Work Text:
Roy didn’t really have a reason to be worried. Lian made good grades and didn’t get in trouble (except that one time but the kid definitely deserved it), however, that didn’t stop his palms from sweating while he sat in the small seat outside the classroom.
The parent who went in before him must have raised a trouble maker. It had been a good fifteen minutes since Roy had arrived and the other parent had been in the room since before he got there. The last time Roy went to one of these, being the year before when Lian was in sixth grade, the meetings never took longer than five to ten minutes at the most.
Roy sighed and slumped in his chair, thinking about how he ended up here.
“Dad!” Lian called while walking into the house. She kicked her shoes off by the door and padded to the kitchen where Roy was making her an afternoon snack. “Mr. Todd wanted me to remind you that your parent-teacher conference is tomorrow and that you can’t skip out on this one like you did all the others.”
Roy sputtered, “I didn’t skip out on them!” He placed a plate with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the table, “I just couldn’t make it.”
Lian dropped her bag onto the floor and took a seat, “You coincidentally scheduled your band practice on the last two and made Uncle Hal take me,” she said, biting into her sandwich.
“No,” Roy started, while washing his hands and putting away the sandwich things, “The first time was a coincidence. The second time was on purpose.”
“Why?”
Roy sighed, “You know I would never keep anything from you, but me and Mr. Todd have known each other a really long time and it’s...complicated. Don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll go to the conference tomorrow.”
“Okay, dad,” Lian said, then followed up with, “I think he misses you. He always asks how you are. It’s kinda annoying.”
Laughing, Roy recalled, “Well, he’s always been a worrier. Don’t tell him I said that.”
“No promises,” Lian hummed.
He jolted up in his seat when the door finally opened. Out stepped a frustrated looking woman, and behind her was Mr. Todd himself. Or “Jason” Roy supposed. Although he didn’t think he’d be able to get away with calling him that aloud. He had to be professional.
Jason glanced at him with eyes as teal and alive as Roy remembered before seeing off the woman. Once she was down the hall and out of sight, he turned to Roy with a grin, “Hey, Harper. Long time no see,”
Laughing nervously, Roy stood and extended a hand, “Yeah. Sorry about that, Mr. Todd.”
Jason looked at his hand with an unimpressed look, the grin falling off his face and turning to a pout. Roy was about to retract his hand when it was swatted away for him, and he was pulled into a crushing hug. “Still the same ol’ stupid guy, huh?” He pulled back to look at Roy.
Surprisingly, Roy didn’t feel as judged as he thought he would of. He didn’t see an iota of anger or pity in Jason’s eyes, rather, all he saw was relief. “I like to think I’m a little wiser with my choices now,” Roy said.
A wide smile broke out on Jason’s face as his eyes moved up to meet Roy’s. “I’m sure you are. You look great, Roy. Seriously,” Roy felt himself flush a little at the statement. Before he could say anything that he might have regret, Jason continued, “Come on. This meeting won’t take long. Lian is a miracle of a kid.”
“Well, I wasn’t about to raise a bad one,” Roy remarked, following Jason into the classroom. The other man let out a light laugh at his comment before gesturing for him to take a seat in front of his desk. Roy took a seat and Jason did the same.
“We’ve only talked once this year, how did you know I was me?” Roy asked. The last time he saw Jason was at the open house back in August when the parents got to meet all the teachers and the kids got to look around the school. Back then, he had hastily greeted Jason then gave the excuse that he needed the bathroom and left. Lian pestered him for weeks after that and that’s how she found out that her teacher was the same Jason from Roy’s university stories.
With a laugh, Jason said, “You think I could ever forget you? You’re one of a kind, Roy Harper.”
They stayed silent for a moment, the air shifting to tense and hard to breathe in before Jason spoke up. “Okay, so this is really awkward. Do you just want to talk it through? I’d rather just rip it off like a band-aid, but I don’t want to force you to explain yourself. We can ignore if you want and just talk about Lian too.”
“I’m sorry,” Roy blurted. “I’m sorry I left without saying anything and-”
“I said you can explain yourself, not apologize. I forgave you a long time ago, Roy. Grudges aren’t really my thing anymore. It’d make teaching a bunch of middle schoolers harder than it already is.” Jason said calmly, but it did nothing to stop Roy’s guilt. “I just want to know why you ghosted me. That’s all.”
Roy bit his lip, avoiding eye contact. He didn’t want to lie to Jason, and it wasn’t like he couldn’t own up to his mistakes, but the guy had a new authority-type aura around him that made Roy feel like he was being scolded. It made him feel like a dumb kid again in a bad way, and it caused his stomach to twist. “You know about Jade? Lian’s mom?”
“Nguyen from college? That’s Lian’s mom?” Jason’s eyes widened. “Oh,”
“Yeah,” sighed Roy. “I got too drunk one night and...the rest is history. I don’t regret it, of course, but I do regret not telling you.”
“Why not tell me? I would have understood, Roy. Sure, I’d be mad that you cheated on me, but I could’ve gotten over it.” Jason said, nearly pleading as if Roy could still go back in time and do things differently.
“I think- no, I know I loved Jade too. After she told me she was pregnant we talked more and we just clicked. I should have been honest with you, but...God, Jay,” Roy trailed off, bracing his elbows on the desk and setting his head in his palms. “I knew I couldn’t have both at the time and I needed to be there for Lian, so at the time my heart told me to go with her. I know it sounds dumb-”
“It doesn’t,”
“Huh?” Roy asked, looking up at Jason.
There was hurt in Jason’s eyes, but also the same understanding that he had always looked at Roy with, “I would have done the same thing. It’s okay, Roy. Now, let’s talk about Lian, yeah?”
Roy nodded, “Yeah. How’s she doing in school? She’s at that age where she’ll come home and not really talk about her day, you know? It makes you paranoid that something bad happened.”
Smiling softly, Jason said, “She’s top of her class actually, I’m guessing she got that from you. I was talking with her other teachers and they think she’s on track to go into advanced placement classes in high school. For now, all we can do is keep her in honors classes though.”
“That’s fantastic! I knew she was taking some pretty hard classes, but I didn’t know she was doing better than everyone.” Roy exclaimed with a wide smile, “I’m going to have to pick her up a present on the way home.”
“The other teachers and I were also discussing a push for her to join a club. The earlier she joins one, the better it will look for college.” Jason added.
“A club? Sure, I can talk to her about it- no problem! Do you have a list of them that I can give her?”
Scooting back slightly, Jason pulled open one of the drawers on his desk and took out a piece of paper. He slid it to Roy. It had a list of different clubs on it that reached nearly to the very bottom of the paper with no bleed room.
“You guys don’t mess around here, huh?” Then, looking at the list closer, he said, “Wait, archery? There’s an archery club here?”
“We have a partnership deal with the recreational department. It’s a newer club that hasn’t been completely finalized yet, but we’re still going ahead and looking for members,” explained Jason, “Well, I am. I’m the head of it.”
Surprise overtook Roy’s face, “You’re coaching archery?!”
Grinning smugly, Jason leaned closer across his desk, “I wasn’t just going to let all those lessons you gave me go to waste.”
After a beat of silence, Roy asked, “Do you need an assistant coach? I could use more work on the side.”
“You know what, Roy, I think I just might,”