☕︎. Mr. Grace where does the coffee go?
☕︎ Pairing: Ryland Grace x Reader
Ryland Grace is not afraid of middle schoolers.
He has higher authority, it's his job to manage the children in class, to teach them, he can't be possibly afraid of them, now can he?
It's quiet in his class. Surprisingly.
It's quiet only when, either the kids are solving questions he handed out for class or when they are conspiring and with the subtle whispers and murmurs floating around along with occasional glances his way, he knows.
"Alright class!" He announced, clapping his hands together, gathering everyone's attention, "What's the topic of discussion?" He looked around, hoping someone, anyone would volunteer to talk, "Come on now, wouldn't you want a teacher's input in your little conversation?"
"Mr. Grace," Julie quipped from the back of class, hand raised as she stood up slowly, "after thorough observation and analysis, we've come to a inconclusive conclusion."
She finished her sentence monotonously, not bothering to further elaborate the said conclusion.
"We've?" Ryland gestured vaguely between himself and the rest of the class, trying to recall if there was something he was meant to observe, "Were we doing some kind of study, Julie can I get a quick recap of this?"
Before Julie could reply, another hand shot up, friendship bracelets jingling as Noah stood up, dramatically pulling a piece of paper from his notebook.
"Observation 01: Mr. Grace brings two cups of coffee from the cafe outside the school campus," he read nervously, looking around at the rest of the class, continuing once his peers nodded towards him, little hands giving him a thumbs up, "...everyday."
Ryland stared at him, lips parted, brows furrowed, confused as ever, "...ookk, I suppose we are judging my caffeine intake." He joked, laughing awkwardly before going quite.
"Inference 01," Julie continued again, heads turning towards her in a practised synchrony, "it takes 12 minutes to walk to the cafe from the school grounds, you arrive 32 minutes early to get them," She leans down scribbling on her notebook before holding it out to the class, '12+12=24, 24+8=32'.
"That's ha—that's basic maths if I remember correctly," Ryland is getting nervous, everyone in the class has an idea of what's going on, everyone but him, he hasn't seen the class this co-ordinating and co-operating in years, "I am not really understanding this, like at all, is this about last week's surprise test, I made it eas—"
"Each cup is 6 dollars," Avery interrupted him, hand shooting up after she already spoke, "that's a lot of money."
"Oookay, is this an economy assessment?" Ryland tries his best to decipher what the kids are upto, so far he feels like they think he isn't financially responsible, "and my coffee is 2.5 dollars actuall—"
"—exactly!" Avery interrupted him again, the chair screeching as it dragged against the tiles, "Inference 02: You purchase two cups of coffee, one plain black coffee and second a cold brew."
Ryland chuckled breathlessly, eyeing the class with suspicion and slight concern and even slighter fear, "Where are we really going with this kids?"
"Real question is," Avery continued, eye twitching as she stared ominously, "where does that second cup go?" She points towards the desk, the entire class turning towards the teacher's desk, spotting a paper cup with 'black coffee', scribbled on the side. "So, Mr. Grace would you like to add to something?"
Everyone stared at him in anticipation, hoping he'd break and give them something, but alas he was there teacher afterall.
"I could have drank it you kn—"
The entire class groaned in frustration.
"We put so much effort into the whole thing," Julie whined, cradling her head in her hands, hairs sticking out in different directions, "We need something juicy."
"You just didn't want another surprise test, did you?" Ryland huffed, cheeks tinting red as he reached for his coffee, vividly remembering where the other cup is, "Also whose teaching you terms like juicy."
"It's part of normal vocabulary, not all of us can pronounce scandalous," Riley explained, side eyeing few people she knows couldn't.
"Scandalous?!" Ryland exclaimed, nearly spitting out his coffee, clapping his hands together again, this time with more force, "First of all, we need to set boundaries, being overly curious about people's personal life isn't a good trait, one would even call you nosy," he scrunched his nose, watching as kids nodded their heads, "second of all, nothing scandalous happens in grover cleveland middle scho—"
The door to his class suddenly opened, interrupting him yet again, his words cut off as he stared at the figure peeking in.
"Hello." You whispered, grinning sheepishly, "hopefully I am not disturbing the class." You stepped in partly, bag hung on your shoulder, stack of papers tucked in your arm, an awfully familiar cup of coffee cradled in other, "You have a minute?"
Ryland stutters, "Yeah, alway—I mean sure, let's go—" he quickly shuffled out of the class, almost bumping into the tables on his way out.
The entire class watches him scramble to the door, clumsily stepping out and closing the door shut behind himself.
"So, you were teaching something?" You mumbled, swaying a little as you look over his shoulder to see little faces pressed up against the glass, the door of the classroom very slowly opening to let the sound in.
"Yeah, was teaching them...stuff," He shifted your back on his shoulder, hands fiddling with your papers only to smooth out non existent creases, "about science and boundaries and yeah."
"it's a bit difficult to teach middle schoolers about boundaries," You huffed, stepping closer to him, reaching out to fix his collar from where it was tucked beneath the strap of your bag, "mmh, my class found out my middle name and I get tormented by it every once in a while."
He chuckled, head tilting towards your hand, hoping you'd caress his skin as you did with his collar, that's creepy—
"You should get back to class, finish up that lecture," You mumbled, looking around to spot anyone else in the hallway, only finding his class still peering at you both, "I'll meet you after class, kay?"
He nodded his head, sheepishly returning your bag and papers, "Yeah, I'll get back to them." He stepped back, eyes still lingering on your frame.
"Ryland?" You called out, watching him stumble over back to you, wiping dust from he hands as he came to a stand, "I have something for you."
You shifted a little, angling yourself in a way, that his frame his you from his nosy class, pressing your palm against your lips and splaying it on his cheek, "You've got very nosy kids, Ryland."
Your giggles echoed in the empty hallway, leaving him malfunctioning, face flushed red as he stared at you disappearing into the staff room.
He slowly made his way back to the class, cheek tingling where you had pressed your palm.
His own palms are sweaty as he walked into the class, taking a moment to notice his students.
"Noah, weren't you seated in second row?" His brows furrowed as the little boy looked at him innocently, perched on the far end of the class, "and I am pretty sure Avery was on the first row, how did you get here?" Avery shrugged her shoulders, appearing as confused as he was.
He doesn't pay mind to the seat fiasco, still floating in clouds, already imagining evening with you, grading papers together, making dinner, maybe you'll K-I-S-S him—
"We have reached a conclusive conclusion, Mr. Grace." Julie announced, pulling him back down to earth, to the class and to the discussion you had interrupted, "Mr. Grace, you are dating Miss L/N—"
The class erupted in chaos, loud screeching and shouting, a sob of 'I have a chance?' echoing amidst the noise, Avery and Julie standing up from the respective seats and embracing each other while Noah proceeded to rip a page from his notebook, the entire class in utter shambles.
He really needs to teach them about boundaries.