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*WARNING* may include a small description of a panic attack, read with caution or scroll over the part if needed
—
๐
The unaware and the ignorant
ft. socially awkward ms. L/n
” ์ ๋ ๋ ธ์์ด ์ง ์ฅ์์ ๊ฑธํฐ ์์ “
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“-And that should be it. The model is set up, there’s clay is on the counter, and the metal wires are somewhere over there. Projects due in one month, I’m expecting a month’s worth piece.”
As soon as she let the students off the leash, everyone was everywhere. Some were gathered at their friends desks to get ideas, some were already getting started on the free choice project, and some were by their desks scrolling on pinterest. Whether those devices were being used for its purpose, that’s something the teacher would see by the end of the semester. So the teacher decided to let them be.
Y/n stretched on the desk and yawned boredly. Soon, she posted the project deadline and details on the official classroom groupchat. Students happily chatted amongst each other with pencils in hand and paper on their desks. A smile came to her lips. That was quickly replaced by a wince as one of them threw a piece of clay at one another.
These are still children…
Meanwhile, the classroom just across was having the opposite situation. Mr. Raiden neatly wrote out the equations on the whiteboard with a tablet in one hand, occassionally taking glances at the device before continuing on. If students (*especially females) saw him without knowing who he was, they would’ve swooned at the sight.
The way the black long sleeve button up was rolled up ever so slightly and how his black denim hugged his lower half-
Despite his appearance and nearly soothing voice, no students were distracted. Instead they kept their eyes glued to their notes and the board in hopes their teacher’s eyes won’t land on them.
“You there.”
He stared (absolutely burnt everything in his line of sight) at a female student by the middle row, who looked around at least five times to make sure. “M-me?” She blinked in disbelief and pointed towards herself.
“Yes, you. Get up and solve this equation.” Scaramouche impatiently reached out the black marker to the student. They looked as if they were going to faint anytime soon, but somehow wobbled her way to the front of class. All the other students mentally saluted for her sacrifice without a choice.
She adjusted her brown glasses before shakily grabbing the whiteboard marker. The teacher stepped back to observe her progress. Everything zoomed in on her. It felt as if millions of eyes were staring her behind, ready to call her out for even breathing the wrong way. The marker in her hand felt heavier than anything she held before, while the numbers she knew at the back of her mind scrambled and blurred on the board. A sharp ringing sound infiltrated her ears.
With a deep breath, she raised the marker to begin the simple equation. The tip of the ink was milimeters away from the shiney white surface. What if they think her handwriting is ugly? What if she accidentally messed up an easy part and mr. Raiden saw?
The fact that she was up here was stressful enough, nevertheless the fact she was in a whole another department with strangers. There were some colourful decorations and plants that made her feel the tiniest bit more relaxed, but even that seemed seperated from the class. As if it were two sides clashing each other in one space. It was obvious to any person at first glance that Scaramouche wasn’t responsible for the decorations. She was too thankful to whoever added colour to the space.
Clack
“Please e-excuse me..!”
With a quick bow, she fled the room and the eyes. The fallen whiteboard marker rolled to Kunikuzushi’s feet, a small black dot on the floor where the inked part first landed on. He stared at it motionlessly before bending down to pick it up.
“You there. Get up.”
โ
In Y/n’s peripheral vision, a flash of green rushed past by through the half open door. Her classroom was by the end of the hall, close to the doors that led outside yet she heard no closing or opening of the noisy entrance (that sounded like an army of world war soldiers marching through whenever someone gave it a gentle push). Which meant that was Scaramouche’s student.
Any sane student of his wouldn’t burst through the door like that.
“I forgot something in the teacher’s lobby. Be back soon!” She hopped off her chair and waved to her students. Pushing the wooden entrance, the young woman headed left to the direction the student ran off to. She took quiet steps while minding that classes were still in session. What did that man do to have a kid run out of his class.. Actually, if anyone in the school can do that, it would be one of the Raidens.
A faint sound came while walking past a certain door. It wasn’t a classroom or a club room, and she never opened it before.
knock knock
“Hello~ It’s Inazuma department art teacher here, ms. L/n. May I enter?” The quiet sniffling stopped and some shuffling could be heard inside. When the door opened, it revealed a young female with minty green hair and round brown glasses.
“S-sorry.. I’ll be leaving now-“
“Oh, no need! I just wanted to check if you were alright. I heard you running out from Raiden’s class.” She gave a soft smile. The student sniffled and quickly wiped her tears with her sleeves. Y/n quickly flipped out a handkerchief with high looking cartoon cats all over the front. “Here here, you don’t have to give it back.” She hesitantly accepted the surprisingly soft piece of cloth.
The teacher and the student were both similar heights, which helped the latter feel more relaxed. “I have time to talk, but would you prefer to be alone?” Y/n spoke in an almost whispering voice. Her company was quiet for a moment, as if debating her options. This was ms. L/n in the picture, the most unthreatening teacher to probably have existed in this world. She nodded shyly as the teacher gently clicked the door shut behind her.
Y/n pulled out two chairs for them to sit side by side. She pulled her own chair slightly sideways to face the minty haired female. “Like I said, I’m ms. L/n in room 205. Want candy?” The said teacher magically popped out a pink wrapped sweet from the pocket of her cardigan. She nodded again and accepted the candy placed into her hand.
The girl fiddled with her candy wrapper before gulping and looking Y/n in the eyes. Her glossy eyes were filled with determination, but hesitance to talk. Her company’s softened expression encouraged for her to go on.
“I’m Sucrose. M-Mondstadt department.”
“Mondstadt? That’s cool, I heard mr. Kreideprinz teaches art there, what is he like?” Sucrose’s eyes brightened and she droned on and on about Albedo without hesitation. It seemed she truly admired him as a teacher figure. Strangely, she never mentioned any of her friends.
Patiently, Y/n listened to her talk with enthusiasm and reacted to just about every comment. She noticed that Sucrose’s stance got more relaxed and began to use more hand gestures openly while steadily maintaining eye contact. How much time passed by, she didn’t mind. She was somewhat concerned about what Scaramouche would do to her class that was an absence of her, but they would manage.
Her orangish amber eyes shone genuine passion for what she talked about. Y/n gazed at them with an unreadable smile for a while.
They reminded her of a very familiar girl. One she always saw when peering into her bathroom mirror. “Albedo seems like a wonderful person to talk to. I’m not really a sciencey person, but I’m super excited to meet him now.”
“He’s amazing! You two would get along great.” Sucrose suddenly took a pause before she was going to speak up once more. Immediately, her cheeks flared up in realization.
“S-sorry! I didn’t mean to go off like that….”
“I don’t mind, really. Butttttt if I can ask something, can I? No need to answer if you don’t want to.” She lazily smiled and leaned her cheek in one hand.
“Please, go ahead.”
“I’ll be straightforward. Did something happen in your class before?” Sucrose faltered a little. Her smiling expression drooped and her eyes drifted back to her hands.
“Again, no need to answer if you’re uncomfortable, sweet. Take your time kiddo.”
Sucrose’s breath trembled a little. Y/n began to take deep breaths as the younger girl began to subconsciously match her breathing. She soon looked up with a determined expression. “I had to move my math teacher due to the lack in staff, and I ended up in Inazuma department..” She took a moment to catch her breath. When she looked at the warmth embracing her hand, Y/n’s own one was gently placed onto hers.
“This might sound kind of dumb, but I got nervous from standing in front of the class.. I-I know it’s rude to just run out of the class like that. But- everyone’s stares, mr. Raiden’s glare, it was so overwhelming. And the teacher’s handwriting was so neat, what if everyone thought mine looked bad? What kind of an impression I would’ve made if I got the equation wrong or paused in the middle of solving? I never expected him to call me up like that, I would’ve practiced my lines if I knew.. Maybe he figured out I was zoning out? I feel so bad now… Oh- oh my gosh, please excuse me for rambling on again.”
Until the girl interrupted herself from her vent, Y/n patiently listened and nodded as she spoke. Giving her a reassuring squeeze, she took the scrunched up wrapper from her hand. “Like I said, I don’t mind. In fact- there’s negative reasons why you should be apologizing to me of all people.”
“Still…”
“Welp. Do you feel a teeny bit better?
“…Yeah. Thank you.”
The quiet shuffles of folding waxy paper filled the room for a short while. “Many people must like you. You’re good at talking, bubbly, cheerful- someone everybody loves. I-I’m happy for you! I don’t mean it in the wrong way.”
Her exclamination made the teacher pause. Talkative, bubbly, cheerful. These were personalities one day people began to describe of her. Ones her younger self couldn’t dream to never hear. No one would believe if they saw videos of her younger self….
“No worries, and thank you. But.. What if I told you a secret?”
The student turned to you with a curious expression only to see a pair of melancholic eyes on the wrapper being folded. Her experienced hands carefully creased and folded the tiny corners and smoothed out unnecessary parts.
“No one would believe nowadays if anyone told them L/n used to be socially awkward as a kid, would they?”
“Eh?”
Y/n chuckled at Sucrose’s dumbfounded face through the corner of her vision.
“News flash. World destruction. But seriously, everyone thinks I’m just being humble when I say that. I used to stay indoors for recess and outdoor breaks because I would always stand alone. I even sometimes even followed my teacher to the lobby to eat lunch with him.”
“Wow, I mean- I do that too! Well, sometimes…”
“Really? I found my people. Oh, lemme tell you this extra classroom where no teacher bothers to check during supervision.”
For the next while, she showed Sucrose on the school map the locations she could possibly run off to when she just needed some time alone. She brought out her small notepad and pen to begin jotting things down. How Y/n figured these spots out within a week- don’t ask.
The two also exchanged phone numbers. In return for showing her the spots, she made her promise to text her whenever she went there. Hey- as much of a slightly rule-bending offer this was, she wasn’t that careless, at least someone will know where she is in case of emergencies.
“-And again, you can come visit me whenever during breaks or something. I have all kinds of candy in my room!”
Like that, the obnoxious bell rang.
“Oh? Time flies. Hehe, I kind of broke the rule of supervising my class at all times.. Come on, I’ll lead you out so you won’t face that bowl cut.”
“Wait! Ms. L/n..”
“Hm?” She turned around, her hand still on the knob of the door. The bluey green haired girl smiled fondly with gratitude.
“Thank you.”
Those two words almost brought tears to her eyes. Instead, the young woman smiled and swallowed everything down.
“Happy to help.”
After all, adults are supposed to be role models to lean on. Not ones having to be shown vulnerable in front of the younger ones who look up to them. Or was that just her delusion, her own truth and no one else’s?
โ
“Mr. Raiden~ Can we talk?”
Scaramouche looked up from his laptop to the familiar voice at the door. Y/n was standing with a casual grin on her face. It felt weird hearing the teacher so.. Normal? Her voice was slightly quieter and almost cautious. “Come in.”
He finally noticed the second figure entering his classroom. What was her name.. Sally? Suzie? Sucrose, that was it. She was practically cowering behind the ever so slightly taller figure, slowly following her to his desk.
“Make it quick, I have reports to make.” He breathed out and crossed his arms in front of him.
“Um…” Sucrose fiddled her hands and turned her head to Y/n for confirmation. She gave her a firm nod and made no body language of rushing her to speak. She took a deep breath before earning the courage to look up to Scaramouche. Almost tempted to stare at the floor the moment she met eyes with him, she stood in her place and kept eye contact.
“I-I want to apologize for running out of.. The class like that. It w-won’t happen again.”
An awkward silence overtook the room. The female student eventually looked down at her feet and shifted the weight of her body from one foot to another. She could feel a piercing gaze of violet hues judging her entire figure. The gentle yet firm presence behind her was the only thing stopping her from running out once again.
“…Apology accepted. I will not tolerate such behavior for a second time.”
“Th-thank you!” The younger teacher gave the girl a small high-five and ushered her out. She exit through the door without looking back once. Scaramouche watched the entrance for a while before turning to her with a raised brow.
“Sucrose is a great student. I wish I had her in my class.”
“You sugarcoated some words for her, didn’t you. Students like that need to be pushed out further and get over their fears. Little pep talks aren’t going to have them survive adulthood.” He sighed out. Another unreadable smile was thrown to his direction. He wondered if her cheeks hurt from that practically being her resting face all day.
“Hmm, you’re pretty smart, mr. Raiden.” She broke eye contact with him and reached for something in herr pocket.
“Howeverrr, you’re confused on one thing.” Digging through the rather deep pocket of the yellow jacket, she stuck the tip of her tongue out in concentration. It had smudges of paint stains by the sleeves and the base, but she didn’t bother trying to wash it out back then. Her hand finally clutched onto the desired object.
“Discipline is important. But all kids need is a little patience. Someone to not lose faith in them.”
Sliding him a piece of neatly folded paper, Y/n began to walk out of the room with both hands behind her back.
“You never know what’s going on at someone’s home. Maybe the boy that never puts on his uniform right might not have anyone at home to teach him now. Who knows? The kid who’s always sleeping could’ve been listening to their parents argue all night.
But I’m sure your students are lucky to have you~”
The unexpected last sentence caught him off guard as his coworker walked out. It took a few minutes for him to process those words. When he did, the lightest shade of red human kind has ever seen made its way to his cheeks. He then noticed the paper sheleft behind.
It happened to be the sketch of him when he kind of barged into her house. Scaramouche would’ve admitted it was amazingly well done.. If it weren’t for the cat ears on his head and the words “furry” written in tiny letters on the side. An irk mark formed for the millionth time that day.
That teacher (+coworker, neighbor, friendish enemy)…..
โ
Wiping the whiteboard of its previous instructions and the students’ doodles, Y/n hummed a random tune. The day went fairly normal after the whole occurance, Sucrose even made some new friends in her class.
“There she is, ms. L/n!” There were a small group of female students that peeked their heads from the door. The teacher placed waved at them with the whiteboard eraser in her grasp. “Oh, hello. Do you guys want candy?” She smiled. It had became a common occasion for club students to come by and ask for candy, which she usually accepted.
“Actually..” They shyly murmured to each other before Nilou walked forward. She was in one of her classes, such a talented young lady.
“Uh, we may or may not have gotten kicked out from our temporary club room by mr. Raiden..? We’re the cultural dance club!”
“Our original club space is under rennovation currently. Would you mind if we can use this space for the meanwhile?”
The second person who spoke up was Ayaka, the student vice president of Inazuma department. Y/n saw a ravenette and a girl with spikey brown pigtails she’d seen before in Liyue. The last lady was a blonde with curled pigtails. They all stared at her with hopeful eyes that made her feel like melting.
“No need to ask twice, use it as much as you want.” They cheered in responce, smiling at each other and flooding the room. “But I have one condition.” She winked softly and placed up one finger.
“Hm?”
“Can you guys teach me too??”
Meanwhile, a certain math teacher was returning to his class after a coffee break in the teacher’s lobby. He dumped his drink in the sink halfway and hurriedly left the principal entered the space. On his way, he heard sounds of music and laughing from one of the four gyms. There was some sort of a dance club doing their stuff, so what did he do in responce?
Kicked them out.
Scaramouche only blamed Ei of his department for his foul mood. He didn’t stop to listen to their rather reasonable explanation, just told them to get out of the gym with the reason it wasn’t their designated club space. As much as they were upset, there was no questioning mr. Raiden.
His coworker’s words from earlier kept drifting into his mind. No one ever in his teaching career told him he was anything along the lines she said. And reasonably so. Even in the rare Christmas or end of the year cards he received, it usually had a single line of ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Thank you’ on it. Normally, a compliment like that would just be shoved at the back of his mind and forgotten after a while. But her mere words.. It just seeemed to hit something inside him.
His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar music and even more cheering and laughing. Coming from the art room.
Sighing, Scaramouche twsited the knob open to “kindly” tell Y/n to shut the students up. Not a single person seemed to notice his presence with the music and cheering distracting them. A Persian tune was going on from the bluetooth speakers, while the desks were pushed to the sides to make space. There was a small ring of students and two figures in the middle dancing to the beat of the music. He soon realized a teacher was one of the females gathered around.
About to speak up, Kunikuzushi instead got distracted. Not by the twirling figures and the traditional music, but everyone’s expressions.
They were all smiling, laughing, moving along with each other. Clapping, spinning, hopping. It was a rare sight to see students be able to do such things in his presence. The scary teacher you don’t want to go the same direction in the hallways. The asshole calculus professer that yells at you for every little thing.
He observed them a little longer. The other teacher seemed to blend perfectly in with them, not only her height, but her mood and just- everything. Ms. L/n. The nice teacher that everyone likes. The teacher you can talk to like a friend, but can get advice from like a parent. The opposite of the math teacher front door.
He hated her. He hated that stupid smile as if she was free from life, her carefree attitude as if there were no one trying to catch her every little imperfection and bring her name down. He hated how everybody just seemed to levitate towards that woman like magnets.
Mr. Raiden doesn’t like ms. L/n.
This is something everybody in their classes figured out by now.
Was she simply unaware of everything? The society filled with people like starved street dogs looking for weaker to attack. Maybe she’s ignoring it all?
Perhaps none.
A normal person doesn’t talk in the same was they would conversate with a thirty year old businessman to a toddler who just began to speak. Much more gently, using easy words so they can understand. People who understand children are more patient with them. Grown adults are often waddling children trapped in a fully developed person’s body.
Scaramouche eventually gently clicked the door shut. Returning to his room, he squinted at the sun catcher sticker on his window turning the evening sunlight into streaks of rainbows. Despite all her efforts into making his class more bright and welcoming, only the cool fall breeze welcomed him inside.
And they say, some people are kind. But they aren’t the naive ones. They are the ones who know of this world’s truth better than anyone, and is simply doing so because they know no one else will show that gentleness.
—-
A/n I hope I got Sucrose’s personality correct, I don’t have her so I had to piece together lines I heard from her in quests to guess ;-;
How tf are some of you guys reading my stories at 2 am surviving on two minutes of accidental sleep
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