Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Heels echoed down a dim hallway as Regina Mills made her way to the school library.  Having the mayor for her mother meant that lateness was never an option, and since the only way of transport she had to school was her mother’s car, she was forced into a daily ritual of being ridiculously early for school. Not half an hour of loitering and classes will start early, no, she was forced to be I am literally the only student in this school right now and half the lights haven’t been switched on yet early.

Most days Regina found that she didn’t mind too much; it gave her a chance to study, which in turn meant less work after school. However even Regina I-have-so-many-flash-cards-they-could-probably-last-me-till-university Mills couldn’t think of anything to do on the 1^st of September. She had done copious amounts of revision in the summer and had no more assignments until school actually started.

The brunette sighed, moving slowly as she had no-where to rush to. It was around her third turn in the general direction of the library that something caught her attention. She paused with a furrowed brow and yes – there it was, the distinct sound of muffled music. Strange she thought, she was aware the teachers were already at school, especially with it being the first day and all, but in all her years at Storybrooke High she had never known one to play music in the mornings.

She decided to go and investigate the sound. It’s not like I have anything better to do she figured. She followed the noise which grew louder and louder until she finally located it’s source. At this point she could hear the lyrics with clarity and vaguely recognised the piece to be one of the new popular pop songs that she always heard people humming. It was at the moment she was faced with an open door reading Government and Politics that she heard singing accompanying the background music.

Regina frowned at the scene. Government and politics had always been taught by Mr. Jackson and the voice she heard now was definitely female. She had never particularly liked Mr. Jackson, he tended to be extremely repetitive and was notorious for losing people’s assignments but the thought of a new teacher troubled her for some reason. This was one of her most important classes and she disliked the possibility of getting an even worse teacher.

Curiosity got the better of her as she decided to take a peek into the room. Amongst the cardboard boxes that littered the desks she saw a woman with incredible blonde curls. She was wearing jeans, converse and a tank top and Regina was immediately concerned about the level of professionalism this new teacher would be capable of. Despite such thoughts, however, a small smile grew on her face as she continued to watch the dancing and singing figure. The new teacher was engrossed in the music and clearly had no idea she was being watched as she shook her hips and bobbed her head.

The blonde turned to grab something out of one of the boxes when she noticed that there was, in fact, someone standing at her door. She jumped back and caught her elbow on one of the desks, wincing in pain.

“Jesus Christ you scared me” she exclaimed with wide eyes.

Regina meant to respond but she found all her words had mysteriously disappeared the moment her new teacher turned around. She was gorgeous, with sculpted cheekbones and eyes that couldn’t quite decide whether they were blue or green. Not that Regina thought she was attractive or anything, she could very much objectively admire a woman’s beauty. For aesthetic purposes of course. Which did not in any way explain why she suddenly found herself to be tongue tied, and why her heart had chosen that exact moment to speed up, and why the palms of her hands were suddenly swea- and well you get the picture.

“How long have you been standing there?” The beautiful blonde asked bashfully, rubbing the back of her neck with a violent blush blooming across her cheeks.

Regina’s brain was not currently capable of making coherent sentences so she pointed to the hallway and muttered “I’ll….just…erm…leave…sorry….I….erm”. Well done Regina, you’re definitely making a great  first impression on your future teacher. She turned on her heel and began to walk (let's be honest - run) away.

“Wait, hang on” The blonde’s voice stopped Regina in her tracks. “I had no idea there was someone who would be walking around here and I’m just embarrassed at what you had to witness, please don’t go”

Regina turned back around.

“Why don’t we start over? My name is Emma and I’m the new government and politics teacher” She beamed at the brunette. “Are you one of the students?”

Regina’s heart clenched at the awkwardly adorable woman in front of her. She thanked all the higher deities that her voice had finally returned to her.

“My name is Regina Mills, I’m a senior here” she held out her hand and the blonde shook it, lingering a little longer than necessary. “I apologise for staring, it’s just not often that I hear teachers playing music and curiosity got the best of me.”

“No, no, please there’s nothing to apologise for. I should probably apologise for making you witness that.”

Regina smiled and the blonde smiled back at her with a glint in her eyes.

“As you can see I’m trying to decorate my classroom” she gestured to the boxes scattered around her “but I don’t really have much of an eye for it”.

Emma tilted her head to the side and grinned sheepishly. “You wouldn’t happen to be willing to help me out, would you?”

Regina’s heart leapt and her smile grew wider. “I would love to. Are you sure it’s alright? I mean, is it okay for me to help you? I’m only a student.”

“Well it’s not like there’s anyone around here to spot us and I could use a friendly face in this new place” she paused before backtracking “unless, of course you’re worried about being a teacher’s pet or something, in which case I understand. I try to make it a point to befriend my students but some don’t feel comfortable being friends with a teacher” she faked an exaggerated gasp.

Regina laughed before replying. “You’re a teacher, you’re not allowed to make ‘friends’ with the students, it’s inappropriate” she chastised. The words didn't have much of an effect as her facial expression didn't match them in the slightest.

“Well that’s a great shame Regina Mills because it’s too late. I hereby declare you my first friend at Storybrooke High and there’s nothing you can do about it” Emma winked – ACTUALLY WINKED – at her student. “So how about these displays? You think you can handle a staple gun?”

Regina determined that her face muscles no longer fell under her control as she couldn't get rid of that stupid smile. Well she thought maybe my morning won’t be so boring after all.

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The rest of Regina's morning flew by in a rush. Having lost complete track of time, the school bell was a very rude awakening. For the first time in her life Regina had to rush to get to her class on time. 

Swept up in the sea of arriving students she was carried down to her homeroom. Choosing her usual seat at the back, no one paid much attention to her. Her mother had brought her up to be seen not heard, Regina please cease that pointless babbling. The brunette Latina was therefore often ignored for her quietness. She liked it that way. When she was required to converse with others she was perfectly polite, but even so the rest of the students were too scared to be friends with the mayor's daughter. 

Sometimes Regina heard whispers in the hallway calling her ruthless mother the 'Queen of Hearts' and she couldn't help but agree. She loved her mother, of course, but there was no denying that Cora Mills believed in tough love. Most often without the love. 

When Regina received her schedule she was disappointed to see that she wouldn't have Government and Politics until her last period. She gazed at the little white rectangle reading Government and Politics, Miss Swan, Room 206 with longing. Miss Swan, huh? She couldn't believe that in the almost three hours she spent with the woman she hadn't actually asked for her surname. It was all too easy to forget that the beautiful, clumsy blonde was actually a teacher and Regina found herself calling her Emma, as it was the name she provided. 

Perhaps she was being a bit selfish but Regina Mills was not used to being someone's favourite, and the idea that perhaps this was about to change meant she was ecstatic to return to her classroom.  Hearing her homeroom tutor drone on about how "glad" he was to see them and how they all had to "work extremely hard" Regina gradually zoned out. She was in her own little glass bubble, cutting off all outside noise and images as she reminisced about her early morning. 

After inviting her into her classroom Emma gestured to a large display of European superpowers behind her. As enamoured as Regina was, she had to admit the blonde certainly lacked any artistic skill. 

"I don't mean to be rude..." Regina began. 

"It looks awful doesn't it?" Emma turned to Regina with a pained expression and those big, damn puppydog eyes.  

Regina felt her heart clench. She hated having to tell the blonde the truth, but she had no choice . The board behind her was truly a monstrosity. The posters had no real order, and in the chaos it appeared that Emma got a bit trigger happy with her staple gun, as little bent wires could be seen poking out from all over the board. 

Emma sighed at Regina's silence "I don't mind re-doing it but, as you can, tell I just don't know how to set it up". 

Sudden determination overtook Regina's features "I'll do it". 

"Are you sure? It's pretty hard work. I wouldn't want you to get hurt." She laughed "can you imagine that? 'Storybrooke High's new teacher maims student on her first day', I can already see the headlines!" 

"I promise to be careful" 

"Well in that case it's all yours. I'll help you take this down and then leave you to it, there's still tons more things I need to do around here." 

For the next couple minutes the pair worked together to pull the display off. Emma was on the ladder getting rid of the top half and Regina worked on the bottom. Emma unconsciously went back to humming the song currently playing, which soon escalated into full singing. It didn't bug the brunette as Emma had a lovely voice. 

Emma's playlist turned out to be a perfect reflection of herself. Chaotic, mismatched and entirely unpredictable. Regina quickly gave up on trying to guess the kind of music that would come up next as the songs cycled from pop, to Disney, to musicals, to old classics, to ballads, and back to pop. Regina suspected this was Emma's favourite playlist as she knew all the lyrics and could always predict which song was coming next. 

"There. All done" Emma turned to Regina "You have my absolute permission to go crazy on this thing. If you want to do something – do it. Worst case scenario we take it down and start over once again" 

"Some of us actually have artistic talent" Regina sassed with a raised brow. She immediately regretted her words, realising that she might come off as rude. It was far too early for nastiness to be interpreted as friendly banter. It was hopeless, the new teacher somehow lowered her inhibitions and she couldn't help but feel like she had known her for years. Is this what it feels like to 'click' with another person?  

Instant relief flooded her body like a cool shower when Emma responded by lightly smacking her arm with an expression of false outrage, followed by an easy smile. 

"Oh, hang on a second" the blonde exclaimed "there is no way I'm letting you on this ladder in those heels". 

Regina glanced down at her body. She was wearing her usual ensemble of a coloured silk blouse, tight pencil skirt, tights and of course ridiculously high heels.  

"Buuuut if you take them off" Emma continued with a pensive look on her face "you'll be left with tights which are way too slippery for a metal ladder" 

She continued to stare at Regina for several seconds before seemingly having a 'eureka!' Moment. She reached down to untie her own white low-top converse. 

"I'm sorry to have to do this but safety first. You look like your feet are around the same size as mine, would you mind putting my shoes on? It would really help ease my mind, I swear these are practically brand new" the blonde rambled.

She held out the converse to Regina who reluctantly took them and slipped them on in place of her own heels.  

Emma fought to hide a small smile. This must be a fantastic look on me. A pencil skirt, blouse and white converse, Regina's thoughts were dripping with sarcasm. 

Her embarrassment faded, however, as she spotted her teacher's mismatched socks. One with little green frogs and the other sporting blue polka dots. She then had to fight to hide her own smile but as soon as her chocolate eyes made contacts with bright green ones the duo burst out laughing.  

"We ma...ke a fi..ne pai...r Mi..lls" Emma stuttered through her laughter. 

After that the two made easy conversation as they worked on their separate tasks. Emma gradually got more and more comfortable. This meant that over two hours later Regina had sat through 12 Emma renditions of her favourite songs, 3 choreographed dances and 4 over the top performances of musical theatre numbers. She was seriously starting to wonder if this was all a crazy dream as Emma climbed onto the teachers desk to finish her performance of Wicked's 'popular' (most of which was directed at Regina, who glared daggers at the suggestion of a makeover, but whose heart skipped about 10 beats when Emma looked directly into her eyes telling her she was beautiful). 

If this is a dream she thought I never want it to end. 

"I'm finished" she told Emma as the teacher climbed off her desk. 

"Wow Regina, that looks amazing" she said with obvious awe, closely inspecting her new display. 

"Thank you" Regina blushed at the compliment. She turned to get off the ladder but her shoe snagged on one of the ridges and she completely lost her balance. She shut her eyes tight and braced for the pain of hitting the wooden floor. The pain never came, however, as instead she felt strong arms engulf her frame. She opened her eyes and her breath hitched at the close proximity to the blonde's face. From here she could make out the extremely light dusting of freckles across her nose. She instinctively wrapped her arms around the teacher's neck to relieve some of the weight. Not that, you know, getting down couldn't have done that whispered some treacherous part of her brain.  

The blonde stood there with Regina in her arms for what felt like hours, until the obnoxious ringing of the school bell startled them apart and Regina rushed out to get to homeroom with a quick "goodbye" thrown over her shoulder, only slowing down to switch her shoes. 

Emma wasn't left with much time to think over what just happened as her new students began to filter in. She put her converse on and walked over to the board where she wrote Miss Swan in large cursive. She turned back to the unfamiliar faces lazily flopping down onto the chairs. 

"Welcome class, I'm miss Swan and I'll be your new homeroom tutor....." 

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The dim lights bathed Emma's classroom in a soft light. Regina was seated on one of the multiple wooden desks with her legs crossed, wincing slightly at each drop of alcohol Emma gently dabbed onto her wound. 

The blonde worked quietly, desperately trying to avoid looking into Regina's eyes in fear of what she might see in them. The silence around them was overwhelming, only amplifying the unsaid emotions floating around. 

"Thank you Em- Miss Swan" whispered the girl perched atop the desk. 

"It's no problem" Emma replied with a forced smile, still refusing to meet the girl's eyes, "it's my job". 

They continued in silence until Regina could no longer stand it. She may never get a chance like this again and damn her if she doesn't take it. 

"May I...ask you something?" 

The blonde teacher tensed and paused her ministrations. She wasn't naïve enough to not see this coming, but she had held onto the false hope that the brunette might be too shy or uncomfortable to confront her. She nodded hesitantly and continued to clean the blood off of that ridiculously gorgeous face. 

"I don't mean to come off as rude or presumptuous, but at the end of our first meeting you insisted we become friends and I feel like you have had a complete change of heart." 

Regina swallowed hard before she continued. 

"Was it..did I do something wrong?" 

Emma could feel her heart breaking at the question, she decided she at least owed Regina enough to look her in the eye. What she found however, only further fueled her heartbreak as the girl's deep brown eyes only showed concern riddled with sincerity. She hadn't noticed that the hand that had been swabbing Regina's temple had instinctively dropped the wipe and come down to cup her cheek.  

God Emma, look at what you've done. Are you really going to continue torturing this poor girl? 

"Regina I.." 

The brunette eyed her expectantly. 

Emma sighed "I've been a complete and utter selfish asshole". 

Regina's brow furrowed in confusion.  

"I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am for treating you this way. You didn't deserve that. You don't deserve that. The truth...the truth is the first time we met I acted completely out of line. There's just something about you and I got carried away. When I saw you in class it kind of hit me that I was actually your teacher ya know?" she shrugged  "You did absolutely nothing wrong, in fact you kind of did the opposite. I hoped that maybe if I just ignored you, my wish to get to know you better would go away." 

It was the closest the blonde could get to telling Regina the truth without revealing her feelings. She knew it was a flimsy reason but it would have to do. 

"Did it?" questioned her student. 

Emma chuckled "absolutely not", she whispered with a pained smile. 

"I've barely known you for almost three weeks now and I don't believe I have ever met anyone as intelligent and driven as you. It's truly remarkable." 

Regina unconsciously leaned into her teacher's touch, her eyes locked onto sea-green ones. 

"So what now? You've told me your great dark secret, and I'm not sure I understand it. Teachers are allowed to be friendly with students – to a certain extent, many have assistants and loads have groups of students eating lunch with them. Would it really be so bad if you did get to know me?" She knew her words contradicted her strong belief in set rules, but she had done more research after their first encounter, and was surprised to find that teacher/ student friendships were surprisingly common in their school.

Yes Emma thought because I don't trust myself around you. 

"No" 

Really, Emma, really? Does your mouth ever co-operate with your brain? 

"It wouldn't be bad at all" 

And so, over the next couple of months Regina became Emma's right hand. She would assist her with everything, ranging from wiping down the boards to marking multiple choice questions, as Emma marked the essays in order to reduce her workload ("shh" Emma had whispered conspicuously "no one ever finds out about this, capiche?"). 

She had begun to stay after school to fulfil these tasks at the pretense of spending extra time in the library. Her mother barely paid much attention to her whereabouts, and her father had easily agreed with this arrangement. 

Regina endured the whispers of "teacher's pet" with ease as she knew it was worth it. Although it was highly embarrassing the 26 year old blonde was her only true friend, one day Emma confessed that she saw Regina as her best friend too. They may have been slightly pathetic, but they were too grateful to have each other to notice. 

The duo often shared secret smiles as they passed in the hallways, and had subtle inside jokes that once caused Emma to shoot tea out of her nose, much to the confusion of the rest of her seniors. She worked incredibly hard to treat Regina equally to any other student in the class, but it was very difficult and there were days when she relapsed back into ignoring Regina. These moments, however, ended as soon as class was over and Regina always understood, even if it frustrated her to no end. 

The bond that was present from the get go only strengthened as they gradually got to know each other better. Sometimes they would ask questions to pass the time during particularly long hours of work. Other times Emma would come up with some "new" and "innovative" question game that often ended in wild laughter and flushed cheeks. 

In between all the crazy stories, Emma had told Regina about her time in the foster system, sharing all her experiences, knowing that the soon to be 18 year old was mature enough to handle them. Regina had in turn shared her family situation and hopes for the future. They steered clear of the topic of relationships of any kind. Emma because of her awareness of her infatuation with Regina that only grew with each passing day, and Regina because, despite everything that happened, she still wished to hold onto some form of professional boundaries. 

Regina's all time favorite hours were the lunch hours, when the two of them had no work to do and usually sat around bantering back and forth or complaining about their day. They often laid out all their food on the desk and shared whatever meals they had brought with them. The brunette insisted Emma eat something healthy and green once in a blue moon, and in turn Regina was forced to let loose and consume some form of fat sugary treat.  

School slowly became just another place to Regina. Not so much a prison, but a building where she just happened to get information by listening to one of her favorite people in the world. She had no idea how she had gotten so lucky and Emma shared the sentiment, her day brightening with the presence of her little brunette ("Little Emma? Really? I'm practically the same height as you" Regina raised her eyebrow. "Ha! Only in those crazy heels you insist on wearing to school every day. Face it short stuff, without them, you're tiny") 

Feelings, although obviously present were kept in check by the student's denial and the teacher's sheer discipline. Their friendship was much too valuable to be destroyed by unrequieted...something and Emma was feeling very proud of being able to hide the quickening of her pulse and the dilation of her pupils that went hand in hand with a certain brunette's close proximity. 

And then Killian Jones came into the mix.

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Killian Jones, the school's sole marine biology teacher, was often referred to as 'hook' due to a very unfortunate accident with a boat propeller. He actually had a pretty realistic fake hand, but students are relentless little creatures so he was stuck with 'hook'. 

It was common knowledge amongst the staff that Jones had a crazy crush on the newbie teacher. It was also pretty common knowledge that Emma Swan was 100% gay. However, such a small detail did not deter the self proclaimed "devilishly handsome" man, who vowed to win the 'confused' maiden's heart. 

Emma had successfully avoided the man for a good three months but he had recently acquired the awful habit of 'popping in' to her classroom at all hours and requesting a 'quick chat' or looking for some item that could easily be found in a teacher's supply cupboard.  Emma found him beyond tiresome and continued to be amazed at the guy's audacity and his selective hearing that didn't appear to register the word 'no'. 

The urge to complain about the sleazebag to Regina came to her often, but unfortunately she would have to disclose why she didn't wish to date him and that was a bright red no go zone. 

The main problem in the matter was that the Government and Politics teacher was entirely too nice to this douche. Their little 'quick chats' and Killian's constant presence around Emma soon escalated into rumors of their secret affair or hidden marriage (depending who you asked).  The blonde was highly perplexed as to how anyone could see their interactions as romantic but, alas, they were the new talk of the town. 

Regina was in the library, hunched over her history textbook, making little notes on the flashcards that were piled neatly around her, when the rumor mill finally caught up to her. She would not have been paying attention, had it not been for the insistent tapping of a freshman's fingernail a mere five centimeters from her work space. For the 4th time in a space of half an hour Regina was forced to interrupt her studying to glare at the offending hand. It was then that she caught the girl whispering to her friend across the table, despite the library's strict no talking rule. 

"Did you hear what Jamie said about Miss Swan and Mr Jones?"  

Regina's interest was piqued. She had noticed that Emma was seen around Mr Jones and awful lot, and she was suspicious as to why he constantly interrupted their lessons for no real reason other than to see her. Of course, like everyone else, she had her suspicions but she was pretty sure Emma would tell her if she was in a relationship with a member of staff, right? 

"Apparently someone heard them making out in the broom closet" freshman number 2 squealed. 

That's absolutely ridiculous Regina Scoffed as if Emma would ever do something like that. 

She was growing increasingly angry at the girls for, well spreading false information. Somehow the thought of the information being true only increased her anger. The image the gossips were painting was oddly painful? Yes – for some unknown reason the thought of someone touching Emma that way made the brunette student sick to her stomach. 

She gathered her books and stomped out of the library. 

Why would I care? I don't care about Mr Jones and his stupid fake hand and stupid accent and stupid beard and...shit. 

She didn't care. She really truly didn't. It just so happened the pull in her chest and the tears in her eyes didn't seem to get that memo. If she didn't know any better she would say she was jea- 

No. It's not possible. Regina Mills was definitely 110% straight. She was brought up that way, and no amounts of golden curls and emerald eyes would change that. 

Except of course they had. 

Regina rushed to the nearest toilet and locked herself in a cubicle. Her hand was clasped over her mouth as she hyperventilated.  

Shit. She liked Emma. She liked Emma.  

They had spent months in each other's presence and Regina had somehow always put down the flutter in her chest and the blush in her cheeks to a cold or the temperature.  

This would ruin everything. Crushing on a teacher was straight out of some stupid rom com and here she was. Fuck.  

Regina had no idea what to do with this new information, she had never truly liked someone before romantically and she was determined to hide her feelings. However, Regina and Emma, despite being entirely different were also horribly alike, so the brunette copied the blonde's earlier stance and began avoiding her teacher at all costs. 

Fortunately, the blonde teacher knew Regina much to well to not confront her about it and that's how she ended up seated on a chair opposite Emma's across her teacher's desk. The blonde had her best interrogation face on, narrowed eyes and pursed lips, as she stared her friend down. 

"Spill it" she instructed. 

"No" 

"Come on, Regina, don't be childish" 

Regina turned her face so she was looking out one of her teacher's windows. 

"You can't avoid me and not tell me why. Did I do something wrong? Did someone else do something? You know you can talk to me" 

Emma placed her hand over Regina's on the desk and rubbed soothing circles with her thumb. 

"I..just...recently discovered...something that might....make you...uncomfortable" 

Her teacher nodded encouragingly. 

She couldn't very well tell Emma she had a crush on her so she opted for the next best thing. Regina swallowed and said the words for the first time "I think I may like girls...romantically" 

She looked down on the wooden floor, afraid to see her teacher's reaction. Her head snapped up, however, as she heard Emma laugh.  

"I'm...sorry" she wheezed "but..I can't...believe you...thought" 

Emma wiped away the tears of laughter that had settled on her face as she calmed down. Her brunette student seemed to be even more upset at the outburst. 

"God, Regina, no I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you I swear. I'm laughing because I thought you knew, and it's kind of ironic you were avoiding me because of this" 

"Knew what?" Regina enquired. 

"That I'm a lesbian"

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