#mine: janine and barbara

[forbescaroline]

favorite platonic relationships: janine teagues and barbara howard “You've come a long way, Miss Teagues and I'm happy you're staying at Abbott. It's where you belong.”

[juliawvicker]

[fireplceashes]

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY - 1.10 Open house

+ bonus

[andipxndy-writes]

crushes

fandom: abbott elementary warnings: none requested by: @nyx101sthings word count: 6.7k

cross-posted to ao3

summary: Let's be honest: Gregory's crush on Janine was obvious to everyone. Or, rather, almost everyone. But that didn't mean they were all going to talk to him about it. No, instead they were just going to sit back and watch, maybe get some popcorn, act as though they didn't know a thing when almost all of them were also aware of Janine reciprocating the crush and neither of them realising. The one person who didn't know? Well, he's obviously determined to get them together. In other words: how the teachers at Abbott realised that Gregory and Janine liked each other.

crushes

1: Melissa

Melissa first noticed Gregory’s looks a month into his first year there. Sure, he was only a sub, covering for someone who wasn’t there, but the way he was looking at Janine made her think that he was going to be there a lot longer than just the year.

Of course, she wasn’t the type to voice her suspicions, considering that sort of gossip was the sort of thing that could absolutely embarrass a teacher and make the rest of their career absolute hell—

Oh who was she kidding.

“So what’s up with the lovesick puppy?” she asked as she sat down next to Barbara. The two were on their lunch break in the staff kitchen and, for some reason, there were no other teachers in there. Not that they were complaining. They were likely all on lunch duties or going out for lunch or something like that.

Barbara looked up from her sandwich at Melissa’s question, raising an eyebrow at her. “Lovesick puppy?”

“Yeah, you know.” The redhead unwrapped her sandwich as she spoke, not once taking her eyes off her co-worker and best friend. “That boy can’t keep his eyes off Janine whenever she’s around. Like he’s never seen anyone that small, but he actually likes it.”

“Well, considering the young man’s height, it may very well be the case that he’s used to being around tall people anyway,” Barbara pointed out, and Melissa scoffed.

“We’re all used to being around taller people in general,” she pointed out. At Barbara’s raised eyebrow, she corrected herself: “Taller adults. But that doesn’t mean we stare at Janine all day wondering how she could be so small.”

“We’ve had two years to get used to it.”

“There is something up with that kid,” Melissa insisted. “He just… he stares at her. Like he can’t stop staring at her. It’s so—”

“Weird?” Barbara offered, and Melissa knew that the woman was probably hoping to stop her from saying anything else.

She wasn’t going to give her that luxury.

“—freaky.” She ignored the way Barbara rolled her eyes at her. “I’m serious! He just always stares at her, like there’s nothing else he’d rather be looking at! It’s concerning! He might walk into a door or something.” Which would be more entertaining than concerning for Melissa, if she was being honest, but she still had to show that she cared at least a little bit for the other teachers. Or she would look like a real bitch.

And she was only a bit of a bitch.

Barbara’s lack of response simply told Melissa that her work bestie was thinking the exact same thing, but she believed she had the decency to not say it out loud. Or, at least, that she liked Gregory enough to not go around saying those kinds of things.

Such a godly woman.

“Come on, you can’t seriously be telling me that you don’t find this whole staring thing as creepy as I do.”

“Well.” Melissa raised her eyebrows at Barbara. The other woman was clearly considering her words carefully. Which only made Melissa want to laugh, really, because there wasn’t any way that you could consider your words carefully in this situation without sounding like you were calling Gregory a creep. Not in her opinion (and she knew that her opinion was right).

“Well, what?”

“Is it really that bad to have a man admiring you? Not that I can really see what Gregory admires so much in Janine,” Barbara added on quickly, only for Melissa to hold her hand up to stop her.

The redhead knew that was an outright lie coming out of the kindergarten teacher’s mouth. “Come on, you know the kid’s at least attempting to be good at her job despite her shortcomings.”

“If that was meant to be a pun,” Barbara let the empty threat hang, making Melissa laugh. “Regardless, if it isn’t harming anyone for him to do a bit of admiring—”

“Sure, sure, as long as it isn’t interfering with his job.” Melissa waved off the argument. She supposed Barbara had a good point. If it wasn’t getting in the way of him doing his job, and if it didn’t get in the way of Janine doing her job either, then there wasn’t any point bringing it up as an issue.

——

Melissa noticing that Janine had a crush on Gregory took longer than it should have for her, admittedly, but she wasn’t surprised by it in the slightest. Considering how long she’d been with that tool, Tariq, Melissa got the feeling that any piece of decent meat would be good enough for her.

Gregory, though? The guy was nice, but Janine had to have better standards.

The only thing that Melissa would commend her on was not being obvious about it as the guy who was so obviously crushing on her — Melissa didn’t know whether the young woman knew it yet, considering how dense Janine could be, but if she did know then she was setting good boundaries and standards. And if she didn’t know, well. Then Gregory had to open his big mouth and say something.

“That little knock thing they do is kind of cute,” she commented to Barbara over a little girlfriend coffee date. Her coffee mug steamed in her hands as she glanced out of the window, as though she could see Janine and Gregory walking past right then. Except she couldn’t because neither of them would come to this side of Philly on a weekend unless they’d planned to meet up with someone, and as far as she knew their dating lives were either uneventful or not the type to come down this way.

(Not that she was complaining about that — those bubbly upstarts could leave this side of Philly for the rest of them.)

Barbara raised a single eyebrow as she sipping on her cup of tea, watching Melissa. “Knocking thing?”

“Yeah, knocking thing.” Melissa rapped on the table as if to demonstrate. “Becomes a bit of a pain in the ass when you realise they’re using it to ask each other for conversations during class hours.”

That was what made Barbara roll her eyes. “During class hours?”

“Yeah.” Melissa watched her friend carefully, recognising that steely look in her eye. The look of a mother who wanted to tell off her child. “Barb, don’t. Don’t interfere with that little cutesy thing they’ve got going on. It’ll either blossom or fade.”

“They’re asking each other for conversations during class hours.”

“Blossom, or fade.”

The repeated phrase was enough to get Barbara to deflate a little, and she sighed into her tea. “Fine.” She took a sip of her hot beverage. “Let’s hope they pick one soon.”

For the safe of their classroom wall, Melissa hoped for the same thing.

***

2: Barbara

Contrary to what she’d told Melissa, Barbara had noticed Gregory’s affection for Janine within two weeks of him being at the school.

It wasn’t like he was hiding the whole thing. He probably thought he was doing a whole lot better at it than he actually was, but Barbara absolutely knew that the man looked and acted like a lovesick puppy.

That sort of thing was hard to hide from onlookers. (Particularly when some of those onlookers were camera crew specifically paid to watch every hour of their working days — she hadn’t seen the footage yet, and doubted that she would see it anytime soon, but she got the feeling that the majority of those longing looks that Gregory was sending Janine’s way were being caught on camera.) It was sweet, though, if Barbara was being honest. It reminded her of her younger days, when men had tried to date her (or rather, court her) and she’d turned them down but had still received those longing looks. Longing looks that remained even after she’d got married.

That sort of thing had been unavoidable when she was younger. When people had found her undeniably attractive, a brand-new teacher ready to take on the education system and make the world a better place through the nation’s children.

Looking at Janine, she idly wondered whether it was the optimism for improving the educational system that had made her attractive all those years ago.

Instead of trying to gossip about it, though (like she knew certain teachers would), she decided it would be better to let the whole thing run its course. After all, as with most of the men that had crushed on her in the past, it would most likely fade over time.

She could definitely pinpoint the first moment she’d noticed it, though. Heading to Janine’s class to ask her for something (she’d borrowed a pen from her that morning, and Barbara wanted it back), she’d almost bumped into Gregory standing in the corridor. He was standing there to make sure his kids were walking into the classroom properly, of course, but his eyes weren’t focused on the kids. Barbara could easily see that his eyes weren’t focused on the kids.

No, they were focused on the young teacher with her back to him, who was guiding her own kids into her classroom.

Barbara decided to wait for a few moments to see if he would notice that there was someone else there, before clearing her throat. The way he jumped and turned quickly to her was entertaining to a couple of the kids until Barbara glared at them.

“I would advise that you keep an eye on your children instead of watching how other teachers do it, Mr. Eddie,” she chided lightly, hoping that she sounded more like she was offering advice than telling him off. “Some of these kids know how to make you… work for your money.”

He stared at her for a few moments, before nodding. Not even an appreciative smile on his face. “Of course. Thank you for the suggestion, Mrs. Howard.”

She continued to watch him for a few moments, to see if he would follow her advice straight away, but he was still staring at her, so she nodded. Like she was finishing the conversation. “Fantastic. Now, if you’d just let me past? I need to speak with Miss Teagues.”

“Oh!” Gregory quickly moved to the side, forcing the last of his kids to walk in a wider circle around him to get into the classroom so that Barbara could pass. “Of course. I apologise, Mrs. Howard.”

“It’s no problem at all.” She gave him one last smile before passing him, giving one of his kids a high-five as they passed her before heading over to Janine. Even as she walked over, she was very sure that she could feel Gregory’s lingering gaze on herself and the younger teacher before he followed his kids into his classroom and started the lesson.

That boy really had to practice getting better at hiding his feelings.

——

What took her longer to notice was the fact that the feelings weren’t exactly a one-way thing. No, they were reciprocated.

“Are you still with that boy?” she asked, and she knew that the expression on her face was some sort of mix between disgust and surprise. She also knew that Janine’s reaction to her comment was a very poorly veiled offense that she quickly tried to cover up with laughter.

“Who, Tariq?” the younger teacher laughed, scratching her arm (a nervous habit, Barbara had noticed) as she glanced away. “No, no. I, uh… we split up.” She gave half a shrug. “We thought it would be, you know, better if we went our separate ways. He had his path in life, I have mine.”

Barbara wasn’t exactly convinced that Janine was so sure about that herself, but she nodded anyway, offering the young woman what she hoped was a comforting smile. “Of course. Everyone has their own path in life, and that means that someone you may have known for a specific period in your life needs to leave. Not everyone needs to be in your life all the time.”

“Of course, I know that.” Janine was still laughing a bit, and it sounded more forced now, like she was trying to convince herself more than Barbara. “But I’ll be fine! Really. I just need a bit of time to adjust to paying the rent, and I’ll be perfectly okay.”

Barbara wasn’t sure what to think about the language that Janine was using, but if it was the sort of language that convinced her that things were going to be okay — if this sort of positivity was what was helping her through this breakup, then she wasn’t going to tell her to stop using it. God knew that she didn’t need the girl being all negative on her anytime soon.

Before she could say anything, though, she spotted Gregory coming out of his classroom from where she and Janine were standing outside the second grade classrooms. The man was very clearly getting ready to leave, briefcase in hand and coat on as though he was completely done for the day and ready to go. But the interesting part wasn’t even Gregory coming out of his classroom and getting ready to go.

It was the way Janine watched him as he left the classroom, her eyes focused on him. It was the way her hand moved from scratching her arm to gently playing with her necklace, the way she ever so slightly bit her lip as she stared at him. It was the way her lips curved up the slightest bit, as though she wanted to smile, but didn’t know what exactly she was smiling at, so decided against it. It was the way she watched him keenly, as though she was waiting for him to turn around and talk to her.

It was the same way Barbara had watched Melissa stare at Gary when he’d first started coming in and sorting out the vending machine for them. It was the same way that she’d seen her daughter stare at Gregory the first couple of times that she’d seen him.

It was the same way her sister had described her looking at her husband when they’d first met.

She barely hid the smirk that threatened to grow on her face when Gregory turned towards them, and Janine’s face lit up.

“Hey, Janine, you good?”

“Yeah!”

“Your car still in the shop?”

Barbara’s eyebrows rose as she looked at Janine. “Your car’s in the shop?”

“Yeah, it’s in the shop.” Barbara didn’t know whether Janine had intended to ignore her or not, but she had.

“You want a ride home?”

Barbara could practically see the blush on Janine’s face. “Sure! Let me just grab my stuff.” That was the point at which Janine seemed to realise that Barbara was still there, and the smile she gave her this time was ten times more realistic than the forced laugh from earlier. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mrs. Howard!”

Barbara simply watched Janine rush in and grab her stuff, and then glanced at Gregory. Gregory, who smiled awkwardly at Barbara, as though he felt as if he knew that she knew he was crushing on the woman getting her stuff ready. She simply chuckled as she popped her head into Janine’s classroom.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Janine,” she said, before turning to walk back to her classroom. “You too, Gregory.”

Even as she walked back to her classroom, though, she shook her head.

If those two were as oblivious as they were behaving, then this whole crushing thing they had for each other was going to be their entertainment for the rest of the academic year.

***

3: Ava

Gregory’s crush on Janine was obvious. Too obvious. Ava was pretty sure she’d spotted it super early on, but she also knew that she couldn’t let on that she knew about it. Because as fine as that man was, he also had a sense of pride and she wasn’t going to hurt that.

No, no, a man with a wounded pride simply made him less attractive. She had to keep the one good looking man on her staff as attractive as possible.

Still, the looks were pretty obvious. Aside from the fact that almost everything was on camera (and she got access to that footage, mostly to make sure they caught shots of her good side), that man spent way too many working hours staring at the shortest teacher in the school. And that was a long way down to look, in Ava’s opinion. (She was much closer to his height and probably better looking, too.)

All jokes (and shade) aside, Ava didn’t realise all his staring was because he actually liked Janine until she spotted the way he hung out around her after school. Like some sort of cute little lost puppy looking for someone to give him a good cuddle. In fact, from the look on his face, Ava was very much tempted to head straight over to him and offer him those cuddles (knowing full well that the offer would make him uncomfortable but would also stop him from feeling so lost), but then she realised that he wasn’t just staring into space. He was staring at someone.

She slowly turned, following the direction of his gaze, and almost choked.

Like yeah, sure, he was standing near the door to Janine’s classroom and watching her help a kid out in getting their coat on before they ran out to find their parent or whatever, but what about that warranted staring for hours when you could be doing literally anything else?

Still, she had to admit, whilst him standing there was a little creepy… it was a little funny. Cute. Interesting, even. She didn’t get why a guy like him would stoop down to Janine’s level—

“What’s up, hot stuff?”

The way he jumped and turned to face her was entertaining. The look of shock on his face was pure gold. The way he wasn’t immediately fawning over her was a little disappointing but they could work on that. She had other people who did that already anyway.

“Ava.” She ignored how he still didn’t refer to her as Principal Coleman when he wasn’t around any of the other students — so whenever he didn’t have to. Which was valid. It meant that she could relax around him, right?

“Mr. Eddie,” she greeted with a grin on her face. She shifted to lean on the wall beside the doorway to Janine’s classroom, so that Gregory had no choice but to look at her if he also wanted to look at Janine. Just so that she could feel as though he was paying some sort of attention to her. “Your class all gone? What are you still doing here? You could be going out, taking a lucky lady out on a date.” She flipped her hair. “I could even be that date. You wanna take me out on a date?”

Gregory cleared his throat, folding his hands together behind his back. “I don’t really think that’s appropriate, actually.”

She just grinned at him. “Oh that’s fine. I’ll just ask you again when we get out the main doors. It’ll be appropriate then, right?”

“Hey, Gregory.”

Of course, at that moment, Janine thought it would be a very smart idea to interrupt the conversation — her kid had left through the other door, and she’d grabbed her things to get ready to head home (or to the staff room to grab her stuff before heading home, Ava didn’t really know what her leaving routine was but that was likely because she had a tendency to ignore it). When the tiny woman noticed that Ava was also there, she gave her an equally bright smile — one that made Ava want to roll her eyes at least a little bit.

“Hi, Ava!” Her brows furrowed a little in concern. “Did you need to speak to me about something? Should I go and put my stuff down? Are you calling an impromptu meeting or something—”

“No.” Ava scoffed. “Hell no. I have plans. Sales to make, people to see. Important stuff. Nothing to do with you.” She waved her hand around casually, gesturing vaguely to Janine (no matter how vague she tried to make it, it was obvious that it was aimed at Janine anyway). “I just want to make sure you actually leave the building. Don’t need any squatters.” The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them, and she saw the look of irritation flash across Janine’s face, but before the smaller woman could say anything (and before Ava could think about trying to apologise), the principal turned towards Gregory and shot him a sweet smile. “Good night Gregory. Make sure you get home safe. I want to see that gorgeous ass in the morning.”

She knew for a fact that he was staring with some sort of horrified look into one of the many cameras scattered around the school, but she didn’t care. Because she also knew that those two would probably stand there chatting for hours if they had it their way, and she’d warned them about leaving the school. Glancing over her shoulder, she almost smirked at the way Gregory had physically relaxed around Janine, hands in his pockets as they chatted.

Hmm. She’d have to ask Gregory how long they hung around for tomorrow. Couldn’t have teachers loitering around the school after everyone else has left. That was her job.

——

Realising that Janine liked Gregory back was easy. Stupidly so, in Ava’s mind. That woman was about as bad at hiding her feelings for the incredibly sexy tall man as she was at reaching things on high shelves.

Like, sure, maybe it wasn’t the totally obvious staring that Gregory did when he thought the cameras weren’t watching him, but that tiny woman gravitated like the moon to a planet. With emphasis on moon to planet because moons were small and planets were large… right? (See, Ava did learn something at school.)

If Ava was being honest though, at first she thought that Janine was doing that incredibly annoying thing of picking a person and sticking to them like glue until they either befriended her or got annoyed with her. She’d watched her attempt to do it with Barbara, Melissa, and that whole slew of new teachers she started teaching at Abbott with. (Jacob was the only one who seemed to go along with her stupid method of making friends, which made a lot of sense to Ava. Weirdos attracting weirdos and all that.)

It was when she realised that the two of them talked just as much alone as they did around the other teachers that she realised something was up. Yeah, yeah, she’d always seen the chemistry between them that was there before and all that, but talking? Alone? Janine cornered people, but that look on her face when she was talking alone with Gregory was a different sort of look.

It was the same look that Iggy gave her when he thought she wasn’t really paying attention to his expressions during a conversation. Which at first she’d thought was creepy, but then she realised it was cute because he was paying attention to her and she definitely appreciated having someone paying attention to her at all times.

But it was the look of someone who believed that the person they were talking to way important, and Janine very clearly thought that Gregory was important. Important enough to have conversations with alone instead of with the group, and long conversations at that.

Of course, when she mentioned this in passing to Iggy, he told her that she was probably reading too much into it. Like her snooping wasn’t the sort of thing to get the right results. Except Ava knew she was brilliant at snooping and retrieving the right information and she knew for a fact that something was up with Janine.

Her suspicions, of course, were only confirmed when she overheard Melissa and Barbara talking about it in the staff room one lunch time, when Gregory and Janine were out on lunch duty. She paused in making her coffee to overhear the conversation.

“Are they still doing the knocking thing?”

“Yeah, I can see them doing it from across the corridor.”

“…Don’t you think it’s getting disruptive now?”

“If it was disruptive, it would’ve been disruptive from the moment they started doing it.”

“So are you saying it’s not disruptive?”

“I’m just saying that it’s… well, it’s them being them about it.”

“Flirty?”

“Those two don’t know how to flirt.”

“So you two have noticed the little looks and talks between those two as well?” Ava suddenly asked, turning around to face them with her coffee in one hand and the sugar in another. “It’s about time! I thought I was the only one!” She put the sugar down as she made herself welcome at their table, ignoring the way the two women stared at her. “That man’s been staring at her like he was thirsty from the moment he arrived in this building, and her? That girl wants to glue herself to him like her life depends on it.” She grinned at the two women. “I knew I couldn’t be the only person who noticed.”

Barbara and Melissa glanced between each other, almost as though they were having a silent conversation, before Melissa slowly leaned closer to Ava.

“What else have you seen?”

Ava could not deny that her eyes practically lit up when she heard those words. Now was her chance to spill.

***

4: Mr. Johnson

Mr. Johnson prided himself on being the person who knew anything and everything around the school. Sure, he knew that all those teachers gossiped and spread news and couldn’t keep secrets between them, but he saw everything happen first-hand. He had eyes and ears everywhere. He knew what was going on.

He also knew that the other teachers knew this, so he suspected that was why they tried so hard to gossip amongst each other first so that they didn’t feel like he was spying on them. He was fine with that. He let them believe that he didn’t know everything first. He was willing to let them fall into that false sense of security.

He knew that there was something about Gregory liking Janine before they ended up sitting by the computer screen trying to catch the deskers. Sure, it had been a lot more interesting seeing Gregory’s reaction to Janine up close, watching that young man’s eyes glue to her on the screen like a man seeing an angel. But the way he looked at her from afar? The way that man watched her? That was too obvious.

Pinpointing the exact moment he realised that man was fawning over Miss Teagues was difficult, though, because it was more like you didn’t know and then you knew. At least, that was the way it was in Mr. Johnson’s mind. One day, he had no idea — he just walked around, pretending he was minding his own business whilst snooping on all the teachers and kids, and the next day he just knew that Gregory liked Janine. He knew there was something about her that he was obsessed with. He knew there was something about her that meant Gregory couldn’t take his eyes off her when she was in the room.

Of course, it then became Mr. Johnson’s mission to figure out exactly what it was that made Gregory tick. What made him like Janine? What made him pick Janine over any of the other female teachers? What were that young man’s turn ons and turn offs? It was like his own personal research project, and the results? They were just for him. Like his own personal private research project.

Snooping on the other teachers didn’t exactly help him to figure it out.

What it did help him to figure out, though, was how bad Gregory was at hiding his little crush on Miss Teagues. Staring at a woman for hours on end because you liked her was not the way to go, but clearly Mr. Eddie hadn’t worked that out yet.

The day he realised exactly what it was that made Janine stand out from the rest, he was mopping the end of the corridor. A couple of the kids had stayed behind after school because their parents couldn’t come and pick them up, but he couldn’t wait for everyone to leave before starting on his cleaning, or he’d be there until the morning. That was why he started at the very end of the corridor, beginning his mopping with his Beats headphones covering his ears. But not even LL Cool J could distract him from what was going on at the other end of the first floor corridor.

Gregory was, as usual, standing outside of his classroom and doing his usual staring. Borderline creepy, but he had a soft smile on his face so it seemed a little less so. There was a camera on him, of course.

But his eyes were drawn to the young woman standing across the corridor from Gregory, knelt in front of a child as she helped them to sort out their coat zipper. The way she was talking to them and smiling at them, even though Mr. Johnson couldn’t hear what they were saying he had an idea of what was going on. Something about that zipper being difficult to sort out, so it’s not their fault that they couldn’t do it up, or something like that. Or maybe she was showing them how to do their zipper so that they could do it next time.

Either way, whatever she was doing or saying was enough to have that young man’s eyes glued to her. Which was more than a little interesting.

And then, suddenly, she was done. The zipper on the coat was up, and the kid was grinning at her with that huge gap in their teeth, probably from a tooth they’d lost or something. Maybe one of the other kids had even punched it out. But the little gap-toothed angel bid his teacher farewell before running off down the corridor, massive backpack on their back bouncing along with them as they headed in the direction Mr. Johnson assumed their parent would be.

The moment he focused on the teachers again, he watched as Gregory quickly looked away when Janine turned towards him, as though he hadn’t been staring the whole time, and smirked to himself, continuing to mop.

That boy was head over heels for her.

——

You would think that, after figuring out that Mr. Eddie had a crush on Miss Teagues, observing the opposite would be the same. And in the case of Mr. Johnson, you would be right.

Maybe she wasn’t as obvious about it as Mr. Eddie was, but he could still see it. He could still see the way she tended to linger around him and talk to him more than with other teacher. She smiled more when she talked to him. She always found a way to sit next to him in meetings, and he didn’t get annoyed like the other teachers.

She even forfeited sitting next to Jacob for some of those meetings.

The moment he first noticed it, though? He was in one of the school’s many rooms, looking out of the window across the school parking lot. He watched as Janine arrived in her car, the tiny teacher’s vehicle recognisable in the parking lot as the only one that regularly needed work done on it. Like she couldn’t afford to go to a garage or something. The body looked good today, but the exhaust? Sounded bad.

But then she didn’t get out of her car. Mr. Johnson stood at the window, watching her, waiting for her to just… get out of her vehicle and come inside. Like the usually did. All peppy and excited about her teaching day, irritating the rest of them with her positivity at that time of the morning without coffee. But she was sitting in her car, not moving. Maybe even waiting for something.

That was when he realised that she was waiting for someone.

And the only reason he realised that was because a couple of cars down, a certain Mr. Eddie parked his car. Obviously it was a smoother ride than hers, and his exhaust definitely didn’t sound like shit, but as soon as his engine turned off and his car door opened, Janine’s car door also opened. And she was climbing out at the same time as him. And she was smiling brightly at him.

Mr. Johnson didn’t need to have the windows open to know the conversation they were having. He just watched the two of them with a smirk as Janine closed and locked her car, before heading over to him, still chatting and smiling brightly. He shook his head a little as the two of them spoke for a bit, before heading towards the school building together.

There was no way in hell that those two could be less subtle about their crushes on each other. But waiting in that car for him to arrive before walking into the building with him? That was dedication. And a dedicated woman was a strong candidate for a good partner, if Mr. Johnson did say so himself.

He watched them as they walked towards the main entrance, nudging each other playfully and laughing. Like they were more than colleagues.

More than friends.

“Those two couldn’t be more oblivious if they tried,” he muttered, shaking his head with a smile.

“Mr. Johnson?” Ava’s voice came from the door to the room, but he didn’t bother looking over at her. “What are you doing? The ground floor toilets need cleaning before the tiny menaces come in and wreck them.”

He wanted to sigh, but Ava had a point. Those kids sure knew how to wreck a toilet.

“Just keeping an eye on the lovebirds,” he commented casually as he moved to head out of the room, pulling his mop along beside him. “Someone’s gotta make sure those two are keeping that little game they play interesting.”

He didn’t say much else as he headed out of the room, but he knew that Ava headed over to the window to see what he was talking about.

He also knew that Ava already knew about Gregory (that much was obvious), and probably also knew about Janine as well. And he knew that he didn’t need to wait around for any comments that she was going to make about them to the open air.

He’d probably overhead everything again later, during lunch time in the staff room. Those women could spread some juicy gossip when Janine and Gregory weren’t there.

***

5: Jacob

Jacob was oblivious. To everything. That was what he realised when he found out that Gregory liked Janine.

He was oblivious to his own friend liking his work bestie.

He wanted to claim that it wasn’t obvious. After all, it wasn’t as though Gregory had told him that he liked Janine in that way, and everyone had a habit of staring at Janine. Granted, most people only stared when she was saying or doing something that was kind of stupid, but Gregory’s staring wasn’t out of place. He was looking at Janine for good reason most of the time that Jacob noticed. Like, a good, valid reason that was relevant to the situation that they were in.

And Gregory never seemed to stare when Janine wasn’t talking about something important or valid.

Besides, he was a good teacher. Whenever Jacob hung around them both, he didn’t feel ignored by either of them. Gregory let him be his friend, and they talked. He was a good guy.

In other words, there was no way that Jacob would’ve been able to tell that Gregory had a crush on Janine until he’d been told outright.

And apparently every other teacher knew about this whole crush situation, meaning that he was the last person to know. He’d been left in the dark.

Clearly.

When Gregory told him, though, things started to make sense. They all shared the same staff room and parked in the same car park, but somehow Janine and Gregory walked into the building together every day. They all sat at the same table, but Janine always offered Gregory food first, and Gregory always gravitated towards talking to Janine over anyone else.

Of course, that led to his next discovery.

Janine liked Gregory too.

“Why doesn’t anyone tell me any of these things?” Jacob demanded, looking between all of the other teachers in the room. And by all of the other teachers, he meant Barbara, Melissa, and Ava. “You all knew that he has a crush on her, and that she has a crush on him! And no one thought to tell me?”

“We thought you knew!” Melissa argued back. “It was pretty damn obvious! Those two ogle all over each other and have their own little… knocking thing they do to talk to each other during classes.”

“They talk to each other during classes?” Jacob looked like he was about to cry because of a major case of FOMO. “Neither of them talk to me!”

“You’re on a different floor,” Barbara pointed out. “What are they going to do, climb the stairs to have a conversation?”

Jacob’s mouth opened and closed a few times as he really thought through what he had said. Huh. She had a point there. Even as he watched Ava literally pour have a tub of sugar into her coffee, he realised that there was no way he could ask for his friends downstairs to come up and talk to him when they had whole classes to keep an eye on.

But Gregory and Janine liking each other?

“We need to get them to start dating.”

“Absolutely not,” Barbara cut in, stopping Jacob in his tracks, at the same time that Melissa said, “Those two would be absolutely unbearable together.”

“If those two are going to get together, it needs to happen naturally and without us interfering, or it could go terribly wrong,” Barbara pointed out patiently. “We need to let them figure it out themselves. Besides, this has been a big growing year for Janine, and we don’t want to interfere with that by taking over her love life.”

“Plus, I can’t just have two teachers start dating because y’all start shipping them or whatever,” Ava commented casually, sipping on her coffee. “If they date, it’s not going to start on my premises. Can you imagine the kinds of things the parents will say about me if I let two teachers start dating? I’d rather they think they’re doing it behind my back when I actually know what’s going on.”

Jacob looked between the three of them incredulously, his brows furrowed. “You’re just going to… let this go? You’re not going to help them out?” he asked slowly.

“Absolutely not.” Melissa pointed her finger in his face. “And we forbid you from helping them out too.”

“Let it grow organically,” Barbara encouraged. “It’ll be much healthier for them both. Trust us.”

Jacob looked between the three women. Two of them were significantly easier to trust than the third, admittedly, but he supposed Barbara had a point. It would be better for them if things grew organically, if they just let things happen instead of forcing them between the two.

But that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“Fine,” he muttered, sitting back in his seat with a sigh. “We’ll let it grow organically.” The idea of those two not getting together because they didn’t do anything to help their relationship along kind of worried him, but he pushed it aside. Just to prove to himself that he could listen to them and let the relationship grow organically.

The moment he saw Mr. Johnson walk past that staff room door, though — the moment he saw the man give him a smirk and a little wink — he knew he couldn’t just sit around and wait for them. He had to help them out.

And if that meant talking Gregory into asking Janine out, then so be it.

Now to just find a time to talk to him about it in private…

[gifsbysimplysonia]

🥹

#work mother and daughter

[janeyseymour]

longing looks and stolen glances

summary: anon asked for this: Hi, idk if you're still taking requests but could you write something where Mel finds out R like her back and then they're all silly and sneaking around, stealing kisses, glances and a brush of fingers every chance they get, like absolute fluff? And then the other teachers start to notice how smug Mel looks, specifically around R? I love your fics!!

WC: ~2.15k

There was no way this way happening- and yet it was. The Melissa Schemmenti has you pressed up against your desk and is kissing you hungrily. It takes a second for your brain to jumpstart before your arms snake around her waist and pull her in closer to you. Her lingering perfume scent nearly has you in a trance. The way that she only pulls you even closer to her own body is… how is this where you are right now? This has to be some sort of dream.

But it isn’t. When you finally pull back in desperate need of air, red hair and green eyes are still right in front of you. Almost as if you’re expecting to be woken up from your dream, you pinch yourself. You squeak a bit, and that deep laugh that you’re always craving to hear echoes throughout the empty room.

“Think you’re dreaming or something?” your colleagues deep voice chuckles out.

You just nod, a blush creeping into your cheeks. “I didn’t think… is this real life?”

“It very much is,” Melissa rolls her eyes playfully. “I’ve had enough of that one camera man flirting with you.” She gives him a pointed look, as if to say, ‘Back off. She’s mine now.’

He nearly cowers.

You just laugh and pull her in again. “So… dinner?”

And that’s how the two of you started dating. After a brief meeting with the camera crew, they’re sworn to secrecy on your relationship. A threat that all of their equipment will somehow go missing and the documentary will no longer be a thing is enough for them to all promise the two of you that they won’t air any explicit evidence that the two of you are together.

“I don’t even want lingering looks,” Melissa states.

The camera man shakes his head at that. “Then maybe the two of you shouldn’t constantly be ogling each other. We’ve picked up on this for weeks, and Jeremiah flirting with Y/N was only a tactic to get the two of you to get your heads out of your asses. If this worked with the two of you… we’re wondering if it might do anything to finally get Gregory and Janine to face the truth of their relationship.”

“Jeremiah wasn’t really flirting with me?” you sound almost wounded. A light smack to your shoulder has you feigning hurt.

“Listen, Y/N,” the camera man laughs. “As beautiful as you are, you are not my type at all. And, I really don’t want the shit to get kicked out of me by your woman.”

As if to prove a point, your girlfriend wraps an arm around you and practically growls out a, “Mine,” before kissing your temple.

And so, your relationship stays a secret. Your girlfriend does everything she can to keep your relationship in this little bubble that the two of you have created. There isn’t any flirting (any flirting that could easily be detected by your friends and coworkers), you keep everything behind closed doors.

There are lingering kisses in the classroom when you’re positive that no cameras are around. You still sit with her and Barbara at lunch and at meetings so as not to throw off the groove that you’ve found yourself in. Sometimes, you’ll feel a feather light touch or a squeeze of the hand when Ava says something particularly ridiculous, but you’re able to keep your face straight, and no one is the wiser to these intimate moments that the two of you secretly share.

But as time goes on, it’s getting harder and harder to conceal the bond that the two of you have. At this point, you’re getting ready to move your things into her apartment permanently (as if you haven’t practically been living with her for months- you have a drawer of your things at her place), the two of you are often together after work and on weekends, and you’ve even been to a few of her family dinners.

“You bringing over a few more boxes tonight?” your girlfriend asks you as you enter the staff room. It alarms you that she would bring this up so casually, but then you realize that she is the only one at the school besides you.

You nod brightly and kiss her quickly, as if someone would walk in on you at any given moment.

“I was planning on it,” you chuckle. Then you pull away from her, although her fingers stay gently interlaced with yours. “Coffee?”

She nods enthusiastically and begins to pluck the mugs from their place. You let yourself watch her figure for a few seconds before you hear the door swing open and Jacob announce his entrance. Your eyes immediately flit down to the coffee grounds in your hand, and your body turns red at the thought that you might have just been caught staring at the second grade teacher’s ass. Thankfully though, you were not caught.

“Ooh!” Jacob grins at the sight of Melissa reaching for coffee cups. “Deal me in!”

You scoop a few more grinds out and dump them into the coffee machine before filling it with water and waiting for the warm drink to be ready. Meanwhile, Melissa fixes her cup so the cream and sugar are already in her cup, and she does the same for you.

You give her a sweet smile when she hands over your cup, and your heart can’t help but flutter when she squeezes your hip gently while Jacob is turned away.

She can’t help the smug grin off her face when the social studies teacher turns back around.

“Hey, why’d you do Y/N’s cup, but not mine?” Jacob whines, almost like a child.

“Because Y/N ain’t particular about hers the way that you are.” Green eyes are rolled. There is no truth in that statement whatsoever. You are extremely particular about how your coffee is prepared, but after many mornings of coffee shared between the two of you Melissa has learned. 

Jacob continues to pout, but he does nod along. It’s funny the way that he’s so wrapped up in his pouting that he misses the way you kiss her cheek and thank her softly.

The rest of the crew starts to trickle in, so you and your girlfriend take up your seats to watch the news together. At home, she almost always has her arm draped around the back of the couch, and you lean into her figure as you practically inhale the liquid gold that you need in order to function. But here? She still has her arm draped over the edge of the couch, but you don’t lean into her. Sure, you sit next to her, but you don’t let yourself relax into her. Instead, she quietly draws circles and different patterns on your shoulder as you and your friends watch the news. It’s warm and familiar, and something that you aren’t entirely expecting her to do with your colleagues so close, but you let that smile wash over your face. Her smug grin only brightens when she truly realizes everybody is so wrapped up in the news that they fail to notice. 

While things have begun to become more relaxed with the two of you out in public, you still haven’t outwardly said anything about the relationship between the two of you. It’s like if you speak it into existence, the bubble will pop. So, you continue to just do things a bit more subdued with the crew around. 

The two of you know that whenever you’re at the school, there is pretty much a guarantee that you’re being filmed in one way or another- except for in the safe haven of the bathrooms. So often, you and Melissa sneak away to the staff bathrooms to steal a few kisses or discuss plans for after work.

But to everyone else, you’re just two peas in a pod- the way that you have been. You still sit together and lunch, in the morning, at staff meetings… have your classes do a few things together throughout the year.

Or at least… that’s what you think. The two of you think that you’re hiding this relationship wonderfully. Honestly, at this point, neither of you would care if they were to find out. It’s kind of become common knowledge outside of work that the two are you together, so you both forget to come out to your work friends entirely. You just know that even if you were out at work, the looks and touches would still be relatively rare- keep things as professional as possible.

The truth is, the others have begun to pick up on things. They’ve noticed that you’re almost always following Melissa around with the look of a puppy dog. They’ve taken into consideration that she always fixes your coffee mug- no one else’s, not even Barb’s. They see the way that instead of directing looks that would normally be shot to the camera are instead stolen glances between the two of you. They aren’t as dense as they’re playing to be- there is something going on between the two of you.

And Barbara Howard is going to get to the bottom of it.

There is one day specifically, during professional development, where the two of you are practically glued to each other- and unbeknownst to them, it’s been exactly six months since the two of you started dating.

The longing looks, the little squeezes here and there, it’s all so… domestic. Even just sitting in the library as Ava drones on about only God knows what, the two of you are like giggling school girls, making excuses to touch and look at each other.

And then when you’re all excused for the afternoon to work on whatever you have to do in your classrooms, Melissa is guiding you out with a tender hand on the small of your back. You instinctively reach behind you and give her hand a light squeeze of endearment.

Of course, the two of you cozy up in her classroom, fully ready to finish up on some grading that you’re behind on. Fingers are interlocked as you grade and she types on her computer with one hand while Barbara rounds up the rest of the group.

“You all have noticed that Y/N and Melissa are quite cozy together, yes?” the kindergarten teacher asks her friends as they take their lunch break.

“Someone jealous their work wife is taken with the newbie?” Mr. Johnson asks.

“Not jealous,” Barbara sighs. “Just… curious. I think the two of them are hiding something from us.”

The camera crew all glance around. They wouldn’t interfere- not unless they wanted their cameras to go missing. So instead, they just pull each of the staff members out to interview them separately.

And together, everyone is convinced that the redheaded teacher and you are up to something- that there’s something going on between the two of you.

Mr. Johnson flat out tells the camera crew that he knows you’re dating. That he watched you kiss Melissa as you were heading out of her classroom one day.

So, with that, the crew decides to push this storyline a bit- they still aren’t outwardly telling your colleagues of the relationship, but just… implying that maybe this is something they should investigate further.

And they do. Nothing comes out that day, but the rest of your friend group is on high alert when the two of you are around. They continue to play dumb, to not notice the little lingering looks, the touches, the way that Melissa couldn’t be more smug when she’s around you.

They pretend as if they couldn’t be clued in at all until one day, a few months later, Barbara has had enough. You and Melissa are sharing lunch, and her hand rests gently on your upper thigh as you converse about your mornings.

“For God’s sake, ladies,” Barbara finally explodes. “Can we stop ignoring the obvious?!”

“Barb, what?” you flinch slightly at her tone. You feel Melissa pull her hand away.

“The two of you!” the kindergarten teacher exclaims. “I can’t take any more pretending that we don’t all know that you’re together! So, out with it!”

Melissa’s face turns red as she looks to you. “Babe?”

“Babe?!” Jacob screeches. “You two are at the point of calling each other ‘babe’?!”

Realization dawns on your face. You never told your work friends. It had become so… normal that you just forgot to tell your coworkers that the two of you were together. “We- we never told you guys.”

“No, you most certainly did not!” Barbara states. “So, admit it! The two of you are seeing each other romantically!”

You look sheepishly at the redhead, as if asking for permission for your next move. At her nod, you hold up your left hand. “Not only are we together… we got engaged last night.”

TAGS: @schemmentis @thesapphictimelady @marvel210 @itisdoctortoyousir @morgana-larkin @thesamesweetie @doesthatsuggestanythingtoyou @marvels--slut @gwennybriggs @megamultifandomtrashposts @lemz378 @http-sam @melissaschemmentisbranzino @imaginesmultifandoms @sexysapphicshopowner @lilfartbox1 @maybe-a-humanbean @imlike-so-gaydude @sapphicxrat @a-queen-and-her-throne @sunsol-22 @notinmyvocab @melanielaufeyson @dvrkhcld @cosmichymns @sasheemo

[vampiresbloodx]

a/n: based of the recent episode! 3x14! So might be spoilers, maybe.

As summer is just around the corner, you're older!gf!Melissa has a few or maybe more ideas on how she wants to spend her summer this year. And it's gonna be different, because now she has you. You couldn't contain your excitement as you said your goodbyes to the last kid leaving your class as you happily and practically skipped your way to Melissa's class, you know Janine has hosted a party and you two have planned to go to that. You wouldn't want to let a friend down. Melissa however, just wants to get drunk.

"here early hmm? Someone's excited" a familiar voice snaps you out of your daydream of a certain redhead who's standing in front of you right now with her hands on her hips, looking rather pleased.

"early? I'm right on time" you say with a small smile, "the last kid from my class just left with their parents."

She nods.

"and you came to see me?" She questions, you frown, confused.

"well, yes, because we're dating, I'm your girlfriend and you're my girlfriend" you say.

Melissa smiles.

"your girlfriend? And you're mine, I like the sound of that."

You shake your head, your cheeks burning as you hear her chuckle, she wraps an arm around your shoulder and you shudder from her touch.

God you've missed her.

Sure you see her all day, sure, you two work together in the same environment, sure, there's not one moment where no one can seem to catch you two apart, but you still wanna be by her side always. As much as you can.

Janine's party was definitely one you weren't expecting. Arriving with Mel you saw how easy she had her and Barbara with organising and cleaning stuff around her apartment, you found it ridiculous, laughing at them, you knew Mel wasn't the one for a messy place. Then Janine hit you with what she wanted was everyone to be involved, have fun, for you just being by Melissa all night long would do the trick, shocking, right? Janine knew you well, she wouldn't want you two seperated at all.

It was an hour or so into the party, Melissa was already tipsy, so was Barbara, and everyone else, except maybe a few people. You weren't always a fan of parties but this was for your friend and well Melissa wanted alcohol.

As of lately, Melissa had only just become more comfortable with PDA in your relationship, it wasn't that she hated it, she just didn't like people watching too much. You were hers, no one else's. You didn't know why she thought anyone would be bothered by it, when no one else seemed to care.

Then unexpectedly, you feel hands wrap around your waist and pull you in closer, you were about to cuss whoever had the dumb idea to do that but you smelled a familiar perfume and saw Melissa, you smiled, relaxed against her, she was enjoying herself, and so were you.

She began to kiss along the back of your neck, you bit down on your bottom lip to stop from being too loud, forgetting your at a friend's party, but everyone else was lost in their own world, dancing, partying, you both swayed to the music, she didn't seem to stop, nor did you want her to.

"Mel" you said, unsure if she could even hear you, you grabbed her hand, she looked at you, smiling. "Take me to yours?" You asked.

And she nodded, grabbing you as you two didn't even bother to say goodbye as she rushed you out.

You two laughed, smiling so much it hurt as you held each other.

[fadingdaggerr]

Can i request a melissa schementti x reader

Everyone is at the teacher conference and there's a party late at night. Melissa got invited and she saw reader at the bar getting hit on by an addington person and r (reader) looked uncomfortable but they were also laughing melissa couldn't decide whether to watch herself burn in jealousy or should she swoop in and save you. after you started looking very obviously uncomfy, melissa comes to you and gets very touchy with you, the addington teacher awkwardly backs off from the convo and melissa drags reader out of the party to makeout (this can have and not have smut, anything works!)

are you mine?

pairing: melissa schemmenti x gn!reader

summary: request above!

warnings: r gets aggressively flirted with, protective melissa, alcohol consumption, suggestive themes but no nsfw, making out

note: this is so much longer than i originally planned it to be but my middle name is detailed /j

your forehead rested on the table while janine and jacob ranted about all their plans for pecsa. as their excitement grew louder, you began lightly hitting your head against the wood of the table. after the third hit against the table, a hand came between you and the table, making you pause before registering it as melissa’s, before just laying your head in her hand.

“i’ll pay you money to make them stop,” you grumbled. melissa laughed, lifting her hand and your head with it.

“they’re excited. spring chickens like them always live for pecsa,” barbara says as she stirs the sugar into her coffee. she gestures between her and melissa with the spoon, “we make use the bar and the hot tub, only useful thing there after thirty years of teaching.”

melissa nods heavily in agreement, “and the continental breakfast.” her clear excitement about the breakfast alone makes you smile, easing the tough morning from a lack of sleep.

jacob leans over you, “please tell me you’re driving with me and janine, please.”

you turn to face him with a sarcastically large smile, “will you play your podcasts?”

“of course,” jacob says with an excited tone.

matching his excitement, you shake your head, “no!” melissa and barbara snort, poorly covering their laughs. “i will be gladly driving, and rooming, alone,” you say with a gentle pat to jacob’s shoulder.

the middle of the day rolls around, and you and melissa have lunch duty together. you mostly just chat with one another while you watch over the kids, sharing a bag of apple slices from the fruit and vegetable cart.

“you sure you don’t wanna drive to the hotel with me and barb? we got room, plus we gotta plan,” melissa says through a bite of apple.

“plan for- elias please get the carrot out of your nose- plan for what?” you asked.

she looks at your incredulously, “plan for pecsa weekend, sweetheart. hot tub, pool, drinks, repeat. those plans.”

the pet name almost knocked the wind out of you, she said it with such ease. her green eyes looked into yours as she said it, called you sweetheart. you blink a couple times in an attempt to clear your mind to answer, “uh, yeah, yeah. sure. should i meet you or are y’all just picking me up?”

“i’ll pick you up, don’t worry about it,” she says with a look in her eyes you can’t quite decipher. you don’t get enough time to even try before her teacher senses kicked in and she yells across the room, “kamal don’t even think about throwing that yogurt!”

—

packing for one weekend isn’t hard, right? right? your sanity was fleeting as you tried to choose between two different pairs of black pants, holding up your button up to compare it between the two. this shouldn’t be hard. before you can start tearing your hair out, there’s a knock at your door. you open the door to see melissa, who lets herself in.

“how did you get in the building?” you asked as you started walking back down to your room, she hadn’t pressed your buzzer.

she answers as she follows you, “just pressed a bunch of buttons until i heard it unlock.”

“why’d i even ask?” you laugh. you stare at the pants again, hoping melissa’s presence could spark a decision.

melissa can see in your rigid posture, and thumbnail in your mouth being chewed on, that you’re frustrated. she perches her chin on your shoulder, looking at your choices. they’re almost identical, except one is straight-legged and the other is tapered at the ankle. she doesn’t quite understand why it’s stressing you out so much, but she doesn’t question it. the hand not resting on your arm points to the straight-legged ones.

she hears you hum in agreement, leaning just barely away from her hold to pick up and fold the pants, placing them in the bag next to you on the bed. she pulls away from you to let you roam about the room and get the rest of your things. she takes note that you’re a very organized packer, everything had a place and an order. she smiled when you gave yourself a thumbs up when you zipped your bag.

the drive to pick up barbara was short, but you both spoke the whole way through. you decided by the fourth stop sign that melissa’s laugh was the best sound you’d ever heard.

the rest the of drive, you stayed pretty quiet. you mostly listened to melissa and barbara talk, their banter was your favorite reality show. curled up in the passenger seat facing melissa, you could easily talk to and hear both her and barbara. you especially enjoyed the uninterrupted view of melissa as she drove, sunlight tracing her green eyes and pink lips.

at every red light, melissa made it a point to look at you, but each time you were already looking.

—

the pecsa party was definitely much more crazy this year. the rise in legendary charter schools meant a rise in their ‘teachers,’ as melissa often liked to put in air quotes. after the first round of math-aritas, you’d lost sight of gregory and janine, jacob never having shown up to the party in the first place. after another round of, tequila had to be taken out of the equation for your own sake (and memory).

“okay, i’m getting an appletini, you want another drink?” you say to melissa, eyeing her nearly empty glass. she nods, her eyes staying on you as you ask barbara, “another math-arita?”

“oooo, yes. make sure they actually do a sugar rim this time,” she replies.

you turn back to melissa, “vodka cran?”

she smiles, “you reading my mind?”

“i wish,” you answer as you get up to to walk to the bar. you miss the soft, wondering look on melissa’s face, but her eyes never leave you.

“wipe the drool off your chin, schemmenti,” barbara teases from beside her. melissa only gives her a look that says the fuck you for her. she doesn’t fight it other than that, she knows how she looks at you. the pine colored satin shirt did not help, nor did the top few buttons being undone, or the rolled up sleeves. sometimes she felt like her eyes were made to look at you.

—

weaving your way to the bar seemed like an incredibly difficult task with the liquor in your system, but you prevailed. with your three drinks ordered, all you had to do was wait. you sit at the bar with your back against the counter, scrolling through your phone as you waited.

“hey,” a deep voice says. you look up and are greeted with the sight of a guy your age with dark eyes and tan skin. his name tag gives away his addington allegiance.

“hi,” you say dismissively.

he sticks his hand out with confidence, “andreas, addington charter.”

you don’t shake his hand, instead crossing your arms, “not interested, abbott elementary.”

you spin in your seat to face the bar, pointedly ignoring him. your efforts prove fruitless when he slides up next to you, “so you’re just gonna ignore me? that’s not very nice, sweetheart.”

“never said i was nice. and don’t call me sweetheart,” you snap. only one person in the world could call you that, and it wasn’t the personification of axe body spray next to you. you turn your seat again, attempting to get away from him. his hand stops the seat, turning you back towards him with a white knuckle grip.

“come on, don’t be like that. i’m just trynna talk to you,” he says with a sweet voice, but the look in his eyes and his hand crawling to your thigh tell you otherwise.

“and i’m just trying to get drinks for my friends, not talk to high school dropouts,” you say, your own vice grip on the counter. his arm caged you to the bar and his grip on your leg made it impossible to escape.

the nerves coursing through your veins come to a halt when a familiar touch across your shoulders. soft lips with sticky gloss press against your temple with a mumbled, “go with it.”

your face turns to see melissa with a stone cold look on her face, quite the opposite of her gentle touch. she does a once over of andreas before deciding he wasn’t worth her time. her attention falls back to you, face relaxed and eyes focused on you entirely.

“hi,” you say softly, unable to take your eyes away from hers.

“hey, sweetheart,” her eyes flicker to the hand gripping your seat, “who’s your friend?” you can feel the anger and sarcasm dripping in her words even with the smile on her face.

“lady, do you mind?” andreas says, gesturing between you and him. melissa’s arm around your shoulder pulls you in tighter despite his hand still on the seat. your arm wraps around her waist, hand caressing her waist.

“i do, i mind you touching what’s mine,” melissa practically growls, her free hand practically ripping his off of you.

andreas laughs heartily, “yours? like you could get that.”

“that is sitting right here,” you huff, leaning more into melissa. her hand slides from your shoulder to the back of your neck, thumb gently grazing the hairs at the base of your neck. you turn to look up at her, god how easy she could just lean down and press her lips to yours.

“she serious?” andreas asks you.

“clearly, dipshit,” you answer with a dry tone. your next words fall out on their own accord, “been hers since the day i met her.” you make it a point to keep your focus on him instead of melissa, afraid she might see the truth of your words in your eyes.

he sits up more, defensive in body language and tone, “i thought we were gonna have a good time tonight.”

“we will,” melissa says as the bartender places your drinks on the counter, “but you have fun with your socks and lotion.” she hands you your drink, then grabs hers and barbara’s and begins to walk away.

barbara is so excited about her drink, she hardly noticed the prolonged absence. the three of you sip on your drinks, though you’re about a half-step from downing yours in one go. melissa’s eyes watch you, paying attention to the nervous tapping on your fingers on the stem of the glass, the way your eyes flick around as you think.

“be back in a few minutes barb,” she says as she hoists you up by your arm. melissa pulls you off to the side, away from the crowd of people. she’s so close to you that her perfume fills your senses, making it hard to listen to her.

“you okay?” she asks, eyes scanning over you with worry.

you nod despite it making you dizzy as the action mixes with the alcohol, “yeah, yeah. thank you.” melissa’s words from earlier are the only things playing through your head as you speak. the possessive nature she so easily took on, referring to you as hers.

“then why are you all… not here?” she asks. you internally curse her for being able to read you so well.

“it’s nothing, i promise. let’s just go back,” you try to pull away, but her gentle hand holds yours.

“what is it?” she insists, but there’s an underlying concern written on her face.

you watch her eyes flick between yours, like she’s trying to pulling the words from you. she’s so close, her breath fanning across your lips, her fingers laced with yours. her beauty was so beyond you, utterly infinite. you settle with your heart instead of your mind, finally muttering, “i meant it.”

she tilts her head down to meet your fallen gaze, “meant what, sweetheart?” god, there is was again.

“what i said,” it’s hardly an answer, she deserves a better answer.

she’s silent for a second, you know she’s playing the interaction back in her mind. your heartbeat skips when she cups your face, forcing you to stare into olive seas.

“about you being mine?” she asks quietly. for the first time in the five years you’d known her, she’s never been so timid.

all you can muster is a nod, scared of what you may say. you don’t have time to ponder much before her lips press against yours, then quickly pulling away. she doesn’t make it far when your hands come up to her wrists to pull her back in. your kiss is stronger than hers was, but she’s quick to give you everything she has.

your back hits the wall behind you, giving melissa more freedom to press herself into you, hands sliding from your face to your hips. you take this chance to cup her cheeks, pulling her as close as you could, needing her there. her tongue traces your bottom lip, asking for invitation only to be accepted without thought. her hands, her lips, her tongue, she was quickly becoming an addiction.

melissa thought she may be dreaming, but your hand shifting into her hair makes her change her mind. if this wasn’t real, she didn’t want to wake up. she desperately needed air but that way your tongue moved against hers was just too good to give up. almost thankfully, your lips left hers, only to pull her closer so you could duck into her neck, kissing her neck a few times before pulling away.

your forehead rested against hers, not wanting to leave this moment. her hands had found their way underneath your shirt, fingers dancing across the skin of your torso, her rings cold against your warm skin. footsteps coming closer break the peace that had settled between you two.

melissa’s head pokes out, and with one look, the steps recede back again. all she says in explanation is, “fucking idiot.” when she turns back, you’re already looking, as always.

the lust-dazed look on your face sends a fire through her veins. the image of you blurs around the edges, and she has to give into the fact the drinks were strong and as much as she craved you, you were both drunk. your eyes indicate that you’re having the same thought process, but your fingers in her hair tell her that you’re not willing to be far from her. and god, the feeling was incredibly mutual.

“you still rooming alone?” melissa asks blissfully.

you nod, “big ass bed, big ass tv.” melissa smiles and pulls you close to her side as she leads you to the elevators.

—

hard morning sunlight plunged into your eyes, waking you from a deep slumber. a groan behind you alerts you to the presence in your bed, the soft movement of a hand across your ribs brings memories of the night before back to you. though you and melissa didn’t have sex, the night was spent with the tv playing quietly as you touched, kissed, and traced the curves of her body. you could still feel her lips trailing down your chest, nipping and sucking on sensitive skin.

the reminder of the drinks came the second you tried to turn and face melissa. a sharp headache ripped through you, making you whine and bury your face in the pillow.

“check out’s at ten,” melissa rasps.

you turn to her despite the pain in your head, leaning into her touch and mumbling, “what time’s it now?”

“nine. i gotta head back to my room and shower and change,” you can feel the reluctance in her tone.

“and check on barb,” you chuckle, “three math-aritas might’ve incriminated her for all we know.”

melissa chuckles, pressing a kiss to the corner of your lips, “i’ll meet you downstairs?”

“yeah,” you mumble as you press your lips to hers, needing as much as you can get before she leaves.

it doesn’t occur to you that melissa didn’t have a change of clothes in your room last night until she rose up only wearing your sleep shirt and panties. your mind stalls as your eyes stay glued to her, completely taken aback by the sight as she changes into her dress from last night. she notices your trance and smirks, lifting your face with a finger below your chin. she admired you before pressing a light kiss to your lips.

“bye,” she mumbles before heading out, you just stare as she leaves. you’re left staring at the door for a moment, racking your brain to find what you did to deserve her. please don’t let this be a dream.

thank you for the request <3 i hope you like this one anon :)

feedback appreciated as always

[gifsbysimplysonia]

I had to pause and laugh after that last line cuz her FACE and BODY LANGUAGE were just so good lolz like she was being a total utter child but it was so honest and I just ... love.

[milfjuulpod]

Guidance

a new job as a guidance counselor lands you at Abbott Elementary, and it doesn’t take long for a certain redhead to catch your attention.

The morning air was surprisingly enjoyable, August bringing out comfortable weather again. It was Monday, the first day of your new job. Luckily for you, students weren’t coming back for another week, giving you time to get used to the new environment and plan out the school year. The steps up to Abbott Elementary were short, and you took a deep breath in before entering. The halls were filled with character, drawings from students and back to school posters flooded the white walls. Finding your way to the principal’s office, you decided to introduce yourself. 

       To your surprise, the office was empty. Lights off, and no personal items found, you assumed she hasn’t arrived yet. “If you’re looking for Ava she won’t be here for at least—” You turned around at the sound of a woman’s voice, her accent thick and attitude evident. She stopped speaking once she looked up from her phone and met your gaze, eyes scanning your whole body. “Who are you?” She asked bluntly. “I’m the new guidance counselor, sorry I was just looking for Ms. Coleman,” You gestured back to the empty room. 

       “Nice try. She’ll be here in a couple hours.” Uninterested in the conversation, the redhead started walking away from you. “Good luck, kid,” She said as she fully left your view. She didn’t leave your mind, though. Disappointed at the lack of direction, you decided to retreat to your new office and start setting things up for the week to come. 

-

       By the following Monday, you had met most of the staff, made some plans for the year, and were excited to finally meet the students. You found yourself in a little friend circle with Jacob, Janine, and Gregory. All of them were sweet in their own ways, and they were quick to accept you in (mostly Janine). A few other teachers were a different story. Barbara was incredibly sweet, but she seemed distant. You didn’t take it personally, from what you’ve heard, not many people stay too long at Abbott, and she was probably expecting you to be gone by next year. Nonetheless, Barbara was always kind. And then there was Melissa, the first person you met. She was…different. Outwardly tough, internally soft-hearted. You still couldn’t tell whether or not she trusted you yet, but you doubt she did. She kept her guard up, and made her disdain for “newbies” quite obvious. 

      Right before the lunch bell, there was a knock at your door. In waltzed Ava, with a student in tears by her side. “Hey gorgeous, this little man has been pestering students all morning long, but last year was a totally different story. Kid had friends in all grades!” She explained, keeping a hand on the student’s shoulder. “That’s alright, come sit down honey,” You said gently to the student, and smiled a goodbye to Ava. As she exited, she left your door propped open. Distracted by helping the student in front of you, it went unnoticed. But to a certain Italian, it was certainly noticed. Melissa took her time walking the halls, listening in on you working with a student. As she got closer, she realized it was her student, and that was enough of an excuse as any to allow herself in. She definitely didn’t want to go in just to watch you in your element. 

       “And Aniyah? Is she still your friend?” You asked the child in front of you, still unaware of the visitor you had. You turned around to grab a book, and when you faced the front again, you saw her. “Oh! Ms. Schemmenti, hi. Is this your student?” You asked. “Yeah, that one’s mine. And Melissa is fine,” She told you, smiling small, but it was there nonetheless. Maybe she did like you after all. 

       Melissa decided to sit in on your session with her student, which certainly didn’t help your nerves. Maybe she’s just protective, you thought to yourself. The minutes passed slowly, every so often you would look at Melissa to find her already looking at you. It was like that the whole time, her green eyes watching your every move while her perfect lips stayed tight together. It wasn’t until the bell rang again that she spoke. 

       “I’ll take him back with me. You were good today with him, he doesn’t talk much to new people. I’m impressed,” She complimented you, and you tried your best to not let it go to your head. “Thank you, that means a lot coming from you. Have a good rest of your day guys,” You waved goodbye to the student and teacher, and couldn’t help but watch Melissa leave and chat with her student. It had only been a week, and you were wrapped completely around her finger. 

[jeridandridge]

Haaaaay, hope you're having a good day!

I had a prompt if you're feeling it! (Totally cool of you're not 😁) Ava squeezes some funds out of the superintendent for a team building weekend at a cabin in the mountains. Teacher!reader and melissa have been together for a minute (or it can be new 🤷‍♀️) but no one else knows. They get put together to share a room. They're excited (as excited as you can be for a "work trip/getaway" with your coworkers lol) until they have a huge fight either before or at the cabin. But before either of them can try to leave the situation, the group gets snowed in.

Angsty but with a happy ending maybe? Feel free to change whatever you want!

☆*~Thank yoooou ~*☆♡♡♡

I had so much fun with this! Thank you for the request 🩷 I hope you saw my media post for the day after 😉

Snow Storms

“Get ready yall! Load out is in ten minutes!”

It was far too early for Ava to be actually excited about something, but you were happy to see everyone amped up. Somehow Ava managed to get funds from the district for a team building weekend and now here you were, outside of Abbott on a Saturday morning before the sun is up.

When you see Melissa pull into the parking lot you hide a smile in your coffee cup. The relationship was still new enough where no one knew about your cozy bubble, you small smiles and hidden glances at school and all your dates and nights spent together.

“Are you ready to par-tay?!” Janine does a little dance next to you.

You let out a laugh putting your hand in your pocket. “I’ll let you know when I fully wake up.”

“Hey, hon, pipsqueak,” Melissa nods to you and Janine. Giving her a friendly smile you nod back.

“Are you ready for the trip Melissa? I hope we’re roomies!” Janine beams.

Melissa looks horrified and you can’t help but laugh.

It was going to be an interesting weekend. On the bus ride to the Poconos you sit across the aisle from Barb and Melissa, giving her an amused smile when she winks at you.

“Alright yall, I’m giving room assignments before I forget,” Ava stands up looking at the group. “There’s only one single room, so that’s mine. Janine you’re with Barb, Melissa, you’re with the young blood, and Jacob you’re with Gregory. I’d put myself with Mr Eddie but this is a school sanctioned trip” she smirks. Gregory looks terrified as usual.

Rooming with Melissa would be difficult for you on this trip, especially since you love how cute she looks in her pajamas. It’ll be hard to keep your hands to yourself. Your girlfriend must notice your blush because that’s when she decides to tease you.

“Hey hon, you better not snore.” She shoots you a look across the aisle.

“Don’t worry, Schemmenti. I’m a great roommate.”

-

Two hours later your eyes go wide when you see the place you’d be staying in. The cabin is a nice one and you have no idea how Ava managed to get something like it. It’s a two story perched far back off the rode just near the ski slope. There’s a fine dusting of snow on the ground, not quite enough to enjoy the area fully.

As everyone grabs their bags for the overnight stay you hang back playfully nudging Melissa’s shoulder with a smirk. “Lucky me, huh?” You tell her quietly.

“You’re lucky, girlfriend.” Barbara looks to Melissa almost exhausted already.

“I’d tell you it won’t be so bad but, I can’t do that.” You laugh watching Janine and Jacob interact.

Inside the massive cabin everyone brings their bags in and finds their room. As soon as the door shuts your back is pushed against the dark wood and sweet, glossy lips are pressed against yours.

Smirking against her lips you snake your arms around her neck running your fingers through auburn strands.

“Mmm, Mel, don’t start something you can’t finish.” You smirk meeting sparkling green eyes. Melissa playfully growls squeezing your backside.

“This giant house, no one would hear a thing, Tesoro.”

Laughing you push yourself off the door. “C’mon, rain check until later. I wanna see what Ava has in mind for team building.” You smile. “I’m a little scared actually.”

Melissa playfully swats your butt, wiping the corner of her lips with that devilish smirk you love so much.

-

After a few hours of get to know you activities and dinner you stand by the large window overlooking the ski hill watching the snow come down.

“Are we sure this is gonna stop sometime soon? Because this is coming down.” You worry.

“Uh yeah about that,” Jacob sits up on his phone, “That snow storm shifted and we’re getting hit.” He says holding his phone out.

Ava looks at the phone horrified. “I’m gonna be stuck here for more than 24 hours with you people?!”

“Could be worse. At least we’re all sorta friends.” He shrugs. “Why don’t we start one of the activities?”

As the snowfall gets heavier and the sun goes down you get a little nervous at how much there actually is.

“What’s wrong, hon?” Melissa asks plopping down beside you on the large sofa. Quirking a brow you look around at the group spread around the room enjoying themselves.

shoulder to shoulder with the redhead you hum. “I don’t know how long I can last snowed in up here,”

Melissa nods patting your knee. “Don’t worry, hon. I’m here.” She smiles.

“Ooo cutie alert, what’s goin on here?” Ava smirks pointing between the two of you.

“Sitting, talking. Normal human interaction.” You shoot back at your friend.

“Nah, yall are cozy.”

“Ava, they’re simply sitting together. Besides, Melissa has a dinner invitation from Gary.” Barb smiles proudly.

Hearing this bit of new information has you quirking a brow, fuming on the inside. You pretend to find a spot on the coffee table very interesting as your mind runs wild. Why would Melissa hide that from you? You knew the vending machine guy had a thing for Mel, he had eyes of course, eyes that lingered too long sometimes. You hated him.

“Barb, I already told ya, it ain’t gonna happen.”

The air in the room suddenly feels tense, the fire in the room making you sweat. You’ve already blocked about the conversation happening as you get up sliding swiftly out of the room.

At the front door you slide on your boots and the nearest coat going out to the front walkway, letting out a shaky breath as the cold hits your cheeks and the snow gets in your eyes. Letting out a breath you tip your head up watching the snowflakes come down.

“Why did she go outside?” Ava shrugs watching Melissa run for the door.

“Tesoro, get back in here!” Melissa yells down the long driveway as she jogs towards you. You can’t do anything but scoff, eyes on the

“Go inside, Melissa.”

“No. Get over here and talk to me.”

You can see her shiver in her sweater out of the corner of your eye and you almost reach over to pull her close to you.

“Why didn’t you tell me Gary asked you out?”

“Hon,” Melissa sighs with a shrug. “I didn’t think it was important.”

“Not important.” You laugh. “You know I hate the guy and how he talks to you. So yeah, it’s important to me. Is that also why you don’t wanna tell anyone we’re together? Make sure you still have back ups if this doesn’t work out?” You play dirty when you’re mad, and you feel like she deserves it.

Melissa’s nose is red and her arms are crossed as the wind whips. “That’s not it at all! You know I love you.”

Shaking your head you put your hands in your pockets. She’d never said those words before but you knew. It didn’t change the fact that she hid something like that from you.

“Yeah, well maybe if you can’t tell people we’re together and can’t turn a man down when he asks you on a date, this isn’t a good idea.”

Melissa’s shoulders deflate and her lips part. “You don’t mean that.” She lets out.

Jaw clenched, your eyes burning from a mix of tears and the wind you stand completely silent for a moment before the sound of crunching snow sounds from underneath your boots as you go.

Huffing behind you Melissa follows close by back to the cabin. “Are you really not gonna talk to me?”

“I’ll talk to you, Melissa. We’re talking right now.” You shiver looking at the front door, Barbara nearby through the glass.

“Are you breaking up with me?”

Spinning on your heels Melissa almost jumps back, looking at you with tears in her eyes.

“I don’t know.” You answer honestly. The look in her eyes is enough to make your heart ache, but you won’t back down.

Melissa looks behind you, Ava and Janine are practically pushed on the glass watching you both while Barbara tries to pull them away.

“You want them to know?” Melissa asks, confusion written on your face.

“What are you-“

Before you finish your sentence, your girlfriend wraps her arms around your neck pulling you into a soft kiss. The chill from her nose hits your skin and her soft lips warm you up instantly. Putting your hands in your pockets you grin against her lips wrapping her into your coat.

The warm bubble you two created makes you forget where you are and why you were so mad.

“I told yall! I told yall they were together!” Ava yells from the door.

Breaking the kiss you rest your forehead against hers.

“Well played, Schemmenti.” You smirk.

“I love you, Tesoro. I’m sorry.”

“I really do love you, Mel.”

Going back inside, you’re teased mercilessly by Ava and gushed over Barbara. Team building weekends aren’t so bad.

[andipxndy-writes]

birthday surprises

fandom: abbott elementary

warnings: none

requested by: @abbottwritersclub prompt!!

word count: 3.6k

cross-posted to ao3

summary: “I can’t believe Barbara didn’t like the idea of a birthday party,” Janine muttered. Glancing at her, Gregory had to force down the thought that she looked cute like that — with her chin in her palm and her curls framing her face like that. “We had everything planned perfectly, even down to music we thought she’d like…”

“I even got her a really great cake,” Jacob added.

“You got her name spelled wrong,” Gregory pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean the cake didn’t taste good.”

Or, what happened in the aftermath of the After School Squad planning a party for the one and only Barbara Howard.

birthday surprises

Being scolded was never fun. It had been a horrid part of Gregory’s childhood, and he’d hated every incidence of scolding with every single fibre of his being. And considering the kind of person his father was, he’d ended up being scolded and told off more often than he’d been praised for actually trying. That was his life. That had been his childhood. In a way, it was how his relationship with his father had continued into adulthood. It wasn’t something he was proud of.

But now?

Now he somehow felt worse than every single time he’d been scolded in his childhood.

Maybe it was more the fact that he was being scolded by someone he had not only looked up to, but had also looked to him and respected him in his own environment. It wasn’t as though he had to try to earn their respect. He’d just been himself, trying to be the best teacher he could to all of these kids. He was being scolded by someone who was like a parent to him at school, who gave him all of the advice that he needed to be the best teacher that he could.

And yet, in trying to be the best teacher that he could be to his kids, and being the best friend he could be to Janine and Jacob, he’d let down the person he’d been helping them to try and celebrate anyway.

In other words, they had managed to infuriate Barbara fantastically. Like, he was very sure that no one had managed to anger Barbara that much before just by trying to throw her a birthday party. Granted, he wasn’t sure that anyone had tried to throw her a birthday party before, and certainly not in her classroom.

Maybe she hadn’t been able to completely show how angry she was, considering she was in front of all her kids and they’d been incredibly excited at the idea of having a party for their teacher because it was her birthday, but Gregory could tell. Gregory was keen enough to tell when someone was angry with him. That had been his whole childhood, after all. Avoiding the anger and trying to stay on his father’s good side—

Oh, now he was just dwelling on his past. Nope, that wouldn’t do.

It didn’t take him long to climb the stairs up to the second floor, using his long legs to take the stairs at least two at a time, but then he was on the upper floor and rounding into the staff room — with all of the kids in gym class in the hall (which was being led by one of the gym teachers and meant that everyone else could get a break whilst multiple games were being sorted out for them all), the hallways were all practically empty, and that was perfect for getting from Barbara’s classroom to the staff room without much, if any, issue. Walking into the staff room, he headed straight for his usual table over by the window, sitting in his usual seat with his back to the rest of the room. Leaving, of course, the window seat for Janine, and the seat facing away from the couches for Jacob. Their usual seating. Nothing  changed, nothing different, nothing new. Just normal. Perfectly normal.

The look that Melissa gave him from her seat on the next table over, where she’d pulled out her phone to scroll through whatever messages she had whilst drinking her coffee, made Gregory want to squirm a little. She knew. He was very sure that she knew. And he was also sure that Barbara hadn’t had the chance to tell her yet, which meant that she was definitely some sort of psychic that knew everything anyway.

Oh he was so very screwed.

That was the point at which Jacob and Janine, both of them with shorter legs than he had, entered the staff room as well. And whilst Gregory had hoped that he was at least able to mask his disappointment in the whole situation and how it had turned out in the end, he could see for a fact that Janine and Jacob were considerably worse at hiding their true feelings on the situation. Which meant that people could see how they were feeling.

And with both of them seemingly feeling the same way? They were going to get questions, he knew it.

The two of them joining him at their usual table, in their usual spots, simply meant that he was going to get the questions as well.

It certainly didn’t help that as soon as the two of them sat down, their elbows were on the table and their chins were in their palms. And somehow, somehow, they managed to sigh simultaneously. Which did not help Gregory’s whole idea to try and seem like they hadn’t done anything wrong.

“I can’t believe Barbara didn’t like the idea of a birthday party,” Janine muttered. Glancing at her, Gregory had to force down the thought that she looked cute like that — with her chin in her palm and her curls framing her face like that. “We had everything planned perfectly, even down to music we thought she’d like…”

“I even got her a really great cake,” Jacob added.

“You got her name spelled wrong,” Gregory pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean the cake didn’t taste good.”

It took all of Gregory’s willpower not to point out that the misspelling of her name probably ruined the whole sentimentality behind getting her the birthday cake.

“Maybe we should’ve asked her before deciding to try and throw her a surprise birthday party in her classroom,” Janine sighed.

“I’m sorry. What did you do?”

Melissa’s voice suddenly appearing behind Gregory was enough to make all three of them jump sky high, three heads swivelling towards her. She stood behind them with her arms folded, staring the three of them down with a look that Gregory was very sure she mostly reserved for her second graders.

He knew for a fact that it would work on them too, and if anything, it was working very well in that exact moment.

Janine was the first to cave.

“Well, it’s Barbara’s birthday,” she started, and that seemed to be enough for Melissa to get the gist of what had happened.

“Please tell me you didn’t throw her a party.”

There was a brief moment of silence.

“There was confetti,” Janine admitted. “And balloons.”

“And cake,” Jacob added.

“You got her name spelled wrong on the cake,” Gregory muttered.

“That wasn’t me! I gave the bakery the right spelling!”

Gregory didn’t need to be looking over his shoulder to know that Melissa was trying very hard not to just… let her head fall into her hands. He knew this because he would be doing the same thing if he were in her position, just watching how the three of them could wreck something up that badly.

And then, suddenly, there was the screech of a chair’s legs being dragged across the floor, and Gregory turned to see Melissa pulling her seat over to their table. He quickly scooted aside to make room for her, watching as Jacob did the same, and he couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated when she seemingly made herself welcome at their table.

But only a little.

“Okay, so, before I start, I wanna get one thing straight,” Melissa started, making eye contact with all of them at the table. “What possessed you, any of you, to throw Barbara a party?”

Gregory expected Janine to respond to the question and save him from explaining how it hadn’t originally been his idea, he’d just followed Janine (because she was cute, and he wanted to). She did not disappoint.

“Well, you know…” Janine started, mumbling something to herself before looking Melissa in the eyes. “You guys… well, Barbara mostly, you always do something for your kids on their birthdays. Like, giving them little treats, or maybe your classroom does something fun for the day. I just thought that it would be fun for the kids to know that their teachers also have birthdays, and it’s nice to celebrate everyone.”

“Yeah,” Jacob chimed in. “And we also wanted to give the kids a fun little way to wind down. Because it’s the end of the school year, and they’ve worked so hard—”

“That’s what the field trips are for,” Melissa cut in.

Jacob promptly shut his mouth.

And then Melissa’s eyes were on Gregory, and he froze, his eyes wide. She was also expecting him to say something. And his answer obviously could not be, ‘I wanted to impress Janine so I helped her because I can reach things up high.’

He glanced at the other two, who were clearly waiting for him to speak, before clearing his throat and looking back at Melissa. “Well… like Janine said… you guys do a lot for the kids. We all do. So we wanted the kids to have a chance to appreciate one of their teachers on a day that wasn’t just Teacher Appreciation.” He paused for the briefest of moments. “And a birthday is a good day to celebrate anyone.”

He heard Janine and Jacob’s nods of agreement more than he could see them.

Melissa looked between the three teachers, before leaning more on the table. “Look, do you know why we don’t throw birthday parties for the teachers with the kids?”

“Because you want to keep your lives private?” Gregory asked.

“Because you want to keep the kids focused?” Janine asked.

“Because you know that throwing a party for the kids ends up with a lot of trash and waste in resources?” Jacob asked.

Gregory was very sure that the look he gave Jacob was the least puzzled look, and his was very puzzled.

“Okay, you’re the furthest from the right answer,” Melissa pointed to Jacob. “No gold sticker for you. But you two,” she pointed to Gregory and Janine, “are close.”

“Do we get gold stickers?” Janine asked. From the look in her eyes, Gregory honestly couldn’t tell whether she was being serious or not.

From the look in Melissa’s eyes, she was barely holding back a comment that would definitely make Janine look like a kicked puppy.

“We try not to get the kids too involved in our lives, because when we do, that opens the door to us bringing down that barrier between home and work. We leave our home things at home, and put on our work personalities and keep them on until we step out of those doors at the end of the day.”

“Even with birthdays?” Janine asked, her brows furrowed in concern. “Because everyone deserves to have their birthday celebrated.”

“And not everyone wants to have their celebrated. Did you think about that?”

Gregory very quickly realised that none of them thought about that.

Melissa breathed out through her nose, pursing her lips. “Alright, look,” she started, looking between all three of them. “I fully understand that you three were trying to do a good thing. And it was a good thing you were trying to do. Your hearts are in the right place, for the kids… and for us.” Gregory almost felt as though she had to force those words out of her mouth and ignore the side of her that was saying not to boost their egos too much. “But did any of you even ask whether Barbara wanted a birthday party? Whether she wanted her birthday celebrated at all?”

Gregory knew that he hadn’t, and he had a very strong feeling that Janine and Jacob hadn’t either.

“You went into her classroom and threw her a party that she didn’t even want, and now you’re sitting here wondering why she’s upset?”

Janine’s lips pursed. “Maybe… maybe we overstepped some boundaries.”

“You think?” Melissa pushed herself to her feet, about to turn and head back over to her table, when she paused. “Look, I’m not gonna tell you three how to fix this, because I’m pretty sure you can work that out for yourselves, but I’m really hoping you guys remember the importance of consent over surprises next time. Because some surprises, just ain’t nice surprises.” She gave each of them a look, before finally shifting her chair back over to her own table and sitting down.

Gregory turned to the other two — Janine, who was biting her lip, and Jacob who had his fist pressed to his mouth. Somehow the two of them had an incredible amount of guilt on their faces. Sure, he also felt guilty but… those two…

“We’ve got to apologise to her,” Jacob muttered. “Give her something to say we’re sorry. Like—”

“We’re not getting her another cake, Jacob,” Janine cut him off, the guilt in her eyes making way for slight irritation.

(Gregory had to admit he had to try not to smile at that.)

***

Even though they’d all wanted to apologise to Barbara, all three of them were aware that Barbara not only had her class with her, but their own classes would be returning from the gym soon. And return they did, because as soon as they decided they would go and apologise to Barbara, the bell rang, and they were all heading back to their classrooms with their kids.

Watching his kids chatting and doing their work together, Gregory sat at his desk, thinking. Leaning back in his chair. Chin on his fist. He didn’t usually let his mind wander during class, but for some reason he just couldn’t stop thinking about how he needed to find a way to apologise to Mrs. Howard. Maybe it had been the look on Janine’s face when she realised she’d overstepped (after all that time she’d spent practicing how not to do exactly that); or maybe it was how excited they’d all been beforehand about doing something for someone who had helped them out a whole lot, only for it to backfire. By the time the bell rang to signal the end of the day, though, he’d had more than enough time to think on his actions and how they’d led to the experienced consequences.

He was going to apologise as soon as all of his kids had left for the day.

Heading over to his door and opening it, he was watching his kids pack up when he heard it.

Music. Coming from down the corridor.

He frowned as he popped his head out of the classroom, looking around before meeting Janine’s eyes. She looked just as puzzled.

“Where is that music coming from?” she asked, the two of them idly letting their kids pass out of their classrooms and head home for the day. If anything, Gregory wished their little legs could move that bit faster so that he could go and investigate, when he realised something. He looked over his shoulder towards Barbara’s classroom.

Her doors were still shut, even with some of the parents already heading in to collect their kids.

He turned back to Janine with raised eyebrows, and the look on her face pretty much mirrored his. He wanted to ask what was going on, but he knew that Janine also wanted to ask what was going on, and neither of them would find out until their kids were gone and they could head down to her classroom.

Which is exactly what ended up happening about ten minutes later. Parents of the kindergarteners were either milling about outside the classroom or were inside the classroom itself by the time they got there, but taking a peek into the classroom, Gregory couldn’t help but smile a little.

Barbara Howard was standing by her desk, chatting with a couple of the parents, with a paper crown on her head. Kids were, obviously, dancing around her classroom and playing with the balloons they’d blown up earlier, and Gregory was very sure that the small paper plates on the tables had had cake on them — though, by this point, all of the cake had been eaten and was either smeared all over the kids’ faces or on the tables themselves, which would obviously be very fun to clean. What hit him most, though, was the fact that everyone was chatting and smiling and there was not a single worksheet out on either Barbara’s desk or any of the kids’ tables.

They hadn’t done any work. They’d had a party.

Feeling Janine nudge him excitedly, he smiled down at her.

Maybe they’d upset Barbara earlier, but it looked like her plan had worked.

It took them a bit of time to get into the classroom, past all the parents and their kids milling about the place, but once they got in Barbara was on her own, standing and watching everything going on. Gregory decided to approach her first, Janine hanging back a little.

“Hi, Mrs. Howard,” he greeted, and the older teacher raised an eyebrow at him. She had a smile on her face though, which made Gregory feel far less self-conscious about the raised eyebrow directed his way.

“Gregory,” she greeted simply, and then she was also smiling at Janine. “Janine. What can I do for you both?”

“Well…” He glanced at Janine, who was now beside him and looked almost as nervous as he was feeling right then, and then he looked back at Barbara. “I… we just wanted to apologise. For overstepping earlier and deciding to throw you a birthday party without asking you first.”

“Yeah,” Janine added on, drawing Barbara’s attention to her. “We didn’t think about whether you actually wanted to celebrate your birthday or have a party, and we got everything ready without thinking about how you would feel. Especially since you probably had a lesson plan for the rest of the day that probably got derailed by us setting everything out for you, because the kids…”

Even as Janine trailed off, Gregory looked around. The kids that were still there looked like they were having a lot of fun, and absolutely wouldn’t be willing to sit down and do any work if Barbara asked them to. They were kindergarteners, and they’d found something fun.

And they were probably hyped up on sugar from the cake. (That frosting looked real sweet.)

“I appreciate the apology, from both of you.” Barbara’s words drew their gazes back to her, and she was smiling at them both — genuinely smiling, not politely teacher-smiling. “It’s much appreciated, truly.” She glanced around the classroom, at the children who were now heading out with their parents, at the excited mess that had been caused by children filled with cake playing with their toys everywhere and dancing on their makeshift dance floor, at the confetti that covered every surface and the few balloons left behind on the tables. There were a few moments where they stood there in silence, and then, “If I’m being completely honest, I appreciate what the three of you were trying to do here. The fact that you all thought of me and wanted to give me a special day is incredibly thoughtful of you all, truly.”

This time, as she looked around the classroom, Gregory noticed there was an almost wistful look in her gaze. “I honestly can’t remember the last time I celebrated my birthday with a party, if ever.”

“Did the kids bring you those sunflowers?”

Gregory followed Janine’s gaze to Barbara’s desk, where a vase with sunflowers sat, bright and yellow and happy.

Barbara chuckled as she glanced back at the vase herself. “Yes, they did. One of the children told their mother, and she brought in flowers on behalf of all the kids.” She sent both Janine and Gregory a look. “I wonder who told them to get me a present and what they could get me?”

Gregory couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face at that, and he didn’t need to look at Janine to know that she was absolutely beaming.

“Well, I… we are glad that you’ve enjoyed your birthday,” Gregory spoke up for both of them, his eyes flicking over towards Janine at the word “we”.

Janine was nodding enthusiastically beside him. “Yeah. Everyone deserves to have their birthday celebrated, and have their special day recognised, and you do so much for your kids that you deserve to have them do something for you.”

Barbara glanced around the classroom, before smiling kindly again at the two younger teachers. “Well, I’m very sure that we all enjoyed everything that happened today. The children had a wonderful time, and I…” She huffed out a small laugh. “I enjoyed watching them have fun. Thank you both for this whole idea.”

“You’re wel—”

“Oh my god, did they actually throw the party in here?”

Gregory looked over towards the doorway as Jacob’s voice floated into the room, and his expression of genuine surprise was clearly enough to make Barbara chuckle.

“I hear thanks are owed to you as well, Jacob,” Barbara called out as Jacob headed into the room and began looking around. All of the children had gone by this point, but as usual, all of the toys had been left out. Paper plates from when they’d been eating their slices of cake were still on all the tables. And music was still playing from when the children had been on their makeshift dance floor.

“Oh yeah!” Janine’s eyes widened excitedly. “Jacob got the cake! How did the kids find it?”

Gregory caught the way Barbara glanced between them and Jacob, as though she was trying to debate on how to phrase what she wanted to say. And then, of course, she decided to simply say it.

“The cake was lovely… but my name was spelled wrong…”

The snort Gregory gave in response to the comment was loud, admittedly, but the laughter that began to bubble from his throat as Jacob spluttered and tried to explain how it wasn’t his fault was louder and blended wonderfully with Janine’s own giggles.

[dontsh0vethesun]

the principal's favourite

masterlist

ava coleman x fem!reader

warnings: fluff, my poor attempt at humour ig? it was funny in my head :(, kissing, implied smut

word count: 1895

a/n: this is my first abbott fic so i'm still trying to get into the flow of writing for the characters

Though Gregory was beyond relieved that Ava’s flirtatious attention was finally directed elsewhere, he accompanied the rest of the staff with the shock at the sudden change in behaviour. It started on your first day at Abbott, a couple of nearing laughs in the hallway before the two of you entered the breakroom. 

Glances were exchanged throughout the room at the way Ava’s hand touched your arm and you thanked her for giving you the tour of the school. The way she smiled at you was different to any smile they’d ever seen her direct towards a colleague; it was soft and genuine and for once her attention was focused on you rather than mocking quips towards Janine. 

“Oh, Janine, I didn’t see you there. Back from The Shire already?” She laughed and you bit back an amused smile as you took the hand offered to you. 

“Hi, I’m Janine, it’s great to meet you.” She spoke, ignoring the comment from the woman beside you. 

It didn’t go totally unnoticed when Ava lingered as you had your introductions with the rest of the staff, rather than escaping to her office she sat beside you at the table not saying much but hanging on your every word. Melissa and Barbara shared a look at the way she laughed at something you said, a raise of eyebrows in silent communication. 

“I can show you to your classroom if you want - it’s across from mine so we’re neighbours. We can-”

“Janine, she doesn’t want you breathing all over her with your nasty excited toddler breath.” Ava grimaced as she stood from her seat and gestured for you to do the same. “I’ll show her. I can probably give you some tips to avoid an invite to a playdate or something.” She added to you in a whisper loud enough to be heard. 

You threw an apologetic smile to Janine as you left.

“Okay, what the hell was that?” Melissa spoke as soon as you were out of earshot. 

“Lord help that girl if Ava’s taken a liking to her.” Barbara answered. “We saw what happened to Gregory.”

–

“Good morning, Ava.” Janine greeted with a grin as she bounced into the breakroom on an early Monday morning, expecting little of a response. 

“Morning.” She responded without looking up, instead focussing on the mugs in front of her with a quick glance towards the doorway. Nobody said anything about her greeting, wary of causing her to backtrack and Janine was more than pleased. 

There’d been hushed conversations on the woman’s change over the past few weeks. Less of her energy was directed towards witty insults, her eyes chose to look at you instead of her phone and she sat talking with you at lunch. 

When Principal errands needed to be done she’d actually begun to complete them, even going so far as to bring her laptop with her to work on tasks beside you. 

You weren’t aware of the strangeness of her behaviour, how it had changed because of you and nobody had dared say anything. She was finally doing her job beyond sufficiently, they didn’t want to risk spoiling it. 

“Morning, everyone.” You spoke when you walked in and suddenly Ava’s eyes were on you, no longer ignoring the others in favour of her phone that she slipped into her pocket. 

“I didn’t even realise you weren’t here.” She spoke to which you scoffed, a sound that was mirrored by a few others in the room. 

“Sure.” You uttered with a roll of your eyes as you walked over to the coffee machine. “So this mug you’re nudging towards me isn’t mine? You didn’t make me a drink and wait patiently for me to get here?” You teased her. 

You were the only one that could make her stumble over her words the way she did, she’d never thought it would happen, that somebody could fluster her. But for the first time, she’d met her match and it often served as entertainment for the rest of the staff. 

“I just accidentally made two.” She shrugged with a laugh as though you’d said something foolish. “Anyway, it’s your first day with your double class and I have a meeting to get to. And by meeting I mean an under desk foot massage.” She spoke as she poured the sugar you handed her into her cup. “You best be waiting under my desk by the time I get there, Gregory, or you’re fired.” 

You didn’t hear the exasperated whisperings between Melissa and Barbara, the comments on her reverting back to the comments about Gregory. But you had made her realise that perhaps what she was harbouring was more than a workplace crush and rather some genuine feelings.

She’d made your coffee just as you like it and you sipped it as you stressed about the day ahead. Just like Melissa, you’d been given an extra class to teach but unlike her, you’re still waiting on a teacher’s aide.

So by the time your lunch break came around you were slumped over with your head in your hands and your fingertips massaging your temples in hopes it’d will away the throbbing in your skull. 

“Oh, hon, I can lend you Ashley for the afternoon. We can have shared custody.” Melissa softly spoke when she took a seat at your table. 

“I can try and figure something out, I don’t wanna leave you without help.”

“Maybe Ava will hurry along the search for an aide,” Barbara answered but you missed the smirk that pulled at her lips. “Considering the soft spot she has for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t be that dense, ya gagootz.” Melissa chuckled. “She’s like a totally different person when you’re around.” 

“She actually does her job, for one.”

“Mhm, and Gregory isn’t being harassed quite as much.”

“I am,” Janine interjected, “But it’s fine. I’m totally fine with it, y’know I’m probably starting to like it now, actually.”

“So what the hell did she used to do?” 

“Pretty much anything the principal shouldn’t be doing-”

“What’s going on in here? Some kind of boring, silent, convention?” Ava commented when she strutted her way in, noticing the way the room was hushed. “Oh, is it a silent disco situation? I hope Barb’s not in charge, I don’t think I can sexy dance to gospel.” 

“This one has a headache.” Melissa answered with a nod of her head in your direction, easily noticing the way the woman’s expression softened at the slight pout on your lips. 

“If only there was something the Lord could do to help, huh Barbara?” Janine added with a poke of her elbow into the woman’s side. You laughed lightly at the scowl she received though she reluctantly went along with the comment.

“He works in mysterious ways, Miss Teagues. I’m sure some help is on its way.”

“Actually, an aide is starting next week. So I suppose God did do her job.” Ava bragged with a flick of her hair. 

“That’s still a week of what I can only describe as the inner circle of hell.” You groaned. 

“I’ll help.”

“You’ll what?” A chorus of three sounded out, watching her roll her eyes. 

“I’ll be your assistant - for a week only.”

“Ava Coleman, you’re the best.” You grinned, hopping up from your seat to pull her into an appreciative hug. The feeling washed over her, the feeling of your arms wrapped around her body and her hands on your back. She smiled at your closeness only snapping her eyes open to scowl at the table of people behind you. 

When you asked her to come with you to prepare your classroom for the rest of the day she followed willingly.

“What is it that the kids say these days?” Barbara asked. “Whipped?”

– 

The two of you worked well together, you could bounce off one another with jokes and comments to amuse the children and you seemed to be the perfect pair to teach without much of a struggle. 

What had been an overwhelmingly loud heap of chaos this morning was transformed into an enjoyable afternoon, you even worked on a colouring page together at your desk. Of course she was adamant her side was the superior one, mocking the way you’d accidentally coloured outside of the lines a couple of times. 

Though you’d only smile the following day when you’d see it pinned to her office wall. 

“Thank you for today, Ava.” You smiled, she’d stayed behind after all the children had been dismissed home to help you tidy up.

“I actually had fun. I was kinda planning on scheduling fake meetings for the rest of the week to avoid it.”

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t. I think we’re a good team. And I don’t mind being in charge of you for a week.” 

“Don’t get used to it.” She scoffed, stepping towards where you’d perched on the edge of your desk. “Best believe it won’t be happening once the week is over.” 

You swallowed thickly at how close she was, at the way her voice lowered and her hand lay on your knee. 

“I can’t tell if you’re picking up what I’m putting down. Usually people are lining up for my attention - as they should be - so it’s hard to know if you’re somehow immune to all this.”

“I’m definitely not immune.” You murmured sheepishly, suddenly wishing you could exude the same confidence as her. A hand on your cheek stopped you from hiding your face, softer than you could’ve hoped with a thumb swiping over your bottom lip. 

“Obviously. I was just trying to be humble.”

You laughed at her words, so perfectly Ava, and pulled her closer with a hand on her waist. She caught herself with a hand on the desk beside you; you felt her breath against your lips, air tense and thick with the delicate scent of her perfume wrapping around you before you closed the space between you. 

She wasn’t gentle with the way she kissed you, claiming your lips with hers in the way she’d wished to for too long now. You could taste the apple juice on her tongue, the carton she’d taken when you passed them around the class, and you could feel the softness of her lipstick you knew would be left behind. 

Her tongue pushed against yours while her hands held tightly onto your thighs, standing between your legs with your fingers tangled in the material of her dress where they clung onto her back. One hand dared to creep further up your thigh, sneaking beneath your shirt to rest her palm on the bare skin of your waist. The way you sighed at the feeling of the goosebumps she ignited made her ravenous for you, too hungry for your classroom. 

When she pulled away your breath was heavy and her eyes were dark and lusting, surging forwards just for a few more pecks, however many she could fit in without running out of breath. 

“Meet me at my car?” She breathed. “It’s the nice one in the parking lot.” She emphasised and you could only nod with a huff of a laugh. She planted one last peck to your lips before you parted ways to collect your things and she was waiting eagerly in the driver’s seat a few minutes later. 

[spoilmesweetieforficssake]

This Is Kinda Nice Too (2)

So I know I have requests to be working on - and I am - every request I currently have has a plan sketched out for it, I just need time to get them all written up.

In the meantime, however, I couldn't get this little idea to continue a previous request out of my head, so here it is. Part three may or may not make its way into being.

Can be read alone, but best read as as the follow up to the below (also if these inserted links look odd I'm sorry but it's the only way I know how atm)

You’re not a morning person at the best of times, and a night on a lumpy, creaky camp bed certainly hasn’t changed that.  You studiously ignore Janine’s chirpy ‘good morning’, making a mental note to apologise later once you’ve been properly caffeinated.

Speaking of which, there seems to be a distinct lack of a fire going and so currently no boiling water to make the dream of a cup of tea into reality.  Not bothering to ask for help or wait for anyone else, you move as quickly as you ever do in the morning to set a new fire going. 

You’re making decent progress when a gentle hand lands on your shoulder and a steaming cup of tea is brought into your line of vision.  The rumours really were true when they said Barb was a Saint.

“How?”

“There’s an electrical outlet in the little cabin I’m in,” she smiled, settling herself on one of the camp chairs closest to the fire, hands cradled round her own cup of coffee.  “I called ahead to check and packed a little travel kettle.”

“If you weren’t already married I’d be proposing right now,” you tell her as you take your first sip of tea.  It’s perfect.  It’s too perfect.  It’s your exact morning tea precisely how you take it.  Barbara Howard has never made you a cup of tea in your life.  You frown as you lower your cup, meeting Barb’s knowing smile.

“Melissa made it,” she offers by way of an explanation. 

You’re not quite sure what to think about that, but it makes you smile.  A few moments later the mysterious red head herself appears out of Barb’s tiny cabin, her own mug of coffee in hand.  The Kindergarten teacher had the only ‘cabin’, after trying to get out of the trip saying she was too old for camping.  Cabin was perhaps a strong word for the small wooden hut, but it did at least boast running water and electricity.  The smaller wooden camping pods laid out around it weren’t quite so luxurious, but they were at least wind and watertight.    

“I hate to say it, but I think I might be too old to sleep on a camp bed,” groans Melissa as she stretches. 

You chuckle.  “I don’t think anyone is young enough to get a decent night’s sleep on those beds if yours is anything like mine.”

*

“Ava, this is not breakfast,” Melissa says flatly as she looks dubiously at the small packet she has been handed by the Principal.

“Of course it is,” the younger woman snaps back.  “It says ‘breakfast bar’ right there on the front.  Besides, gotta have portable snacks so we can get our scavenger hunt on!”

This gets a collective groan from the group.  Ava ignores this and proceeds to fetch a folder. 

“Okay, now everyone come get a sheet and take a pencil. The pencils have numbers on them that’ll tell y’all who you’re paired up with.  Now remember, it’s not just about collecting all the items on the list, it’s about getting to the end point in the quickest time.”

You end up with Barb and Jacob.  Could be better, could be worse, you figure.  You look over to see Janine with a look of genuine worry on her features as she looks from her numbered pencil to Melissa, who’s eyebrows are hiked impressively high on her forehead.  There might be one less member of your little Abbott family around the campfire tonight if her murderous expression is anything to go by. 

Barb, ever the peacekeeper moves forward.  You expect her to offer to swap with Janine, so what she says next comes as a surprise.

“Oh Janine, I was hoping you’d end up in my little group.  I thought it would give us time to talk.  We haven’t had a chance of late with school being so busy,” says Barb.  She moves to take your pencil from your hand.  “You wouldn’t mind swapping, would you?”

“Course not,” you say, because really, what else are you meant to say?  You move to stand next to Melissa, who is now shooting an odd look on Barb’s direction.  “I can swap with Barb if you want?”

“What?  No!” she quickly reassures you.  “I was just wondering if she’d actually lost her mind volunteering to take those two.”

“Oh come on, they’re not that bad,” you reply, admittedly rather half-heartedly. 

“You really wanna swap with Barb?” she asks, eyebrow raised.

“Hell no!” comes your immediately reply.  “I definitely got the better deal one this one.”

*

“There’s a shortcut coming up.”

Melissa frowns, looking at the map Ava had provided.  She turned it to and fro, not sure where you were seeing any shortcut.

“It’s not on Ava’s map,” you add, coming to stand next to her.  You point to where the marked path takes a long, meandering loop.  “It’s just here.  It leaves the path and cuts out that big loop.  It’s a bit steeper, but-“

“You saying I’m too old to take the short cut?”

Your eyes go wide at her words and you immediately start to back track.  “That’s not what I said!  I said it was a little steeper, that was all!”

She chuckles.  “I was just messin’ with ya, kid.  So, this shortcut takes some time off, huh?”

“Should do,” you nod.  “I only know it’s there because when I first came here it was after seeing pictures on Instagram of the view from the top.  There were hints about making the hike quicker in the comments.”

“You think it gives us a shot at beating Ava?” Melissa smirks.  The Principal had practically dragged Gregory off at a run at the start of the scavenger hunt.

“It just might,” you grin right back. 

“Then I say lets go.”

*

“Shit!”

“What?  What happened, are you okay?” you ask, quickly turning around to inspect the red head.

She waves off your concern with a hand.  “I forgot about the list of crap we’re meant to find.”

“Oh that?  Don’t worry about that.  I found half the things we needed before we even left camp this morning.”  You take the list out of your pocket.  “We just need a feather, a Y shaped twig and a heart shaped rock.”

Melissa shakes her head, looking at you with a fond smile.  “You got this all under control, huh?”

You hope the blush that creeps up your cheeks can be passed off as the exertion of your hike.  You’re helpless under her soft gaze.  “Didn’t think you’d let me live it down if we came last.”

Her smile turns positively wicked.  “You know me well,” she says as she starts the uphill climb once more, treating you to a rather glorious view of her rear.  You’re quick to chastise yourself for your blatant staring and fall into step behind her. 

*

“Oh, wow.”

You look up at the softly uttered words to see that Melissa has reached the viewpoint ahead of you.  She has a soft smile tugging at the edges of her lips as she takes in the view.  You remember feeling the same sense of wonder the first time you saw the landscape falling away before you.  Like you were on top of the world. 

Abandoning your search for a heart shape stone, you force your legs to take the final few steps to bring you level with the red head.  You take a moment to breathe, looking over the expanse of green below you before turning to look at the other woman.  Her cheeks are flushed from the effort of the hike, her hair in windswept waves around her face.  She looks beautiful.  She always does, to you. 

She turns to look at you and you immediately duck your head, aware you’ve been blatantly caught staring.  That’s when you see it, right in front of your boot.  A heart shaped stone.  Bending to pick it up, you hold it out to her.  “Looks like we ticked off our list.”

“And made it to the top first,” she grins smugly.  She proceeds to open the small rucksack she had been toting, shaking out a picnic blanket before producing a bottle of wine.  “A little drink to celebrate?”

*

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so relaxed.”

You open your eyes, turning your head to look up to where she sits next to you on the blanket.  “I tend to be more relaxed when I’m away from things…people,” you finally reply.

“I’m not people?” she asks, her tone more curious than accusatory.

You pull yourself up until you’re sitting next to her, your knees drawn up to your chest as you look out over the view.  It’s easier to talk when you’re not looking at her.  “You’re different.”  You get nervous around Melissa, yes, but it’s not the same anxiety you feel around others.  “You don’t make me feel self-conscious about being me.”

“You know something, kid?” she breathes.  “I think that’s one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me.”

You feel an arm slip around your shoulders, pulling you into her side.  This is why you fell in love with her, you realise.  This acceptance of your quirks, your anxieties and your oddities without question.  You’ve never even had to explain them to her.  She just gets you. 

You’re not quite sure you can recall when it started, her understanding, you falling for her, but there is one night that stands out in your mind.  Ava had organised staff drinks.  It was a bar you’d never been too and it was busy and loud.  It had taken having a quiet word with yourself to even make it in the door.  Standing barely two steps inside, you had scanned the room, looking for a friendly face, your anxiety rising when you couldn’t find one.  It was stupid, you knew, to think that anyone thought you looked out of place for simply taking a moment to stand and search for your friends, but you couldn’t shake the feeling. 

It was then that you heard a familiar voice and saw Melissa cutting through the crowd towards you.  Her hand found your own, and she offered you a smile before leading you through the busy room to where your Abbott family were gathered.  It had been a good night, but as usual, you had struggled to find a way to leave.  You knew you were an adult who could leave whenever they wanted, but somehow, you always seem to end up the last to leave out of some misplaced notion of it being more polite than leaving before the night was over. 

Melissa had given you an out, seeing you were flagging and offering you a lift with her and Barb.  She was forever giving you an out, it felt like.  And yet she never made it feel like a burden.  You shift until you can lean your head on her shoulder, in almost a reverse of the night before. 

“How the hell you beat us?”

You both jump at the sound of Ava’s voice behind you, turning to face her.

“We practically speed walked!” she shouts, dumping a bag beside you clearly containing the contents of the scavenger hunt list.  “Ya’ll must have cheated!”

“How?” Melisa questions.  “We all left at the same time.  You saw us.  If I remember rightly, you practically took off like a sprinter out the blocks!”

Gregory appears behind Ava, looking slightly winded.  He looks just as surprised to see you as she had.  “How the?”

“Skills,” smirks Melissa.  “Some of us just have them.”

*

You jerk awake at the creek of the door of your little hut, squinting in the dark. 

“It’s just me,” comes the hiss of a whisper.  

Melissa.

“Scooch over.”

“To where?” you grumble, acquiescing all the same, and moving as far to the edge of the small camp bed as you can without falling off.  The frame squeaks in protest as the red head joins you on the too small bed.  You huff as she manhandles you into a comfortable position, her arm around your waist and her head on your shoulder. 

“First you call me old, now you call me fat!” she chuckles as she shimmies in an attempt to get more comfortable.

“Did not!” is all you can manage.  “You know I wouldn’t.”  You feel her smile against your neck.  Yes, the line has definitely been crossed.  By both of you.  Baby steps to many, it may seem, but giant leaps for awkward lesbian-kind. 

“I know I’m just teasing,” she says quietly. 

You hum in reply.  “One of your many skills.”

“You like it.”

“I like you,” you say quietly, too sleepy to worry too much about your words.

As your eyes drift closed, you feel her lips smile against your skin.  “I like you too.  This is kinda nice, too.”

[gifsbysimplysonia]

🫶🏽

barbara + janine's relationship 📺 ABBOTT ELEMENTARY 1x01 -> 2x21

[church-of-lilith]

I would like to see the neurodivergent Abbott character notes? 👀

hello anon! for those who don’t know, this ask is in response to this post of mine. and i am here to provide you my notes. they’re long but here’s all my musings about each of the characters and my headcanons for them in terms of neurodivergency.

please note that I am in no way qualified to be making any of these headcanons. i’m not a medical professional i’m a teenager with autism & adhd just out here calling it like I see it.

Gregory Eddie

Gregory definitely shows signs of autism, and this is probably the most popular headcanon of the whole show.

- In canon right now I don’t believe he is diagnosed or ever really thought about or explored the possibility of being neurodivergent. His father doesn’t seem like the type to ever support him getting a diagnosis in early life. Moments that stuck out to me as an autistic person to lead me to this conclusion:

- His relationship with Gritty in the season 2 premiere. The whole “I just don’t get Gritty” thing. It’s a common thing for autistic people to not understand elements of culture that are important to most people. Gregory didn’t understand the hype around Gritty, and didn’t anticipate the negative backlash he would get from his coworkers upon admitting so.

- His ongoing problems with food, most notably in the episode where pizza is discussed. He has stated in canon before that there are only certain foods he can eat because of different issues with texture/temperature/flavor. i.e. “fruit should not be hot.” his boiled chicken sandwich, only eating pure dark chocolate. while I would not make these same choices in my eating habits, I understand having the ick towards certain foods. this is an autistic trait.

- Taking things too practically. Often times autistic people struggle to understand metaphors and take them way too literally. One of the examples of this I can think of in recent times was a conversation he had with Barbara in which she encouraged him to work through his problems. She said something along the lines of “This color does not look good on you.” Referring to the way he was acting. Later, he confesses to the camera that he thought he was dressed nicely that day. Clearly misunderstanding what she was trying to say.

- Having to stay organized with absolutely everything. We see this at the beginning of season two where he attempts to plan every day of the year down to the minute in order to stay in line with teaching guidelines. This, of course, before Barbara steps in and helps him realize this is improbable. Just the way he reacts at the idea of getting off schedule is incredibly reminiscent of how some people with autism become overwhelmed at the idea of things not going the exact right way.

- Gregory also really enjoys sticking to schedules. In the fire episode he tells Janine he has the fire drill schedule memorized. And during the teacher’s conference episode his need to have a schedule in order to feel comfortable is mentioned multiple times.

- In the teacher’s conference episode Gregory and Janine have a conversation about romance and relationships. He expresses that he feels like he is the problem in all of his relationships. That he’s the ‘weird’ one, so different that no one ever wants to stay. As an autistic person this one was extremely relatable to me.

In conclusion I wait for the day his neurodivergence is properly explored in canon. Because I do believe the day will come. And so does SLR apparently because at one point she tweeted an article about Gregory being great autistic representation. And then deleted it (😭)

Janine Teagues

Janine is also autistic, and let me tell you why. It all goes back to her velcro shoes (among other things but just let me have this moment real quick).

- In one of the season 2 episodes Janine talks about never learning how to tie her shoes and still not being able to, so as a result she wears velcro shoes. This is a very common (if not universal) autistic experience. It’s also a sign of childhood neglect but that’s a conversation for another day.

- As we know, she also has a problem picking up on social cues. She doesn’t let this stop her, and often does not have the social awareness to recognize when others are uncomfortable with something she’s saying or the way she’s acting until she is explicitly told so. We see this throughout the series but one moment that stuck out to me specifically was in the episode where she goes to Melissa’s house for cooking lessons. When she first gets there she won’t stop talking about her family relationships and doesn’t understand that Melissa wants her to stop talking as she loudly grinds the blender to drown her out. Even Melissa realizes it’s a moot point after awhile and gives up.

- Keeping a proper schedule and staying organized is also very important to her, (not as severely as Gregory) but still notably enough that she would probably get upset at any major variations. During the sick day episode when Ava has to sub for her we see that she has very detailed plans, like.. binders worth of plans. And she keeps her class on a tight schedule with story time, and listening to music, etc.

- Janine has the undeniable urge to fix literally every problem that comes her way. Even if the problem isn’t hers, she is so confident that she can fix it despite anyone or anything logically telling her that hey, maybe she shouldn’t. Once she gets her mind set on something, though, she cannot let it go. She has to be in control of every situation—or at least feel like she is.

Melissa Schemmenti

Probably the next most canon neurodivergent character. Personally I headcanon her as having ADHD, and at this point she canonically has dyslexia.

- Obviously in terms of her dyslexia we have that whole episode where she helps one of her students with difficulties reading.

- The way she talks with the student’s parents about getting her tested/possibly getting a diagnosis and then is clearly upset when the parents react negatively really stuck with me. Obviously when she first realized she was neurodivergent as a kid she didn’t have the resources to figure any of that out. It makes me think that she was initially resistant to getting diagnosed as she grew older (No doctor could tell her more about herself than she could. And if it ain’t broke don’t fix it right?) But at some point when she started teaching she realized she owed it to herself and in some part to the students she would be teaching to really figure herself out.

- Melissa strikes me as someone who is very impatient and gets easily frustrated with herself. But she would never get frustrated at a student who’s struggling with reading or otherwise. She doesn’t know how to go easy on herself.

- The reason I headcanon her as having ADHD is because of the way she self stims in some scenes. One that comes to mind specifically is when she’s arguing with Gregory about pizza and rocks herself back and forth.

- In one episode Melissa also has problems hearing things. It’s not mentioned again that I can remember but the auditory processing issues can be a sign of inattentive adhd (although if anything I’d say she shows some signs of both inattentive and hyperactive)

- Melissa’s obsession with firetrucks is something I would be remiss not to mention here. It’s a delightful hyperfixation and I love her for it. Her insistence on sharing this knowledge and trying to get others to enjoy her hyperfixation also screams neurodivergence to me.

Ava Coleman

Ava definitely has hyperactive ADHD. I see this a lot in the way she talks and acts.

- One of the most common signs of hyperactive ADHD is impulsivity. I would say that she makes a lot of impulsive decisions, specifically when it comes to shopping. In early season 1 we see her spending all of the school’s extra money on a large sign, for example. She also has a LOT of clothes to the point that she has her own business selling them. She also jumps into pyramid schemes with great ease.

- Another sign of that is talking excessively (and also at greater speeds). Ava talks pretty fast at times, and is always the first one to jump into a conversation with her thoughts. She has a hard time waiting her turn in conversations.

- The way she acts with the students in the episode where Gregory sends Micah to the principal’s office makes me think that Ava can relate to being ‘the problem child’ when she was in school. Her being hyperactive (unable to sit still, talking incessantly, acting impulsively etc.) makes sense under this lens. Her teachers likely wouldn’t be able to recognize her ADHD and would label her a problem, meaning she probably spent a lot of time in the principal’s office as a child herself.

Barbara Howard

My general analysis of Barbara is that she has OCD and suffers from repressed lesbianism. Both of these are rooted in her extremely religious upbringing.

- I do believe that a lot of Barbara’s OCD comes in the form of fixating on the rightness vs wrongness of things. And that this stems from her religious upbringing. An example of this is with Tamika’s mom and her utter fixation on the woman freely using profanities. This is wrong, so the woman must be immoral, and that’s a problem. When she actually gets to know Tamika’s mom and realizes that she’s actually a pretty great person, she doesn’t know how to comprehend that until Ava puts it into perspective for her. This can apply to herself too, (not wanting to roll around in the mud with melissa or having a crisis learning she’s been in the wrong with lighting her candles on school grounds.)

- Her interest in religion and the church borders on compulsive. This is why she’s very overtly religious, (introducing herself as a woman of god to anyone who will listen etc.) From a very young age I imagine that she’s had the idea of morality and being right instilled in her, which developed into this obsession as she got older.

- Barbara also seems very comforted by following a routine. She and Melissa have had the same spots at their table for years. She goes to the same place to get her nails done every week.

Jacob Hill

I do believe that Jacob suffers from an anxiety disorder of some kind. And also possibly autism but I’m less confident about that.

- Jacob comes across as a very nervous person. I suspect that this may come from his childhood although we don’t know much about it. He strikes me as a kid who was never really heard. That he’s always had a lot to say, but always somehow faded into the background when talking to parents/family. Him joining improv would add up with this, as it would finally make him the center of attention and force people to pay attention to him after being ignored by those closest to him for so many years.

- Similarly to Janine he’s not great at picking up on social cues. He doesn’t understand that people don’t appreciate his infodumping about random topics until he is explicitly told so. We see this most highlighted in the desking episode where we meet Zach for the first time and see his methods of helping Jacob stay on track of the conversation and prevent him from straying too far off topic

- He talks fast which is also something attributed to anxiety. It would also add up if he did struggle to get all his thoughts out as a kid as I suspect. Talking fast is a habit he’s grown into as an adult, so that no one can interrupt him or talk over him. If he gets all his thoughts out he doesn’t have to worry about not being heard.

- In a recent episode he talked about having night terrors, which definitely connects back to having anxiety. (Although we don’t know now frequently he has them or if that was just a one time thing). The way he reacts to the thought of Abbott turning charter also screams chronic anxiety to me. He loses it because it’s a situation he cannot anticipate.

Mr. Johnson

“Is the single most well adjusted man I’ve ever met.”