Hanbin’s gaze was focused on the paper he had just graded E in front of him. With a long sigh, he threw the exam onto a pile of failures he had just finished marking and loosened his tie with his right hand, while his left hand ran through thinning strands of hair. It was all the stress that was making him lose his mind. He had gone the entire year, with the bottom class and only managed to pull up their grades from an F to straight Es. It didn’t help that the highest in the class only managed to get a miserable D.

“What did I do wrong to deserve this?” Hanbin thought out loud, only realising that Jinhwan was trotting in with a paper bag in one hand and a stack of papers in the other. Unlike Hanbin, Jinhwan’s skin was glowing and there seemed to be no sign of regret on his face. That bastard.

Jinhwan didn’t even give two seconds to look at Hanbin before circling a happy A on one of his students’ papers. Oh how Hanbin wished he could do the same.

“Jinhwan, how do you do it?” Hanbin’s face flattened against the wooden table as Jinhwan twirled around on his chair with his face stuffed with a sandwich reeking of tuna.

“Mhppmm?” Jinhwan muffled with his eyes widened.

“I prepared all these presentations on weekends, I printed out resources, I even gave these stupid children all the hints they needed for the exam, and what do I get? An F!” Hanbin blabbered on while Jinhwan was frozen in place.

“What did I do?” Jinhwan swallowed and turned back to marking repetitive essays about Malcolm X and the Civil Rights Movement. Hanbin took that as a hint and turned back to the black hole that was staring at him.

In the middle of Jinhwan leaving and Hanbin giving a zero out of 6 on one of the questions, Hanbin’s phone vibrated somewhere in the corner of his pocket. At first, he passed it off as a reminder that he had set for his deadline which was the day after, but after long, mental debates, he decided against ignorance and fished for his phone.

From the first sight, Hanbin’s mood skyrocketed and went through the ceiling. The text was from the P.E teacher he was in love with, Kim Jiwon.

Jiwon: how’s marking going? I miss you baby… Come to me!!!

Hanbin’s smile grew even wider until the point where his cheekbones started hurting. He loved his boyfriend to bits, even if he was a hyper ball of energy at times. Actually, being like that made Hanbin a little less stressed. It wasn’t even just but also when they shared take out on the couch and when Jiwon massaged Hanbin’s shoulders after a long day… But the was pretty damn good too.

Hanbin snapped out of his fantasies and realised that he was dealing with an impatient 3 year old kid.

You come to me. I’m all cooped up in this stuffy office. Nobody’s here anyways… SAVE ME!!!

To his misfortune, Hanbin knew that P.E teachers also had to mark papers, and that Jiwon hated it. He suspected that Jiwon wouldn’t touch the papers until the night before the deadline. And being the head of the P.E department, Jiwon was the one stuck with the most tedious jobs.

Jiwon: I have a stack of papers and a red pen. The only romantic thing I can do right now is to invite you to a grading date.

And there was his confirmation.

I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. You’d be too distracting. Trust me, you’re 100000000 times more interesting than headlands and bays.

Jiwon: I would imagine so. Do you have a free lesson after lunch?

Hanbin looked over his shoulder to see his timetable. Ah, paradise. Yes, he did have a lesson free, and yes, he didn’t have to spend it with little rascals giving him migraines. How did Jiwon not get headaches?

Yeah, I have a lesson free. Do you wanna maybe come over???

Fortunately, Hanbin knew Jiwon’s timetable inside out, and he was clearly knowledgeable about the fact that Jiwon didn’t have a class after the lunch break.

Jiwon: You stalker… No, I only asked because I wanted to imagine what you are doing while I drown in my misery for the next hour.

 Hanbin’s grin widened to the point where if any students walked in, they would probably be rumours spreading around the school. Hanbin’s smile was so rare and so special that only people who spent time with him knew how to treasure it. People like Jiwon.

That’s a shame. I’ll see you at the meeting though.

Jiwon: oh yeah… that. Well I’ll see you there. Better get those papers marked. I love you!!!!!!! Xoxoxox

Hanbin admitted to chuckling a little because of that message.

I love you too xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

---

Somehow, Hanbin climbed through the brutality of grading exams and sat at the conference table next to Donghyuk who always smiled. Why were people so happy when Hanbin was stressed out? Even maths teachers like Donghyuk were happy.

“So, how are things with Jiwon? I heard you’re getting pretty serious.” Donghyuk small talked, wanting to get rid of the awkward atmosphere in the room.

“Oh, yeah, I moved into his house last month,” Hanbin explained, warming his heart as he did so. He could still remember when Jiwon gave Hanbin the key to his flat. He had said it was to make things more practical but Hanbin knew that wasn’t the case.

“Speaking of Jiwon, where is he?” Donghyuk crossed his arms and looked back, stretching his neck to search for the said man.

“I have no idea. I’ll just check.” Hanbin offered and whipped out his phone. Surprisingly enough, there were three texts from Jiwon.

Jiwon: Hanbin, ditch the meeting.

Jiwon: Meet me in the car park and let’s go home.

Jiwon: Actually, just come to the toilets.

Hanbin felt flushed immediately. It’s not like they had never done it in a public toilet. But that was when they were both a little drunk, a little high, and at a club, not at a school where they worked at. Still, Hanbin found himself being tempted to try this.

“Donghyuk, can you tell them that I’m taking Jiwon home. He just texted me and he’s throwing up in the bathroom. I think… I think it was the dodgy tuna from lunch. But basically… um… he can’t come.” Hanbin lied very badly, kind of hoping that Donghyuk would buy it and let him go. The other teacher had a stern expression on his face. He only nodded with concern, so even if he knew, Donghyuk wasn’t going to say anything.

---

I’m here.

Hanbin leaned against the sink with anticipation running through him. His sweaty palms slipped off the porcelain every time he tried to clutch onto it for support. There were two thoughts running through his mind: 1. Donghyuk, I beg you don’t tell anyone, and 2. Kim Jiwon, where the are you??

After what seemed like hours, the door to the bathroom swung open, and for a split second, Hanbin’s heart raced at the thought of someone walking in on Hanbin waiting for Jiwon. He didn’t even know why he considered it such a sin. But fortunately, it was only Jiwon standing in the door way.

“I ing love you so much, Kim Hanbin,” Jiwon grabbed at Hanbin’s neck and pulled him towards himself aggressively. Their lips moulded together and for the first time that day, Hanbin felt like something was going his way. He forgot all his worries when Jiwon slid his hand up Hanbin’s untucked shirt, and Hanbin pulled at Jiwon’s buttons teasingly.

Jiwon released his grip on Hanbin to catch some air, but left their foreheads pressing against each other. “I just needed to say that,”

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I just needed to write this. Don't ask me why. But please comment!