"Did somebody die?" Archer mocked Clyde's clothes. It's a school fair. The word fair screams of joy and fireworks. He'd think Clyde would wear a printed shirt. Instead, it was a black shirt with a small white logo of the brand paired with black pants. 

"At least I look good." He fixed the collar of his shirt in front of the mirror while glancing at Archer.

"I actually look decent today so hold your tongue." 

Fair enough, he was. He looked like a different man. His clothes were ironed and creased in the right places. The buttons on his blue dress shirt were properly sewn and his black jeans fit him well.

"If you can manage to look like that, why not stay that way?"

"It takes away the surprise." 

From the gate of the school, a huge colourful banner welcomed them. They saw lines of food and game stalls. Each one had its own gimmick of how to gather a customer. There were rides you normally use at fairs, Ferris wheels and Merry-Go-Rounds. There were students who carried placards, some used a megaphone and others had eye-catching costumes. It was utter chaos since their school was located in a pretty busy area, a lot of people came by.

Students were definitely looking at them. Rumours did spread that Archer was going to bring his partner to school. They all wanted to know who was the unlucky fellow that agreed to date their teacher. Archer is pretty well-liked after all. 

"Where are we heading first?" Clyde asked.

"Faculty. I have to clean up my desk before those assholes do anything funny." He balled his hand into a fist and shook them.

He raised a brow. "And by assholes, you mean?" 

"My students. Last year, they snuck in and stole my pen. My favourite pen!"

"You shouldn't call them that, and it's only a pen?"

He gasped and looked at him offended. "It's not just any pen. It has a tiny strawberry on top of it plus its strawberry scented." He loved that pen. It was the first-ever pen he bought in a long time. He usually borrows pens from his colleagues and by borrow, he means, keeping them and never returning them again. He bought the pen for two reasons: it was strawberry scented and the model on the poster who advertised the scented pen was pretty.

"Okay, but what's in it for them? why take a stupid pen?"

"Yeah, silly me, I forgot you have no high school experiences whatsoever. It's a school superstition. When you want to pass a test, you have to use a teacher's pen, pencil or eraser and bring it back without them knowing." He explained, "I never got my pen back, they must have fallen in love with the pen too."

"That's stupid." He never heard of it when he attended school. He didn't need superstitions to pass a class. 

"But, it worked for me. "

The faculty room was empty as both of them wished. Clyde does not want to deal with the teachers he encountered before and Archer does not want to be caught up in another useless argument with Louis. The only thing creating a noise was the airconditioner someone forgot to turn off. Clyde followed Archer to his desk. It's the one in the farthest corner of the room, near the lockers. He sat on the swivel chair while Archer unlocked his locker.

"What exactly are you afraid of losing?" He leaned on the chair, slightly surprised it was more comfortable than the one he uses at work.

Archer opened a drawer of his desk."These." He showed Clyde a handful of erasers. They were in the shape of different sweets and desserts like cakes, muffins and doughnuts.

He was proud of his collection. It was as if was his treasure. Like a kid who successfully captured a firefly or one who proudly shows their badly made drawings to their parents.

"You know, you can be cute sometimes," Clyde spoke without a second thought.

Archer's eyes widened, "Wait, what?" He chuckled, trying to suppress his confusion and surprise.

He looked at him the same. "What?" He asked back. They stared at each other for another second until someone else entered the room.

"Hey, Arch... Aren't you the policeman from last time?" Richie asked.

"Yes. yup. Definitely, it was me." He mumbled as he regained his composure.

Richie scratched the back of his head and unsurely looked at Archer. "Are you really in trouble with the law? What's he doing here?"

"Oh, you didn't know? He's my partner." He nonchalantly answered as he hid his erasers in the locker.

Richie held his hand against his ear. "Am I hearing things right?"

"Yes." Archer replied.

"What about New Year's Eve?" He asked with a hint of sadness and despair in his voice.

"He's the guy? seriously?" Clyde couldn't help but ask. Okay, say hypothetically that Archer's handsome even if he's dressed like a slob at times, this man, the one in front of him doesn't even hold a candle to Archer's hypothetical looks. Archer is leagues away better than this man. Archer was never arrested for being a public nuisance. 

Archer slammed the door to his locker. "Allegedly!" 

"Great thing it was allegedly, am I right? or else the wife will hear about it." Richie wiped an imaginary sweat and sighed. "So what are you two lovebirds doing here?" He sat on his chair and dramatically swung it towards their direction. "Did I, Did I just ruined- were you guys supposed to make out here? "

"This is a school, you're sick in the head," Clyde answered.

"Yeah, whatever he said," Archer replied. He was too busy opening his locker again. He forgot to clean it up and take things he need to do at home.

Clyde snooped around Archer's desk. Of course, there were candy wrappers and stickers you'd get from bubble gum. He also has a framed picture of the variety show lady and another with a picture of a collage of desserts. He was surprised to see a bowl of potpourri on the side of his desk and a scented candle. He took it and smelled it.  It smelled like cinnamon buns.

There were normal things on his desk too like sticky notes, pens, papers and a stack of class materials. He opened one of the drawers and found a comic book. Beneath it was a handheld game console and scattered candies. Among the mess, he saw the sticky notes he wrote for him from before. He took a sticky note and wrote Don't slack off.  He stuck it on the comic book.

"Done. " Archer slammed the locker's door again.

He closed the drawer. " Great, I was starting to get bored."

"Have a great date!" Richie shouted from the back.