had deliberately picked the seat directly in front of the desk to sit at for the rest of the year. And Tablo was sure it wasn't because he was interested in learning, either. He was interested in something else.
It was rather obvious in his papers. Tablo choked many a time on the...choices of topic. He felt he assigned relatively easy, straightforward assignments, open to enough interpretation for creative control but keeping it close enough to the proper fields of high school writing.
Somehow, Eunhyuk kept managing to get around them.
"I'd like you to describe your experience of maturing from an adolescent into a young adult, and the significance of that experience," Tablo explained one day towards the end of class. "The paper should be single spaced, 3 pages, and to be handed in a week from now on Monday."
A week later, on Monday night, Tablo sat down with a hot cup of coffee and pulled out a stack of papers and a red marking pen from his bag. He read the first title at the top of the pile. It was by Eunhyuk.
