the staff room || reddie

5. parents night

parents night, the night richie dreaded, was about to start. he had his laptop with him and a bunch of paperwork, containing notes on each student. he was honest to their parents, but not honest enough. teachers were like that to him when he was younger, and he had a strong grudge since. he glanced over at eddie who sat beside him.
" i'd be home right now." he said, " but no, i have to meet people i don't like. fuck my life."
eddie made a sad attempt at a laugh. he was exhausted. he had apparently set a deadline too late for him to grade in time for parents night unless he spent most of his night grading them. and that's what he did.
eddie lazily slipped his hand into richie's, squeezing it gently and looking up at him. he, like richie, wasn't in the mood to talk to people. especially parents. all he wanted to do was curl up with richie and/or sleep.
richie saw the first set of parents coming into the classroom. he looked at the students and took out the piece of paper he wrote notes on them on.
the parents sat down in front of the two.
" hey, i'm samantha's english teacher. nice to meet you."
the woman smiled softly, " it's nice to meet you too."
eddie let go of richie's hand quickly, sitting up straighter in his seat. samantha was a good student to eddie's knowledge. she handed in her work mostly on time and wasn't that bad of an artist.
" she's doing very well for a student in her age group." richie said as he glanced at the grades he had written on his paper.
" you've got very nice eyes." the woman told him.
" excuse me?" richie looked up, " well, thanks."
the daughter awkwardly sat there.
eddie creased his eyebrows. the woman was nice and not bad looking, but she had to be at least a decade older than richie. eddie readjusted himself in his seat, watching the conversation go on.
" anyways," richie continued on, " she hasn't handed in her homework for last week, but we sorted that out already."
" are you free tonight?" the woman then asked.
" yeah, i'm kinda not. i'm marking your daughter's test, thank you very much. unless you want her to fail, i recommend not flirting with me, ma'am."he said in the most professional voice he could.
the woman didn't reply.
eddie's eyes widened. the woman at least ten years older than richie was hitting on him, and he was her daughter's teacher. at least richie didn't play along, he told himself, trying to calm himself before he did something he would regret.
" you could always mark them another day." she then said after a few seconds.
" ma'am, if i could do that, i really would, but that's because i have videogames i want to play, not elderly women i want to fuck." he said simply, the daughter looking up at him.
" i may look professional but i can drink a caprisun in 2 seconds and i'm not christian grey. thank you."
eddie watched the whole thing go down, samantha's mother continuing to flirt with richie and samantha almost as awkward as he was. he couldn't help but smile a little at richie's remark.
"anyway," he butted into the conversation for his portion of the conversation. "i'm eddie kaspbrak, mr. kaspbrak, and i'm samantha's art teacher." he smiled in a fake and bitchy way.
she just nodded a little at eddie, silently telling him to finish talking.
eddie lightly cleared his throat. "um, samantha's a pretty good student. she's passionate about her work and almost always hands it in on time." eddie tended to be more generous when talking to parents.
" thanks." the woman said, turning to look at richie. he didn't return the look and was writing something on his laptop.
samantha and her mother left soon after, and before eddie could stop to talk with richie about what had just happened, a couple and their son came in, taking seats in front of richie and eddie.
eddie politely smiled at them, looking at the student to see that it was a student called adrian and his parents. the dad was a bit intimidating but eddie didn't really pay attention to that.
adrian wasn't one of richie's students, so richie was still writing. he was writing a snippet of his next book, since he seemed to publish one every 2 years.
" aren't you two dating? you kissed on monday, apparently." the kid commented.
his father's face turned from annoyed about being there to angry.
eddie saw this immediately. the mother sort of just sat there in a bored way, like she expected this to happen.
"um.. no." eddie lied terribly.
" you do know being gay is wrong, right?" the father asked.
richie looked over. he looked almost dead inside. not only was he tired, he was annoyed.
" sir, please shut up." he said, " i don't think it has anything to do with you. please remember that we're your son's teachers and if it wasn't for us, he wouldn't know how to draw a line."
the father didn't take to that lightly.
" i'm not gonna be told by a fag to shut up."
" already happened but go off, i guess." richie shrugged.
the kid looked embarrassed while eddie looked like he was about to have a fucking seizure. he placed a light hand on richie's arm.
"sorry, sir, um, anyways-" he was cut off quickly.
"are you influencing my son with homosexuality?" the man asked.
"sir, there's really no need for this." eddie said quietly, looking at richie for help.
" yes, there is." richie said, " listen up, dumbass. pardon my language. i'm not influencing anything. people like you make me want to hang myself more than i already do. What do you accomplish from this?"
" what do you accomplish from dating a guy?"
" good question. you want a certificate in class for that? you're acting like a ninth grader." he said with an obviously fake smile, " also, i'm not really gay, if you must know. i'm bi. please write me an essay, due... when am i next free? i'm marking your son's work all the time and making sure he doesn't fail a lot so i rarely have time.. but hand it in on tuesday next week and i'll get to it. write it about how bad gays are. i'll have it graded by friday. thanks a lot. i'll see you then." richie waved to end the conversation, and looked back at his laptop.
the room was silent. the mother of eddie's student looked honestly bored. her expression hadn't changed since she first walked into the room. the kid looked close to tears and eddie honestly felt bad for him. the dad looked infuriated, but nonetheless walked out of the room, mumbling for his wife and child to follow him. eddie was silent for a moment. the door shut aggressively and he looked over at richie, his heart racing a bit faster than it should've been.
"how did you do that? you just told him off like he couldn't beat you up in two seconds," eddie said. he was very unlike his boyfriend in his situation. his face was burning and his foot was tapping anxiously on the ground.
" because i'm not gonna take shit from a stranger." richie said, " and he wouldn't beat me up in a school. that's low. and i'm low enough as it is so i know." he told eddie, " you okay, sweetheart?"
eddie nodded quickly. "'m fine, that was just.. uncomfortable." he said. eddie reaches for richie's hand and gripped it, letting a breath out of his nose.
the next pair of people and their child walked in.
" we heard what happened." the mother said, " sorry about it."
" it's fine. don't worry." richie smiled a little. the boy, liam, was one of richie's favourite students. his poems were always nice to read, and sometimes, during class, the two would chat about their favourite novels.
" i'm liam's english teacher. i gotta say, he never fails to impress me with his writing." richie said, " he does very well and i wouldn't be surprised if he landed a career in writing in the future."
his parents grinned proudly, which made eddie's heart melt. liam looked pretty happy himself. english was one of his favorite subjects.
"i'm liam's art teacher," eddie introduced himself with a smile. "liam's one of my favorite students, don't tell anyone i said that," his parents laughed in that weird way adults do with other adults. liam silently thanked richie and eddie by giving them a grateful look.
"he always hands in extra credit work, which are beautiful, by the way. he's very talented and has a lot of potential." eddie finished off with a soft smile.
he had never seen a prouder pair of parents before.
" well, thank you to you both." the father said, " again, sorry about what happened."
" don't worry about it sir." richie said.
" i think i've read one of your novels." the mother said. richie smiled at that.
" really? wow, not every day i hear that."
" it was really good, i'm glad you're the one teaching our son and not someone who doesn't know what they're talking about."
" thank you, really." richie said happily.