Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In hindsight, Valentina wishes she had a little more time to settle into her new place before starting her new job but she supposes she’s lucky to be hired in the first place. It had taken her months to find a position that felt right and paid well enough for her to feel confident moving out of her father’s house to start her life. She was really doing it; she was finally chasing her dreams. 

Teaching, Valentina had learned over the years, was not a job that many people dreamed of having. There had been many people who wondered why Valentina would seek out a job that was historically underpaying and far more trouble than it was worth in the opinion of anyone who wasn’t a teacher. Despite all the people that called her crazy, or maybe in spite of them, Valentina pursued her teaching career with reckless determination and now here she was. A first year teacher at 23 years old, teaching high school English in a medium sized, middle of nowhere town out in west Texas. 

She was almost as far away from her family as she could get without leaving the state, it was a good seven hour drive back to where her family lived in Austin. Valentina had made the drive many times during the interview process and each time she did, she felt herself getting more and more excited. She was really here, really doing what she wanted to do. She had the support of her father, though he had made it clear she would be welcome back home if teaching didn’t work out. She vowed to prove that his faith in her wasn’t misplaced. 

Part one of that mission, not being late on her first day of work. 

Thankfully, classes wouldn’t be starting for a few more weeks, and Valentina felt as ready as she could for her first day of teacher in-service. She woke up early, earlier than she needed too really but Valentina had a habit of sleeping in that she would need to break sooner rather than later. She ironed a pair of black slacks and a light blue blouse to go with them, grabbing a light sweater just in case the room she was in for the morning was colder than expected. She pulled her hair half-up so it was out of her face and applied the lightest bit of makeup before slipping into a simple pair of black flats and grabbing her bag. A quick stop by the coffee pot to fix up a cup to go, and Valentina was out the door. 

The drive to the high school was short, just as a drive to anywhere in Colton, Texas is. It took about ten minutes to get from one side of town to the other, maybe fifteen if traffic was heavy. It was nice, especially in comparison to the never ending traffic in Austin. Valentina had spent one of her three days before work in Colton just driving around the town. There wasn’t much to find but Valentina was confident she could get to any of the three school campuses, the single Wal-Mart, the combo bowling alley and movie theater, and the handful of family owned restaurants without any trouble. She’d even found a donut shop hidden behind the Dollar General. 

Valentina used the six minute drive to work to try and calm her thoughts, keeping her mind clear and trying to ease any anxieties she feels. She sips at her coffee, burning her tongue in the process, and makes the last turn towards the high school. Valentina isn’t sure if it’s more of a relief that the parking lot is only half full, or a disappointment. Part of her was hoping she’d be able to blend into the crowd of new teachers walking in, but she’ll have to brave the school hallways on her own. It’s ridiculous but Valentina can’t help the way her palms grow just a bit sweaty. She needs this job to go well, she needs to prove to herself and to her family that she is doing the right thing. 

Taking a deep breath, Valentina finds a parking spot, shuts her car off, and climbs out. Her horn beeps softly as she hits the lock button and Valentina begins walking towards the side entrance, hoping she got the directions right and she parked on the right side of the building. Luckily, the door swing opens as she approaches and the secretary that Valentina has met before, Mrs. Owens, smiles at her in greeting. 

“Ms. Carvajal,” Mrs. Owen says warmly, “Welcome to Colton High School.” 

“Thank you,” Valentina responds with a smile of her own as she steps through the door. Mrs. Owens pulls the door closed behind her and steps over to a table. 

“Please, sign in here,” she points to a paper that already has about 15 signatures. Valentina adds her own to the page. “You’ll be in the library for most of the morning and then after lunch you’ll get to do some work in your room. Again, welcome. We’re happy to have you.” 

“Happy to be here,” Valentina leaves with a small wave and another smile, following the directions to get to the library. It’s a fairly straight shot and after a little walking, Valentina can hear the voices of others already gathered in the library and follows them. 

There're only about 10 people in the library-Valentina wonders where the other five signatures are-but they all offer Valentina a smile when she enters. A blonde woman wearing round glasses and a flowery blouse introduces herself as Kara Danvers and directs Valentina to help herself to one of the many breakfast items spread on the table. Valentina thanks her but decides against getting anything to eat, still too nervous. Instead, she moves to the collection of tables spread in the center of the room and claims a seat in the middle, towards the back. 

Now, she simply has to wait for the meeting to begin and pray that her nerves don’t ruin her day before it even gets started. 

~

Two years ago, Juliana would never have thought she’d be a teacher. Hell, two years ago, Juliana didn’t think she’d be much of anything. An art degree was fairly useless without something already lined out, or at least that’s what Juliana had been told by pretty much everyone she’d ever known. Art was meant to be a hobby, not a trade. Perhaps a bit recklessly, Juliana had grown tired of the comments, kissed her mother goodbye and set off to make her own way in the world. She ended up in Colton, Texas by accident when she nearly hit a deer driving through. She missed, but she ended up blowing through a wooden fence into a pasture of wheat. Unable to leave without making things right, Juliana had stuck around long enough to help the old couple who lived on the farm she crashed into fix their fence and repair their crops as much as possible. 

Then, Juliana had to stay around and find work so she could get her car fixed. 

Teaching was something she stumbled into. Mrs. Vallero, the wife of the farmer, suggested that Juliana sign up to be a substitute for the school. They were always needed and it was a steady source of income. Julian agreed and was subbing for all of two months when the high school art teacher retired in the middle of the school year. With Juliana art degree and high recommendations from her old professors, she was the most qualified candidate available to fill the position until a true teacher could be hired. 

Needless to say, another teacher ended up not being needed as Juliana fell in love with the job and stayed with it. 

Funny how things worked out sometimes. 

Juliana moved out of the farm house into a small apartment closer to the middle school than the high school but it worked for her. She took to teaching like a fish to water and this year was excited at the prospect of taking on more responsibility. She’d signed up to co-sponsor the yearbook with Ms. Danvers,  putting her photography skills to good use. Her second year of teaching is shaping up to be a little more stable than the first, thankfully now that Juliana doesn’t have to worry about being replaced with no warning. 

In-service is easy enough to get through, Juliana knows from the previous year, just tedious. She’d rather spend the time in her own classroom, getting things set up and figuring out what supplies she needs to order than sitting in the library for a meeting all morning but at least the school feeds them breakfast. 

Juliana is one of the last returning teachers to slip into the room. She waves to Kara, her yearbook co-sponsor, and Barry, the freshman science teacher who is inexplicably Kara’s best friend, as Juliana finds a seat. She slips into one of the last unoccupied chairs in the room and finds herself next to a woman she’s never met before. 

She’s beautiful, Juliana notices immediately. A kind of easy beauty that sinks into her skin and flows out like a river. Juliana would love to draw her, can imagine the work she’d need to put in to get the angle of her jawline just right and the shade of her eyes the truest blue they can be. 

“Hi,” the woman says softly, a nervous smile on her lips. “I’m Valentina.” 

“Juliana,” she takes the offered hand with a smile and notices the absence of food in front of Valentina. Juliana slides the napkin she has a donut sitting on over. “I snagged one of the last ones. We can split it, if you want.” 

“Oh, that’s okay,” Valentina shakes her head. “I’m not very hungry.” 

“But it’s breakfast,” Juliana protests, tearing the donut in half and offering one side to Valentina. “The most important meal of the day.” Valentina shakes her head again, an amused glint in her eyes. “If you don’t eat it, that part’s just going to be wasted.” 

“Fine,” Valentina picks up half of the donut, “but I’m eating this under duress.” 

“Noted.” Juliana chuckles as she takes a bite of her own half, something that she doesn't know how to acknowledge deep inside pleased that she got Valentina to eat something. In any case, the food seemed to have helped Valentina settle a bit as the smile she shoots Juliana a moment later seems more relaxed. 

Before Juliana can attempt to make any more conversation, the school principal calls them all to attention. They go around the room as each teacher introduces themselves, the new teachers adding in where they’re from-Austin, Juliana feels some odd need to commit that fact about Valentina to memory-in a process that takes far longer than it should. Next, there’s a few notes about the agenda for the next day’s meeting before the principal hands the reins over to the technology department. 

“So Austin?” Juliana asks after the technology department has finished their spiel about the school computers, as she and Valentina settle in to wait for their names to be called. “That’s a good ways away. How’d you end up here?” 

“I stumbled across the open position online and applied,” Valentina shrugged one shoulder carefully, taking a sip of coffee out of a blue and black marbled Yeti cup. “Never thought I’d get hired but well, it was the best opportunity for me.” 

“I’m sure you’ll like it,” Juliana tells her. “Colton is a small town, but it has its charms.” Juliana pauses for a moment, surveying Valentina like she’s searching for the answer to a question that it wouldn’t be polite to ask. 

“I can’t wait to find them,” Valentina plays with the ends of her hair. “I haven’t been in town very long, only a few days.” 

“I can show you around, if you want. At least, I can show you where you can avoid running into your students outside of class.” Juliana smiles as Valentina chuckles. 

“I’d like that,” Valentina’s smile is almost softer somehow. 

“Great, why don’t we start with lunch?” Juliana asks it what she thinks might be a somewhat desperate tone that the back of her mind is embarrassed of but she can’t bring herself to regret the question. After only a few minutes, she’s desperate to spend more time with Valentina. “There’s this little cafe downtown, best pastries in town.” 

“Sure,” Valentina shrugs, because pastries with Juliana sounds a lot better than a cold sandwich at her empty house. Before she can say anything else, Valentina is called up to the front to get her laptop and login information. 

Juliana watches her go, wondering what this strange feeling building in her chest is. 

No matter what, she’s sure this school year is going to be much more interesting than she originally thought. 

~

The cafe Juliana takes them to is quaint and quiet, not crowded even though it’s the middle of the lunch rush. Valentina orders a simple turkey club with a strawberry danish for dessert, Juliana gets the same but swaps her dessert for a chocolate cupcake that has Valentina’s mouth watering at the sight of it. She vows to try that one next time. 

Conversation with Juliana flows easily all through lunch. Valentina learns that Juliana is an only child and that her mother recently moved back to Mexico with her step-father but Juliana grew up in San Antonio. She doesn’t say much about her father and Valentina doesn’t pressure her on what is obviously a sensitive topic. Juliana got her degree from the University of Texas San Antonio and tells Valentina the story of how she ended up in Colton, Texas of all places. It’s not as far away from San Antonio as it is from Austin-three hours can be a pretty short trip when you live in Texas-but it’s out of the way enough to come as a surprise. Easy to miss the exit signs for, Juliana jokes lightly. 

In turn, Valentina tells Juliana about her family back in Austin. She talks about her father’s publishing house, her older brother’s success as a lawyer and her sister’s as a journalist and news anchor. She doesn’t talk much about her mother but that’s mostly because Valentina doesn’t remember her much. She was only four when her mother passed. Instead, she talks about the years she spent at UT Austin and how much she hates the bright orange color of their mascot now. 

By the end of their hour long lunch break, Valentina feels like she’s made her first friend in Colton. Juliana’s presence is settling, comforting. Valentina finds that she really likes the other woman’s company and she’ll be glad to see their friendship blossom. She also pushes down that part of her that feels like she won’t be satisfied with only friendship when it comes to Juliana. There’s a pull there that refuses to be ignored but Valentina leaves it unacknowledged. There’ll be time for that later, after Valentina is more settled into her job and life here in Colton. 

(Something tells her that it would be worth the wait.) 

Chapter Text

Juliana spends her morning on the second day of in-service cleaning out the shelves she was supposed to clean out the day before that she didn’t do then because she got distracted. It’s a fairly awful excuse because Juliana doesn’t have all that much to be distracted with at the moment, classes haven’t started yet, she doesn’t have any lesson plans to look over yet, and the only set up she needs to do in her room is cleaning out the old supplies and organizing the new, most of which hasn’t even arrived yet. 

It’s only natural that her thoughts drift to Valentina instead. 

They had talked about many things at lunch the day before and Juliana can feel the admiration in her chest quickly growing into something else. Valentina is so warm and open and free and Juliana feels weightless around her. It’s like being in Valentina’s presence is enough to improve Juliana’s day. She’s already decided that she wants to be friends with this woman. 

She can’t admit yet that she could see herself becoming much more than friends with Valentina, no matter how true that statement is. 

Juliana can admit that she’s a bit reckless at times, but that usually doesn’t apply to matters of the heart. Juliana doesn’t trust easily, she never had. It had taken nearly an entire semester for her to allow herself to be friends with any of the teachers in the school, and it was a month after that she started seeing them as real friends and not just work-friends. She let them each carve their own way through the walls around her heart until they found a place where they fit. 

Valentina stepped through as if the walls had never been there in the first place, the impression of her presence leaving a burning imprint within Juliana that aches to see the other woman again. 

By the time lunch rolls around, Juliana decides that she’s spent enough time pretending to work in her room. Valentina doesn’t have any meetings for the rest of the day, which means she’ll finally be able to get into her classroom. That’s something that Juliana knows Valentina is excited but also something that Juliana knows she’ll need help with. The last teacher who had been in Valentina’s room, Mrs. Cruz, had been a little disorganized by the time she retired and Juliana was sure the room itself was a mess. 

It was the friendly thing to do, Juliana decided, to offer her help to Valentina. It wasn’t like Juliana was going out of her way to help. If she didn’t, Juliana would simply be twiddling her thumbs in the art room with nothing to do until her supplies arrived. She could be helpful, useful. Getting to spend a few more hours with Valentina was just the icing on the cake. 

Juliana was never one to give up the icing. That was the best part. 

~

The classroom is, Valentina decides upon walking in, a mess. It’s the afternoon of her second day of in-service and Valentina has finally stepped into her classroom only to discover that she has a mountain of work to do before she can even begin getting the room set up the way she wants it. 

“Wow,” Valentina glances over her shoulder, automatically stepping to the side as the voice reaches her ears. “Mrs. Cruz was really in a hurry to get out of here.” 

Juliana steps up beside Valentina and surveys the room. Her hair is up today and Valentina can’t help but notice the way her neck flexes as she looks around, taking in the sharpness of her jawline. Valentina has to resist the urge to clear her suddenly dry throat. 

“Mrs. Cruz? Was that the last teacher in here?” Valentina asks instead, walking over to a very cluttered desk to set her bag down in the chair. Juliana nods her head. 

“She retired around Christmas last year, they just rearranged her old classes instead of hiring a long term substitute for the year so this room has been empty since January.” Juliana shoots Valentina a sympathetic smile. 

“Wonderful,” Valentina mumbles but she can’t help smiling back at Juliana. She’d be lying if she said that the other woman hadn’t been on her mind since they parted after lunch the previous day. On the contrary, Valentina had thought of almost nothing else. It was easy for her mind to get distracted in the meetings that had taken up yesterday afternoon and all of that morning, the only reason the meeting took so long was because the speakers had to walk by and make sure everyone could complete their work individually. Valentina was always done early and spent the rest of the time wondering what Juliana was up to since she didn’t have to go to these meetings. “I guess I know how I’ll be spending my afternoons this week.” 

“I can help, if you want,” Juliana offers as she steps further into the room. 

“You don’t have work to do in your room?” Valentina doesn’t want Juliana to leave, but she won’t ask her to stay if that means that Juliana would be neglecting her own work. 

“Not today, I can’t really do anything else in the art room until the new supplies get delivered and that won’t be until Thursday.” Juliana shrugs. “If anyone needs me, they’ll come looking. So I don’t have anywhere else to be. Unless you don’t want me to stay.” 

“No!” Valentina hears the hint of panic in her voice and forces herself to calm down. “I mean, if you don’t have anything else to do, I’d love the help.” 

“I’m all yours.” Juliana makes a show of rolling up imaginary sleeves as Valentina’s brain short circuits at the implication of Juliana being hers . She blinks and just barely manages to resist the urge to shake herself out of it when Juliana speaks again. “Where do we start?” 

They start with the bookshelves, they seemed to be the least cluttered part of the classroom. There was no organization to the shelves at all, but that was easily fixed with the both of them working together in an easy flow, talking about nothing and everything as they did. 

Juliana filled the air with stories of her first year as a teacher. She tells Valentina about a junior girl the year before who ended up getting a paintbrush stuck in the ceiling when a friend scared her and her first instinct was to throw her hands, the brush in them, up in the air. Then there were the two boys in her last period the year before who always raced to class and the loser had to clean the board at the end of the day. Juliana still had no idea how that tradition had started, but it had saved her a bit of work at the end of day so she didn’t complain. 

“The best is during prom season,” Juliana remarks from where she’s crouched down, placing copies of Shakespeare’s Hamlet on the bottom shelf. That’s a senior level story and since Valentina is teaching sophomores, she won’t need the copies. “There were a lot of prom-posals in the art room last year. Most of them were pretty cute.” 

“Most of them?” Valentina quirks an eyebrow in question, 

“Well, there was one time where the guy got rejected. I felt bad for him, he had put a lot of work into asking,” Juliana describes the elaborate poster the boy had created, meant to celebrate the lifelong friendship he had with the girl he was asking. “But the girl had already accepted an invitation from someone else.” 

“Ouch,” Valentina says in sympathy for the boy. Juliana hums in agreement. 

“The most interesting one was when a girl was asked by two different people at the exact same time, in almost the exact same way,” Juliana reaches for the other copies of Hamlet , her fingers brushing against Valentina’s as she does. They both pretend they don’t feel the current that runs through their hands at the contact. “She was a volleyball player and both of the kids presented her with a volleyball with the question written on it.” 

“What’d she do?” Valentina asked curiously. Juliana chuckled slightly. 

“Reminded the guy that she was in a relationship and accepted the invitation from her girlfriend.” 

“Wait, the guy asked out a girl who he knew had a girlfriend?” Valentina tilted her head down to look at Juliana, who was already looking back up at her. 

“He seemed to believe that they had broken up, he apologized once he realized they were still together.” Juliana shrugged. “It could have gone worse.” 

“True,” Valentina thinks back to her own senior prom, the boy that had asked her ended up being a fumbling fool who’d only wanted to get into her pants. Valentina still didn’t know why she accepted his invitation but she ended up leaving him on the dancefloor halfway through the dance and leaving with a group of girls she had been on the cheerleading squad with. 

“Any more books for down here?” Juliana asks a moment later. Valentina looks up at the remainder of the books on the shelf. 

“No, I don’t think so,” she says, holding her hand out to help Juliana rise to her feet. Juliana accepts the hand and lets Valentina pull her up. 

Somehow, they’re standing closer together than they had been when Juliana and leand down to put the books away, and Juliana gets a clear view of the blue in Valentina’s eyes. She’s struck - only for a moment - with the desire to get lost in those eyes. Something about Valentina has drawn her in, something that Juliana can’t quite describe but even still something that Juliana is quickly becoming addicted to. 

She doesn’t realize she had been leaning in until a throat clears from the doorway. Valentina’s eyes snapped up - just how long had she been staring at Juliana’s lips anyway? - and she let her lips stretch into a welcoming smile as she recognized Kara Danvers standing in her doorway with a brunette that Valentina had only seen in passing. 

“I see you’re settling in well,” Kara said warmly. She was smiling at Valentina and Juliana while the woman beside her was looking at them both with open curiosity painted across her face. “I just wanted to see if you needed anything and introduce you to my wife, Lena.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Lena offered the two women a smile, the curiosity in her eyes disappearing behind a wall of cautious friendliness. 

“Lena’s not in the fine arts department but she’s over here all the time,” Kara explains, throwing a teasing grin at her wife. Lena rolls her eyes. 

“Like you actually want to complain about that,” Lena nudges Kara with her shoulder. “I teach AP Chem and Physics.” 

“Are you talking about science in an English classroom?” A new voice questions from behind the couple, who move out of the way as a man with light brown hair steps into the room, a shorter woman at his side. “That’s basically against the law.” 

“Like you being on time to anything ever?” Kara laughs as the man holds a hand over his heart in mock outrage. 

“She’s got you there,” the woman he entered with says. The man turns his affronted gaze to her. 

“You’re supposed to be on my side!” 

“Honey, I’m always on your side,” the woman smiles at him. “But you know Kara’s right.” 

“Whatever,” the man grins and moves further into the room to where Valentina and Juliana are watching the group, Juliana with amusement and Valentina wondering what crazy bin just walked into her room. “Juliana, good to see you’re already corrupting the new teacher.” 

“I’m not corrupting her,” Juliana throws a wink in Valentina’s direction. “At least not yet.” 

“Barry WestAllen,” the man introduces himself with a chuckle. “I teach biology and coach track and cross country.” 

“Valentina Carvajal,” Valentina shakes his hand, and then the hand of the woman he had come in with. 

“Iris,” the woman says, smiling warmly. “I teach Freshman English, and claim that one,” she points at Barry, “as my lovable but far too easy to tease husband.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Valentina says to the room at large. 

“We won’t take up too much of your time, it’s clear there’s a lot to do in here.” Kara looks around the room. “Just wanted to introduce ourselves to you and invite you to our weekly game night.” 

“Maybe with you around, Juliana will finally come to one.” Iris says to Juliana, sharing a look with Lena that Valentina can’t quite decipher. 

“Maybe, since I won’t have to be the fifth will with Val there.” The nickname slips off her tongue easily. Valentina swears she’s never heard her name said in such a beautiful way. “Same time as always?” 

“Saturday at 8,” Kara nods. “Lena and I are hosting this week.” 

“What about the faculty dinner?” 

“We’ll leave early,” Lena shrugs. “That starts at 6, I will be very surprised if any of us still want to stick around by that point.” The group laughs in that way of teachers who know the meeting they have to attend is pointless but they can’t get out of it. Lena redirects her next words to Valentina. “Anyway, if you’d like to come, we’d be happy to have you there.” 

“Sounds fun,” Valentina agrees, happy at the thought of not spending Saturday night all alone in her empty house. “Should I bring anything?” 

“We’ll have snacks and drinks, but if there’s something specific you want to drink you can bring it.” 

“We’ll clear the details with you later this week,” Kara tells her. “I know your mornings are taken up by meetings all week so we won’t keep you from cleaning any longer. Just shout if you need anything, Iris and I are both right down the hall.” 

“Thank you, it was nice to meet all of you.” Valentina smiles after the group of four as they exit her classroom, teasing one another like teenagers as they went. She shoots a wry grin at Juliana. “Are they always like that?” 

“Pretty much,” Juliana shrugs. “You’ll get used to it.” 

“Good to know,” Valentina laughs, turning back to the shelf. Juliana watches her for a moment, smiling to herself. 

“You know, you’re a lot more fun than the last teacher that was in this room,” Juliana sees Valentina’s head turn slightly to acknowledge her words. “Prettier, too.” 

Valentina finds herself grateful to already be facing the bookshelf instead of looking at Juliana because she’s pretty sure her face has never burned as bright with a blush before now. 

She’s known this woman for barely two days and Valentina already knows one thing for certain. 

Juliana has already begun worming her way directly into Valentina’s heart and Valentina is completely, absolutely, totally helpless to stop her. 

Chapter Text

It took the rest of the week, at least the afternoons that Valentina was actually able to work in her room, to get the classroom set up the way she wanted it. The bookshelves were cleaned and organized, the desks had been sanitized and rearranged in a double-sided period shape with an aisle between the two sides for Valentina to walk down and around the room. She has put a smattering of motivational posters around the room to remind her students that they are capable of doing whatever they put their mind to, and a small collection of educational posters to remind her kids what the parts of speech are and how to use figurative language. 

Juliana had been a big help when it came to, well, everything. She helped Valentina lug boxes up and down the hallway to the book room. She helped Valentina make sure her posters were lined up and centered, and she introduced Valentina to the other side of the little friend group that was established here. Brittany and Santana, both of whom were very much in love with one another, taught math and coached the cheerleaders respectively. Brittany was super nice and welcoming from the beginning while Santana had a cool exterior that Valentina had to break through. After them, Valentina met Waverly Earp, a Colton native who had several degrees in languages Valentina couldn’t even pronounce and yet she still ended up teaching music and choir. Valentina had yet to meet Waverly’s wife, Nicole, but she knew she would be able to do so at the faculty mixer that she was currently getting ready for. 

The faculty mixer that she and Juliana were going to, together. 

It wasn’t a date. 

Valentina should not be thinking of it as a date. 

She and Juliana are simply going together because they’re going to the same place after and Valentina doesn’t know how to get to Kara and Lena’s place yet. It’s easy to carpool and makes sense only when Valentina doesn’t let herself acknowledge the fact that Juliana lives on the other side of town from her and would very much have to go out of her way in order to pick Valentina up. 

It’s not like Valentina is nervous and wondering if Juliana will like the dark grey dress she wears, or the way she curled her hair, or how she did her makeup or -

It isn’t a date, but god does Valentina wish it was one. 

Barely a week of knowing this woman and it already feels like Valentina’s world is just a little off kilter when she isn’t with Juliana. Her desire to know more about Juliana stems from a place deep inside herself that has always been a little desperate for love. Not that Valentina had never felt loved before, she did. She had a loving father who doted on her and siblings who adored her even if they didn’t understand her teaching dream. She’d even had a few relationships over the years that had been wholly satisfying while she’d been in them. 

Still, none of that compared to that way she felt even just as Juliana’s friend. 

Juliana sets Valentina at ease and winds her up, all in the same breath. Juliana is bright and loud and happy and her laughter is like music and her smile more beautiful than the stars and Valentina has never felt this way before in her life. 

Worst of all, she’s pretty sure that her crush is completely unrequited. 

Juliana, as far as Val can tell, has given no indication that she feels anything other than a building friendship towards Valentina. Though her interactions with the rest of Juliana’s friends have been brief, Valentina can’t seem to pick out a noticeable difference between those and the way Juliana interacts with Val herself. She’s left with the understanding that she needs to sort her crush out soon, before things get out of hand and she ruins any potential friendship she may have with Juliana. 

A task that, Valentina thinks as the doorbell rings to announce Juliana’s presence, is much easier said than done. 

~

Valentina looks gorgeous and it takes a good deal of concentration from Juliana to keep herself from drooling. The dress Valentina wears is slimming and professional, hugging in her curves in a way that it’s just enough to drive Juliana crazy. Her hair is curled in loose ringlets, half of it pulled into a braid that falls down the center of the back of her head. She carried a simple clutch purse that Juliana is immeasurably happy that she has for one very important reason: the clutch keeps Juliana from taking Valentina’s hand. 

Which Juliana won’t do, no matter how much she wants too. 

And she really, really wants to. She wants to hold Valentina’s hand and lead her into the restaurant where the faculty mixer is. She wants to keep Valentina close to her side all through the night, trading jokes and jabs and commenting on the coaches who show up in khaki shorts and a polo despite the dress code being business formal. She wants to lead Valentina to their designated spots at a table with Iris, Barry, Kara, Lena, and all the rest. She wants to walk in and have everyone in the room know that she and Valentina are there together. 

She wants all of that but she won’t get any of it. 

Because this is not a date. 

It’s not. 

Juliana would never assume that Valentina wanted this to be a date, and since Valentina has not said the words, it is not a date. Which is perfectly fine. 

Except Juliana really wants it to be a date. 

She’s not sure she ever wanted anything more in her life, actually. 

There’s something remarkably different about her interactions with Valentina, something that has set the other woman apart since the day they met. A small part of Juliana hoped that it was simply an infatuation, a crush that would fade with time as she and Valentina settled into their friendship. A bigger, much more noticeable part of Juliana, knew that she was already head over heels for Valentina and that she would only fall deeper the more time they spent together. 

“Oh don’t look now,” Kara’s voice brought Juliana out of her thoughts. They were standing in line at the buffet, Juliana helping Kara balance the two plates in her hands. Lena had gotten caught talking with someone in the science department named Raven so Kara had offered to gather her wife’s plate for her. Juliana was helping because Kara’s clumsiness was rather infamous and she’d like to avoid the mess on her new dress slacks. “Valentina’s got company.” 

As casually as she could manage, Juliana looked over her shoulder. Valentina was seated at their table still, her own plate of food already in front of her on the table and the chair to her left that had previously been occupied by Juliana now held someone else. “Well, we knew he’d come over eventually.” 

Kara hums noncommittally, Juliana can feel Kara’s curious gaze on her face and guess that her tone wasn’t as blase as she wanted it to be. The man sitting in Juliana’s chair is Lucho, one of the football and soccer coaches. He was rather infamous for making a pass at every new female teacher. Juliana had had to suffer through his forced affections all the way through October of last year before he realized she would never accept his invitation. Juliana knew that it was only a matter of time before Lucho realized there was a teacher who hadn’t rejected him yet. She only hoped Valentina was smart enough to turn the man down. 

(A hope that had nothing to do with the ugly green monster growing in the pit of Juliana’s stomach and everything to do with the fact that Lucho was one of the coaches wearing khaki shorts and a polo to a formal event.) 

“Got everything?” Juliana turns back to the food, grabbing enough cutlery for her, Kara, and Lena before leading Kara back over to their table. Lena intercepts them halfway and takes her plate of food from Kara and her cutlery from Juliana. The three women approach their table, Juliana standing pointedly behind her seat as Kara and Lena take their own across the table. The others at their table are beginning to return with their own food, Brittany, Santana, Iris, Barry, Waverly, and Nicole all joining Kara and Lena in pretending like they aren’t watching Valentina and Lucho and gaging Juliana’s reaction. 

“It was nice meeting you, but my friend is back,” Valentina says to Lucho with a gesture at Juliana. Lucho turns, looking surprised that Valentina had actually been saving the seat for someone. 

“You’re in my spot,” Juliana tells him, a fake smile plastered across her lips. Lucho looks between the two women for a second before standing up. 

“My apologies,” Lucho says in what must be his most suave voice. Juliana feels a strange urge to vomit as she sees the too sweet smile he sends to Valentina. “It was nice meeting you Valentina. I hope to see you around. Don’t forget my offer!” 

Valentina waves him off with a polite smile, her shoulders sagging in relief as Juliana finally takes her seat. “I’m so glad you’re back.” 

“I see Lucho is making his yearly rounds,” Santana’s tone is dry, completely unimpressed. 

“Yearly rounds?” Valentina questions, the words directed to the table at large but her gaze remains focused on Juliana. 

“He makes a pass at every new teacher every year,” Lena answers with a roll of her eyes. “Only the women though.” 

“He’s hit on all of you?” 

“Well, not me,” Barry chuckles before he frowns. “But I was standing right beside Iris when he came onto her.” 

“He asked me and then turned to Britt when I said no,” Sanatana informs them, a glare thrown in the direction of where Lucho walked off too. 

“He never asked me,” Waverly says, tone somewhere between relieved and surprised. 

“Baby, you’re engaged to the Sheriff, he’d have to be dumber than he looks to ask you out.” Nicole points out, earning a round of laughs from the table. 

“I guess that’s a good point.” 

“What was his invitation to you?” Kara asks Valentina curiously, sharing a look with her wife that Juliana can’t quite decipher. 

“Choice seats for the football games,” Valentina shrugs. “He said I wouldn’t be able to see the field so well, but I’d have a great view of where he would be standing on the sidelines.” 

“That’s a new one,” Iris says after taking a sip of her drink. “He told me he’d get me free popcorn at all home games.” 

The others around the table list off the terrible pick up lines Lucho had used on them and hearing Valentina laugh at the ridiculousness of it all eases the ball of tension in Juliana’s stomach. The tension is all but gone when Valentina’s smile softens as she looks at Juliana, like her smile itself is a secret only meant to be shared by the two of them. 

~

Game night ends up being more of a ‘let’s all drink and complain about the shit we didn’t get done this week’ night, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. Nor does it mean that those in attendance are unable to pick up on the sparks flying between two of their numbers. 

“They’ve got to know, right?” Iris says from her place on the couch next to Barry, leaning against her husband’s arm. “There’s no way they can be that oblivious.” 

“Lesbians can flirt for years and never realize it,” Nicole points out, Waverly half-asleep in her arms. She lifts her head up to glare at her fiance. 

“We don’t know if they’re lesbians,” Waverly says. “They could be bisexual.” 

“What they identify as is their business,” Kara says, “but I  highly doubt either one of them is straight. Did you see Juliana’s expression when she saw Lucho at the table?” 

“It was pretty funny, actually,” Santana remarks. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Juliana jealous before. That’s going to be fun to tease her about.” 

“Oh no,” Lena is sitting on the floor and leaning against Kara’s legs, her eyelids growing heavy as Kara runs her fingers through Lena’s hair. “We can’t tease them about this.” 

“What? Why not?” 

“Because neither of them has any clue what is happening.” Lena gestures vaguely to where Valentina and Juliana are in their own little world by the drinks. How they can’t hear the very obvious conversation happening three feet away, no one is sure of. “If we tease them, they’ll shy away from one whatever is happening between them.” 

“I, for one, would like to see how long it takes them to figure it out.” Barry says cheerfully. “I say it won’t happen until Christmas.” 

“The way they look at each other? Please, Halloween at the latest,” Iris disagrees. 

“Homecoming,” Kara adds in her own guess. “I get extra points if they match for all of Spirit Week too.” 

“Fine,” Santana rolls her eyes. “I say Thanksgiving, our first real break this year.” 

“Two days after New Year’s,” Brittany says confidently, her eyes glinting with a strange knowledge that the small group had come to expect from her. 

“It’s a bet, winner gets first shot at teasing the new couple,” Lena says, “and 20 bucks from everyone who made a guess.” 

They all nodded at one another in lieu of getting up from their comfortable cuddling positions with their respective spouses and the bet was set.

Chapter Text

Try as she might to not be, Valentina was incredibly nervous the first Monday morning of class. The few weeks of in-service had done very little to actually prepare Valentina for the reality of managing a class of 20+ smartass, high school kids. They were similar to the education classes she took in college, funnily enough. 

Valentina had arrived at work exceedingly early for the second time, once again too nervous to eat. It wasn’t her best idea, as Valentina was left to simply stew in her empty classroom for a good half hour before students would even begin to arrive. She had restacked her introduction quiz at least four times, wiped down all the desks, and rewritten her name on the board three times by the time Juliana poked her head in through the door. 

“Jeez, you’re the picture of calm preparedness,” Juliana joked softly as she stepped into the room. 

“Not. Helping,” Valentina erased her name and began to re-write it without looking at Juliana. 

“Val,” Juliana stepped up behind the woman, one hand landing on Valentina’s waist and the other reaching up to cover her hand moving across the board. Valentina froze at the touch, her heart stuttering in her chest. Luckily her muscles didn’t tense up, in fact she could feel the tension leaving her shoulders as she unconsciously sunk back into Juliana’s embrace. “You need to relax. The kids are going to love you.” 

“You sound so sure,” Valentina murmured, still unmoving in Juliana’s arms. 

“I am,” Juliana’s voice had dropped down to a whisper. “It’s impossible not to.” 

It’s low enough that Valentina can’t really be sure that she heard the words correctly. Low enough that Valentina can pretend that she didn’t hear the words because she really does not have the mental capacity to process exactly what Juliana’s words mean. 

“I guess I’m just nervous,” Valentina forces herself to speak in a normal voice. “All those education courses and I feel wildly unprepared for the reality of teaching.” 

“I have something to help with that,” Juliana’s arms move from around Valentina, forcing them both to acknowledge just how nice it had felt to be so close to one another. Silently, of course. Valentina was still certain that Juliana only thought of her as a friend. Juliana was under the impression that someone who was generous and driven would never be interested in the woman who was essentially stumbling through life and hoping it wasn’t all some big, cosmic mistake. “I figured you would be too nervous to eat when you left home so…” 

Juliana holds up a bag that she had set down on one of the desks before she approached Valentina at the board. Valentina didn’t recognize the name of the restaurant but the emblem on the bag was easy enough to recognize. Donuts. Juliana had brought Valentina donuts. 

Valentina had an idea why that felt so significant, she wouldn’t admit that to herself. 

“You know me so well,” Valentina said in lieu of commenting on how Juliana bringing her breakfast made her heart beat faster in a chest in a way that had nothing to do with her first-day-of-school-nerves. 

Juliana just smiled and stamped down the urge to say something extra flirty about how she’d like to Val even better. She figured she was already pushing her luck for the morning, and she was still positive that Valentina didn’t return the hopeless crush Juliana carried. 

“Eat your donut,” Juliana said, pointing at the bag. “Stop writing your name on the board, it looks perfect. And walk with me for the auditorium. Students will be here soon so we should be in there to say hi.” 

“Right, okay,” Valentina nodded to herself and picked up the bag of food, picking one out for herself. Juliana gave her a look that felt important, like Juliana was trying to remember what kind of donut Valentina wanted when she had the option to pick. Last time, they shared a plain, glazed donut. This time, Valentina had chosen the chocolate covered donut. Juliana made a mental not to make sure she always got a chocolate covered donut for Valentina. Valentina didn’t see the look, and Juliana had time to school her face into what she hoped was a more neutral yet friendly expression by the time Valentina finished her breakfast. “Okay, ready. Where’s the auditorium again?” 

“C’mon,” Juliana reached out and took Valentina’s hand, pulling her in the direction of the auditorium. Both women had to focus on the coming day in order to ignore the sense of rightness that came from simply holding hands. 

Geez, it was going to be a long school year. 

They let go of one another as they walked up on the doors to the auditorium, the low hum of conversation floating through and letting them know that a good amount of students had already arrived. 

“You ready?” Juliana asked, waiting for Valentina’s nod to reach for the door. “You’re going to do great.” 

With that, Juliana pulled the door open, letting Valentina walk in first. 

“There you are,” Kara looked as chipper as ever as she greeted the two women walking in. She and Iris were both standing near the door, “I thought we’d have to send out a unit to find you.” 

“Valentina was making sure her name was written perfectly on the board,” Juliana explained, ignoring the glare Valentina sent her way at the words. Sure, Valentina was okay with Juliana knowing the extent of her nerves but that’s because she’s Juliana and Valentina feels herself falling harder for her with each passing day. That doesn’t mean she wants Kara and the rest of their developing friend group to know about it. 

“Ah, first day jitters,” Kara nodded easily, shooting a reassuring grin in Valentina’s direction. “I was obsessed with this one poster on the wall, I’m still not sure it’s on the wall straight.” 

“Well, you’re the one who put it up so what did you expect?” Lena cuts in teasingly and earns herself a slight elbow from her wife. “Mine was the survey paper. I’m pretty sure I restacked the whole thing at least seven times a minute.” 

“What are you stacking?” Iris and Barry joined the group as they moved to the edge of the stage, joining the line of teachers greeting the students as they walked in. 

“Nothing now,” Lena nodded in Valentina’s direction. “First day jitter obsession, mine was this one stack of papers, Kara’s a poster on the wall.” 

“Oh, mine was a specimen display in the back of the room,” Barry chuckled at himself. “Rearranged all the jars every couple minutes and then at least once a week for a while after.” 

“Mine was the dry erase markers,” Iris said. “Had to make sure they were in the right order.” 

“Glad to know I’m not the only one who obsessed with something relatively meaningless on the first day.” Valentina let out a relieved chuckle, waving back to a particularly brave student who lifted her hands and smiled when Val noticed her waving. 

“I’m pretty sure it’s some kind of teaching rite of passage,” Kara remarked and then turned her head to look expectantly at Juliana. 

“What?” Juliana asked when she noticed that the other teachers had followed Kara’s lead and were all staring at her. Valentina thought Juliana looked adorably when she flushed slightly at the unexpected attention, but she shoved that thought down to deal with it later. 

“Spit it out Valdes,” Lena demanded, though not unkindly. “We all admitted our weird first day obsession. What was yours?” 

“Oh, the paintbrushes,” Juliana shrugged slightly, “I couldn’t decide if they should be handle up or brush up and kept switching them back and forth.” 

“See, teacher rite of passage,” Kara said again, bumping her shoulder against Valentina’s. “I wonder what San, Britt, and Waverly did.” 

“We’ll ask them at lunch,” Lena said. “We're still on for that?” 

The assembled group nodded their heads silently, turning their attention to the principal who had just walked in. They had a yearly tradition, Valentina had learned, of all having lunch together on the first day. It was simple enough to do since the whole school took lunch at the same time and because Colton High School had an open campus for lunch, they would very rarely, if ever, have to work lunch duty in the cafeteria. Perks of working at a small school, Juliana had told Valentina when she asked about the lunch arrangement. 

The first bell rang and all of the teachers turned their attention to the Principal, Ms. Prince, to listen to her welcome back speech. After a short round of introductions where each teacher waved as their name was called, the teachers were dismissed to go back to their rooms and await their first batch of students. On the way back, Juliana caught Valentina’s hand in her own and squeezed gently. 

“You’ll do great today,” Juliana told her softly. “I’ll see you at lunch.” 

“See you,” Valentina squeezed Juliana’s hand and then let go as they walked up to her room. “And good luck.”

With another smile, Juliana made the short walk down the hall to her own classroom and took up her position leaning against the wall to wait for the students to come trickling down the halls. Valentina watched her for a moment and then tore her gaze away as Kara and Iris arrived at their own rooms, down the hall and across from one another, after walking their respective spouses to their own rooms. Valentina wasn’t sure why she felt like she had been caught doing something wrong, but her cheeks flushed a bit anyway. 

She really needed to get a handle on this hopeless crush. 

~

By lunch time, Valentina was feeling equal parts invigorated and exhausted. None of her education classes talked about how exhausting it can be to say the same thing over and over again, with the added pressure of having to respond to unexpected questions on the fly. She didn’t expect to be so tired from simply introducing herself and explaining the class rules. Even with the students filling the silence for the rest of the class, it was all surprisingly draining. 

A bright spot was that in between classes, Valentina had five minutes that she could spend looking down the hallway and admiring the easy way Juliana interacted with her students. Not that she spent the whole five minute passing period doing that. Because she didn’t. Not at all. (Unless you ask Kara and Iris, who will say without hesitation that Valentina looked like the living embodiment of the heart eyes emoji every passing period). 

Lunch was easy and relaxing, Valentina sat beside Juliana at the table they shared with Barry, Iris, Kara, Lena, Brittany, Santana and Waverly at a little buffet place a few blocks from the school. A few students were in the restaurant as well but they kept to themselves other than a small wave at the teachers they knew. The teachers traded stories about the student they’d had so far and complained about having to do paper attendance because the online portal wasn’t ready yet. It was nice and calming and just what Valentina needed to get through the rest of her day.

Her exhaustion returned full-force by the last bell and after it rang, she was sitting in at her desk wondering if she really just survived her first day as a teacher. 

“What’s got you smiling so big?” Juliana asked as she stepped into the room, a fleck of green paint across her cheek. Valentina’s smile only grew at the sight of her. 

“I can’t believe I did it. I’m a teacher,” Valentina stood from her desk and moved closer to Juliana, reaching up to wipe the speck of paint away. 

“You’re a teacher,” Juliana confirmed, leaning into Valentina’s hand when it lingered against her cheek. “And if you feel anything like I did last year, you’re exhausted.” 

“Oh, I’m completely dead on my feet.” Valentina confirmed, finally dropping her hand from Juliana’s cheek. 

“Then, how about a quick bite at the cafe and then you can get some rest?” Juliana offered warmly, a nervous sort of smile on her lips. 

“Sounds perfect,” Valentina collected her purse and sweater, double-checking that the board was clean and the lights were off as she and Juliana left the room together. 

“They have no idea, do they?” Iris asked as she, Kara, Lena, Barry, Iris, Waverly, Brittany, and Santana watched from down the hall as Juliana and Valentina left together. 

“Not a clue,” Barry confirmed. 

“God there’s going to be so much pining this year,” Lena half-groaned. 

“Oh it won’t be that bad,” Kara admonished her wife lightly. “Think of all the things we’ll be able to tease them about once they finally get together.” 

“I’m thinking about all the bragging rights I’ll have when I win the bet,” Iris said. “Though the teasing will be fun too.” 

One thing was certain, it was going to be a very interesting school year. 

Chapter Text

By the end of her first week as a teacher, Valentina felt a little settled. Sure, she was still exhausted at the end of every day, but Waverly and Kara assured her that would fade with time. It was a big adjustment and a lot of mental demand to deal with for hours on end everyday. Valentina suddenly had much more respect for teachers who worked in huge schools and dealt with hundreds of kids everyday. She taught around 70 students daily, assuming no one was absent, that was already a huge mental strain. 

Luckily, Valentina was beginning to develop a wonderful support system. She’d met a few more teachers over the course of her first week teaching, like Jason Scott who taught an elective course on engine maintenance, Kimberly Hart who covered cheerleading with Santana and sometimes helped the yearbook with getting good photos, and Kim’s wife Trini who taught World History. Then there was Zack Taylor, the charming track coach and so far the only member of the coaching staff that Valentina could stand to be around. She’d heard that Jason’s husband Billy worked for the school too, but she hadn’t met him yet since Billy taught computer skills at the middle school. Then there were all the teachers Valentina had met during her first week. Iris, Kara, Waverly were proving to be invaluable when it came to Valentina needing any resource or help structuring a lesson. It helped that Iris was teaching the honors classes, so Valentina could line her curriculum up with Iris. That took a lot of pressure off when it came to lesson planning. 

Getting lunch together had become an almost daily tradition for the whole group. They didn’t eat out every day, after all they all lived on a teacher salary, but even when they all stopped at someone’s house for leftovers or sandwiches, Valentina never found herself unhappy with her new friends. Kara, Waverly, and Brittany were generally considered to be the nicest members of their group. Not their respective spouses weren’t nice as well, Lena, Nicole, and Santana just had a colder exterior to break through first. Most of the group seemed to be the kind of people who were genuinely good and kind as long as they weren’t being disrespected in some way. They always made sure Valentina was included in conversation one way or another and they all sent Valentina supportive, sometimes secretive smiles that she couldn’t always interpret. 

Then, there was Juliana. 

Juliana, who by the end of the first week of school (probably even before that), Valentina had already found herself hopelessly in love with. 

It wasn’t like Valentina was planning to meet the woman who she was pretty sure was the love of her life in the middle of nowhere Texas, but that’s what happened. She couldn’t help being drawn to Juliana. Juliana was warm and caring and open and so much more real than anyone Valentina had ever met. The more time Valentina spent with Juliana, the more time Valentina wanted to spend with her. Even if it was a simple passing moment in the hallway, a split second smile that the shared before they both pulled their classroom doors closed, a squeeze of her hand when they passed by one another walking to their boxes in the office, any small interaction was enough to set the butterflies in Valentina’s stomach fluttering. 

It was hopeless and ridiculous but Valentina couldn’t help but hope that maybe Juliana could feel the same way. Someday. 

Valentina was perfectly content to let their friendship grow, either into a stronger friendship or something more, but she wasn’t sure she could convince her heart of that. The truth was that Valentina knew she would never be satisfied with only being Juliana’s friend. No matter what happened between them, Valentina would always want more. More time, more smiles, more laughs, more ways that she could simply bask in all that Juliana is and will be. 

It was easier to convince herself to stay friends when no one else knew about her crush, which, of course, was never going to last. 

~

Unsurprisingly, it was Nicole who made the first comment about Juliana’s hopeless crush on Valentina. They were sitting in the stands at the first home football game of the season. It was still warm even after the sun had gone down, summer nights lingering in the air and the swarm of people in the stadium only added to the heat. The group of friends were only a small portion in the sea of blue t-shirts that filled the homeside stands but that didn’t stop Juliana from feeling Nicole’s gaze on her periodically throughout the game. 

Near the middle of the second quarter, Valentina had left for the concession stand with Waverly and Irs, a promise to bring Juliana back some popcorn that Juliana insisted on paying for. Juliana truthfully had no idea what the expression on her face was but it was enough to make Nicole, relaxing in jeans and school t-shirt since she was thankfully off duty, burst out laughing. Juliana looked at her curiously. 

Outside of her growing friendship with Valentina, Nicole was the person that Juliana felt the closest too. They didn’t have much in common but they had a lot of the same values. Nicole valued love and loyalty and fighting for the people you trusted, protecting the innocent and helping those who need. She wasn’t the type to hold one’s past against them and when Juliana had first started teaching and reluctantly joining the friend group, Nicole had proved to be much needed relief from what felt like constant work talk. They bonded over both of them coming to town with essentially nothing but finding a place there anyway, even if Nicole had clearly stayed for love rather than work like Juliana. 

“You know you’re crushing on the new teacher, right?” Nicole asked with a highly amused expression, her grin growing as Lena leaned forward. 

“Thank god someone said something,” Lena said with a laugh. “I thought we’d have to go the whole night without teasing you.” 

“You still can,” Juliana mumbled as her face grew warmer under their amused gazes. 

“Too late,” Nicole shrugged. “You can’t have a sister-in-law like Wynonna Earp and not take every opportunity to make a joke.” Juliana rolled her eyes but she was kinda grateful that Wynonna had skipped the game. She had a tendency to be far less subtle than Nicole or Waverly and Juliana was sure that if Wynonna was there, she’d make so many cheeky jokes Juliana wouldn’t be able to even look at Valentina. 

“It’s not a big deal,” Juliana turned her face towards the game just in time to realize that the coach had called a timeout so there was nothing for her to focus on. 

“Juls, you have literal hearts in your eyes everytime Valentina looks at you.” 

“I simply respect and admire her.” 

“And you want to get in her pants,” Lena interjected and laughed as Juliana spluttered in a useless attempt to come up with an excuse. “From the looks she’s been giving you, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” 

“Lena, oh my god,” Juliana groaned, dropping her head. 

“No, no, that’s what Kara says,” Lena’s tone was wicked if low, to make sure any nearby students didn’t overhear, but Juliana could hear the smirk there. “You’ll be saying Valentina.” 

“Maybe just Val, if you’re too breathless,” Nicole added cheekily, sharing a conspiratorial glance with Lena. Nicole didn’t have a front row seat to the hopeless gay pining show, as their group had come to call Juliana and Valentina staring longingly at one another from opposite sides of the hall, but she knew enough to say that Juliana and Valentina were both head over heels for the other. And that neither of them believed the other could feel the same way. 

“There’s no need to be embarrassed,” Brittany said from Juliana’s other side, where she had been mostly watching her wife help the cheerleaders rather than paying attention to the game. “You’re both unicorns, there’s nothing wrong with sharing your rainbow.” 

“Yeah Juls,” Lena said in a warm, suggestive tone. “Share your rainbow.” 

Before Juliana could process all the suddenly dirty thoughts in her mind about certain items that came in a rainbow design that she probably wouldn’t mind sharing with Valentina, the woman in question was making her way back up the stands. Juliana felt her face flush even more as Valentina reclaimed her seat, handing Juliana a bag of popcorn. 

“Here, I got you some water too,” Valentina glanced at Juliana out of the corner of her eye and then turned her head completely towards the other woman. “Are you okay? You look a little warm?” 

“Fine, I’m fine,” Juliana said a little too quickly, clearing her throat and taking a sip of the water Valentina had bought for her. “Short line?” 

“Luckily,” Valentina had apparently gotten herself a pickle pop, a small cup filled with frozen pickle juice that Juliana hadn’t known was a thing until she moved to Colton, and her nose scrunched up as the sour taste hit her tongue. “Geez, how can this be that sour and still be good?” 

“The magic of football games,” Juliana shrugged slightly with what she hoped was a calmer smile. Valentina smiled back at her and then they both turned towards the field as the buzzer signaling halftime rang. 

As Santanta joined the group in the stands for the halftime band shows, Juliana could feel the glances thrown her way and hear the conversation she’d had with Lena and Nicole spinning around and around in head. The trading of jabs had been short, if slightly mortifying, but Juliana found herself stuck on one part. ‘ Based on the looks she gives you, I don’t think she’d mind. ’ 

Was it possible that Valentina felt the same way? Did she look at Juliana the same way Juliana looked at her? That mix of longing and want that Juliana was sure she could never completely wipe off her face? 

No, there’s no way. 

Juliana could admit - in the privacy of her own mind - that she’d spent a lot of time simply watching Valentina over the last few weeks. Watching her eat the donut or burrito Juliana would bring her every morning. Watching her smile and wave and chat with students in the halls. Watching her laugh with Kara in between classes and fighting the urge to blush and look away when their gazes met moments before the bell. Even now, with the marching band out in full force, Juliana’s focus was only on Valentina. 

If Valentina had been giving her any kind of look, any kind of signal that she was remotely interested in Juliana in the romantic sense, Juliana was sure she would know. 

Shoving the conversation from her mind, Juliana did her best to remain present and in the moment as she and Valentina shared her popcorn throughout the rest of the game. The Colton Wildcats won their first game of the season to the loud cheers of the what felt like the entire town stuffed in the stadium, the school song was played and they all began to file out and yet Juliana felt like the biggest victory of the night was when Valentina grabbed her hand as they were walking out together. Juliana had driven Valentina to the game in the first place so, after descending on the field to take pictures and congratulate their students - and confirm tomorrow’s game night with the rest of the group - the two women made their way to Juliana’s car. 

“Thanks for picking me up,” Valentina said as they made their way through the snail-like traffic around the field. You’d think that these people had done enough chatting in the last 3 hours inside the stadium, but apparently there was still much more to be said. 

“Thanks for getting the popcorn,” Juliana returned. 

“You paid for that,” Valentina rolled her eyes, picking at her nails like she was trying to keep herself from reaching out. Juliana thought she saw a glint in Val’s eye, just for a moment, before deciding that her mind was simply making things up after the conversation she had with Nicole and Lena. There was no way Valentina wanted her the same way Juliana did. “But this was fun.” 

“There’s nothing quite like small town Texas high school football,” Juliana agreed, “just wait until Homecoming. Spirit days can either be the best or the worst.” 

“Looking forward to it,” Valentina offered Juliana a smile and they drifted into a companionable silence as traffic finally began to move. Five minutes later, Juliana was pulling up to Val’s front door. 

“I’ll see you for game night tomorrow?” Juliana asked as she slid the gear shift into park. 

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Valentina reached out, settling her left hand on Juliana’s right arm. “Thank you. Not just for driving me to the game tonight and buying the popcorn but for everything you’ve done the past few weeks. I don’t know how I wouldn’t have gotten through being a teacher without you.” 

“You’re an amazing teacher Val,” Juliana told her softly, the skin of her arm feeling like it was burning from the brush of Valentina’s palm against her. “We’re lucky to have you.” 

“I’m lucky,” Valentina argued. “Lucky that I ended up here, with you. I’m pretty sure this is where I was always meant to be.” 

Before Juliana could come up with a response to that, Valentina was leaning over the center console and pressing a soft kiss against Juliana’s cheek. 

“Good night, Juls,” Valentina brushed the words against Juliana’s skin, squeezed her arm, and then climbed out of the car leaving a dumbstruck and smiling Juliana to watch her walk up to the door. She paused long enough to wave at Juliana, who waved back, before walking into her home and closing the door. Once Valentina was out of sight, Juliana released a deep breath and leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. 

God, she was so fucking screwed. 

Chapter Text

The students at Colton High School turned out to be far more observant than they had any right to be. Not that Valentina knew the full extent of their observations because just as they were startling observant, they were also fairly subtle when they wanted to be. Or at least, subtle enough that Valentina and Juliana were too occupied pining after one another to notice when their students were gossiping about them. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately depending on who you asked, the other teachers were not so oblivious. 

Waverly, since she wasn’t teaching a core subject and her class was generally more laid back than some others, got to hear a lot of the gossip from the students. Most of it didn’t concern her despite being widely entertaining to listen to, but it was only a few weeks into the school year, just before the start of Homecoming actually, that Waverly began to hear the names of teachers rather than students. 

“I’m telling you dude,” Bryan Vega was saying in what he thought was a quiet tone. “Ms. C and Ms. V are totally together.” 

“They aren’t though,” Matias Quiroz responded. “Ms. C said on the first day that she isn’t seeing anybody.” 

“And I’m telling you that she is,” Bryan repeated. “Look, Ms. Valdez is in her room every morning with breakfast.” 

“How do you know that?” Mattias looked skeptical and it was only the experience of keeping a straight face that kept Waverly from letting them both know she was listening in as they both glanced her way. She pretended to be looking over the sheet music she was about to hand out. 

“I had to have help on the essay over The Bet,” Bryan replied. Waverly had a vague memory of Valentina and Kara discussing that story at lunch one day, talking about how the students reacted to the twist ending. “I went in the morning since I couldn’t go to tutorials after school, and Ms. Valdez was in there with Ms. C. They were eating breakfast together.” 

“That doesn't mean they’re dating,” Mattias pointed out. “We have breakfast together every morning. Maybe they’re just friends like us.” Waverly nearly choked as Bryan hung his head and heaved a heavy sigh. 

“Mattias, I mean this in the nicest was possible, but you’re dumb as fuck.” 

“What?” Mattias looked genuinely offended. Waverly had to hide her smile behind the sheet music she held and rose from her seat. As amusing as this conversation was, they really did need to get to work. 

“I’m telling you, if Ms. C and V aren’t together, it’s only because one of them hasn’t realized the other is into them. I can say that with complete certainty because I’ve been buying you breakfast for a year and you still haven’t figured out that I want to date you.” 

“But you never said anything!” Mattias glanced fitfully around the room and Waverly had to quickly act like she wasn’t listening to them and she instructed another student on where they were starting. 

“You never responded to me flirting, so I didn’t think you liked me back,” Bryan shrugged, embarrassed, before speaking again. “Look, we’re getting off track here. The point is Valdes and Carvajal are at the very least ‘talking’ if not outright dating.” 

“And if they’re not?” Mattias asked, looking relieved for the subject change. 

“Then it’s a crime against humanity that needs to be rectified as quickly as possible.” 

Waverly interrupted them before anything else could be said, but her mind was going crazy with the implications of that conversation. She’s not all that surprised about the students gossiping, even if they usually try not to talk so loud about it in class, but she is surprised that they had apparently been brave enough to ask Valentina about her relationship status in class. 

She kept herself and the class distracted by work until the bell rang and as the students filtered out, Waverly pulled her phone from her desk and typed out two messages. One went to the group chat filled with all the teachers that shipped Valentina and Juliana, which basically mean their whole friend group without those two women, telling them that the students were picking up on the tension between their pining teachers. The other text went only to Nicole and contained a few sentences where Waverly gushed about how proud she was of her students and that she totally called Bryan being into Mattias. 

~

Her day had gone fairly normal, Valentina thought, up until sixth period. It was right after lunch so her sixth period was normally a little more talkative than the other classes, their full bellies and time spent eating with their friends loosening them up a bit before they settled towards the end of class. It wasn’t a big deal most days, Val didn’t mind the chatter as long as everyone got their work done. On that particular Monday, there was a certain spirit in the air that made all the students seem a little more excited to be at school. Of course, it helped that most of them were wearing pajamas. 

Valentina had grown up in Texas her whole life, she’d experienced a Texas HIgh School Homecoming and Spirit Week before, but she quickly learned that there were some big differences between small town Texas and big city Texas Homecoming. For one, the dress up days were different. Valentina had always had to dress up as a tourist or wear a certain color. Her students, though, got to have a pajama day, a meme day, a superhero day, a decades day, and a school spirit day. With Homecoming week in full swing, the students were excited and comfortable and seemed even happier that Valentina had decided to participate in Spirit Week. Valentina was wearing simple pajamas, blue flannel pants and a t-shirt, black slippers on her feet, and a robe that she had been wearing that morning thrown over her desk chair. 

Valentina was moving around the room to help her students with their review over the last story they read, The Bet by Anton Checkhov, when the question came. 

“Miss,” Bryan spoke up from the back of the room where he was sitting with a few other football players. “Why do you hang out with Ms. Valdes so much?” 

“Because we’re friends?” Valentina responded easily, though she felt like there was something more coming. “You do realize that teachers are people too, right?” 

Her statement drew a smattering of laughter from the class and a few eye rolls, one of them coming from Bryan. 

“Obviously, but like, I always see you guys together,” Bryan gestured towards the door in what Valentina assumed was meant to represent him pointing to Juliana’s room down the hall. 

“We’re friends, we hang out together.” Valentina shrugged, moving back towards the front of the room and settling in for what she was sure was about to become an interrogation. Students can be so nosy sometimes and while Valentina promised to never lie to them, she is not above omitting certain information that her students definitely don’t need to know. 

“What about the other teachers?” Alyssa spoke up, nodding towards Bryan like she had picked up on some secret signal that Val had missed. “You’re friends with them too, right?” 

“Yes,” Valentina nodded her head. 

“But you don’t have breakfast and lunch with them every day.” 

“Well not everyday,” Valentina conceded, “but we often have lunch with all of us together, a whole big group.” 

“A whole big group of couples,” Alyssa said knowingly. “Mrs. Danvers and Mrs. Luthor, both WestAllens, Mrs. Haught-Earp and her wife, Coach Pierce and Coach Lopez.” 

“Which leaves you and Ms. V,” Bryan finished, smiling like the cat that got the canary. 

“Yes, as the third wheels,” Valentina laughed slightly and prayed her students didn’t notice how fake it was. “Ninth and tenth wheels if you want to be technical about it.” Valentina looked around the room, noticing that none of the students were working anymore and all of them were focused on the current conversation. A sudden thought struck her. “Hang on, how did you know that Ms. Valdez and I have breakfast together?” 

“Joe told me, he always gets here super early.” Bryan explained like it was the most simple thing in the world. “So you and Ms. V really aren’t a couple?” 

“No, we are not,” Valentina cleared her throat, hoping she didn’t look as awkward as she felt. “I’m not dating anyone. You’ll have to ask Ms. V, if you're really that curious about her relationship status as well.” Valentina checked her watch and mentally calculated the time left in class. “You should be able to get through question 17 before the bell.” 

The students got work, grumbling as they did. Bryan looked especially disappointed at the way the conversation had gone which is something Valentina would have paid better attention to if she wasn’t so busy worrying that her crush had become so obvious. She had really thought she’d gotten a handle on things. Not that her crush was fading, quite the oppolsite really. Valentina fell deeper and deeper for Juliana every day, but she thought she had gotten better at keeping that from being written all over her face. 

Clearly she needed more practice with that. 

~

“I had the weirdest conversation with my 7th period today,” Juliana said by way of greeting as she walked into Val’s room at the end of the day. Valentina was busy cleaning off the desks in her room but hummed to show that she had heard the other woman come in. “You have Bryan in your class, right?” 

“Yeah, 6th period.” 

“He asked me if we’re dating.” 

Luckily, Valentina wasn’t holding anything when Juliana spoke, otherwise she’s sure she would have dropped it. As it was, she already felt her heart stutter in her chest and she had to concentrate to keep her breathing even. 

“Funny,” Valentina said through a measured breath. “He asked me the same thing in 6th period.” 

“Really? I wonder why,” Juliana made her way further into the room, grabbing the roll of paper towels from Valentina and helping her wipe down the rest of the desks. 

“Something about us always having breakfast and lunch together, or with a big group that consists completely of other couples.” Valentina keeps her gaze focused on the desk she’s cleaning so she doesn’t have to look at Juliana’s face. She can’t bear to see what she knows would be simple amusement that Valentina would still read as a rejection. “And apparently the students like to gossip about the teachers.” 

“Not surprising considering how much we gossip about them,” Juliana laughed. “Waves was so excited to tell us about Bryan’s crush on Mattias.” 

“Fair point,” Valentina conceded, throwing away the dirty paper towel and moving to wipe down the white board. 

“What did you tell him?” When Valentina hummed questioningly in response, Juliana added, “Bryan, when he asked about...about us. What did you tell him?” 

“That we’re just friends, I’m not seeing anyone. If he was so curious about you, he’d have to ask himself. Didn’t think he’d actually do it.” 

“Kids got guts,” Juliana shook her head ruefully. “I said pretty much the same thing. Guess he wanted to hear it from both of us to be sure.” 

“These kids,” Valentina said with a forced laugh. “They’re a little crazy. 

“Yeah,” Juliana agreed, clearing her throat awkwardly. “Are we still going to match tomorrow?” 

“Of course,” Valentina put the eraser down and turned to face Juliana for the first time since the woman walked into the room. There was something swimming in the dark depths of Juliaan’s eyes now that they were face to face, but Valentina couldn’t bring herself to question Juliana about it. It had to be amusement at the idea of them dating. Not disgust, but enough to let Valentina know that there was no chance of them being together. “I have your shirt actually.” 

For meme day, they had decided to quote a classic Vine, both of them wearing a shirt that had a road work sign ahead on the front and the words “yeah, I sure hope it does” on the back. Valentina had ordered the shirts for them, so she made her way to her desk and reaching into her bag. She ignored the fact that, now that she had noticed Juliana’s outfit, they were both wearing essentially the same thing for pajama day as well, the difference being in color only. Juliana wore red instead of blue. 

Valentina couldn’t help but think that the color really suited her. 

“Burritos for breakfast tomorrow?” Juliana asked a few minutes later as they were both making their way out towards their respective vehicles. 

“Sure,” Valentina agreed. “I’ll stop by the cafe for that coffee you like.” 

“A woman after my own heart,” Juliana winked and Valentina felt lighter than she had in a while at the motion. Dumb, distracting conversations with nosy students were pushed from her mind. Juliana was her friend, her best friend even. 

No matter how much she craved more, Valentina wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that friendship.

Chapter Text

The rest of spirit week was normal. A little too normal, really. Valentina had noticed it Tuesday afternoon and told Juliana about it. Juliana had been doubtful at first but she paid a little closer attention on Wednesday and discovered that Valentina was right. Their students were being too good. 

There was one important thing about high school students: even when they were on their best behavior, they were always up to something. Usually, they were harmless pranks, maybe a fight that lingered, and of course, copious amounts of gossip always flying around the school. In short, a completely silent classroom was usually a sign that something was wrong. 

“Is it just my kids, or is everyone really quiet this week?” Valentina asked the assembled group on Thursday at lunch, looking around at the group in curiosity. 

“No?” Kara said. “If anything, my kids are more energetic than normal. Homecoming is weird.” 

There was a general murmur of agreement from the rest of the table. 

“I swear the spirit days get weirder every year,” Lena comments dryly, looking down at the shirt she wears. A simple emblem was her contribution to Superhero Day, a distinctive ‘s’ drawn in red on her blue shirt. 

“At least you're not wearing a cape,” Kara nudged her slightly, the fabric of her own costume hanging off her chair. Somewhat predictably, Kara had gone all out. The only one who matched was Barry in his Flash costume. 

“Darling, you choose to wear the cape,” Lena pointed out with a roll of her eyes. 

“Well, it’s not my fault the kids think I look exactly like Supergirl. I didn’t want to disappoint them.” Kara shrugged slightly. “But we’re getting off-topic. Your kids are weirdly quiet this week?” 

“I wouldn’t say weirdly,” Valentina took a sip of her sweet tea. “Just more quiet than normal. It’s like they're on their best behavior for some reason.” 

“Bet that’s a nice change,” Barry said and they all laughed in acknowledgment of the unspoken joke. A normal classroom never had students who were on their best behavior. 

“My 7th period has been kind of like that,” Juliana comments from her spot beside Valentina. They had matched for the day again, unintentionally, as they both wore shirts with Captain America’s shield on them, though in different designs. Valentina thought she heard a student say something about them doing this on purpose earlier, but it was in the hall so she couldn’t really be sure who they were talking about. “But it might just be this grade level. Sophomores are weird sometimes.” 

“All grades are weird sometimes,” Iris chuckled. “Maybe they have some evil plot and they’re trying to get on your good side so they can trap you.” 

“Doubtful,” Waverly added in. “Maybe they want you to bring snacks to work on the homecoming float so they’re behaving well all day until 8th period can ask.” 

“That seems way too coordinated for these kids,” Kara jokes. “I had them in English 1 last year and unless they took a course on scheming over the summer, they’ll be lucky to even get their float done.” 

“Might just be something in the water today,” Lena shrugged and checked her watch. “I’d just enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts.” 

Valentina nods and checks the time on her own watch, noticing they had ten minutes to get back to campus. In semi-tandem, they rise from their table and make their way over to pay for the food. 

“You’re helping with the sophomore float too, right?” Valentina asks Juliana as they walk back to her car. They had decided to alternate whose car they would take to lunch every day, there was no point in having both of them drive when they were going to the same place after all. 

“Yeah, apparently they need my help with their drawings. They’re pretty determined to win this year.” 

“It’s all about the bragging rights.” Valentina laughed as they climbed into her car. That was really all that was at stake in this float contest. Whichever class had the best float would win bragging rights until next Homecoming. The only thing that the Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen could agree on was that the Seniors could not win under any circumstances. If they won, they’d brag about it for the rest of their lives. 

(Just ask Waverly, she lost to her sister’s senior class and Wynonna still teases her about it every year even though Wynonna was in juvie at the time and didn’t even help build the float.)

“Anyway, I was going to grab an early dinner after school and then head to the park to meet them. Want to come with?” 

“Sure,” Juliana agreed with a smile. “Pick me up from my place? I do not want to wear slacks if I’m going to be sitting on the ground all afternoon.” 

“Sounds good,” Valentina eased her car into her designated spot in the teacher parking lot on the northern end of the building. “Let’s hope whatever’s in the water this week has left by the time school gets out.” 

Juliana laughs. “If only we could be that lucky.” 

Working on the float that afternoon is surprisingly easy. Someone brought a speaker so they have music blaring, kids filtering in and out of the park with snacks and drinks and various art supplies, and the air is filled with lighthearted laughter. It’s nice and easy and helps Valentina feel a little more relaxed after her weird class day. 

Of course, it helps that Juliana is there too. Juliana with her easy smile and gentle laugh, teasing and helping the kids in the same breath. Every now and then, she looks over to where Valentina is helping hang streamers along the trailer they’re using and she gets the soft smile that makes Valentina feel like they are the only two people in the park. She can’t help but smile back. 

A little ways away from Valentina, Bryan had a small assembly of students around him. 

“Okay, I admit that I didn’t see it before,” Alexis was saying, “but I do now. They’re totally into each other.” 

“Obviously,” Bryan glanced over at Mattias, who was mostly focusing on his own job with the float but who would occasionally look over at the group around Bryan. Bryan shook his head to refocus. “Problem is, I don’t think either of them realizes how the other feels.” 

“Well of course not,” Alexis gestured vaguely in the direction of their teachers and lowered her voice, not wanting to be overheard. “They’re both distracted by teaching and, let’s be honest, lesbians can spend years dancing around feelings for no good reason.” 

The assembled group of students, most of whom Bryan knew were either out or questioning their own sexuality, nodded sagely. 

“And we want to keep that from happening.” 

“So, what exactly are we doing?” Another student asked, looking back and forth between Bryan and Alexis like they were waiting for some elaborate plan of attack. 

“I-” Bryan’s voice lowered dramatically, “I hadn’t gotten that far yet.” 

“I say we just hang back,” Alexis said, “Ask them some questions some time, keep the rumor mill going because you know the teachers follow the rumor mill just as much as we do.” 

“That’s it!” Bryan clapped his hands. “The other teachers. They know Ms. C and Ms. V better than we do, they can help us set them up.” 

“Why would they do that?” 

“They ship it as much as we do? I mean, look at them.” Bryan gestured to where the two teachers had somehow drifted so they were working beside one another despite working on two different parts of the float. 

“Okay, that’s fair.” 

“Hey!” Ms. V called out, distracting the group. “We’re not doing all this work ourselves, get to work.” 

A chorus of ‘sorry Miss’ rang through the park as the group reluctantly to get to work on their float again, each of them keeping a discreet eye on their teachers. At least, they thought they were being discreet. Juliana noticed the curious gazes that would land on her and Valentina sometimes but she didn't comment on it. She was too busy wondering if there was a way that she could ask Val to the game. 

The issue there was that she and Val went to most of the games together, either by chance or because they had planned it that way. It had become an unspoken thing among their friend group that wherever Juliana was, Valentina wasn't far behind, and vice versa. Well, it was a mostly unspoken thing. Meaning that it was a spoken thing between their friends but not between Val and Juls themselves. 

"Will you go to the game with me?" Juliana ended up blurring the question when Valentina had driven to her house to drop Juliana off. Valentina looked over at her with a smile, her expression somewhere between amused and hopeful. 

"Of course," Valentina's smile grew. "Who else would I go with?" 

"Well, I heard Lucho hasn't given up yet." Which was true. Lucho had asked Valentina out at least once every week. Juliana wasn't sure who was more annoyed by it, her or Valentina. 

"I wish he would." Valentina mumbled and then her smile turned soft. There was a tender look in her eyes as she reached across the center console to take Juliana’s hand. "Besides, I'd rather go with you over anyone else. I…" she seemed to hesitate for a second. "I like spending time with you and I like who I am around you." 

"Who's that?" Juliana asked curiously, flipping her hand over in Valentina’s grasp so their fingers twined together. 

"Me, just me. Not teacher Val or daughter or sibling Val. Just me. I never feel like I have to be anyone else with you." 

"Good," Juliana swallowed against the lump in her throat that rose at Valentina’s unexpectedly emotional revelation. "I lo-like who you are. You're kinda my favorite person." 

Juliana had never wanted to kiss another person more than she did in that moment and for just a second, she thought it might happen. Valentina was leaning over the center console and her lips were so so close to Juliana’s. All it would have taken was a slight angling of her face and their lips would have met. Instead, Valentina’s lips brush against her cheek and Juliana can’t decide if she's relieved or upset about that. 

Valentina lingered in the space near Juliana’s face as she pulled away. "You're my favorite too." 

God Juliana was falling so hard for this woman. 

Chapter Text

By Friday, Valentina had decided to just ignore whatever plan her students had brewing up. She doubted that it had anything to do with her or Juliana and knew that there were other places that she could be using her energy. Other very important places at that. 

Like wondering if Juliana had asked her to the game as a friend or as something more. 

It wasn’t even something she thought about until after she’d gotten home from dropping Juliana off. Of course they were going to the game together, just like they always did. But the more Valentina thought about the question, the more she thought about Juliana’s relieved expression, the more Valentina wondered if Juliana had been trying to ask her out on a date. 

Of course, her answer wouldn’t have changed if that was the case. She’d been pining after Juliana for almost 3 months now, she’d give anything to go on an actual date with her. She just wasn’t sure if a high school football game counted. 

“Why don’t you just ask Juliana?” Lena asked after several minutes of her and Kara poking and prodding until they got Valentina to admit why she had such a confused expression on her face. It was Friday and Valentina had gone to see Kara to ask her about what she should expect since it was a half day and Valentina would only be seeing each of her students for 20 minutes. Lena was in the room with Kara, presumably having breakfast together. (Valentina resolutely ignored how similar the action was to her usual morning with Juliana- it was completely different anyway. Kara and Lena are married. Married people eat breakfast together.) 

“I don’t want to make anything awkward if it’s not a date. She’s my best friend.” 

“But if you don’t ask, how will you know if it is a date?” Lena watched, amused, as Valentina shrugged and then frowned slightly as Valentina coughed into the crook of her elbow. She’d noticed that Valentina had been battling a slight cough the day before and it sounded like it had only gotten worse. 

“I guess I’ll figure it out at the game,” Valentina checked her watch and then moved towards the door. “See you guys for lunch?” 

“Of course,” Kara answered for both herself and her wife as Valentina walked out the door and down to her own room. “Neither of them has any idea, do they?” 

“Oh no, they’re both aware of their feelings for one another,” Lena stood up to write the bell schedule on Kara’s whiteboard while her wife finished her breakfast. “They just have no idea that the feelings are mutual.” 

“Is this how my sister felt watching us in college?” Kara asked teasingly, smiling at the grin her wife shot over her shoulder. 

“Probably, but we might have been worse. It took me a year to admit to myself that I liked you, at least Val and Juls have already reached that point.” 

“Funny to think that if we’d been that quick to figure it out, we could have been together for 8 years by now.” 

“We have been together for 8 years,” Lena placed the cap back on the dry erase marker and stepped back from the board, stepping to her wife’s side and kissing her cheek quickly. “We just didn’t realize it for the first 4.” 

“And now we get to watch another couple do the same thing.” Kara chuckled lightly. “How exciting.” 

“At least now we know why Alex always needed a drink around us. You think I can sneak a flask into the game tonight?” 

“Probably not if you want to keep your job,” Kara kissed Lena’s cheek quickly and then pulled away after squeezing her around the waist for a moment. “But we can have those drinks at game night tomorrow.” 

“I’m holding you to that,” Lena followed Valentina’s lead and began to head to her own classroom. “Have a good day, darling.” 

“See you later, babe.” 

~

It was a little weird to see the students that she was used to seeing at one in the afternoon come strolling into her classroom half past 10 instead, but Valentina greeted them with the same warm smile just the same. They were all dressed in an overwhelming hues of blue and white, the school’s colors of course for spirit day, and Valentina could never hear another bell in all her life and it would still be too soon. She remembers the mums she had worn in high school, and knows that at least the one from her senior is stowed away in her family home, but she swears the ringing bells and ribbons weren’t half as obnoxious when she was a teenager. 

After taking attendance for the short class period, Valentina was unsurprised when it was Bryan that asked her if she was going to the game that night. 

“Of course, it’s my first homecoming game in Colton. How could I miss it?” 

“Of yeah, I forgot that it’s your first year here,” Bryan had a piece of rolled up paper in his hands that he casually tossed across the room to a friend. Valentina watched the ball of paper fly across the room with a raised eyebrow. “Sorry, Miss. We’ll throw it away before the end of class.” 

“You better,” Valentina checked the time and then the schedule posted on her board. Ten minutes left with her most talkative class of the day. Thinking about her possibly a date but probably not a date with Juliana that evening and deciding that she did not want her students asking her about it, Valentina decided to steer the conversation in the direction of a safer topic. “So what’s this whole rivalry about?” 

It had the desired effect as half the class turned to look at her in surprise. 

“Seriously?” Ally asked loudly, an almost insulted look on her face. 

“First year, remember? I didn’t even know that Colton existed before I got the job here. How would I know about the rivalry between Colton and White Rock?” 

Just as Valentina had expected, her students dove into a very complicated history of the epic high school rivalry between the neighboring town about a half hour away. The students were evidently very passionate about said rivalry, many of them had stories of what their parents, aunts, and uncles had done when they were in high school and lamented that they couldn’t get away with things like stealing school signs or burning letters into football fields anymore. Valentina wondered how anyone had ever gotten away with that in the first place but apparently that was just part of the rivalry. Both towns gave as good as they got. 

It was a good distraction to how crappy Valentina was beginning to feel. She had had a cough the day before, but she hadn’t thought anything of it. Now, she was wondering if her little cough was becoming something more as she started coughing more often and felt a little nauseous. It wasn’t anything truly concerning, she didn’t think. Just enough to make her a little uncomfortable for the last few class periods. She didn’t think that any of her students had noticed more than a little cough so she put the rough feeling out of her mind to focus on her day. 

After the last bell rang, Valentina only had to wait a few minutes before Juliana came strolling into her room with her keys in her hands. 

“Ready for lunch?” Juliana asked, pausing as she took in Valentina’s appearance. Valentina fought down the sudden urge to cough and self-consciously rubbed at the sleeves of her sweater. She’d gotten cold halfway through 8th period and hadn’t warmed up since. “You cold?” 

“A little, you know how the AC is in here,” Valentina shrugged out of her sweater and draped it back over her chair, where it usually remained during the day. Juliana nodded her understanding. It was a well known fact around the school that the climate in Val’s classroom could change at the drop of the hat and was consistently inconsistent. “I know it’s only thirty minutes after we normally have lunch, but I’m starving.” 

“Let’s go then, I’m pretty sure Nicole already has a table for all of us ready,” Juliana waited as Valentina grabbed her keys and made sure she had her wallet on her before they walked out of the school together. 

~

After sitting through the homecoming parade and pep rally at the football field, totalling to almost three hours sitting in the hot Texas sun, Valentina had no idea how she could be so cold. She had gotten home after the pep rally and went to shower, shivering even as the hot water washed over her skin. She got dressed, fixed her hair, and redid her hair, freezing the whole time and feeling progressively worse as the day went on. By the time she was ready and waiting for Juliana to pick her up, Valentina had swallowed about three cough drops and slipped into a hoodie in an effort to fight off her constant chills and coughing fits. 

Still, she refused to admit that she was probably coming down with something. There was no way she was going to stay home instead of going on her maybe-date with Juliana. She could make it through a four hour football game, right?

She wasn’t in the car for fifteen seconds before Juliana was asking if she was okay. 

“I’ve just had a cough the last couple days,” Valentina assured her quickly as Juliana sent her a doubtful glance. “Nothing to worry about.” 

“You sure?” Juliana obediently began driving towards the stadium, but she looked ready to turn around at any second. 

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” Valentina promised. “I’m fine, Juls. Don’t worry about me.” 

“Fine, but if you need to leave the game early, let me know.” Juliana agreed, reaching across the center console to squeeze Valentina’s hand briefly. As she pulled away, Juliana couldn’t help but notice how warm Valentina’s skin had felt. 

Was she hotter than normal? Valentina was normally pretty warm to the touch, but Juliana had never thought anything about it before. It was just part of Val’s charm. It made sense for the warmth she naturally exudes to seem like it was leaking from her pores. Juliana found herself thinking about the times that she had touched Valentina’s skin before, the few times that they’d held hands or hugged, but truthfully Juliana hadn’t been thinking about the temperature of Val’s skin those times. She was a little busy trying to pretend that she wasn’t thinking about how soft Val’s skin was and how well she fit in Juliana’s arms. 

Clearing her mind to bring herself back to the present, Juliana resolved to keep a close eye on Valentina throughout the game. It’s not like it would ruin anything if Valentina was sick. Things like that happen, Juliana understands that. She wouldn’t be upset even if she didn’t get the chance to tell Val that she wanted this to be a date. 

It wasn’t until after Juliana had gotten home that she realized how ambiguous her question was. They always went to the football games together, either by driving there or meeting up at the stadium just before the game started. Their friends knew that where one of them was, the other wasn’t far behind and even if they had kept their teasing to a minimum, Juliana knew that they were all aware that Juliana had feelings for Valentina. She’d texted Iris about her dilemma after she had gotten home but all she had gotten in response was ‘you fucked this up on your own, fix it that way too.’ Juliana didn’t take the advice personally, since she’d texted Iris and an ungodly hour and probably woken the other woman up, so she asked her again at work the next day. 

Iris’ advice had boiled down to the same concept, but at least she was nicer about it during the day. 

Valentina and Juliana joined their friends quickly after they arrived, a little bit earlier than normal to compensate for the huge crowd coming to the game. Even Waverly’s sister Wynonna had shown up, though she didn’t stoop so low as to wear a school shirt and her black ensemble stood out in the sea of blue shirts filling the stands. Nicol had ditched her sheriff’s uniform for simple jeans and school shirt like the rest of them. 

“How’s the cough?” Lena asked Valentina as she and Juliana took their seats on the row below where Lena and Kara sat. Juliana noticed that a few of them had brought jackets in case it got chilly later, but Valentina was the only one wearing hers. 

“Hasn’t gone away yet,” Valentina shrugged, scooting closer to Juliana on the bench seats. “It’s probably just allergies. I’m not used to being on this side of the dry-line.” 

That was possible, considering the fact that Valentina had grown up in east Texas which was practically a different state in terms of climate when compared to west Texas. But Juliana would expect more sneezing and watery eyes if it was allergies, not to mention the high probability that Valentina had fever. 

“I brought some cough drops if you need them,” Waverly offered helpfully, gesturing to the little backpack that she always carried to games. Valentina smiled back. 

“I’m okay right now but I’ll let you know if I need one,” Valentina looked down at the field where the players from both teams were warming up and the Homecoming Court was beginning to line up on the other side of the field. Valentina didn’t know any of the kids on the court since they were all seniors, but she did see a few of her students out in the marching band that would play while the court walked across the field. “My kids were telling me about this whole rivalry thing today in class. I thought they were playing it up.” 

“Oh no, this is serious business,” Barry said by way of greeting as he and Iris took their seats next to Kara and Lena. “Colton and White Rock are like Texas A&M and UT.” 

“Are we supposed to know what that means?” Valentina asked Iris, smiling as Barry frowned at all of them. 

“It’s only the biggest rivalry in Texas,” Santana filled in. “College football gets brutal. The only rivalry that’s worse is Texas A&M and LSU.” 

“Thank you!” Barry held up his hand for a high five, which Santana reluctantly gave him after Brittany nudged her arm. “You guys don’t follow college football?” 

“I’m more of a basketball girl myself,” Nicole joined in from the other side of Waverly. Valentina let the conversation drift over her as she leaned her head against Juliana’s shoulder. She was halfway expecting Juliana to tense under her touch but instead the other woman simply shifted slightly to better support Valentina’s weight and, after the conversation switched tracks again to their team’s chances of winning, dropped her voice to a whisper to check on Val. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“I’m fine,” Valentina’s response was slightly muffled and immediately contradicted by the cough that tore through her throat. “What’re the chances you’ll believe me now?” 

“Slim to none,” Juliana joked back. She moved her arm slightly to wrap Valentina in a side hug, noting that she could feel the warmth radiating from her even through Val’s hoodie. Definitely feverish. “Seriously, do you need to go?” 

“No, at least not yet,” Valentina sighed softly. “I don’t feel great but I don’t want to leave.”

“Okay, but let me know if you start feeling any worse. We can always head out early.” 

“I don’t want you to miss the game because of me,” Valentina pouted, way too adorably if you asked Juliana. A very strong urge to kiss Valentina suddenly grabbed hold of Juliana. It didn’t matter where, exactly. Juliana would have been happy to press a kiss to Val’s forehead but she held herself back from doing so. She didn’t want to cross that line when she wasn’t even sure if they were actually on a date. 

“You’re more important than a football game,” Juliana told her earnestly. “Even if it is homecoming.” 

Valentina chuckled softly and then the moment was broken by the band beginning to play and the Homecoming Court making their way across the field. Valentina lifted her head from Juliana’s shoulder and Juliana removed her arm from around Valentina, neither of them noticing the flurry of glances exchanged by their friends sitting around them. 

Really, any of them would be happy to lose the bet they’d made on when Juliana and Valentina officially got together if it meant they didn’t have to watch all of this pining anymore. 

Valentina stopped getting to her feet to cheer with the others by the start of the second quarter. She’d never noticed it before, but now that she was thinking about it, it seemed kind of ridiculous that quarters meant to last 15 minutes ended up taking well over half an hour all things considered. No wonder games that started at 7:30 didn’t end until nearly 11. As the game dragged on, Valentina felt herself becoming sicker. Her skin was flushed and clammy, despite the fact that she was shivering beneath her hoodie, and she’d gone from coughing a few times every few hours to coughing every few minutes. 

“Alright, I’m calling it,” Juliana told her near the end of the second quarter. Valentina hadn’t really been following the game so she was a little surprised that so much time had passed but pleased to see that Colton at least had the lead. “You need to get home and get some rest.” 

Valentina thought about protesting, but something told her that any protest she came up with would be ignored so she simply nodded her agreement. 

“We’re calling it a night guys,” Juliana said for both of them, directing her words to the group at large. “Let me know how the game ends?” 

“Sure,” Lena confirmed, glancing at Valentina as Juliana helped her up. “Don’t worry about game night tomorrow. Feel better Val.” 

“Bye everyone,” Valentina gave them all a short wave and let Juliana pull her through the stands by their joined hands. “Sorry I haven’t been great company tonight.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Juliana waved the apology off with a smile as she quickly pulled Valentina in the direction of her car. “I’m more worried about you. Looks like you caught the bug that’s been going around.” 

“I was so hoping it was just allergies,” Valentina grumbled, dutifully climbing into the passenger seat of the car once Juliana opened the door for her. 

“No such luck,” Juliana climbed in on her own side and quickly got them moving in the direction of Valentina’s house. “I think it’s part of the first year teaching experience. Every bug that goes around school you’re going to catch. Happened to me last year.” 

“I bet that makes flu season fun.” 

“Yeah, well, that’s why teachers have sick days. It’s not illegal to use them.” Juliana let a comfortable silence wash over them after Valentina hummed slightly in response, the woman half asleep in the passenger seat. Luckily it was a short drive to Valentina’s home. 

Juliana parked her car in the driveway behind Valentina’s and then helped the woman herself into the house. Having been there a few times already, Juliana placed her keys on the hook next to Valentina’s and then moved to the kitchen to make Val a cup of tea mixed with honey and whiskey, a little southern remedy for any sickness. Valentina moved into the bedroom to change out of her jeans and emerged just as Juliana was finished her tea, dressed in a college t-shirt and a pair of black leggings. 

“It’s a hot tottie,” Juliana explained as she handed Valentina the mug of tea. “Should help with the cough so you can actually sleep tonight.” 

“Thank you,” Valentina took the mug and sipped it slowly, making a little bit of a face as the whiskey burned her throat. “And thanks for bringing me home.” 

“You’re welcome,” Juliana cleaned up the tea bag and put away the honey and whiskey she’d used as Val continued to sip at her tea until it was all gone. “You need anything else?” 

“Just sleep, I think,” Valentina set her mug down in the sink to be washed later. Then she looked at Juliana with a suddenly nervous expression. “Uh, do you think you could hang out for a bit? Just until I fall asleep. I’m sure you noticed at the game but I get really cuddly when I’m sick.”

“Of course,” Juliana agreed easily. “Whatever you need, Val. I’m here for you.” 

The statement and the earnest smile on Juliana’s face had Valentina feeling warm for reasons completely unrelated to her fever. 

Juliana followed Valentina back into the bedroom then, flicking off the light in the kitchen as they went. Juliana shucked her shoes and then stepped into the bathroom to change into the shorts that Valentina had loaned to her. They were more comfortable to rest in than her jeans, even if Juliana didn’t plan on falling asleep she appreciated the gesture. 

Valentina was already in bed when Juliana emerged from the bathroom and quickly gestured for Juliana to join her. Juliana, intending on laying down on top of the duvet, had to conceal her surprise when Valentina held the blankets up for her to crawl underneath them. Once they were both under the blankets, it wasn’t long before Valentina was resting her too-warm forehead in the crook of Juliana’s neck. Juliana had one arm wrapped around Valentina to hold her in a comforting embrace, trailing her fingers through the ends of her hair. Her other hand was linked with Valentina’s and resting over Juliana’s abdomen. 

“Is this okay?” Valentina mumbled sleepily after they settled into their position, her breath tickling Juliana’s pulse point. 

“It’s perfect,” this time unable to help herself, Juliana pressed a kiss into Valentina’s hair and felt herself relaxing further into the bed when Val sighed at her touch. 

It wasn’t long before either of them were asleep.

Chapter Text

Valentina was aware of exactly two things when she woke up on Saturday morning. The first, she was most definitely sick. Her head felt heavy, she could barely breathe through her nose, and she was shivering despite the fact that her body felt too warm. Definitely some kind of cold. Second, she was also most definitely not alone in her bed. 

The body curled up beside her was warm and familiar, though Valentina had never been pressed up against it in this way before. They’d shared hugs, of course, and sat close together at football games when the chill in the air began to make itself known in the middle of September, but that was completely different than the way they lay tangled together just then. Now, Juliana held Valentina in an embrace that already felt like home. 

Valentina shifted slightly, moving her head from where she had ended up sleeping with it in the crook of Juliana’s neck so she could look her unexpected bed sharer in the face. Valentina didn’t think it was possible, but Juliana looked even more beautiful when she was sleeping. Already generally pretty relaxed, Juliana exuded the same easy comfort in her sleep. Her features were relaxed and her breathing deep with sleep and Valentina couldn’t help but fall that much more in love with her at the sight. She’d be happy to spend the rest of her life gazing at a sleeping Juliana if that meant she wouldn’t have to leave her embrace. 

It was only moments later that Juliana’s eyes fluttered open and she was greeted with the sight of a slightly flushed Valentina gazing at her with a look that Juliana couldn’t quite interpret with her sleep-heavy mind. Maybe if she had been more awake, she would have recognized the devotion that Val was showing her, but her mind only focused on the flush of Val’s skin and the memory of Valentina’s too warm forehead pressed against her neck. 

“You still have a fever,” Juliana mumbled, lifting her arm from around Valentina’s waist to rub at her eyes. 

“Yeah, I do,” Valentina sounded a little more awake than Juliana felt. She also sounded like she couldn’t breathe through her nose and that was more than a little adorable in Juliana’s opinion. “I might have drooled on your shoulder.” 

Juliana smiled at the apologetic shrug Valentina gave her and waved her concerns off. “No harm no foul. Sorry I fell asleep.” 

“I probably didn’t let you get up after I fell asleep,” Valentina gave another shrug and attempted to breathe through her nose, resulting in a pout when all she did was sniffle a bit. “I told you I’m a cuddler.” 

“I don’t mind,” Juliana sat up slightly, running a hand through her hair. Truthfully she wouldn’t mind waking up with Valentina like this every morning. Well, maybe not every morning because during the week they both had to be up early for work, but Juliana would give anything to get to have Valentina like this on the weekends. Which was kind of crazy considering the fact that Juliana didn’t really have Valentina in the first place. They’d never clarified if going to the game together was an actual date and now Juliana was much more worried about Valentina’s health and comfort to care about their date-not-date status. “As long as it’s okay with you, I mean. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” 

“You didn’t,” Valentina’s pretty sure she’s never been more comfortable in her life. 

“Good,” Juliana yawned and sat up, nearly regretting the motion because of the way Valentina moved to give her more room on the bed. She shook it off. “Breakfast?” 

“I don’t really feel like eating,” Val admitted softly. Her eyes fell closed again in an attempt to keep the brightness in her bedroom from making her head hurt anymore than it already did. 

“You should eat something though, so you can take some medication,” Juliana remembered seeing a bottle of ibuprofen in the bathroom the night before while she’d been changing into the shorts Val lent her. “And then you can go back to sleep.” 

“I should probably shower, too,” Valentina mumbled. She hated being sick, the fever made her sweaty and she constantly felt like she had snot running from her nose despite knowing that there wasn’t anything there. Despite how much she enjoyed sleeping in Juliana’s arms, she wouldn’t subject her friend to that again until Valentina wasn’t feeling so awful. 

“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea, the steam will help clear your sinuses.” Juliana stamped down on the ridiculous urge to offer to join Valentina in the shower. “I can warm up some soup or something while you shower, if you want.” 

“You don’t have to stay with me Juls,” Valentina still hadn’t opened her eyes but she reached blindly to rest her hand on Juliana’s thigh. Even through the fabric of her borrowed shorts, Juliana could feel how warm Val’s hand was. “It’s just a cold, I’ll be fine.” 

“I know you will,” Juliana reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of Valentina’s eyes, prompting her to open them. She found Juliana staring at her with much more affection and care than she’d been expecting. “But you’re my best friend and I...care about you,” Juliana swallowed nervously and prayed that Valentina didn’t hear the slight hesitation in her voice. “If I leave now I’ll just be back here in an hour after worrying about you the whole time.” 

“That’s sweet of you,” Valentina squeezed Juliana’s leg. “But what if you get sick too?” 

“Then we can be snot nosed and feverish together,” Juliana shrugged. She honestly didn’t care about getting sick herself, she just wanted to take care of Valentina. “I can go if you really want me too, but I’d rather stay with you, if you’ll have me.” 

Juliana wasn’t aware of it, but she’d been unconsciously stroking Valentina’s cheek with her thumb the entire time they’d been talking and Valentina was hyper aware of the touch. If she hadn’t already had a fever, her skin would have been flushed for an entirely different reason. 

“I would love it if you stayed.” Valentina answered after a moment, her voice nothing more than a soft whisper. 

“Then I’m staying,” Juliana removed her hand from Val’s face and stood up from the bed. “You go shower, I’ll handle the food.” 

“Okay.” 

Valentina thought that maybe being sick wasn’t so bad if it meant she got to spend the whole weekend with Juliana. 

~

“They can’t both be this blind to their feelings, can they?” Barry asked the assembled group sitting in Kara and Lena’s living room. They were ostensibly gathered for their weekly game night but not a single game had been brought out to play. Instead they were all nursing a drink of their choice, cuddled up with their respective partner, and gossiping about the two missing members of their group. 

“You’d be surprised how blind lesbians can be,” Santana remarked casually, her arm around Britney’s shoulders where they sat together on the floor, leaning against the couch where Barry and Iris were sitting together. 

“But we’re coming up on what, three months of this now?” 

There was a lull in the conversation as everyone did the mental math in their head. Val and Juls had met on the first day of inservice, which was at the beginning of August. Homecoming had been uncharacteristically late this year so it was now mid-October. 

“Yeah, around that at least,” Lena finished the mental calculations first and voiced the accuracy of that to the group. “But that doesn’t really mean anything. People fall in love at different rates.” 

“Some people take longer than others,” Waverly added in, looking at Kara and Lena with an amused smile. Both women rolled their eyes at her. 

“Okay, yes, it took the two of us about four years to admit we had feelings for each other,” Lena rolled her eyes at the well-known comments that came from the couples surrounding her and her wife. She and Kara both knew it was slightly ridiculous that they took that long to get together. “But I really hope we don’t have to sit through that for Val and Juls.” 

“According to my sister, watching us pining after each other was basically torture.” Kara added, lifting her arm for Lena to snuggle in closer to her. 

“Jeez the last few months have been bad enough, I can’t imagine having to watch that for years.” Iris took another sip of her drink. “Should we try to set them up?” 

“We’d have some competition if we did,” Waverly said. Everyone looked at her in apparent confusion, except for Nicole who already knew about Waverly’ strange ability to overhear literally everything that happened in her classroom. “All of Val’s kids and 10th grade art students are trying to set them up. They had something planned for the game last night but I don’t think it worked since Valentina and Juliana left early.” 

“Students trying to set their teachers up,” Santana muttered lowly, “this is worse than Glee Club.” Britney patted her arm sympathetically. 

“But what’re the chances of them actually being able to set anything up?” Nicole asked skeptically. As the only non-educational professional in the room, she could admit that she was out of her depth in figuring out what teenagers could or couldn’t do. She only cared about if they ended up in the back of her cop car. 

“Realistically, not much,” Kara admitted, “but we’ve already seen Val and Juls get a little unnerved by the students asking them pretty pointed questions. They’ll probably stick with that until they get the answer they want.” 

“And I heard a rumor that one of our coaches is leaving,” Lena looked at Brittney and Santana for confirmation, continuing on when they both nodded. “And that they’re going to ask Val if she’d like to coach basketball. Kids get a lot less formal when they spend more time with their teachers on the fields or courts. Val’s likely to get even more questions from that.” 

“And Juls is running the yearbook with me this year,” Kara added, “once those kids get wind of whatever is going down between Val and Juls, they’ll pester Juliana about it to no end. Yearbook kids are scarily dedicated to getting what they want.” 

“Do students really ask about their teachers' personal lives that often?” Nicole asked. 

“You’d be surprised,” the assembled teachers responded in almost unison. 

“Glad I’m not a teacher,” Nicole offered a sheepish smile when Waverly shot a half-offended glance her way. 

“So what can we do to set them up and does it affect our bet?” Santana asked the group, getting them all back on track with the original conversation. 

A rather spirited debate arose about the pros and cons of meddling in what was possibly a blooming relationship emerged between the assembled couples. They eventually came to the conclusion that they should meddle as little as possible but that any meddling that occurred did not change anything about the bet they’d made almost a month and a half ago. 

Even with meddling allowed, Brittney was still surprisingly sure that she would win. 

~

On Monday, the sophomore students were buzzing with rumors about why both Ms. Valdes and Ms. Carvajal were absent. It had been reported in the almost completely grade wide group chat that the two teachers had been seen leaving the Homecoming game early on Friday night and many students couldn’t help but wonder if the two of them had decided to ditch the game in favor of spending some time with just the two of them. Some very obvious but allowed snooping, allowed because the teachers they had overheard were too amused by the students antics to stop them, revealed that neither Ms. C or Ms. V had been at the regular teacher game night hosted by their friends on Saturday. 

By the end of the school day on Monday, several students believed that their two teachers had confessed their undying love for one another and had then spent a romantic weekend away, which is why they were both absent on Monday. Of course, all of those students were very disappointed on Tuesday. 

“Miss, why weren’t you here yesterday?” Samantha asked Valentina near the beginning of first period Tuesday. 

“You guys remember that cough I had on Friday? Turned out it was a little more than that.” Valentina answered without turning from what she was writing on the board. She hated missing a day of work because now they were a little behind for the week, but she didn’t regret staying home with Juliana when she inevitably got sick as well. 

“Oh you caught that bug going around.” 

“I did,” Valentina placed the lid on the marker and set it down on the tray that ran under the board. 

“What about Ms. V? She wasn’t here yesterday either,” Allen, one of Juliana’s art kids, asked before Valentina could start her lecture. Valentina debated internally for a moment before deciding that it wasn’t that big of a deal if her students knew she and Juls spent the weekend together. They already knew that they two of them were friends anyway. 

“Ms. V was helping me out on Saturday and caught the bug too,” Valentina answered quickly and then clapped her hands together, signaling that the time for questions was over and they needed to get started on the lesson. Her students seemed satisfied enough with her answer, at least enough that Valentina didn’t think she’d have to deal with too many more nosy questions. 

Down the hall, Juliana was fielding similar questions from her class. Her first period was full of seniors, one of the only classes that didn’t have any mixed grades. 

“It must suck getting sick when you live alone,” Amanda commented after Juliana explained why she hadn’t been there the day before. “I mean, when there’s no one around to take care of you.” 

“It’s part of being an adult,” Juliana shrugged. She was sitting at the table with them rather than at her desk, checking on the progress they’d made on their projects while she’d been gone. “But I was lucky, or maybe unlucky depending on how you look at it, enough to be sick at the same time as one of my friends so we took care of each other.” 

Valentina had also laughed her ass off when Juliana woke up with a fever on Sunday morning, but her students didn’t need to know that. 

“Was it that other teacher who was gone yesterday? The English 2 teacher?” Xavier asked her. “I’ve never met her so I can’t remember her name.” 

“Ms. Carvajal, and yeah. She was sick on Friday.” 

“I thought I saw you leave the game early,” Amanda, as a member of the court and a cheerleader, had been pretty busy for the duration of the homecoming game, but it was always noticed when someone left a high school football game early. Something about small town politics that no one really understood. 

“Yeah, we’re pretty good friends and I didn’t want her to get sicker by overdoing it.” Juliana pulled the last project towards her and looked it over. “These are all looking good so far but remember what we talked about with sharp lines.” 

As Juliana spoke to each of the kids individually about what they needed to work on with their own projects, she was oblivious to the other conversations that sprung up around her. 

“Hey, your sister’s a sophomore, right?” Xavier asked Amanda after they were both done talking to Ms. V. 

“Yeah, why?” 

“I overheard some of the sophomore football boys in the locker room the other day. They swear up and down that Ms. V is totally into Ms. Carvajal.” 

“Really?” Amanda cast a sideways glance in the direction of their teacher. 

“Yeah, but both of them swear that they’re not together.” 

“How do you know?” 

“Bryan asked both of them in class like a month ago.” 

“So what?” Amanda looked down at her project, unaware of the look Xavier sent her way. 

“So, they left the game early on Friday, together , and apparently spent the whole weekend and Monday together.” 

“They’re friends, X, just like Ms. V just said.” Amanda rolled her eyes. “Why do you care about sophomore gossip anyway?” 

“Because it’s not sophomore gossip, it’s teacher gossip and that is so much more interesting. Half the school is talking about it now.” 

“Really?” 

“The s’mores aren’t as subtle as they think.” 

“Well of course not, they’re s’mores. I guess the fishies are the part of the half?” 

“Obviously,” Xavier rolled his eyes and then touched Amanda’s arm to draw her gaze back to him. “Look, the point is, the school is buzzing with gossip about this and because we’re seniors and Ms. V knows we’re not normally ones to gossip, we’re in a prime position to get the information first hand!” 

“So you want us, the people who don’t normally spread gossip, to get the gossip directly from the source and spread it around?” Amanda said, deadpan. Xavier rolled his eyes again. 

“Well, when you say it like that, it sounds like a bad idea.” 

“That’s because it is a bad idea!” Amanda reached for an eraser and started implementing the changes that Ms. V had advised her to make. “It’s also none of our business.” 

“C’mon, Mandy, live a little. It’s our senior year, this could be our last chance for good school gossip.” 

“You know I hate it when you call me that,” Amanda said. “Fine, if you want to get involved I’m not stopping you, but you owe me pizza and cheese sticks when trying to get involved in school gossip blows up in your face.” 

“Deal,” Xavier winked at her. “But when it doesn’t blow up in my face, I’m taking you to prom.” 

“Little early to be thinking about prom, isn’t it?” Ms. V asked, thankfully only catching the tail end of their conversation as she stepped over to them to check their progress. 

“Never to early to ask out a pretty girl Ms. V.” 

“Can’t argue with you there,” Ms. V laughed. Xavier immediately perked up, feeling that was at least a semi-confirmation of the rumor that Ms. V was into women so her and Ms. Carvajal could theoretically be together. “But don’t waste my class time with it.” 

“Sorry Miss.”