summary: đ„âš A failed experiment causes a fire to emerge in Mr. Grace's classroom. Luckily, a very handsome fireman is there to save him. âšđ„
Tags: masc!reader, mlm, strangers to lovers, reader is implied to be strong/muscular ig, reader lowkey isnât mentioned until 2k words in, ryland's kinda a jerk, not beta read oop
w/c: ~8.8k
âHoly fuuuudddgggeee! Fudger- fuuuâ Rylandâs not-so profanities muddle into groans. A cloud of foam sprays from the nose of the fire extinguisher in his hands, snuffing the growing flames into nothing more than thick dark smoke. He holds his arms straight as he assaults the fire with sweeps of the extinguisher from side to side.
The science teacher coughs as he chokes out huffs of smoke. He fans his face in an attempt to clear the air, but it doesn't do much to alleviate the burn in his throat. The fumes flood his senses. Still, he sprays the extinguisher twice more for good measure.
It was supposed to be an easy experiment, trivial really. Ryland has done this experiment a million times and it has never gone this wrong.
Mr. Grace meticulously adjusts the gas dial on the bunsen burner on his desk. A room full of curious students watch him closely. âOkay, kids,â he starts âGet to somewhere you can see.â
The students raise their heads to get a good look. On his desk, besides the mountains of paperwork heâs pushed to the side, are cups of different powders and liquid, as well as the bunsen burner. Ryland grabs a box of matches and tosses them up and down in his hand.
âAlright, as many of you know, weâre going to be literally playing with fire today. And I am required by law to remind you of the safety measures, so letâs make this quick.â
âDo we turn on or adjust our burners without my permission?â He asks the class, pointing the thumb of his free hand to himself.
âNO!â The class responds.
âDo we put our body parts within one foot of the flame?â
âNO!â
âDo we put our hair up before starting the experiment?â
A mix of nos and yeses chorus from the room between the kids mindlessly answering and those actually listening to the questions. Ryland smirks.
âHa, gotcha. Yes, everyone with long hair put it up. Keep your safety goggles on and come to me if you need any help, am I missing anything?â The students in the front row shake their heads. Ryland places a finger to his lips. âOh! Listen to my instructions! The most important rule.â
The students laugh, but Ryland can tell theyâre getting restless with excitement. âOkay, letâs get started. Everyone pay close attention to the demo Iâm about to do.â
Ryland pulls his goggles over his glasses, which immediately fog up. He looks over the rim of his frames as he grabs one of the cups in front of him. âYou guys have learned from our geology unit that different minerals have different properties. Density, hardness, colors. Those properties can also cause fire to burn different colors.â
He grabs a metal spoon and scoops the powder in the cup. He tilts the cup forward enough for the kids to see without spilling it. The shiny blue powder glistens, drawing the students even closer. âThis is copper sulfate, a mix of sulfur and copper.â He raises the cup to his nose and makes a curious face. âSurpisingly, it has no smell,â he observes. âBut donât eat it! Itâs not rock candy!â
He carefully pours the powder from the spoon into the barrel of the bunsen burner. âAny guesses of what color this will turn the fire?â
âBLUE!â His students respond enthusiastically.
Ryland smirks. âWe will see.â He checks the gas line once more. âOkay count down.â
âTHREE!â
He turns the gas handle.
âTWO!â
He lights a match.
âONE!â
He lights the top of the bunsen burner using the match, igniting a small green flame. The students let out their âoohsâ and âahhsâ, shiny eyes reflecting the green hue back to their teacher.
âWoah, right?â Ryland hypes as he adjusts the flame's size using the needle valve until the flame is substantial and glowing brightly.
Well, it is for a second, before it flickers and dwindles. The blonde manâs eyebrow scrunches. âHuh,â he says, âthatâs weird.â He fiddles with the needle valve⊠nothing happens. He scratches his head. Sweat is collecting at his brow now from the foggy goggles and heâd really like to wipe it off.Â
Ryland finally adds more gas with the handle. Maybe there was a problem with the gas pressure? And it had built up pressure at first? Whatever, he turns it up again.
He goes back to teaching, explaining the science of the green flame. The gentle whir of the air conditioning started. On good, now it wonât be so muggy and hot in here. Especially once all the burners are on, the room would be a sauna. The fire dances with the cool flow of air from the vents. Ryland considers taking off his goggles and fixing his glasses, but he figured that would be a bad example to the students.Â
Just as Ryland is answering a question from the girl in the third row, the fire surges, angry and vibrant.
Ryland jumps back. âHoly crap!â he exclaims, pushing himself against his whiteboard. He quickly remembers heâs the teacher, the trained scientist, and the only adult in the room; thus, itâs his job to handle this. He reaches back over to cut the gas, but not before the barrel literally falls straight off the base, tumbling down like a dead tree. Stupid piece of junk. Curse this school's ancient equipment.
Good news: the fire is disconnected from the gas. Yay!
Bad news: the fire has fallen onto all of Graceâs paperwork. Boo!
Any thoughts that Ryalnd had were quickly cut off by the screams of 13 year olds. The kids run to the back of the classroom, confused, scared, but waiting for instruction. They donât really practice fire drills where the fire takes place inside their classroom. Ryland needs to think fast, because the green flame is increasingly feasting on stacks of research papers and handouts.
âRemain calm!â Ryland yells over the chaos. He reaches for the fire extinguisher he thankfully put nearby. Though, of course, he thought it wasnât going to be him who caused the fire. He backs up and rips the pin out. The sound of the metal pin hitting the floor is muted by the spray of the extinguisher.
The room is as silent as a desolate battle field by the end of it. Mr. Grace looks at the students. They look back at him, all with the same thought in their heads.
What. The. Fu-
The ear shattering ringing of the fire alarm blares. Even the terribly inefficient smoke alarm (which Ryland highly doubts has been checked since⊠well ever) recognizes the smoke rising to the ceiling. The sprinklers (which have definitely never been used) release drenching sprays of water.
The kids screech and cover their heads. Ryland just sighs. His clothes droop and stick to his skin. He appears to be more of a wet rat than anything. He pulls his goggles up to his forehead and takes his glasses to wipe them off. It wonât do anything considering theyâll just get wet again, but it makes him feel just a bit calmer, more in control.
âAlright, everyone out into the hallway. Single file. You know the drill.â
It was a disaster. One that Ryland wasnât entirely sure that he was ready to take responsibility for.
The parking lot was filled with students and teachers taking attendance. Most of the kids out there looked uninterested, but were grateful for the break from school. Everyone probably would have assumed it was just another drill had it not been for Rylandâs class of completely soaked children. He could already see his students gossiping with kids from other classes now. Oh, great.
Thankfully, everyone was accounted for. Ryland finishes taking attendance and wipes the sticky hair from his forehead. He already feels a sense of doom come over him.
Principal Croffely storms over, a stern look on her face. Ryland felt a shiver down his spine, though that might just be his wet suit jacket. The woman approaching him was⊠terrifying to say the least. She was a great principal, the perfect mix of strict and fun. However, she did not respond so happily to any mishaps- like fights, or graffiti, or, you know, a fire. Not to mention, Ryland doesnât think sheâs aged since heâs been here. She looks just as young as she did in the year books from when Ryland was in middle school.
âMr. Grace,â she speaks in a low, calm voice. Itâs a trap, and he knows it. âPlease explain to me what happened?â
Ryland pulls at his collar. Despite it being soaking wet, his neck feels very hot all of a sudden. Heâs seriously thinking about how to explain himself without risking his job, but there really is not any other way to phrase it without saying: âI started a fire.â
He runs a hand over his face, pulling his glasses down to balance below his chin and pinching the bridge of his nose. âIt all happened so fast really.â He chuckled. He looked up to see Croffely⊠not as amused.
âA, um, material mishap happened with the 8th grade experiment. The bunsen burner I was using for a demonstration broke and fell over. The papers on my desk caught fire.â
The silence between them was loud.
âI am so sorry. But for what itâs worth, I put it out with the fire extinguisher before the sprinklers came on. Everything should be completely fine now. And the experiment was a success while we were at it! Bright green-blue flames.â The man speaks proudly and confidently for someone so in the wrong. Somehow Rylandâs endearing charm had given him immunity from all previous trouble. He thinks it is because all of the older teachers see him as someone to mentor. But he doesnât think thatâs going to help much this time.
Principal Croffely lets out a long sigh. âWell, I appreciate the situation being handled. None of the students are injured?â
Ryland shakes his head. âThey were all at least 6 feet from the fire at all times when this took place.â
âWell thatâs the most important thing⊠Youâre lucky Mr. Grace. But I will be speaking to you later about how we can hopefully prevent anything like this from ever happening in the future. Yes?â
Ryland nods like an obedient child. He usually takes scrutiny well. Trust him, heâs used to people disagreeing with him. He never lets a bit of criticism stop him (just look at the UNESCO conference in Denmark), but there are a few authority figures that really make him squeamish and desperate for approval. One of those people being Principal Maria Croffely, who has a history of being an amazing teacher long before Ryland got wrapped up in the job.Â
Croffely gives him a final firm nod and an unreadable look- it probably says âyouâre on thin iceâ- and walks off to check on the other classes.Â
The man finally takes off his disgusting suit jacket. He is not sure how long theyâll have to stay out here. Since the problem is solved, they should just have to wait for the admin to turn off the sprinklers in his room. Heâll have a better chance of drying off in the San Francisco sun without wearing his thick jacket. His tongue sticks out in disgust as he wrings the material and watches the water wring onto the asphalt of the parking lot.Â
 Ryland can hear a resounding siren in the distance. That signature âwee-wooâ of American emergency vehicles. Ryland grumbles. âNo way,â he whispers.
The science teacher jogs to catch up with Principal Croffely. âMaâam- I mean, Principal Croffely, maâam. The fire department isnât coming, are they?â
The dark haired woman turns back to face him. Her strong jaw seems to always be in a permanent clench, so heâs not really sure if sheâs clenching it harder now in annoyance. âThey have been alerted, yes. And they are automatically deployed when the schoolâs fire alarm goes off and they havenât been notified of it being a drill.â
âGreat, just notify them that it was a drill.â
âIt wasnât a drill.â She deadpans with a cocked eyebrow.
Ryland chuckles to cover up his own annoyance. âItâs really unnecessary. I know I started the fire but I know how to put one out. Itâs not that hard. Plus, the sprinklers must have gotten rid of any other chance for the fire to restart. The fire department coming out here is a waste of my- our time and theirs. While theyâre looking for the fire I already put out, I could be fixing the damage to my room.â Ryland couldnât help his sass. His want for firefighters not to arrive came from his stubbornness and extreme desire to fix all of his problems himself, especially the ones heâs caused. Itâs insulting, really, that they think he canât put out a gosh darn fire. Heck, he could be a firefighter⊠if he wanted worse pay, more hours, and to put his life on the line⊠so maybe not.
Mostly it is just embarrassing and Ryland doesnât want any more people to know about it than those who have to.
Principal Croffely looked upon him disapprovingly. Ryland wasnât used to people being so much taller than him, but she was easily 6â3 with her heels on. âWhile I want to trust your judgement, Mr. Grace, you did remind the both of us that it was you who caused the incident. The firemen, and women, will come assess the situation and the damage before we proceed. It wonât hurt to have professionals out here.â
Sheâs right. Ryland knows sheâs right, but he still wants to argue. Unfortunately for him, he has no more time to make his case as a sleek fire truck pulls up to the school in front of them. Ryland covers his ears, protecting them from the loud blaring siren. The lights on all faces of the automobile flash an angry red, but overwhelming lights and noise soon stop after the truck parks.Â
A bald man jumps out of the driver's seat, quickly approaching the principal. Ryland assumes he has the top rank among the men there. Something about the way he holds himself.Â
âLieutenant Geralds, maâam. We received a distress call, what seems to be the problem?â He extends his large hand. He and Principal Croffely engage in a handshake strong enough to break bones, Rylandâs sure. Although relatively short, the large bear of a man seems like he could barehandedly break a log in half so Ryland would do anything to not get on that guyâs bad side.
âScience experiment gone awry.â Croffely looks beyond exasperated. âMr. Grace here,â she gestures to the meek man beside her, âhad a, what did you call it? Ah, a material mishap, and some papers caught fire.â
âI assure you the emergency is completely resolved,â Ryland butts in. âIâm usually more adept with fire, but I am very adept with an extinguisher hehe.â He swallows his awkward chuckles. âSo, no issues here, sir.â
Lieutenant Geralds looks almost disappointed. Like he really wanted some action or something. âThatâs good,â he says anyway. âIâd still like to check out the classroom before we leave and make sure everything is in order.â
âOf course,â Croffely agrees.
âAnd I seriously doubt weâll need our full crew for this, so Iâll just send in one man for the job if thatâs alright with you.â
âSurely one person is enough. Iâm also sure that Mr. Grace will be happily willing to escort them to his classroom and explain the situation.â She side-eyes Ryland with a sharp glance. Ryland, who previously had just been looking back and forth between the individuals, like a small child listening in on his parents conversation, just gives a thumbs up and a forced smile. Whatever it takes to get this over with as quickly as possible.
Lieutenant Geralds walks back over to the truck and knocks bangs on the back door. âItâs all you, Squirt!â He barks in his deep gruff voice. The door opens up and whoever answers to âSquirtâ hops out. The door covers his face momentarily as he exchanges a quick word with the lieutenant.
Then, you step into the light of mid-day. Not smiling or frowning, but a pleasant neutral expression on your face. Ryland raises his glasses to actually see properly. And, now, he knows this must be a joke.
The nickname âSquirtâ evokes the image of someone small, kinda scrawny, short, probably. The man now in front of Ryland is not a âSquirtâ, thatâs a man. Like not just 5 bites, but a full meal of man. Thatâs the irony of it, he supposes.
You leave your helmet inside the truck, which gives Ryland a full view of your face- and that is absolutely not fair. You look like you came straight out of one of those shirtless firemen calendars. Except, you're a lot cleaner than he expected (on account of not having fought any fires yet today). And youâre not shirtless, obviously.Â
Ryland realizes that the previous comparison might bring up some questions, so he would like to make some amendments: 1. No, he has never, and will never, own a shirtless firefighter calendar. 2. No, heâs not thinking about you shirtless (well maybe a little), but he knows an attractive man when he sees one. Thereâs science and a pattern to what makes someone attractive. 3. Thereâs a reason people like men in uniformsâŠ
âS-sir?â
Youâre smiling now, gazing upon the drenched man with an inquisitive look. Croffely nudges Ryland and clears her throat.
Ryland looks around and realizes you have your hand extended to him. âCrap, sorry, got a little in my head there,â he tries to help the situation and shakes the extended hand. Your palm is rough from the effects of manual work, but warm and inviting. The handshake is squishy on account of Rylandâs still damp palm.
âS-sorry. Just sprinkler water, I promise.â He drops your hand and wipes it off on his jeans, which are equally, if not more, wet.
You shake your head, dismissing the concern and let out a low chuckle. You turn to Principal Croffely to shake her hand as well while introducing yourself.
âThank you for the help,â the woman says, âMr. Graceâs classroom is where the fire emerged, so you can follow him there. Iâve just been walk-ied and alerted that the sprinkler system has been turned off, so you shouldnât have any trouble.â
âNo problem, maâam. Iâll be sure to take note of any damage or concerns before radioing the lieutenant to let you know when itâs all clear.â You pat the walkie-talkie on one of your belt loops. Both firefighters and school admin use walkie-talkies apparently.
You turn back to Ryland, eyeing him up and down. Ryland doesnât usually feel self-conscious but his face feels hot enough to boil off whatever water is left on his skin. Heâs not a people person anyway and now he has to interact with someone while embarrassed and wet. He probably looks like a sad stray cat.
 His expression hardens as he tries to compensate for the nerves. Instead of presenting himself as the mess-up teacher that caused a fire, heâll act like the hero who put it out. Both are true, but he chooses to ignore the former.
After taking your time looking at him, you walk off silently. Rylandâs left with his mouth agape. Okay then, rude.Â
You reopen the side door to the fire engine and seemingly search around the seats. When you return youâre holding a rolled towel.Â
You offer the towel to him. âYou look cold,â you whisper softly. He blinks, not quite sure what to do. His first instinct is to reject it; to tell you that heâs just fine and doesnât need the pity of a devastatingly rugged fireman. He figures the best (and most normal) response is to just accept it.
âThanks, yeah.â The towel is nice and hot and unbelievably soft. Ryland melts into it easily as he wraps it around his shoulders. He glances back up to catch your kind gaze. Youâre smiling so sweetly he feels nauseous. No wonder people fall in love with firefighters who save them. He knows if he was in a burning building and accepting death, and he saw a face like that, heâd probably fall in love with you too. And something about that makes him unreasonably angry.
âLead the way.â Ryland nods, turning on his heels. He walks towards the front entrance, checking every few steps to make sure youâre trailing behind. You catch up to walk next to him so he doesnât have to look back, with a rugged smirk still on your face.
Ryland opens his mouth a few times, clamming up. The silence is excruciating, and he can see you observing him in his peripheral vision. Youâre probably judging him, or making fun of him. He has to say something.
âSo, Squirt, huh?â God, donât say that. He fights the urge to facepalm. Maybe something in his subconscious is trying to embarrass you, so that way youâre on equal footing and Ryland doesnât feel so miniscule. Heâs trying to fight that part of himself.
Heat rises behind your cheeks, but youâre still smiling. âYou heard that, huh?â You shrug your shoulders, pulling your gloves on. âThe crew calls me that because Iâm the newest and youngest. Also because there was this incident with the hose my first time.â
Ryland raises an eyebrow.
You blush harder and glance away. âLong story. Anyway, yeah, they all call me âSquirtâ or âKidâ. I really hope that doesnât end up being my permanent nickname, but it probably will. At least until I do something else more embarrassing, so it could be worse.â
The man beside you nods. âI guess it always could be. Itâs a good name, though. Makes you sound like a cartoon sidekick⊠or a set up to a really dirty joke.â
âThere are so many dirty jokes,â you laugh, a grave look on your face.Â
Ryland canât help but crack a toothy smile. Dang it, he was supposed to be establishing his âdominanceâ, in a sense, showing that heâs not a total fool, but instead heâs laughing with you and getting lost in your eyes. He clears his throat and continues silently to his classroom.
When you finally arrive, there is water seeping out from the gap between the door and the floor.Â
âGot a wet floor sign?â You joke. Ryland doesnât respond and simply opens the door to reveal a very wet room. The space is in complete disarray. Chairs are knocked over from when the students ran out of them. Some of his non-laminated posters are sliding down the walls, completely ruined. Somehow, his solar system is high enough that it is out of the range of the sprinkles. Thank god. If that model, which took him months to perfect, was ruined, heâd break down right here in front of this other grown man.
âFiddlesticks,â he âcursesâ under his breath, examining the damage.
Youâre similarly gazing around, but with a different look in your eye. Admiration, maybe. âNice room,â you say, âthough Iâm sure itâd be nicer if it wasnât like a drained fishtank.â
Ryland rolls his eyes. âA drained fishtank would be drier than this,â he comments matter-of-factly.
âRight, sorryâŠâ No more jokes for now, you guess. You decide to stop flirting making small talk and actually do your job. âSo, what happened?â
The science teacher groans loudly. He does not want to have to explain this again. âI plead the 5th.â
âYou do know Iâm not a cop right? You canât really do that.â
Ryland bites his lip, holding back a smile. âI can and I will,â he says. It only takes him a couple seconds to fold and tell you. You are the professional after all, itâs not really like he can hold the information from you. While he explains the story with far too much detail, you inspect the bunsen burner and the papers on his desk.
âI hope these werenât important.â You lift a half-scorched, fully-drenched piece of paper. There used to be words on it, but the ink has smeared so badly itâs illegible.
The blonde sighs. âNot really. The kids wonât like having to turn in their reports again, but theyâll survive.â
You nod. âWhat gas did you use?â
âPropane.â
âAnd there wasnât any sparking, correct?â
After you ask all of your questions, you come up with the conclusion. âIt just looks like there is some rust at the bottom of the burner here.â You point with your gloved finger. âThat caused the needle valve to not function correctly, and for the barrel to fall over.â
Ryland steps closer, bending down to see better. Sure enough, the bottom of the bunsen burner is eroded with rust that he isnât even sure how it got there, or how he didnât notice it.Â
It isnât until he stands straight that he notices how close you are. He can smell the light musk of whatever body wash or cologne you use. He can see every little hair on your face from this close; every little mark he can commit to memory. He wants to reach out and touch your ruffled hair. His âmanlyâ front is dissolving as he stutters and blushes.Â
You stare at him so innocently. It should feel infantilizing, but it doesnât. Instead it feels genuine. Like youâre genuinely waiting for him to find his words and hear what he has to say. That just makes him more flustered.Â
Eventually you raise your hands to his cheeks. You push up his glasses that were slipping down to the tip of his pointed nose. Your hands slide down his jaw to his shoulders and you pull the towel tighter around him. You smooth your hands over his shoulders and give them a gentle squeeze.
âIf you donât mind, Iâm going to go inspect the rest of the equipment." You wink and step from behind the desk.Â
âY-yeah.â
Itâs been a long time since Ryland has been completely dismantled emotionally. Heâs not the most social person and typically avoids interactions where he can make a total fool of himself. Itâs not often heâs this flustered. And for a long time, he didnât even know men could make him feel this way. Turns out there is a difference between finding a man attractive and being attracted to one. Ryland spent most of his life not distinguishing between those two things. It was only after he got dumped by his college girlfriend, Linda, that he took the time to really look at his sexuality and attraction. He realized he is equally interested and disinterested in most people (he doesnât care much for labels).
Even if Ryland didnât know about his sexuality, he thinks he would realize it right now, with a man like you in front of him, making his intelligence fall apart.
You circle the classroom, checking the other burners for possible rust. Ryland tries to keep his eyes focused elsewhere. He works on throwing all the ruined papers and posters into trashbags. Heâs muttering to himself the whole time.
âOkay,â you say, âlooks like the burner over here-â you point to a bunsen burner in the center lab table- âand here-â you point to one in the back- âare shot. No saving. The other ones just need to be dried off and cleaned with WD-40. They should be fine after that.â
âOkay.â Ryland nods. âGod, Iâll have to put in a request for new ones. We wonât be doing this experiment for years probably. Or until we get the funding.â He mutters to himself under his breath.
You lean back against one of the lab tables. You toss your head back and throw him a sideways glance. âWhat was the experiment anyway?â
Ryland scoffs. He feels the set up for a nerd joke coming. Maybe something about him not being able to do a middle school experiment right. Or just about how pathetic it was that heâs a teacher. Why is Ryland so defensive right now? He doesnât know. But you make him nervous, and he feels the need to protect himself.
He scoffs. âI wouldnât really expect you to understand.â Itâs so funny how that cocky pretentious Ryland from his academia days returns so easily when heâs on guard, even after heâs spent years trying to bury that version of himself.Â
You donât look offended at all, however. âTry me.â
He looks up at you. âUhh- I-â he swallows- âBy placing certain minerals into the barrel of the burner, like copper sulfate for example, it alters the hue of the flame by shifting the chemical composition of the burning material. Thus, causing the flame to appear as a mix of the gasâs natural burning color and the minerals chemical components.â
Ryland feels smug and crosses his arms over his chest. You squint your eyes.
âYou put rocks into the burner and it causes the fire to burn different colors?â
The science teacher's jaw drops open, before he clenches it. He stutters, âNo!- I- I mean, yes! B-but, uhh, itâs more complicated than that!â He tightens his arms across his chest, hugging himself, and looking away. Heâs acting like one of his students when they argue with him about a test question.
You laugh. âIâm sure it is. Iâd love to hear all the specifics sometime, but Iâll save your time.â
âWait, youâd actually be interested in learning about it?â
âSure. Iâm always interested in some science facts.â You beam and walk closer. You lean in and cup your mouth as you whisper, âDonât tell my crew this, but Iâm kind of a huge nerd.âÂ
You lean back, grinning. âThough, they probably already know.â
Ryland feels warmer when youâre in his proximity. His cheeks dusted in pink as he pushes his glasses up his nose. For once, he finds himself without anything to say. Over and over, youâve proven youâre more than the asshole Ryland meaninglessly assumed you were, all in order to protect himself from the thought of his mistakes being perceived. Youâre making it really hard for him to be short with you when youâre so⊠nice. And, because of that, Rylandâs the one being an asshole.
âAnyway,â you continue, âit might be a cool experiment for me to show the kids.â
Rylandâs brain buffers like a 90âs desktop computer. He had never considered that maybe you have kids, much less the partner that usually comes with having children (often, but not always.) Stupidly, he asks, âWait⊠you have kids?â
Your face scrunches in confusion. âHuh?- Oh! No, oh god, no.â You shake your head adamantly. âI lead the tours and the demonstrations for kids who visit the station. I teach them about fire safety, life as a firefighter, how to plan for emergencies- stuff like that. I think the crew made me do it as a punishment at first, but I really love teaching kids so Iâve just stuck with it.â
The blonde lets out a sigh of relief. Donât ask him why heâs relieved, but something about you not having kids eases something in him. Because maybe that means you donât have a partner either.
âYou like teaching?â He asks, fiddling with his fingers.
You nod. âYeah, I like it a lot actually. Being a firefighter has always been my dream job, but if I wasnât doing that most of the time, I probably would have gotten a degree in education and became a teacher.â
âWho knows,â you say, âmaybe I wouldâve taught science.â You pat the manâs, now dry hair, thatâs poofing up. Itâs a cute look. His breath catches as he feels your gloved fingers against his scalp. He likes the feeling, closing his eyes and leaning into it.
As he opens his eyelids and catches your teasing gaze, he knows his face must be fire-engine red. He takes a half step back and casts his gaze down.
You huff a curt chuckle. You wish all emergency calls were this fun (joking!). You let your fingers fall back to your side from his light yellow tuffs of hair. âI better let them know everyoneâs set to come back inside.â You delicately break the moment.
âYeah- you uh⊠you better do that,â mutters Ryland.
âDo you have anywhere for the kids to stay while theyâre drying off your room?â You ask with a gentle tone. Rylandâs head picks up.
âHuh? Oh, yeah. Weâll just be in the cafeteria I guess.â It warms his heart that you care about the kids. For only a second, he lets himself imagine you as a teacher. In a classroom next to his where he can see you (and shamelessly check you out) everyday.
You straighten up, turning your professionalism back on. You walk to the door, but hesitantly, looking back every few seconds as Ryland had when he was leaning into the building- as if youâre hoping he follows you. You clear your throat. âWell, Mr. Grace, Iâll leave you to it.â
Silence falls between the both of you, but you make no further move out of the doorway.Â
âUhh, make sure you clear your desk off before your next fire experiment,â you say, jokingly, as a final remark. Youâre one foot out the door, when Ryland seemingly teleports behind you and pulls shyly on your firemanâs jacket, stopping you in your tracks.
You turn to face the man once again. He opens his mouth a few times but says nothing, still trying to find the words. Finally, he coughs out, âWait!â
You smile- so hard it makes your teeth hurt. âI am.â
Ryland curses under his breath. âI mean, if youâre really interested in teaching, Career Day is coming up soon. Next week. I know youâre probably busy and-â
âIâll be there.â You cut him off. Now youâre both smiling like little kids. âYou can call and give me the information.â
âCall?â Ryland asks, and for a moment, he hopes that means he gets to have your number.
You nod, smirking. Youâre not going to be that easy. âCall the station and ask for me. Iâll respond.â Ryland pouts, not able to help himself. You pat his cheek twice and turn to the door, leaving for real this time. âIâll see you, Ryland.â
The man tilts his head to one side. He doesnât remember telling you his name. You lean back towards him and put a finger to his chest, pointing at his name on his faculty badge at the end of his lanyard.
He smiles. As you make your way down the hallway, he calls after you. âWhat name should I ask for when I call?â
You throw a laugh over your shoulder before simply saying, âJust ask for âSquirt.â Theyâll come find me. I canât wait to hear from you.â
âI canât wait either!â Ryland grins. âSquirt,â he whispers, slightly baffled at the utter ridiculousness of the dayâs occurrences. Who would have guessed that he would be excited to make a phone call?
Ryland forced himself to wait a full day before calling the number for the local firehouse. He didnât want to come off as too eager or desperate, though he definitely is. Over that time, he was able to pinpoint the source of his rudeness from the last day. It was a lot of things: feeling embarrassed that he messed up an easy experiment, caused a fire, and got (lightly) scolded by his boss were all contributing factors. To make it worse, and heâs even more embarrassed to say this, but letâs face it! Youâre insanely hot and it made him really nervous. Apparently when Rylandâs nervous around hot people he starts acting like a jerky idiot and ruining his chance.Â
Thatâs not to say he had a chance. Heâs been âout of practiceâ for years. Since he broke up with Linda in fact. And he didnât even know if you swung that way. Even if you did, whoâs to say youâd be interested in a 30-something year old middle school science teacher?
Ryland takes a deep breath and lets out a long shuttering huff. Heâs spiraling again, but trying to compose himself, lest he be an utter mess around you again when he finally calls. Itâs after school now. He figured if he made the call before going home, he could justify it to be for school purposes. He sits at his desk, drumming his fingers against the table. His laptop sits open to the webpage of the local firestation; the non-emergency number has been highlighted by his cursor.Â
He glances at the clock and groans. He needs to make this call and bike home before it gets dark. He types the number into his phone with trepidation, making sure every digit is correct. Ryland stares at the screen for a second before mumbling âScrew it,â and pressing the green call button.
The line rings only twice before a tired sounding voice resonates across the line. âThis is the nonemergency line for the San Francisco fire station #032. How can I help you?â The man on the other end lets out a barely muffled yawn.
Ryland lets out a breath that he wasnât aware he was holding. He had really hoped youâd be the one to answer the phone to save him the trouble. Alas. He clears his throat. âHi, yeah. This is, uhm, Ryland Grace? Is⊠Is âSquirtâ there?â His face flushes although there is no one there to see it. The nickname is already pretty absurd but the awkward way he says it makes it sound so much worse.
A chuckle comes through his phoneâs speakers, turning into a full on guffaw. âYouâre the teacher?â The voice asks.
âYesâŠ,â Ryland responds meekly.
The laughing continues on the other end. Ryland can faintly hear chatter.Â
âDid you hear that Molly? Squirtâs boy actually called!... Yeah!... Yes, could you go wake up the guy? Heâs probably knocked out on the couch... Thanks, Molly.â
Ryland silently listens on the other end. He tosses his Earth-shaped bean bag in his hand. He gives it a squeeze between tosses to calm his nerves. He rubs his thumb over the worn-out crocheted yarn, the texture reminding him of the fibers of your gloves last night you were with him. He squeezed the beanbag again, thinking of your large gloved hand in his.
âOne moment, MrâŠ. Ryland, you said?â The voice pulls Ryland back into the moment.
âY-yep. Thatâs me.â
The man snickers âGod, Iâm never letting Squirt forget this,â he mutters under his breath.
Grace perks up when he hears your voice in the background. His grip on his cellphone tightens.
âHand over the phone, Bennie.â You growl, âno, he called me let me talk to him⊠Man, go away.â Thereâs some shuffling on the other end before Ryland hears a sigh into the microphone. âRyland?â You speak, your soft tone opposing the harsher one you were using with your crewmate just a second ago.
âHey.â He says breathlessly. âWere you expecting me, Squirt?â He says the name with a bit more confidence now, and it rolls off his tongue easily.
âYou know I was.â
The two of you do not get to speak for nearly as long as Ryland would have liked. You were about to get whisked away for a task just 30 minutes into the call, which sounds like a long time, but he felt like he was just getting past your coy exterior. Halfway into it, he found himself leaning onto his desk with his chin resting in his palm. He might as well be a teenage girl, twirling her hair and kicking her feet on her bed.Â
Fortunately, he was able to give you all the information about Career Day and you confirmed that you would, in fact, be able to attend (yippee!). Beyond that, you told him youâd be there in your full firefighter gear, which made him more excited than heâd like to admit.
âOkay, well Iâve got all the info for next week down,â you say. âI should really get going, now.â
Ryland chews his lip. âMhmm,â he hums, disappointed. âDo I get your name now or do I have to keep calling for âSquirtâ?â He chuckles. Heâs half joking, but still hoping he can get your real name.
You laugh alongside him. âNot yet. I donât really mind the nickname when you say it.â Your sultry tone throws Ryland for a loop. He chokes on air and falls into a coughing fit. You chortle on the other end. âSorry, sorry. That was so bad, donât know why I said that.â
Ryland tries to catch his breath, but heâs laughing between his coughs. He finally gasps a deep breath, filling his lungs with air. ââs okay,â he mumbles. You can hear the smile on his face over the phone.
 âThough,â you continue, âI figure it would be a lot easier to reach me if you have my number. Do you have a pen nearby?â
âY-yes!â Ryland leans over his desk to reach towards his cup of pens. He fumbles around and misses the cup before finally grabbing one. âGot one, got a pen.â He mutters, prepared to write on the nearest piece of paper to him (itâs one of the worksheets he planned to assign tomorrow. Heâll just reprint this copy.)
You slowly say your phone number, digit by digit. âGot all that?â
Ryland nods even though you canât see him. âGot it⊠Iâll text you?â
âYou better. I need to go now, or the Lieutenant will kill me- Yes!? Iâm coming, Bennie! Give me a second, damn!â
Ryland hears a barely muttered âbyeâ before the line drops. He sighs dreamily. The sun is slowly inching closer to the horizon in the west, shining perfectly through the large windows in Mr Graceâs classroom. He thinks the kids will like you, just a feeling.Â
The teacher was swamped in the next week; between prepping for Career Day, fixing up the damage to his classroom, and teaching 5 periods a day, he barely had time to daydream about you. Well, that was at school. Outside of work, he still had plenty of thoughts about your face, and your scent, and your touch. That being said, Career Day came faster than anyone had expected. Next thing Ryland knew, it was Wednesday and you were walking into his classroom with a guest pass, your full uniform, and a duffle bag full of other firefighter stuff.
You give him a heartstopping smile as you walk into the classroom, stopping to lean against the doorframe. âI see your roomâs good as newâ
Ryland nearly jumps out of his skin. He looks over his shoulder to see you giving him that signature smirk. He rolls his eyes. âYouâre early. I said 8:00.â
You shrug as you casually stride into the classroom. âI like to be punctual.â
The blonde sighs. Heâd been getting all the worksheets about âWhat I Want To Be When I Grow Upâ ready for his students. His glasses had been pulled beneath his chin, where he usually wore them. You point to the frames. âDo you ever wear those things correctly? Kind of takes away the purpose of glasses, you know.â
Ryland walks closer. Despite your jeers, heâs still smiling. âI didnât invite you here to tease me,â he says, fixing his glasses to the bridge of his nose. âI invited you to do a career presentation. Speaking of which-â his voice softens to a gentle murmur as he casts his gaze aside. âThank you for coming. You really didnât have to clear your whole day to be here⊠I appreciate- and Iâm sure the kids will appreciate itâŠâ He trails off.
You place a comforting hand on his shoulder. His eyes find yours again. âNo problem. I love teaching kids about what I do, itâs a passion of mine. Thank you for having me.â Thereâs a subtle tone in your voice that makes Rylandâs heartbeat quicken ever so much.
âAlso.. I just want to say Iâm sorry again for how much of a jerk I was when we first met. Iâm not going to make any excuses. I was just⊠I was being a dick for lack of better words.â The curse sounds foreign and forced on Rylandâs tongue.
You wave your hand dismissively. âStop it! You already apologized on the phone. You werenât even being a dick last time.â
Ryland raises an incredulous brow. You laugh at the look on his face.
âOkay, yeah. You were being a little bit of a dick. But I understand you were having a bad day. I forgive you, for what itâs worth.â You grin.
âIâm glad you came back.â Ryland admits. The words slip out before he really thinks about their implications.
âI am too.â
The rest of the day Ryland watches you repeatedly give an interactive presentation on firefighting (including having a âStop, Drop, & Roll Contestâ where you time how fast students can flop to the ground and start rolling like a log.) You really were good with presenting, and good with kids. Ryland can tell youâve done this before. It was also incredibly attractive to get to lay back and watch you talk about heroic fire fighting. Every block, a new group of kids come into the room to be impressed by you. You even let some kids try on your firefighting gear.
It was easily a successful day. Not only did Ryland get to stare at you shamelessly for 6 hours, but you decided to spend lunch with him as well. That time was filled with getting to know each other, joking, and (not-so) subtle flirting. Notably, you had leaned over to wipe the crumbs of a sub sandwich off of Rylandâs lips, which heâll be thinking about for days, if not weeks.
By the dayâs end, you are both pooped from dealing with rowdy kids. Still, youâre slow to pack your things, clearly not wanting to leave quite yet. As you carefully pack your duffle bag, you continuously glance up at the other man, who is always looking back at you.
âNot so bad, huh?â you ask. âThe kids seemed pretty entertained.â
âYou did great.â Ryland replies.
âHigh praise coming from you, Mr. Teacher.â
Ryland shrugs. âWhat can I say, you deserve it.â Then he says your name, your full name.
Your head whips around at him to see him pointing at your name and id number on your helmet. You sigh with a smile. âIt was only a matter of time before you found my name, or until I simply told you.â
Ryland smiles smugly. You roll your eyes. âAre you proud of yourself? For figuring it out without me telling you?â
Ryland laughs, his cheeks dusted in pink. âA little bit. I can keep calling you Squirt if youâd like. I donât know if you reserve your first name for people⊠closer to you.â
You shake your head. âYou can call me whatever you want to,â you say lowly.
It gets quiet in Rylandâs classroom. You zip up your bag and it seems to hit the both of you at once that this could very likely be the last time you see each other. Rylandâs brain is whirring, thinking of ways to not have to let you go so soon. Thereâs no way he can start another fire at school without definitely being fired. Maybe he could start one in his apartment, just a little one. It wouldnât even be that hard, heâs set the smoke detector off multiple times from his own terrible cooking. But he doesnât think his landlord or the other tenants would appreciate that very much. Maybe he could get a cat stuck in a tree. Heâd have to get a cat first. Maybe he could get stuck in a tree.
While Rylandâs making up ridiculous ways to get to see you again and abuse your personal phone number, youâre just admiring his thinking face and wondering how long it'll take from him to break from this daze. He doesnât notice you coming closer until you brush a stray strand of hair out of his face behind his ear.
âRyland,â you repeat for what must be the tenth time.
You startle him a bit. His eyes widen in shock, but he doesnât back away. âH-huh?â He gasps.
âI asked if you wanted to have dinner sometime.â
âDinner?! With me?â
Gosh, heâs so dumb. You snicker, âwho else could I possibly be talking to?â
Rylandâs face heats up. âI just- I donât- yes.â
âYes?â You cock your brow, fiddling with the hair at the nape of his neck.
âYes, I want to have dinner with you,â Ryland finally spits out. The words slur together with the speed of his speech, but the meaning is still clear.
You thread your fingers into the manâs blonde locks. His impossibly blue eyes gaze straight into yours. He seems to be holding his breath in anticipation of your next move.
One of your hands slides down to pinch his chin and angle it towards you. âIâm going to kiss you now, if thatâs alright.â
He breathes out a confused, âWha-â before it registers that youâre leaning in. You hover right over his lips where youâre able to breathe in each otherâs air. He shudders, breath fanning against your face. You give him plenty of time to pull away, but it doesnât seem like heâs going to. In fact, he leans in quickly, crashing your lips together.
Itâs a very clumsy crushing of mouths for the first few seconds. Spit and teeth and lips clash. You smile into it all the same, tilting your head to find the right angle. Rylandâs hands stiffen by his side before heâs able to ground himself by pressing his palms against your hip bones. He grips your waist like a lifeline, slowly melting into the kiss.Â
He tastes like coffee and that sandwich he had for lunch. The gentle scent of his soap and cologne feels heightened. You can feel his heated skin against your own.
Ryland whines as you slowly pull away, but the need for air outweighs his want for the kiss to continue forever. His eyes blink open, pupils blown out in icy blue irises. His expression is a mix of dazed happiness and confusion. Nothing is said for a few moments as you both just bask in each otherâs warmth, your faces staying inches apart.
âHi,â Ryland whispers.
âHi,â you whisper back. A breathless laugh is shared between you. âAre we still on for that dinner?âÂ
Ryland nods enthusiastically. âDefenitelly⊠I, uhh, didnât know⊠I- I wasnât even sure you were into guys like me⊠or guys at allâŠâ
âWeâre in San Francisco, all the firefighters are gay.â You say matter-of-factly. âI can name like 4 gay guys in my crew- 5 if you count lesbians.â
Ryland laughs. âSan Fran firefighters are gay, good information to know I guess. Iâll tuck that away for later.â
You jokingly shove him away lightly. âYouâve got other gay firemen youâre flirting with? Wooowww.â
âYou know I donât,â Ryland says with a scoff. âI didnât even know youâve been flirting with me, honestly,â he mumbles.
You try to fight the laugh coming out of your mouth, you really do. But you canât help it. You shudder with laughter and let your head drop against the other manâs shoulder. âYouâre joking right?â You finally let out between chuckles.
You can feel Rylandâs face heating up as you tuck yourself in the crook of his neck. âI couldnât tell! I mean, it seems more obvious now, but how was I supposed to know youâre into me?â The science teacher sounds like he genuinely didnât pick up on your overly apparent flirting.Â
Another laugh escapes your lips. You press a kiss to his neck and slowly work your way up his jaw before kissing the corner of his mouth. âFor an incredibly smart man, you can be insanely dense at times.â
Ryland punches you softly in the shoulder while covering his red face with his other hand. âShut up.â
âGladly,â you reply, pulling his hand away from his face and leaning in to steal another kiss.
hi, hi, hello! hi fandom space! iâm a sex favorable asexual! yeah, i exist! yes, iâm the one you keep pointing out when you want to ship canonically aro/ace characters! hi! guess what, i hate you. stop it. stop using me to erase my friends who arenât sex favorable, because you know what? itâs actually really awful of you to only believe i exist when you want to erase a different part of my community. stop using me to encourage allonormativity. you as an allo person do not get to use ace-/aro-spec people to encourage our erasure and dismissal. no. i hate it and i hate you. stop.
Wait okay, I thought of this a few weeks ago, and so far have not received a solid argument against it. Iâm not trying to have a âgotchaâ moment, I swear, but like genuinely I want to hear peopleâs thoughts on this. If we take the argument that jerking it to a drawing of a child having intercourse doesnât make them a pedo/map because itâs not a real person, if I draw a person of color getting curbed, genuinely just because I like the idea of a person of color getting curbed, does that not make me a racist because itâs a drawing and not a real person? Why? And more so, does that make the drawing not a serious issue or concerning because itâs a drawing and not a real person?
I hate it when thereâs a new thing on the internet and every single uncreative person with a YouTube channel has to offer the same regurgitated take on the matter, all the while summarizing the âSiTuAtIoNâ genuinely acting like everyone hasnât already seen the same five tiktoks and holds more or less the same opinion. If youâre gonna make a video about a current hot topic at least give me some crazy new fucking unheard of take on it
Theoretically, if the PHM scenario of approaching global ice age was real, could we have just spammed fossil fuels and chatgpt prompts to warm up the earth more? Like fight fire with fire
One of the reasons people headcanon Grace as aromantic is the unfortunately realistic scene where they go "you don't have a family or a loved one" as if that's enough of a justification to send him on a suicide mission. As if not having a family makes Grace inherently less valuable and means he should be more willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Grace wasn't sad and lonely, he was happy, he had a good life, he very much did not want to die. They have to do a looney tunes chase sequence and drug him because Grace was *very* unwilling to be the sacrificial lamb. Humanity's savior was dragged kicking and screaming into the role and called selfish for daring to be a coward, as if most of us wouldn't be.
And then he befriends Rocky, who never demands a sacrifice from him, who willingly prolongs his journey home so Grace can go back to his. Rocky has a mate back home and his species depends on his return, and still risks his life to save his squishy human friend. And Grace returns the favor.
And thus the power of friendship saves two planets.
Hi, just some scattered thoughts surrounding the nature of loli/shota content and grooming within fandom spaces. Also as a prerequisite, I understand this is entirely anecdotal. I'm sure your buddy Tyler who jerks off to anime preschooler incest porn is actually a great guy, and I'm misrepresenting him. And no, I'm not saying as a blanket statement that everyone who enjoys this genre of content is Epstein himself. This will also most likely be quite triggering, as I'm discussing my firsthand account of being groomed. You are not obligated to read.
With that out of the way. "Puriteen" is such a gross, chilling term in a way I can't fully put my finger on. It feels very similar in nature to the man who says you're an "ugly prudish bitch" and he "didn't even want to fuck you in the first place" when you reject him. I find it ties back to something I've noticed as a through-line between these kinds of people, and that is the performative hatred of children.
As a young girl on the internet who was into anime and fandom, it was very easy to get sucked into this. I remember very vividly being in an online friend group consisting of only me and a few nerdy young adult men. As a child (from roughly the ages of 10-13), and especially as a gnc gay girl who was often excluded by the kids around me, it felt so good being "one of the guys". It took me years to come to terms with the fact that I was being groomed by a bunch of pedophiles with a lesbian fetish. We would watch anime together, and specifically, they'd start introducing me to animes that followed "loli" type characters, directly comparing me to the girls on the screen. These girls would be depicted in softcore eroticized scenarios, either with other little girls or with adults. Once I'd been desensitized, this slowly turned into genuine porn. Animated little girls being sexually abused. This is who they made me see myself in. I got comfortable calling myself a "loli" and viewing girls my age in degrading, sexual positions.
These men never did anything to me directly, never made me send anything. They kept up the facade of us just being guyfriends and doing what guys do. However, I believe what they did was just as insidious. Through loli content, I was made to believe that a relationship like that could be normal. My brain was primed for when I would ultimately be preyed upon by a wildly inappropriately older girl who emotionally/sexually exploited me for a few years (and wouldn't you know it, she also compared me to loli/shota anime kids).
But, oddly enough, these men outwardly never shut up about how they "hated kids". Even when they jerked off to csem and actively maintained a "friendship" with one (most likely multiple). They would complain about kids online, they'd complain about kids they saw out in public. They would fantasize about humiliating kids. But, when I'd remind them of my age, I was told I "wasn't like them". I was told I was smarter, more mature. How that behaviour came to be? I'm not sure. Maybe it was a sadistic degradation thing, or a way to isolate their victims from other kids, or a way to distance themselves from their guilt. Maybe it was all, maybe it was none.
However, I've realized how awfully similar it sounded. Now I look around at the adults who yell about how "puriteens" ruin everything. These adults who go into kids spaces and blast them with porn, while telling the kids it's their fault for being in that space. These adults who get so offended by kids self-advocating against sexual exploitation that they need to call it fascism. These adults who, despite "hating kids", revolve all their time around either jerking off to depictions of them, or "totally owning them". It's a performance. And when I think about it, if the word "puriteen" had been around back then, my groomers would have loved it.
I don't have much of a "big idea" for this or a conclusion. I don't have the answers to anything. It's just something that I've realized as I unpack some of those traumas I repressed. Thank you, that's all.
Holland knew no woman could ever replace his wife. But it wouldn't hurt to see if a man would, just for one night.
You run into a man in the bathroom of a shitty bar, and he makes a bet you canât turn down.
Warnings: 18+, NSFW minors do not interact. reader is written with a penis, but no other appearance descriptions. no use of y/n. holland calls you baby like once. porn w/ minor plot. hickeys, dry humping, cumming in pants, frotting (but itâs through clothes). very minor mention of age difference (reader is supposed to be early 20s, Holland is mid-30s, nearing 40). Holland talks about porn too much in this
A/N: I havenât posted smut since I was a teenager, so be gentle with me. Feedback + reblogs are appreciated <3 If the formatting is weird let me know, tumblr makes it look weird on mobile. Heâs also wearing the cream coloured suit from towards the end of the film, these photos just fit the vibe more
If youâd asked Holland March where he saw himself in the early hours of the morning after wandering into the bar in search of a few drinks to wind down, heâd probably answer that he expected get drunk and wake up face down on his living room floor. His usual.
He wouldnât have guessed heâd find himself in the situation he was currently in, thatâs for sure.
Thereâs a man- and heâs not even sure of his name- mouthing at a spot on his throat no one had been near in years.
âEasy.â He grips the back of your head, prying you softly away from where youâd been making good progress of sucking bruises into his skin. âI got a fucking kid, man- she knows where my fuckinâ gun is and she will shoot me-â He doesnât finish the thought, because youâre making light work of loosening his tie and prying the first few buttons of his shirt open.
âHere okay?â You donât even wait for a response before latching onto a spot on his peck, and hands are flying to snatch and your hips barely a second later.
âYeah I uh- I think I can work with that.â He tries to sound confident, but the little hiccup that follows does little for his case, especially when he finds himself groaning into the top of your head. âYou a fuckin vampire or something?â He swats at your head, pushing you off once more.
âNot my fault you taste good.â You quip, taking a step back to lean against the stall wall. Having encounters like this werenât exactly your style, and whilst you liked the look of the man in front of you, any romance of the situation was somewhat dampened by the fact he was practically backed up against a toilet. âI bet the rest of you tastes-â
âNuh-Uh, not with those fuckin teeth! Look at me, Iâve already got fuckinâ bruises.â His voice was a little high pitched, and whilst he was clearly trying to sound tough and stern, the small laugh behind his words said otherwise.
âYouâre no fun.â You prod one of the hickeys blossoming rather nicely on his tan skin, and once more he slaps you away, startled.
âNo fun? I just let you fuckinâ maul me!â He gestures at his open shirt, and every fibre of your being forces you to resist going for him again. âJesus christ- look at the state of me!â His words are an exaggerated hiss, but his lips tug into a smirk as he stares down at his own chest. âCâmere then, show me your teeth.â Itâs your turn to be startled, and you cocked your head to the side in confusion, narrowing your eyes at him. You smile, but itâs clearly not what heâs looking for, because hands are on your cheeks now, and a thumb is bullying its way past your lips.
Holland doesnât do this. Holland March does not go into the menâs toilet, let a man chew half way through his chest and then he definitely doesnât stick his fingers into said-manâs mouth.
And yetâŠthere he was, pushing his thumb to hook around your bottom teeth, just enough to urge you back towards him. âMhm..â He hums to himself, staring at you with an intensity you hadnât expected from the man that mere minutes ago had been staring into the bathroom mirror, hazy eyed and splashing water into his face. Heâs inspecting, and with one hand holding your mouth open, the other drags his index across your teeth. âYeah, just as I expected, vampire.â He muses, tongue darting out to lick across his own lips, a sudden hunger behind his eyes, and all you can do is stare back, slack jawed in his hold.
âYou want some fun?â Itâs almost taunting, the way his eyes flick up and down your form, and any semblance of confidence and control youâd entered the stall with died a fiery death in the pit of your stomach. âWhy donât you..turn around?â He says it more like an excited question, rather than a command, but when he releases your mouth, a string of spit connecting you both, you feel a little too dizzy to question whether he even knows what heâs doing, so you spin on your heel.
âYou ever been with a-a man?â Your words skip in your throat when those same hands that had just been probing at your mouth return to your hips once more.
âNo-â You feel them tug at your shirt, pulling it out of your slacks, fingers dancing at the soft skin of your waist. âBut- Iâve watched enough fuckinâ porn in my life. Seen a few films made, too.â They smooth over your stomach, itching towards your belt as a chest presses to your back. âHow hard could it be?â He laughs stupidly into the crook of your neck, one of his hands trailing up under your shirt, up towards your chest.
âVery hard, apparently.â You can barely choke out the ridiculous joke as he ruts once against your ass, and it prompts another round of laughs from the blonde man practically pouring himself over your shoulder, pushing you closer to the stall door. If anyone were to come in, itâd hardly be subtle, two pairs of feet caged against the door, rattling it in its frame as you writhed against each other.
âYou know-I once saw this-*hic*- guy, and I swear to god, no word of a lie, his dick was like- fuckinâ 10 inches!â You had half a mind to shove your own hand in his mouth just to shut him up, because between jerking his hips forward, he was rambling like a lunatic, mumbling barely incoherent lines that were either straight from a porn film heâd seen, or anecdotes about one. âHow bigs your dick then?â He was practically panting into the side of your neck, and before you could even open your mouth to formulate a response, he was grabbing at it through the front of your trousers.
âFuck!â Youâd be ashamed if you were any more sober or if the man behind you wasnât who he seemed to be, because the high pitched squeal practically echoed off the walls.
âYou know-â You didnât really want to, actually. âI once saw this thing in a porno-â He paused, still palming at you, before groping at your hips to spin you back around, so excited and urgent it made your head spin.
âIs there anything you havenât seen in a porno?â He rolled his eyes at your question, looking a little feverish as he stared down at the state youâd both been reduced to, shirts agape and tents shamelessly growing in your trousers. You prayed to anyone that might be listening for no one to walk through the door.
âMy wife used to say I make my work in ârumpy pumpy.ââ He does little quotations with one hand as he says it, the other rubbing harsh circles into your hip with his thumb. âGod knows what that means- but Iâm an educated man!â My wife. It sticks a little bitterly in your tongue, but you can hardly dwell on it when he roughly grabs at your dick through your slacks again, all questions of whether he still had a fuckinâ wife, bleeding out into a shameless whine. âSo sue me- I know my way around some cock.â He says it all too casual, a little slurred and sleazy, but you seriously cannot bring yourself to care, especially with the way heâs staring at you with that hunger again. -Anyway, this whole situation was sleazy, and youâd be lying if you said you hated it.
âI bet you, I can make you cum in your pants.â You canât even react to what an insane statement that is from a man who seemed too shy about hickeys just a short time ago, because heâs already dragging you to be flush to him. âItâs called frotting.â He explains, as if you, a gay man, wouldnât know what the hell that was, but you just bite you lip and nod, almost eager to hear whatever lesson he was about to give you. Youâd take any lesson from him, any day. âUsually weâd both be dicks to the wind, but whatâs a little dry humping between friends, hey?â The way he says it is supposed to be jokey, but it comes out downright filthy, and you almost fall into him with the sudden urge to fuse your bodies flush together.
âI donât even- I donât even know your name-â You pant out, ragged between thrusts into his crotch, feeling obscene with the way the fabric rubbed against you.
âMarch.â He grabs a fistful of your ass, dragging you closer, and allowing him to control your rutting. âMarch, march, heâs our man, if he canât do it, no one can.â He hums, presumably to himself, head tucked once more in the crook of your neck, and he takes initiative to copy your earlier action, mouthing sloppily at the expanse of skin.
âMarch-â You groan out, giddy with the way heâs jutting his hips forward to meet yours, shuffling to cage you against the stall wall, one hand to the surface, the other still grappling with the flesh of your ass. He hums at your call of his name, clearly very proud of himself as you feel him grin into your throat, humming across your pulse point.
âMhm, thatâs it baby.â He nips your earlobe, before dissolving into a fit of giggles, yet his pace never falters. March may be ridiculous and goofy, but right now he has a job to do.
You grasp almost fruitlessly at his shoulders, fisting hands into the fabric of his shirt, pulling it taught away from his neck, exposing where youâd bitten earlier. He looked a mess- filthy, sweat dribbling down his forehead, beginning to stick his hair across the damp skin, lip caught between his teeth as his eyes rolled back in his head. Youâd wager good money that you were in a similar state, you could almost taste your own sweat running onto your lips.
You wanted to kiss him, that much you decided in the moment, you wanted to feel the scratch of his godawful moustache and beard. âMarch-March kiss me, please.â Wrecked, was the only way you could describe how you sounded, barely able to choke out the words. The feeling of both your cocks rubbing together, even through your trousers, was becoming almost too much to bear, and youâd be damned if you made it through this ordeal without tasting the inside of his mouth before you came.
âFuck me.â He laughed, leaning forward just a fraction. âDesperate.â He mused, before you were taking matters into your own hands, snatching at the hair at the nape of his neck to push his face forward. âGod-â The groan ripped through his throat, ratting into your open mouth as his tongue probed at your teeth, and all you could do was moan in agreement. God. Thank god you walked into that bathroom.
The walls of the stall were rattling violently in their frame, and your back would surely ache by the morning from the force of it slamming against it, but you seriously couldnât care. Non of that mattered, all you could focus on was the feel of him. He was all over you, groping like a madman, trying to feel every inch of your skin, inside your mouth and out.
âCâmon, you can do it.â He urged, the hand on your ass sliding to your hip, moving just enough that he could trace the outline of your dick with his thumb, pausing his thrusts for a moment. âCâmon!â Itâs almost an impatient whine, and you wonder if he wants to cum, or wants you to come more. But you arenât one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and if some hot middle aged man wants to get you off this desperately, who are you to deny it?
âFuck, March.â Heâs prodding a little clumsily at your tip through your trousers, pressing his thumb into your fly, and itâs almost painful, until he pulls it away and rubs up against you again. Itâs less thrusting now, heâs just straight up grinding, rutting your hips together in a way youâre not entirely certain wonât give you friction burn.
âYeah? Câmon, fuckin cum, baby.â In that moment he does sound straight out of a porno himself, and you curse any moment youâd doubted him about his knowledge, because the way heâs grinding relentlessly into you is about to push you over the edge and-
His mouth latches firmly into the sensitive spot where your neck meets your shoulder, and all you can do is squeal and whine and buck your hips up as he sucks, mouthing messily across your skin. âCum for me.â Itâs such a stupid, cliche line, but itâs enough to push you over the edge, and your toes curl in your boots as your eyes roll back, and he has to grab at you to keep you upright as your legs wobble. âFuck!â He laughs, but itâs cut short with a ragged moan himself as he jerks his hips a few more times before falling against you.
âShit-â You mumble, the words feeling sticky in your mouth- or maybe itâs just the combination of spit mixing in your tongue. You vaguely think he groans something of an agreement, but his mouth is still pressed to your throat, and with the way heâs all but draped over you, everything is muffled.
âI won, you gotta buy me a drink now.â Heâs all too cocky when he finally pulls away, hair a mess, plastered down the sides of his temples before he runs a hand through it.
âWhat?â Thereâs a dull thunk, as his back hits the opposite wall of the stall, and despite the fact youâre only about a metre apart, the distance allows you a look over him. Heâs totally wrecked- not that youâre in any space to judge, and a laugh bubbles from your throat at the sight of the obvious wet patch at the front of his light coloured trousers, and you thank god youâd chosen to wear your darker slacks today.
âI said I bet you I could make you cum in your pants, and I did.â He seems rather unfazed by the rather debauched look heâs now sporting, collar damp with sweat, because heâs grinning like a cat whoâd got the cream, nodding downwards to where you awkwardly readjusted yourself. Youâd regret it in an hour or two when you had to go home and get changed. âSo pay up.â Despite barely knowing the man in front of you, his smirk and the sheer confidence in his words doesnât surprise you one bit, and you roll your head on your shoulders with a shrug.
âFine. On one condition?â He tilts his head, amusement clear in his eyes, swinging an arm behind his head as if he was merely relaxing back on a fucking beach, nodding for you to continue. âI get your number, and you let me try for my bet on whether all of you tastes good.â
Before he even thinks it through, he shoves a hand into his back pocket and presses a business card into your palm. âI think we can come to some sort of agreement.â Then, as if nothing had happened, he retrieved his jacket heâd draped over the door, and stumbled out of the stall like the drunken idiot he was.
Youâd barely made it through the door at your home before you scrambled for the phone, dialling the number with shaking hands.
âHolland March-â
âI bet I can get to your place in the next 20 minutes.â