Maybe Not So Bad After All (Klaustopher)

[Kuu]

It was Klaus's third day of extra help with Mr. Parker, and he had to admit that...well, spending time with this teacher wasn't as bad as he first thought it would be. Sure, he had to actually make an effort to listen and stay awake in this class, and he was even ignoring his very strong desire to take out his MP3 player yet again lest he be caught...but he didn't really mind Mr. Parker too much. He was much better than his old history teachers, though he just noticed that recently since he just started paying attention. He had even be staying up a bit later than normal to practice a bit...even if that did leave him a bit tired in the morning, he really needed to study for all his classes and keep his grades as high as possible...he also needed to remember to email Jacob and Siobhan again and see how mother and father were treating them...see if they needed any emotional support. Ah well, enough of that.

After class, Klaus walked up to Mr. Parker with a small smile on his face.

"Well, mind helping your trouble student again?" He asked, some laughter in his voice. Yeah, he was getting a bit more friendly in this class. So what?

[Nicolette]

There certainly was a change in Christopher's life that occurred that past Tuesday. Ever since Tuesday, he'd been staying after school in order to help out a student who'd required assistance.

Klaus Leighton...

The eleventh year boy was... Certainly different. At first, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with Goverment class, or even Christopher himself, and now, he was smiling and joking along with him. It was different, and it left Christopher wonder what was going on in that young male's mind.

The teacher gave a smile at the comment and rose from his desk, holding a couple of papers in his hands. "You're hardly a trouble student, Leighton." He had come to call the boy by his last name, like he did all his students. He believed in last names until instructed to say otherwise.

[Kuu]

Klaus shrugged his shoulders, and grinned at Mr. Parker as he spoke. "Well, it didn't seem like that a few days ago, now did it? And come on, start calling me Klaus. Surnames are so formal," Klaus said, keeping on that casual smile. Yep, he was definitely feeling more comfortable in this class already...he didn't know what it was. Maybe it was because Mr. Parker wasn't like the rest of the teachers he had...but that didn't mean that Klaus was gonna open up to him. Nope, never going to open up to him.

Heading over to take a seat, Klaus yawned...probably from the lack of sleep getting to him. Oh well..it was the end of the week, he could make up some hours. "So, is there anything in particular you're going to try to get me to like today?"

[Nicolette]

Christopher gave a simple smile and nod at Klaus's request to use his first name. Permission granted, so he would abide to the request. However, it would seem improper to have Klaus do the same, even if "Mr. Parker" made him sound old. Everytime he heard it, he would mentally cringe and die a little on the inside.

He walked around the desk as Klaus took a seat at a random desk. He could see the worn-out look in the younger male's eyes and a small frown graced his lips. He hoped that all this extra Government work wasn't keeping him up too late. He walked over to Klaus's desk, looking at the various papers in his hands.

"Let's see... I went online last night to a few school history websites and found a couple of cram sheets for review." He took a small packet and handed it to the student. "And then I made up a mock-quiz during my World History II class since today was their work day." He handed out another paper to the boy.

[Kuu]

Mentally, Klaus groaned, not at all pleased with this. It would...eh, hopefully be easy with his cramming and such but Government work still made him unhappy.

Taking the papers, Klaus reached into his bag to take out a pencil. "How much time do you teachers have on your hands? I feel like you all work less than us students so you decide to give us more work to kill time," Klaus said, looking over at Mr. Parker before looking down at the 'quiz', mentally sighing, and starting to read the paper and try to figure out the answers without glancing at the review sheet to see how much he knew. Good thing his brain was used to working on low levels of sleep...not like that was a good thing.

[Nicolette]

Christopher leaned up casually against the desk next to Klaus's. His fingers tapped against his arm in a random pattern, thinking of what he'd be doing later in the evening. He figured he'd probably start up Kingdom Hearts and have a marathon over the weekend to see if he could beat all the games in a single weekend. He did silly stuff like that.

The question caused the man to shrug. "Depends really on what's been going on in class. Usually for about a day or two after a test, teachers are kept busy grading. And then think of the time it took me to put together those powerpoints for class. It takes me a good six hours to put together a single chapter of information, and units are three chapters so eighteen hours for a unit. I completed two units over the break, though, so I don't have to worry for at least another week or so..."

He looked up, musing to himself. "And then there's the time spent actually making quizzes and tests. It takes me about an hour or so to make a quiz, and up to three or four hours to make a test, especially if they're multiple choice since you have to think of the wrong answers that don't sound stupid. Add that to the meetings we have to attend with the headmaster, which can add up to about an hour each week..."

The man shrugged again, letting out a light chuckle. "I only have so much time on my hands because this was the first week back. That and I don't assign those horrid spawns of the devil known as essays." He shuddered. "I would never put a student through that horror."

[Kuu]

...Seriously? That much work was put into this?! That was pretty surprising, though Klaus was under the impression that the teachers didn't make up half of the stuff they used in class...or Mr. Parker might just be different. He already proved to be a little...eh, childish?

"...Damn. You must actually love your job, then, if you actually do all of that," Klaus stated, going back to answering questions. The quiz was...easy enough. Some of the questions were a little tricky though...but that did tell him what he had to work on..though he was getting a bit better.

[Nicolette]

Christopher couldn't help himself. He reached out and teasingly tugged on a little bit of Klaus's hair, as not to hurt him, but to tease him as he gave a smile.

"Or maybe I just love my students and want them to get good marks." He offered a silly grin before pushing himself off the other desk, walking back up to his own desk. He made sure that his desk was, for the most part, clear and took a seat on top of it, watching Klaus.

And it was true. His students were like his children, just like he sometimes joked with with Rebecca. Rebecca loved to tease and say "Yes, father" to him quite often, to which Christopher would then go into a monologue how he was a failure for a father if his daughter was the way Rebecca was. It was all in good humor and he loved his sister for it. And Rebecca who pointed out that he cared very much for his students, even if he didn't completely care about them outside the classroom. His job was to teach and teach he did.

[Kuu]

"And of course, you love me the most, eh? You are giving me extra help after all!" Klaus smiled, and let out a pleasant laugh. Haha, yeah, sure Mr. Parker "loved" all his students. How many teachers have said that line before? Most of them didn't really seem to care...but then again...this guy seemed to actually....

Now, turning his complete attention to the paper, Klaus rubbed one of his eyes to keep himself focused a bit more. Hmm...some of this stuff he wasn't exactly sure on...maybe if he used common sense he could think of an answer? Klaus chewed on his pencil, trying to carefully think all of the questions through before answering them as best as he could. Despite all of his joking...he was actually working hard, like doing extremely well in all of his classes meant a lot to him.

Which it did.

[Nicolette]

Christopher let out another chuckle and smiled in the direction of the student. "Sure, we'll go with that." He let out another laugh before he quieted to let the student continue on with his quiz.

He leaned back gently on his desk, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before there was a little chime that came from his pants. He blinked before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell phone. It was a text from Rebecca, reminding him that she would be dropping by his apartment in the morning to pick up their shared Visa that their mother provided, since Rebecca was coming to T'zenshin.

Why did Rebecca come to T'zenshin to begin with? Did something happen while he was off in college, which would qualify her to come to a gifted school? At this point, with how his life seemed to go, he wouldn't doubt it.

He slid the phone up to reveal the little keyboard and typed a quick response back before he shoved the device in his pocket.

[Kuu]

...Okay, Mr. Parker had a nice laugh...and he seemed to be chuckling a lot today. Did he actually think that Klaus was funny? Eh, not like Klaus really cared. He continued with his work, though he glanced up when he heard a little chime. Eh? What was that...oh, Mr. Parker's cellphone. Klaus waited a short while to let the teacher text, and after a moment he spoke,

"Texting, eh? Was that a special someone by any chance?" Klaus asked, his eyes turned back to his paper as he continued to think about both Mr. Parker and this stupid work that he had to do. Walking thought bubble, indeed.

[Nicolette]

Christopher raised an eyebrow at the comment before letting a smirk slide on his lips, deciding to joke with their earlier subject. "Why, jealous that I might love them more than you?" He teased, a smile that rivaled his tone sliding onto his lips.

Okay, so... it'd been a while since he'd flirted with anyone. He didn't really get along with other teachers and there weren't many decent people in town, and being surrounded by students, he didn't have many flirting targets...

But Klaus was a student, too... Which was bad in the sense that Christopher was NOT allowed to flirt with him... But he couldn't help it! It was natural instinct to flirt with anything he'd known fore more than five minutes and wasn't family!

[Kuu]

...

Did Mr. Parker just flirt with him? Or was his imagining things? Teachers weren't supposed to do tha - well okay, he'll admit that he kind of started it but still! Shaking off that thought, Klaus came to the conclusion that it was all in good fun and decided to play along with it.

"Aw, I'm hurt. I thought we had something special!" He joked, a smile coming across his lips as he saw that he was nearly done with the stupid quiz. Yes! Only a few more questions to answers and then he could hand it in so he could be criticized! How very fun!

[Nicolette]

Oh ho ho! So the student took the bait! This could prove to be very fun. It reminded him of the silly little games he and Rebecca would play, and he was positive that Klaus knew this was a game. He could see the glint in the boy's eye.

Plus... It was Friday. It would be a nice break.

Christopher rose from the desk and walked to Klaus's desk, dipping down onto one knee and resting his chin on the desk, looking innocently up at the boy.

"Oh, but of course we do, Klaus. Don't you remember the nights we've spent together? Hunched over, working hard on... History?" He let out a laugh as he changed the innuendo back into the subject of history.

[Kuu]

It was a good thing that Klaus could keep a straight poker face, because right now, his mind went directly into that dirty land in every teenaged boy's mind. However, he had extra weird points for those thoughts involving his male teacher. Male. Teacher.

Most of Klaus's smartass comments died before they could reach his lips, because...well, they were all very dirty.

"So, who's this new person that you love more than your beloved Klaus Leighton?" He asked, perfectly hiding the dirty, dirty things that he was trying to erase from his mind and tell himself that the thought of doing that with his teacher was nasty...no matter how young-looking and handsome he was.