It was three months since the first day of school came about, he first parent teacher night of the year. William knew the etiquette for such things, well, at least a little bit. His son was bouncing in his car seat in the back, smile as wide as the world. Ever since that first day started Stephen had been telling him anything and everything about kindergarten, more so, one raven haired student teacher who was going to be at the parent teacher night.
He had gotten to know a lot of the people in town very well and even had Christopher over for dinner a few times. He knew it was a little fast, he had only been in town for a few months, but the young man was so amazing and sweet. Stephen loved him and it made it a little harder for him. Because if he did try to even remotely be romantic with the younger man and things didn't work out, Stephen would be so damn heartbroken.
William shakes his head and sighs as they pull into the parking lot of the school.
"Now, you're going to be good while I'm talking to your teachers, right?" William asks after he parks, turning around to look at his son.
"Yea pa." He whispers. Stephen was a shy boy, only socializing the first four years of his life was with his father and any adult who happened to coo over him. But now that school has started Stephen was still shy, but had managed to make some nice friends who he really liked.
"Good boy." They walk into the school and down to the classroom, when he opens the door there are only a few parents and kids already there. They are a little early after all. Stephen is practically vibrating at his side as he looks at a child who is obviously his friend.
"Go on over, I'm gonna talk to your teacher real quick." Almost as soon as the words are out of his mouth, Stephen is racing to almost jump on another child, hugging them tightly.
William takes a deep breath then pulls at his shirt, trying not to look nervous. But damn he is. He first walks over to the elder teacher, a woman who is obviously close to retirement but loves kids too much to ever leave.
"You must me Mr Kline, Stephens father." She holds out her hand for him to shake. Will. Kids and shakes her hand politely.
"Yes ma'am, he really enjoys it here and it really surprised me with how shy he usually is around new people. He really adjusted in no time at all, talks about this class all the time." Will chuckles and looks at where his son and a little girl are playing in a corner.
"You seem to really be close with your son, and I don't mean to pry, but I noticed there was no wife or girlfriend in the emergency form." Will can't help but to look down at the ground, his cheeks warming up quickly with embarrassment.
"Uh, his mother, my ex girlfriend, left when he was one. It's just him and I here, my mother and grandmother are the only two family members I have left and they're in Spain living." The woman nods, thinking over his words.
"You seem like a great father, Stephen talks about you so much and all the things you've done together." Will smiles, bashful.
"He's all I have, family wise, in the country. His birth was an accident but I still love him more than anything. I just wish his mother did as well, I don't blame her though, she was young, I was a few years older and ready to settle down, she wasn't. But I love him and I'm still ready to settle down with someone." He risks a small glance at Mr. Novak where he's talking to another parent.
Ms. Julie smiles softly and pats his shoulder gently.
"I hate to cut this conversation short but more parents are coming, go, mingle and talk to other parents or Mr. Novak is he's free, he interacts more with the students now that I am getting older. He's a very bright young man with so much potential." William nods and quickly walks away from the growing crowed of parents and children walking through the doors. He notices Chris stop talking to one parent and he immediately tries to get over to him. Chris seems to notice his want to speak to him.
"Mr. Kline I'm so glad you could come!" His blue eyes practically light up as he grabs Will by the arm and pulls him over by the windows and chuckles. "You have no idea how you just saved me from a 20 minute conversation with Mrs. Davis about how her daughter is single." William chuckles, crossing his arms. He notices Chris divert his attention for a moment, eyes trained on the bottom of his tattoos poking out from the sleeve of his shirt. The younger mans cheeks flush softly.
"That's a little unprofessional on her part, and at a parent teacher conference." Will says, chuckling softly. Chris nods and smiles at William
"So, how is your son adjusting to this new environment? The town and all." He leans against he wall and looks at Will expectingly.
"He loves it, and I'm surprised. He's usually so shy, and he just is loving his friends and everything. I think he likes living in a smaller town and not around a lot of people. He's-" Will bites his lip, not able to think of a word to say.
"Timid?" Chris finishes for him. William nods.
"Yeah that's the word. Timid." Will runs a hand through his hair and sighs.
"He's a very bright student. Smart and creative, good with others as well."
"I'm glad of that. He's always done stuff faster than other kids his age, it's amazing." Will explains, looking over at Stephen who now has his face buried in a book. Will shakes his head and looks back at the teacher in front of him.
"So what about you, what are you going to do after your teaching internship if over?" Will asks, tiling his head.
"Oh! Um, I'm going to try to get a job at the high school as either an English or history teacher, or both if they can do that."
"You're a double major? Wow that's amazing. What made you pick those two subjects?" Christopher shrugs and rubs the back of his neck.
"I like books of all kinds and I like different kids of history. So why not do both? I also write on the side and have two books published, they're obviously not doing very well but I'm hoping it'll change."
"That's amazing. I mean you're so young and you've seen to have done all these amazing accomplishments."
"Not really, I just had a lot of free time as a kid. I was in the hospital a lot so I just did home schooling the majority of high school and it made me way past students my age. It was just a matter of me not having anything better to do." Will sees Chris's demeanor kind of drop, he hurries and puts one hand on the younger mans shoulder and squeezes.
"Hey, no matter how you accomplish something, it's still amazing. You've seen to have done amazing things." Will smiles big and Chris looks at him and smiles as well. Like the other mans smile is contagious.
"You're too kind, William." Chris rubs his arm, the two of them lapse into a comfortable silence.
"Mr. Novak, Papa!" Stephen runs over to the two of them and throws his arms up, a clear sign he wants picked up. William laughs loudly and leans down to pick up his son, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
"What is it kiddo?" Will asks.
"Just wanted a hug." He chuckles and lays his head on his fathers shoulder, curling against him.
"Well I better go talk to other parents. Don't want to seem like I'm hogging you." Chris says and waves as he walks to another family to talk about their child.
They leave the school after another hour of William talking to other parents, until Stephen came up to him and tugged on his pants, asking to go home.
"Did you have fun tonight, Stephen?" His son nods sleepily, head bobbing as his eyes flutter shut occasionally. Once they get home William has to carry Stephen into the house and into his room and put him to bed. He leans down and kisses his sons forehead and runs a hand over his hair. "Good night baby boy, I love you." He whispers as he pulls the blankets over the boy's body.
The next day is a weirdly warm Saturday in November and William takes Stephen to the local park where there are other kids playing and families having picnics. He brought a cooler filled with drinks and sandwiches, with some homemade strawberry ice cream for later. He finds a relatively shady spot near one end of the park and lays out a blanket large enough for the two of them.
"What sandwich do you want? Peanut butter and jelly or turkey and cheese?" Will asks his son, holding out both sandwiches for him to pick from. Stephen taps his lower lip while looking back and forth between the two.
"Peanut butter and jelly!" Will chuckles, knowing he would pick that. He hands said sandwich to Stephen who unwraps it and takes a large bite, smiling from ear to ear.
Will smiles at his son and leans back against the smaller tree they're under and watches his son quickly devour the sandwich then go a few feet away to play with a friend he sees.
"Fancy seeing you here." Comes a familiar voice from behind him. He looks up and sees Chris standing on the running path, wearing a pair of running shorts and a tank top. Will can't help but to stare for a moment.
"Uh, hey. You wanna sit for a bit?" He pats the spot next to him and smiles when Chris sits down beside of him. Will sits up and grabs the cooler and pulls out one of the containers of ice cream and two spoons.
"Ooh is that homemade ice cream?" Chris asks, turning to look at William.
"Yup. Strawberry. Super simple, all it was, was frozen strawberries and heavy whipping cream." William scoops some up with one of the spoons. "You wanna try some?"
"Uh duh." The younger smiles and takes the offered spoon, trying it. "Oh William, this is amazing." William smiles big and takes a bite for himself.
"Papa! You didn't say we could have any yet!" Will chuckles and looks at Chris, shrugging his shoulder. He grunts when Stephen runs over to him and jumps on his lap. "Hi, Mr. Novak!"
"Hello, Stephen, how are you doing today?"
"Good." He giggles and grabs the spoon his father is holding out to him, eating the ice cream off of it.
After eating both small containers of ice cream Stephen is napping on the grass beside of the blanket and Will is watching his son with a fond expression. Christopher is beside him, knees brought to his chest and his head resting on his knees.
"You're such a good father William. I hope one day I'll be able to have this." Will looks over at the other man and sees him looking at Stephen, a small, sad smile on his face and his eyes glazed over with unshed tears. Will can tell how much this man wants to be a father and how good of a one he would be. My god, it almost kills him to even think about it.
"You'd be an amazing dad. Hell, you practically already are with the kids in your class."
"I know, but it's not the same. I'm a glorified babysitter and I just want a child that is biologically mine. Or not, I'd be perfectly fine with adoption." Will puts a hand on Chris's knee and squeezes gently.
"You could always adopt or have a surrogate now. You could be a single father, like I am." Chris immediately shakes his head.
"As much as I know that's a possibility, I want someone to raise a child with, a lover who I can come home to everyday and we could be together with our kid. But that's a dream that's far off, and as much as I hate waiting, I'm able to do it." William watches as Chris wipes away a stray tear. William reaches out and strokes the other mans cheek softly with his thumb, smiling when he leans into the touch.
"I know it's hard to wait, but you deserve someone who loves you." Chris smiles and looks at the other man, rubbing his eyes.
"You're so damn sweet." Chris chuckles and runs a hand through his hair. "Shit, I'm sorry I got so emotional, this almost happens once or twice a week because I work with so many kids.
"Come here." William opens his arms and gestures to the open space there. Chris bites his lip for a moment and hesitates before sitting down in between the older mans legs and curls close when he wraps his arms around his middle. Will presses the sides of their heads together and closes his eyes. Chris sniffs softly and puts his hands over Williams and sighs softly. They get about five minutes of quietness before Stephen is mumbling and waking up slowly and crawling over to the two of them. He tucks himself against Chris's side, like he can tell his teacher is obviously upset about something.
"Mr. Novak, are you okay?" Stephen asks, his voice timid. Chris looks down at the five year old and pats his head.
"Yeah I am buddy. I am now." He says quietly, smiling when William cuddles closer. Chris spends the rest of the day with the two of them, playing with Stephen and talking with William. Things didn't change between the two, it was just a small moment between two friends.
Another month goes by and December turns bitter cold and snowy. On the first snow day of the year kids are outside playing and yelling, building snowmen while the parents put up Christmas decorations. This is the first time Stephen is seeing snow because they used to live in Arizona and the little boy practically goes into shock when he steps foot outside. Now, William spent most of his life in warmer climates so snow is also something he didn't get to see a lot. While outside Will goes around asking families if they want their Christmas pictures taken in the snow. His mother sent him a new, really nice camera for the holidays and he wanted to try it out when the snow fell.
"Oh William these photographs are absolutely amazing. You have a talent." Mrs. Jefferson is a kind 43 year old woman who has two kids and a quiet husband. He took her family photos first then went to his house and quickly did some editing and printed them out on photo paper.
"I went to school for art and photography, with some film in there as well. I make the majority of my money from art commissions."
"Really?" Will nods and crosses his arms.
"Yeah, I'm actually behind right now but I figured it was worth it when it came to this spectacle."
"Does it make good money?" She asks and Will feels a little nervous about talking about his financial situation with someone who's not really a stranger but not well known enough to talk about this.
"I do it professionally, but work from home. I do graphic novels and things like that as well, I get paid pretty well and plus the money from a sadly deceased friend of the family splitting the money he had three ways for his partner, my mother, and myself." William crosses his arms. "I'm sorry, I'm just not comfortable talking about how I manage to live off of an artist pay." The woman glares at him and shakes her head.
"I had a feeling you had a bit of a temper." She says, wagging a finger at him.
"No I don't, I just don't like talking about my financial situation." He leans down and picks up his camera bag from where it's sitting on the dry sidewalk. He rubs one hand over his face and sighs loudly. He walks towards the park to take pictures of the landscape there, there's aren't a lot of people there surprisingly, and the first thing he gets a photo of is the tree Chris, Stephen, and he had a picnic under. He takes pictures of the rest of the park and then sees Chris running along the path. He gets on the path and waits for the right moment when Chris gets a good distance away before snapping a few photos of the blue eyed teacher. He slows to a stop and smiles softly at Will.
"Hey you." Chris says once he gets closer to the older man. "Get any good shots today?" He asks.
"Two new ones right here." He shakes his camera a little and winks at Chris.
"You're such a dork, William." The two start to talk the path together and William grabs Chris's arm, curling his and the writers together.
"Only with you."
"What a gentleman." Chris whispers, eyes flicking down to their hooked arms.
"Mhhm, that is a true statement." The two look at each other, smiling at one another in a private way. "I bet we sure do make a picture like this." Will whispers, ducking his head.
"Too bad there isn't another photographer to take a picture."
As they're walking a light snow begins to fall, and the sun sets behind them, illuminating the sky beautifully. They walk in silence and comfort, two new companions to one another who may just turn into something else. You'll just have to wait for it.
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