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Mike Wheeler was nervous. Very nervous. Today was going to be his first day teaching at his old high school along with his wonderful husband, Will Byers. They both had been through so much trauma in their lives due to this place, but they came back anyway. Prior to this they lived in San Diego, but the prices began to get too high for them to stay. So, very reluctantly, they moved back to Hawkins; their hometown. The duo had found a nice house to buy in the area, purchased it, and were about three months into moving in. As soon as they could, Mike and Will searched for jobs. They needed to keep the lights on, and to do that, money was a necessity. The pair had earned their teaching degrees in Cali, and were hired on the spot when they prompted the new high school principal, Max Mayfield. It was nice to have friends in high places.
Mike had been preparing his junior and senior english class, and Will had been busy getting supplies for his all-grades art class. But, after stressing about it for two months, here it was: the first day of school. At six o'clock sharp, their alarm clock started to scream for them to rise, and Will leaned over to shut it up. He had been tangled up in his husband's body for the past few hours in a restless sleep, and was now watching a grimace come to his face as he woke up. Will kissed him softly, wrapping his arms around Mike's neck. "Morning, Mike. It's time to get up; gotta big day today." "Mmph. Don't wanna." He was already putting his face back in the pillow. Will sighed. "Come on. If you get up, you might be able to join me for a shower..." He traced his fingers up and down his partner's freckled and exposed back.
Now that woke Mike up. "Coming!" He practically jumped out of bed, grabbing his husband's hand and heading to the shower with him. Who could really blame him though? He was only twenty-two, and those leftover teenage hormones were taking their sweet time leaving his body. After getting out of the shower and both of them having swollen, heavily-kissed lips, they got dressed and headed out to the car. Will had on a simple button-up, one of Mike's jackets, and some slacks, while Mike had a band tee, a teacher-y jacket, and some slightly less-formal torn black jeans and converse. Mike ran a brush through his hair one last time, grabbed both his and Will's bags, and started the car.
It was about a five-minute drive to the high school from their house, and the pair were just trying to keep their minds off of it. Will didn't have the luxury of a prep period first like his husband did, so he actually had to teach a class as soon as the school day started. Mike was holding his beloved's hand, messing with the ring on his finger; it was a little nervous habit he had gained when the couple got married late last year. It was a huge risk wearing their rings in public like this, but the pair had decided to do so anyway. As Mike so eloquently put it, "Anyone who has a problem can go fuck themselves; not like we care what they say, anyway!" They arrived at six fifty, around ten minutes before school started. Mike parked the car, and walked Will to his class. This may have been Max's doing, but their classes were actually pretty close to each other: Will's classroom was 136 on the right, and Mike's was 121 on the left. They were only a few doors down from each other, so it wouldn't be a long walk to Mike's class.
He helped Will set up materials, put some things away, etc. But, as soon as that bell rang, Mike gave him a quick peck on the mouth and sped off to his own class. Today, he was planning to give a short presentation on who he was, why he became a teacher and all that, and give a handout on some of the books they'd be reading this year. It would be a bit dull to do this six times today, but he didn't mind; he got to talk about Will and D & D. What could be better than that? As Mike ran to his class, Will watched as his first class flooded into the room. There were a few more girls than boys, and they almost looked as old as we was. (Apparently he got to teach the seniors first today.) The passing period bell rang, and class was officially in session. There was a little bit of chatter, but it broke apart when Will cleared his voice. Oh my god, they're actually listening to me!
"Welcome to your first period of the new school year! My name is Mr. Byers, and I will be the one teaching you art this year. Now, I'm assuming that you're one of my senior classes, right?" There was a murmur of "yes" in the room. "Great! So, just so we can get a quick count, how many of you have taken art before?" Almost everyone in the room shot their hands up. Ah, I am in the presence of my fellow art nerds. "Good, good. Now, for my students that haven't taken art before, I will do a quick review later this week, but for now I will just give a rundown on what we will do this year. We will be using pencils of course to sketch human anatomy, objects, and perspective, we will use acrylic paint and gouache to get a sense of light and shadow, charcoals to get used to pressure sensitivity, and other fun things along the way. Now, as a baseline, I would like you all to draw something. It can be anything (school appropriate of course)," a ripple of laughter was heard throughout the room. "But, you must draw something so I can get a feel of where you guys are at."
He walked over to his easel that Mike helped him set up in the middle of the room, and picked up a brush and a set of water-color paints. "And, as I paint so you can ask me any questions you want. Within reason. There are materials on the back counter; use whatever you want." Will was in his happy place. He was painting a portrait of his husband (which he planned to do six more times today), and he was glancing back at the class to check on them. To his surprise, they were actually doing their work! He saw someone painting a bust portrait like he was, someone sketching out a pear, and someone else using his tape dispenser as a model. Now this was a good class. The questions started to come in shortly after, and he was happy to answer them. One girl named Melissa asked, "How old are you?" Will turned around and replied with a smirk. "Now, I'm not as old as you think I am; I just got out of here four years ago. I'm twenty-two."
He was done with the facial features, and was moving onto painting Mike's fluffy, untamed hair. A tall boy named Jake asked, "How long have you been a teacher?" "So far, one period. It's my first year." More and more questions were asked, and eventually it got to the topic he was nervous about. "Mr. Byers, are you married?" Shit. Someone noticed the gold ring on his left hand. "Yes." "Who's your wife?" "I don't have a wife." The class went silent. "Well... who are you married to then?" Will turned to the class with a anxious lump in his throat. "Um, I'm married to a man. I'm actually painting my husband right now." Dread creeped over his body; sure, gay marriage had been legalized, but it's not like everything was a-ok for the gays in the early nineties! Hawkins was still just as homophobic as it had been a few years ago. After a few seconds, the class slowly went back to what they were doing. Thank fucking god.
"Do we know him?" "Mm, some of you will. It's Mr. Wheeler." About half of the class let out an "ohhh!" when he said that. "Do some of you have him?" He heard a sea of "yeah"s flood the classroom. They continued on with their questions for him, and by the end of the period, he was done. Will created a beautiful watercolor piece of his husband, eyes shimmering and looking at the viewer with love. Before collecting his students' first pieces, he asked if everyone had their names on them. At their confirmation, he picked up every piece of paper and canvas around the room. Putting them in a stack, he put his own painting in the windowsill to dry. And with that, the bell rang, and first period was over. Will survived. Just gotta do that six more times today. Mike on the other hand, this was the beginning of his first class; his safety-ridden prep period was over. Now he had to go out and face his new students.
Like Will, he had his seniors first. They shuffled in, looking around for the teacher. Some girls blushed when they saw him. Thinking he was a student that got there early, they went up to him. One of them stuttered, "H-hey... are you new here? I've never seen you before. Wanna sit next to me before the teacher comes in? You're pretty cute." Some of her friends were next to her, cheering her on. Mike smirked. "Thanks for the offer, but I am the teacher. Happily married too." He displayed his ring. "But, don't feel too embarrassed. I've been mistaken for a student a few times today." He thought back to his prep period, when he went to go get coffee from the teacher's lounge and one of the older teachers asked him to what he was doing in there, and to get back to class immediately. It was a little bit awkward when he had to show his I.D. and the older man mumbled something that resembled an apology. That was fun. And when he was walking Will to his class this morning. One of the yard staff asked who let him in, and poor Will tried to babble an explanation. He also had to pull out his I.D. for that as well.
"It's my first year, and I'm younger than the majority of the teachers, too. Now, go take a seat. Class is going to start soon." The girl covered her face, and walked to the back of the room with her friends in embarrassment. I gotta tell Will about this. The bell rang, and Mike's first ever class started. "Okay. Hey guys, I'm Mr. Wheeler, and I teach english. You'll be my second period class this year, so we'll be seeing each other a lot over the next few months. Before we dive into all the boring stuff, I just want to tell you a few things about me. First off, yes, I am the teacher. I know I look like I'm in your grade, but I promise you I went to college. I'm twenty-two; turned it a few months ago. I grew up here in Hawkins, moved to California for a few years, went to college there, and then moved back when Cali got way too expensive for my partner and I to live there. I'm married as you can see," he showed the class his ring. "to the wonderful man a few doors down. He's Mr. Byers, and we've been together since we were fifteen— 1987. You all were in middle school. Anyways, some things I love are my husband, Dungeons and Dragons, and a good story. We'll be reading a lot of good stories this year, which I'm going to hand out a list of at the end of class. Now, this is my first year, so go easy on me, but I do hope that we can get along, ok? Questions? Comments?"
A blonde boy raised his hand. "Yes...?" "Aaron. Um, I had Mr. Byers first period, and he painted a portrait of you out of watercolors. It looked really good." Mike blushed a tiny bit. "Well, guess I'll have to thank him for that when I see him at lunch. Next?" The whole period continued like that, with him answering questions and talking to his students. It was fun; way less terrifying than anticipated. A few more periods passed (some were better than others; second period was great and fourth period was a mess) and it was finally time for lunch. He locked his door and tried to navigate through the sea of kids, making it to Will's room soon after. His husband was talking to a student, so he just waited outside in the doorway. About thirty seconds later she went out, and Mike went into his room. It was still beautifully decorated, but now with the addition of four portraits of himself by the windowsill. They were absolutely beautiful. Will's face lit up, delighted to see Mike again. The latter closed the door behind him and wrapped Will into his arms.
"Hey handsome. How's teaching art going?" Will blushed a little at the compliment and giggled. "It's great. What about you?"