Chapter Text
The new school year rushed in so fast for Grace, making his time management so stunted. He was so focused on his student’s projects, he barely even noticed that it was almost five in the afternoon. He usually stayed a little late to get some grading done like most of the other teachers, but he had planned to go out with his friends Rocky and Adrian tonight.
Grace immediately pushed himself up from the desk, making him a little lightheaded from how fast it was, grabbing his bag and pulling his laptop and other items into it. He double checked if he had everything, he could never be too sure nowadays, and made his way out of the classroom.
He fiddled with his key ring trying to find the right key for the door. He managed to find the key, but before he could put it in the keyhole he was startled by a sudden voice behind him making him drop his keys. Grace bent down to grab them but before he could, a hand grabbed them. He looked up to see the new science teacher, Simon Fisher, was holding Grace's keys with a sorrowful expression and mumbling apologies.
“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to say hello…”
Grace’s eyes lingered on the man, not trying to be rude but couldn’t help but realize that he never really saw him this up close. They never really had time to actually hold a conversation too long, being the only two seventh grade science teachers, they were both quite busy with the new school year work.
He noticed Simon’s curly hair in a half up half down style making his neck and temple freckles stand out. His button up had to be his size but the shirt was tight around his chest. Yeah, Grace very much noticed that. He ogled for a moment until he realized he was being rude by staring at the poor guy.
“Oh no- it’s ok really! But thank you for grabbing those, you didn’t have to.”
“I’m still sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you that much, honest.”
Simon handed Grace his keys. Simon stood there as Grace found the right key again and locked the door. He turned to face Simon one more time, trying to find a way to walk away from the interaction in the most polite way. But he also felt bad walking away from the man, he thought it was nice that they finally had a chance to chat. But of course it had to be right now, great timing. Simon fidgeted with his bag until he looked up at Grace.
“Um, I know we haven’t had the chance to really talk to one another yet but, I wanted to just say hello and wanted to see if maybe um-“
Simon stopped himself and looked up at Grace, who had a patient smile on his face. Simon opened his mouth to continue but he stopped once more.
“Uh- you know what, I’m sorry you seem busy, I’ll get out of your way!”
Grace was taken aback by the sudden change. Ok yes, he was in a bit of a hurry but he also was curious about what Simon was gonna say. Before Simon could walk fully away, Grace put a soft hand on Simon’s shoulder to at least slow him down. Grace moved forward to face Simon again as he took his hand off. Grace huffed out a small laugh.
“Wait um- What did you want to say? I’m not in a rush, I promise.” That was a little lie but he was just too curious about the conversation to leave now. He was happy they finally got to talk to each other, even if it was sorta awkward. But Grace was also awkward about talking to people so at least he knew they had something in common. Simon took in a deep breath through his nose, gripping his bag tighter.
“Ok, I was just wondering if maybe you would like to, um-“ Simon murmured a curse under his breath as he continued. “Would you like to have lunch tomorrow?”
Grace’s eyes widened slightly and he could feel his face get sorta warm. He hadn’t felt that in a while, weird. He looked up to see Simon already staring at him with the most dark brown eyes Grace had ever seen, making them look perpetually watery. It’s not like Simon and Grace hadn’t talked to each other but it wasn’t like they were friends either. So it just kinda shocked him that Simon was asking that. But wasn’t gonna pretend that he wasn’t flattered by the request.
“Oh, that sounds really nice. Thanks for the offer!”
Simon smiled a bit, looking like was trying to seem nonchalant about the answer as he frantically reached into his bag to pull out his phone. He opened an app and handed it to Grace.
“I’m sorry if this is super weird but, could I get your number? So I can reach you about um, lunch?”
Grace grabbed the phone to put in his number. As he did so, he giggled to himself about the way Simon was acting. To Grace, Simon seemed so collected and chill about everything but the way he seemed so flustered kinda reminded him of a cat in some dumb way. Grace handed Simon his phone back and looked at his watch, now he was going to be late for real.
“Alright I would love to keep chatting but I sorta have a thing to go to.”
“Shit- I’m sorry for keeping you really I just wanted to-“
“Simon, it's fine! I’m glad we finally had a chance to chat seriously. Text me the details about this lunch ok? See ya later Simon.”
Before Simon could mutter a goodbye, Grace was awkwardly sprinting down the hallway. Simon took a breath and looked down at his phone to see Grace's number on the screen. He looked at it for a moment before he couldn’t help himself from smiling. He made his way to his car. He opened the door and slung his bag and then himself into the seat. He shut the door and sat there for a minute before putting his head into his hands.
He had been working up the courage for weeks to ask Grace to lunch to get to know the only other science teacher at his job and just kept jumping to the conclusion that he’d say no. This must have been a dream because there was no way it was just that simple. He thought it was gonna be more difficult than that, or maybe Simon just over-completed it all, or maybe, just maybe, Grace had been wanting to actually get to know Simon too, like how he wanted to know him.
Simon’s face got even hotter at the thought of that.