The back door slides open noiselessly and in slinks a figure with a snapback pulled over his face, shoulders hunched in hopes that he wouldn't be spotted if he makes himself small enough. 

"Glad you could join us, Mr Byun."

The figure jumps before straightening up and shrugging as if to say "oh well". Seeing that he has the attention of the class, he pulls out his chair, its legs letting out a terrible screech as it scrapes the floor and he grins unabashedly as he kicks his feet over his desk. 

"Sorry Teacher Wu."

The teacher merely sighs, already used to his student's tardiness and he half-heartedly chides, "Don't be late next time." 

"Yes sir!" Baekhyun mockingly salutes and he pulls his snapback even lower to cover his eyes. Nothing beats having a nap at eight-thirty in the morning, especially during biology.

"-yun! Mr Byun!" 

Baekhyun jerks wildly upon hearing his name and nearly falls off his chair. His best friend and seat mate, Jongdae, sniggers loudly into the palm of hand and Baekhyun kicks him, hissing "jerk".

"Any time now, Mr Byun."

Baekhyun blinks blearily as the teacher stares at him expectantly and taps at the whiteboard.

How do you identify a person's gender from their chromosome?

Baekhyun laughs as he reads the question, all hints of sleepiness disappearing within seconds. "That's easy, you pull his genes down, sir."

The class bursts into laughter and someone yells "nice one, Byun!" amidst the chaos.

"Very funny, Mr Byun." The teacher is about to launch into a lecture when the bell rings, signalling next period. 

Saved by the bell.

"He's so annoying!" Baekhyun exclaims and he slams down the carton of milk he was chugging down moments ago. 

"Woah there, easy on the milk." Jongdae wipes off a stray drop of milk on his arm. "Besides, I don't hear you complaining about the other teachers and they all pick on you."

"Yeah well, he's especially annoying. I hate him," Baekhyun mutters, "I want to punch the smug look off his face."

Jongdae hums and bites his fork contemplatively, "smug face huh? I'd say he's kinda hot actually." 

"That's gross, Jongdae, he's our teacher!" Baekhyun waits a beat before he continues, "But speaking of hot teachers, Teacher Lu's way hotter." 

"Teacher Lu?" Jongdae scoffs. "He looks like a child. He doesn't even look older than us. I prefer my men mature, thank you very much." 

"Teacher Wu isn't much older than us either."

"How'd you know?" Jongdae squints at Baekhyun. "He's never told us his age."

"Isn't it obvious from his face?" Baekhyun rolls his eyes. He then proceeds to steal a large portion of beef off Jongdae's plate and the topic is forgotten as Jongdae attempts to rescue his precious meat from Baekhyun's clutches.

"How's class? Did the Byun kid give you any trouble again?" Lu Han asks conversationally to the teacher who currently has his head buried in stacks of worksheets.

"Don't remind me, that brat's so infuriating." Kris groans. 

Lu Han grabs a handful of worksheets from the stack his friend was currently buried in and proceeds to rapidly award ticks to the student. "Well lucky for me, he isn't in my class." 

Kris snatches the worksheets out of Lu Han's hands and remarks dryly, "While I appreciate the help, I don't think the answer to question nine is 'because Darwin said so'."

"Oh whatever, these kids probably need the extra marks anyway." Lu Han waves his hand airily. 

"Remind me why are you a teacher again?"

"For the sake of the education of our future generation of course! Without me, the students will probably stray off the path of righteousness and walk on the road to destruction." Lu Han pretends to wipe a stray tear as he declares dramatically. 

"Tch, for all we know, you're probably the one who's leading the kids astray."

"You wound me, Kris." Lu Han clutched his heart and flops onto the table, causing the worksheets to scatter. "For that, you owe me a drink to heal my deeply hurt soul. Tonight, 9pm at the new bar in Hongdae."

Kris promptly shoves his colleague's head off and rejects him unceremoniously, "Sorry, I already have plans." 

"You always have plans." Lu Han whines. "With whom? You don't even have a boyfriend." 

Kris immediately clamps a hand over Lu Han's mouth and hushes him. 

"Sorry, I forgot you were still in the closet. But you know what I mean." Lu Han mutters against Kris's hand. "I bet you don't even have plans and you're gonna spend the night at home like the loser you are."

Kris makes a face and wipes his hand on Lu Han's jeans but he ignores his friend's jibes. "Sorry, maybe next time." He shrugs. 

Kris slides his briefcase of worksheets under his arm and locks his car. He rolls his neck and sighs tiredly. He couldn't wait to get home and sink into his bed. It's been a long day. 

He enters the lift to his apartment and presses the button to the twelfth floor. The door slowly starts to close when a voice calls out "hold up!"

The door opens again with the jab of Kris's finger and a familiar figure rushes into the lift.

"Are you stalking me, Byun?" Kris narrows his eyes.

"Why fancy seeing you here, Teacher Wu." Baekhyun smirks but says no more. 

The lift lets out a "ding" at the twelfth floor and Kris walks out with Baekhyun close at his heels.

"Stop following me." Kris growls but Baekhyun merely laughs.

"Who says I am? Maybe I live here too." 

Kris rolls his eyes and decides to ignore his student. He keys in the code to his apartment and toes off his shoes. Then, he walks to the couch and dumps his briefcase on it. Behind him, the door closes with a "click" and warm arms wrap around his waist. "I missed you hyung." Baekhyun murmurs against Kris's shirt.

Kris laughs and it rumbles in Baekhyun's ears. "You just saw me in school."

"It's not the same! I can't touch you in school. Hell, I can't even call you hyung in school." The younger whines as he nuzzles into Kris. 

Kris lets out another low chuckle and guides them to the sofa. He switches their positions and pulls Baekhyun against him, resting his chin on his boyfriend's shoulder. "I missed you too, Baekhyun ah. I bet you were having a whale of a time, complaining about me to your friends."

Baekhyun huffs and crosses his arms. "Don't remind me. Do you know what Jongdae said to me today? He said you're hot. I can't believe he's hitting on my boyfriend."

"Well it's not like he knows he's hitting on your boyfriend. So what did you tell him?"

"I said Teacher Lu's hotter." Baekhyun grins cheekily. 

"Teacher Lu huh?" Kris slips his fingers beneath Baekhyun's shirt and runs them over his ribs. "Can Teacher Lu do this? Can he make you squirm in his lap like what I'm doing?" Kris's warm breath ghosts against Baekhyun's ear and he shudders. 

"Stop it!" Baekhyun squeals but the teacher's unrelenting fingers continue running along his sides, tickling him.

"Who's the hotter one now?" Kris stills for a moment and Baekhyun lets out a choked, "T-teacher Lu!"

The tickles return with full force and soon, Baekhyun starts crying for mercy. "Alright, alright, it's you! You're hotter!" 

"That's more like it." The fingers stop and Kris presses a light kiss to the back of Baekhyun's head.

Baekhyun snuggles into Kris in contentment and sighs, "I love you, hyung."

"I love you too, Baekyun ah."