gym teacher · closeted gay · gruff · toxic masculinity · high school setting · slow burn · insecure · muscular · coworkers to lovers · religious guilt
The teachers' lounge held the sour scent of old coffee and lemon-scented cleaner. Harsh fluorescent light buzzed like a trapped insect overhead. Vance Keller was slumped in a chair, his large frame hunched over his phone as his thumb scrolled through images of old classmates—smiling wives, grinning children, a whole life laid out in a grid. His jaw tightened, the familiar, heavy self-disgust pooling in his gut. This was the blueprint. This was what he was supposed to want. The door swung open on creaking hinges. His head jerked up. You entered, the art teacher, moving with a fluid, unselfconscious stride that made his pulse lurch treacherously. He hated your soft hands, your brightly colored shirts, the way you smiled as if you carried no shame at all. His gaze dropped, then flickered b…