Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Baldi's POV

Baldi pressed his hands up against his ears. While he loved being able to hear extremely well,it got extremely painful at times. Especially when that loud ringing sound entered his ears. Like a phone ringing in his ear. It was probably some dumb student. He slammed his face into the desk. The noise would. Not. Stop. It was so loud that he didn't notice the footsteps that approached the desk.
“Baldi?" And that made him snap his head up. It was Kenneth. The principal. He looked worried. Baldi quickly tried to straighten himself out (lol), but his efforts were in vain. Kenneth still held that worried look. "Are you alright? You've been in here for 30 minutes just sitting here with your ears covered.” Which raised some more questions. Had Kenneth been watching him? Creepy? He decided it wasn't creepy. He found it kind of sweet that he was looking out for him. But,he was still really stubborn, so he went on pretending things were fine.
“Yeah I'm good…I was just….uh…. thinking?” So convincing, he thought. He didn't look convinced. Just as Kenneth was about to say something another sharp noise came around, causing him to flinch and hold his head, and let out a sharp gasp. " What happened?” Kenneth said,in his normal monotone, but with a large amount of concern. Baldi could barely utter a response, his head hurt so bad, and so did his ears. “Noise. Fucking noise.” He managed to get out, as he closed his eyes. He felt Kenneth grab his hand,which took him off guard.
“Baldi. Focus on my voice." He said,with a bit of sternness. He did so, as he heard Kenneth start talking about how work had gone today and other miscellaneous stuff about his life. Baldi was enjoying every word of it. He found the calm, stern, normally monotone voice of Kenneth turn more smooth and soft as he spoke to Baldi. This made his face grow warm, he closed his eyes again and listened to Kenneth's ramblings. He was learning a lot from this experience, a lot about Kenneth, and a lot about himself too. With every word, he felt himself calming down. Kenneth's hand was cool and slightly sweaty, but smooth, and he found himself wondering what he did to get his hand to feel so smooth. The coolness was grounding too.
He was getting so caught up in the moment that he hadn't realized the sharp noise had stopped. The phone had malfunctioned at the end of the hallway, causing this sharp noise. But neither of them knew that. Kenneth continued to talk when all of a sudden Baldi realized the noise had stopped. Everything sounded…..normal. He found himself, however, not wanting to say anything,he was too busy listening to Kenneth talk. This man was normally so incredibly guarded and showed very little emotions, so this was a nice change, a very welcome one. He suddenly realized how tired he was. He hadn't slept well the night before, and felt himself dozing off.
Kenneth's POV

Kenneth continued to talk to Baldi, he enjoyed the way Baldi seemed so entranced in his words, despite his eyes being closed. He got really caught up in the things he was telling him, not sure why but he couldn't stop talking. He knew there were probably places he should be right now, and it was highly unprofessional to be this late, but the moment was getting the best of him. He talked and talked and talked some more, until he felt Baldi's grip on his hand loosen and saw him slump over. He didn't realize what happened at first,but then realized he had fallen asleep.
What should he do? Should he wake Baldi up? They were still at school after all. As he examined Baldi's sleeping state, he realized that Baldi looked very tired. Extremely tired. He couldn't bring himself to wake him up. Looking up at the clock, he realized with a panic that he was terribly late to a meeting with a parent. Oh no! He felt a bit of anger,but not towards Baldi, he was the one who got caught too much in the moment. He didn't regret it however. He watched Baldi sleep for a few minutes longer and felt a blush cover his cheeks. He was. Cute.
He snapped himself out of it, and stood up. He grabbed a piece of paper and tore off a bit, writing a note to say why he left.
“Had a meeting. Sorry to leave suddenly."
It needed something.
“Hope you had a good sleep Baldi ;)"
Okayyyy, the wink wasn't necessary, but it got the point across. He needed to run, or else he was gonna be EXTRA late. He left the note in front of Baldi and left, closing the door behind him. He still felt bad about just walking out. But he would be back later,there was still 4 hours left of the school day after all.
The meeting came and went,it was a very productive meeting. They talked about how this student could be helped and how they could work something out. The whole time however, the principal couldn't get his mind off of Baldi. Kenneth still felt bad leaving him to sleep in there, but he did get the note. The parent had agreed with the arrangement he had brought up. Which was good, he thinks it could help the student. Maybe Baldi would want to hear about it, he would be happy about this student getting proper care. Baldi. Why couldn't he get his mind off Baldi. But speaking of Baldi, should he go find him? He wanted too. He had things to do,but he wanted to. He and Baldi were very good friends,and he wanted to make sure there wasn't some way that Baldi hadn't gotten the note. Yeah that's the reason he's doing it. He decided to look for him, it may not be hard if he's back with his ruler.
But wait, what if he was still asleep? I mean, it had only been an hour, maybe an hour and a half. He should check the classroom first. That was a good idea. He started speed walking to the room(no running allowed in the halls) and quickly got to the door.
Baldi's POV

Baldi couldn't tell how long he had been asleep for, but he saw a ripped piece of paper on the desk in front of him. Still a bit sleepy, he just stared at it, with his head on the desk for a minute. He then noticed Kenneth had gone. Aw man. Baldi knew Kenneth had a meeting but he was still sad to see he had left. But, he'd probably be back later. Baldi thought over the previous interaction as he laid there. Kenneth had held his hand as he was in pain. His voice…his voice felt soft and smooth and…warm. A blush colored his face. Good friends! They were good friends! But, he wanted to hold his hand again. He let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, and kept thinking of Kenneth. He wondered how the meeting with the parent had worked. Did it go well? Had Kenneth been late? So maybe questions, as he finally sat up.
He picked up the piece of paper and read the writing on it “Had a meeting. Sorry to leave suddenly.Hope you had a good sleep Baldi ;).” He left Baldi a note, how sweet! He felt himself blush again. Oh God. He blushed again. Why was he blushing! It was just a friend thing! Just a friend thing! Nothing more! But he couldn't stop thinking about it. He shoved his face down onto the desk again. But then,he heard footsteps. He instead of sitting up,stayed put,and didn't move. He heard the door open. “Baldi?" It was Kenneth. Should he show that he's awake? But he stayed still. He felt Kenneth looking at him,even with his eyes closed. He could feel his heart beating rapidly. Kenneth's footsteps grew closer and he felt his hand on his shoulder. " Baldi, wake up…" he said,in a stern voice yet again. But there was a tone of softness he could hear within those words. This made the blush on Baldi's cheeks deepen. He felt a shake again, and another “Baldi wake up…” This time he sat up, slowly,to make it seem like he had just woken up
Kenneth's POV

When he had walked into the room, Baldi was still sound asleep. He looked at Baldi for a few seconds at the door before walking over to wake him. It took a few shakes before a surprisingly non groggy Baldi rose from the desk. His shirt was ruffled and his one strand of hair was somehow messy.(How does that even happen?) But Baldi smiled when he saw him. A smile that caused him to blush, looking at Baldi. He almost couldn't get the correct words out. “How's your sleep Baldi?" He silently screamed at himself for that. What kind of sentence was that? What was wrong with him! “It was…good.” He said, clearly a little bit confused about that. He sat down on a nearby chair he pulled up to the desk where Baldi had taken his hour nap. To his surprise, Baldi grabbed his hand from across the table. " How was the meeting?” Baldi asked. Kenneth's heart beat a little faster. He had asked how it went! An answer in which Kenneth was happy to provide.
“Well, the meeting went well, we had a lot of discussion about the student and their needs at school and everything…” and he continued to drone on, rambling about the meeting and after he ran out of things to say about it,he looked over at Baldi and he was…fixated on him. He had an incredibly focused look while listening. At the same time however, he had a slight smile on his face. That smile caused a blush to lightly appear on his face, and he suddenly felt a little embarrassed about his ramblings. The look on Baldi's face when he went quiet however, caused him to change his mind on that very quickly. “Keep talking." He heard a slight whine in his voice when he said that, a whine that made his head spin. But, he obliged. He continued to talk about whatever came to his mind, but at the same time becoming extremely interested in looking at Baldi's face as he spoke.
This caused them to stare at each other, intensely. As Kenneth talked he saw all of Baldi's reactions, and found himself trying to hold back an insanely goofy smile. He was trying not to expose the softer side of himself, but failing miserably. And Baldi kept staring, listening to every word he said.
Suddenly, they heard the bell ring. That noise snapped them back to reality. “Shit,how long have we been here?” He heard Baldi say. Kenneth shrugged, then looked at the clock. It was the start of the 7th period. Wait. They had been in here for two class periods? How had that happened? It was around 4th period he had left the room. Wow. How had they lost track of time like this? He heard Baldi stand up. “I have a class I need to teach, those little shits need to review their times tables." Baldi grumbled. “How am I supposed to move forward if they don't understand them fully? These 6th graders, am I right?" He heard Baldi give a little chuckle, and this caused him to laugh. It wasn't often that Baldi would laugh about his math frustrations. He would normally get very VERY angry. But, he seemed in a good mood today, strangely. Kenneth smiled along, glad to see that Baldi wasn't going to have a painful outburst today. Some days he got like that, and some days he was pleasant towards everyone and everything. And while Kenneth had managed to get him to tone down on the use of ruler related punishments, he still sometimes snapped. Which no one wanted to see.
Kenneth smiled at Baldi as he went to leave. He smiled back. “See you soon Kenneth." And then he left. Kenneth sat down at a desk. He was now just left with his thoughts.
He was confused about how he felt about Baldi. He couldn't stop thinking about him, and he couldn't figure out why. Nothing was really different today. Baldi was being his normal bald self. But yet, he felt unusually happy today thinking about him. Baldi was making him feel…weird. A good weird, but still weird. His heart started beating faster as he played back the events that had occurred this afternoon. He felt his face grow warm. He laid his head down on the desk,and let his mind wander. His thoughts were swirling around Baldi. He was unsure of how to think about him, after the events that had occurred. Cute. He had thought Baldi was cute. He had left him a note. He had held his hand. He stayed with him and stared into his eyes. It dawned on him. He had a crush on the math teacher. He had a crush on Baldi.

Chapter Text

Baldi's POV
Baldi was going over the tables with the kids. To his joy, they were starting to remember them. He was glad about this, because it meant he wouldn't have to spend as much time on them as he thought. Ms Pomp had also mentioned that they were doing better with their English too. Perhaps Kenneth's insistence that less problems be solved by rulers in violent ways had actually helped the students. Kenneth. He wondered what he was up to. Probably something important. Perhaps he had more meetings. Maybe he was scolding the janitor for shoving people around in the halls again. Or maybe he was catching people and bringing them to detention. There's so many things he could be doing. He should go find him after school is over. That idea made him very happy.
He was dragged out of his thoughts by a kid's voice. “Mr Baldi?" The kid said, that was the moment he had realized he zoned out. Embarrassing. He had gotten distracted in his thoughts while teaching the kids. He needed to be more focused. No more thinking about the principal. He focused back on the class,where the kids were working on their math packets. He hoped they were doing it correctly. He decided to be optimistic and say they were. He could hardly believe how quickly the day flew by. It was all the talking he did with Kenneth. It had also helped improve his mood, as he had been grumpy and tired before in the day. While he tried to keep up a civil tone when he was around others, they could sense the irritation in his voice when he wasn't happy. Today however he was actually happy now.
The class came and went and before he knew it, the next one came and went. Baldi was very pleased with how well his students had done today, it was almost as if everyone was having just as good of a day. But more importantly, it was the end of the day. He wanted to find Kenneth. Like he had thought about doing. Where might he be? His office of course was a likely place. He decided to check there first.
Baldi made his way down to the office, making sure not to run (no running in the halls). He eventually got there, and noticed the curtains were closed and the door was locked. He knocked, and that's when he heard through the door someone stumble off of a chair. He heard someone sharply whisper “Fuck!” He soon realized it was Kenneth. " You ok in there?” Baldi yelled to him, which was followed by another series of crashing sounds and finally, the sound of the door unlocking. He saw Kenneth, in a particularly rough state, open the door. His hair was ruffled, he looked tired, and his clothes looked all dirty and worn out. Baldi wondered what caused such a state.
" B-baldi.” Kenneth spit out. Weird, he was stuttering, something was off. He never stuttered. " Are you alright Kenneth?” He asked, and to that he replied with a head shake no. Baldi grabbed him by the shoulders to stabilize him, he seemed rather shaky on his feet. What the hell had happened to him in two periods. Whatever, it wasn't important right now. He sat him down at his desk, and he promptly put his head down on it. Baldi could hear how shaky his breath was against the table.
Baldi's hand wrapped around his, seemingly their new thing they did. He felt and heard the principal relax slightly at this. He held his hand back, still with his face on the desk. Baldi was trying to figure out what he should do. “Baldi, how were the students today?" He asked, in spite of his clear issue. Baldi hesitated. “The students were…surprisingly great today. They got all their work turned in. Figured out all the materials. Everything went so well today.” Which caused a smile to appear on Kenneth's face, seemingly unknown to him. Aw. Baldi tightened his grip on his hand, and the room fell into a comfortable silence.
After a bit, Baldi saw him pick his head back up, his face stern as usual, but way more relaxed. Baldi took a glance at the clock. Wholy shit, its already been half an hour. He came here right when school ended. “I'm sorry if I'm keeping you here." Baldi said, kinda embarrassed. Kenneth shook his head. “It's not a problem, I think I needed that. It felt very relaxing." Which made Baldi blush. “Okay, if you say so." Kenneth smiled. “We should probably get going home, you probably have things to take care of there." Baldi nodded. "I've got a dog at home." He replied. Kenneth seemed to like this answer. “What does your dog look like?" In which Baldi pulled up a picture on his phone of his cute little Chihuahua. “Cute dog." He said in response to that. Then Baldi watched as he gathered up his things. “What's the dogs name?” In which Baldi replied" Teddy, his name is Teddy.” He saw Kenneth smile a little at that. " It's a pretty simple name.” Kenneth nodded. " It's suitable for him.” Then Baldi smiled. They both got their things and went to leave. Kenneth tapped Baldi's shoulder on the way out.
" What is it?” He couldn't possibly know what he would want. “See you tomorrow Baldi." Then, he smiled at him and climbed into his car. And drove off. Baldi couldn't keep a grin off his face. This had been the best day at school ever. The kids were doing great. He got to spend time with Kenneth, he even felt happy today. Despite the bad hearing issues in the middle of the day, he was doing the greatest!
Kenneth. He thought back to Kenneth. He was acting sweeter than usual. Wait, to think about it, he did act a bit more sweetly to him usually too, but not THIS sweet. He liked it though. So why was he thinking about it so much? As he got into his car he still wouldn't stop thinking about him. Why! He welcomed the thoughts, but he couldn't understand why they were so strong! So…nice. So calm. So…lovely? It felt nice to think about him. So he did so until he arrived at his house.
Kenneth's POV
The last part of the day had been…weird to say the least. He had had a breakdown in his office, then Baldi showed up. Then they held hands and then sat in silence. Kenneth now had no doubts about it. He has a crush on Baldi. He went into his house and sat down on his couch. Turned the TV on, and played something random. The show had no chance of keeping his focus however. He was in the mood to do something else. Something that involved writing in some way. He pulled out his notebook and began writing, still on the couch with the TV loudly playing in the background. All was going somewhat calmly until he felt a buzz from his phone.
“Who could it be after school hours?" He said to himself. Looking at his phone,it was a text from Baldi. Woah. Baldi didn't usually text him. He could barely get over the frustration of using his phone in general. Baldi is not very tech savvy. The text just said “Hey Kenneth!" A simple sentence. Hm. He opened his phone and typed up a response. Then went back to his writing, but listening out for his phone. He was excited at the prospect of him texting back. It was weird, he wasn't usually this excited for things. He continued to write and write until he heard another buzz from his phone, and as soon as he heard it picked it up. Baldi had sent a picture of his dog. Aw that sweet dog. He would have to meet him sometime.
He left his phone open this time, but went back to writing. The show playing in the background was starting to get annoying so he turned on Grey's Anatomy instead. Much better. He got more invested in the show this time. He wondered what Baldi was up to right now. What kind of shows he likes to watch. Basic stuff like that. He could always ask right now. Picking back up his phone, he typed out his questions. What shows do you like to watch? What are you doing right now? How's Teddy doing this afternoon? Stuff like that. Then set it back down. Continued to watch the show.
This was a nice change to his normal routine. He loved sitting and watching Tv, getting in a little work perhaps, writing on the couch. But that got boring and repetitive sometimes. Change was always helpful. Well not always, but a lot of times. This was a nice change, he often got lonely, Baldi before today hadn't really texted much before. It had been simple things like stuff about work before. Not conversation. It seemed Baldi had figured out how to use a phone correctly though, so maybe that was the hangup before. He hoped that was the truth.
He felt hungry, and got up to make some food. Just then, he heard a beep and raced back over to the phone. Baldi had answered his many questions. But alas, it was just a boring app notification. Bummer. He went back to finding something to eat. Leftover pasta heated up in the microwave. He stood there thinking.
Today's events had certainly been strange. But, it was a good type of strange. Usually school can get uneventful, and boring. But it wasn't today. He thought maybe it was pushing it a bit to grab Baldi's hand, but apparently that wasn't the case. He had done it back later. They were good friends, that much was true. He wondered what Baldi thought of him. He knew Baldi was normally very grumpy all the time, but it seemed he tolerated Kenneth a lot more. Than anyone.
The microwave beeped. He grabbed his food out and sat back down on the couch. The cycle continued, with him hearing a beep on his phone and then answering Baldi, watching TV, then writing. Pretty soon, it was time for bed. He brushed his teeth, and crashed down on the bed. He felt like he was forgetting something. Oh! He texted Baldi goodnight, then went to bed.
Baldi's POV
When Baldi had gotten home, he was over the moon. He had spent so much time with Kenneth! He had taught the kids well! Things were going great! He greeted his dog Teddy and then got his leash, to take him on a walk. A short walk. But a walk. He decided to text Kenneth. He often wanted to, but was not great at this whole phone thing. But he had finally figured it out! Just a simple message, nothing elaborate. He sent the text, then decided to continue on the walk.
He and Teddy ran down the street, both excited to be out today. Life was going great! When he was nearing his house, Baldi felt a buzz from his phone. It was Kenneth! He grabbed his phone out and texted back. He felt a smile creeping up on his face while texting him. He felt a blush covering his cheeks. Hm, that feeling. He felt happy to be texting him. So. So. Happy. After texting him, he put his phone back in his pocket and let Teddy back inside the house, where he went immediately to his water bowl. Baldi however, was left to figure out what he was feeling.
He laid down on the living room floor. What was he feeling? It felt like how it always did, but stronger. He let his thoughts run wild. He thought about Kenneth. His sweet voice. His smooth, cool, sweaty hands. His slight smile when Baldi says something he likes. His…
He heard his phone buzz again, dragging him back to reality. Another message from Kenneth! He responded quickly. This became a consistent thing. Kenneth was so…specific. So detailed. He described things in such depth. While he waited for another text, he fed and played with Teddy. When Teddy didn't want to play anymore, he went and sat down in Baldi's bed. Baldi laid back down, this time on the couch. He let his mind wander again. Kenneth. He liked how he let him sleep, and how he came back to wake him up. He loved how much he could talk and talk. He liked how…his hands were so strong to shake him awake-
WHAT? Why was he thinking like that? Why? Why? His face blushed a bright red. Why was he thinking about how strong he was? Was that weird? Yes. He concluded it was. Oh my god. It dawned on him what he was feeling for him. He likes Kenneth. Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck! He realized it was getting late. Like 2 am late. He should sleep on this! Sleep on his feelings! Yes! He flopped into bed. But before he drifted off, he checked his phone. “Goodnight, Baldi :)" and that was when Baldi decided it was time for bed. After he responded of course. He responded, then flopped back into bed and went to sleep. Thinking about Kenneth.

Chapter Text

Kenneth's POV
Mornings were hated by most people. And the principal was one of those people. It didn't help that he hadn't slept well. It had just been one of those nights. But he still had to get up and ready. Brush teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, then leave. The morning was dark and gloomy and rainy, rain was coming down hard. An umbrella was needed. Grabbing one on the way out, he left the house, and with time to spare.
When he arrived at the school, it was still raining,and as he walked in the building he heard the cursed "Gotta sweep" echo through the halls, but to his relief no ruler slaps. Yet the janitor may be a bit more annoying. Speaking of Baldi, he should stop by and chat with him. When he had free time of course. There was still things to do. He knew Baldi was here by now though. The "GOTTA SWEEP" progressively got louder however, and when he looked around saw the janitor, you guessed it, sweeping. Loudly. He thought about how Baldi had sensitive hearing. All that loud screaming probably didn't do him any good either. And was it really necessary to scream that around the halls? He decided to catch up to the janitor and chat with him.
When he caught up with him, he was still sweeping. Apparently the halls were excessively dirty. "Hey, excuse me?" The janitor (who's name is Gary btw, yes this character is based upon the broom in baldi’s basics ofc) looked over at him, waiting for him to speak. "Could you please tone it down with the screaming? I don't care if you like to say that,but I can hear you from across the school." In which Gary Gotta Sweep the janitor guy simply nodded. "Sorry about that! I'll quiet down a bit!" Kenneth was pleased by this answer. " Thank you. Have fun sweeping." He nodded and went back to sweeping,still yelling" Gotta Sweep!" But a bit quieter. He decided this went well, and went off to his office.
The first bit of the day was as boring as it could be. Nothing exciting happened, but maybe that's a good thing. The only thing that happened was a kid stealing another kid's jump rope, but that was easily resolved. Kenneth did like how calm things had been today. He just had some paperwork to look over. That's it. A nice calm day. And perfect for not having enough sleep. He stared out the window for a few minutes. The rain was still going. Maybe it would go all day. Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door.
Who could that be? He glanced through the window and saw it was Baldi, and his heart started beating quicker. Guess Baldi beat him to stopping and chatting. Or maybe he was just here for something else. He waved through the window then got up and opened the door.
“Hello Baldi." He said, not really containing his excitement to see him. Baldi however seemed a bit surprised about that. “Hey Kenneth. Are you doing anything important at the moment?" He shook his head. “It's been very slow and calm, so no nothing is mandatory." Baldi smiled. " Then can I stay here for this period? The kids are going crazy and Gary is yelling again.” Kenneth sighed, as the janitor had gone back to his ways already. " Yeah you can.” He said while grabbing a chair and dragging it over to the desk.
At first, once they both sat down, it was quiet. Not uncomfortably quiet, just quiet. Kenneth was doing paperwork, and Baldi was just watching him as he did. He looked up at Baldi. It looked like he had something to say. Hm. “Something on your mind Baldi?" And apparently Baldi wasn't expecting him to say that cause he practically fell out of his chair. “Uhm. I guess so. Not much." But he knew he was lying. Baldi was acting kinda strange. He seemed deep in thought about….something.
Should he press for more information? Baldi isn't acting like his normal crazy self. “Baldi. I can tell your thinking about something. What’s up?” Baldi glanced in the other direction. “Just uh- had a weird dream is all.” He studied Baldi’s face, and that didn't seem to be a lie. He wasn’t completely sure. He looked back down at the paper in front of him. Just as he was getting back into it Baldi suddenly spoke. “You know how I have a dog?” He nodded. “You showed me a picture of him yesterday. A very adorable dog.” Baldi hesitated for a second, then asked “Would you like to meet him at some point?” Kenneth wasn't sure why he looked so nervous, however, how did he plan to get him and the dog to meet, you can’t bring a dog to school. “How am I supposed to meet him?” He asked, his voice laced with confusion. Baldi looked equally as confused as well. “I mean, you can’t bring him to school can you?” In which Baldis hand met his face. Kenneth couldn't understand what he wasn't getting. “Well- nevermind I uh- forget I said anything.” Baldis face was slightly flushed and Kenneth was even more confused than before. But Baldi then reached over the desk and held out his hand, which Kenneth promptly grabbed.
He began to do his work again, this time with only one hand, and tried to think about what Baldi had meant. Then it hit him. Oh shoot. Had he been inviting him over to his house? That would make sense, as the dog couldn't come to school. So him coming over would make sense. BUt it would be awkward to bring that up again, so he just stayed quiet for the time being. Maybe baldi would bring it up again. Who knows. He did want to get to know him better, sense beforehand while they were friends inside of work, however did not interact much outside of that. He would like that to change. WIth time though. With time.
After a while, the bell rang. “Oh, that means I have to go for now, I have a class to teach!” Baldi let go of Kenneth's hand and stood up quickly. He was slightly sad to see him leave, however he knew he had to. “Ah of course, see you later Baldi!” Baldi smiled and started to leave. “I’ll be back later.” And then he walked out and the door slammed behind him.
Kenneth stared at the door for a few seconds before returning to work. Thinking more about how he had been so dense to not realize Baldi wanted to hang out. With him. He blushed. How could someone be so dense. Clearly it was possible. Great.
Baldi’s POV
This didn’t go as he planned. At all. He should have been more up front with what he was saying. I don't know why I thought that would work He thought to himself. Maybe he should be more direct. But the thought of directly asking made him nervous. Would he even want to hangout with him? He didn’t know. But he couldn't dwell on it right now. He has a class to teach.
As he arrived at his classroom, he saw the chaos going on inside. Oh no. Not the students causing chaos again. This was greatly different from yesterday. He walked in, already a bit irritated, however as he did, the kids got back in their seats. Maybe it was just because he wasnt there yet. He decided to push his irritation away. Maybe he made a judgement too quickly. He started class and soon realized the students seemed to be behaving today. Good. He handed the students math papers to work on and everything was going fine, but then he heard someone gossiping. He didn't mean to overhear, but the student was talking loud enough.
“Hey, you wanna know what I saw the past few days?” A student said to another student, which Baldi recognized as a kid who gave them and the other kids trouble before. He listened in, curious what he was gonna say. “What was it?” Said a girl with black hair. Then the kid dropped his voice to a low whisper, and Baldi could only make out the words “I saw” Which made him a bit confused, especially when the girl had a shocked look on her face. Huh. It wasn’t his business, but it did cause him to wonder. He let it slide for now.
Soon enough, the bell rang. All the students left, except for the same girl with black hair. “Penelope, don't you have to go to another class soon?” he shook her head. “Yes, but I heard a rumor and I wanted to ask you about it.” Baldi was even more confused now. “What kind of rumor did you hear?” Penelope looked hesitant but spoke. “Well, Billy told me he thinks there's something going on between you and the principal, is that true.” Baldi froze. What gave them that idea? Nothing was going on…yet? He looked at the floor at his shoes. “No, nothing is going on between us, why do you ask?” Penelope shrugs. “Just curious.” Baldi nodded, slightly shocked and embarrassed still. “Alright, please head off to your class now.” She nodded and left.
Baldi sat back down at his desk, his face flushing. How had the kid come to that conclusion? He hadn't done anything that obvious that he was crushing on him, had he? He couldn't think of anything. He had kept most interactions private. How could they know? That's weird. Where did that rumor even come from? He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't realize that someone else had entered his classroom until they were standing in front of him. Kenneth! What was he doing here? His face flushed again when he saw him. “Hey!” He sat upright and looked over at him. Kenneth smiled. “Hey, why do you look a bit red?” He questioned. Baldi looked away. “No reason.” Kenneth looked a bit more worried now. “What’s wrong?” Baldi paused. Should he tell him what just happened? Yes.
“A student just asked me if there was something…between you and me.” Kenneth’s face didn’t betray anything, but he could see red dusting his cheeks while he stared at him. “H-how did the student get that idea?” He said, a little bit of nerves slipping into his voice. Baldi shrugged. “I don’t know but Penelope came up to me and said that one kid, Billy I think it was, had said he thought that was true.”
Baldi stared at him as he glanced away, his face turning red. They both stayed silent for what felt like 5 minutes, Baldi beginning to grade papers in silence too. Finally Baldi had enough of the silence. “Why do you think so?” Kenneth looked kinda confused when he spoke. “About what the student said?” Baldi nodded. More silence. Awkward silence. Tense silence Flushed silence. Ugh. He reached over the desk and held out his han, which Kenneth promptly grabbed. The silence felt a bit less awkward after that.
Soon enough, the bell rang again. Time seemed to almost fly by, and then Kenneth stood to leave. “Talk to you later Baldi! It was nice chilling here with you.” Baldi blushed. Of course! Come in here whenever theres not kids in the classroom” Then he opened the door, walked out and left. Baldi thought about what just happened.
What are we? He thought. Either way, he would figure that out with time too. With time.