Her eyes landed on the never-ending stack of papers, which was just the third of five in total, waiting to be graded. A sigh left her lips as she reached for the next assignment, despite not having the motivation nor endurance to push through them. She started twisting the pen in her hand, trying to focus on the paper in front of her.
This would make up a huge percentage of her students' grades, so they sure would appreciate a calm and concentrated mind during the grading process. She recognized the name as one of her average students. The girl was neither particularly good, nor particularly bad.
Instead of moving onto the first part, an essay, her eyes fleetingly looked at the clock, realizing only half an hour had passed since she had announced that her full attention needed to be devoted to the task at hands.
She couldn't just stop no... or could she?
No, she was doing this now, she decided and with a firm nod, she looked back at the first sentence of the essay and tried her best at correcting it. Only when she had to re-read the first paragraph for the fifth time, did she put her pen aside and looked at Zelda, who was sitting across from her at her kitchen table.
She was working on her own students' papers, seemingly making much greater progress than the brunette. Grading papers had been one of her least favorite things to do ever since Lilith had been thrust into the life of a high school teacher.
When the decision to keep teaching had been made, she probably should have taken that into account, she thought at the sight of her leftovers in comparison to Zelda's, who taught at the Academy and had way fewer papers to grade. She always admired Zelda's work ethic when it came to Academy-related tasks and wished she were just a bit more like the hot-headed witch, considering her organization skills.
While Zelda's work actually resembled stacks of paper, her assignments had been carefully tossed all over the place after finishing the grading process, not wanting to see them any longer. She huffed in frustration, thinking about all the things she could be doing if she hadn't been set on staying principal.
Zelda's slender wrist seemed to beam in the bright sunlight that shone through the big windows as she reached for yet another set of papers, making Lilith slightly jealous. She must have graded double the amount of Lilith's work in the past two hours and the brunette just wanted the work to be over and done with, having had enough of it for the day.
She watched as Zelda's handwriting filled the page in red, marking her student's mistakes and correcting them precisely, as she would with every paper. Every mistake, as small as it may be, was to be found and commented on. Not even Lilith, who had been ruthless in her past, was as merciless with her grading as Zelda turned out to be.
Heaven, Zelda sometimes even corrected her corrections if she saw them unfit.
Lilith often wished to be working alongside Zelda, as it ultimately meant spending more time with her but she also very much enjoyed working at the mortal high school, Sabrina loved so much.
Her hate towards humans had tuned down, getting to know Sabrina's friends through force more than actual interest. They weren't as bland as she had once thought, though she was still awfully superior to them in every way.
Now, ten months later, she stayed on her own and free will, something nobody thought possible. It took a lot of adjusting for everybody, including the students at Baxter High, confused at the sudden change in their meekest teacher.
No one was forcing her to keep working there and yet she kept going, despite questioning glances of the members of the Church of Lilith. The coven and other magical creatures didn't understand her motivations if told and Lilith assumed she'd have to get used to this kind of obliviousness. Zelda's unconditional acceptance was what truly kept her going, despite all the constant criticism.
Zelda always supported her decisions, no matter how controversial they were. Even if Zelda herself didn't understand why the Queen of Hell was so keen on working at a mortal high school if she could rule over hell, she never questioned Lilith's motives and stood by her side every step of the way.
Lilith watched the swivel of Zelda's hand in awe and she could feel a genuine smile form on her face, making her features so much more beautiful. It wasn't often that Zelda was as unguarded as she was at that moment. She didn't like letting her guards down and just as the witch accepted her, did Lilith accept Zelda.
The way Zelda's brows knitted in confusion when one of her students completely missed the point of the question or the way she stuck out her tongue, when she concentrated too much, made the butterflies stir in her stomach.
That day was different though. Despite Zelda's position as the choir teacher at the Academy, which she had decided to keep, even after she had been announced High Priestess of the Chuch of Lilith, she refused to sing in front of Lilith and strictly forbade, she come to one of their practices.
So it surely came as a surprise when Zelda suddenly started humming. Lilith wasn't even sure if she was aware of doing it, usually too well guarded to let it slip. She had to take a closer listen, ensuring that it was indeed Zelda
It started off as a quiet hum but it sure was the witch, her humming turning into quiet singing after a while. It brought an even bigger smile onto Lilith's face as she looked at her adoringly.
Zelda was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice Lilith staring at her until the woman raised her voice, catching her completely off guard.
"You sound lovely when you sing."
"Mh?" Zelda asked, looking at the brunette in utter shock.
"You just sang and it sounded lovely."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Zelda said and looked at the paper in front of her, turning a deep shade of crimson and trying to pretend that she did not know what Lilith was talking about. Not even the unfinished apple next to her stood a chance against the fairly pale ginger.
"I wonder why you never sing in front of me. You have no reason to hide your voice," Lilith said, finding it extremely adorable how Zelda hid her face behind her hair in embarrassment, something she quite rarely did, as embarrassment wasn't something Zelda faced a lot.
All of a sudden Zelda found it incredibly hard to concentrate and no matter how hard she tried to ignore the burning of her cheeks, she couldn't stop herself from blushing even more. Deciding that it was best to ignore Lilith she tried to just go on with her work, grading the papers as usual.
But knowing that Lilith's full attention was on her, suddenly made it incredibly hard to focus and the text in front of her was all a blur. Despite her best efforts, she had to re-read the sentences over and over again, feeling her face heating up under the pressure of not being able to perform.
"Don't you have work to finish?" Zelda asked, never lifting her gaze to look at the brunette.
"I am finished for now."
Zelda tried to go on with her work, turning slightly away from her lover, and went to the beginning of the paragraph again, not remembering anything she had read. But the eyes of Lilith bore holes into her skin and soon Zelda was losing patience with the demoness.
"Would you mind stop staring at me?" Zelda said and finally lifted her gaze to stare at the brunette in irritation and anger, seeing her smile.
"Am I really throwing you that off?" Lilith asked, clearly amused.
"If you must know, yes. Yes, you are throwing me that off," Zelda spat and collected all of her papers, putting them neatly on top of each other.
"You're embarrassed," Lilith stated, watching her moves getting more rapid as being called out embarrassed her even further.
"I am NOT embarrassed!"
"Yes, you are and it's cute."
"It's not cute."
"Ha, so you admit that you're embarrassed!"
"I never said that."
"But you didn't deny it either."
"Can you quit being a pain in the..."
"Come on... Say it."
"You're impossible," Zelda said and collected her stuff, standing up.
As she walked away she just heard Lilith call after her, "You could sing more often. It really turns me on."
"Over my dead body," was all Zelda said before she left the room gracefully.
---
just a cute one-shot I had in mind. Nothing grand and don't mind the lack of effort that went into it. I am sorry. I just want to write some fluff.