For @incorrect-quotes-of-moonacre with Deep love and appreciation for all you've done and continue to do for the fandom
Fairytales are some of the most important works of fiction known to man. While commonly disregarded, overly saturated, and disney-fied, Fairy tales provide the basis for understanding human history. The examination of politics, religions, culture, and a singular thread that pulls nations together. For if one fairy tale was told in Europe, rest assured that many other cultures would have shared similar fables, even if they had never told their stories to the other. Warnings for children, for emperors and kings, the very basis for literature itself, the fairy tale is not something easily overlooked, but is the base of modern community. After all, what brings humanity closer together than rooting for the common goal? Of good rising above evil, true love, and a bit of magic to pull it all together.
*
Maria wove between the rows, holding a red apple in her hand. Perhaps a bit over dramatic, but she wanted it to serve her point. “We have many reasons to thank fairytales, for the symbolism they offer, the lessons. For this reason-” Maria paused before her desk, tossing the apple into the air before catching it. “I would like you to write your own fairy tale.” Que groans. Maria smiled. “I want this to include several things, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and write everything. Some stories offer political critique, others warnings; I want something unique. You may borrow ideas, such as sleep curses, but please do your absolute best to be original. Grades will be based on creativity, the substances of the story itself, hidden themes, and of course grammar and other such English nonsense.”
There was a spatter of laughter from some of her favourite students.
“The assignment is due Friday and your time starts-” Maria shook her wrist until her watch faced up. “Now.”
There was the flutter of paper and hushed voices as ideas were spread around, or quiet worry at the idea of having to write something for English. The horror.
Maria tossed the apple one last time before rounding her desk and taking a seat.
*
At three on the dot, Maria opened the door to her class, unleashing her students upon the world, watching them run free as the school day came to an end. At the same time, across the hall, Mr. De Noir’s classroom door flung open, and his students made hers appear as well mannered and polite little angels.
Mr. De Noir leaned in the doorway, his arms crossed as he sent a smirk her way. “Miss Merryweather.”
Maria lifted a brow. Why her uncle had even hired him on the staff she would never understand. He was hardly a respectable teacher, half the time she had to send a student across the hall to tell his to settle down, and he was never dressed up to code.
Kitten heels, a pencil skirt that hit right above her knees, and a blouse, Maria at least appeared professional. She couldn’t remember the last time she had thought ‘oh yes, let me don jeans to go to work, that’s appropriate,’ and yet there he was. Rumpled denims, a wrinkled button up that wasn’t tucked in, even his sleeves were pushed up to his elbows.
The students adored him, and yes he had amazing recommendations, and credentials, but that did not mean he was Moonacre material. She just knew the old headmistress, Jane Heliotrope, would never have put up with his misconduct.
“Did you start them on their assignment today?” Maria asked cordially, because someone had to be looking out for the students.
“What? The fairy tale stuff?” He nearly scoffed. “Yeah, we’re saving that as a free write on Friday.”
Maria’s jaw dropped, “Wha- what do you mean by that? You’re completely disregarding the curriculum?”
He gave her a laugh, “Oh, c’mon, you know that’s a guide more than anything.”
“Right.” Maria crossed her arms, “And I bet you aren’t having any kind of lesson gearing up to Friday? About the cultural and historic importance fairytales have on society and literature?”
His smirk deepened, “Nope.”
“So what on earth did you teach them on? If you were able to teach them anything?” Maria asked.
“The importance of communal and oral traditions. Then we discussed.”
Maria rolled her eyes, because ‘discuss’ was just his excuse to let the class go wild. “That sounds more like a history lesson.”
He shrugged, “History and literature, unfortunately, overlap.”
Maria bit her tongue and glared, “Right. And you refused to teach on fairy tales because…?”
“Because, Princess, fairy tales have a different kind of connotation nowadays.”
Maria bristled at the nickname. It had started when he had learned the headmaster was her Uncle…
Well, it wasn’t particularly hard to guess that they were related, due to their last names being the same, but he assumed that she had been a legacy hire when that couldn’t be farther from the truth! In fact, she had been hired by Ms. Heliotrope a year before her retirement and Benjamin’s promotion.
“But that is the exact reason we're supposed to be teaching on them! To disrupt their previous notions!” Maria flung her arms out to further make her point, but she knew she was just getting more and more frustrated, while he kept smirking at her.
“And that’s why we slowly work up to calling them fairy tales, so by the end of the week, they have a full grasp and understanding of what a fairytale is beyond the Disneyfication.” He clapped his hands together, “Right, I have a long week ahead, and you, I’m guessing have some studying to do? Since you’re not doing any work to mould the curriculum to your class so they can reap the most of it.”
He turned, the door to his class shut before she could get another jab in. But she stood in the hall, slightly impressed, but mostly irritated. Her thoughts wandered to her Uncle, but telling on a fellow teacher was childish, and she could handle him herself.
*
“But I knew it was him! His thoughts and ideas getting into their heads.” Maria complained, her eyes narrowed and arms crossed, she hunched over herself on the garden bench sitting outside her Uncle’s home.
Benjamin had never bothered with the upkeep of his garden, he had simply just let it grow wild over the years, but that summer, he had taken an odd interest in it. Removing all the weeds and ploughing the dirt, he replanted the areas that had once been overgrown grass with growing thyme, and the garden beds with geraniums, of all colours, but primarily salmon pink.
It was better than his other hobbies: sulking or drinking.
“That’s not appropriate,” Benjamin said, removing a dirtied glove from his hand.
“No, it’s annoying.” Maria rolled her eyes. “And I have no idea when he did it! I mean, we were barely speaking yesterday about the curriculum, and today I hear my students talking about how the ideas of fairy tales have been corrupted by modern understanding and Disneyfied! Those are the exact words he used! Can you believe it? I mean, opening his office hours to my students in some lame attempt to contradict what I’ve already taught them.”
“Well, I can’t let him scalp your students.”
Maria rolled her eyes, “It doesn’t matter, I’ll tell him off tomorrow morning and we’ll just have to go from there.” Maria reached over and picked a globe of geraniums before tucking it behind her Uncle’s ear. “So pretty.”
He gave her a glare, but over the years it had lost any ferocity it once held.
*
Maria stood in front of the kettle, waiting for it to go off, her cup all but ready with her tea bag, when a dark presence slid next to her.
“I knew you just couldn’t resist.”
Maria breathed out deeply, calmly, as in the corner of her eye Mr. De Noir leaned against the counter next to her. “Resist what?”
“Using your nepo baby powers to get me in trouble, are you disappointed I didn’t get sacked?”
Maria sighed, lifting the kettle as the light went from green to red, and poured her steaming water into her cup. “Mr. De Noir, I have no idea-”
“My office hours got taken from me.”
Maria paused, but finished pouring and refilled the kettle. She stuck a fist on her hip and turned to look at him. “What? But I didn’t-”
“And I’ve been placed over the after school detention for the next two weeks-”
“But I didn’t-!”
“And Saturday!” He didn’t glare at her, no he would never, but where he was usually teasing and lighthearted, he seemed genuinely upset with her.
And then it hit her.
It was her fault.
She placed a hand over her mouth.
Benjamin.
“Oh, now she remembers.” He looked away from her, discontentedly, into the empty teacher’s lounge. “Y’know, my students make good use of those hours, and unlike you, I have plans on the weekends.”
“You don’t know what I do after school.” She muttered, her first reaction to defend herself. “Mr. De Noir, I- I didn’t- I’ll fix this, I promise, and until then, tell your students they may come to me during my office hours.”
Mr. De Noir gave her an odd look as he examined her face.
“What?”
“I- you seem genuinely concerned.” He said.
Maria rolled her eyes, “Yes, well when I was complaining to my Uncle I thought I was complaining to my Uncle, not Headmaster Merryweather.” She glared, crossing her arms. Goodness, how would she even broach this? She supposed she’d have to schedule a meeting, and go from there-
“Merryweather? Don’t go catatonic on me.”
Maria broke out of her thoughts and gazed up at Mr. De Noir, she reached out to touch his shoulder, and in all sincerity said, “I will fix this.”
He cracked a grin, “Don’t need to get all noble on me, Merryweather, it’s just two weeks. And technically I deserve it.”
“It isn’t bad for students to get multiple perspectives… sometimes.”
He shrugged, and Maria realised she still had her hand on her arm. She snatched it away, her cheeks suddenly feeling warm, before Mr. De Noir reached out and handed her cup to her.
“From my understanding, Merryweather’s are pretty stubborn, so good luck getting him to change his mind.” Then, he turned and left her alone in the teacher’s lounge, with a swiftly cooling cup of tea.
She added some sugar cubes, and sped walked her way to her Uncle’s secretary, demanding to speak with him during her open hour.
*
After an hour, Maria closed her office.
A few of her students, and a few of Mr. De Noir’s students, had come to speak briefly with her, but beyond a few simple questions about tropes and symbolism, there were no deep inquiries. She had on her coat, and her briefcase in her hand, but when she looked across the way into Mr. De Noir’s dark classroom, a twinge of remorse pinged in her heart.
With a singular and sudden determination, Maria made her way to the detention hall, which was actually just the meal hall, but was used for detention at set times.
When she walked in the hall, a bit too proudly, the door swung out and banged against the wall, the sound of it echoing across the empty room and eight heads turned her way. Even Mr. De Noir, who had been sitting on top of one of the tables, slouching as much as he could while not lying on it, popped up at her entrance.
Maria did her best not to let embarrassment wash over and kept her confidence as she came in, set her bag down on the floor, removed her coat, and joined Mr. De Noir on the table.
“What are you doing here?” He asked, looking up at her with a strange mix of reverence and bafflement.
Maria shrugged, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I couldn’t convince my Uncle to let you go.”
He huffed a laugh. “Told you.”
Maria nudged his knee with hers.
“Okay, so message received?”
“It’s a bit boring, isn’t it?”
Robin scoffed, finally pulling himself up off the table and leaning onto his knees. “Yes, for me, who's trapped here, but not for you.”
Maria checked her watch, “Only forty-five minutes left?”
He grabbed her elbow and pulled her arm towards his face. “Just about.”
“Well, I’d like to discuss our- differing takes on the curriculum with you.” She cleared her throat. “To give our students the best chance they have with their learning opportunities.”
He quirked a brow.
“Well, for example, you say Disneyfied like it's a bad thing.”
“Because it is.”
Maria shook her head, “But would you not agree that all fairytales and myths evolved with the times, the elements changing with what was needed?”
A slow smile breached his features. “One could say that.”
“And, well, perhaps what the children of our time need is something a bit more hopeful than what original fairy tales tend to offer?”
“Or, we need to stop babying children, and let them watch things that will actually be beneficial to their mental development.”
They continued on that way for a time, the argument never actually turning to be about their lesson plans, and even after Mr. De Noir dismissed the students, they continued on until they reached the parking lot.
“I’m sorry again,” Maria said, knowing it was time to part but not really wanting to. “About the whole detention business, I never intended that.”
Mr. De Noir shrugged nonchalance, “It’s alright, I’ll just get you back.”
Maria twisted her lips to avoid smiling. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be the one across the hall.”
*
There was very little one could do about rumours, and once they did get started, there was not much one could do beyond fan the flames.
It was rather unfortunate for both Miss Merryweather and Mr. De Noir that one of the students in detention was a girl who had a friend in Ms. Merryweather’s class, who had often made the very keen observation that there was a certain chemistry underlying their quips and hallway fights.
So of course, as soon as Ms. Merryweather stormed detention, and stayed by Mr. De Noir’s side for the duration, it was only her right to text her friend the developing story.
The next morning, before class had even begun, all of Ms. Merryweather’s waiting class knew about the circumstances, and even without speaking a word, seemed to be in unilateral agreement.
*
“Mr. De Noir!”
Robin paused his instruction at the whiteboard, turning back to see one of Ms. Merryweather’s students hanging in the door.
“Yeah, do you need something?”
“Um-” The girl squeaked, “Ms. Merryweather needed your help in the supplies room. She said something about heavy boxes?”
Robin played with the marker in his hand. That wasn’t the Merryweather he knew. That woman would break her back before asking for his, or anyone’s, help. He put the cap on. “Lex, you’re in charge.”
There was some grumbling about that decision, but he ignored it as he came to the door, holding it open for the student before shutting it behind him. He watched, rather suspiciously, as she stood by Merryweather’s class but didn’t go inside. When she looked back over her shoulder, he lifted his brows, and she squeaked before ducking into class. Then, when he peered into the windows, each and every head, which had been turned to watch him, snapped back to the front.
Robin smirked, he could smell a plot a mile away, but who was he to foil their brilliant schemes?
He wasn’t too surprised to hear the door opening again once he reached the end of the hall, and he was careful not to look back at the sound. It almost made him giddy, and he wondered if this was just the distraction, to get him out of class so something could be done in the ten minutes he’d be gone? Or, if he was walking into the trap.
Ms. Merryweather, he had no doubt, hadn’t played any part of it, as she would never encourage this kind of behaviour.
As Robin walked into the supply room, he saw no sign of Merryweather, but then there was a sound of surprise, a fluttering sound like a flock of frightened pigeons taking flight, and a louder smacking that came from the paper closet. Robin turned, just in time to see Merryweather being clouded in stacks of paper as they fell to the ground.
“Mr. De Noir!” She choked.
He chuckled, moving in on her and kneeling to start collecting the papers on the ground.
“You don’t have to-”
“No, don’t worry, I know it was my fault-”
“No! No, I was being-”
And then the door slammed shut.
“Oh my god, what did you do?” Merryweahter asked, immediately turning on him to accuse him. “I had the door propped-”
“I didn’t do anything! It-” Then, Robin sighed. “It’s the students.” Robin stuck his hand in his pocket to pull his phone out, but his pocket was empty, in fact all of his pockets were empty, he would learn, as he uselessly patted at them. “Do you have your phone?”
“Um-” Merryweather made a vague gesture to the little table outside, where he had passed her keys and yes, now that he thought about it, her phone had been there as well.
“So we’re stuck.”
“Well- I-” Merryweather looked down at him. “Yes, I guess we are. Fuck.”
“Language, we’re at school.” Robin mocked as he went back to stacking the papers.
“Right, sorry.”Maria shook her head and knelt down next to him, gathering papers and replacing them in the box she had tipped over.
“You ever learn how to take a joke?”
Merryweather pursed her lips. “I can take a joke, when it's made between friends.”
“Oh, that smarts.”
Merryweather looked at him and scoffed.
“What?”
“Are you implying we’re friends?”
“Of course not, I’m your mortal enemy.”
Merryweather cocked a brow, “My mortal enemy? And I’m not yours?”
Robin smirked. “You don’t get under my skin the way I get under yours.”
“What am I then? If not your mortal enemy?” She said, with a slight challenging glare.
Robin pretended to give it great thought. “Academic rival?”
“Oh good, I didn’t think I’d be held in such high regard to be considered a rival.”
He snorted.
She smiled.
“So, when do you think they’ll let us out?” Robin whispered, after the papers were tidied, and they had taken to sitting on opposite sides of the closet, her legs stretched out before her, ankles crossed neatly.
“Who?” Merryweather asked, leaning forward as she whispered back. Her plan had been sending out a sheet of paper with a note written on it under the door, their only hope being another teacher would pass through and free them.
“Our students.” Robin cuffed his hand over his mouth. “They’re up to something.”
She stared at him blankly. “What do you mean?”
“One of your students came to my class saying you needed help.”
Merryweather scoffed, “Surely you knew that was a lie.”
Robin nodded, “Of course, as soon as she said you wanted my help.”
Merryweather fought a smile, crossing her arms as she looked out to the door. “So why did you come?”
“I encourage mischief every once in a while, besides I figured they had sent me away to do something to the classroom, not lock me in a closet with my academic rival.” He nudged his knee against her foot.
“You should give them all detention, they basically got a free period out of us.”
Robin shrugged, leaning his head back against the shelves. “Who knows? That might be a good thing.”
It wasn’t until a few minutes before the bell rang that good old Henry came to let them out, an odd and slightly suspicious look on his face.
*
“Now, I’m not mad, just disappointed.” Maria said, more or less quoting her Uncle.
She had only been lightly reprimanded for being locked in the closet and abandoning her students, but Robin seemed to, once again, take the full brunt of the punishment, as Benjamin assigned him another week of detention watch.
“However, as punishment, Mr. De Noir and I have decided to extend your projects.” Maria beamed as her students groaned, she knew just across the hall, Robin was giving the same speech, something they had planned together after Maria closed her office hours, and came to him with a proposition in detention. “We will no longer be only asking you for an original fairy tale, but would instead ask you to perform it in the amphitheatre before both classes.”
There was a devilish look on her face as her class got uproarious, and she let them settle before she spoke again. “The deadline is now extended to next Friday, however tomorrow I would like a first draft turned in. You may form groups of two to five, choose one fairy tale, and work out the logistics.”
“The fairy tale we wrote, or any fairy tale?”
“Your fairy tale, Marissa.” Maria smiled. “And since yesterday you all had a free period, today will be a lecture day-” More moaning, “-Please pull out your notebooks, and we’ll begin.”
*
Saturday, the parking lot was nearly empty save his car.
Maria parked not next to him, but close, as she popped out, her scarf wrapped warmly around her throat. This new plan was risky, but she felt she owed it to him.
He would protest of course, and he would tell her to go away, but it didn’t sit right in her heart. So of course, when she marched into the detention hall, Robin looked up and rolled his eyes. He slid off the table, leaving his book behind and met her half way.
“Here to plot against our students again?”
“Nope.” Maria said, removing her scarf and wrapping it around her hands, “I’m here to free you.”
Robin’s smirk softened, “You know I’m on the clock for this and you’re not?”
“I’m working on grading this morning.” Maria held up her briefcase. “It's just a change of location.”
Robin rolled his eyes, “You would work on a Saturday.”
“Yes, and you said you had plans, so go on, go.” Maria attempted to walk him around before he reached out and grabbed her arm.
“What are you doing, Maria?”
She smiled, “Rescuing the damsel.”
“Dam- Now hold on there, Merryweather, if anyone’s the damsel it’s you.”
“Oh?” Maria popped her hip, “How so?”
Robin opened his mouth to list off the countless examples that would mark him as the daring hero, but he rather came up empty.
“You’re the one trapped in the tallest tower, not me.”
“I am not trapped here.”
“Precisely, go on, I’m rescuing you, go on, leave. I have dragons to slay.”
He scoffed. “I can’t, I’ll get in more trouble.”
Maria shrugged, “I won’t tell Headmaster if you don’t.”
Robin struggled not to smile. “I can’t.”
“You can and you will.”
“Y’know, usually it's the other way around, the handsome young hero saving the princess.”
Maria shrugged, “I rather like Cupid and Psyche.”
Then, there was something about the way his eyes lit up at her words that made her heart flutter, her stomach pitch, and her mouth run dry. Had that been a mistake? To imply that they were- that she was doing this out of-
“This isn’t fair.”
“It’s perfectly fair.” Maria argued, “I was in your debt, now I’m not.”
He shook his head, “You’re going to get me in trouble.”
“I thought you liked mischief.”
Robin smiled, and before Maria could make another comment, he reached out and squeezed her arm. “I still feel like I owe you for this, but thank you.”
She almost thought he was going to lean down and kiss her, her cheek, ot temple, or her lips, but he turned and went back to get his book and jacket.
Maria watched him leave, the door shutting behind him, and then the empty air for a few seconds before she glanced at the students, who were doing their best to avoid her eye and trying to stifle grins.
She cleared her throat and got to work reading the fairy tales.
*
Monday morning, she attempted to speak with her Uncle again.
“Really, he doesn’t deserve any of it, and I know you said that you had to set standards, but this is ridiculous! Not even the students get this much detention!” She had started sitting down, but at some point she had gotten up to pace madly to and fro. “I mean it’s not just a detriment to him, but his students! Though not many of his students have taken me up on my offer, they may not feel comfortable with it! And beyond that, there’s usually a very fair rotation for the detention slots, and I think it’s been a while since it was my turn! And the closet thing wasn’t his fault! He only came in to help me, it’s not like he did it on purpose, that’s hardly worth another week of detention!”
“Maria-”
“I would understand if he had locked me in there, but he was trapped just as much as I was!”
“Maria-”
“And we both settled on how to discipline the students who, I already told you, were the real culprits!”
“Maria!”
Maria jumped, her hand on her heart the other grasping the back of the chair. “Yes?”
“If you would really like to, I can take over some of his detention-”
“Oh really? You will!” Maria raced around the desk, wrapping her arms around her Uncle’s head and neck. “Oh thank you! I felt so guilty about all of it!”
“Right.” Her Uncle muttered. “Guilt.”
*
Robin sat on his desk, laughing as one of the students shared a more or less irrelevant story with the class which kind of had to do with fairy tales, when Maria knocked on the door and came into class.
“Mr. De Noir, do you have a moment?” She asked, and some of the students had the audacity to laugh or gently ‘oooh!’ at his departure.
He followed Maria out into the hall, mindful to stand in front of her so his students couldn’t get a good look at her facial expressions through the window.
“I believe my debts are paid.” Maria beamed, “Mostly.”
Robin cocked his head to one said.
“I slayed the beast. Headmaster Merryweather said he would take over detention next week.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do- how did you-?” Robin cut himself off with a scoff, she was unbelievable. “Damn, I really was the damsel.”
“Language.” Maria’s eyes flashed to the window behind him, and when he took a look, the students ran away from the window and back to their seats.
“You didn’t- You really didn’t-” He clenched his hand at his side, tempted to touch her again, tempted to wrap her in his arms and pick her up off the floor and spin her around. Instead, he marvelled at her, his eyes wide, his mouth open like an idiot, and he couldn’t look away.
She blossomed under his gaze, her cheeks pinkening, her eyes glistening with pride.
“You’re amazing.”
*
Miss Merryweather kept Mr. De Noir company for the rest of his detention periods, the students noticed, and word spread very quickly. Some students, rather foolishly, got themselves in trouble so they would have to go to detention, so they could report back.
And it was very interesting how close they sat, and how often they gazed into each other's eyes without speaking, and how close they came to touching the other only to stop themselves before they got too close.
The reports from detention made their way around, from student to student, until even the teachers heard, and placed their bets.
“No, they’re both too stubborn,” Ms. Swann said, “Neither will admit to anything until it's unbearable.”
“Don’t underestimate Robin, he’s rather determined, and once he wants something that’s it.” Mr. Turner said.
“But Maria has much more class than that.” Mrs. Fitzwilliam said.
“That doesn’t mean she’ll deny herself the pleasure of a man’s company, especially one that looks like him.” Ms. Thomas suggested.
And, inevitably, word got back to Headmaster Merryweather who was not completely unsurprised by the developments, after all he saw too much of himself in his niece. Falling in love with a supposed enemy was practically a family trait.
*
Maria sat down in the amphitheatre, her students settled and the first group ready to go, her rubric out on her clipboard, while Robin leaned back on the bench behind them, his own rubric off to the side as her students went first. They had a box of props and costumes for the students to use, and yes the girls did fight over who got to wear the pearls, and there was a massive disagreement on who got the sword with each group that came up. Whether or not the story had anything to do with swords.
They watched each class file in, as they were instructed to come straight to the amphitheatre, and file out once they were done, though Robin and Maria hardly paid attention as they did.
There was many a giggling, many a stare, and a many whispering that made their way across the classes, but Maria didn’t particularly care to take notice.
She was too busy trying to ascertain if his knee pressed into her thigh was an accident or if he was doing it on purpose, and if his eyes were on her the whole day instead of any of the performances, and if he was arguing because he really disagreed with her or just for the sake of arguing. But when the final bell dismissed their last class, neither Robin nor Maria rose up to leave. They stayed, seated on the stone benches, her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands as she stared up at him.
There was something so captivating about his eyes when he spoke, something pleasant when his mouth moved, something enigmatic about how he motioned with his hands.
“Tomorrow is your last day of detention.” Maria said, when an hour had passed and neither had moved.
“Yes, and you don’t have to storm the castle for me.” Robin looked up at her as she stood to gather her things. “Hermes doesn’t have to tell me all the work you’ve done to make up for it.”
She felt herself blush, because there it was again, this odd comparison. “Well, one could argue that my three dangerous tasks are complete.”
“Dangerous?” He grinned at the incredulous insinuation.
“Well, when one goes up against a man like my Uncle.” She twisted her face into one of horror and Robin laughed. “Though, I am afraid I will remain his servant forever.”
“Yes, I suppose going up against him is quite daunting.”
“Daunting indeed. But-” Maria bit her lip, turning away to look out at the amphitheatre. “Did I manage to fix the rift of my betrayal?”
Robin stood and took her hand, “There was never anything to fix.”
If any students had stayed behind, they would have seen Mr. De Noir lean down to kiss Ms. Merryweather, and if any teachers had walked by on their way to the parking lot, they would have seen the two running off hand in hand like teenagers, and if Headmaster Merryweather had looked out the window of his office, he would have seen Mr. De Noir press Ms. Merryweather against her car as he kissed her again and again, but no did, and no one saw them getting into their cars and following each other out of the parking lot, and on Saturday, despite his best attempts, Ms. Merryweather came again, but she did not come to rescue him a second time. Rather, she sat with him, and if the students noticed they were sitting too close to one another, or that they held hands under the table, they kept their thoughts to themselves.
*
Fairytales are some of the most important works of fiction known to man. They offer life lessons, human connection, magic, and some of our favourites: love.
Not every fairy tale has a happily ever after, not every fairy tale ends with true love’s kiss, but who could argue that the most captivating ones have just a touch of that special magic? Not fairy godmothers, trickster sprites, or devils, but a very human emotion, a lasting emotion, one that resonates and rings throughout the centuries.
@stabat-mater @theargopriestess @maybeamagpie @hotpotatoburn @lalla0019 @immergladsss
