May 8th, 2018
Requested.

Roman took a bite out of his apple as he watched his science teacher be approached by his home economics teacher. He wasn't really a smiler, but when Mr. Valentine walked up to him, the stoic Mr. Sanders smiled. The young boy with the apple watched the interaction curiously as his friends sat down with him.

"Do you think they're dating?" Roman asked his friends, not taking his eyes off the teachers as they talked.

Virgil and Remy followed his gaze. "If they're not together, they're definitely crushing on each other," Remy said with a smirk. A student from the table next to theirs leaned toward them.

"My friend saw them flirting in the hallway after school let out," she, Valerie, said.

She looked toward said friend who immediately started explaining. "Oh yeah, they were definitely flirting," Joan said. "Mr. Sanders was smiling and Mr. Valentine was all giggly, and they were calling each other 'Mr. insert name', which most teachers just use their names when students aren't around, so that's weird."

The conversation started a surge of students discussing times they'd seen the two teachers flirting or doing things that couldn't really be seen in any other way than as something romantic. Practically everyone in the schoolyard was talking about it now.

Roman looked back toward the teachers, noticing Mr. Valentine push his hair back and look down with a smile upon hearing the science teacher say something. "He's nervous," he said in realization as a smile crossed his face. "Aw, that's adorable! They must not be dating yet! We should set them up!"

There was a ripple of kids around him who agreed, all smiling wide. They huddled together, coming up with an idea they could execute before the end of lunch. Next thing they knew, Remy was 'chasing a runaway fruit' and bumping into Mr. Valentine, pushing him into the science teacher. Unfortunately, this didn't end in a kiss like they'd planned.

"Oh sorry! My bad!" he said as he picked up the fruit and scampered away. "It didn't work!"

Roman frowned, trying to think of something else. He got the perfect idea, turning to Virgil. "Do you have some colored pens I could borrow?"

Within the last five minutes of lunch, they'd created two little notes to put on the respective teachers' desks. Each looked as though it was from the other. They had about forty five minutes of class after lunch before they had recess. The fourth graders were all giggling to themselves as Mr. Sanders left the room. Roman carefully sneaked up to his desk as the bell for recess rang, putting the note on his keyboard. He scampered back to grab his bag and leave with the other students, meeting up with Virgil and the others who'd done the same to Mr. Valentine's desk.

"I can't believe Mr. Sanders even let us leave his class," Virgil admitted as they hurried toward the spot where they'd told the teachers to meet. "We got lucky Mr. Valentine was out of the room."

"Alright, they'll be here any minute, so don't say anything!" Roman warned the group, all of them nodding.

Patton Valentine smiled as the kids headed off to recess, loving his job. He turned back to his desk, eyes widening as he saw something peaking out of his drawer. Tilting his head, he opened it curiously. A small gasp escaped his lips as he saw a little note written in deep blue ink. A smile crossed his lips as he read what it said, hurriedly leaving the room. Logan Sanders had done the same, curious and confused, but also excited.

The fourth graders gasped a tiny bit as the two teachers reached the spot, seeing each other and smiling nervously.

"You w-wanted to meet here?" Mr. Sanders asked, straightening his glasses.

Mr. Valentine looked a little confused as he pulled out his note. "I thought you wanted to meet here," he said, showing it to him. The science teacher showed him his note, claiming to have found it on his desk. "I... I didn't put that there?"

"I didn't put that in your desk either," Mr. Sanders replied, both of them feeling confused until Mr. Valentine saw movement in his peripheral vision.

The home economics teacher smiled, laughing a little. "I think I solved our mystery," he said quietly, leaning toward him as nodded toward the kids. Mr. Sanders followed the notion, eyes widening in realization as he smiled and shook his head.

"You can come out kids, we know you're there!" Mr. Valentine called, laughing upon hearing them bicker a little bit. The approached them, looking embarrassed. "Did you kids put these notes on our desks?"

"Yeah, it was my idea, sorry Mr. Valentine," Roman confessed.

Virgil could sense he was scared he'd get in trouble, so he jumped in. "But we helped him do it, so if he gets in trouble, we should too," he said, earning a grateful look from his friend.

"You're not in trouble, although I'd love an explanation as to why you decided to do this," Mr. Sanders said calmly.

The kids immediately launched into their theories and ideas about how they thought the two of them were crushing on each other. The two teachers' faces flushed as the gave each other flustered looks.

"Now kiddos, you can't go jumping to conclusions!" Mr. Valentine warned.

Mr. Sanders nodded in agreement. "Yes, inference observation confusion is a common cause of conflict and distress," he said, making the kids furrow their eyebrows together. He noticed this, rephrasing what he said. "Jumping to conclusions can cause a lot of problems."

The students apologized again and headed off to recess, leaving the two teachers to watch them go with smiles on their faces. Once they were out of sight, Logan cleared his throat.

"Well, that was incredibly awkward."

Patton laughed, turning to him with an affectionate smile. "They're not too far off though," he said, pulling on his tie a little to make him blush. "I'm still waiting on that dinner date you promised me, Mr. Sanders."

As Logan's face reddened, the home economics teacher winked and walked away with a laugh.

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