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“Welcome to English 101.
There will be no swearing, text messaging, or chewing gum in this class. I expect you to actually read the texts I assign to you each week, – and yes, we will be covering Shakespeare. Any questions?”
Her tone did not make room for any discussion. Crisp shirt and not a ruffle in her skirt, she was the textbook image of a boarding school headmistress. She had control of her facial expression until the door went slamming open and a blonde came crashing through, with her shirt half folded in her pants and books spilling out of her hands.
“Hey! Woah, you guys are early!” She whistles, taking a look at the class with the students all seated with notebooks and pens out. She stops when she reaches the professor, grinning as she looks at her. "Oh, hey Regina! Thanks for being here! You didn’t have to cover for me!"
"Excuse me?"
"Really, I know math isn't really your expertise. I'm touched that you took over for me." The blonde gushes, placing her books onto the desk, glancing to the whiteboard behind her. There is a certain vein that appears on Professor Mills’ forehead that the students will come to know in time means not to talk when it appears.
"What the hell are you rambling on about?"
Swear Word: 1
"My Business Management Class? My 9 a.m. class?" The blonde says, smiling reassuringly to the students, who just stare at her.
"Miss Swan. It is 10 a.m. now."
"Oh."
"Now get the fuck out of my class."
Swear word: 2
The same happens a week later, and Professor Swan joins Professor Mills’ class in stride, unbothered by the fact that she missed her own class. Professor Mills doesn’t even blink an eye and keeps lecturing her class on the proper business writing format for emails. Swan guffaws at some of the examples displayed on the board, then quiets down at the withering look aimed at her from Mills.
“And in conclusion, do not end your emails with emojis.” At that, with a small smile, she flips to the next slide, previewing an email clearly signed by one blonde scooting lower into her seat.
“It was to a fucking chain thread.” Professor Swan mumbles to no one.
Swear word: 3
Professor Mills clears her throat, and Emma’s eyes widen. Busted, she shuffles to the swear jar Regina has pulled out, and places one dollar in an already stuffed jar.
“I’m heading out before I lose all my money to that infernal jar.” Professor Swan admits, waving at the students as she heads out. Ruby herself waves back, wondering how much Professor Mills is going to have in that swear jar by the end of the week.
“Infernal - that’s my word of the day,” says a small voice to her left. Ruby looks across to a kid, sitting in the back, drinking his juice box. She probably didn’t notice him when she first came in, hyped up about the class taught by the one nicknamed ‘Evil Queen’ around campus. He was sitting by himself, and a quick glance around told Ruby that none of the other students seemed to be talking to him.
“Um, kid, whose kid are you? Are you lost?”
“My mom is a professor here, she knows.” He replies, and goes back to reading his comic. Another glance around the classroom, the other’s faces mirroring her confusion and amusement, she realizes no one claims the child. As she ponders about disrupting the class to announce a lost kid in aisle six, Professor Mills glances to her and Henry, pursing her lips.
“Mr. Swan, I’m assuming you will partake in my class today?”
“Yeah.” He replies with a huge smile, and Professor Mills smiles back. Ruby and ten other people in class fall in love with that smile. The new born adoration shatters when the professor goes back to the blackboard and writes down all the assignments she plans to give them throughout the semester. By the end of the semester, each student probably will have their own US constitution length of work.
What a first month into the course..
***
The Faculty Meeting happens at the beginning of every academic year. It is the most boring meeting ever to sit in, at least for Emma, but she still dresses up, wanting to leave a lasting impression that she does belong working here. Granted, she’s been here for two years now, but still students mistake her as one of them. Even staff sometimes mistake her for a student, which means making a somewhat lasting impression at this meeting is important. She musters up the most professional outfit she has, then ends up with three buttons untied and her hair a mess as she runs into the auditorium, forgetting that she had to drop Henry off to his first day of school beforehand.
Besides being nearly sidelined by a bus, she’s glad she’s made it on time. Well barely, as the space was full. It’s ironic how everyone makes an effort to appear for this meeting, but then ditch the rest of the semester faculty meetings. Her eyes search and land on a certain brunette and a relieved smile takes over her face. At least there’s one person she was familiar with. Before she can even grab a bearclaw from the refreshment table, the headmaster is at the podium. Emma scoots past a row of inattentive colleagues and makes her way to Professor Mills. The seat next to the professor is taken so she sits on the ground space besides her. She is not the only one to do so as she can spot one or two who mirror her, sitting on whatever surface they can find. There were a few seats left in the front, but it’s a general rule to never sit in the front row at these things – you really can’t get away with yawning or looking at your phone there.
Realizing who is giving a speech next, she mentally groans. Human Resource staff Sidney Glass was probably milking it, knowing he wouldn’t get a chance to have all the staff and faculty in the same room again. Midway through his speech, her back starts to stiffen, and she shakes her legs to relax. She really didn’t get why he had to continue rambling on about the university’s history, since they all work here and have received the same university catalog every year. She feels a tap on her shoulder, and leans back, whispering her thanks to Regina, allowing her to rest against her knee. Regina doesn’t even acknowledge it, talking to the colleague next to her, and Emma feels like a child. She’s tempted to find somewhere else to sit, but being on the aisle doesn’t allow her much leverage to move, and the last thing she wanted was the headmaster to call her out. Regina starts to play with her hair – with her hair??
Wait, no. of course not. She’s braiding Emma’s unruly hair into a bun. She quickly rushes to fix her shirt buttons, realizing they were still open as Regina finishes wrapping her hair up and leaning back into her chair. A few moments after, Emma’s phone beeps and she scrambles to get it out of her bag.
Did you oversleep on the first day? A text from Mills. She turns around to look at Regina, who’s studiously looking at the speaker.
Emma leans back against the woman’s knee, - forgot to drop Henry. First day. She waits for another text message, but then texts again. Texting while in a meeting? So scandalous.
I’ve done worse. Regina texts back. Emma stares at her phone screen, flitting images running through her mind. It takes another nudge from Regina to pay attention to the speaker again.
***
The swear jar started off as a joke. Emma had seen it on a TV show once and joked about it to Henry while Regina was in the room. And though Henry barely ever swore, Regina found the system amusing, and especially fitting for her class. It was not something she would use against her students, nor would she request monetary value from her students; it was more so would be placed there for Emma. The blonde had a tendency to swear in front of her class, and despite Regina finding it endearing in certain circumstances, it won't do for when they are in a room with their students. There was even a week when Emma fixated on soccer matches, studiously watching the premier league, and kept swearing when she discussed the game with the students. Regina's swear jar had enough for her to buy coffee for that week, with cream on top for Henry. Regina's fortune dwindled as soon as Emma stopped dating the woman who got her into watching the premier league. And though Regina’s swear jar emptied with Emma’s lack of swearing, she was happy to see the woman go. (She will not admit it to Emma’s face, though. Purely reasonable excuses for not liking Emma’s girlfriend.)
The only time the system backfired on her was when she lost a particular argument against Gold during one of their staff meetings. It was a debate regarding processes and how they wanted to correct papers, and the faculty decided against her. It was a small thing, really - not really much of a pressing matter, or one that would affect her class. But the smug look on Gold’s face as he saw that they all agreed to his idea, that riled her up. She held her composure until after the meeting, swearing numerous times in Spanish as she made her way to her office. She found Emma there, and forgot that the blonde knew a bit of Spanish too. She had to put in cash in the swear jar, angrily reaching into her pocket, and stuffing it into the jar, all the while she kept swearing in Gold's name. Emma kept grinning at each dollar placed in. She only calmed down when Emma proposed bowling, using Henry as an excuse to get the woman to say yes. She imagined every single pinball as one of the faculty in the meeting.
After that, she knew not to have the jar out, or Emma close by, whenever she was done with a faculty meeting that included Gold.
***
Ruby loved the downtown farmers market. Despite it being chilly in the mornings, it was always bustling with people. Colors swirled in front of her as she passed stalls of tomatoes, potatoes, corn, strawberries, mushrooms, and her favorite flowers. Sure, she didn’t have anyone to give them to, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy viewing the different bouquets displayed in the stalls, buying herself a batch to keep in the dorm even though she won’t get to glance at them till midnight. In between classwork and working at the college café, it was nice to come back home to flowers on her desk.
She made a few rounds around the market, and once in a while she would bump into a colleague or friends from work, so it wasn’t a surprise to bump into her professor. Professor Emma, or Ems, if you are very close to her, had her hair loose in a ponytail, eyes squinting behind her eyeglasses in the sunlight. Hands filled with bags brimming with vegetables, she looks over her shoulder as she talks to Ruby. Ruby follows her line of sight, and there, coming up behind Emma, is Professor Mills, holding Henry’s hand, while he rambles on about cartoons with a grin smeared with ice-cream. The smile on Emma’s face as she spots them is pure bliss. Ruby somehow manages to say hello, and answer Professor Mills’ questions. It doesn’t take long for Henry to tug at Regina’s hand, dragging her along to the next stall. Regina briefly presses a kiss to Emma’s cheek before leaving, and Emma keeps looking at them before she looks back and grins at Ruby, asking her about her course project.
***
“Did you see them at the Farmers Market?”
“I saw them but didn’t want to approach, I would’ve freaked out.”
“They’re so cute together!”
“Yeah, definitely. It's weird how they seemed more natural there than at school.”
“Maybe they haven’t come out as a couple?”
“No way. The kid crashes her class way too often for nothing to be too obvious.”
***
Class was to start in seven minutes. If this was any other regular course, the classroom would be empty at such a time, with students coming in even twenty minutes after the class has started. The same cannot be said for Professor Mills’ class. Either from fear or respect, students come on time, and sometimes even earlier.
As of now, all twenty pairs of eyes present focused on the guy talking to Professor Mills. He was handsome, in that kind of rugged way, and a few recognized him as the new Biology professor. Taller than Professor Mills – really, most of the campus were taller than the professor, even with her heels – he was leaning close to her, practically too close for the students to hear whatever they were chatting about. He had that boyish smile that keeps popping up while talking to Regina. Dressed in drab green and grey layers that would look boring on a professor, it somehow worked for him. Well, at least half the class thought so.
Twenty pairs of eyes then shifted left to the blonde leaning against the entry door, balancing two cups of coffee and a paper bag atop a takeaway cardboard in her hand. Professor Swan is smiling but those sitting front row can see how tightly she holds onto the cups, close to crushing them in her grip. She keeps at the door, watching the other two professors talk and only nods at Regina when the woman glances across the room and notices her standing there.
Professor Mills says something, and the new guy turns to look at Emma as well. He waves, heading to the door after shaking Regina’s hand. A curt nod is all that Emma gives him as he leaves as she marches over to Mills’ desk. She lowers Regina’s coffee cup on the desk, voice low as she chats with Regina. Twenty pairs of ears strain to hear, but if the women were arguing, there was no hint or display of it. Regina eventually glances to the classroom’s clock and speaks up. “Alright, I have to start class.”
A few of the students sitting in the back groan, and some throw glares at Ruby as she lets out a deep sigh while dozing off at her desk, unfortunately positioned closest to the Professor Mills’ desk. None of the other students would sit on that side, fearing Professor Mills' wrath, except Ruby. She probably has a death wish or gets a thrill out of being lectured. The woman would’ve surely heard everything, if only she didn’t doze off in class.
… or pretended to be fast asleep, when in reality she was wide awake and listening to her professors talk.
“Who was that?” Ruby hears Emma ask in a low murmur between shuffling papers. Though her tone doesn’t really put off the edge in it, with her head down, Ruby can hear the ire in her voice.
“Just an old colleague,” Ms. Mills hums, and God does Ruby feel it coats her body like pure chocolate. How does anyone survive that?
“Hmm. From where?” Emma replies in an amused tone, her voice mimicking Regina’s hum.
“Jealous, dear?” She can hear the smugness in Regina’s voice, and wonders if this is something she’s used to doing, teasing the blonde.
“No.” the blonde huffs out, a swear under her breath as Ruby feels something drops to the floor.
“This is really new.” Surprise is laced in Regina’s voice, and Ruby is so tempted to lift her head to see her teacher’s expression.
“I’m just wondering -- when did you two meet, that’s all.” Emma’s voice goes back to normal, and not at all how it would somehow sound like if they were putting their walls up. Ruby is probably just reading too much into it. Regina doesn’t say anything for a moment, and Ruby wonders if they’ve caught on to her eavesdropping.
“I need to start class now. Are you staying?” Regina says something else but it's muffled by the students who start to talk again, but Ruby keeps still.
“I’m not that possessive.” Emma grumbles, and Ruby hears and feels her feet shuffling towards the door. She gives it a few seconds before she relaxes her shoulder, stretching as she yawns, freezing when Regina’s eyes are on her with a knowing look.
***
She hasn’t spoken to her in a while. In between midterms and working on a research paper, Emma and Regina have not had much time to chat. Emma waves to her across the campus, but she doesn’t let the disappointment take over when the woman doesn’t drop by her class.
It's during her second coffee break that her phone screen lights up and she feels her heart race seeing Emma’s name in the notification. A direct message on Instagram shows an old picture of a girl in glasses, hair braided, some dirt on the side of her cheek.
Is that you? She messages Swan.
Yeah.
She thinks of how random it is that Emma sent the picture to her, that she wanted her to see something from her past. The thought that the woman wanted to share that with her…
You look adorable. She types but doesn’t send. She wishes Emma good luck with her students instead.
***
“He only wanted to meet me to show off to his new girlfriend. She called me Heath.” Henry tells Emma between sniffles, while Regina leans against the door. She wasn’t sure if she should interrupt the moment. She was only dropping by to hand Emma some of her books she borrowed from her, when Henry came running in after her, his father just having dropped him off.
Henry is tearing up at pictures, those he had of him and his father and Emma, before their split. Regina is irate that Emma kept some in her office. Emma only stops him as he reaches the last batch. “I know you’re angry, but you still can’t erase him from your memories, kid.”
He shoots Emma a dirty look and runs off to Regina, the woman unable to hold out her arms for him. She murmurs into his ear as she soothes his head, running her hand through his curls. She glances to Emma across Henry’s head, watching how the woman was trying not to let herself be sad.
Her phone rings, and she realizes she has a class in a few minutes. She gazes back down to Henry, shoulders relaxing as she realizes she can’t leave him like this. Emma motions to Regina to let go of Henry. Regina shakes her head, eyes going back to Henry as he finally starts to breath a bit better. Emma substitutes for her classes for the day as Regina stays in Emma’s office with Henry, murmuring about comic books and school activities.
That night was the only time Henry got away with having ice-cream and pizza for dinner. Emma didn’t even mention how pineapples shouldn’t be a thing on pizzas. The three of them snuggled in front of the TV, watching You’ve Got Mail for the second time. It’s Henry’s supposed favorite film, but they all know it's Regina’s favorite. Emma’s smile takes over her face as she watches Regina and Henry spell out F-o-x, pretending she doesn’t see Regina tear up when “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” starts to play at the ending scene. Henry was already fast asleep on her lap by then. Regina catches her gaze at the “I wanted it to be you” scene, smiling shyly at each other across Henry’s sleeping form.
Regina helps Emma move him to his bedroom, pulling off his sneakers as Emma covers him in his iron-man blanket. This time when Regina stays late, their discussions touch on Emma’s old relationship with Henry’s father over hot cocoa, murmuring to not wake Henry up.
***
Her fingers string across the guitar, singing a song Emma doesn’t know, in a different language. At first Emma thought the woman was bluffing, boasting about knowing how to play the guitar – because seriously, she can’t be that perfect. The guitar they borrowed from is their neighbors’ who play loud music. Sitting across each other, she listens to how Regina’s voice loses its stiltedness, how she changes under the dorm’s light, and how her eyes close as she sings.
6:24pm on a Monday, third year of their university life, and she’s fallen in love with her roommate. It’s good she won’t see her after this year, Mills going off to teach at Harvard while she’s to enter the police force. Straight girl crushes suck.
***
Ruby is early to class. Nothing new, but there are fewer students this time and she wonders how to start chatting with them. Beside Belle, she really hasn’t made a lot of friends this year. Last time she tried, they wanted to know where she lived to copy her notes, which was a little creepy. The only other person she’s familiar with is Professor Emma, who is at the whiteboard, finishing up chatting with a student from the class before. They sometimes get to chat in between classes, Emma being a regular at her Granny’s diner has Ruby not feeling too shy to talk with her outside of class. She waves goodbye to the professor, who drops the white board marker on Professor Regina’s desk and heads out.
Busy with grabbing her books from the bag, Ruby is startled by a strangling noise coming from the front of the class. Professor Mills has just stepped in, staring at the board. The girls in class also look up, and Ruby’s eyes widen at the message left on the white board.
Professor Mills doesn’t even pretend to drop her stuff on the desk. She strolls at a fast pace to the door, head peeking out, quickly turning left and right, only stopping when she spots who she is looking for. “SWAAAAN.” She hisses out into the hallway. Ruby can actually see the doorway cringing away from the venom in Mill’s voice.
A few moments and Emma is standing at the classroom door, looking confusedly at Regina, being dragged in, “What? You didn’t like my note? I thought it was very touching..” A girl snorted from the back of the class. Ruby groans, hiding behind her backpack. Professor Mills doesn’t even bother to look at them.
“Miss Swan. Explain.” She motions to the white board, where written in Emma’s messy cursive is Emma’s note - “Thanks for the massage. X”
“A typo. Oh. I meant the message, about you wishing me luck on my conference presentation.” She rambles, more loudly as she realizes they have an audience. “I mean who wouldn’t want a massage from Regina, she’s very good with her hands. I mean – I’m going to stop talking now.”
Ruby hides her face behind her book, eyes peeking out at if she’ll need to be called on as a witness for a murder.
She doesn’t think she’s ever seen Professor Mills blush that hard.
Emma grabs the whiteboard eraser and heads to the whiteboard, humming ‘Jessie’s girl’ as she wipes off the typo from her message. Professor Mills is definitely not staring at her ass as she sways.
“There. M e s s a g e. I know how to spell.” Emma turns to face Regina once she is done, raising a brow at how the woman quickly looks away.
“One point to Hufflepuff.” Emma beams at that, then frowns when Regina adds, “minus ten points from Hufflepuff, for the mistake in the first place.”
***
Henry sits in on Professor Regina’s class, this time writing in his notepad. He has been accustomed to sitting right next to the door, at Regina’s peripheral view but not too far from the door if his mom passes by and waves to him from outside the classroom. Some students say hello to him at the beginning of the class, and he was the only one who can leave midway through Regina’s lecture. This time he was staying near the end. His mom was probably busy with finals, Ruby muses. Since his school was already on break, three weeks off for Christmas, he has been seen roaming the hallways of the college, playing his Nintendo Switch at the corner of the room in Emma’s class. The students have become familiar with him, unable to fall in love with his dimples and the way he rambles off about his favorite Pokémon. (Sure, annoying, but compared to the other kids in their life, he at least knew how to discuss Plato vs. Aristotle). If the headmaster saw him, he said nothing.
Today, Professor Mills is discussing women in literature, and how they are displayed throughout the centuries in other various media. Ruby wouldn’t put it past the guys in the class to have some of them think women shouldn’t even write. Despite none of the students participating in the lecture, Mills keeps pushing on, listing the pros and cons of a woman writing a book under her real name or a pseudonym. It perks the interest of some of the students, and they start to add their pros and cons as well.
“Why wouldn’t a gi— a woman, want to write under her own name?” A guy asks, correcting himself after a raised brow from Professor Mills. Despite sitting behind a desk, she still looked intimidating, glancing at them from across her laptop. Some days she preferred to teach from her laptop than writing it on the screen, allowing her to share her notes with them, some more clear cut than others.
“Not everyone took women’s writing seriously, or perhaps she was writing about love, passion, things chaste women did not discuss in public.” Professor Mills replied, before motioning to the other student holding her hand up to speak.
“Or she really wanted to write a gay fiction but didn’t want to be outed by her friends and family after them reading it.” The student suggested. A few chuckles from her peers, and Professor Mills nods her head, seriously taking into consideration the student’s comment.
“That isn’t really off base. A lot of women during that era did hide their gender to not be outed for that. Even now. Or to be attributed with the same characteristic as their characters. A book filled with passion and trysts would be sold more if it was assumed that a man wrote it. Nevertheless, even if it was literature discussing same-sex relationships, it would be written subtly, only noticed by those who know what to look for.” She mentions, eyes briefly glancing to the clock. If this was any other classroom, the tell-tale signs of class ending would be shown from the students picking up their books and starting to collect their pens and gadgets. No one did this in a class run by Professor Mills.
“Alright then. Your assignment is on the portal, ensure you do the reading assignment this time. I’ll be focusing the discussion on page 235 to 350 next class.” They start to pack, Henry already asking Ruby what she is doing for her break.
“Henry, wait, before you go.” Professor Mills calls out to him across the students gathering their books and leaving the classroom. A few wait close by to her desk, hoping to ask questions about their finals, as she motions Henry to the side. He takes the steps down the aisle two at a time until he reaches her.
She pulls a package wrapped in a red bow and hands it to him. “For Christmas,” she tells him. He turns the box around, spotting two Advent Calendars. By the look of it, it is top rack shelf quality, the ones Emma only bought on certain Christmases, when the store still had them by the time she remembers to run in and buy them. The way Henry beams up at her is nothing compared to how Regina feels. “Make sure your mother doesn’t finish all of hers on the first day count.” She tells him, cupping his cheek, shifting to hug him as he jumps into her arms, thanking her for the present. He then shifts to try to leave in between the students waiting to talk to Regina, running all the way to Emma’s office to show her the gifts.
***
This time the message on the whiteboard has no spelling mistakes, and Regina smiles briefly before turning to face her students. She keeps it up through the whole class period, “Merry Xmas, Regina. Have a nice break.” shown along her lecture notes for the next class.
***
The courtyard is what you expect of a typical university: spacious, with a water fountain, students milling about, either sitting at the edge of the fountain or across the campus grassy fields. People cycling across the courtyard to get to their next class. It isn’t unusual to spot a few faculty members sitting together at one of the tables with their coffee in between classes. Students know not to interrupt them (well, most of them, freshmen still barge up to them about projects). But it seems none of them are as childish as Professor Swan flinging sticky notes across the tables at Professor Mills, who studiously ignores the blonde as she flips through her notebook. She only glances up and shoots Emma a look when one hits her eyeglasses.
The only other time she wore them was when she came to class right on time (instead of the usual ten minutes before), hair mussed, and shades on. Was one of the few times she took a seat and allowed the students to present without her usual lecture at the beginning. Still, what was even weird is how she softly replied to student’s questions, allowing them to even discuss and ask. The shades were replaced with regular glasses as she took attendance at the end, eyes squinting at the names on the list despite how she always knew their names when she called on them to answer the questions, squirming in their seats when she called them out on their ditching reading the homework. Ruby hovered in the classroom when the bell rang, planning to ask Professor Mills how her day was, just to see if she was okay. She doesn’t get the chance to as Professor Swan comes in, grinning at the sight of Mills.
“How are you fine?” Mills groans at the blonde, who just laughs and slides her a coffee cup.
“That’ll teach you to try out-drinking me.” Professor Swan brags smugly.
***
“Oh my goooood, you’re my savior.” Emma moaned out loud at the sight of Regina, entering the class with twin coffee mugs in hand, just as her class ended. Handing one of the mugs over to Emma, Regina has an amused smile on her lips.
“I thought you might not have had the time to grab a drink.” Mills replied, sidestepping to allow the students to pass by her, rushing off to their next class.
“Yeah, had to rush today.” Emma murmured between sips of her coffee, smiling at the first take.
“I told you to set the alarm earlier.”
“But I wanted to sn--- sneak a hot shower in as well.” Emma cleared her throat as she noticed where she was standing. The majority of the students have already left, but there are still those mingling in the back of the class socializing with their colleagues. She hoped her voice wasn’t too loud.
“Hmm. Well then, if you can clear out of my classroom, I can start preparing.” Regina motions to the desk, shrugging off her coat.
“Yes ma’am.” Saluting, she grabs her bag and goes, imagining her departure to be very classy.
Until three minutes later she goes back in and realizes she forgot her laptop and phone, Regina raising a brow at the ringtone “Baby Got Back” when it rings. Emma needs to silence her phone more often.
***
Outdoor Movie Nights on campus are usually lame. Like, the lamest. Ruby was only attending because Belle wanted to go. It did not surprise her that her friend was a huge fan of David Bowie in tights. Arriving an hour before the movie starts, the area has beanbags scattered throughout the grass, with only a few taken by the early birds. A booth with popcorn stood at the side, while a huge black screen was positioned at the end of the square, playing student conduct slides on a loop. Ruby goes to grab popcorn for herself and Bells. On the way back, she spots Professor Swan, with her kid sitting next to her. A few other staff were there as well, those who were organizing the event, probably to make sure no one went on to make out on the beanbags.
Ruby wasn’t sure who she was excited at spotting there, the girl she was crushing on in her third period, or Professor Mills lounging on one of the bean bags, sharing popcorn with Professor Kathryn Knight. Huh, perhaps she should join these movie nights more often. Somehow, her eyes side up to where Professor Swan is sitting, and she watches her as she watches Professor Mills.
Throughout the movie she wondered if Swan would ever join Regina, and kept shifting to look to the point that even Bells commented. She shifts lower into her seat, hoping she wasn’t that obvious to her professors.
***
Professor Mills enjoys having her students presentating in front of the class. Especially when there’s a discussion up for debate. As much as she favors discussions where it opens the student’s eyes to other possibilities, or the students being present and interacting during her lectures, she lived on driving them to argue and defend their point. That raw emotion of seeing them develop from aggressively attacking to thoughtfully discussing a point, it means she’s done something right in her class.
The students didn’t see it that way. If the students ever had the inclination to become professors, the majority would be dissuaded after taking Regina’s class. The idea of presenting for Professor Mills seemed daunting. Yet students still register knowing the experience of taking her class overcame any traumatic fear they might experience with public speaking.
When it is a full attendance day in class, you know it’s presentation time. Today she selected Merida, the exchange student, to present. The girl went down the aisle to the computer, USB in hand. As she reaches Professor Mills’ desk, she looks confused at the computer screen.
“Professor, someone is already signed in.” She calls out amongst the class noise of students pulling out papers and textbooks onto their desks.
Mills looks up from her papers, glasses perched upon her nose. She was sitting amongst the students, pretending not to see how stressed they are at that fact. “It might be from the previous class. You may sign out.”
“But you’re in the picture.” Merida replies simply. The students didn’t think they heard her right.
Raised brow, Regina gets up from her seat and heads to the computer. Glancing to the computer screen, she blinks once, slowly. Her forehead vein throbs as she stares at the screen.
“That idio—” she starts to swear, then pauses, turning to Merida. “Thank you, dear.” She tells the confused student with a forced smile, logging out quickly. If she was blushing, Merida had the smarts not to mention it. Regina glances next to the mouse, knowing if it was Swan there then – yes, there it is. She spots the car keys slightly at the corner of the computer stand. She knew the woman would have forgotten something, again.
“It seems Professor Swan has forgotten her car keys.” She mentions out loud, and Ruby’s head perks up from her desk table.
“I can take it to her, she has that vintage beetle.” Ruby points out, hoping that would let Regina drop off the keys. Don’t ask how Ruby knows which car it is. (So what if she had a crush on Swan at the beginning of first year? She’s over it now, but not before she studied the woman thoroughly. It did help knowing the woman was obviously in love with her English professor to ease her out of that puppy crush.)
“Atrocious car,” is all that Professor Mills comments as she hands the keys to Ruby. Ruby scoots out of class, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, as she heads over to the faculty parking. Professor Swan’s car stands out, not only for being the only vintage car but for the color she chose, a bright glaring yellow that can’t be missed. She finds Emma standing outside the driver’s door, head down as she scrambles through her bag, muttering to herself.
“Looking for this?” Ruby calls out, waving the car keys. A grateful smile appears on Emma’s face, shoulders sagging in relief.
“Oh thank God. I really could not afford losing another set of keys.” The professor admits as Ruby makes her way over. Handing her the car keys, Ruby admires the Mickey Mouse rainbow keychain attached, looking new compared to the rusted keys.
“Professor Mills found it on her desk. Guessing from your last class. Wow, so this is manual?” Ruby can’t help to peer in through the window, glancing at the setting inside. She can tell from the leather it wasn’t touched, kept as it was brought in. It was rare for Ruby to see people keeping the vintage car as the original version and not upgrading it. She knew for a fact that means the beetle didn’t have air conditioning, impressed that Emma would drive this car in the sweltering heat.
“Yeah, took me a while to get used to it, but this baby is easy steering now.” Emma pats the hood of her car affectionately. “She’s been through a lot with me.”
“You mind letting me take it for a spin?” Ruby says all so prettily and innocently, she thinks Emma might just buy it. And she does look like she is about to say yes, when the blonde gives her a knowing look.
“Sure, after you graduate.” Emma laughs at Ruby’s pout. Her phone pings, and her face freezes as she glances to the screen.
“You should head back to class,” Emma mentions, already shifting to unlock the car, manually putting the key and giving it a few jabs before it finally gives in.
“I’m sure she won’t mind.” Ruby says, leaning against the car. She knew Regina would mind, but she gave herself a few more minutes before her professor would mention she was late coming back to class.
“Oh, I think she does.” Emma mentions, motioning to her phone. Ruby’s eyes widened in surprise – shit, she didn’t think her professor would actually care. Emma waves Ruby off, thanking her again as she slips into her car, driving out of the gate.
***
“You really should have won that award.” Emma huffs, tugging at her tie, pulling it off. They’ve made a run for it, stealthily escaping the reception room and making it out to the open space, where there’s clearer air and less people to suck up to. Regina had no problems in that area. She was socializing flawlessly, while Emma still mistook some people, and called the math professor by the name of his ex (all because Regina had at that moment said how she used to date her right before the professor came up to say hello).
Regina was still laughing at that, sitting next to Emma’s bug. Besides the streetlight, the area was dark, the stars visible from the overhead parking area.
“It’s just a simple faculty dinner, dear.” Regina shrugs, lighting up a cigarette. She takes a puff, and passes it to Emma.
“Still, all the kids know you teach the best.” Emma grumbles, dragging one long inhale, then coughing it up. Regina smiles, knowing even then that the blonde won’t admit she’s not a smoker.
“Thank you dear, for your vote of confidence. I enjoy teaching my class as is, I don’t need an award for that.” Emma snorts at Regina’s reply, earning her a smack on the shoulder.
“Hmph. Whatever. And here I dressed up so fancy for this.” Emma grumbles. Regina agrees, eyeing the woman’s suit, from the tie dangling around her chest to the fitted black suitpants, accentuating all the curves on the blonde. She couldn’t keep her eyes off her, grateful for the dimmed lights in the parking lot, covering her blush. Regina herself was in a simple dress, one she would’ve worn once to one of her mother’s gala. But right next to the blonde in a suit, she feels a shiver at the thought of what else is under the blonde’s outfit.
Emma noticed the shiver, and places her jacket around Regina’s shoulder. She sits down next to her, nudging her. “Come on, you can’t tell me you’re also irked that Gold got the award.”
“A bit.” Regina admits, burrowing into the jacket, “but I also know he won’t be teaching English 415.” She smirks as Emma’s eyes widen.
“You got the class?!”
“Yes. I’m teaching it next fall.” Regina allows herself to become fully smug. It was an ongoing battle between her and Gold, with several passive aggressive emails as to who should be teaching that course. She got the email announcement today from the Dean, and it had kept her buzzing all night. Emma squeezed her tight into a hug, laughing, and they go over how they expect Gold to react tomorrow morning at the news.
After a while, they start to see others leaving the reception as well and start to get up on their feet. Regina leans in and presses a kiss to the blonde’s cheek. “Perhaps next time, you’ll win one.” She hums into the blonde’s ear. Emma can’t stop grinning as Regina heads off to her car.
***
Professor Regina Mills had a routine. At 5:30am, she awakes to the sound of her alarm in her large but not too large bedroom, shower for exactly fifteen minutes and then get dressed. She has a light breakfast of apple slices with peanut butter (something Henry has introduced her to), and takes a quick stroll in the neighboring park before heading in to teach English 101. After class, she would head to her office with students tagging along asking her questions, collects her books then heads to the library to work on her research paper. Following that is lunch with Kathryn. Whereas previously she would have also had classes to teach in the evening, having a research paper, she was allowed to teach only one course this semester, to focus on the paper.
Today, as she started her walk in the park, she finds the park’s gate closed and locked. She stands there, trying to remember if they sent a newsletter that it was to be closed today.
“Closed for the day. Some idiot tried to feed the Swans.” Granny calls out from her booth. She sold ice cream and snacks to the people who visited the park, and still was setting up, placing out the folding booths with her niece, Ruby. Regina was surprised to see the girl there, at such an early hour, but knew she shouldn’t be as she does remember Emma mentioning that she helped out at the diner and booth.
“Ah. Thank you.” She tells Granny, and chats a few minutes with Ruby. She makes her way back to her apartment, then pauses, wondering if she’ll even be able to sleep. She's never done that before, sleeping to the afternoon, except back in her college days, with her friends dragging her to parties.
She receives a text from Emma, and with that, she decides where she is going to next.
The blonde seemed surprised to see her enter the classroom, and Regina hesitates only for a minute before the blonde is beaming and ushering her further in. She takes a seat up front, enjoying the view of seeing the blonde interacting with her students. The equations and figures drawn on the whiteboard are unrecognizable to her, but the handwriting is familiar from the notes she'd see along the woman’s office, in her letters to her son, and the notes she would pass to her in staff meetings.
Regina assumed Emma was being energetic and loud in her lecture as to show off to her, but the students don’t seem to react to it, so it might not be the case. She truly seems to enjoy teaching them about figures, and Regina can’t help to recall how Emma tried to teach her and Henry a theory one time, only to find both of them dozing off.
While the students pass over their assignments, Emma strings her guitar.
Regina can’t help to speak out. “How is this part of the class?
“Gotta lighten up math somehow.” Emma winks, and she sings out to Regina, some ramblings about math in the summer, and Professor Mills can’t help but to laugh, while the students groan and beg Professor Swan to stop.
***
“Basically, when two people connect, eventually one of them will be wanting more. There will always be the ‘grass is greener on the other side’ mentality. And if two people do stay together, it’s not because they like each other and their feelings haven’t changed, but it is because they’ve settled for what they’ve got.”
“That can’t possibly be the situation with all couples.” Regina replies from the floor, vinyl records surrounding her. Emma was propped up against her bed, flipping through a magazine. It was rare to find their dorm empty of people, what with Emma being single for the first time in awhile. Regina had heard the yelling in the night, the words unclear but the sudden slam of a door as the other girl left was all she needed to know. She had expected Ivy to last longer than the others. Regina had her own boyfriend, but it was becoming clear he still didn’t understand why she needed to label herself as a bisexual and kept making jokes of it. Emma had brought over a couple of beers, and Regina texted Killian she was busy to meet that night. Emma had let Regina take control over their vinyl collection. Something about needing to create more space in the room. They both enjoyed the moment of having it to themselves. Regina felt Emma needed someone to refute her idea about love, something the blonde probably derived from her last relationship.
“Nope. If you take any relationship, and break it down, you’ll see I’m right. There’s always going to be a person in the relationship that is looking for more, or for something better. And the other person will try to compensate or let go. If not, they compromise.” Emma shrugs, flipping another page. “I’m not saying compromising is bad, but to think that any two person can like each other, and still feel the same years after, is a fairytale.”
“Maybe you just haven’t found the right person.” Regina huffs, leaning over the vinyl as she tries to find the one she knows has a duplicate, unaware that Emma glances her way, a sad smile on her face.
“Yeah, maybe.” The blonde sighs, then scrunches the magazine. “Ahhhhh, Regina, you can’t believe how close I was to reaching a higher score on the game, then the electricity went out.”
“That's because you always forget to save your updates. Let me see.” Regina gets up, motioning for the blonde to scoot over so she can join her. She ignores the puppy eyes Emma gives her to try to get her to help her win the game, as well as the text messages from her boyfriend. They stay the rest of the night, their eyes glued to the Gameboy screen, discussing game tactics and barely noticing the time.
***
“You really don’t mind being stuck with me?” Regina texts the blonde, as she continues packing, preparing for the weekend trip to see a play. A non-refundable ticket , allowed for Emma to step in since Killian didn’t want to go.
“I wouldn’t mind being stuck with you anywhere in the world.” Emma replies, then sends a gazillion emojis.
***
“No.”
“Come on, Regina.” Emma replies, her tone still at level 1 of begging.
“No.” Regina has built up resistance to Emma’s pleading tones after years of exposure to it. She can only go as high as level 5.
“It’s just one lunch.” The blonde replies, and Regina knew better than that. She told herself it would be just one kiss, and she ended up in Emma’s bed that one time. She was grateful the blonde didn’t bring it up again.
“Not in that atrocious diner.” Regina replies simply, ignoring looking the blonde’s way as she strolls on. Emma kept walking with her, despite them passing the entrance to the diner.
“Come onnnnn.” Regina could practically hear the whine in her voice. Two students walking behind them, clearly giggling over the blonde’s begging, made Emma blush and quiet for the next five minutes as they reach the fountain. Taking a seat next to the blonde, she pulls out her book, starting to read from where she left off. She waited, knowing the blonde wouldn’t give up that easily.
“..Please” Emma starts, two minutes later than what Regina expected.
“No.” With her head in her book, she can still feel Emma’s gaze on her, knowing certainly she was biting her lower lip.
“Henry will be there?” And there it is, the winning card.
Letting out a sigh, she still can’t help but to smile at the mention of her favorite little man. “…Fine.”
Emma grins, heading off as she calls out over her shoulder. “See ya after class.”
Regina resumes her reading, and the overcrowding noise of an active campus dies down as she divulges into her novel. It was a blessing she still enjoyed reading after each class she’s taught. She still finds it a nice tension relief after a loaded day of class. Particularly, she has been enjoying the stories she finds in the teen section, showing more LGBT characters in what once was whitewashed vampire novellas. Wistfully, she wonders if she would’ve been any good at writing her own story, if she knew they would be acceptable to publish now in the genre she wanted, without her mother’s voice lecturing her for even wanting to present stories with two princesses instead of the princess and a prince. Lost in her thoughts, she doesn’t notice the person running into her until his arms tackle her into a hug, an excited “Gina!” muffled out against her stomach.
“Why hello there, dear. Is it lunchtime already?” Regina blinks, finding the area less packed then before. Emma is holding her briefcase over her shoulder as she looks at her and Henry.
“Yeah, and Mom said you’re coming with us?” Henry peers up at her, smiling. He's grown a few inches. A few more, and he might even tower over her.
“Of Course. And we’ll be having burgers, with lots of onions.” Smiling sweetly to Henry, she smirks as she sees Emma mouthing to her at that, hoping the blonde gets to deal with lots of lovely smells that night, for pushing her to eat at the diner.
The diner wasn’t that bad, she’d admit to herself later, loving hearing Henry ramble on about his classwork as French fries and milkshakes were brought over. She hadn’t had more than two bites of anything, but she still drank her tea that night, just in case. Emma might mock her, but being sensitive to fast food comes with its own warnings.
***
Another day, and Regina once again finds herself early to class. Despite not sleeping much, she still felt energetic. She scrolls through her Twitter feed, ignoring any questions from her students. She initially set up the account to make herself easier for students to reach her, but had to constantly remind them that she would only be available to them during office hours. A direct message at 3am regarding a deadline can easily wait to be answered at an appropriate hour. She skims over her mentions to Emma’s tweets, one which links her to an article.
Coming across Emma’s tweets, she remembers of a bakery the blonde kept gushing about, just right around the corner. The blonde had a sweet tooth that rivaled her son’s, and she smiled at the thought of Emma’s reaction at the sight of a pastry. Seeing no point in walking in the park in the rain, she grabs her umbrella and heads to the bakery instead.
She makes it just in time to the end of Emma’s class. Regina drops a pastry box at Emma’s desk as she still answers the students, and the blonde sends her a grateful glance as she goes back to the student. Sidestepping them, Regina takes her time setting up, glancing amusedly at the whiteboard.
After Emma finishes with the student’s question, she catches Regina’s expression and reaches for the white board eraser. “I got that.” Waves to the board, knowing how much it irked Regina when professors didn’t clean up after their classes.
“That’s fine, but I didn’t realize tic-tac-toe is part of the curriculum.” Regina hums, and Emma realizes what she left at the lower right corner of the board.
“Yes, well.” She coughs, clearing her throat. “There was a bet, and this seemed the simplest way of di—representing ratios.” She replied in her most professional tone, hoping the bullshit meter Regina has wasn’t working.
“Clearly.” With a raised brow at the justification, she let’s it slide. Emma wipes the board as Regina sets up her lecture material. She doesn’t escape the donut kiss Emma leaves on her cheek in thanks for the box.
It takes twenty minutes and one very brave student to mention to Regina she had some powder on her cheek. Students saw that day Regina grumbling as she added another dollar to the swear jar, cheeks reddening.
***
“What’s your favorite thing about studying here?” The girl asked her, humming as she played with Emma’s hair. Already Emma felt the slow pull of how she knows by next week, the girl wouldn’t even remember Emma’s name.
“Definitely the classes, here is something I learned last week.” Emma tells her, pulling her shirt over her head, reaching lower between the girl’s legs, and for a while they’re done with talking.
It's only when the girl slips out of her room, that she remembers she forgot to ask for her number.
She doubted she would find any of them call her back. And even then, they weren’t the ones she wanted. But what else can she do, besides pine over someone she wasn’t sure wanted her back?
It would be silly to even ask her. She looks over her shoulder across to the bed opposite to hers, at Regina still sleeping throughout all that.
Definitely silly to ask her.
***
It was risky, Emma knew that. Regina didn’t like to be surprised, to have her personal life brought up on display, or the chuckling of students in class if they saw what she wrote. Which is why she planned to wait there to erase it as quickly after Regina replies, so the students won’t see it.
She keeps looking at the classroom clock, wondering why it is taking Regina so long, out of all days, to arrive. Is it just her nervousness making it seem that time was moving slower? Will she be able to keep it up on the board? What if a student drops in?
She had Henry doing recon, asking students to not enter for a little while. She herself has kicked out all the students out of her classroom, promising she will be back at her office right as soon as she finishes this.
At first she was going to print it and tape it up onto the whiteboard, but felt it would be better if it was in her own handwriting. Cutoff letters might seem like too much of a kidnapping ransom letter. She has been practicing her writing to formulate the perfect sentence. A sentence written so many times, but never shown to the person she wanted it to see.
She made it simple, just a few words to get right to the point. She even made sure she spelled the words right this time, no funny typos. Or probably should have added some, to lighten the mood of the words. She could make it a joke if it went wrong, but even the thought of that lays heavy in her stomach. She’s been delaying this for far too long.
No time to change track, as finally the door opens, and it's Regina, blinking in confusion as she finds the classroom empty except for Emma.
“Emma? Did you not have a class today?” Regina makes her way into the class, forgoing the whiteboard and moving off to the desk, lowering her bag to the table.
“I did, but I let them leave early today. I had an important lesson to write on the board.” She rubs her sweaty palms against her jeans, forcing a smile to keep cool. They’re friends, no matter what Regina’s reaction will be to the message.
“Oh?” Regina quirks a smile, and glances briefly to the whiteboard. She pauses as she sees it blank, clear of the usual mathematical figures, with only one sentence on the board.
Behind her the door opens, Ruby walks in with another student before she sees them, and quickly goes back out, grabbing the other student. Only Ruby gave her a knowing look, giving her an encouraging thumbs up as she left. She doubted any of them saw what was written on the board, but she still started to ramble.
“I know you have class in abit, but I just wanted to do it now, since only time we had between classes, and I wanted to show you in class. I don’t know why to be honest, but it felt right way to ask, and just to let you know I’m not really expecting you to discuss this now, and I wanted to be here so you know it's me and not some student prank -”
Regina ignores her and steps towards the board, grabbing a marker to check the “yes” box, next to the “Will you go out on a date with me?”
She turns around, and Emma’s breath catches in her throat. Regina just walks up to her and kisses her softly on the cheek, closer to her lips. “Took you long enough to ask.”
***
“What are your plans for the future?” The counselor asked her, a bunch of papers placed in front of her. She has been accepted to every doctorate program she has applied to, a feat which her professors never stop mentioning proudly. The only question was to which one to commit to.
Emma herself even took her out to celebrate with shakes. She couldn’t help but to feel guilty of the blonde ditching plans with her girlfriend of the week to take her out. But hanging with Emma was always a highlight of her time on campus.
“I’d like to teach, perhaps, one day.” She replies, glancing to the window. From there, she can see the blonde and a few of their friends walking across the campus. If she leaned out the window and yelled, Emma would probably even hear her.
“Anywhere Emma is, I’d like to be with her. Being teaching colleagues, that is.” She continues stammering, as she realizes what she said out loud. It's true that the blonde and her have discussed such things, joking about the future where they might end up working with each other, how fun that would be.
The counselor smiles, looking through her folders. “Yes, Swan. She did well, but seems to be applying to something else. Would you prefer to apply to the same doctorate program as her?”
“No. I’d like to continue in my area of focus.” She glances outside, and sees another girl running and jumps into Emma’s arms. “I’m sure we’ll meet someday.”