#Polly totally rocked the role as the Ghost of Christmas Present

[kiruamon]

Teacher-AU Part 9!

If you've been paying close attention, you'll notice that the Christmas vacations are just around the corner within the AU.

So here's a little fact check:

The school is festively decorated at this time of year.

The leafless party tree is lit up even more festively than usual.

There are Christmas trees in the hallways and wild snowball fights out in the schoolyard.

Oz prefers to stay inside the school building during the snowy days rather than spend time outside.

During the last week before the vacations, Oz places a bundle of homemade cookies wrapped and tied in a holiday-themed napkin on each of his students' desks before class.

He put some thought into the shapes and decorations and put them together individually:

Vicky - lightning, hearts, hammer, screwdriver

Amira - fire, stars, music notes

Brian - rugby, dragon, tetris stones

Polly - moustaches, bottles, chess pieces

Scott - bones and classic Christmas cookies like Christmas tree, Santa, gingerbread man, etc.

Liam - puzzle pieces which together make a picture, however exactly one piece is missing and it drives Liam half insane until he decides it's supposed to be some metaphor about the incompleteness of life or something

Damien - flames, knifes, lighter, guns

Vera - coins, mice, dollar signs, diamonds

Miranda - princess crowns, hearts, seahorses, silverware (covered with silver icing, of course)

_

The Colorgang definitely asked Teach on the last day of school before the vacations if he won't feel lonely and if they should visit him during the vacations.

Oz declined the kind offer and told them that he would be fine and that they should enjoy the holidays to the fullest.

After all, they had already celebrated his birthday with him.

Of course, he regretted his words a little later.

Spending Christmas alone just isn't very mood-lifting no matter how nicely everything might be decorated around you.

Damien didn't think much about Teach, but that was also due to the fact that, unlike the Colorgang, he hadn't even heard that Teach was stuck on school grounds or that he didn't have any family to celebrate with.

However, the holidays should not be quite as dull as Oz had suspected them to be.

At a cursory glance, neither the table nor the chair in front of Oz appeared to be different from the twenty-four others in the room. And yet he was drawn to that one seat. His hand stroked a dark, singed mark in the surface of the tabletop. Sundays and holidays always felt a little lonely. But worse than those brief periods of silence were the vacations. Both the summer vacations, which felt like they dragged on forever, and now the Christmas break, which, while much shorter, seemed so much colder and grimmer to him. No club activities, no unauthorized evening school parties, no students swarming through the hallways, no earsplitting fire alarms or accidentally summoned nightmare demons from other dimensions. Just empty, dark school hallways and icy snow storms that swallowed up any colors and noises outside the school building. In the past, Oz had been quite fond of the winter. Its silence, the gentle trickle of snowflakes, and the glittering, powdery landscape. And on top of that, the uplifting illumination of homes and towns. With a thousand colorful lights that competed with the starry sky at night. Truly a magical winter wonderland.

But if you trudged lonely for years through weathered ruins, bleak landscapes and knee-high snow where the cold made you feel as if millions of tiny needles were being driven into your skin, while you only grew more and more tired and yet found no sleep and no peace, then any winter romance that might have arisen vanished. Besides, it just wasn't the same to spend the holidays alone. No matter how nice or cozy he tried to make his surroundings in order to create a little holiday atmosphere. Neither a decorated tree, a warm blanket, a cup of hot chocolate or the variety of Christmas songs, which were playing on every radio channel, helped. He used to look forward to this time of year so much. But now he simply did not come to rest any more.

Probably that was why he had come here. Just as himself. Since it was the vacations, when he didn't have to worry about anyone showing up. No one would notice if, like today, he dropped his role as Teach as he wandered through the abandoned building like a ghost in his much younger-looking form and wearing his favorite yellow cardigan. Just him, his phobias and the silence around them. On days like this, Oz felt clearly how tiny his world had become. Of course, he would always make the same choice. But he missed being able to decide for himself whether he wanted to spend his day comfortably in his room without the constant stimuli from outside crashing over him or whether he wanted to spend his time outside among other monsters. And he missed taking a walk in nature that wasn't restricted to a few miles around the school grounds. He had walked in the limited area given to him so many times that he knew the position of every tree within the barrier better than he knew the inside of his own Void! And, of course, he missed his friends. And Dames. And also Dames' fathers, who had welcomed him so warmly into their family. He would have liked to send a card to Stan and Lucien, but immediately dismissed the idea. After all, they didn't know him personally yet. To be honest, he wasn't even sure if Damien told them anything about him or not. And to receive a Christmas greeting from their son's teacher would have been quite odd, if not alarming.

But whining didn't help. He knew that well enough. He had to come to terms with this situation. "It could be a lot worse," Oz tried to cheer himself up with little success. Since Spooky High had been rebuilt, his daily schedule felt definitely busier. He had responsibilities and a regular routine each day that was more than a mere distraction to prevent him from going insane. And... his friends were alive again. He was allowed to see them again. Even if it wasn't like before. But... that was exactly what was bothering him. His life now ran mostly parallel to theirs. They had fewer opportunities to come in touch with each other. Could he really earn their full trust in less than three years, the way things were at the moment? It was so awfully difficult. Walking the fine line between not pushing himself too hard on them and not stepping too far back either. Oz could only try to do his best and continue. Exhausted from all his worries, he dropped down on the chair and looked at the blackboard and the teacher's desk in front of him from his new seat.

And then there was the whole thing with Dames. How did his former love saw him when he stood up there before the class and gave one of his lessons? So far Oz had taken it as a good sign that his former partner had not skipped any of his classes. Even if that might be due to the unspoken challenge that existed between him and the pyromaniac fire lover. Damien still hadn't been able to achieve his goal of getting him to stop his lessons because of him. And heaven knew how hard his former partner had tried! Oz smiled for a second before the smile disappeared from his eyes again. But what if Dames could pull it off? It was easy to imagine that the school rowdy wouldn't show up any longer to his lessons... Then all Oz would have to hope for was that Damien would continue to show up for detention when he was supervising. The only problem with that was that they weren't often alone there. Most days, other students had to show up there, too. And then Oz didn't have the time or the opportunity to try to rebuild their old bonds. Besides... what if Damien stopped showing up there, too?

Was this whole teacher thing perhaps a flop? Should he rather give up this role and enroll as a new student next year? But... no, no, he couldn't do that. It would be much harder to live here undisturbed on the grounds. And he would have to keep making up excuses why he couldn't go into town. He would have to start from square one again with his friends and... Oz didn't want piling up more lies. "I wish I could talk to someone about this... ", but there was no one he could entrust himself to. The tired entity felt Isolophobia's tiny fingers comfortingly brushing through his hair. "Thank you," Oz said softly. Lately, he sometimes forgot how important it was to be nice to himself once in a while, too. Thankfully, his phobias reminded him of that. With a deep sigh, he let his upper body sink onto the table in front of him, resting his head on his arms. Surely his head would likely explode from all the brooding. So Oz decided to turn off the thinking for at least a few minutes. He would just rest here. Sitting here in Damien's place to be at least a little bit close to his lost love. He missed him so much. He missed the way Damien had always smiled at him back then. To feel how deep and strong the bond of their love was. Unshakable. But now... now it was broken. Oz wanted to reach with his hand for the worn fabric of his coat - the coat Damien had once given him - only to remember that he had hung it up to dry in the laundry room. Right. Yellow cardigan. White shirt. Dark gray pants. He had allowed himself to be Oz for once today, and not Teach. Exhausted, his hand released the fabric of his cardigan.

If the school weren't closed, he could have almost believed that he was a first-year student at Spooky High again. And that his terrible memories were nothing but a horrible nightmare. Just a bad dream from which he awoke at the end of class. "If only it were so simple... " But the cool metal against his chest reminded him that this past had really existed. This life had truly existed. Even if he was the only one who remembered it. "What would you do in my place Dames?" Oz blinked into the warm sunlight that poured through the wide windows covered with ice flowers into the empty classroom and warmed up his body a bit. The heavy gray clouds of this morning must have disappeared, for the sky outside shone in a vibrant steel blue.

"No doubt you would have tried to take matters into your own hands." But how? Would Damien have approached him straight on? Would he have simply told him everything? Without thinking too much about it? Patience never had been Dame's biggest strength. Or to plan ahead. Oz, however, was far too afraid of making a wrong step. So much that he thought he wouldn't be able to move at all. That was nonsense, of course. He had made some small progress. For example, the birthday party with his friends. But would it continue like this next year? Or would it remain an one-time thing? Why... why did he always let himself get so easily discouraged? "What else can I do? How can I convince them to believe me?" From his hand, Decidophobia chirped at him. "Yes. Yes, I should probably distract myself a little and clear my head," he actually knew that. And had intended to do so, as well. Maybe it would help to read a book or watch some silly videos on one of the old computers in the library. At least there was no point in worrying about all the ifs and buts all the time. "As it is, I'm just running in circles," Oz stated a tiny bit more firmly, pushing himself back against the back of the chair from his lying position. Only then did he notice that something white was lying on the floor next to the table. Surprised, he stood up and bent down to pick up the slightly crumpled piece of paper that was lying there so thoughtlessly. "Empty," he muttered as he looked at the page facing him and turned the note over in his hand without much expectation. This time several sentences written in a scrawl and with too much pressure came to light. Oz would have recognized Damien's handwriting even if he hadn't already corrected several of his current student's tests. Thoroughly, his eyes wandered over the few lines.

The poem before him was hardly a masterpiece. Dames had rhymed a word with itself at one point. Only to continue without any more rhyming afterwards. The poem was blunt in its message and so straightforward that it left no doubt about the writer's thoughts. In his work, Dames complained about the boring school subjects and the not-so-lame theater rehearsals at school. And mentioned a teacher who constantly stopped him from burning down the classroom. It was a tiny bit silly. So simplistic. So passionate. So typical Damien. It made him laugh and then cry. Because it reminded him of how often Damien had recited one of his little poems to him. To make him laugh. And sometimes to tell him how much he loved him. Oz didn't bother to stop the tears as they rolled down his cheeks as he read. He was alone. It was okay to show his feelings. It was okay to be emotional.

Oz read the lines a second time. And then a third time. There were still a few tears dripping from his chin to the floor when suddenly, with an earsplitting loud crash, the classroom door flew off its hinges and hit one of the desks next to it. In shock, Oz stood frozen, clutching the poem in his hands. He could hardly believe whose figure he spotted in the frame of the broken door.

Damien was no less surprised than his opponent to find someone else here when he noticed the puny-looking monster. WTF? Why was someone still hanging around here on the holidays of all days! When he decided to break into the school today, no one should have been here. Especially after he found out that the front door was locked when he tried to open it for the first time! Had someone forgotten the guy here and locked him up over the vacations? Was that why the noob was crying? Didn't he own a cell phone or something with which he could call for help? Ugh! It didn't matter! Hectically, like a hunted animal, Damien looked around. He had no time to deal with such a pip-squeak! If he didn't found his poem as soon as possible, before someone else saw it after the holi- Shit! His eyes landed on the crumpled piece of paper in the hands of the trembling weakling in front of him. That fucking noob! Uaarghh! He was so going to kill that fucking worm! Right here on the spot! How he could dispose the corpse, he would figure out later! To steal the stuff of other monsters and to read it without their permission was really not cool! Especially, if said stuff belonged to Damien! And then it had to be one of his fucking poems!

Without caring about his surroundings, he stormed towards the lanky and still frozen monster. "You are so dead!", he yelled at the noob, who flinched violently and seemed to notice the trouble he was in. Because the shorter monster almost stumbled back away from him. Which did not work very long, because after a few steps, the little thief literally stood with his back to the wall and could not move any further. Bright and hot flames engulfed Damien's right fist. Another three meters, two meters... He prepared to give the weakling the most powerful blow of his oh so short, pathetic life.

Oh no. Oh no. Ohnononono! Oz felt the wall at his back prevent him from escaping further. It simply did not possess the kindness to give way. Damien looked incredibly angry! And worse... Damien had seen him! In this form! With his poem! Reading his poem and crying! What was he supposed to do? Oz couldn't manage to think clearly, as caught off guard as he was by the whole situation. "It w-was l-l-lying o-on the f-floor."

What the- Damien's steps slowed slightly as he heard an overly frightened voice stuttering in dread inside his head. He hastily shook off the slight feeling of irritation that this monster, like his dad and Teach, also used telepathy to speak. "Doesn't matter! You've seen it so say your final words loser!"

"I-I-I k-know I shou-shouldn't have do-done t-that... I'm s-so so-sorry." "Oooooh you should be. But as to how sorry you are, you'll have plenty of time to think about in your afterlife!" One meter. Half a meter. He was ready to strike with full force. To strike at this trembling little pile of misery that stared at him with those big… round... white eyes... where had he seen them before? Arg! No! There was no way he would falter now. "I-it was ju-just so g-g-good." With that, the flames around Damien's fist died instantly. His fist rammed into the wall next to the face of the dorky-looking monster in front of him, who winced rather sharply, but still looked him straight in the eye, without blinking even once. "You liked it?" asked Damien, completely dumbfounded and barely able to believe his ears. "Y-yes, I d-did." "You really mean that serio-... I mean, of course it's good! After all, I wrote it myself!" With his chest swelling with pride, he raised his chin a little more. For the first time, Damien now took a closer look at the little thief, whom he had wanted to beat to an unrecognizable pulp only a moment ago.

When he stared at him like that... that resemblance.... The pipsqueak looked like Teach! Well, not in every way, but pretty close! The skittish little dork in the bright yellow cardigan was a good deal shorter and more slender than his teacher or himself. And he definitely looked a lot younger, making him appear to be more around Damien's age. Plus, he was such a babyface! Quite fragile. He was probably knocked over by the tiniest gust of wind. Despite the many differences, however, the similarities could not be denied. Teach and the noob here had the same characteristic facial features. Especially the eyes. Yes Teach's were a bit narrower, but other than that.... The short one here also had no mouth and then... Damien's eyes caught a glimpse of two phobias, which tried to hide from him.

The lanky monster in front of him looked at him sheepishly and every time their eyes met he began to flinch nervously. Damn it, this sight made him super flustered! The longer Damien watched him, the more he began to feel uneasy and restless himself. Unfortunately, he did not know what to do with this pent-up energy. As a result, he slammed his left hand against the wall, completely trapping the pathetic nerd in front of him. The noob before him turned white in horror! Especially around his nose and cheeks. Hah! Hah. ...

Why didn't that feel as good as usual? Normally, he loved it when other monsters started to shudder with fear in front of him. The young prince decided the beating could wait a little longer to find out who this noob actually was.

His poor, poor heart. Did Damien frighten him! A terrible chaos still filled Oz's mind after this unexpected encounter. What was he supposed to do? Was he even supposed to do something? His beloved friend's face was so awfully close to his own that it made his heart beat faster. He felt hot and cold at the same time and felt how his face unintentionally started to turn white from his pounding heart. Why of all things did Damien have to look at him now with his wonderful amber eyes that robbed the air from him to breathe? Thankfully, breathing was optional for Oz. And then there was that intimidating and manic grin. Was Damien actually doing that on purpose? Driving him out of his mind? Was it wrong that he wished Damien would threaten him a little longer? He hadn't been this close to him in so long. If only Dames would lean in a little further to him until.... Oh my. What was he thinking? This was absolutely not the right moment to live out some weird fantasies. Let alone the fact that Dames surely had other things in mind with him.

"Who are you spying for?" he snapped harshly at the monster, who looked like a shrunken version of his teacher. Damien was still trying to make sense of his prisoner. But the latter was now giving him a quite surprised look. As if Damien had hit his head. Which he most definitely hadn't today! Yet... "Now spill the beans! But quickly!" "I... how... n-no, I didn't... W-well, I'm not a-a... " Gaaah! The little guy just kept getting more and more nervous! And... hell, that voice reminded him so much of Teach even if it sounded much younger. Plus this light stuttering that mixed in with his faint voice. Was there a law that forbade someone to be too cute? If so, a certain somebody just broke every single one of these laws right now. Whoa, wait. What... had he just been thinking? Dammit! Where on earth did such cheesy thoughts come from? "Now hurry up! Spit it out, or I'll consider just giving you a new face," Damien threatened the nerd in front of him in an irritated mood. Fuck, it was upsetting to see the short guy staring at him with his stupid big eyes.

O-oh dear. Damien was getting more and more impatient. Hectically Oz thought about what he should answer him. An idea. An ide- There it was! Though maybe not the best one he could have. But now was not the time to be picky. "I-I... um... I am Teach's brother." Damien looked at him as if he had just grown three heads, four new legs of various shapes, and all sorts of other abstruse stuff out of his body. Thankfully, the speechlessness that had come over the demon only lasted a few seconds. "You're... For real now?" Oz nodded and Damien looked like he was tossing this new information back and forth in his head before he could accept it. "... You do look alike," Damien admitted after a small pause. "Y-yes, we hear t-that a lot," he really didn't like lying to Dames, but what else could he do? Tell the truth?

Hey, you know, I am actually your teacher, and this is what I used to look like, and by the way, we are... were... married until suddenly this terrible thing happened where everyone except me died. And because of a pact with another entity, now everyone is alive again, but no one can remember me.

Yeah right. Damien would first laugh at him for such a crazy story and then beat him up until all that was left of him was a sorry puddle on the floor. And he couldn't even blame him. "So you're here because ... "

"To visit my brother, b-because it's Christmas and all. S-Since h-he lives on campus. Um. H-he's a little busy right now, th-that's why.... I just t-thought it... it'd be kind of nice to check out the place where he's w-working and everything, meanwhile." Another lie. He would apologize for it someday. A lot. Hopefully he would be forgiven. For now, Oz stuck to his made-up story. Luckily, Damien was buying it. The rowdy prince nodded slightly and very slowly took a step back, giving him back his freedom. Which Oz found almost a bit sad.

Damien found it difficult - now that he knew about the kinship of the two monsters - to take his eyes off the stuttering little nerd in front of him. "So you're Teach's younger brother," he repeated more to himself as if that would make the words something he could comprehend more easily. A new question flashed through his mind. "What's your name?" he asked with a curious glint in his eyes. Teach's little brother hesitated for a moment before his timid voice settled back into his head. "O-oh, you... um... you c-can call me Yellow. O-or Wiz. That's... what my f-friends call me, anyway." Embarrassed, the shy noob in front of him lowered his head and stared awkwardly down at his feet for a moment. Hm. Yellow or Wiz, was it? The names were both a little strange. They didn't feel quite right when Damien tried to match them with the being in front of him. But they didn't feel completely wrong either. However! He could think about that some other time. For now, he simply chose one of the names. "Wiz, then," he decided without further ado. It was short and sounded more like a name. Although he believed to understand why Yellow would have fit as well, looking at the bright yellow outstanding cardigan. "Um... here please. Your poem. You... you wanted it back, didn't you? Again, so-sorry for reading it without asking." This time the little boy stuttered a lot less, obviously calming down from the fright Damien had given him before. Grumbling softly, he was about to take the paper from Wiz when he changed his mind. "You can keep it. I only wanted to destroy the evidence anyway. But don't you dare! Don't you dare showing it to anyone! And definitely not Teach!" Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to look his teacher in the eye for the rest of the year!

He was allowed... he was allowed to keep it? Oz blinked in surprise at this unexpected turn of events. Damien, however, seemed to misinterpret it entirely. "If you don't want it after all, I might as well burn it- " "Nonononono! Please don't!" quickly Oz pressed it closer to him before Dames could take the poem from him again. "I want to keep it! I do! For real! I'm not going to show it to anyone, I promise."

Huff. What a hassle. "Fine. But if you don't stick to our deal, you're done for. Teach's little brother or not. Got it?" Menacingly, he glared at the little nerd, who looked up at him and nodded eagerly to show that he got the point. Good. Sighing, Damien scratched the back of his head. Now what? The thing he had come here for had been dealt with by that. What a huge waste of time. He could just leave now... but he didn't really... want to. His eyes fell again on the small entity in front of him. "Say, Wiz. Where else were you heading?" After all, he had babbled something about wanting to take a closer look at the school or something. "Where I... oh, well, I... I thought to the auditorium? At least I've heard it's pretty impressive by high school standards." The auditorium, then. Damien's tail flicked thoughtfully through the air behind him. Why not? A grin settled on his lips. "Okay. Well, listen carefully. I, Damien LaVey, will do you the honor of showing you around for once. You should consider yourself lucky."

This... just took an unexpected turn. But Damien looked so incredibly pleased with his idea that Oz simply couldn't bring himself to say no. Besides... the possibility to spend a little more time with Damien made his heart skip another beat. Even more so because this time he didn't needed to act as his teacher.

At first Damien thought Wiz would refuse. Because the short guy didn't answer right away, despite his once in a lifetime offer. But when he saw a warm, happy smile reflected in the white eyes of the entity before him, that was more than enough for him as an answer.

_

Oz looked around the stage. All the house sets from the pre-Christmas play were still standing around. "A Christmas Carol, huh?" asked Oz with a bright smile. Unfortunately, he was teaching the upper grades at the time of the performance, so he sadly missed the play. "Yeah. The teachers wanted us to do something classic that didn't end in the death of half the cast. Pretty lame, if you ask me." "I like the story," Oz admitted. He had probably read the book more than a dozen times. "Figures a noob like you would be into that sort of thing," Damien rolled his eyes, but Oz could see the demon grinning slightly. Besides, the amused tone in Damien's voice revealed that he didn't mean his words as harshly as one might think. "Did you have a role in the play, too?" asked the entity with genuine interest. "Sure. Heck, they can't get anything done around here without me." When it came to acting, Damien was always surprisingly committed. It was a wonder as to why the demon had never thought about a career in acting. "So? What role was it?" Damien was silent for a moment longer than normal. " ...ley... " The answer was so mumbled that Oz barely understood it. "I'm sorry, I don't think I caug-" "Jacob Marley." Ah. The deceased business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. "And just for your info, I so rocked that role!" immediately clarified Damien, the tips of his ears flushing a little pink. Was he embarrassed to have played a supporting role? "There's never been a Marley this rad and brilliant before, I tell you!" An unmistakable smile appeared in Oz's eyes when he heard Damien speak so proudly about his performance.

"Are you laughing at me right now?" the prince looked at Wiz in shock. So little could he believe that this little bookworm just dared to laugh at him. "What? No! No, it's not that," the latter raised his hands a bit and quickly explained himself. "I just think it's great how passionate you were about your performance. I... would liked to have seen it." There was something unexpected about the confession. And somehow Damien felt slightly flattered by it. So Wiz would have loved to watch him? Damien mused. And pondered. And then it clicked. "The camera!" "Camera?", Wiz didn't seem to understand. Well, how could he? "Our drama teacher captured it on camera. You know so we can watch it together after the vacations and analyze it and stuff like that." Damien shrugged. "That would mean... " "Yep. If we get the recording, we could watch it."

The plan was simple. Oz volunteered to go into the teachers' room and look for the camera. Especially because he knew that Damien would make a huge mess in the room otherwise. And because he had the keys to the teachers' room with him anyway. Damien would get the rest of the equipment they needed from the AV room.

In less than a quarter of an hour, they had gathered back together, set up the screen, connected the projector and camera to the laptop, and made themselves comfortable on the stage while the recording flickered across the screen in front of them. Oz felt like he was in the middle of a private preview for a new movie. So many other monsters had been in the audience that night. But now it was just him and Damien and no one else. And it was such fun to listen to the Damien's comments, who told him inside stories about bloopers during the rehearsals or how they had to practically force the role of Ebenezer Scrooge on Liam. "Actually, I had wanted to play the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come," Damien confessed at one point." "Really?", Oz detached his eyes from the screen for a moment to look at the horned demon. "Sure. I mean that's pretty much the most badass role in the whole play." That was kind of true. However... "But it would have been a shame, too." Confused, Damien looked to him before his facial expressions twisted in annoyance. "What's that supposed to mean?" the disgruntled school bully immediately growled at him. Uh-oh. He hadn't meant it that way at all! "I-I just mean, b-because then you wouldn't have had any lines at all. A-and from what I saw earlier, your strength is in delivering the lines and your facial expressions. And neither would have come into play if you had been the spirit of the Christmas yet to come." Um... why was Damien staring at him open-mouthed now?

Damien hastily closed his mouth again when he realized how much Wiz's spot-on analysis of his strengths had left him speechless. He hadn't thought of that until now, but the little pipsqueak had a point! His tail twitched a little, while a warm feeling spread through his chest. Surely it was only because someone finally realized what a great actor he truly was! Damien turned his face away from Wiz again and instead stared forward at the screen again. "Hmph. Hiding a face as handsome as mine behind a hood would have been a real shame, I guess." Out of the corner of his eye, Damien could see Wiz nodding in agreement. Why did his chest tingle so strangely? It was obvious that he was great. He didn't need a little noob to tell him that ... For the rest of the recording, they went back to more casual chit-chat. Little anecdotes from Damien. And Wiz, who shared some surprisingly interesting details about the book and the author with him.

The recording was just over and Wiz was helping to take down the technology again when a rather strange idea went through Damien's head. Was he going to ask Wiz for his number? He had no idea where that thought even came from. But... Wiz wasn't a student at this school. The chances of running into him again after today were probably slim. But did he actually wanted that? To keep in touch with Teach's little brother? Their encounter today had been an absolute coincidence. However... it had been fun to talk to the little noob. At least Damien had to admit that to himself. Undecidedly he glanced over to the small entity with his silly yellow cardigan. He... Oh fucking hell. What harm could it do? "Hey Wiz! Come here," he called loudly after the other. The latter looked up. Put aside the camera he had just turned off and came running towards him like a duckling called by its mother. "Yes? What is it?", with his big eyes he looked up at him and again Damien felt a slight touch of nervousness. Which he immediately swallowed down as if it was nothing. "Hand over your phone," the words came out a bit more harsh and tenser than intended. The nerd blinked at him in confusion, but then followed his request and placed a smartphone in Damien's outstretched hand. "The PIN?", Damien wanted to know. "Oh. Um. 0328," Wiz replied a little sheepishly. He was probably worried Damien might do some crap with it. For once, though, he had nothing like that planned. Without giving it much thought, he punched in the numbers and the phone was unlocked. Contacts... Wow... that was a sad sight. But never mind! After all, they were changing that now. Damien created a new contact, entered his number in it and clicked save. Next, he opened the chat app and sent himself an invitation to his own number for a new chat group via Wiz's phone. So done! Satisfied, the prince of hell shoved the cell phone back into the other's petite little hands. "There you go. Now you can write me messages. But I'll tell you right now, I'm pretty busy. So don't expect me to always have time for you." The noob better not let it go to his head that Damien just gave him his number without asking for a favor in return. Even though, in truth, Damien had absolutely no plans at all for the rest of the vacation. Except to spend some time with his dads and maybe go into town now and then to cause some chaos.

Damien had... really just given him.... Speechless, he stared at the screen of his smartphone feeling as if he had just witnessed a true Christmas miracle. Tenderly holding the device in his fingers, he lifted his gaze from it and looked up with gratitude at Dames, who stood there scratching the back of his head, with a tiny expression of embarrassment. "Thank you very much. A-and don't worry. I um... am quite good at waiting." He just couldn't let this chance slip away. Even if it required him to continue to be patient.

Damien almost felt a bit of guilt at Wiz's words. Nonsense! Even if his suspicions were right and the other really didn't have any friends, that wasn't his problem. Besides, he didn't want the noob to end up clinging to him like a limpet and pestering him with boring messages or random problems. That would be annoying. So he'd just play it cool. And that meant writing Wiz every now and then, depending on his mood, and seeing how things turned out. Besides... maybe he could even use this golden opportunity to learn more about Wiz's older brother? Things he couldn't ask Teach directly? Dig up some secrets and weaknesses. Or find out more about his teacher's shitty ex. There were so many new possibilities for him if he kept in touch with the noob! But first, he had to think about all that more thoroughly.

What else happened after that?

Damien was a little irritated when within the next days there was still no message from Wiz.

But at zero o'clock between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day he received a message from Wiz wishing him a great new year and thanking him again for the nice day they spent together.

Also, Wiz sent along with his text a cute picture of a cartoon bunny with a party crasher. Damien thought it was silly but kind of cute of Wiz.

Damien was definitely in a better mood after this and answered him immediately.

Also Damien saw during their first message exchange that "Wiz's" chat name is YellowWizard and so he put together that Wiz is a short form for it.

In the end Oz was quite happy about this little accident and the chance to talk and spend time with Damien separately from his role as a teacher.

Damien and he exchange text messages every now and then during the school year.

In the beginning, messages from Damien come rather irregularly, when he happens to notice his chat with Wiz while scrolling through his contacts.

Oz is happy about every message, even if it is just about trivialities

Over time, their text exchanges increase

Sometimes Damien sends him a new poem in a message and waits impatiently for his reaction.

Oz is happy to share his thoughts on the poems and tries to encourage him to continue writing them.

Oz keeps the gift poem in his Void, but sometimes pulls it out to read when he needs a little encouragement.

Damien also once came close to asking Wiz about Teach's ex, but ended up deleting the message instead of sending it

I hope I didn't confuse you with the introduction of another "persona" for Oz. For now, "Wiz" will have more of a supporting role in the form of their text exchange. In case you have trouble remembering the name, here's a tip to make it easier. Just think of the Wizard of Oz.;) Because that was exactly my thought process when I thought of the nickname. And yay! Oz got Damien's phone number! Finally he can talk to him a little bit more freely!

Also, for those who want to know what the exact cast in the play was:

Liam - Ebenezer Scrooge

Damien - Jacob Marley

Vicky - Bob Cratchit

Amira - Mrs. Cratchit

Blobert - Tiny Tim

Hope - Ghost of Christmas Past

Miranda - Belle

Polly - Ghost of Christmas Present

Brian - Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

Vera - business woman who speaks ill of the deceased Scrooge

Scott - the boy who is asked to buy the turkey