#devils au

There was no way her alarm was already going off. She had just fallen asleep.

Alicia felt around her nightstand for her phone, trying to get the infernal device to stop blaring. 5:30 am was too early to be getting up.

She didn't help herself by going to sleep at 2:30 the night before. Actually, 2:30 that morning. Three hours before. But, as she did every summer break, she ruined her sleep schedule and needed to train herself back into her school year sleeping. Last night did nothing to help. In-service the week before didn't do enough to get her back into her normal routine either, not that it mattered. She was not back to her normal sleep schedule for the first day of school.

Which was today.

She wasn't ready. She was never ready, to be honest, but this year felt especially off. She had a new class she was teaching that she still barely had a plan for, a new set of students for homeroom, and something just wasn't right.

Alicia finally got her alarm off, putting her phone back down before sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Today was going to be rough.

She starts to go through her routine, doing her best to stay awake: go to the bathroom, get dressed, get her coffee started, eat something at lightning speed, brush her teeth, and head out the door with her bag full of things for her classroom that she forgot to bring in every day last week.

The drive to school was mundane, as it should be. It was early enough that she missed the school traffic, as well as most other work traffic given that it was the ass-crack of dawn and most people, much like herself, were still half asleep on the unfortunately dreary Monday morning. She was the first person on campus, as she was every morning, because she worked best when no one was around her.

She could probably get her entire life together with the peace and quiet she was about to find in her classroom if she weren't so fucking tired.

Her classroom looked like a bomb had gone off. While that was nothing new for her, this was particularly bad. Her supplies were everywhere, her desk was a mess, her walls were bare. She planned to get everything put together last week but they were only scheduled forty five minutes of classroom time. Who was that supposed to help? They weren't allowed in their rooms before that week to set up because of the cleaning schedule.

Alicia gets to work, trying to get as much of her classroom back together as she could before students started to show up. She pulled one of the desks closer to the wall, hoping up on it in a way that was definitely an OSHA violation to hang something from her ceiling.

A knock at her door nearly startles her off the table and onto the floor. Luke pops his head in, a concerned look on his face when he sees her. "What the fuck are you doing?'

"A student could hear you," she scolds, jumping off the table and pulling him into her classroom. His hands wrap around her waist as soon as the door shuts behind him, his lips pressing against hers immediately. "A student could see us."

He pouts when she tries to push him off, a smirk on her face at his reaction. "But I haven't seen you in so long," he whines, his grip on her tightening.

"I saw you," she checks her watch, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head at the time, "God, it's already 7:30? I saw you like, five hours ago."

Luke continues to whine, dramatically throwing himself on top of one of her tables. She ignores him, getting back to setting up as much as she could when she only had half an hour left before school officially started for the year.

"You could make yourself useful, you know," she tells him, tossing him a roll of tape and pointing to the stack of posters she still needed to hang up.

"What's in it for me?" he sits up, a devilish grin on his face. She knew what that glint in his eye meant, the feeling deep inside her making her face heat up. He hops off the table, coming toward her after grabbing the posters, his gaze never leaving her.

"You have the satisfaction of knowing you were the perfect boyfriend of a teacher." She swallows the lump that formed in her throat. She could hear students walking around outside her classroom. Any of them could come in at any minute.

"You didn't help me set up my room." His voice is low as he gets closer to her.

Alicia smirks, turning her back to him. "That's because you don't need to do anything except get your picture of you and your brothers on your desk. Your room is a barren wasteland."

She raises her hands to start to hang the poster when she feels Luke press against her back. "I like it that way."

"You like it because it's less work that way." His hands raise over hers, pinning her against her wall.

"Exactly," he whispers, his breath tickling her ear.

Alicia does her best to turn around, Luke still caging her in against him. His eyes are dark as he stares at her, the reason she didn't sleep last night rushing back to her and replaying in her mind in vivid detail. His lips find her neck, trailing their way across her collarbone.

"Anyone could walk in right now."

She arches her back slightly, his hips grinding against hers. He was way too excited for the setting.

"So, what do we do about it?"

She stares at him, her list of things to do running through her head. She had to finish setting up her classroom. She had to grab her syllabi from the faculty room. Both she and Luke were supposed to be at the welcome assembly that was starting in less than twenty minutes.

Blake playfully smacks Nico on the chest, pulling a laugh from him. They rub their face, letting out a groan that matched the pitch of Nico’s alarm that had woken them both up from the sleep they finally got. It felt way too early to be waking up, but that was more due to the fact that they and Nico had been awake until at least three am the night before. “Thank god it’s a dress down day.”

Nico rolls out of bed, Blake following suit. Fridays had so much potential to be a teacher's favorite and least favorite days of the week; it was almost the weekend, but the students were more insane than other days, they could dress down thanks to enough teachers annoying admin about it, but it made dressing back up for the next Monday even worse.

“What are you wearing today?” Nico asks, wrapping his arms around Blake’s waist. 

“One of the school sweatshirts, probably,” they say, trying to break free to get ready despite Nico’s kisses trailing down their neck. “We have to get ready if I want to head back to my place and grab my stuff before school.”

Nico pouts, stepping back from them. “We could just drive in together.” 

“We both know that the students will never shut up if they find out we’re dating.”

“Mmmm,” he hums, his arms back around them like they never left. “The math teacher and the English teacher dating, how scandalous.” 

“Stop it,” they tease, grabbing the sweatshirt with their school logo on it and throwing it over their head. “I’ll see you at school.”

Nico pulls them in for a kiss, whining when they pull away and practically run out the door with their bag. 

Getting to school was a fight, trying to get through traffic of multiple other campuses before reaching the one they taught at. It was Friday, they just had to get through Friday. 

First period went by without issue. The students were being a little weird while Blake was texting, but that was nothing unusual for a Friday. It was the pre-weekend anticipation that they were feeling. 

The students acted weird all day, Blake sending a text to Nico only to have him confirm it was more than just the Weekend Weirdness. Last period finally came, the longest day seeming even longer because of the students.

“Teacher Garner?” one of their students pipes up right before the last bell was supposed to ring. 

Blake looks up from their computer, Piper, one of the quieter students in the class standing in front of their desk, the rest of the class silent behind her. “What’s up?”

“Are you and Mr. H dating?” 

Blake could feel the color draining from their face. They had discussed at length together that they were not going to tell anyone at work that they were together, that they had been together, for nearly a year and a half now. Part of it was because they didn’t want the students to pry in their personal lives, the other part because they simply didn’t think it was anyone’s business. They weren’t breaking any rules, they just didn’t want people prying. “Why would you ask that?”

“You’re wearing his sweatshirt,” Piper says, pointing to Blake’s arm, where Nico’s last name was stitched into the bicep.

“Oh, we must have switched ours when we took them off at the faculty meeting the other day. You know how hot the library can get,” they try to pass it off, the bell ringing before Piper can say anything else. The students behind her were quietly laughing, filing out of the room as Blake told them to have a good weekend. 

They hid out in their room, hoping they could leave as soon as the pick up lines were out. 

“Hey,” Blake hears their classroom door open, Nico poking his head in. “Are you ok?”

Blake makes a face, trying to figure out what they were feeling. “You heard?”

“As soon as first period ended, I had students in my room asking me about you.” 

Blake felt their heart race, thinking back to them texting Nico earlier in the day and him not mentioning that. “And what did you say?”

“We must have switched sweatshirts at the faculty meeting.”

Blake let out a sigh of relief, both of them unknowing saying the same thing to their students. “We spend too much time together.”

Nico smiles, looking behind his shoulder to make sure the door was closed before reaching for Blake’s hand. “I don’t think we spend enough time together.”

“And how do you propose we fix that problem?” 

“I think we should finally move in together.” 

“Imagine what the students will say when they see us driving in together.”

“What about him?” Viv repeats, a little more snark in her tone than her friend had initially given her. 

Heather sighs, taking Viv’s wrist and dragging her toward the mystery man. “He’s cute, he’s not talking to anyone, and you need to get laid.”

Viv scoffs, trying to break free from her friend only to fail. “I do not.”

“You haven’t done more than text a boy since Justin,” Heather points out, the mention of Viv’s ex causing her to visibly flinch. “I’m sorry, but you always use the excuse that your school year stops you from doing anything with anyone, and you haven’t started the year yet.”

“I start on Monday.” 

“You start your in-service on Monday,” Heather corrects, “Which, yes, I understand, means you have a lot of work to do because you’re only let into your classroom a week before the school year starts, but, I can in theory come help you set up if you need me.” Viv stares at her a little longer, trying to telepathically tell her friend that she wanted to go home, not talk to some guy who also clearly didn’t want to be in the bar. 

Her attempt at mind control fails as Heather continues to bring her through the bar. “My friend thinks you’re cute,” she tells the mystery man, shoving Heather towards him and spilling her drink down her hand before disappearing back into the crowd. 

“I’m so sorry,” Viv spits out, a mortified look on both their faces. 

“You don’t actually think I’m cute?” he asks, a smile on his face.

Viv lets out a laugh that matches his. “I do, I’m just sorry about my friend being so blunt.” The guy nods, shifting awkwardly on his feet. “I’m Viv, by the way.”

“Jack.” 

They start talking to each other, slowly getting closer to each other as the night goes on.

“What do you do?” he eventually asks, Viv explaining that she’s been a teacher for a couple of years now, starting the new year on Monday. “Me, too.”

“You’re a teacher?”

“I will be.”

Viv laughs, noticing the stress on his face. “You’re scared.”

Jack lets out a long breath. “Yeah. I’m going to be horrible at it.” 

Viv shrugs. “No teacher is great their first year.” 

The night goes on, Viv wanting to keep talking to him, hopefully do something more despite the fact that it would give Heather the satisfaction of knowing that Viv listened to her for once. 

“Hey, are you heading out?” Heather comes up behind her, scaring both her and Jack.

“I think we’re going to,” Viv tells her friend, both of them trying to hide the squeals they wanted to let out as Jack’s hands found their way around Viv’s waist. 

Viv tried not to think too much about her night with Jack, especially because she never got his number and didn’t know his last name to try to find him on social media. Not that she had it, so her students wouldn’t be able to find her, but in cases like this, she wishes she did. She could ask Heather, but that would lead to some very detailed conversations about her night that she didn’t want to share with anyone but him. 

Viv walked into her classroom, the fresh wax on her floors, the whiteboard actually clean for once, the pencil marks from the notes she wrote directly on her desk gone. The tables were clean, even if they were out of place and needed to be moved around, her counters were clean, and her walls ready to be decorated with everything she had to take back down at the end of the year. 

She gets to work, knowing she had about an hour before her meetings were going to start, connecting her phone to her speakers and playing her playlist while she climbed up on the counters to start hanging things up. She loved her classroom, but only once it felt like her classroom, with everything back in its place for her students to see when they came in next week.

“Hey, sorry,” she gets interrupted, the voice she hears nearly knocking her off the counter. “I’m the new history teacher in the next room-”

“Jack?” she asks, the color draining from her face to see her hook up that she didn’t want to admit to herself that she still wanted to see, standing there in her doorway looking just as good to her while she was sober compared to when she was drunk like the other night. 

“You teach here?”

“Yeah.”

“In this classroom?”

“Yes.”