Chapter Text
There are plenty of advantages to being a teacher in a relationship with another teacher. For example, you both get the same holidays, similar working hours, and calmer weekends. It makes lining your calendars up infinitely easier. What is less ideal is working in the same school as your partner.
The problem with teenagers is that they're too nosy: always in each other's business, always trying to get into their teachers' business. Rumours start with a tiny spark, a mere passing, speculative comment, and spread like a wildfire. The kids, being gullible adolescents who just want some drama, lap it up like kittens with fresh milk, with little regard for the actual truth. Which is exactly the reason Akito Shinonome used to teach at an entirely separate school to his partner, Toya Aoyagi. It's simply too much of a hassle. If it were up to Akito, he wouldn't be teaching at Kamiyama High School right now.
Alas, the village school he used to work at ran out of funding and was forced to close, leaving Akito redundant and without a job. Luckily for him, Kamiyama High was looking for a music teacher. Unluckily for him, that's also where Toya teaches physics. It's not like he has anything against working alongside his boyfriend, but they came to a mutual agreement a long time ago that being in an outward relationship in an institution full of gossipy teens would suck. Big time. But it was looking like they had no other options; every other position was full, all the schools in the area filled with qualified staff. They'd have to face the brunt of the rumour-hungry pack of wolves that is the student body.
However, they came up with a creative solution: teenagers can't spread rumours about your relationship if they don't know you're in one. So when Akito transferred to the Kamiyama High music department, they convinced all the faculty to agree not to tell anyone that they're together. As of now, all of the students are none the wiser.
The shrill ringing of the bell pierced the building five minutes ago, and Toya is wandering about his classroom, clearing up from his class practical last lesson, when the door swings open to reveal a grinning Akito. He usually puts up a tough, nonchalant front while teaching, but he just can't help himself when it comes to Toya.
"Hey, Toya." Akito perches on Toya's desk.
"Hi. Please don't sit on my desk. Also- what's going on with your clothes? This is anything but correct work attire." He walks up to Akito and immediately starts to fix his dishevelled outfit, fastening the top two buttons of his shirt and tightening his tie.
"Ugh, you know I hate these dumb shirts..."
"Yes, but it's the uniform. You have to wear them properly." Toya reprimands.
"Okay, whatever you say, Dad." Neither can conceal their snickering for long.
Toya sits comfortably on his desk chair while Akito lounges on a table, and they both wade through their lunches, discussing their mornings.
"I wish I didn't have to teach lower school kids, they treat my lessons as a free period to fuck about in. At least after Year 10 I only get kids who choose music." Akito fervently complains whilst chewing on his sandwich.
"I have to deal with annoying 16-year-olds who don't even want to do physics and are forced to." Toya suggests.
"Fair, but there's no keyboards in your classroom. Do you know how many times a day I hear the 'DJ' effect coming from all angles? Too many!"
"...You win. That sounds like hell."
Both of them burst out laughing, and Akito's hand falls onto Toya's arm the same way it always does when he laughs. Toya secretly enjoys how he seeks out contact in moments like this. Akito leans down from his perch on the high table, head falling dangerously close to his partner's shoulder. He would really like to kiss him right now, but that doesn't seem like a smart idea when there are six windows in this classroom, all of which they could be spotted through at any moment. He guesses he can wait a bit longer, maybe catch him in the staff room between lessons, away from the prying eyes of Kamikou students. For now, they're happy to bask in this discreet contact, spellbound by the simple closeness of their shared moment.
That is, until the creaking of the classroom door drags them out of the trance and they immediately, rapidly separate, an instinct both men have gotten unnaturally skilled at honing. A small girl stands sheepishly in the tiny crack in the door, her uniform practically hanging off of her, her skirt miles too long for a person of her short stature. Toya can picture it now: a fussing mother tugging at the uniform, insisting she'll soon grow into it.
"Come in, how can I help?" Toya calls out in a soft voice, trying not to intimidate the poor creature. The girl steps in, fiddling anxiously with her fingers.
"Uhm, Sir... I was just wondering- Mr Kamishiro sent me to ask if you had any spare metre rulers... for woodworking club."
This tiny thing is in woodworking club? How has she not been eaten alive by anyone there? Or clobbered right over the head by a slab of MDF? Akito has seen the large, strong older students who typically inhabit Rui's workshop on a Tuesday lunchtime, and they could snap a girl such as this one clean in two with one calloused fist. He's not judging a book by its cover, but he absolutely is; there's no way.
"They're on a pile over there. Tell Mr Kamishiro to return them when he's done."
The girl skitters over to the heap of long wooden sticks and gathers them in her arms. They're nearly as tall as her, it's almost comical. Akito has to quell his amusement, because he's learned in his extensive, detailed teacher training schemes that laughing at 11 year olds is mean and you shouldn't do it because it hurts their feelings. She then scampers out of the room, scarcely even showing her face.
"I give her another week before she runs out of DT club trembling and crying." Akito scoffs.
"Don't be so pessimistic, I'm sure the older ones are nice enough to her."
"Yeah, I'm not worried about them, I'm worried about Rui. She will not survive being a guinea pig to whatever contraptions he's got going on."
"I wish you'd at least give him the benefit of the doubt..." Toya sighs.
Akito has never been the most receptive to the staff's attempts to make friends. Obviously, Toya's been here years longer and so he's had much more time to assimilate, but Akito's not that new and he always acts like he's sick of everybody else- except for him. If he'd just show that side of him to the others, like shows it to him, Toya's convinced they'd all get along.
"Monthly staff drinks is this weekend, An told me on my way here." Akito interjects into Toya's train of thought.
"Oh, hm? You wanna go?"
"Might as well... skipped last time, don't wanna be a jackass. Only if you're going."
"Maybe, yes. I'll come, just for you." Toya teases.
"Thanks, my love..." Akito drones, one hand giving his partner's shoulder a squeeze.
"And don't drop out and ditch me last minute like you did last month, it wasn't even fun without you there." His tone is dramatic, but his words are the full truth; it's hard for Toya to enjoy himself when he knows Akito is sat at home on his own. He ended up leaving early just to go home and stay with him. Pathetic, he knows, he's literally joined to him by the hip. It's a shame he feels no guilt about that at all.
Akito glances off into the distance, and his gaze falls on the whiteboard. Its shimmering, pristine surface is scattered with Toya's diagrams and equations, his long, confusing lines of working out. He squints at it, attempting to find even one thing he understands. He doesn't.
"It's just my GCSE class' work..." Toya follows his eyes to the board.
"Dude, cut me some slack, I barely passed physics. Can't expect me to remember the stuff fifteen years later when I didn't know it then."
It's probably safe to say Toya is the smart one in the relationship. When Akito hears about his experiences in school, he can't help but compare them to his own. While Toya was cooped up inside studying, Akito would ditch his classes to go sing in alleyways, despite all the criticism he garnered from the other singers, his teachers, or even his parents. His grades slipped massively from it, but academics were never his strong suit in the first place; he got the marks he needed to get into university for music and that was enough. They both do the same job now anyway. Also, Toya is incredibly clever, so he's sure he can be content teaching about Beethoven while his partner does whatever this complicated bullshit is.
"I'll have to teach you some of this one day." Toya muses.
"I doubt you'll have much success..." He scoffs in response, and in turn he recieves a slightly dirty look. Akito shoves his shoulder to retaliate, but leaves his hand there as a small comfort to himself. Deep down, he would quite like to understand the science, decipher these symbols, see what it is that enthralls Toya so much. One day...
The pattering of footsteps and the sound of approaching chatter are filtered out by their ears until it's almost too late. Rowdy, excitable voices invade the peaceful room, along with their sources, as Toya's fourth period class enter the room. Huh, they must have missed the sound of the end of lunch bell. It happens; the ringing is quiet from where Toya's classroom is. Akito retracts his hand, but not quickly enough for it to go unnoticed.
"Mr Shinonome! What are you doing in here?" A boy, Tanaka, who's in Akito's music class, calls out across the room. Akito contorts his facial expression, shifting back into the cockier, more superior, teacher version of himself.
"Eating my lunch."
"Why in here, though? No offense, Mr Aoyagi, but this room kinda sucks. It's always so cold..." Tanaka's best friend Kaede pipes up sarcastically.
"None taken." Toya chuckles.
Akito stands up, hopping off the desk and (badly) hiding his wincing as he lands funny on his ankles. Pain shoots up his feet and into his shins and he lets out a strangled yelp of discomfort. What's worse is the embarrassment of having a group of people half your age openly laughing at his suffering. Teenagers are brutal.
"You okay?" Toya mouths, his eyes widening in a brief spell of anxiety.
"Mhm... I should get going. See you later." He grits out.
Just before he leaves, Akito uses their position to hide a tiny squeeze of Toya's hand, their silent communication of 'goodbye, I love you'. At least, that's what it feels like, and what it's grown to mean. It's a tiny, unnoticable way the pair have of showing affection even when all eyes are on them. Speaking without words is a skill that requires manifold practice.
Then, like the wind, he's out the door and marching across the school to get back to his own classroom before he's late to his own lesson. Akito steps inside the instant the bell rings and tosses his bag onto the piano stool by his desk. This class has the oldest music students in Kamiyama High, only those who have chosen to pursue the subject as a higher form of study. In the context of education, one of the few groups who take Akito's subject seriously. Can you see why these lot are his favourites? Although, anybody who has enough self restraint to not press the "DJ" button on the keyboards every two seconds has his respect.
"Afternoon- log onto the computers, you all know what you're doing. Your composition deadline is in a few weeks, so get a wriggle on. If you need any help I'm around after school all week." He goes through his usual start-of-class spiel.
"Sir, I have to catch the bus, can I please come see you tomorrow lunch?" One of the young women asks. Akito opens his mouth to reply but the other girl speaks up and beats him to it.
"He's always hanging out with Mr Aoyagi- they eat lunch together, they're like, best friends!"
"Aww, that's so cute, what the hell?"
Akito just rolls his eyes. You have to pick your battles with students.