Simon ran a hand through his hair, straightening it, and opened the door. Miki Nila let out a whoop and raised a bottle of beer. “What’s up, Taylor! Ready to party?”

“You’re the first here.”

Miki shrugged. “Whatever man. Everyone’ll be here soon. In the meantime, where’s the brat? I bet he’d be a good drinking buddy. You aren’t.”

Simon snorted and grabbed the older man’s wrist as he passed. “You are not giving Dami- Red alcohol. He’s underage.”

Miki rolled his eyes expressively and shoved the bottle at Simon. “You’ll have to do then. Drink up.” He raised his bottle at Simon and took a long draught. When he saw Simon not drinking, he paused and took the bottle from his lips. “Drink up or I’ll go find ‘Dami-Red.’ Pet name?” He smirked.

Simon glared but grabbed the bottle and downed it rapidly, before shoving it back into Miki’s arms. “Go fuck yourself,” he muttered through the burn of the alcohol down his throat. “I’m going to go tell Red that you’re here. I imagine you can open the door when people arrive?”

Miki grinned and saluted. “Aye aye captain! Have another bottle and don’t chug it this time.”

Simon sighed and took the bottle before jogging upstairs. He knocked on Damian’s door. The redhead peeked out.

“I know, I heard, I’ll be down in a little.”

Simon blinked at Damian. His red hair- usually perfectly straight- was a wavy mass around his face and shoulders. He smirked and drew a strand of hair towards him, straightening it and then letting go. It sprang back into a curl.

Damian glared. “I just got out of the shower a couple minutes ago. It’s humid in here.”

Simon just smirked. “Looks cute. Just like Howdy Doody.”

Damian slammed the door in his face.

Simon chuckled and moved downstairs just in time to see Miki tackled Jake’s son Johnny. Simon ignored it, as Jake did, as they greeted each other. As soon as Johnny was released, he darted around to behind his father and out of Miki’s reach.

“Where’s Red?”

Simon immediately tensed, but forced himself to relax. “Upstairs. Second room on the left.”

Johnny nodded and fled up the steps as Simon began to breathe deeply, reminding himself that Johnny was a nice boy who treated Damian well.

Aden and Shane burst through the door and tumbled to the ground, Shane on top. The bigger man was kissing along Aden’s neck while the brunette laughed.

When the hit the ground, both suddenly went silent and looked up.

There were a few moments of silence.

“Whoops,” Aden finally said. “We’re going to pretend that never happened, right, my darling employees?”

Miki laughed and patted him on the back as Jake and Simon smirked. “Sure, my dear boy- uh, boys. Not a word to anyone. Now, can you do it again so I can get a picture? You know, for, uh, reminiscing when I retire.”

Shane smirked and went to pull Aden down again. Aden slapped him upside the head and started lecturing him. Simon grinned and wandered to the kitchen, Jake in tow.

“Well, that was fun,” he muttered softly.

Jake laughed. “Entrancing. So how are things going with the little redhead?”

Simon sighed. “Wonderfully,” he muttered.

Jake raised an eyebrow. “I would offer the same thing as last time…”

Simon raised an eyebrow right back, smirking playfully. “Coach Williamson changing his mind?”

Jake smirked back. “Oh yeah, baby. He told me to lube his-”

“What are you two talking about?”

Simon and Jake turned quickly. “Nothing,” both men said quickly, Jake hunching slightly into himself.

Heath looked at them curiously, but didn’t push the subject. Simon and Jake were not willing to share. The young art teacher had a habit of walking into conversations at the worst possible moments and no one could bring themselves to continue when faced with Heath’s pale green eyes. The man looked- and acted- far too innocent.

Before either Jake or Simon managed to gather themselves enough to change the subject, Heath asked, “How’s Red? Did he enjoy his trip?”

“Oh, right! I keep forgetting he’s your student.”

Privately, Simon wondered exactly how that worked. Damian was raunchy and overtly sexual, even now, when he was behaving himself. Why exactly Heath liked him and taught him had been something that eluded Simon since he had found out Damian was majoring in art.

“He’s good. He enjoyed New York a lot.” Simon scrambled after something else to say- he hadn’t exactly spoken about the trip with Damian. “I think he was happy to see his… relatives there.”

Heath nodded. “His uncle, right? Red said he missed him. Apparently the man took care of him a lot when he was a kid.”

Oh. That explained why Heath could teach him. Damian did the same thing everyone else did- lied and omitted.

A shout from the living room about more beer sounded. Heath frowned and wandered off, probably hoping to avoid being with that many people, as the rest of the party goers rushed into the kitchen. Miki was, of course, leading the charge, followed closely by James Rune. Several more teachers had arrived and were currently making themselves comfortable.

“So, where’s the grill, love?”

Simon sighed and jerked his thumb towards the back door. “Outside.”

Mrs. Jean Michaels nodded and disappeared out the back, followed by Monsieur Rosa.

James shoved a bottle into his hands. “Drink up, ducky!” he yelled, mocking Jean.

Simon glanced around him at the noisy, laughing people and popped open the bottle.