This is for @witcher-trash. You know why, sweet. Don't let 'em get you down!
Primary School teacher Coën Griffiths is much beloved by his Year 5 class. His Teaching Assistant, a greying lady by the name of Marlene, retires after forty years of service at the school. Her replacement couldn't be more radically different. Lambert Morhen looks like he would be more at home working in a PRU than a Primary School, with two scars down his face, dark hair and a stern frown, but he quickly proves himself to be organised, highly intelligent and efficient.
The kids fall in love with him quickly. They appreciate his no-nonsense attitude as much as they love his jokes. He can explain things in a way they can understand. Suddenly, numbers aren't as scary and words aren't too difficult. Lambert wins over the most difficult child in the class in two weeks; the one that throws chairs and gets overstimulated, whose parents haven't attended a single parents' evening since he arrived three years ago. Coën walks in to find that child sounding out his phonic sounds at Lambert's side. All Lambert does is encourage him, nudge him, tap the page when the child's attention wanders. When parents ask their children why their TA is so grumpy, the kids are quick to correct them: Mr Morhen isn't grumpy, he's just sad sometimes. He never told them anything, but kids just know, y'know?
Coën and Lambert head out to the pub some evenings after all the marking's done (a rarity in itself), and Coën learns more about Lambert. He was taken into care at a young age. Without his foster father, he would have amounted to nothing. So, rather than use his engineering degree to earn a six figure salary, he decided he'd give something back to those who mattered most. Kids like him. It was difficult not to be fond of the scowly, warm-hearted grump after that.
But Coën's favourite afternoons are those when they pack the literacy books away and Lambert takes the music lessons. He pulls out his acoustic guitar and every child grabs their sheet music to sing along with him. It's on one such afternoon as they sing "How Far I'll Go" from Moana that Coën realises that his feelings are blossoming into something beyond a friendly fondness. He might be falling in love.
The first "Mr Morhen Hearts Mr Griffiths" piece of art appears a week later. They did finger painting and Lambert has been given a splodge of black hair, while Coën gets his trademark knitted vest and shirt. Lambert and Coën stand shoulder to shoulder, staring at it on the drying rack, neither of them talking for some time.
Coën clears his throat. "Would you, uh, like to go to dinner with me?"
Lambert hums thoughtfully, one eyebrow quirked to his peaked hairline. "I'd like that."