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morgana-larkin · 13 days

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Haii okay here’s my angst request! I love a good regretful jealous Mel hehehe. I was thinking you’re both teachers and she likes u but is like “I’m too cool for pining” so she does the extreme opposite and is kinda standoff-ish or blunt w u at school. When you’re alone she’s a little better but still not super lovey dovey. You “take the hint” and move on, and someone new comes into ur life (can you PLEASE for the LOVE OF GOD name this rando new person joy??). And then one day Mel’s like “let’s be official” And you’re like what? Why? I thought u didn’t like me also I have Joy now. And then Mel’s like wtf and she gets rlly jealous when she sees u w her now and then she tries to sabotage y’all’s blooming relationship. In the end maybe no happy ending pls?? If ur comfortable writing that :)

Hehe I LOVE a good heartbreak. Also I’m obsessed w joy Huerta (hence my username) and have been asking everyone to use it in fics AND PPL DONT ALFJKS. lmao anyways. I hope this is sumn ur comfortable writing!

OMG! you’re really testing me here! If I’m honest, it was hard to write. I rewrote it a few times, it hurt a little, might make a part 2. Honestly if even one person requests a part 2 with a happy ending then I will write one. As always, not edited in the slightest, I hope you like it!

On another note: keep sending prompts for one shots! I decided to write one shots about Chessy from parent trap played by our favourite redhead, Lisa Ann Walter, so you can send prompts for her too!

Green Isn’t Your Colour

Warnings: (where do I start lol) Jealous Mel, upset Mel, a bit of toxic Mel, angst and no comfort, no happy ending , good luck lol

Words: 3.2k

You walk in through the entrance of Abbott Elementary. You’ve been here for a year already and you’re finally feeling like you’re settling in. You’re a third grade teacher, you helped Melissa out as she wouldn’t have another split class again and that made her happy from the day you got there and hearing the news.

You walk into the break room, hot chocolate in hand, you don’t like coffee that much, but nothing could beat a good hot chocolate. You go and sit on an empty table, taking some tests out and start marking them. Melissa looks over at you from her table. She looks at the way you’re flawlessly marking, glasses on and concentrating on what you’re doing.

You glance up as you feel like you’re being watched and see Melissa looking at you, but then she quickly looks away when you notice and you smile. You liked her since you first set eyes on her and it only grew from there. But lately it seems like she’s off and you’re unsure why. She was nice to you when you started but now it’s like she’s the opposite and you don’t know why. You asked everyone else if they could answer why she’s different but no one noticed the change.

You got up and picked up the tests and decided to just carry them to your classroom. You passed by Melissa on the way out. “See you later Melissa.” You told her with a smile. She just nodded her head at you and went back to her phone. You looked at Barb and she just shrugged, not noticing a difference.

During your second period prep you finished marking the tests with a breath of relief. Just then Melissa knocks on your door and you look at her and smile. “Hey Melissa.” You tell her and she just has a neutral face and you drop your smile.

“I found the book you were asking for. The little eagles liked it last year and I’m sure they’ll like it again.” She said and handed you the book.

“Oh perfect, thank you.” You told her and smiled at the book. Melissa looked at you and couldn’t help the small smile forming at your excitement of the book. And you looked up at her to see the small smile on her face. “Hey Melissa, can I ask you something?” You asked and she looked at you confused.

“You can but it doesn’t mean I’ll answer.” Melissa said.

“Um ok. Well I was just wondering why you’re acting differently around me?” You ask and she looks at you with a neutral face again.

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“Well you were nice to me last year but now you’re acting distant and I don’t know why.” You asked her. “Did I do something wrong?” You added and that took her by surprise. She doesn’t want you to think you did anything wrong because you didn’t. Melissa has a crush on you and she doesn’t want to show it or let anyone know, and her acting nicely to you last year definitely raised suspicions, so she went back to how she acts with everyone else.

“You didn’t do anything kid. This is just how I am with people.” She said.

“You’re not like that with Barb.” You said.

“Barb is my best friend, so of course I’m nice to her.”

“What about Janine? Jacob? Gregory? Or when Ava at times? You’re nice to them.” You told her, getting a little frustrated.

“That’s because they’re my friends.” She said and you were taken back by that and it definitely stung. Melissa looks at your expression and knew she shouldn’t have said that. She does think of you as a friend but it just slipped out.

“Oh ok, well glad to know where we stand then, just co workers. Thank you for the book Ms. Schemmenti, I’ll return it tomorrow.” You tell her and go back to your desk. “If that was all then if you don’t mind, I have a lesson plan to do.” You told her and she nodded her head.

“See ya around kid.” She said and left. She knew she fucked up there. She’ll have to start being a bit nicer to you to get back in your good graces.

Back in your classroom you took a big breath. You thought you and Melissa were friends but I guess you were wrong. No wonder she’s always short and blunt with you.

The next day you were at the coffee shop, receiving your hot chocolate like always, turning around to leave and bumped into someone, spilling your hot chocolate all over them and a bit on yourself.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I just wanted to talk to you and didn’t expect you to turn around.” The person said.

“Oh well I feel like I should be apologising, my hot chocolate mostly went on you. Wait, you wanted to talk to me? Why?”

“Because I see you in here everyday and I think you’re pretty.” She said with a blush and you blushed at her compliment.

“Oh uh th-thank you.” You stuttered a bit, not used to compliments.

“Can I buy you another hot chocolate? As an apology?” She said and you looked at her.

“Oh you don’t have too.”

“I want to though. Please, I insist.” She said and you smiled at her. She bought you another hot chocolate and handed it to you with a smile. “And there we go.” She said.

“Thank you.” You told her and saw the time. “Oh I gotta get to work.” You told her.

“Oh that’s alright I understand. I’ll see you again tomorrow?” She asked.

“Ya, I come here, same time every day.” You said with a smile and began to leave but turned around to her. “I never got your name btw.”

“It’s Joy.” She told you.

“I’m y/n.” You tell her and she smiles.

“You have a lovely name, it suits you.” She tells you. You blush and leave the coffee shop. You get to the school and immediately go to your classroom instead of the break room. You put your stuff done and see the book that Melissa gave you yesterday sitting on your desk. You might as well return it now, you got a few minutes before the students get here. You picked up the book and walked to the classroom next to yours and knocked on the open door. Melissa was stapling something and looked up at you and gave you a little smile.

Your heart fluttered a little at the smile and you remembered what she said yesterday. “Hi Ms Schemmenti, I came to return the book.” You told her, and held the book up.

She looked at you and remembered what happened yesterday and sighed. “Thanks y/n” she said and got up and walked over to you to take the book. “Did the little eagles like it?” She asked.

“Ya they did.” You said confused at her using your actual name

“I knew they would. You can borrow it whenever you want.” She told you and you offered her a small smile and nodded your head.

“Thanks Ms Schemmenti, I’ll keep that in mind.” You told her and left. She stared at you as you walked back to your own classroom and did a huge sigh and leaned back against her door.

A month goes by and you run into Joy everyday at the coffee shop. She took it upon herself to order you a hot chocolate and have it ready by the time you get there. You kept offering her the money for it but she always refuses, saying your company was payment enough. You exchanged numbers after a couple days and started texting for hours on end. By the second week she asked you out on a date and you said yes. By the third week she asked you to be her girlfriend to which you agreed excitedly.

At school, you noticed that Melissa has been a bit friendlier with you. You took her sudden change with caution though, you don’t want to get hurt again.

For Melissa, she wants to ask you out but she keeps getting scared. But after a month of being friendly with you, she decides to bite the bullet and just do it. She went to go see you at your classroom after the students left on Monday.

“Hey y/n, can I ask you something?” She asked you as she stepped in your classroom.

“Sure Melissa, what’s up?” You said and she smiled. You’ve been calling her by her first name again for about a week, and after you calling her Ms Schemmenti for 3 weeks, well she still smiles when you call her Melissa now.

“I wanted to ask you on a date.” She says and you look at her and freeze.

“What?” You ask, confused as hell.

“I wanted to officially ask you on a date.” She says and you look at her confused.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“I thought you didn’t like me.” You tell her and she looks a bit guilty.

“I never not liked you, when I realised I liked you near the end of the last year, I didn’t want to give away my feelings so I started acting distant towards you.” She says and looks down for a second then back up at you. “So will you go on a date with me?” She asks again.

“No.” You told her and she looked upset. “I did like you but I have a girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend? I thought you were single.” She says confused and still hurt.

“I was, until 2 weeks ago, her name is Joy.” You said with a smile. And Melissa looks at you with a bit of fire in her eyes. “If she’s real then I would like to meet her.” She tells you, crossing her arms,

“Oh ok, ya sure. I can ask if she can come meet everyone tomorrow morning if you want.” You tell her.

“Ok, I look forward to meeting her then.” Melissa says and leaves disappointed.

You asked Joy if she wanted to meet your coworkers tomorrow morning and she excitedly agreed immediately.

So the next morning, you meet Joy at the coffee shop as usual and she hands you your hot chocolate then you drive over to the school and walk in with her. You head to the break room with her and enter and all eyes look up at you and her.

“Everyone, I would like you to meet Joy, my girlfriend. Joy, this is Janine, Jacob, Gregory, Barb, Ava.” You said, pointing to everyone as you said their name. “And this is Melissa, the one who asked to meet you.”

“Hi everyone! And hi Melissa, I’m very much real as you can see.” Joy says and Melissa doesn’t look happy, she crosses her arms and the fire in her eyes come back. She thought you were lying and would have to keep being nicer to you before you agree to go on a date with her. Barb notices Melissa getting angry and puts a hand on her arm and that startles her and then just sits there, staring at you. She sees you being all happy as Jacob and Janine got up to come say hi to your girlfriend.

She wanted to be that person, be your girlfriend and she blew it. But then remembered that you said yesterday that you did have feelings for her, so maybe you still do. Then she smiles at that thought and thinks of different ways to play it. Joy would have to go of course, she ain’t gonna put a hit on her but instead she’ll try to sabotage it, and to do that, she’ll have to be nice first and get information.

So she gets up and goes over to you two. “Hi, nice to meet you. Ya I didn’t think you were real when y/n here as been single since I’ve known her.” She says to your girlfriend then proceeds to put an arm around your back as she mentions you being single and your eyes widen a bit.

“Oh that’s alright, it was a shock to y/n too when I asked her.” Joy says, and Melissa thinks it’s a shame she’ll have to sabotage it as she seems nice. But this person is getting in the way of her happiness so she gots to go.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you two meet?” Melissa asks.

“Oh we met at the coffee shop down the street, the one you told me about and I get a hot chocolate there every morning. And then I bumped into Joy about a month ago, like physically bumped into her and spilled my drink all over her.” You say with a chuckle.

“Ya she did but it was my fault, I saw her there every morning and after a couple weeks I decided to go talk to her and didn’t expect her to turn around at that very moment. So I offered to get her a replacement one and then we started talking.” Joy said with a smile.

And you noticed how Melissa’s hand got a bit lower on your back and you subtly get out of her grip and say an excuse. “Joy, do you want to go see my classroom?” You ask her and she immediately said yes. Joy waves bye to everyone and they all tell her it was nice to meet her and hope to see her again. And Melissa thinks that if it goes according to plan then she won’t be back to see them again.

At the end of the day, Melissa visits your classroom. “Hey y/n.” She says as you’re packing your things up.

“Oh hey Melissa. What’s up?” You ask her and sling your bag over your shoulders.

“Well I was wondering if I could go with you to the coffee shop tomorrow? I haven’t been there in awhile and wouldn’t mind a good store bought coffee once in awhile instead of one from the break room.” She says and you look at her confused.

“Oh I always meet Joy at the coffee shop in the morning.” You say and Melissa smiles, she knew it.

“Well that’s alright, maybe I could get to know her better then.” She says and you agree and tell her the time that you meet up with Joy.

The next morning, Melissa gets to the coffee shop first and orders a coffee for her and a hot chocolate for you. You and Joy come in a couple minutes later and see Melissa near a table with 2 drinks. “Hey Melissa.” You say and she looks over at you and smiles.

“Hey y/n and Joy. Here y/n, I got you a hot chocolate.” She says and sees the frown on Joy’s face before smiling again. Melissa smiles at that, she knew that Joy was still getting you a hot chocolate every morning. You said it yesterday to Janine and Jacob. “I would have gotten something for you but I forgot to ask y/n here what you like.” Melissa says and puts a hand on your shoulder.

Joy looks at the interaction and gives a confused look. “That’s alright, I’ll just go get a drink for myself. I’ll be right back.” She says and you and Melissa nod.

You look at Melissa a little confused. “Why are you being so much nicer all of a sudden?” You say to her and she just shrugs, feigning innocence.

“I don’t know what you mean y/n? I’m just getting to know your little girlfriend over there.” She says and hits you, Melissa is jealous.

“Melissa, are you jealous?” You asked and she scoffs. “I’m being serious, yesterday you asked me out saying you liked me. And now you’re at the coffee shop that I meet Joy at every morning and meeting nicer to me in front of her.”

“I’m just trying to make sure that she’s right for you, is all.” Trying to cover up the fact that you were right.

Before either of you can say anything else, Joy comes back with her drink. “Hey y/n, I would like to stay longer but worked called and asked if I could come in earlier. Like right now earlier. And I wouldn’t mind the extra cash.” She says and you nod.

“That’s alright, I understand, have a good day at work.” You tell her and she gives you a goodbye kiss on the lips and the fire in Melissa’s eyes return.

“Alright thanks for understanding, it was nice seeing you again Melissa.”

“Ya you too.” Melissa says back to her. Melissa didn’t like that kiss, and worse is that the only issue she has with Joy is that she’s with you. Other than that, Joy seems like a nice person, and she hates that fact.

At the end of the day Melissa stops by your classroom again. “Hey y/n.”

“Should I expect this to be a daily occurrence? You stopping by my classroom at the end of the day?” You say with a laugh and she gives a small laugh at that.

“Maybe.” She says and closes your door and walks up to you. You look at her confused for closing the door, but then think she probably wants to talk to you privately. “I don’t like her. Your girlfriend.” She says and you frown.

“Why?”

“I don't know, there’s just something about her that I don’t like.”

“Well you’ve only just met her. If you see her more then you might grow to like her.” You tell her with a smile.

“No I won’t actually.” She says and you’re confused.

“And how do you know you won’t?”

She looks you dead in the eyes and walks closer to you. “Because as long as she’s with you, then I won’t like her.” She says and she got very close to you and you had to walk back and you end up backing into your desk and she puts her hands on the desk on both sides of you, effectively trapping you. You look at her with wide eyes.

“Melissa, I-” and you don’t get to say what you were about to as her lips are on yours. You begin to kiss her back and then push her off. “Melissa what the fuck? You know I’m with Joy.” You tell her and she smirks.

“Then why did you kiss me back? And don’t deny it. I know you did before you pushed me off.” And you look at her speechless since she’s right. Melissa smiles at you and goes to kiss you again but you stop her.

“No Melissa, I’m with Joy now.” You tell her and she frowns.

“You wouldn’t rather be with me?” She asks and you shake your head.

“I’m happy with who I’m with. I’m sorry.” You tell her and walk out of your classroom, leaving behind a hurt Melissa who has a tear rolling down her cheek.

Taglist: @esposadejoyhuerta

@imaginesmultifandoms

@idonothingalldays-blog

@sexysapphicshopowner

@dvrkhcld

If you want to be added then let me know!

#melissa schemmenti x reader #melissa schemmenti x oc #melissa schemmenti x you #melissa schemmenti #x reader #fanfic

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murdrdocs · 1 year

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oh em gee ethan with short!reader 😵‍💫😵‍💫 he’d put his chin on the top of your head and constantly call you little and stuff. he also would love when you got on the tip of your toes to kiss him

he teases you about your giant height (and strength) difference knowing that you have a kink for that bye

to the anons who just happen to be 4'11

he would so tease you about your height, even if you're just a few inches shorter than him (me). ethan loves to have something over you (literally), so he's the type of boyfriend who would hold something in his hand and reach it all the way up, like gregory did to janine that one episode (abbott elementary). he would be holding in a smile watching you stand on your toes and reach up to him, and you would attempt to literally just pull his arm down by the force from your hand does nothing and his smile just grows. "cmon, you got it," he's telling you, the tone of voice lighter than it is when he uses similar encouragement during other times, but the familiarity of the words making you think about that anyway. "you're not gonna give up that easily, are you? thought you were stronger than that. not gonna let a little height difference stop you, are you?" you're stopping then on account of the way his stare is making you warm inside.

plus, as u mentioned, he swoons when you have to stand on your toes to kiss him. how you have to hold onto his shoulders a little and even then you still need his head to dip just a tad bit so you can reach his lips. plus plus, he complains about getting neck pain when you kiss so he'll just lift you up easily and encourage you to wrap your legs around his waist.

edit: he would also just look at you randomly and go, "you know, sometimes i forget how tiny you actually are" and then go about his day.

#ethansworld!#ethan landry x reader #ethan landry x you #ethan landry #celeste writes scream

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milfjuulpod · 10 months

Text

Special

req: yes

can you write a Melissa x Reader where reader is the new VP of Abbott and she’s just the most professional person ever. She doesn’t wanna interact with the staff in any way that’s not professional, she’ll refer to them by last name, has lunches in her car, doesn’t try to socialize unless it’s Melissa. Melissa never notices but reader is always lingering to watch her, calls her by her first name, goes out of her way to make sure Mel is never inconvenienced by anything at Abbott. it’s not until maybe Janine or Jacob, hell Gregory even point it out that Mel notices and confronts the reader about it. Reader responds in like the cheesiest way possible, something like “i was down bad for you from the moment i saw you” and Melissa just m e l t s!!

warnings: none

A/N: hello again 🧛🏻‍♀️ i absolutely LOVED this request, so i hope you enjoy reading as much as i did writing :)) thank you for all the support !!

After earning yourself your graduate degree, and interning at schools all over, you found yourself at Abbott Elementary. Despite its hazards here and there, you loved it. You maintain your poise and passion for work each day, staying on task and doing everything you could to help.

Being the Vice Principal came with a lot of responsibilities, especially working for Ava Coleman. Over the school year, just like the rest of Abbott, you grew to love her—but that didn’t mean she didn’t give you a headache every week. “Can you not eat in your car for one day and just come with me to this brunch?” Ava begged, but you knew better. “Ms. Coleman, if you’re going on this brunch, somebody has to stay here. Besides, you’ll be fine. I’ve prepared your folder for you and you nailed rehearsals,” you encouraged her.

Ava was preparing for a brunch with some people from the district, and as much as you wanted to go and support her, you had to stay. “You’re right, I did kill that last rehearsal. I guess I’ll go alone,” the principal dramatized, and left for her lunch. Walking back, you decided to do a quick sweep before heading into your own office. No harm in checking on everyone, right? You passed Mrs. Howard’s door, noticing her students taking a nap. She saw you through the window, and the two of you exchanged smiles before you parted.

“Oh, hey Y/N! I had a question for you,” a small, but loud, voice was heard from behind you. “Hello Ms. Teagues, how can I help you?” You turned to greet her. “You know you can call me Janine, right?” The shorter teacher gave you a friendly smile, and continued. “Anyways, I was thinking about doing a project with my students, they started this new book and are just loving it! Honestly I was a bit surprised, but I guess when the kids are with me-”

“The question you had?” You interrupted her. As much as Janine had a soft spot in your heart, you had work to do and a lunch to half-eat. “Right, sorry. Do you think Friday we could use the library?” She asked, shooting you puppy dog eyes. “I don’t see why not. Let me touch base with our librarian that week and make sure, I’ll get back to you.” You answered.

“Yay! Okay, I gotta pick my kids up but, thank you!” She yelled as she started to pick up speed down the hallway. You shook your head and smiled to yourself as you continued your walk, but quickly stopped in your tracks. Melissa’s door was open. For whatever reason, Melissa was…different for you. You never interacted much with people from your work life, never have. With Melissa you still kept your physical distance, but that didn’t stop the thoughts in your head that always came back to her.

Nervously, you leaned against the door frame and took in her room. She sat in her chair at the front of the room, book in hand, reading to her class. Every few sentences she would pick her head up and glance at her students, and each time you got nervous she would catch you staring. “The vine was alive! It was a long green snake! The snake fell from the tree, it splashed in the water and swam away,” Melissa read aloud. You watched as one of her students stood up from their seat. “Does the snake get Jack? Or Annie?” He asked. “I don’t know hon, that’s why we have to keep reading,” Melissa said to him, and motioned for him to sit back down.

“Sorry Ms. Schemmenti,” he apologized, albeit quietly. “That’s alright, I know reading can be very exciting. But let’s regroup, okay?” She regained everyone’s attention so quickly, and you couldn’t help but watch in complete adoration for the woman. You completely missed two teachers walk right behind you. Melissa went to go back to reading, but her head snapped back up immediately as she saw you standing. She waved for you to come in, and continued on. You sat there for the next few minutes, until it was time for her students to go to lunch. “Jacob is coming to get my kids, give me a minute and then I wanna talk to ya,” Melissa said to you as she stood up to get her kids ready.

You couldn’t help but study her every movement, the way she walked, the way she bent down to talk to the kids, everything. She had you wrapped around her finger like it was nothing. Melissa was, without a doubt, the highlight of your day. Every day. “So,” she started, pulling you out of your trance. “I need the library on Friday. I’m getting my kids ready for the science fair this year and I wanna try some bigger stuff with them,” she said. You could see the excitement practically glowing off of her as she told you about her plans. How could you say no? “Yeah! That sounds great. If I have time, I’d love to come see what you guys end up doing,” You told her.

“Yeah hon, you should swing by. I’d like that,” She responded. You tried desperately to ignore the way your heart pounded when she called you that, and went to make your exit. “It’s a plan. I have to get back to work but, I’ll see you around, Melissa.” She waved goodbye to you, and you went back to your office stomach full of butterflies.

Melissa wasn’t far behind you, although she was going in a different direction. She grabbed her things and headed towards the break room for her own lunch. “I’m not saying I don’t like her! I really like her, I just think it’s strange she still won’t call me Janine.” Melissa heard a voice she tried to ignore. She smiled or waved to those around, and made her way to sit down and eat. “She calls all of us by our last names, even Ava. She’s not social with us either, one time I think I saw her working and eating in her car. Are we not fun to be friends with?” Jacob frantically asked.

“No,” Melissa said in time with Ava, who was just walking in. “Are y’all talkin bad about my little helper?” She asked. Melissa, against her better judgment, chimed in. “She’s the Vice Principal, not just your little helper.” Ava sported a cheeky grin, noticing how that got under her skin. “Whatever, anyways, I came in here to tell you actually that the library is yours on Friday,” The principal continued her conversation with Melissa, although Janine was quick to say something. “Wait, what? I just talked to Y/N, and she said I could have the library,” she said frantically. “No, I just talked to her, she said I could have it. Sorry kid,” Melissa retorted. “Just because you’re her favorite, doesn’t mean you should get privileges,” Janine tried to say quietly, but she wasn’t quiet enough. “I am not her favorite! She doesn’t have favorites, she doesn’t like any of us,” Melissa argued. She turned her body more towards the table in front of her and crossed her arms.

“Oh come on Melissa, you don’t notice?” Janine poked. When she got no response, everybody decided to help paint the picture. “She calls you by your name. Your first name,” Janine told her. “She gave you the library over Janine,” Jacob added. “I saw her outside your classroom for like, five minutes today,” Gregory finished. Melissa was too stunned to say anything, both at everyone noting your behavior towards her, and the fact that she missed all of this. You didn’t wanna socialize with everyone, but everyone didn’t mean Melissa.

“Okay, okay, I’ll go figure it out. Sorry,” The redhead shot Janine an apologetic look as she walked out the door once again. Melissa felt her palms get sweaty as she got closer to your office. Now that she knew about all her little privileges with you, she didn’t want to say something and ruin it. Besides, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, Melissa enjoyed the rare company you brought her. As she approached your door, Melissa took a deep breath in. After a quick mental pep talk, she knocked gently. Upon hearing your, “Come in,” she opened the door as slowly as she could.

Lifting your head to look at the door, your face lit up at the sight. “Oh! Hi Melissa, what’s up?” You asked her. Melissa closed the door behind her, and took a seat across from you. When she didn’t answer, you leaned in a bit closer and furrowed your eyebrows at her. Melissa couldn’t meet your gaze, and you hated it. “What’s going on?” You asked quietly.

“Why am I special?” Melissa blurted out. The both of you looked at each other, surprised at what she had just said. “I…I’m not sure what you mean by that,” you lied. “You told Janine she could have the library, and then went and gave it to me. You call me ‘Melissa’ but everyone else is last names only. And I can’t prove it, but I’m pretty sure I’m the only person you buy coffee for once a week,” the older woman explained. You felt cheeks turn as red as Melissa’s hair when she said all this to you, and now it was your turn to avoid eye contact. “Hon?” She pushed when you didn’t reply.

After a deep breath, you spoke. “I don’t know. I don’t know what it is about you Melissa but my god. From the first day I got here I…I can’t keep my eyes off you when we’re in the same room. I want to do everything I can to make your day easier or better or just to see you smile. Everything I do here is for you. You’re special, that’s it. And I like you that way.” When you finally looked back up, you saw tears forming in the green eyes across from you.

“You…you really mean that?” Melissa asked you, like she almost believed everything you said. “Yes!” You let out a defeated laugh, tears forming in your own eyes out of embarrassment. “Of course I mean it. What made you decide to bring this up today?”

Melissa shifted in her seat. “It was brought to my attention today, that I may or may not be your favorite,” she admitted. She tried to hide the smile that was forming, but it was clear she was happy to be your favorite person. You sighed, “Well, you are. I’m sorry that it’s affecting work now,” You slid your chair back a bit and started to mess with papers on your desk. “Woah woah woah, don’t get all sad on me now. I never said it was a bad thing,” Melissa said, reaching across the desk to stop your hand from moving another paper. You tilted your head in confusion, which led to Melissa giggling at you. She stood up from her seat and walked around your desk, turning your chair to face her.

“I think I like being your favorite,” Melissa said in a much lower voice than you’ve ever heard from her. She rested her hands on either side of your chair, faces so close your noses were almost touching. You looked from her eyes to her lips, fighting internally which one to stare at. “Yeah?” You asked, so quietly you weren’t sure she heard you. Melissa nodded her head and when you did the same, she finally closed the distance and you were wrapped in the sweetest kiss you had ever felt.

After a few more kisses from Melissa, she finally pulled away. “I’m sorry it took me so long to notice,” She mumbled. You took her hands in yours and played with her fingers. “Don’t be, if anything I’m sorry it took me so long to actually do something about it,” You joked, which thankfully the older woman did find funny. “I think I was the one who did something about it,” Melissa corrected you. “Okay, fine. But either way, I’m glad you brought it up. Would you, maybe, want to kiss me again sometime? After dinner together?” Even though Melissa had just kissed you, you were so nervous about asking her out.

“I would love to, but I might kiss you before then.”

#abbott elementary #abbott elementary fics #lisa ann walter #reader fic #melissa hours #melissa schemmenti x reader #melissa schemmenti imagine #melissa schemmenti x you #wlw #melissa x reader #melissa schemmenti

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neuroprincess · 1 year

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Abbott Elementary - Melissa dating a foreigner (Headcanon)

Melissa Schemmenti/Reader

Classification: Fluff

Warnings: Alcohol consumption

Word count: +1000

- When she hears your accent for the first time, Melissa is delighted and immediately starts trying to guess where it's from, if she can't figure out the origin on her own she'll ask you personally. You are the new temporary teacher and are at the table talking with Janine when the woman, whom you have never talked to before, sits down next to you, scrapes her throat and with a hoarse voice asks "What's up? What part of the world did this angel fly from?"

- Curious, she will ask everything about your country, from history and culture to your favorite things, this is how you slowly get closer, learning about each other during lunch breaks while enjoying company and food. She is extremely excited to try the cuisine, even more so when you describe it;

- And the food is what brings you even closer together, she rarely invites people from work over to her home, but she has simply become obsessed with a couple of typical dishes you have brought, practically begging you to come over and teach her some. It's a nice evening, drinking wine and sharing recipes;

- It becomes routine to have these evenings, on Fridays you meet in her kitchen, alternating between Schemmenti family recipes, Italian ones and your own. After enjoying the meal you have cooked together there is nothing better than watching romantic comedy movies, playing board games, doing jigsaw puzzles, or simply having a good conversation while finishing a bottle of wine;

- On one of these evenings, while you are showing pictures of your respective families and having a good time telling stories, she leans over to pour you a third wine glass, laughing at a joke with funny words in your language, and loses balance falling on top of you, eye to eye, breathing unevenly, body and breath hot. In a millisecond Melissa's soft lips are on yours, in a gentle and tender kiss that soon becomes passionate, lustful;

- After that, you can be sure, she will officially ask you to date her. Two weeks after the first kiss/night, you are at another Friday dinner, this time is different, there are candles on the table, a rose in the center, Melissa has prepared your favorite dish and is wearing a red dress that highlights each curve of her. With a cheat sheet under the table, she is asking you to date her in your first language, some of the words come out funny but it's very cute and makes your heart melt watching her roll the tongue in pronunciation. Very nervous;

- If you have trouble with english she will make sure to help whatever you need, so dedicated that she spends hours redoing exercises and reading books together, teaching you tips and tricks. She also creates ludic games for practice, personalized cards with words that you have difficulty with or want to learn;

- And she will want to learn your language, it's cute when you find her using an app, repeating the pronunciation and writing down each new thing she learns, the redhead secretly uses a children's activity book to learn the basics, it's simple, didactic and with fun illustrations;

- You will have to learn Italian anyway, at least the basics to be able to communicate with her family. She is going to teach you the essentials, like good morning, greetings, basic questions, and, especially, swearing. All Schemmenti are dirty-mouthed and also like to swear in Italian, knowing how to swear defines survival within the family;

- She loves to find out little things about you and always wonders if some habits are cultural or just something unique to Y/N, curious about every aspect of you. When you speak expressions, in less than a week she starts using them, along with usual phrases and sayings. Melissa loves to learn about your culture's typical dishes, favorite songs, hobbies and dressing customs, and may or may not acquire some of your personality by osmosis without noticing;

- If you travel to your home country she will love to know everything, taking with her travel guides and an, by the way, inseparable dictionary, the teacher refuses to ask for help with the language because she wants to show you how dedicated and good she can be speaking the idiom... but at some point Mel will, after you let her screw around while locals talk fast or expressions she doesn't recognize. It's fun and cute;

- It's a culture shock if there doesn't have a local Football team , she will question ten times if you are sure until she finally accepts. But will support whatever other sports your country has, that's what she does as a big supporter of sports in general;

- She will try everything from tourist attractions to cuisine, you might imagine that restaurants would be her weakness, but no, she will be completely obsessed with little shops and fill a bag with souvenirs for herself, family and friends. Key chains, small decorations, T-shirts, in short, everything that can remind her of your trip will be bought;

- If you bring her to a farm or something similar, well, your girlfriend becomes a total cowgirl, she likes the idea of country life, taking care of animals, enjoying the view, the nature, and, if there are crops, feeling the freshness and the taste of natural food while cooking. Maybe in the future, at some point and with someone who wants the same thing as her, Melissa will consider living somewhere like this or at least having a country house to get a taste of this tranquility;

- Pictures, lots of pictures! She will register every moment and will for sure make a special album when returning to the US, frame some of them to put on the walls, maybe even put one in her wallet along with a copy of the first picture you took together;

- And on this return trip Mel plans to ask her to move in with her, there is a special copy of the key with a keychain placed in a velvet box and when you see it your heart skips a beat imagining being asked to marry her, but you both laugh at the misunderstanding. To be clear, she is probably using a dictionary for this too... and a lot of courage.

#melissa schemmenti x reader #abbott elementary x reader #melissa schemmenti #headcanon

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multimilfs · 2 years

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Melissa Schemmenti x Fem!Reader: Melissa's No Good, Very Bad Cover-Up

Summary: 5 times Melissa Schemmenti tries to pretend she doesn't feel anything +1 time she stops pretending.

AO3

A/N: So I watched Abbott Elementary and fell in love with (1) South Philly redhead. She is everything. I was very surprised at the lack of x reader fics for her and well, I had to fix it myself.

If this is not your cup of tea, please don't read! Thank you!

Tag List: @ghostsunderstoodmysoul @multifandomfix @escapetodreamworld

Warning(s): None

If someone asks Melissa Schemmenti how she feels about the new teacher, she’ll tell them she doesn’t feel anything about her.

Mistake number one? Never ask Melissa Schemmenti about feelings. Mistake number two? She looks at the new girl a little too much and too fondly to ‘feel nothing.’ That’s a problem with Melissa, her stories are always a little off; any cover-up is.

And this cover-up, well… Melissa had done better covering for her Aunt at 15 years old.

“I have a problem.” Janine announces, walking into the Teacher’s Lounge with the camera crew at her heels.

Without looking up from the papers, Melissa nods, “Your self awareness is improving.”

Janine makes a point to ignore the comment, as well as the grins both you and Barbara try to hide. Dropping unceremoniously into a chair–one of the wobbly ones, the imbalance almost sending her to the floor–she sighs. She doesn’t wait for Melissa to look before starting on her point. Though true to fashion, Melissa pays attention anyway.

“Sayed’s parents still haven’t paid the overdue balance on his lunch account. I’ve tried calling, sending notes home, nothing! And I’m running low on cash.”

Barbara offers up a sad smile, “His Grandmother was in the early stages of memory loss when I had him in my class. I can’t imagine she’s improved much, and his Mother is entirely out of the picture.”

“How did you handle it?”

“It was the first year we had extra funds. I kept some snacks in my desk; it wasn’t much, but he wasn’t going hungry.”

Nodding, Janine still looks distraught, and you know all too well where that leads. You dig through your bag and pull out a foil-wrapped sandwich. You hold it out.

“Make sure he’s not allergic and offer him half of this,” You smile, “keep the other half for yourself. I know you didn’t bring anything.”

You ignore all of the questioning looks from the group–namely Melissa’s stare burning holes in your head–and keep smiling. It was rare you said much during lunch, preferring the company of some big over-the-ear headphones and a choice playlist.

“What about you?”

“It was an extra I was saving for dinner, I’ll just cook instead.”

She looks between you and the foil package. Eventually she nods. Her eyes are a little glassy as she looks back at you and for an instant, you wonder if you’ve done something wrong. The smile on her lips is enough to set your fears to rest.

“Thank you.” Janine says genuinely.

Waving off the thanks, you pull out a familiar case from your bag and unfold your big headphones, sliding them over your ears. Relief washes over you as the rest of the room is blocked out by the playlist of your choosing. Your chest feels full with the knowledge that you did something nice–something good–even as you know you won’t have the energy to cook tonight.

The room misses the way Melissa’s mouth turns up in a fond smile as they go back to their own meals. The camera’s don’t, though.

—

It’s a Tuesday when Melissa ventures past your classroom with her own kids in tow. The silence makes her glance in and stop, eyebrows raising. The room is full. With a quick glance to her watch and a hand up to make her class wait, she tiptoes in.

Your students look up and you follow suit after a few moments. The surprise on your face must show as the redhead grins. Whispers start breaking through the room and you put a finger to your lips, squashing it just as quickly as it started.

Melissa crouches next to your desk and you make eye contact briefly, “How do you get them so quiet? I can never keep mine quiet before lunch.”

“We always have quiet time, so they’re used to it,” You whisper back, “It lets them color or read without having to meet some kind of requirement.”

“And you?”

“It’s… nice to be free of the noise for a few minutes.”

She wears a knowing smile on her lips and you wonder how she seems to read you so easily. It must be a South Philly trait, you decide. That’s what Barbara and Janine always tell you; Melissa is so different, so resourceful, because of her upbringing. You don’t think they’d lie to you.

“Might have to try this quiet time thing myself.”

You think you sense some approval there. Looking at her, you’re shocked to see how she’s staring back; you’ve only ever seen her look at Barbara so… sweetly. It drops away pretty fast though and she nods, standing back up and stalking out of the room without a word.

Attempting to savor the last few minutes to read your book, you try, and fail, to ignore the feeling of doing something wrong. Melissa smiling at you felt so nice, like she approved, like she liked you. But you weren’t Janine, Barbara, or even Jacob.

Maybe… you could be.

—

Parent-Teacher conferences, you decide, are awful.

Not because you’re expected to interact with strangers outside of your scheduled work hours—though that puts a wrinkle in your demeanor—but because all it turned out to be was several hours of waiting, for nothing. Energy drains from you the longer you sit, glancing up at every bump hoping for a little change; if you’re going to use your reserves, you’d rather it prove productive.

Your stomach growls and you’re made acutely aware of the last time you had something. Lunch was a cheesesteak from the corner store and a bag of chips, both of which you scarfed down without a thought of saving any for later. You could kick yourself for it now. The corner store is closed and your energy is gone, which means sleep for dinner.

Mood soured, you still force a smile everytime you think footsteps come near your door. Just because you’re feeling down doesn’t mean you can’t do your job. It’s a relief that years of practicing a toothy, winning smile haven’t let you down yet.

Time passes and you flip through pages of your book unbothered. Out of habit, you glance to the doorway and jump when you find it occupied. A familiar redhead is leaning against the door and watching with a blank expression. Your heart drops as you throw your book down, perfect smile forgotten as you fumble for composure.

“Melissa,” You say, withering internally at how your voice wavers, “How long have you been standing there?”

She says nothing and the few moments feel like an eternity. Her green-eyed stare feels like it's cutting through you, breaking you down to small little pieces—can she see how frazzled you feel? The way she leans, arms crossed over her chest reveals nothing.

“Have you eaten?” Melissa asks, your question ignored.

You want to lie and end this conversation as quickly as possible, but dishonesty makes your skin crawl, “Not since lunch.”

Melissa lets out a noise that you can’t interpret. She cranes her neck to glance at the clock on your wall, red hair shielding part of her face. Your sudden realization of how beautiful she is only adds to your overwhelm.

When she turns back to you, all you can think about is how her hair frames her face, and it infuriates you; you’re at work and she is your colleague, why on earth should it matter? Why are you so distracted all of a sudden? You’re all too glad to blame it on hunger.

“Come on, I’ve got some Lasagna from home you can have.”

“But, conferences don’t end until–”

“I know when conferences end. Are you coming or not?”

You hesitate and stand. The action earns you an approving nod and she walks out of the room, expecting you to follow behind, which you do; feeling a little too much like one of her students trailing at her heels.

“Did you have any parents show up?” You ask somewhere between your room and her’s.

“One or two,” She nods, “They came early, so it’s been me and my thoughts for a while.”

“I haven’t had any parents show tonight.”

“That’s usually a good thing. Some parents don’t have time for these things, but the ones who do only come if there’s a problem. Consider it a compliment.”

“A compliment that I sat around for hours doing nothing?” You raise an eyebrow.

“If that’s how you want to see it, sure.”

You look around her room and smile at the art on the walls, scribbled pictures that she clearly values. If you were being honest with yourself, you hadn’t expected Melissa to care about her job like she does; she had too similar a demeanor to your teachers back in school when they’d grown to despise their jobs. There had been a few pointers to her caring more than she let on, but they hadn’t fully hit you until now.

Pointedly ignoring the camera crew in the corner, you sit down across from her. She’s rifling through her bag and pulling out a worn, stained tupperware container. The smell when she lifts the lid off is amazing, but the visual turns your stomach a little. You forgot how much went into lasagna.

“Don’t tell me you came over here and you don’t like lasagna?” Melissa asks, squinting at you, “You got something against Italians?”

“What? No,” Shaking your head, “Lasagna just has a lot in it. It can be overwhelming sometimes.”

Melissa looks at you like she understands, like she sees you, and you freeze. Have you let on a little too much? Some teachers can be outdated in their views. It squeezes your heart that she might be one of them, but she says nothing.

She holds out the tupperware and you can only stare at it. You aren’t sure you feel hungry anymore. Rolling her eyes and huffing, Melissa digs a forkful out of the container and holds it out.

“Open up.” She commands, “This is your chance to prove you’re not anti-Italian.”

Silence.

Another sigh.

“Come on, hon.”

You lean forward and wrap your lips around the fork, eyes slipping closed. The taste and texture are perfect. You’d always wondered about Melissa’s cooking, but never had an occasion to try it, or the bravery to ask.

“That’s… amazing.” You sigh out, smiling.

The corner of her mouth turns up in the beginnings of a smile, “Good. Then take the rest, ‘cause I’m not feedin’ ya.”

Obedience is a strong suit of yours when Melissa is involved, it seems; you take the meal from her eagerly. The two of you settle into silence as you eat and she grades and for once you don’t mind letting the quiet stretch between you. It’s… nice, you decide, but only with Melissa. And probably only this once.

You try not to think too hard about why that bothers you.

—

“You’re getting awfully close to the new teacher.” Barbara notes, watching the students all line up outside.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

The look Barbara offers is one that says ‘oh really?’ and Melissa does her best to brush it off. She’s being nice to you, that’s all, you aren’t growing close—she doesn’t do close, not since her divorce.

Her story will be the same as long as she can manage it; she isn’t fond of you, you aren’t growing close, and she definitely doesn’t search for you in a room. You can’t pry the information from her lips.

But Barbara only grins slyly and shakes her head when you appear around the corner and Melissa lights up. Her eyes brighten, a soft smile forming, and she walks to meet you instead of making you come to her.

Your smile is shy when you see Melissa, but you can’t help but light up yourself. The South Philly woman has a way of making that happen. She walks to your side and strikes up a conversation like it's nothing, her shoulder bumping yours as you walk side by side towards the door.

Barbara laughs under her breath, looking knowingly into the camera.

—

Your chair being empty when Melissa enters the teacher’s lounge sets off warning bells in her head. She can count how many times you’ve walked in after her on one hand. Ignoring the knowing glances from her colleagues, she can’t help but keep staring at your empty chair. Another five minutes and she’s up; following any sign of you like a bloodhound.

Curious stares follow after her, but she’s too preoccupied to care. The hallways are empty with the kids at lunch and she makes a beeline for your classroom. Darkness covers your room in a blanket and she wonders where else you could have gone off to, only to find her attention caught by a flicker of light somewhere inside.

Slipping the door open loud enough to be heard, Melissa hears noise coming from behind your desk. Her chest deflates as she lets out the breath she’d been holding.

“Knock, knock,” The redhead says softly, drawing your eyes to her.

As much as you’d like to, you can’t force your voice to work, only offering a smile. It surprises you when she crouches down and settles at your side. It surprises you even more when Melissa pushes a piece of hair behind your ear to see your face.

Hiding the puffiness around your eyes is impossible despite the low light. It’s why you’d confined yourself to your classroom, you wouldn’t have to draw attention to it. You hadn’t expected anyone to come looking.

“What’s going on, Hon?”

You want to shake your head, push away the worry etched into her face, but you can’t; not when she decided to miss lunch and seek you out, not when she’s looking at you like she is. It takes a few tries before you can speak around the lump in your throat.

“Today has just been… a lot.” You say lamely.

“I’ve never seen you like this. You need me to handle someone?”

Seriousness is plain on her face and you know she would given the chance. You wonder what lengths Melissa would go to, has gone to; and though it may be awful, you don’t care. It touches you to feel included.

When you shake your head, her hand settles on top of yours. Your face feels warm.

“There was a combination of little things but this,” You pull your headphones from your bag, clearly broken in half, “Took the cake.”

“How the hell did that happen?”

“I let Bria borrow them since she seemed overstimulated, but the other kids wanted a turn. I looked up and they were in two pieces.”

It shouldn’t upset you the way it does; it’s just a pair of headphones, you know that, but really it’s so much more. Working at Abbott was your passion and yet, the conditions of the school often left you without any control over your situation, and everything could be so much sometimes. The headphones were a small way to establish control… or had been.

Melissa is up and jogging out of the room before you can blink, throwing a ‘wait here!’ behind her. So you do, watching the doorway for her shadow. She returns a few minutes later with something held behind her back and a small smile on her lips.

“Close your eyes.” She says.

“Melissa–”

“I’m not going to wait forever, just close ‘em.”

You make a show of sighing, but do as she says. Footsteps shuffle to your side and then the sound is muffled as something is placed over your ears. Reaching up and touching the headphones, you open your eyes, offering a watery smile.

“They’re nothing special, just a set from the days we had a computer lab, but they’ll do until we can get something better.” Melissa says, fixing your hair around the headphones, “They feel okay?”

“Yeah, they’re perfect.” You’re perfect, you want to say, the warm light from the hall surrounding her in a halo. Her grin is cast in shadow, but still the most radiant thing you’ve ever seen.

Melissa’s hands settle on your face, fingers running over the apples of your cheeks. The action only serves to make you smile wider. One hand moves back to a strand of your hair while a thumb rubs circles over your skin. She’s much closer than you realized and you wonder how inappropriate it’d be to kiss her right now.

The bell cuts through the possibility.

She doesn’t pull back or let her hand drop away, but her smile drops and she’s back to no-nonsense Ms. Schemmenti. You miss her smile already. With one last stroke on your cheek, she releases you, leaving you feeling cold.

“Take good care of those.”

—

You never expected late nights as a first grade teacher. Had you taught high school, maybe then you’d have prepared; what you failed to plan for was how in-depth lessons had to be for a first grade class.

Sometimes the kids just didn’t understand what they were being taught and that you prepared for. It didn’t bother you to take some extra time from a lesson to further explain, that was your job, and you were happy to do it. It didn’t account for the way you’d have to slice out different lessons or cut into your grading time, leading you to late nights like this one.

The clock hit six and a knock on your door drew your attention away. Melissa was leaning in, red hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, offering you a tired smile. Your chest filled with warmth at seeing her.

“Late night for you too?” You ask.

She nods and crosses to stand in front of your desk, “What are you doing here so late?”

“The lessons went long today, so it cut into a few things. I’m reworking it all for tomorrow’s lesson.”

Melissa’s hands come to rest on the edge of your desk as she leans against it. You make a concentrated effort to keep your eyes on her face. Her hand is reaching out to rub at something on your face and you offer up a questioning glance, but find yourself distracted.

Her lips are parted in concentration as she continues to rub at something you don’t know about. It gives you a minute to just admire her. Everything about her melts you. She’s strong and tough on the outside, but with a soft heart inside, and you wonder how many people really see her as she is; how many people got caught on the no-nonsense demeanor without looking beyond it.

At some point during your musings, she stopped moving. Her hand stays holding your chin, thumb running back and forth near your lips. You meet her eyes and find them locked on you.

“Kiss me,” You blurt without thinking. Her eyes go wide and yours do too, mortification going through you, “I’m so sorry, I just–I meant–”

You’re cut off when her hand slides to the back of your neck and she pulls your lips to her’s. For a brief moment you freeze, shocked that it’s really happening. How many times had you thought about kissing her like this? How many times had the two of you leaned so close, only to pull away at the last second?

When you sink into the kiss, it fills your chest to the brim. Melissa is a soft kisser to your surprise. You’d always imagined she’d be more demanding; she was a woman who knew what she wanted, after all. But she’s careful–slow–like she’s savoring it.

“You’re—wow.” You breathe out when she pulls back. She laughs then, lipstick smudged attractively around her mouth.

“Let me buy you dinner.” Melissa says, near-whispering with how close the two of you still are.

“Are you asking me on a date, Ms. Schemmenti?”

“Get your things,” She ignores your teasing, “I’ll wait outside.”

When she turns away from you, Melissa can’t help the soft, giddy smile on her lips.

So much for not feeling anything.

#melissa schemmenti #melissa schemmenti x reader #abbott elementary #abbott elementary x reader #melissa schemmenti imagine #abbott elementary imagine #wlw #wlw imagine #multimilfswritings #sept2022

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urfavnegronerd · 4 months

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percy jackson brain-rot as i begin the books again

as someone whos hopelessly devoted to the workings of rick riordon i absolutely never understood percabeth

like,

they're literally 12, children, CANNOT LEGALLY DRIVE OR CONSENT TO SEX at the end of the og series (chalice of the gods) and niggas really out here shipping the fuck outta them

shit dig hard enough on a03 and there's prolly smut of the two of em

never understood it, like i get a cute lil mutual pining thing where they both like each other but a whole ass ship never made sense. like no, the two don't make babies. why? CUZ THEYRE BABIES THEMSELVES

edit:

okay to clear things up cs people are in the comments saying i don't know what a ship is (i'm literally a fanfic writer on here but okay)

i'm just saying that these are literally little kids in middle school. i'm not saying that middle school kids don't have relationships, but it's still weird. and from, i'm boutta geek out about this incredibly obscure topic i'm sorry, a developmental standpoint middle grade children are nowhere near psychologically ready to be in a relationship which is why it's extremely rare to see couples who have been together since middle school (that one episode of abbott elementary). if you go on tiktok and look for people who broke up with someone they were in a relationship with from middle school- high school, those breakups are traumatic

all breakups are traumatic in some way, but there have been several people who have developed traits of borderline personality disorder because they broke up with someone they had been romantically involved with since middle school.

also let's not forget how warped your view on intimate relationships go (fucking. imma say it the way you think about fucking is skewed). the people i've spoken to who broke up with their middle school partner in their older parts of high school have recounted just how awful their view on sex was, some have even pondered if they were asexual because they couldn't picture themselves up under anyone else.

like i get it, it's cute to see little kids who like each other, but most of this fandom are of age to drive, to study for the SATS/gsces, some are able to legally drink in the united states, or applying to college. these are little baby children that high school students and young adults should not be playing match maker for. ALSO WALKER SCOBELL IS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL/ HIS FIRST YEAR IN HS HE WAS BORN IN 2009.

anyway,

i get it, we all have head canons, but shipping two middle schoolers who a) may or may not have started puberty b) did not stay at one school for too long c) don't know trig formulas d) may or may not have had their first period/ voice dropped/ you get the picture.

i don't understand percabeth as a whole romantic ship, but mostly as a fluffy little middle school flirty thing (prolonged eye contact, stealing hats, asking if they can hug/kiss at a certain time, etc.)

i love love love the concept of seaweed brain and wise girl, smartwater, percabeth, whatever, I THINK THEY'RE ADORABLE but i don't understand the draw of why people feel the incessant need to make it extremely romantic. like why why whyyyyyyy. can we js let them be kids, because lets be real a lot of the newer additions to this fandom only know about the show (and its okay we love you guys anyway its just that some of us have read the books too, its not required for you to love the show that you need to read the books) and are already talking about 'annabeth and percy need to just kiss already' no they don't. cs percy just lost his mom (i know something you dooonttttttt) and our cutie patootie annabeth is still lowkey a mystery (i'm guessing?? idk i haven't watched the show yet i think im gonna pirate it soon or smth, im js assuming because idk what point the show is at in relation to the first book), etc. can we maybe not make them a whole ass ship until the show is in relation to the last few books of the series. lets js let them be kids for now.

AND THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT I DIDN'T LIKE WHEN THEY WERE AN ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP IN THE LATER BOOKS OKAY ITS NOT TO SAY THAT im just saying that i didn't understand the concept of percabeth within the first few books because it was a little wonky to really really want two twelve year olds to be in a relationship. they're cute when its in the last few books but come on yall. lets not ship them yet. also report any smut you see of them that's not cool or rick riordon approved.

theyre still babies, even if some of the fandom has read all of the books and others didn't.

does this make sense?

xoxo,

rae <3

#percabeth #grover underwood #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #pjo series #percy jackson #annabeth #annabeth chase #percy and annabeth #annabeth pjo #annabeth percy jackson #perseus jackson

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macaro-mochi · 11 months

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Succession and Abbott Elementary really revived my joy of weekly releases this year because it's so fun to experience fantastic storytelling alongside a large group. You feel like you're a part of something bigger. The hype and the theories are fantastic. It's a wholesome (well, sort of wholesome in Succession's case) time and binge-watching a season of television that's released in one go simply isn't the same.

Anyway, this is just my way of saying that I think season two of The Bear should have weekly releases because that would be so much more fun than having all the episodes released in one go.

#abbott elementary #succession #succession hbo #hbo succession #the bear #the bear fx #the bear hulu #like can you imagine witnessing the character development after weeks of waiting and anticipation? delicious

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veronicaleighauthor · 1 month

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Barbara Howard

I’m a huge fan of Abbott Elementary. For those who may not be familiar with it, here’s a brief description:

A workplace comedy centered around a group of dedicated teachers – and an oblivious principal – in a Philadelphia public school where, despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed in life.

I started watching it not long after the show started, but recently I did a binge watch of it before Season 3 started and fell in love with it. One of the things I really appreciate about the show it’s character, Barbara Howard (portrayed by the brilliant Sheryl Lee Ralph). A veteran kindergarten teacher of over thirty years, you immediately fall in love with her. When we’re introduced to her, she declares she’s a “woman of God.” She’s a Christian and not ashamed of being so. Unlike other portrayals of Christians on comedy shows, even when Barbara says something comical or faith related, we’re never really laughing at her. As opposed to Glenn Sturgis on Superstore, who we laugh at all the time. Now I love Superstore and Glenn Sturgis and I enjoy laughing at him. And it’s perfectly fine for a Christian character to be ditzy, or hypocritical, or the villain; I’ve done it enough in my own stories. But Barbara Howard is one of the few positive portrayals of Christians out there.

The other characters on Abbott Elementary, Janine especially, highly respect Barbara and look to her for guidance since she’s one of the veteran teachers. She’s not perfect, but she’s never hypocritical, or cruel, or vicious. She is very open about her faith, yet she is never abrasive or judgmental. She never attempts to evangelize her coworkers. Others don’t share her beliefs, but they listen and understand her Christian beliefs are part of who she is. Ava, who is her polar opposite in personality and behavior, has referenced church and discussed beliefs and has even given Barbara some much needed advice, which Barbara took. Her closest friend is Melissa Schemmenti, who has some shady connections. Over the years she’s mentored the younger teachers, Janine, Gregory, and Jacob. Her students adore her and more than one has returned to tell her how much of an impact she’s made on their lives.

:: Spoilers from a Recent Episode ::

The recent episode of Abbott Elementary is fantastic. The school’s auditorium is lent out for Barbara’s choir group to sing in. Since Barbara is a talented singer, Ava encourages her to try out for the program. And Barbara does; it’s her wish to sing “Shackles” from MaryMary since in the past it inspired her. We see though that the church ladies don’t really like Barbara. We eventually find out they consider Barbara too “modern” for their tastes. They think she wears too much makeup; that she has too many piercings; that when she goes on cruises, she becomes Sea Barbara who is different from Land Barbara; they also object to her friendships with the more “colorful” teachers of the school.

Barbara isn’t accepted amongst those who are her brothers and sisters in Christ because in their eyes, she is “different.” She may never find acceptance in her church family. However, Abbott Elementary rallies around her and reminds her she will always have a place in their family.

:: Spoilers over ::

Anyway, the whole episode really inspired me because I’ve been struggling with some stuff. And in all honesty, I’ve drifted from God. He’s drawn me back, as He has in the past. But I was able to relate to Barbara and what she was going through – no matter how devout you are in your faith, there will always be another who thinks you aren’t truly living for Him. In the end, we’re only accountable to God and it’s His opinion that matters – not that person in your life giving you the side-eye for you not living up their expectations.

So, if you haven’t already, try Abbott Elementary. You’ll enjoy it, I swear! I can’t wait for tonight’s special episode.

#abbott elementary #barbara howard #faith #christianity #god #jesus

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andipxndy-writes · 11 months

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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…

#writing: mine #writing: fanfic writings #abbott elementary fanfiction #fandom: abbott elementary #Abbott Elementary #gregory x janine #melissa schemmenti #barbara howard #ava coleman #mr. johnson #jacob hill #written for: nyx101sthings #oneshot

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