#i obviously don't wanna plagiarize but like it's fanfiction- tropes and ideas get repeated soooo often

[makeadealwithdean]

read a fic one time years ago (from a different fandom) that was a teacher!au, and holy shit, i need to write this with harringrove.

go with me on this— billy needs someone to substitute teach for him while he’s out of town for a bit. (billy is a high/middle school teacher). so steve gets walked into the classroom by the principal to meet with billy before he leaves to get the basic rundown.

billy’s in the middle of a lesson, so steve just takes a seat near the back of the room to wait for him to be done. the principal leaves, steve can introduce himself, no problem.

billy finishes the lesson and hands out a practice worksheet, and the kids get into groups to work on it.

he sits down with steve and says, "so are you the sub?"

and steve flushes bright red for some reason, "uh, y-yeah, i guess so."

billy cocks his eyebrow, cause why is this guy acting like he just asked him something scandalous, "okay, so how long have you been subbing?"

steve averts eye-contact, "not long, but why...does that matter here?"

billy laughs, confused, "because you're subbing here?"

steve looks a mixture between horrified and confused.

oh.

billy clears his throat, "um, sub-stitute teaching," he clarifies.

steve inhales quickly and tries to mask the look on his face, but he still looks as if he's been splashed with cold water, "yeah," he laughs nervously, "of course. i know. what else would it be?" laughing it off obviously isn't going as well as he'd hoped.

billy just raises a single eyebrow and tries half-heartedly to dissolve the smirk creeping onto his face.