Chapter Text
“Ok, shh, he’s almost here!”
Claude dashed back to his seat near the front of the class, sitting himself down with his hands folded and the most innocent expression he could muster on his face.
“I’m not sure about this,” frowned Lysithea. “I mean, it’s so silly…”
From the next desk across, Hilda flapped a hand at her. “Shhhh! It’ll be fun.”
Footsteps sounded from the hallway. Everyone sat perfectly still, breath held, eyes peeled. The door handle turned, clicked, the hinges groaned as they swung open. Ten students shouted in unison.
“GOOD MORNING Y’ALL!”
Halfway through the doorway, Byleth, tired-eyed and tight-lipped, dropped the textbook held under his arm, turned, and left.
--
6 months. That’s how long Byleth had been a teacher at Garreg Mach High, his very first job after graduating. It hadn’t exactly been his first pick of careers, but with his father being a former professor of history and having close ties to the high school’s principal, it was certainly the easiest.
Half a year in, however, he was starting to have regrets.
“Hey, teach!”
For a second, Byleth considered ignoring the call and just continuing on down the corridor, but he didn’t fancy another lecture from Seteth about his ‘professionalism’. He turned around to see Sylvain jogging towards him.
“Glad I caught you! How’s it going?”
Byleth blinked. “What do you want, Sylvain? Class is about to start.”
“Oh, yeah!” Sylvain grinned. “That big test, right? So, about that…”
“Oh boy…”
It might have been the severe lack of sleep, but Byleth thought he saw Sylvain’s grin widen.
“I’ve been a bit busy lately – I’m on the school’s track team, y’know – so I haven’t really had all that much time to study. I bet you know how it is, being a busy man yourself, huh?” He was even bold enough to throw in a wink. “So, reckon you can, I don’t know, take it easy on me?”
The glimmer of hope in his eyes was undeniable. Turning him down would have been like kicking a puppy. Byleth wasn’t a puppy-kicker. He was, however, overworked, underpaid, and now running late, again.
“No.”
Sylvain’s hope shrivelled in an instant.
“Oh…”
“Also, you’re now late.”
“Shoot!” He bolted past Byleth and down the corridor fast enough that Byleth wondered if he really was on the track team. “Can’t be late if I’m there before the teacher!”
Byleth shook his head and followed his tardy student at a much less enthusiastic pace.
When he arrived at the classroom, two minutes after the class was meant to start, Sylvain was already in his seat near the back of the room and apparently in the middle of a stern talking-to from Ingrid. Most of the students turned forward and sat themselves upright as he walked in, the exceptions being Linhardt (asleep) and Bernadetta (trying to hide under her book).
“Alright class, test time.” He dropped the stack of test papers onto the closest desk to him, Ignatz’s. “Pass those around. Once everyone has one, you can start. No talking, no cheating, the usual. Good luck.”
Perfect. Now he could settle down at his desk and enjoy an entire one-hour class of peace and –
“OW.”
Seiros damn it.
Byleth looked up to see Caspar rubbing his head and glaring at Hubert. At least the commotion had woken Linhardt, who looked like he’d forgotten what plane of existence he was on.
“What was that for?” Caspar was yelling.
Hubert was perfectly calm. “What was what for?”
“You hit me with a stack of test papers!”
“No, I passed them to you.”
Before the argument could go too far, Byleth rapped a marker on his desk loud enough to catch their attention. “Save it for later, you two. Please.” Didn’t they know he had reports to write? Tests from other classes to grade? Fellow faculty members to stalk on Instagram? Speaking of… Byleth cast one final look across the students, now all settled with their papers, and pulled out his phone.
No sooner had he opened the app when he heard a rustle.
“Hilda, no cheating.”
A very quiet “dammit!” Byleth tapped open the search section and paused. What was the name again? He set the phone down and switched to his laptop, opening up his work emails and scrolling down a few. Aha!
In the middle of the room, Leonie leaned over to Marianne. “When was Fhaergus founded again?”
“Quiet!”
A few rows behind them, in a cluster, sat four of the Blue Lions: Felix, Ingrid, Dimitri, and Sylvain. Of the four of them, Sylvain was the only one not with his head down and focusing. Instead, he was trying to stealthily lean over towards Felix next to him.
“Psst… Felix…”
“I said quiet, Sylvain!”
He flinched back to his seat, his three fellow Lions shooting him looks of disapproval. Ingrid’s, in particular, caught his attention, and he returned it with a grin and a wink.
“Sylvain!”
Surrendering, Sylvain dejectedly returned to his test paper, ignoring a snicker from Felix. After that the class was still enough that, at last, Byleth could focus on whatever he was doing up at his desk. He was so focused, in fact, that he didn’t notice when Annette, who sat closer to the front with Mercedes and some students from the other houses, picked up her paper and walked up to him. She stood there awkwardly for a second, but Byleth was squinting down at his phone too intently to notice. Tentatively, Annette leaned forward, probably to try and catch his attention, when she paused.
“Is that… Why are you looking at photos of my dad?!”
The whole classroom, Byleth included, froze. A long, painful minute of silence passed as Annette stared at Byleth, Byleth stared at his desk, every other student stared at Annette. Then, from Claude:
“Yeah, teach! You go get it! Whoo!”
Another moment of silence. A bang.
“Claude von Riegan!” Edelgard was practically screaming, her palms flat on the table. “How dare you say something like that to our teacher!”
Not to be outdone, Ferdinand stood up. “I agree! It’s absolutely disgusting!”
Now Hilda was yelling. “Oh, can it, Fergie!”
Chaos erupted. Sylvain used the madness to copy Felix’s answers while Felix was distracted. Bernadetta hid under a table and covered her ears. Raphael snuck a packet of chips from his pocket. Linhardt had fallen asleep again. Dorothea was filming everything on her phone. Edelgard was berating Claude, who was trying desperately not to laugh as Hilda yelled at Lorenz for not helping. Dimitri looked around the room and buried his face in his hands.
Finally, Byleth stood up, and everyone went quiet again, breaths held as they waited to see how their teacher would squirm out of the predicament. As for Byleth, the combined pressures of a long week, his wide-eyed students, and Annette’s barely-concealed fury… he was struggling. Of course, he’d checked a few of his fellow teachers purely out of curiosity. It just so happened that he’d clicked on Gilbert’s profile just as Annette had needed to ask him a question. He knew it looked bad.
How on earth was he meant to get himself out of this?
“You all pass,” he managed, a croak to his voice, “if you swear to never, ever mention this again. Free study session. If you need anything, I’ll be outside…. crying.”
24 students watched him snatch up his phone and scurry outside. As soon as the door was closed, he turned to the nearest locker and banged his head against it.