Title: Everyone Ships It
Fandom: Star Wars Legends: X-wing (high school au)
Rating: G
Word Count: 588
Characters/Ships: Wedge Antilles/Iella Wessiri, Corran Horn
Fandom: Star Wars Legends: X-wing (high school au)
Rating: G
Word Count: 588
Characters/Ships: Wedge Antilles/Iella Wessiri, Corran Horn
Summary: “I'm supposed to tell you that you should 'totally get together with Mrs. Wessiri because she likes you, too, and all the the girls ship it.'"
Across the teachers' lounge, Iella is laughing at something Winter has told her, and Wedge can't help watching. Iella is so beautiful when she smiles, and she doesn't do it very often. Not that he can blame her. He can't even imagine what losing one's spouse must do to a person. Iella has improved a lot from the quiet ghost of a woman she was at the beginning of the school year, but she's still not quite herself.
Wedge wishes he could offer her some kind of comfort, but he doesn't want to make things awkward. He can admit, at least to himself, that he was interested in her back before he knew she even had a husband. And now...he doesn't want those feelings he can't quite quash to make things harder for her.
So he makes himself turn away, put away his lunch things, and leave the room. He steps out the door and is startled when he almost runs into Corran Horn, one of his students, lounging beside the door in his letterman jacket, doing his best to radiate cool.
Wedge raises an eyebrow. “Something you needed, Corran?”
Corran hunches a little more, casting a glance to his left. Wedge follows his gaze to see the rest of Corran's gang of friends huddled at the other end of the hall. The usual suspects are all there – Erisi, Bror, Ooryl, Mirax – and they're watching, but when Wedge looks they make a good show of pretending to be occupied with each other.
“Okay, Bror dared me,” Corran says quickly, straightening. “I'm supposed to tell you that you should 'totally get together with Mrs. Wessiri because she likes you, too, and all the the girls ship it.' Whatever that means.”
“What?” Wedge repeats dully.
“I don't know,” Corran answers, waving an arm awkwardly. His face is starting to turn red, but he steadfastly ignores it. “He just said to say it to you and I'd get ten bucks.”
Wedge rallies, putting on his best Mr. Antilles Is Unimpressed face. “Do you often interfere in your teachers' love lives for petty cash?”
Corran shrugs. “It's less effort than a job.”
Wedge is truly flummoxed by this. “Go back to your friends, Corran. And keep your nose in your own business from now on.”
“Yes, Mr. Antilles.” Corran makes to scurry away, then suddenly stops, turning back slowly. “For what it's worth...I think they're right. You guys could be good for each other. She could help you not be so serious all the time.”
“Beat it, Corran.”
The boy disappears, and his gang moves off down the hall, Bror Jace laughing loudly as he hands Corran a bill.
Wedge tries not to look like he's running to hide in his empty classroom. He's mortified that his interest in his married-until-very-recently coworker was so obvious their students had picked up on it. He hopes that Corran and his friends haven't pulled this sort of stunt with Iella. He should probably apologize to her either way.
On the other hand...hearing that she might actually be interested in him in return is a revelation. And if the kids had noticed that, too... Maybe he should... No. No, not yet, it's still too soon. But he can be a friend, a comfort, more than he has been. And if someday down the road it becomes more, he'll be happy. And if it doesn't, and they remain just friends and coworkers, he'll still be happy to have Iella and her smile in his life.
Across the teachers' lounge, Iella is laughing at something Winter has told her, and Wedge can't help watching. Iella is so beautiful when she smiles, and she doesn't do it very often. Not that he can blame her. He can't even imagine what losing one's spouse must do to a person. Iella has improved a lot from the quiet ghost of a woman she was at the beginning of the school year, but she's still not quite herself.
Wedge wishes he could offer her some kind of comfort, but he doesn't want to make things awkward. He can admit, at least to himself, that he was interested in her back before he knew she even had a husband. And now...he doesn't want those feelings he can't quite quash to make things harder for her.
So he makes himself turn away, put away his lunch things, and leave the room. He steps out the door and is startled when he almost runs into Corran Horn, one of his students, lounging beside the door in his letterman jacket, doing his best to radiate cool.
Wedge raises an eyebrow. “Something you needed, Corran?”
Corran hunches a little more, casting a glance to his left. Wedge follows his gaze to see the rest of Corran's gang of friends huddled at the other end of the hall. The usual suspects are all there – Erisi, Bror, Ooryl, Mirax – and they're watching, but when Wedge looks they make a good show of pretending to be occupied with each other.
“Okay, Bror dared me,” Corran says quickly, straightening. “I'm supposed to tell you that you should 'totally get together with Mrs. Wessiri because she likes you, too, and all the the girls ship it.' Whatever that means.”
“What?” Wedge repeats dully.
“I don't know,” Corran answers, waving an arm awkwardly. His face is starting to turn red, but he steadfastly ignores it. “He just said to say it to you and I'd get ten bucks.”
Wedge rallies, putting on his best Mr. Antilles Is Unimpressed face. “Do you often interfere in your teachers' love lives for petty cash?”
Corran shrugs. “It's less effort than a job.”
Wedge is truly flummoxed by this. “Go back to your friends, Corran. And keep your nose in your own business from now on.”
“Yes, Mr. Antilles.” Corran makes to scurry away, then suddenly stops, turning back slowly. “For what it's worth...I think they're right. You guys could be good for each other. She could help you not be so serious all the time.”
“Beat it, Corran.”
The boy disappears, and his gang moves off down the hall, Bror Jace laughing loudly as he hands Corran a bill.
Wedge tries not to look like he's running to hide in his empty classroom. He's mortified that his interest in his married-until-very-recently coworker was so obvious their students had picked up on it. He hopes that Corran and his friends haven't pulled this sort of stunt with Iella. He should probably apologize to her either way.
On the other hand...hearing that she might actually be interested in him in return is a revelation. And if the kids had noticed that, too... Maybe he should... No. No, not yet, it's still too soon. But he can be a friend, a comfort, more than he has been. And if someday down the road it becomes more, he'll be happy. And if it doesn't, and they remain just friends and coworkers, he'll still be happy to have Iella and her smile in his life.
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