"Thank you for the ride."
Arthur didn't move. He made no move to unbuckle his seatbelt or open the car door. Instead, he simply watched the sea of students flowing through the school gates, feeling acutely aware of the quiet, enclosed space of the car. Usually, he craved being early; he liked the solitary ritual of signing the attendance book before the halls filled with noise. Today, that urge was entirely absent.
"Give me your hand."
Arthur froze. His fingers tightened like a vice around the strap of his bag. He glanced over to find Natalia grinning at him, her eyes bright with a challenge.
"W-why?" he stammered.
"Because I want to hold it."
Natalia chuckled, a low, warm sound. She didn't wait for him to overcome his hesitation, gently reaching across the console to slip her hand into his.
Their fingers threaded together with an effortless, practiced ease, a perfect fit. The light, deliberate brush of her thumb across his knuckles sent a sudden jolt through him. It shouldn't have felt this heavy, this significant.
Holding hands was supposed to be a simple, casual gesture. Yet, Arthur's stomach flipped. A slow warmth bloomed beneath his collar, and his eyes kept darting back to her face. Every time he looked, he caught that familiar, magnetic spark, the same one from their kiss, but now it felt softer, more deliberate. More romantic.
He didn't need a wealth of experience to recognize how deeply he was falling. He loved the quiet, intimate rhythm of her thumb against his skin, the comforting closeness that seemed to blur the rest of the world into background noise.
For three long minutes, they sat in the heavy silence of the car. They traded glances, watching each other, then their joined hands, then each other again. By all accounts, the prolonged silence in such a confined space should have been suffocatingly awkward.
Instead, Arthur felt entirely, beautifully at peace.
"I'll pick you up after school, too," Natalia murmured, leaning in teasingly close before finally letting her fingers slip from his. "So… see you soon."
Arthur rubbed the back of his neck, his face burning as he offered a quick, breathless nod. He scrambled out of the car and hurried toward the building. Even as the morning air hit him, his palm still tingled with her warmth. He gently traced his own skin, a helpless, dazy smile creeping onto his lips.
So this is why people in love act so ridiculous, he thought, feeling a sudden, giddy rush of adrenaline. Everything is exciting. I already can't wait to go home.
The Price of Curiosity
Arthur floated through his morning routine on a cloud of distraction, signing the ledger, checking his lesson plans, and gathering the necessary curriculum files from the main office. But the moment he sat down at his desk in the staff room, the cloud evaporated.
"Teacher Arthur? I thought you were taking the day off," a voice piped up. "Did I beat you to the ledger today?"
Arthur offered a tight, polite smile to the man in the next cubicle. Mr. Harrison was nearing fifty, held senior status among the faculty, and possessed a notorious, insatiable appetite for office gossip.
"No, I was just a little late today," Arthur replied evenly.
"Oh no! Did something happen on the road?"
"No. Just overslept."
"Ah. I see."
Arthur let out a silent, relieved sigh, opening a manila folder in a desperate bid to look occupied. He prayed the older man would take the hint. He did not. Today was the day Arthur would learn just how shameless Mr. Harrison could truly be.
"You know..." Harrison leaned back, his chair creaking loudly. "You always mention that your father drops you off. But you weren't with him today, were you?"
Arthur's heart skipped a beat, a cold spike of anxiety piercing through his lingering romantic fog. How could he possibly know? It wasn't a crime, but Arthur loathed having his personal life dissected by coworkers.
"I came here the same as always," Arthur said, his voice flattening as he stared intently at his paperwork.
Harrison smirked, pivoting his chair completely around to block Arthur's only path out of the cubicle. "Don't lie to an old man. I saw her. You've got a girlfriend, don't you? She drove you instead of your dad. So... when are we getting the wedding invitation?"
Arthur stared at him, momentarily speechless. The sheer audacity of the question, thrust into a casual workspace conversation between two people who barely spoke, made his blood boil. He had a dozen sharp, biting retorts locked behind his teeth, but maintaining a professional environment meant swallowing his pride.
Thankfully, before he could forced out a response, the first-period bell rang.
Because the principal strictly monitored the senior classes, Harrison scrambled to gather his materials, rushing out of the room without waiting for an answer. Arthur sank back into his chair with a heavy sigh. His perfect morning felt thoroughly tarnished.
By lunchtime, the whole school will probably know, he thought bitterly.
Then again, Harrison had already received a stern, second warning from the administration after another teacher formally complained about him spreading rumors. Perhaps the old man would keep his mouth shut out of self-preservation. Arthur shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. There was no use overthinking it.
He gathered his lesson notes and headed to his classroom. For the next few hours, the day actually managed to go smoothly.
The peace didn't last past the noon bell. During the midday interval, Arthur ran right into Harrison near the breakroom.
The older teacher's intentions were glaringly obvious. He hovered in the doorway, practically vibrating with the desire to pick up where they had left off. The other staff members in the room carefully looked away, avoiding eye contact; Harrison's senior status made face-to-face confrontations uncomfortable, so the faculty usually resorted to enduring his prying or filing the anonymous complaints that earned him his occasional reprimands.
"So..." Harrison stepped forward, effectively cornering Arthur against the counter. "I always love hearing younger people's love stories. Come on, how did the two of you meet?"
Arthur's stomach growled, his irritation spiking. He was hungry, uncomfortable, and trapped. He was so close to the older man that he could hear his heavy, rhythmic breathing, and it was driving him toward madness.
Just as Arthur felt his polite facade cracking, the heavy staff room doors flew open. A student burst in, panting heavily, his uniform disheveled and his face bruised.
"Teacher! Teacher!" the boy gasped. "The 10A and 10B classes are at it again in the courtyard. Someone is bleeding!"
Handling physical altercations usually fell to the veteran staff, and Harrison's face instantly twisted into an expression of profound annoyance. It was hard to tell if he was angrier about being interrupted or about the fact that it was the exact same two classes that had caused a massive riot just two weeks prior.
"Those absolute idiots!" Harrison barked, slamming his clipboard onto a table. "Do they think this is a fight club or a school?!"
As Harrison rushed out to follow the student, Arthur let out a massive, audible sigh of relief. He immediately began plotting a few convincing lies to shut down any future interrogations while he reached for his lunch box.
Outside, distant shouting echoed through the corridors. Arthur ignored it completely, tuning out the chaos. Fights between those specific classes became incredibly volatile once the dominant Alphas started playing dirty, intentionally throwing around aggressive, oppressive pheromones to assert dominance.
Arthur had no intention of getting anywhere near the blast radius; during the last brawl, the thick, suffocating stench of hostile Alpha pheromones had made him so physically ill he had been forced to leave work early. He was perfectly content to stay exactly where he was.
"Teacher Arthur?"
Arthur's chopsticks paused just millimeters from his mouth. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, but as he looked up, the tension left his shoulders. A familiar, gentle face was peering into the room.
"Jax," Arthur smiled warmly. "Hey."
"I'm so sorry to disturb your lunch, Teacher," the boy said softly, stepping forward and holding out a neatly wrapped insulated bag. "But um... Aunt Carol wanted me to deliver this to you."
Arthur accepted the bag, tilting his head curiously. "What's in here?"
Jax chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "She managed to get a massive crate of fresh asparagus. I'm pretty sure everything she cooks this week is going to be asparagus-based. She's been forcing care packages on everyone in the neighborhood."
"Tell her I said thank you," Arthur smiled politely. Privately, he made a mental note to take the dish home to his own family; he wasn't particularly fond of vegetable-heavy meals. To him, a proper lunch required meat.
Jax nodded, but he didn't move toward the door. He stood by the desk, shifting his weight awkwardly.
A full minute dragged by in silence. Arthur looked from his own lunch box back to the hesitant boy, trying to break the sudden tension. "Have you eaten yet, Jax?"
"Not yet, Teacher."
"Ah, well, go grab your lunch before the interval ends," Arthur urged gently, waving a hand toward the door. "Don't wander around the halls while the senior teachers are clearing out that fight. Understand?"
"Yes, Teacher. Thank you."
Arthur watched the boy turn and slip out of the room. Finally, the silence returned. He picked up his chopsticks, isolated at last, and prepared to take a peaceful bite of his food,
The heavy doors slammed open again.
"I have never seen such barbaric students in all my years!" Harrison stormed back into the room, his face flushed with anger as he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. "They need to be suspended immediately. Fighting every single day, disrupting the peace, annoying everyone..."
He paused, his sharp eyes locking onto Arthur's desk. A predatory smile replaced his scowl.
"Now, where were we?"
Arthur stared at his lunch, his shoulders slumping. Great. Absolutely great.