an: not requested but just a cute little thought abt pre-fame noel x pregnant reader who is a primary schl teacher sorry i haven't posted in a while guys!!! xxx
cw: not much rlly, mentions of pregnancy, school setting, mentions of unemployment
you breathed in the scent of the classroom. the soft, persistent smell of PVA glue and reems of coloured paper filled your nostrils. you huffed an embarrassed laugh at the strange sound you made as you bent down to grab some of the children's work to send home to loving, doting parents who would inevitably stick the abstract, multi-coloured masterpieces on their fridge declaring that their beloved offspring would be the next Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh etc.
beforehand, it had seemed unreasonable and over the top to you but now, you reminded yourself stroking your growing bump, you would no doubt treat your child exactly the same.
pregnancy was hard. you couldn't shake the exhausted, swollen, gross feeling but what was even harder was doing it whilst also wrangling thirty five-year-olds five days a week.
you cast your mind back to your boyfriend. Noel was undoubtedly the love of your life, there was no question about that. however, sometimes you did think that he was quite far off the 'prince charming' husband you'd envisaged as a little girl. he was 26 years old and permanently on the dole. if you wanted to sound like your judgy, snobby mother (which you tried not to do) you might say that he dosses about on his guitar all day smoking weed in the flat that your job pays for and watching football on your telly. nonetheless, no matter how angry and bitter these new pregnancy hormones could make you, Noel never failed to soften your scowl.
after waddling home from a long day at the primary school, it always filled your chest with warmed to see him jump up to see you as you unlocked the door. sometimes he would have an attempt at dinner bubbling away on the stove which you would inevitably have to try and salvage and sometimes his long lanky limbs would just engulf you. he'd smell your hair and mumble something about 'missed ya so much' and 'do you have to teach those little shits all day? could you stay home and cuddle yer boyfriend? pull a sickie and blame it on being sprogged up! cmonnn'. it never failed to make you giggle.
despite not being able to hold a job or cook or do your hair or drive you to work like all the boyfriends that your mates gloated about, he was incredibly doting. he watched what you ate with incredible intensity. you never went hungry, in fact most of the time you were too full. you don't remember a single day where you hadn't come home to a steamy bath and a foot rub. you smiled fondly at the memories of him smushing his face into your belly and chatting to your baby. trying to teach it about 'proper music' and (to your annoyance) trying to get it to pick up his Mancunian twang.
'is your mam's belly nice and cosy, kidda? yer mam's silly ent she? tryna waddle 'round with nowt in her belly.'
'Noel, it's Mum. baby's not toddling around screaming for its 'Mam' not happening.'
'don't listen to yer mam. yer gonna talk just like daddy aren't ya bub?'
moments like these kept you smiling on particularly draining days. today was one of those.
your head was pounding and your feet throbbing. everytime a child came up to you with a snotty nose you felt sour bile rise in your throat as you begged them to wipe it. Noel had been asleep when you left this morning, lazy bastard, so you hadn't had your morning cuddle and he hadn't made you pancakes with syrup in the shape of a love heart. just as you thought you were going to spew from the smell of some kid's Pepperami from their lunchbox you realised. after twenty minutes of rustling around in your bag you accepted it. you'd forgotten your lunch. you'd have to go till 3:15 on an empty belly. well, not entirely empty, full of a hungry baby in fact.
you sat down in your swively chair which creaked uncomfortably under your new weight. heat rushed to your cheeks. a groan escaped you as you realised that now, surveying them all eating their packed lunches cross-legged on the floor, was prime question time. their curiosity had intensified now that their teacher was pregnant. the first boy to pipe up was a sweet little trouble make named Digby Hoy.
'Miss? How big is your baby?' you pinched the skin in between your brow, this would be a long lunch break.
'about the size of a bell pepper, Digby. do you like bell peppers?' this time it was Elllie Harper to butt in.
'is it a baby girl or a baby boy?'
'we don't know yet Ellie, I've got the appointment to find out next weekend.' you sighed at the question you'd heard one million times before.
then a different question was asked, one that made the entire classroom settle into silence, never a good thing for a class of five-year-olds. 'Miss? does the baby have a Daddy?'
you froze, staring into the middle distance as thoughts of Noel flooded your mind. 'yes of course it does.'
'do you have a crush on him?' that question evoked a chorus of shocked giggles from the class and a further eruption of conversation and interrogation.
'alright! alright!' you laughed a little exasperated. 'his name is Noel.' a few class members screwed up their faces complaining that that was a silly name. 'he's got big blue eyes and floppy brown hair and.... kind of a big funny-shaped nose' the class exploded into more squeals and giggles. 'and I do have a crush on him. he's very handsome and good at guitar.'
'does he play guitar on telly like a rockstar' there was a long pause after that question. you didn't really feel like explaining and defending your boyfriends unemployment to these children.
'no. but one day he will.' that seemed to satisfy the children as they continued to munch on their sandwiches and crisps. after another few minutes of silence and chewing noises, Digby asked:
'Miss? where's your lunch?'
ah. you were reminded of your forgotten lunch when another nauseating wave of hunger rolled over you. you glanced to the clock above the door, three more hours. you sighed realising how draining that sounded.
before you could splutter out a reply, an unsure knock sounded on the glass of the classroom door. you glanced up and almost gasped with surprise. standing there sort of hunched over due to the smaller size of everything was Noel, in all his gangly, scruffy, Mancunian glory.
'er 'ello miss. hiya kids. er babe can ya-'
'Noel! wh- what are you-?' you noticed your bushy browed boyfriend was awkwardly carrying a bouquet of your favourite flowers along with something tucked into his side.
he crossed the classroom in three long strides planting the flowers on your desk. from out of his pocket he produced a small tupperware box.
'those are for you. ya forgot yer lunch silly birdie.' you let out a delighted squeal and pulled his head down for a kiss which elicited a cacophony of 'eurgh's and 'yuck' from the children. you had to nuzzle your nose with his big, hooked one just to rub it in. finally you let go of him and turned to the pupils.
'well Digby, to answer your question, I had forgotten my lunch but this lovely, handsome man brought it in for me. can anyone guess who this is?'
the children yelled garbled replies of 'Noel!' and 'miss' boyfriend!' to which you confirmed their answer. out of the blue, Noel piped up.
'Hey kids y'know yer teacher yeah? she's me bird and you all know she's got a little kidda in 'er belly right?' he affectionately caressed your bump with a chunky hand and the moved it up to tap the side of your head pointedly
'and sometimes she forgets to use 'er noggin because she's using all 'er brain power to grow the little one. so she does silly things like forget her lunch or get cross because she doesn't fit in me trousers!' the image of their teacher being too big for this man's trousers caused them to howl with laughter.
'so I had to come in and save miss didn't I?' you leaned your head against Noel's belly where he stroked your hair lovingly. the children erupted into full interrogation. they questioned every single detail about Noel. It was quite sweet really, almost like they wanted to make sure he was good enough for their teacher but eventually you had to put a stop to it.
'alright kids! I'm afraid Noel has to say ba-bye now because that is the end of lunch break. everyone say by to Noel-' before you could finish your sentence, Noel leaned down to capture your lips in a sweet kiss. he kept it brief, conscious that little eyes were watching and slipped out the door after a strong word about eating all of your lunch.
the rest of the day passed in a sort of romantic haze. all you could think about was how amazing your boyfriend was and it was all the children could talk about as well.
