Worlds Apart; A Dovesso Fanfic

4

LESSO'S POV

"What is it now Lady Lesso." Clarissa said, not looking up from her papers.

"Don't 'Lady Lesso' me!" Lesso said exasperatedly.

"Well, then how about you tell me your first name." Clarissa replied, flipping a page.

"That's a no too! Ugh, that's not the point!" Lesso crossed over to Dovey's desk and sat down.

"What is so important that you have to come and bother me in the middle of the school day?!" Clarissa exclaimed, as she finally looked up from her papers. "Look, if you want to talk about the fire, I've already had that taken care of, if you want to talk about your 'underachiever' reader, I don't want to hear it."

Lesso's eyes widened at the chill in Professor Dovey's voice. She'd never heard her fellow dean so angry.

"I can leave if you have work to do." Lesso stood up and brushed off her dress.

"No, please," Dovey said, her voice softening. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to act so harshly Lady Lesso. I just have way too much on my mind."

"It's alright Clarissa. What's wrong?" Lesso sat back down, genuinely worried about the teacher.

"It's just, I'm worried for the girl, Agatha. She has great power, but-"

Lesso found herself barley paying attention to Clarissa's words, instead she just watched  her talk. Dovey's nose always scrunched a tiny bit whenever she was worried, and Lesso found it cute.

"Hellooooo! Anybody home?" Clarissa exclaimed, waving her hand in front of Lesso's face.

"Shoot, sorry Dovey. I guess my mind is more preoccupied than I thought." Lesso sat up and blinked her eyes.

"Well if you don't want to listen to me, the door is right there." Clarissa rolled her eyes and went back to grading papers.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying about Agatha?" Lesso said, as she tried to get the professor to talk again.

"It's not important." Clarissa said, a hint of ice in her voice.

"It's important to me," Lesso reached her hand across the desk and placed it on Clarissa's. "I think you need to take a break. This work is wearing you thin. Let's take a walk down by the lake."

Clarissa looked up from her work and smiled. "I'm fine, I don't need a break. What I need is to finish reading these papers."

"Clarissa, just a short walk around the lake, then I'll leave you alone for the rest of the week."

"Now that's quite temping," Dovey smirked and stood up. "Fine, but I want to hear about all your problems first. Ok?"

"Nuh uh. Then you won't talk about yours at all. And you'll carry all those worries for the rest of the week. Sometimes you need to let it out."

"Would you look at that, the dean of Evil, giving mental health advice!" Clarissa pushed Lesso jokingly, and Lesso smiled. "C'mon milady."

"It's been awhile since I head that!"

As the two deans made their way down to the lake they talked some, but mostly just looked around, they admired the beauty of the grounds, and kept an eye out for any students who might cause trouble.

"You know, I'm doing that breathing thing again." Clarissa finally said as they reached the edge of the lake.

"Clarissa-" Lesso stopped and turned to her colleague.

"It's fine, most likely."

"You and I both know that's not the case."

"Look at you being all caring."

"I feel disgusting doing it, but you're the best dean-"

"So you admit it."

"-for good, and I don't want anything to happen to you. Your replacement would probably be Pollux, and I'd rather work with Uma than him."

"Aw, and here I thought you actually cared about me."

"I care about you, but not in that icky, feely way. Ok. Also, stop changing the topic. We're supposed to be talking about your problems, not my feelings." Lesso brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and continued to walk so as to hide the redness of her face.

"The breathing thing, it's nothing. Ok. I'm really fine. I'm just worried about my students. So many of them seem so shallow, I know they have goodness in them, but I still worry. Are these the children who will form the future stories for the readers. Those readers will look up to my students, and here they are, excluding others based upon looks." Clarissa said as she rushed to catch up with Lesso.

"Clarissa, I trust you and your judgement, but you need to calm down. Those students will straighten out. Especially if they have you teaching them. By the time they go out into the world, those kids will be some of the most caring people in the endless woods. Don't worry about it. Ok? Breathe." Lesso finally stopped at a bench and sat down.

"Thank you Lady Lesso. I'm glad someone at least trusts my judgment," Clarissa said as she sat down next to Lesso. "However, I thought you said we'd walk around the lake."

"Of course Clarissa." Lesso nodded her head. "As to walking around the lake, we will, eventually, however, you need to sit down and relax a second. I find it's easier to talk when you're not walking beside someone walking much faster than you cause they're a head and a half taller than you." Lesso smirked down at her colleague and saw a faint smile on Clarissa's face.

"Wow. That's a low blow. Even for you." Dovey said, as she sat up straight and glared at Lesso.

"I do my best to annoy you 'darling'" Lesso said in Dovey's sweet voice.

"That's it. I'm leaving!" Clarissa stood up and began to walk away.

"Wait. 'Rissa." Lesso said, as she rushed after Dovey.

"Rissa," Clarissa turned and raised her eyebrows. "What is that about?"

"Ew, gross, don't even, I said Clarissa, you just need hearing aids." Lesso exclaimed, as her ears turned pink.

"Sure 'Esso'." Clarissa smirked at Lesso. "Oh ew. I won't tell anyone if you don't. Esso and Rissa are both horrible nicknames."

"Yeah." Lesso said, her thoughts drifting.

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"Well then what has the amazing Lady Lesso cooked up for us today."

"Nada. I can go without setting a kitchen on fire about as often as when Pollux wins the body. Sorry, but I didn't bring any food."

"That's ok darling, I brought enough food for the both of us. This picnic won't go up in flames, unlike your kitchen."

✩ ✩ ✩