Funny How Love Is (Maylor AU)

Chapter 5

Roger locked his interim classroom's door and heaved a sigh—another day wasted sitting around, plucking the strings on the guitars he brought in, tapping the skins of his drums he'd transferred from his flat, and hitting the keys on the piano Brian helped him bring down. He didn't know why the professor seemed to take a liking to him, but he wasn't complaining. It was a nice change from what he was used to.

On his way out, the blonde passed by the curly-haired man's classroom, hoping to catch him before he left, but to his dismay, the lecture hall was completely dark and void of any students or professors. Roger couldn't hold back the frown that appeared on his face as any hopes he had of seeing Brian again that day were crushed. He scratched behind his head, meeting the gaze of another professor whose eyes narrowed in disgust as they passed by. Great, another young one.

The music instructor shelved his disappointment and smirked, fluffing his hair and pursing his lips out at them as if to blow a kiss their way. The teacher scoffed and continued on their way, leaving Roger behind. Once the blonde was all alone, he let his confident demeanor fade away, the emptiness of the hallway and the encounter he'd just had reminding him of how much he didn't belong there.

He felt like an outsider at the university, not only because of his age, but because he wasn't like any of the other professors there. They all had years of experience under their belts and were teaching—what Roger felt to be—intense, complex subjects. The blonde, on the other hand, had no professional experience and was teaching music at a school for science and medicine and business. It didn't make sense to him how he'd gotten there in the first place, but he wasn't going to let the opportunity go to waste. He couldn't. Not when—

A car horn blared from outside, snapping Roger out of the despondent daze he'd fallen into and rushing him out of the school. He burst into the courtyard and spotted the car that had been parked outside of the university for nearly twenty minutes, along with its inebriated driver leaned against its side, arms crossed over his chest and a cigarette pinched between his fingers. He frowned as he was greeted bitterly with a "Where the fuck have you been?"

"I was just finishing up some paperwork with the headmistress," the blonde lied, approaching the driver and planting a quick, meaningless kiss on his lips. He immediately tasted the alcohol on the man's breath and tried his best not to react, tacking on as sincerely as he could manage, "I'm sorry for holding you up."

"You're lucky you're good at sucking dick," he grumbled, sardonically patting Roger on the cheek before escaping the space he occupied between the vehicle and his boyfriend and circling around to the other side. Roger glanced over and saw a student he recognized from Brian's class looking at him with an even more offended look than the professor before had, a scornful expression appearing on his face as he continued on with his walk to the car park around the other side of the school.

The blonde felt his cheeks grow warm in embarrassment as he yanked open the car door and slipped inside, slamming it shut behind him and buckling in. The original driver did the same, glancing over at Roger who tried to avoid his gaze while starting the ignition. The vehicle roared to life and pulled away from the curb, the first few moments of the drive consumed with absolute silence before Roger's passenger blurted out, "Oh, so you've suddenly decided not to use that mouth of yours?" He clicked his tongue and shook his head in disappointment. "That's not like my Roggie at all..."

"First off," the blonde raised an admonitory finger at him, "Don't ever call me Roggie again. And secondly, you can't talk to me like that at my job, Tim," he murmured, his grip on the steering wheel tightening ever so slightly, "It's unprofessional."

"The only profession you've ever had is as a whore, Rog, and it's the one you should've stuck with," Tim sneered, getting comfortable in his seat and taking a drag of his cigarette. "You're losing money pursuing this little...hobby of yours. I mean, you're not even that good. I pity the person you had to sleep with to get this gig."

Roger rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the road, knowing that anything he'd say in response would only encourage his boyfriend to further shit on his aspirations. He'd learned that after the first hundred times this conversation took place.

"Smoke?" Tim offered after another blanket of silence fell over the car.

"No," the blonde curtly declined, not wanting to say much else.

The other scoffed and continued to smoke the cigarette on his own, enduring the rest of the silent car ride in which the tension between the two intensified with each street they passed. Their destination arrived later than the driver would've liked, though in actuality it was the same as every other trip. This one just seemed longer, and all Roger could think about was Brian—how he would probably never talk to him the way Tim did, how he wouldn't dismiss his interest in music as a "hobby" (seeing as he shared it), how he wouldn't make him feel completely and utterly worthless...

The car pulled up to the flat the two lived in and Roger shut the ignition off, heaving a shaky sigh as he tried to mentally prepare himself for the night ahead. With the way their ride had gone, Roger had doubts that tonight would be one of their better nights. It was getting harder for him to keep the façade up, to keep a smile on his face, and to keep lying to everyone and himself. Yet at the same time, it was all he'd ever known, and it was difficult to get away from that, no matter how hard he tried. Something always pulled him back, or rather, someone.