#because I did in fact teach kindergarteners for one school year so

[spencerreidenjoyer]

lovebird | spencer reid x reader

Spencer's little girl sets you and her dad up.

wc: 3.3k, rating: teen

tags/warnings: 2+1, kindergarten teacher!reader, single girldad!spencer, fluff, meet-cute, implied sex, use of "Y/N" because this fic would've been impossible to write without it oops

a/n: not sure what possessed me to write this, but i finished writing this in about 2 days lmao. girldad!spencer loml. thank you to my lovely friends over on twitter who fuelled my insanity. for this fic i have season 10 spencer in mind/later seasons spencer who's just full on daddy at that point <3 (also crossposted on ao3!)

Sunday

You’re at the grocery store in a ratty t-shirt and sweats, picking out fucking cereal when you hear the pitter-patter of footsteps running towards you, and a sweet, high-pitched voice calling your name. 

It’s one of your students, Ellie Reid, holding a box of cereal that’s half her height, and she comes up to you in the aisle. 

“Ellie? What are you doing here?” You ask sweetly, pushing your hair out of your face before you squat down to meet Ellie’s height. 

“My daddy wanted to get groceries. He said we would go together. But he had to pick up the phone, and I wanted to help look for the things Daddy needs.”

Her dad, Dr. Spencer Reid, is an FBI agent and a single dad to Ellie. He’s one of the best parents you’ve had this year – the fancy kindergarten you teach at lends itself to spoiled brats and uptight parents, but Dr. Reid and Ellie are a welcome reprieve in a usually stuffy environment. You’re pleased to see her here, on a weekend, but less pleased with the fact that she’s alone. 

“Oh, wow! You’re so helpful, Ellie,” you say, holding her arm gently. “I’m sure your dad is really thankful. But you shouldn’t have walked off alone. I’m glad you found me.”

“Why?” 

“Because it’s not safe for you to walk around alone in the grocery store, Ellie,” you smile. “Let’s go find your dad.”

Ellie nods, her cheeks ruddy and when you hold out your hand for her to hold, Ellie’s little hand wraps around two of your fingers. “Did you come to the grocery store alone? It’s not safe.”

“I did come alone. But I’m an adult, so it’s okay. You’re little, Ellie, so you should only walk around with your dad.” You lead Ellie down aisle after aisle, walking past canned food and bags of chips and walls lined with bottles of drinks. 

“But you shouldn’t walk around alone if it’s dangerous. When we find my daddy maybe he can protect you too!” Ellie says confidently. 

When did this grocery store feel so big? You can’t find Dr. Reid anywhere, and you feel a rising panic in your chest. You have half a mind to pull up the school’s contact information in your phone, but you hear Dr. Reid’s voice calling his daughter’s name, and both you and Ellie turn around.

“Daddy!” Ellie shrieks, almost dropping the box of cereal in her arms as she dashes toward her father. She almost trips as she closes the distance, thankfully landing in her father’s arms before she does fall. 

Dr. Reid scoops her up, holding her tightly. “You had me worried, sweetheart.”

“Sorry, Daddy,” Ellie mumbles against her father’s shoulder. “But I found Miss Y/N and she helped me find you!”

“I told her not to run off alone in the future,” you say. “Right, Ellie?” 

The sweet girl nods. She giggles into Dr. Reid’s shoulder, and his hand comes up to pat her back, a soothing gesture.

“I’m glad it was you she bumped into,” Dr. Reid says, sighing with relief. “I wouldn’t know I would do with myself if–”

“It’s okay, Dr. Reid,” you assure him. “It’s not a problem at all. You’re– You’re doing a great job with her.”

“Thank you for saying that. I– I’ll see you at the parent-teacher meeting next Friday, right?”

“Yeah, next Friday.” You smile at him. “Have a good day, Dr. Reid. Bye, Ellie!”

“Bye!” Ellie, sweet girl, waves excitedly, her gummy smile overtaking her face. Dr. Reid walks toward the checkout, holding Ellie with one hand and pushing his shopping cart with the other. 

You feel how warm your cheeks are when Dr. Reid and Ellie are finally out of sight, your hand clammy around the handle of your shopping basket. You slap your cheek lightly, willing yourself to pull yourself together.

The way your heart flutters whenever you see Dr. Reid is a cause for concern, and you wonder if you should see a doctor about it. 

Dr. Spencer Reid is a marvel. He’s admirable, juggling his job at the FBI with raising a little girl all on his own, and he’s both a great profiler and a great dad. He’s incredibly sweet with Ellie and incredibly kind to you, which you unfortunately don’t get a lot, especially with the kinds of parents you deal with. It doesn’t help that he’s incredibly handsome: his hair is slightly long, wavy and messy in a way that frames his face just right, not to mention the stubble that makes him look that much hotter.

Your little crush on Dr. Reid is certainly inappropriate, but over the parent-teacher meetings and interacting with him when he drops off and picks up his daughter from school, you can’t help yourself from falling for him. 

Tuesday

Ellie Reid is a smart girl, that you know, but you're blindsided by her genius one day at recess. You’re monitoring all the kids at the playground when Ellie comes up to you. She has a contorted look on her face but she says, “Miss Y/N, I fell.”

“You did? Are you feeling okay?” You ask, squatting down to match her height. You look at her knees – not a speck of dirt nor a red spot from falling down.

“My knee hurts. Can you call my daddy?”

“Does it hurt badly? I’ll take you to see the nurse if it does,” you say, not entirely understanding the situation. You’ve never met a four-year-old who wouldn’t be in tears over tripping and falling, even if the injury wasn’t severe. 

The look on Ellie’s face makes you think that she’s trying to match your expectations of what she should be feeling. “It doesn't hurt bad. I just want my daddy to come pick me up. Can you call him?”

You try not to furrow your brow at the strange request. You’re usually trusted to handle any little accidents and mishaps with the children, but at Ellie’s insistence of calling her father, you feel like you should. 

(It’s certainly not spurred on by seeing him at the grocery store last weekend.)

“Alright, Ellie. I’ll call your dad and see what he says, okay?”

“Okay, Miss Y/N,” Ellie says, smiling at you. You get her to sit down on the bench next to you and your co-teacher to oversee the kids before fish your phone out from your pocket to dial Dr. Reid’s number. As you wait for the call to go through, Ellie looks at you with wide, expectant eyes. You smile at her.

On the third ring, Dr. Reid picks up. “Hello?” 

“Hi, Dr. Reid. This is Miss Y/N from Ellie’s school. I’m calling to inform you that Ellie fell on the playground during recess.”

“Oh, my. Is she alright?” You hear Dr. Reid’s voice grow concerned. Ellie looks up at you, and you look the little girl up and down one more time just to be sure.

“Yes, she is. I checked and she doesn’t have any scrapes or bruises. She says her knee hurts, but that she’s also fine. Usually, we don’t call parents over small mishaps like this, but Ellie insisted that I call you.”

“I see,” Dr. Reid hums, his tone indecipherable. “Can I talk to her?”

“Sure thing, Dr. Reid,” you say. You hold the phone out to Ellie as you put the call on speakerphone and tell her, “Your dad wants to speak to you, Ellie.”

Ellie is polite, but clearly excited as she yells, “Hi, Daddy!” 

“Woah! Hi, Ellie,” Dr. Reid laughs, his serious tone while he was speaking to you gone, talking to his daughter with a delightful whimsy. “Miss Y/N told me you fell on the playground today. Does it hurt?”

“No,” Ellie answers, but she looks up quickly at you. “I mean, yes. Just a little. It doesn’t hurt too bad anymore.”

You hide your smile, and you think you can hear the smile in Dr. Reid’s voice as he says, “Okay, sweet girl, that’s good.”

“Can you come and pick me up right now, Daddy?” Ellie asks, a little whiny. It’s adorable, though. 

“Well, it’s only ten in the morning, honey,” Dr. Reid bargains. “And I know you have art class later, right? Don’t you want to stay around for that?”

“I do!” Ellie says eagerly. “Oh, I love art class!”

“I know you do, honey,” Dr. Reid assures. “So, do you feel okay enough to stick around in class until Daddy comes to pick you up at the end of the day?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Ellie nods, even though Dr. Reid can’t see her. “But you have to come pick me up!”

“I always do, Ellie,” Dr. Reid laughs, making Ellie laugh along too. “Okay, honey. Go on and play with your friends. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay! Bye, Daddy! I love you!”

“Bye! I love you too, Ellie!” Dr. Reid matches Ellie’s excitable energy, and Ellie giggles before she runs off to play again. His voice returns to a calm but engaged sort of energy. “Well, that was something.”

“She seems fine,” you say, switching the speakerphone off as you hold your phone back up to your ear. “I’m sorry to bother you in the middle of your work day, Dr. Reid.”

“Oh, please, it’s not a bother at all,” Dr. Reid laughs gently. “I love talking to Ellie. She might miss me or something, if she had to fake a fall so you would call me.”

“Perhaps,” you say, slightly surprised that Dr. Reid would be so quick to call out his daughter’s bluff. Some of the other parents would rip your throat out if you even insinuated their child was in the wrong. “I’ll still keep an eye out for her.”

“Thanks, Miss Y/N,” Dr. Reid insists. “Besides, it’s always a pleasure getting a call from you.”

You don’t remember if you thank him before he hangs up, because all you can think about is Dr. Reid saying he enjoys talking to you.

After putting your phone away, you press your hands to your warm cheeks in an effort to calm yourself and your beating heart down. 

Dr. Reid is one of the last parents to come by during pickup. It’s a somewhat regular occurrence, with Dr. Reid’s busy and hectic job. You are never bothered by spending extra time with Ellie, and you know Dr. Reid always tries his best to pick Ellie up as soon as he can. He usually makes regular pickup so you never get to exchange more than a few words with him, but days like today aren’t necessarily rare either. But considering your interaction on Sunday, you’re secretly pleased with how it’s worked out. 

Only you and Ellie are left in the classroom, you having told your co-teacher to clock out first. You’re pleasantly surprised when there’s a knock on the door frame, Dr. Reid standing there in a cardigan and a button-up shirt with his dress pants. “Ellie!”

His hair is somehow more fluffy and messy than you’d seen him at the grocery store, but it just makes him look even more soft and domestic. You try not to look at Dr. Reid with hearts in your eyes as Ellie shrieks and runs towards him, Dr. Reid picking her up easily and swinging her around before he holds her tight. “Hi, sweet girl.”

“Daddy!” Ellie giggles. “I missed you today.”

“I missed you too, honey,” Dr. Reid coos, pressing a kiss to the top of Ellie’s head. Your insides melt, gooey at the tooth-rottingly sweet display in front of you. “Were you a good girl for Miss Y/N today?”

“Uh-huh!” Ellie nods, her gummy smile absolutely adorable. 

“She was a pleasure,” you add. “Hello, Dr. Reid.”

“Hello again.” Dr. Reid smiles. “It’s nice to see you. Are you doing well?”

“Yes, I am. Other than Ellie’s little incident, today was thankfully uneventful. Thank you for asking.”

Dr. Reid’s face scrunches up in an extremely endearing way, like it’s obvious that he’d want to know about… you. “Of course. I like to know you’re doing well. It’s great to hear.”

You feel like you don’t know what to say to that, perhaps a little too caught up in your little crush on him to come up with a coherent response. You laugh shyly, tucking your hair behind your ear. Dr. Reid has set Ellie down, and she wanders around the classroom, fidgeting with the pencils on the tables, but doesn’t stray too far from her dad. “Ellie seems to be fine from earlier, but you might want to check in with her again.”

“I will,” Dr. Reid says, nodding. “Oh! I almost forgot–”

You look on as Dr. Reid fumbles in his satchel, pulling a crumpled paper bag out. The paper bag looks bulky, oil stains seeped through on the sides and on the bottom. “Oh, it looks bad. It’s good, I promise– It’s a chocolate muffin from this really good bakery near my office. I just thought I’d get you one. Since you’re so helpful with Ellie. Especially today.”

Dr. Reid holds it out for you, and you scramble to step forward and take it. “Thank you, Dr. Reid, you- You didn’t have to. It’s my job to look after Ellie, after all. Not that it’s a burden, or just a job, I mean– Ellie’s great. She’s one of our brightest, but don’t tell any of the other parents that.”

Dr. Reid smiles so bright you feel like you could feel the warmth radiating from him. “I won’t, if I bump into any of them at the parent-teacher meeting.”

You bite your lip, smiling, shy at the attention Dr. Reid gives you. You think he’s flirting(?) with you, but you try to remain professional. You clear your throat. “Thank you, Dr. Reid.” 

“Thank you again, Miss Y/N. I mean it.” Dr. Reid asserts, and you feel your cheeks flush. “Tonight is pizza night, so Ellie and I should be making our way home right about now.”

“Pizza!” Ellie yells, giddy, causing both you and Dr. Reid to laugh. She zooms past you to stand next to her dad. 

“Thank you, Dr. Reid. I’ll see you proper on Friday,” you say, nodding your head slightly. “And I’ll see you, Ellie, tomorrow, yeah?”

“Bye, Miss Y/N!” Ellie waves frantically. Dr. Reid joins her in her waving, equally silly. 

“I look forward to seeing you then, Miss Y/N,” Dr. Reid smiles. “Bye.”

“Bye!” you reply, trying not to sound too eager, and then Dr. Reid ducks out of the classroom with Ellie in hand. You feel like you’re swooning so hard you might faint.

Friday

Parent-teacher meetings go smoothly, thankfully. There are parents who only bother to hear the praise you give their children, so ignorant to the criticisms of their children that you try not to make too obvious. After seeing nineteen sets of parents, Dr. Spencer Reid is your last of the day. You don’t want to say you’ve been waiting for this all day, but checking off the nineteen sets of parents before this has only made you more and more excited. 

Dr. Reid finally enters the classroom, two minutes early for his slot, but he’s alone. 

“Where’s Ellie? She’s totally allowed to sit in for these meetings too.”

“She’s at my boss’ place for a playdate with his son,” Dr. Reid says. “Actually, that sounds pretty weird, doesn’t it? My daughter, having a playdate with my boss’ son?”

“Not at all. They say it takes a village to raise a child. I’m glad your colleagues are so helpful with Ellie.”

“They really are,” Dr. Reid asserts, smiling. “Hotch– My boss, I mean– offered, knowing I had this meeting.”

“That’s really nice of him,” you nod. “So, about Ellie…”

“Please tell me you only have good things to say,” Dr. Reid jokes, and you try very hard not to swoon. 

“Essentially, yes,” you nod. “Ellie is such a bright girl, and she’s so sweet. She’s always helpful with her classmates and polite to everyone and the teachers too. Again, don’t tell this to the other parents, but Ellie’s set high standards for the rest of the class.”

“You’re telling me an awful lot that I shouldn’t be telling the other parents,” Dr. Reid grins. “You sure you aren’t playing favourites?”

“You certainly are my favourite,” you say before you can catch yourself, and Dr. Reid looks at you with wide eyes. You imagine you look equally shocked. “I’m sorry, Dr. Reid, I didn't mean to say that.”

Dr. Reid cocks his head, a little smile toying on his lips. “Miss Y/N, did I ever tell you what I do for the FBI?”

You have no idea how this relates to how unprofessional and inappropriate you are being. You shake your head anyway, too afraid to say anything anymore before you say something even more embarrassing. 

“I’m a profiler, Miss Y/N. I use psychology and study behaviour to catch serial killers,” Dr. Reid explains, using his hands to articulate his point. Your eyes dart down to the motion; but your gaze quickly flits back up to his face. “In general, I’m good at reading people.”

“Is that so?” You gulp. Is he able to read you?

“I don’t mean to profile you, Miss Y/N, I mean it,” Dr. Reid sounds a little apologetic. “But I can’t help but notice the way you lean toward me when we’re speaking, the way you fidget with your hands a little, the way you can almost meet my eyes, but you still seem a little bashful about it. I either intimidate you, or…”

“Or..?” 

“I’m sorry if this is too forward, but would you like to get dinner with me?”

“What?” You ask, disbelieving. “Dinner?”

“You- You’re interested in me too, aren’t you?”

“Too?” You gape, sounding like a parrot as you repeat his words, simply unable to wrap your head around the fact that Ellie Reid’s young, hot, genius father just asked you on a date. 

“I’m usually not too doubtful of my profiling skills, but beautiful women like you make me second-guess if I’m reading this right.” Dr. Reid laughs, avoiding looking at you. 

“Dr. Reid, I would love to get dinner with you,” You say, trying to sound confident. 

Dr. Reid beams as he meets your eyes. “Oh, thank God.”

“Cheesy that you’re calling me beautiful,” you laugh bashfully, waving him off. 

“I mean it!” Dr. Reid insists. “And, um– Would you want to do dinner after this? If you don’t have any other meetings, of course. Or any other plans– you’d probably have plans on a Friday night, right? Way to be presumptuous–”

“Dr. Reid! I don’t have plans tonight. A dinner date sounds great,” you laugh.

“Great! Great, good. I’m glad.” Dr. Reid says, looking a little giddy that you’d taken him up on it. “Also, um- I love when people call me Dr. Reid, but please just call me Spencer. Do you think people would get the wrong idea if you called me Dr. the whole time?” 

You cackle, Spencer looking thoroughly pleased at making you laugh. 

“Okay, Spencer,” you try his first name, and it rolls off your tongue with ease. “Let me pack up and then we can go get dinner.”

“I like when you say my name,” Spencer smiles. “What’re you feeling for dinner?”

If you and Spencer kiss at the end of your dinner date in front of your apartment door, that’s between you and him. 

You pulling Spencer into your apartment with your hands fisted in his hair should also stay between you and him. 

It doesn’t entirely stay between you and him, though, as Spencer calls his boss to turn Ellie’s playdate into a sleepover before he rolls over to kiss you and take you all over again. 

[preciouslandmermaid]

💐💐💐

imagine being a kindergarten teacher who meets reid

maybe its thru JJ, maybe you've got Henry in your class, and she kindly, warmly strikes a friendship with you after Henry moves into 1st grade. and its a little unorthodox but jj and her husband are always willing to help out (when their schedules can allow) with school events and so yeah, you become friends.

and when jj introduces you to her friends/colleagues - there is of course a little bit of an intimidation factor (because hello...they are fbi) but penelope makes you feel so welcome (because of course she does. and you tell her your students would love her. and she offers to teach a tech class and youre like ok they're five but yes let's do it) and morgan shamelessly flirting, and emily being hot and intimidating and then there's reid, quiet, awkward, wont-shake-your-hand reid.

but there's something to it - a mutual nerdiness, perhaps, or how reid doesn't make you feel "stupid" just because you're an elementary school teacher and not a professor at a college (despite the fact that in many places you need a least a master's to teach).

imagine weeks later when you run into reid at the coffee shop. completely random. the sky is gray, uninteresting, and promising rain. he surprises you by remembering your name before there's a shy yet earnest quip when he says he's got an "eidetic memory." and you laugh warmly and spencer thinks its one of the best sounds he's heard all morning.

and it goes slowly from there, but it moves naturally, like a caterpillar forming its chrysalis

(when you tell reid this, somewhere after the 4 month mark since you've long stopped counting individual dates, he says; "did you know the word comes from the greek word 'khrusos' - which means gold - because of the gold color or metallic sheen of some pupae".

and in that moment, that singular moment, you admire the honey-gold tint of his eyes in the late afternoon sun spilling luminescence across the sidewalks and across shiny car windshields and think that you could already see the shape and color of whatever butterfly that was going to burst from its cocoon).

one time you refused to come over his apartment because "the kids used glitter today" and you didn't want to get it all over his place. so he came over instead, and you watched the iridescent sparkles swirl down the bathtub drain together.

imagine spencer reid laying his head in your lap, something heavy and unspoken between you, shaped in the spread of his fingers across your hips, in the erratic pulse of his heart pressing into your shins

the school doesn't celebrate Halloween, but they have an annual "trunk or treat" where people CAN dress up and trick-or-treat out of the trunks of their cars and spencer starts helping you, decorating the trunk with fake cobwebs, and skulls, and eventually diving into convoluted themes that you're not convinced kids aged 5-10 are totally going to get.

"it's jaws." he says, holding a shark head made of paper mache, "you know, the 1975 film? you said we couldn't do slasher horror movies because they're too gory for the kids but i'd argue that this movie stands alone as a great horror film with how Spielberg creates consistent tension throughout the whole film considering we don't see the shark until an hour and twenty-one minutes into the run time."

(the kids don't really get it, it's true. "sharks aren't monsters." they would say, or "sharks aren't scary." or "is this from Baby Shark?" but you and spencer have fun, passing out candy, sharing small looks to each other--so that makes it all worth it).

imagine something soft, sweet, something quiet shared over coffee with spencer. something gentle amidst all the chaos, the heartache, and stress of his day-to-day job.

"I don't know how you do it," you tell him, "seeing the worst of what the world has to offer day in and day out."

his long fingers stroke the underside of your jaw, "i don't know how you manage a room full of fifteen 5 and 6-year-olds." he pulls a face. "especially with the germs."

imagine bringing spencer lunch at the office - earning the knowing, sly looks from his friends and team, knowing you can't hide against a room full of profilers and knowing it doesn't really matter anyways.

:) ok that's all i got. <3

[janeyseymour]

Never In a Million Years... Unless...- pt. 1

back on my bullshit and here with this for you

summary: Melissa feels a certain way about everything. And you? You're just happy to be there.

WC: ~1.8k

Melissa Schemmenti never wanted to be a mother. From the time she was little, she knew that she never wanted to have her own children. After having to take care of most of her siblings after her parents’ devastating divorce and stepping into a more maternal role at the ripe age of ten, the redhead knew what it took. She never wanted to be in that position again. Cooking, cleaning, running to the bus stop to make sure siblings got to school on time before attempting to get herself an education in a rightly manner was more than enough mothering than Melissa knew she ever wanted to have to do.

And she stood by that as she grew older. In fact, that single fact alone ruined quite a few relationships in the woman’s past.

“I don’t want children,” she would tell her partners. They would either try to sway her into changing her mind, or they would outright tell her that the relationship wouldn’t work out. Melissa found that she almost liked when they would just end it right there instead of trying to drag out something that would never work because of her stubborn position on the matter. The only person who didn’t push the idea of children on the woman was Joe- and she ended up married to him. Of course, she divorced him later on, but that’s besides the point.

All that being said though, Melissa Schemmenti knew that children were destined to be in her life one way or another- which led her to teaching. And teaching filled that hole in her heart of not having her own children. Some days, she almost wished she had her own children, specifically after her school children did something absolutely precious. But then there were the days where her school children were absolute menaces, and she was beyond grateful that she didn’t have to go home to her own little monsters (and she knows how Schemmenti children can be).

She led her life that way for oh so long, brushing off questions of when she was going to settle down again and finally have the children that others so desperately wanted her to have.

And then you came along- not that that changed her outlook on getting remarried and having children. But having you come into her life… it was nice. It was different. Melissa genuinely liked having you around, something that she couldn’t say about most of the people she worked with.

It had started because you were a new teacher at Abbott- a new kindergarten teacher to help take the load off of Barbara Howard. Quite frankly, the two veteran teachers weren’t thrilled with your appearance, but once they realized that you truly did have what it took to stay at the elementary school, they welcomed you with open arms- at least somewhat open arms.

And then one day, it changed. The redhead knew how perfect you were with your students, how you helped her best friend with the challenges that came with teaching at an underfunded and, at times, poorly run school, how your heart was in the right place… and that were absolutely stunning to look at. But when she was able to actual witness the magic that you seem to hold, she couldn’t stop herself from asking you out any longer. 

Everything that she stood for was laid out on the table right away, and you respected that. Hell, you leaned into it and promised her that the feelings she had about every matter on the table were valid. 

Your relationship with the sometimes brash and irascible second grade teacher was one of, if not the, healthiest relationships you had ever fostered. She had boundaries, you had your own boundaries, and neither of you crossed those lines. And if you did? The night was spent talking it out in a mature and calm manner, often times leading to making it up to each other in sweet and honest ways.

At this point, the two of you have been dating for a few years, and things still couldn’t be any better.

After a slight hiccup in the road, you’re living together. Domestic life could not come easier for the two of you. It is a blessing to be able to wake up to those sparkling emerald eyes, spend the morning getting ready together, have lunch together, cozy up on the couch after a long day with a warm meal, and then retire to the bedroom where you could fall asleep to the gentle beating of her heart.

Life is perfect with Melissa. There is nothing that you would change about her, and she wouldn’t change anything about you. Sure, the sometimes incredibly short temper on your girlfriend over menial things was challenging, and she didn’t necessarily enjoy the fact that you would kick your shoes off at the front door instead of placing them in the shoe basket you had. But every person has their faults, and you’ve come to learn that she needs space over certain things, and she’s realized that rather than pick a fight, she can just toss your shoes into the bin.

The topic of marriage and future is few and far between. Really, the only times that you ever spoke about it were when you first started dating, and then again when you took the leap and moved in with her. Neither of you were gunning for marriage or children, and that made the redhead breathe easier- knowing that you wouldn’t leave her over the topics.

You, in a blissful and loving haze, don’t know though, that things in Melissa’s mind are changing. You’re younger than her, and while you’ve made it quite clear that you’re more than okay with just being partners, doubts of you leaving her for someone else are never far from her mind. You could have anyone you wanted- a strong and beautiful man or woman who would gladly take your hand in marriage without hesitation and mother or father your children who would no doubt be the complete opposite of what a Schemmenti child is.

So when your girlfriend brings up the topic that is relatively taboo in your household, you’re taken aback.

“What?” you ask over a glass of wine, feet propped up on the coffee table.

“I don’t know, mi amore,” Melissa sighs as she plays with one of the rings sitting on your finger. Subconsciously, her hand begins to rub where an engagement and wedding ring could be sitting if you had decided that you wanted something else in life.

“Mel, I don’t need that stuff,” you tell her softly. “I just need you, and I’m the happiest woman alive.”

“I just…” the redhead trails off. “I’ve been thinking about it lately that you could have anyone you want, and maybe I’m just holding you back.”

At that you turn to face her, bringing your feet under you as you force her to look you in the eye. “Melissa Schemmenti.”

She hums, dropping her own eyes down to her lap.

“I could have anyone I want, and I have the person I want,” you tell your girlfriend fiercely. “You are not holding me back in the slightest. All I could ever want is the life I’ve built with you, and I do not need you getting in your pretty little head about the absurd ‘what if’s’ that are never going to come true. You’re stuck with me. I love you.”

“I love you too, mi amore,” she whispers as she leans in to kiss you.

“You are everything I could ever want,” you promise Melissa quietly. “Smart, sexy, confident, funny… brazen. Everything I could ever want, and then some.”

That night, just like every other night, you fall asleep with your head on her chest. And while the second grade teacher would usually follow suit relatively quickly, her mind is racing. She had always been so against marriage- giving her heart to someone else, only for it to be broken again the way Joe had broken her heart. She had spent so much time putting the pieces back together again, and even then, there were still cracks and scars from that relationship.

But… in every sense of the word other than legal parameters, the two of you are practically married as it is. You’re living together, you sleep in the same bed, she’s already given her heart to you. So maybe… just maybe, marriage isn’t quite off the table. 

She knows that you really don’t mind not being married, that you are perfectly okay with just spending the rest of your days together in the same realm that you are now, but… she also knows that you wouldn’t mind being married. And you’ve been so you about the topic of marriage- kind and understanding of her hesitations, doubts, and fears. You’ve never pushed for it because you’re so respectful of her boundaries. But she’s also heard when your coworkers ask when you’re finally going to have a ring. She’s also heard the way that you sigh softly, just the slightest bit of disappointment traceable in that little breath before smiling and saying that you don’t need one as long as you have Melissa. You’re just happy that you’re able to call her your girlfriend, your partner, the woman of your dreams.

The woman realizes that so far in this relationship, you’ve compromised on every big thing. You were willing to wait until she was ready to date, despite the fact that you knew she was into you way before she finally asked you out (she found out from Barbara that you had confided in your colleague and claimed that you were okay with waiting until Melissa came around to it herself). You were willing to accept her non-negotiable when it came to the romantic aspect of your relationship. You didn’t push her into living together until she brought up the subject, and then almost took back her offer because her own fears and doubts took over. The foundation of this relationship was mostly built upon the redhead’s views, and you were happy to go along with them because all you knew was that you wanted Melissa. 

And maybe… maybe it’s time she think about you. Of course, she still has doubts and fears about it, but jumping into a relationship with you was terrifying, and she thinks about where she is now. She said never in a million years was she going to get married again, but here she was- almost certain that at some point in the near future, she would be asking you to marry her. 

TAGS (and let me know if you want to be included!): @schemmentis @thesapphictimelady @marvel210 @itisdoctortoyousir @morgana-larkin @thesamesweetie @doesthatsuggestanythingtoyou @marvels--slut @gwennybriggs @megamultifandomtrashposts @lemz378 @http-sam @melissaschemmentisbranzino @imaginesmultifandoms @sexysapphicshopowner @lilfartbox1 @maybe-a-humanbean @imlike-so-gaydude @sapphicxrat @a-queen-and-her-throne @notinmyvocab @melanielaufeyson @dvrkhcld @cosmichymns @sasheemo

[etirabys]

Apologies if this is personal and you don't want to answer (or you don't want to answer for any other reason!); if that is the case no worries. But anyway by virtue of the fact that I am (sort of) a linguist I often get curious about people's language situation. You speak English obviously but spent your childhood in Korea, and often went to the English language book store while there? What is like, your personal linguistic history? Like, what language(s) did you grow up speaking, which ones did you learn later and when, etc? How fluent do you consider yourself in both English and Korean? If you don't mind my asking.

Haha, this is a dream scenario for me (someone asking about a situation I find fascinating about myself because I've never met anyone else with that background, but is probably boring to most people). Here's a longer story than you probably want:

My parents emigrated to the US before I was born, stayed for a decade, and moved back to Korea right after I was born. They're conversational in English, and my sister (12 years my elder) is fluent. Speaking English is valuable in Korea, so they raised me to be bilingual. They taught me the alphabet, bought me English language children's books, and sent me to an English language school run by Christian missionaries for preschool, kindergarten, and part of first grade.

My sister left the country when I was three to go to a boarding school in the US, but she came back every year for holidays, spoke exclusively in English to me, and refused to let the conversation move on if I mispronounced a word.

When I was six, my parents moved further away from the missionaries' school and switched me to a neighborhood public elementary school. At this point I was mildly more fluent in English than in Korean. Reading (English books) was a self-sustaining reaction I spent every free hour on. There were fewer interesting Korean books for children. Korea had industrialized ~30 years prior, and the hangeul writing system had only been in full use ~50 years at that point. As far as I knew, there was no CS Lewis of Korea, no Tolkien, no Diana Wynne Jones. In Korean bookstores, many of the prominent books on display were translated – The Little Prince was popular for children, and there was a children's fiction fad around another French author (who afaik never made a splash in the States) whose name I forget.

So I'm reading like 10 hours a day, at the dinner table, on the escalator when my mom takes me while she's shopping, sometimes under the desk at school flipping the pages with my toes, because the teachers don't care. (This is a huge W as far as I'm concerned for Korea – public school teaching is a somewhat competitive and standardized government job, it attracts people who lack great passion for either teaching or controlling children.) Meanwhile my peers don't like me much because my vibes are rancid: I have a compulsive laugh tic I haven't gotten under control, and I don't seem to understand their preferences very well or actively seek to understand them. Fair enough. I have one friend at any given time and she's usually on the fence about me.

When I'm old enough to take the train on my own, some weekends my mom gives me 5000 won for the train ticket + lunch, and I go into Seoul to visit one bookstore that has a 10-shelf English section. I pick a book, spend the day finishing it, and go home. Instead of my English language skills lapsing and being overtaken by the language I'm immersed in, I'm going deeper into English. Which increased the disconnect between me and my peers. I remember overhearing a conversation about an anime (The Black Cat) and eagerly asking if they'd also read the Edgar Allen Poe short story. I wanted to much to talk about shared interests, but it didn't occur to me to "invite myself into their interests" by picking up the manga they talked about.

...this all made my childhood weird in ways that have shaped me hugely but are difficult to describe. I was isolated and not, happy and not, stimulated and not, developing unevenly...

At eleven I discover fanfiction.net, probably one of the most impactful events of my life. I'm running out of physical books, I've read everything five or ten times, but then the computer! has made a deal with me! It contains INFINITE LITERATURE, although sometimes people seemed to misspell things on purpose and I didn't know why. (I had, approximately, never encountered misspellings in written material before.) In return the internet would take MY SOUL FOREVER although I didn't realize this at the time. I post a 100K Harry Potter epic over the next year where Harry is trained by a special assassin cult that lives under a mountain.

My parents have no idea what is on the internet. They're on a new temporal continent with no clue there's a parasite that can turn your daughter into a fujoshi. They do know that they have a worrying child. But! Her grades are really good, especially when she's testing in English. Good enough that although they originally intended not to send me to the US (my sister got depressed and burned out, and they attributed it to sending her to a different country for school), it made much more sense for me to go. I was on track to get a full ride at an Ivy, a carrot they were Not Immune to, and I obviously despised Korea and wanted to leave.

When I arrived in the States, I was terrified of speaking English to real native speakers. My language experience was "reading/writing: 95% English, speaking/listening: 90% Korean". I could perfectly pronounce any English sentence when I tried, but I'd occasionally and bizarrely mix up R and L, or the vowel sounds "ih" and "eeh" if I weren't paying attention. This went away after a year but I felt extra shy and didn't talk much. I'd guess 80% of my social cachet in freshman year came from writing funny Facebook posts.

I remember my time in Korea without feeling bothered by any single aspect, but overall I still have a big sense of "wow I didn't like that", have avoided non-Americanized Korean people since getting here (ten years ago), and now speak Korean haltingly. I'll try to teach it to my children so that they have the option of that cultural connection, but I don't think I can do a good job. It's feels 90% true thinking/speaking Korean is just a normal skill, a thing I do sometimes on the phone – and 10% true that the happier and more whole I become in the US, the more unsettling it feels to speak Korean at all.

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

Recently, through Twitter, I have become aware of the fact that modern American parents have been very ignorant of their parental duties when it comes to their children. Parents are banding together to complain about the schools their children attend because their kids are getting bad grades in class, or they're getting detentions for doing bad consistently, or they're being held back because they're just not at the same level as their peers.

There was an entire thread of some woman whining about how the school was failing her kid, because his English class grade was so bad. There were thousands of comments agreeing and various reposts with anecdotes from other parents with similar experiences.

"My 26 y/o son can't even write a check for God's sake!"

And one single person finally replied with, "Do you guys not teach your kids anything at home before they start going to school?" Which then spawned people with actual common sense questioning the level of involvement these people had in the lives of their kids.

This is what led to a large surge of people complaining about how it's the school's job to teach them everything and they did their job just keeping them alive.

Now, I don't want to be mean, but it's gonna come across that way.

Parents are lazy these days.

When I was a child, my Nana and mom had me learning with Hooked on Phonics before I entered pre-K. I was 3 years old and already sounding out words that rhymed. I was practicing how quickly I could say them in under 30 seconds so I could progress to the next lesson.

mat hat sat that cat vat pat bat fat lat rat brat

etc...

When I was in pre-K(4 years old), they had a single, really old computer that had a bunch of Winnie the Pooh CD-ROM games. Because I always got my work done faster than everybody else, they let me use the computer because I could actually read and follow Pooh's instructions, and it kept me busy.

And when I entered kindergarten for the first time, I was really surprised to see that Hooked on Phonics was actually part of my curriculum and I was already very well ahead of everyone else. My mom and Nana took traching me very seriously. They not only read to me, but they would also get me Madeline books and cassette tapes from the children's library downtown. And then I would listen to the cassettes telling the story while reading the book at the same time to get used to the words.

At three years old, I was helping out in the kitchen, learning all of the different kitchen utensils and types of measurement. My mom often went between English, French and American Sign Language at random times so I picked up a lot of stuff that way. We never had a computer in the house for the first 12 years of my life, but I did have an old keyboard to learn how to type. Nana gave me basic piano lessons for a couple years. Mom taught me how to hem my clothes because she would buy me bigger clothes, hem them to size, and then let them out as I grew. Hell, Sperm Donor taught me how to write a check when I was 8. He was also a Financial Adviser, so I got a lot of lessons on money management, investments, and 401Ks and shit.

All these incredibly simple things ended up benefiting me later on, because I was so far ahead of all of the other students that it consistently put me at odds with them. I was better at reading, cooking, sewing, music, languages, etc... I was allowed time to do whatever I wanted while the rest of them had to catch up.

There is a lot more to being a parent than just making sure your kid eats three meals a day and doesn't die in a stupid way. And it seems like a lot of parents these days have completely forgotten that they have a duty to their kids beyond the feeding and clothing thing.

Certain things SHOULD be taught in schools, like how to balance a checkbook. But if it's clear that the school won't cover it, why aren't YOU doing something about that? And why do so many parents have no clue what the hell their kids are even getting up to in school? Why don't y'all get involved in your kid's lives?

[innytoes]

"I'm a nice person but I'm about to start throwing rocks at people.” Feels like a very Flynn to say.

Julie never expected Flynn to get into teaching. Honestly, they'd always dreamed of being on stage together, touring as Double Trouble. Except their styles of writing clashed so much it never really worked out, and then Julie got a ghost band turned human band turned international sensation. So yeah, while Flynn did make some cool remixes for the bonus track of their album, she decided her future lied elsewhere.

"It's basically the same thing," she'd joked once when they'd been hanging out in Julie's mom's studio, like the Old Days, even though that couch definitely wasn't as kind on 30-something's backs. "You have an audience. I have an audience. But if mine gets lippy, I can send them to time out."

Luke's head had popped up from his song book, but Julie pointed a warning finger at him. "No."

"Aw."

"Besides, I've realised I can achieve my ultimate childhood dream," Flynn had said.

"Become queen of the moon?" Julie asked.

"My other childhood dream: become Ms Frizzle."

And she had. Flynn had awesome, over the top outfits for just about every subject she taught, and Julie loved every selfie she sent while they were on tour. The guys had even turned it into a guessing game, trying to figure out what today's lesson was about.

Between the amazing fashion and the fact that she knew Actual Rock Star Julie Molina, Flynn was clearly the coolest teacher in school. Especially when she got Julie and The Phantoms to play at the school Christmas Charity Drive. The kids loved it. The band loved it. The teachers loved it.

The problem were the parents. Or, certain types of parents.

Julie had lost Alex to a bunch of earnest middle schoolers, Reggie to the Bake Sale, and Luke to a bunch of children who thought an electric guitar was the coolest thing. She'd been making small-talk with the lovely kindergarten teacher when Flynn flopped against the stage beside her, shoving an entire cupcake into her mouth in one go, handing the other one to Julie.

The kindergarten teacher gave them a smile, obviously used to Flynn's antics, and wandered off.

"You okay?" she said as Flynn thankfully at least chewed instead of just washing the whole thing down with soda like some kind of carbonated drink loving cobra. She patiently waited for Flynn to be finished, wincing at the sound nearby of Luke letting one of the kids try out what playing with an amp was like.

"I'm a nice person," Flynn said. "But I'm about to start throwing rocks at people."

"That bad?"

"One of the PTA moms asked me why I couldn't get Trevor Wilson instead," Flynn said. "And then tried to get me to talk to you about playing her kid's birthday party."

"Wow," Julie said.

"Fuck Debra McManning."

That name sounded vaguely familiar. The way it rolled off Flynn's tongue, she was pretty sure she cursed that woman's name a lot. "Wait, wasn't that the lady who complained you put her son in time out because he bit like three kids?"

"Yes," Flynn said, smiling a smile with gritted teeth. "And I'm not allowed to leave this room until we get the amount we need for the fundraiser, and if she talks to me again I am throwing hands. Or rocks. Or knives."

Julie knew that look. It happened right before Flynn did something they usually both regretted (because of course Julie wouldn't let her do the stupid thing alone.)

"Band huddle!" she called, decisively. Three heads popped up from various places in the gym, and her boys made their way to her.

"What's up, boss?" Luke asked, only pouting a little at being pulled away from his favourite thing: talking to people about music who were just as feral as he was. In this case, eight-year-olds who loved loud noises.

"We need to donate..."

"Five hundred twenty-seven dollars," Flynn said.

"Five hundred twenty-seven dollars," Julie repeated. "So Flynn doesn't commit manslaughter."

"Oh it won't be manslaughter," Flynn said. "It will definitely be premeditated."

"I need to taste at least five more things from the bake sale," Reggie said. "But I can start tipping well."

"Get me one of those giant cookies," Luke said, and Reggie shot him a thumbs up.

"There's an art auction in the corner, some kid drew a raccoon furry on a skateboard," Alex said. "I'm getting it for Willie. Think two hundred dollars will help me win it?"

"I'm going to get my nails painted at the booth over there," Julie said. "I'm sure their artistic vision will be worth more than they're asking."

They all looked at Luke expectantly, and he blinked, before grabbing the dinosaur wallet from the chain on his pants and giving Flynn a hundred dollars.

"Or that," Alex sighed.

"Or that," Flynn agreed. "Thank you."

"Of course," Julie said, giving her a hug. "You can't be Ms Frizzle if you're in jail."

[t-am-i-the-asshole]

AITA for telling my sister that she is insane for not teaching her daughter English?

My (20F) family is originally from Sweden. My sister Kristin (30F) was born in Sweden and was raised speaking Swedish and English. She and my parents came to the US when she was 10, and I was born not long afterwards. I was raised only speaking English. My parents did not bother having me learn Swedish because it isn't a widely-spoken language where we live, and in fact when I was little, they had a rule that Kristin could only talk to me in English. They did this because they didn't want to hinder me being able to communicate with my peers.

I've visited Sweden maybe twice when I was really little and don't have any recollections. Kristin, however, has a lot of fond memories from her childhood. Since she's moved out, she has regularly visited Sweden. She has been married to her husband, Erik (30M) for about three years. Erik is also from Sweden and came to the US in his early 20s. Erik was also raised speaking Swedish and English, but is more comfortable talking in Swedish. They have a daughter, Elsa, who 18 months old and learning to talk.

When they came over for Christmas dinner, I tried to talk to Elsa, but Kristin told me that I can only talk to Elsa in Swedish, but not English. I thought she was raising Elsa speaking both Swedish and English, but she told me that they are not going to bother teaching her English. I asked why, and Kristin told me that they want Elsa to be connected to her heritage and also because they plan on eventually moving back to Sweden. I asked if she had idea as to when they will move, and she said it could be one year, or ten years.

I told Kristin that she is doing Elsa a big disservice by not teaching her English. She told me it won't be an issue as "She'll learn it when she goes to kindergarten!" I said that I can understand wanting Elsa to know Swedis, and if they had any immediate plans to move back to Sweden, then I could understand prioritizing Swedish over English. But since they don't have any immediate plans to move back there, she should learn both languages now so she can communicate with her English-speaking relatives in the US, as well as her peers and her teachers when she goes to school. I said that not teaching Elsa any English at all is insane.

Kristin got mad at me and told me I am being xenophobic. I told her this would not be an issue if Elsa speaks English too, but because almost nobody around here speaks Swedish, she’s hindering her daughter. She said that it’s possible that by the time Elsa is ready to start school, they might have moved back to Sweden. My parents are mostly on my side but say that they understand why she’s doing this, and I was being harsh by saying that she was “insane” for not teaching her English and should be more understanding. I feel it is equally harsh for her to say I’m xenophobic. I think it’s great to be multilingual, but one needs to be able to communicate with the majority of the people where they live. But now I’m starting to feel like maybe I was too harsh.

[tiredclemont]

My family and I have had a very estranged relationship with Christianity over the years. My parents used to be VERY devout Christians, I may even consider them a bit conservative at the time. I went to a catholic school in Kindergarten, went to church every Sunday, my dad was in the choir, all of that.

We eventually left because we realized the place was just a big concert hall full of hypocrites. Even I realized this at that age, since people just complained about unrelated stuff during Sunday school instead of teaching us.

We tried many different churches, many different denominations (my favorite was the very old and very tiny Episcopal church that did sermons at like 7 in the morning and had a real silver goblet with wine), my Mom was the first to stop attending any church altogether. My dad and my brother finally settled on a Presbyterian church, but by that time I had stopped attending as well.

When we moved an hour away though, my brother stopped going. And then finally my dad stopped. He was the last to stop and hasn't found another church because of the exact reasons you and I don't. They're full of hypocrites and hateful people.

I still feel sad for him because he's one of the kindest people I know, he's been told he's one of the actual "good christians" by multiple people. So the fact that he can't have that anymore makes me sad.

But at the same time, I realize that he hasn't lost anything, he cast aside a falsehood. He sang and played trombone for something that would have made Jesus flip tables again. And he doesn't have to do that anymore.

My point is, it makes me sad that conservative Christians have completely taken over the religion's reputation and places of worship, not for my sake but for people like my dad. Hold on to the fact that no matter what you believe in, be kind to others.

[fluffyllamas-23]

hi just fyi i love jason with my entire heart and would love to read anything you wanted to tell us about him and ryan!!

omg 🥺🥺🥺 I'm so glad, I love them both a lot and I'm glad other people do too! If there's anything specific you ever want to know about them, there is not a time I will ever say no to that!

I do have a few facts about them!

Ryan is a criminal defense attorney who specializes in working with people who have been falsely accused and imprisoned, and is an aspiring judge. Also, he looks great in a suit lmao

The school that Jason is a principal at, before he was hired, was kind of falling apart. The owners (it's a private school) had been dealing with a major health crisis, so they both had their attention taken away by that and the school kind of fell by the wayside. When everything was fine and the one who was sick was healthy again, they came back and realized that it was kind of in chaos, and decided they needed a change in leadership and replaced the principals (it's a large school, there's a preschool, elementary, middle, and high school).

Jason was hired on to be the elementary principal and he decided that there needed to be a major change. There was a lot of tension and apathy amongst the teachers and support staff when he got there and it just wasn't a very great work environment. He, in a moment of very ADHD fueled middle of the night panic that he needed to fix things RIGHT NOW decided on a mass grade level change. He moved Chase and Alexei (@robbiefischers Alexei) down to kindergarten and it very nearly killed Chase and he was THIS CLOSE to quitting teaching forever lmao (Alexei fared better and ended up kind of loving it because he realized that sixth graders are not very different from kindergarteners emotionally but also he will never do that again don’t you dare, Jason 😂).

The only thing that saved Chase's career was that Jason promised him he could move back to fourth grade the next year lmao. He's really not entirely sure of the logic behind that decision, he just knew SOMETHING needed to change and this really weeded out all of the teachers who sucked and needed to go. It did end up working though and now that school is a REALLY great work environment. He also promises to never do that to anyone again unless absolutely necessary and he gets their permission lmao

[prose-among-the-trees]

I missed you when I was five

We would play together and you’d hand me your boy clothes and toys and I’d hand you my girl ones, and our parents would oversimplify it and tell people we were just two kids who wanted to share the world with each other, even if we didn’t belong in the things we received. We’d know though, in furtive glances at the other to make sure the clothes fit, to putting pretty bows in your hair and dresses on your body, to letting you adjust a necktie that’s far too big for both of us around my small neck. We’d know exactly why we gave what we did to each other, exactly the meaning behind it, and exactly what the future would hold. Our parents would joke that we would be destined for marriage, the sort of story all childhood friends get told, but we know will never really happen, especially if I liked boys and you liked girls, because I wasn’t a girl and you were never a boy. You’d tell me all about being in a grade higher than kindergarten, and I’d be so so jealous.

I missed you when I was eight

We would be at school together and a boy wouldn’t like the fact that I wanted to play all the boy games and not wear girl clothes, and I’d cry because he didn’t like me. I was too much of a boy for him. You’d sit with me and tell me jokes and help me tuck my hair into a baseball cap. You’d teach me how do undo it quickly before we went home. A girl would call you names and I’d naively try everything I could to ruin her life, a shallow definition of a life at eight, telling girls that she steals others lunches and that she likes a boy who the whole class thinks is mean. We’d stick up for each other. When my parents split up you’d be there for me through all of the turmoil. You’d convince your parents to let me come over and start sleeping over like I did when we were little so I wouldn’t have to hear or see the fighting. You’d be at the summer camp with me when I got picked up illegally and you’d be the first to call my guardian to let them know what had happened.

I missed you when I was twelve

I’d cry when I went over to your house about how awful middle school was. The teachers were unfair and the girls didn’t make sense and boys didn’t make sense either, and what if I liked girls too? I wanted girls to see me as a boy, and what did that even mean? I’d tell you about how my parents are on me about grades I can’t remember let alone keep up with, and how my grandma was dying. You’d explain that high school wasn’t much better, that teachers expected so much, and the cliques were almost as bad as how they’re shown in movies. You’d tell me how girls there were really pretty and how you wouldn’t be able to take all the art classes, but you’d teach me everything you were taught. You’ll reassure me that it’ll be okay and that even if we went to different schools, we’ll still be best friends.

I missed you when I was 14

You’d navigate me through where to sit, and where to avoid if you want to dodge senior couples making out during passing period. I’ll join the theatre program and make a few friends there, and one of them will absolutely adore you and put flowers in your hair and draw in sharpie on my chin for facial hair. We’ll both look at each other and understand what we knew at as young as five and seven years old. You’ll show me this new book series you found and how well you draw all of the characters. You’ll watch the plays and musicals I act in and I’ll come to every single art show you have. When parents continue to fail us, we’ll know we have each other. You and I will continue this corrupted little pastime of trying to act like the ‘wrong’ sex, never in front of family of course. We’ll sit in your room in the middle of the night and listen to the foxes, and I’ll silently put makeup on your nervous lips with my shaking hands as we make sure your mother won’t hear us.

I missed you when I was 17

I’d explain to you that things didn’t make sense in my head, that I didn’t know who or what I was at any given moment. You’d feel the same. We’d mourn one of my guardians moving away so I’d have to live with the other full time. You’d take me on long drives at night to avoid them, and you’d plan out the life we’d live together, best friends, fighting the world. You’d confide in me the feelings of hopelessness and I’d have us make an agreement to stay alive at least as long as the other person did. I’d scream and kick and fight and sob at every corner of my senior year, and you’d hold me and tell me you believed me, and that the lies I’d been told about myself were just that. You’d plan for both of us to get help for the problems with our heads and we’d spend nights laughing at the absurdity of it all after crying our eyes out about it just ten minutes prior.

I miss you now

Speaking with you nightly, knowing that we understand each other better than any person on earth. We collectively know each other inside and out. We never lived together, never laughed together before I turned 18, and yet, I miss the childhood I never got with you. I miss sleepovers and exploring in nature, I miss stargazing and taking you to restaurants you could eat at. I miss us both cursing about our parents behind their backs and laughing at how sneaky we were. I miss the child you never got to see in me, and I miss the life we never shared until it was 18 years too late for me, and 20 for you.

[ivansergeyevichturgenev]

i like my mentor teacher and i'm learning so many things! and i especially like her classroom management strategy of NO BRIBES! but i'm angry at how social studies and science have been reduced in most k-5 classrooms and it like actually enrages me. for my entire elem experience, we had daily social studies and science instruction. if not in kindergarten, i know for a fact it was daily at least in first and beyond. DAILY. now it's been reduced to a 45 min block called "content" that teachers may or may not get to. i don't love standardized testing but tbh getting rid of the tests meant teachers and districts as a whole ditched science and social studies! it's crazy to me because research has shown time and time again that children's literacy suffers when they don't have the necessary background knowledge about the world AND the achievement gap widens when students don't get regular social studies instruction! and today we did a read aloud on the history of the us flag and one out of the only two black students raised his hands and asked if african americans were enslaved during the revolutionary war. (this school is 90% white.) and my mt responded yes, slavery did not end until later, and that we'd talk more about black history in FEBRUARY. i'm like actually really frustrated...black history shouldn't wait until february. in my classroom next year i'm injecting as much social studies as i can. and in my lessons here i might ask to do some social studies because this is a disgrace. i literally had a better social studies education in my rural elementary school even if it was problematic in a lot of its teaching. what????

[foolish1s]

(Maddison Jaizani, Cis Woman, She/Her.) Welcome back to The Gates’ Community Center, SABRINA SHIRAZI! Or should we say THE AIRHEAD? As a resident of BAYVIEW ESTATES for TWO YEARS, we are sure you need no introduction. However, we’d like to confirm some information for our community directory. You are TWENTY-SEVEN years old, correct? And a KINDERGARTEN TEACHER at THE GATES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? Wonderful! We are so pleased to have someone who is POSITIVE, LOYAL, and KIND within our community. Of course, we’ve also heard that you can be INSECURE, QUIXOTIC, and CLINGY… but you can’t believe everything you hear, right? Anyone who reminds people of THE LINGERING SCENT OF EXPENSIVE PERFUME, CONSTANTLY MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES BUT HOPING TO SOMEDAY LEARN BETTER, A CLOSET FULL OF PASTELS, & BEING TOO SOFT FOR ALL OF IT is welcome in The Gates.

BASICS

Name: Sabrina Shirazi

Nickname(s): Sab, Brina

Species: Witch (Green Magic)

Birth Date: February 29 (we're making up a leap year because I didn't want her to be 24)

Zodiac: Pisces

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Relationship Status: Single

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

Reference Characters: London Tipton, Elle Woods, Alexis Rose, Galinda Upland

HISTORY

Sabrina Shirazi was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. The daughter of an actor and a real housewife, she's led a charmed life - albeit an occasionally fake one. At age ten she was smiling for the cameras, making cameos in her parents' respective productions, and being largely ignored at home. That is, until her grandmother moved in. The older woman refused to be lured in by the grandeur of Hollywood, camping out in the guest house and taking Sabrina under her wing.

Quite literally. Sabrina had thought that when her grandmother said they were going to yoga class, she was in for a snoozefest. Instead, at eleven years old, she was taken to her first coven meeting and informed that she was a witch.

There was no magical school. Or summer camp. Or any other fun bonding experience like in the movies. Instead, Sabrina's magical education consisted of her stepping in as the fifth member of her grandmother's coven, learning by doing. A green magic witch from birth, she took the spot that should have been her mother's. And with this one thing, she took to it like a duck to water.

Everything else in her life at the time... not so much. No one has ever accused Sabrina of being brainy, but by the time she reached high school it was clear that her options for her future were limited. She was incredibly popular in school, well liked by almost everyone, Homecoming Queen, Miss Congeniality, etc. But smart? Not quite.

It wasn't just being book smart that she struggled with, though. On occasion, her common sense was seriously lacking. She'd trust the wrong people, make mistakes she should've known better than to make. By the time she reached college (did her parents help get her in somewhere so they wouldn't be embarrassed? maybe so) (she also took a few years off prior to travel the world 🩷), she knew she needed to figure her life out. So she decided to major in Elementary Education, intending to teach kindergarten. All the while she continued to serve as a member of her grandmother's coven, learning all she could before she inevitably had to spread her wings and fly.

The decision to move to The Gates came the day she graduated. An exclusive island for the supernatural? Nothing was more fitting. Her grandmother was the one who told her about it, and within a week her parents had signed the paperwork for an impressive home for her - their graduation gift. She's been living in town for two years now, and she absolutely loves everything about it. EXCEPT for the fact that she's been unable to complete a coven of her own. She and her very best friend have been doing okay on their own, but Sabrina has never been without a coven before. And with Cathy Beaumont turning up dead? It's best to take no chances.

HEADCANONS

Sabrina lives in Bayview Estates because it's the spot in town to live the life of luxury she's so used to, but she insisted The Recluse move in so she wouldn't have to live in solitude. Her parents are paying for her house, so she hasn't yet had to tap into her trust fund.

She sometimes has object permanence issues when it comes to people. If you're not in her line of sight... you may not exist. Which isn't great when it comes to relationships. She has, at least once, forgotten to formally end one relationship before starting up another. It was just casual, though, right?

Sabrina is desperate to add at least one member to her coven, and she's specifically targeting The Activist. She can be very charming, so she's hoping they'll be swayed in her direction and not that of the Beaumonts. How cool would it be to have a coven comprised of people with different types of magic?? She is coming at this with the intensity of Elle Woods on her quest to get into Harvard. She will stop at nothing to succeed - very much a new side of her that no one in The Gates has seen before.

You would think that the fact that she's so absentminded would prevent her from keeping plants alive, but that's not the case. She's a very nurturing person (she wouldn't have chosen to be a kindergarten teacher otherwise!), and the garden she has in her greenhouse is thriving. She prefers to grow her own ingredients for spells, proud of her small moments of independence.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

Messy Relationships! Exes, hookups, etc. See headcanons.

Makeover Montage. Past or future, Sabrina has turned into a fairy godmother for a good cause (getting someone to stop wearing truly tragic outfits).

Coworkers. Please! Elementary school teachers or the principal.

Friends. She makes friends easily, slipping into conversation with someone without a second thought. Though she's only been in town for two years, she's probably befriended a circle of people.

Enemies. I'm sure she's grating for some people - she's perpetually cheery and she still doesn't have the best grasp on how the real world works. There are a million reasons why they wouldn't get along!

TAKEN CONNECTIONS

Ale Rodrigues. Casual Hookup. They met when Sabrina was still newer to the island and treating it more like Love Island than a place she was going to settle down in forever. They were doing their morning runs in opposite directions when his dog decided to follow her instead... and get Sabrina all tangled up in her leash. He was her knight in shining armor, keeping her from falling. Literally, but also metaphorically, since it's strictly casual.

Dominic Faris. Casual Hookup Also. They were casual friends first, but have also started hooking up in the past year. She is completely unaware of Ale and Dom's interpersonal conflict. Fun!

Virginia Beaumont. Jealousy, Jealousy/Rivals. Sabrina thinks that Ginny has it all together, and she resents her a little for it. She feels like she's trying so hard in comparison to The Prodigy. Plus, they're a total personality mismatch AND they're in a race to complete their respective covens. It's no surprise that they don't get along when they have to interact.

[sarcastic-nebula]

Teachers deserve better

I just got hired to be a grader at my university. TLDR, I've learned a lot in the week and a half I've had this job. Rant below.

I have had to look at homework papers where students, college students!, don't write in complete sentences, answer the whole question being asked, or even label the questions they're answering (something you very much want to do in a STEM class). I don't even think some of them know how to answer a question they don't know. Some just spouted off facts that were only partially relevant to what was being asked. I'm not being pretentious when I say that some didn't even appear to try. Maybe because they don't care about the class, maybe because they ran out of time (happens to all of us), but consistently not ending a sentence with a period? Referring to Mars as a star? Answering only the first part of a question rather than all three?

This all has made me realize, personally, not just from social media or what I see as a student, how much shit K-12 teachers experience. If this is what I see in my first week from college students at a major university, what are they seeing every year in their high schools? Middle schools? What do they see when they ask their fourth graders to use complete sentences? Keep in mind, I'm seeing maybe 30/100 kids making fundamental errors like this, so I'm barely scratching the surface.

They offer so many resources, whether it's coming to school early or staying late, offering to let students retake their tests, answer any question to the best of their abilities. And most of them try to set their kids up for success. I've realized that by teaching me to read, answer questions on texts, and write answers in complete sentences with correct punctuation that they are preparing me for the rest of my education and my life. I can't understand my HIPAA rights, or my part of a loan repayment plan if I can't read or understand what I read. I can't send an email to an employer or a colleague if I can't write. And that's not even the math or science part of what I'm studying!

I would be nowhere without my algebra, calculus, or physics teachers. They put in the time and patience and energy to help me when I asked for it. They truly cared. And I am beyond grateful, I can barely explain it. I'm using skills that all of them taught me, and I am a senior in college. I'm doing derivatives that my high school teacher taught me, because she did it better than my college calculus professors did. This same woman saw me having a rough day, and let me put my head down for her class period. At the end of the year, she saw me studying for her final exam, and gave me a B even though I earned less because she saw me put in effort that no one else did. I'm able to do algebra because I had a fantastic teacher in eighth grade. I'm able to understand some physics because my high school teacher did it well. I wish I could reach out to her and tell her how much she has impacted my life. Same goes for precal; the unit circle he made us memorize? Helping me with my classes to this day. All of them got me to where I am today. Waking up early sucked, sharpening my pencil on a Sunday afternoon sucked because I needed to keep writing complete sentences wasn't ideal, but I am where I am now because they said to do this homework, write this way, read this.

Don't get me wrong, my parents played a part too. They raised me to give a shit about my education. They stayed up and helped me do my reading exercises in kindergarten so I would be literate. It must have been agonizing to have a five year old shout "STOP!" after a day at work, but they did it. They helped me sound out words, practice spelling tests, help with math homework until they couldn't anymore because of how hard it had become, so I could get here. They told me how all of my great aunts went to college for at least a year because Great Grandpa Nebula believed in education. This was 1950s America, and all four sons and all five daughters were given the same chances toward higher education. One of those aunts graduated from law school.

I remember when I graduated high school, and some teachers I still saw regularly were earnestly congratulating me. Fifth grade English teacher (I really didn't like her when I was in fifth grade but she's cool now), fourth grade science teacher, on top of my high school teachers. I didn't get it. I had done decent in high school and got accepted to a good university. Wasn't Ivy League or anything. I felt like I had achieved the bare minimum. I asked my dad about it, and he said something along the lines of, "They're probably really proud of you. Some of them don't see all of their former students walk the stage or go to college."

And it's probably true. Not everyone is able to finish high school, whether it's due to situations they didn't sign up for, not enough support from where they need it, or it just became too hard, and they dropped out.

Or worse.

Imagine the heartbreak at not seeing some good kids walk the stage and get their diplomas.

Teachers pour years of time, effort, money, patience, and love into their students. And we don't pay them tuition. They don't have to give so much. My school district was shit, but I was extremely lucky to get my education almost entirely from teachers who wanted to go above and beyond and who knew what they were teaching.

Now, imagine how they feel when students complain about having to write in a complete sentence? About having to do front and back pages of a homework assignment? The complaints they get about too much work, too hard of a class, expecting too much, from students, admin, parents, etc. Not every assignment is great, but there's a method to the madness.

I would not be where I am today, studying astronomy and passing my university classes, it if weren't for them. Even the mean and strict ones had a reason.

Now, I know I am lucky. My teachers meant well, and I know that's not how it is everywhere for everyone. But my hardest teachers knew what they were doing, at least for the most part.

I have no way to truly show them how grateful I am. I'm trying to tell the ones I can still contact, but I don't quite know how. "Hey, I know it's been literal years since you've seen my face and looked at my name, but you're one reason why I'm passing my classes! Thanks a bunch!" doesn't cut it for me.

They deserve more. So much more. I had a little cry earlier because it's not fair, the way they get treated, and how little they get recognized. Our society doesn't care about its kids. Underfunded schools; putting sports above arts so much so that arts barely get funding, teachers barely being able to have what they need. Some parents aren't parenting the way they should to create members of society (not all! dear god, there are so many good parents out there; parenting is so hard!). To name a few reasons.

My K-12 teachers have done so much for me, so, so much. And I never truly understood, and never complete will, because I have such a small taste of what they get, all because I graded a few papers for an intro course.

The tears were also of gratitude, by the way.

[frankfortkentucky]

“Are You A Feminist?”

At 4 years old, I was taught that when a boy bullies a girl, that means he liked her. I thought “Oh, so that means I should bully [my little pre-school crush], because if boys bully girls to tell them they like them, it goes both ways!” So I raced around the playground with him at recess, I poked him in class to tell him jokes, and laughed when he tripped while helping him up and he did all the same to me. In my mind, this was bullying, but as you can probably tell, it was no where near it. But still, whenever he whined about losing the race, I got in trouble because “I wasn’t playing fair;” whenever he laughed to loud, I got in trouble because “I was distracting him;” whenever I took a second to long to help him up, I got in trouble because “I had pushed him.” But whenever I whined, or laughed to loud, or was on the cold linoleum floor for to long, he was never in trouble, it was still always my fault for not being fast enough, “it’s okay, you’re just a girl.” For not ignoring [crush], “he’s just trying to get a rise out of you.” For being unlady-like and absentminded, “you have to pay more attention.” My teacher was a woman.

At age 6, right before starting kindergarten, I was told my dad was not my “real dad” and how all my brothers, but one, came from different fathers. My mother had several conversations with me throughout that year explaining in detail how three separate times, 3 guys lied and manipulated her into a relationships with them. Throughout this she told my about the abuse and sexual assault towards herself and us kids in every house. Once my full-brother had gotten to 6 I asked, “Will you tell him to? I can help if you want” but she surprised me by responding, “Of course not, he’s much to young go know all that!” “But that’s how old I was when you told me?” and her response to that is something I wish I could rip out of every throat that’s ever said it to me since. The fact that the first time I heard it was from my mother will always haunt me. “But it’s different because you’re a girl” To this day she hasn’t told my 3 younger brothers anything and they are all well over 6 years old. My 2 older brothers only know because their dad has split custody, but they know nothing except that their dad provided the sperm for them. I will have to live with this knowledge for the rest of my life, and have had to since I was learning to tie my own shoe laces, but my grown brothers will be “protected” from that information and will likely never know about the abuse my mother had to go through.

Growing up with five brothers wasn’t easy. I don’t like any stereotypical “boyish” things and neither do half my brothers, but while they were asked interesting, thoughtful questions about what they did like, whether or not it was just “boyish” things (it was always just football or video games), I was always dismissed as just liking makeup and fashion and barbies. I didn’t like any of those things growing up. I liked looking at what ancient sculptures used to look like, and how land animals evolved from sea creatures, and how other languages came together into the one I speak, but of course no one wanted to hear me talk about those things. My brothers flourished in school and everywhere else; I was labeled as dumb and a loner. Soon I was forced to “like” stereotypical “girly” things so I could have normal childhood friendships, but my brothers, even though also not conforming to gender norms at all, were not forced to being anything bug themselves. They were celebrated for being different, I was berated for not being “normal.”

From 7 to 8 years old, my mother refused to buy me glasses, and wouldn’t tell me why, even though she knew I really needed them. Around that time she also started refusing to let me wear my hair up in a ponytail or pigtails. She made me start wearing long sleeves in summer. She refused to buy me new shorts after I grew out of my old ones. She started teaching me how to make a grown man “go to sleep” with kicks to the groin, thumbs and pepper spray to the eyes, and sharp objects to the throat.

Throughout my life I have experienced many, MANY horrible things. I decided to tell some passive sexist things I’ve had to go through that has fucked me up emotionally and mentally and will continue to, just like my physical assaults have and will as well. All men benefit from the patriarchy, even if just to be celebrated for being decent human beings because the bar is set so low, or to not get the blame as a child, or to be “protected” from knowing women's struggles, or to be loved and appreciated as a child, or to not have to be trained how to not get raped at 7. Even if it’s “not all men,” all men still reap the benefits whether they know it or not. EVERY woman is a victim to the patriarchy and sexism, even if she hasn’t been physically SA’d.

[hilliska]

Belgium was one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage, exactly twenty years ago - for the kids I'm teaching at university it's literally all they've ever known. I'm a bisexual woman married to another woman, we got two kids, and both of our names are on their birth certificates. We didn't even need to apply for that, it's just how things go. My kid's not the only one in his class with 2 moms; in fact, I know of at least 4 other queer parent couples at this (admittedly fairly progressive) school. We had a gay prime minister over ten years ago, we currently have a trans minister of public administration and public enterprises - first one in Europe. A recent study showed that gay and lesbian people are slightly MORE likely to be hired when interviewing for a job (yes, you read that correctly). We're n°2 in the Rainbow Ranking.

Like. I'm one of the lucky ones, I'm very aware - to the point where I sometimes forget that my being married to a woman might raise eyebrows because it's such a non-issue 99,99% of the time. I have a good life! Like in terms of legal protections, societal acceptation, ... I'm basically in the best place I could possibly be!

And yet, if you now think that Belgium is some sort of queer walhalla - it is not. The same study I mentioned above did very much still find discrimination against trans people. The other week a young gay politician was beat up in a hate incident. And just today, I read in the newspaper about a march on Brussels, protesting the new(ish) compulsory curriculum on sex and relationships in the southern part of the country, saying (and I quote): "They want to surrender our children to pedophiles." and "Which parent could accept that their son is taught by people who want to turn him into a girl?"

(For context this is a 2x2hr sex ed program for 12 year olds to teach them about consent and relationships.)

Like. We're doing great! Compared to other countries, the freedom and protection queer people have here are great! And STILL people pull this shit, STILL the reaction to "hey we're gonna teach your kids gay people exist" is to photoshop a picture of a drag queen in a kindergarten and call teachers pedophiles.

So we're not done! They'll tell you: oh you've come so far, you've got so much, isn't it enough? And the answer is NO. It's not! As long as it's a game of chance whether the country/family you live in will accept you, it's not enough!

god i am always the FIRST to rally against the failures of just fighting for tolerance from straight cis ppl, but also we haven't even fucking reached tolerance yet.

we still need "We're Queer We're Here Get Used To It", because i don't know about you guys, but from what I'm seeing, they aren't fucking used to it.

we need that old school "we're your hairdressers, your teachers, your neighbors, your siblings, your friends" energy back ASAP. quietly queer isn't cutting it for me anymore. in your face dykes fag queer trans forever until i'm fucking dead.

[comfort-writing]

Crayons & Cassettes

Chapter 1: The First Day of Kindergarten

You are a kindergarten teacher. Eddie’s daughter, Sage, is in your class. She bonds with you instantly, and Eddie is trying not to do the same.

warnings: this fic will be 18+ in later chapters, so minors DNI! In this chapter, it is mentioned that rumors about Eddie that still linger. no use of y/n. nothing else I can think of for this chapter because it’s really just an introductory one, but please let me know if I missed anything!

a/n: let me know in the comments or my asks if you want to be added to the tag list! requests are open!

word count: 3k

Chapter 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 (coming soon!)

Trying to shove tiny feet into tiny shoes at 6:30 in the morning was no easy task, especially when the owner of said tiny feet was fighting with all the strength in her five-year-old body to keep said feet out of said shoes.

“Please, Sage. I’ll do anything you want, just please let me put your shoes on.” pleaded an exhausted Eddie. They were already running late, which meant that he would get dirty looks from the other parents, well, dirtier than what he was already expecting. It was Sage’s first day of kindergarten, which he felt bittersweet about. She’d been attending preschool in previous years, so the transition wouldn’t be as difficult for her as it may be for other children, but she didn’t always do well around new people. She was like her dad in that way- she could be shy at first (which deviated from his own standoffishness), but once she warmed up, she was a sweet and bubbly kid.

Sage put her resistance on hold, “Anything?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. Eddie knew that look: mischievous and calculating. It scared him a little to see that she was so much like himself, but it also made him a little proud. “Yes, baby. Just put your shoes on and we’ll do anything you want after school.” Sage thought for a moment, then made intense eye contact with Eddie, “Ice cream. And breakfast for dinner.” She bargained. Eddie chuckled and nodded, “Sounds good to me. We got a deal?” He asked, dropping the small shoe he was holding and sticking out his hand. She nodded and shook it, then stuck her foot out for him, beaming at the fact that she would get her two favorite things later that day. Little did she know that he had already planned on those things happening.

He sighed and thanked her, slipping on her glittery pink sneakers and tying them before picking her up off of the couch and setting her on his hip as he grabbed what they’d need for the day. Sage’s brand new Care Bears backpack- check. Keys- check. Wallet- check. Care Bears lunch box- check.

“Alright, ready to go?” He asked her. Sage nodded warily and Eddie walked out the door, kicking it closed behind them before walking to his beat up van, sliding open the back passenger door and setting Sage in her booster seat. He placed her bags on the floor by her feet and helped her buckle her seat belt. She looked up at him, “Dad?” She asked in a whisper “Yes, baby?” He responded absentmindedly. “Do you think my teacher will like me?” She asked anxiously. That made Eddie pause. He looked at her very seriously, grabbing her tiny hands in his own, “She is going to love you, kiddo. You’re freakin’ metal.” He said, leaning down and kissing her forehead. She nodded, “Metal.”

Your classroom was perfect. You’d decided on a rainbow theme for the year, wanting the classroom environment to be welcoming, colorful, and engaging to the 26 five-year-olds that would arrive within the next hour. Your lesson plans were perfect too. You were quite proud of yourself. Moving to a completely new state after teaching in another for a few years made for somewhat of a culture shock. Learning all of the new standards and adapting your previous lesson plans to fit them, along with having to write completely new lessons that fit your school’s specific curriculum was difficult, but not impossible. It was done. Everything was perfect. You were ready.

You’d moved to Hawkins, Indiana at the very end of the summer. You grew up in another small, southern town, so the small town environment wasn’t exactly new to you. It just meant you had to find your footing here. Declare yourself as a character amongst the established ones. You had been able to meet a few of the other teachers, and they all seemed nice enough, but they were all much older than you were. You graduated college only three years prior, and it seemed like half of your coworkers were on the brink of forgetting what college they went to. You needed to find friends your own age, and quick, because being a teacher can be stressful. Having friends around who you can vent to is key to keeping yourself sane.

You looked in the mirror on the inside of your classroom closet door, adjusting your hair for a moment. It was tied up with a clip, messily, but purposefully and cutely so. You pushed a strand behind your ear and made sure you didn’t have lipstick on your teeth. You decided to wear a light green dress and white sneakers- cute, stylish, and comfortable enough to chase around several very energetic children. You knew that the first day of kindergarten was always one in which you met the parents, and while they’d mainly be focused on their children, you knew there was a large possibility of photos being taken. You wanted to make a great first impression, and if your were immortalized in a Polaroid or two, you’d like to look nice. Above you, the school bell rang, signaling to the children that they could start making their way to class. You smiled and walked over to the door of your class, opening it up for the parents to bring their kids in.

Parents and students began trickling into the classroom. You shook their hands and introduced yourself to each one, smiling genuinely and directing the parents to where their child’s desk and cubby were located. On the first day, you always let parents stay for a while, and even held a carpet story time/coloring session in order to make the transition easier for both parties. You noted that a few kids were crying, which gave you a good indication of what kids would continue to be criers throughout the year. You didn’t judge, you just liked to know what was up.

You were crouching down to take a picture with one of your new students when a man who looked very out of place in your rainbow classroom walked in, a small girl hiding behind his pant leg. You smiled up at him, holding up one finger apologetically, signaling that you’d be with him in a moment. You looked up at the mom who’d just taken your picture, “Would you like me to take a picture of the two of you?” You asked. The woman nodded, so you stood and swapped positions with her. You wound the film on her disposable camera, “Say cheese!” You encouraged, which drew a confused face from the small boy, as he’d somehow never heard the phrase before. You snapped the picture without realizing the face he’d made and smiled, handing the camera back to the also oblivious mother and she walked her son to his desk.

You then turned your attention to the man standing in the doorway. You smiled and stuck out your hand, introducing yourself. “Eddie Munson.” He said softly. His hands were warm, but you noted the rings he wore made them feel colder. Eddie was an attractive guy, you wouldn’t lie to yourself about it. His hair was long, dark, and curly. He wore a leather jacket and a denim vest on top of it. He definitely had the whole rockstar look down, which looked a bit funny when surrounded by rainbows. There was also his daughter, who looked like a pink glitter bomb had exploded over her, as was typical for girls her age. You didn’t linger on his touch like you may have liked to, as you had to introduce yourself to someone more important. You bent and stood on your knees, peeking around Mr. Munson’s knees, “And who is this pretty princess?” You asked, hoping that calling her a princess would help her warm up to you.

You were right. The small girl poked her head out from behind the man’s knees. You saw that she got her looks from her dad; she had brown, curly hair that was currently tied back in a high ponytail, coupled with bright brown eyes and a small smattering of the lightest freckles across her nose. She spoke, barely above a whisper, “I’m Sage.” You smiled encouragingly, “That’s such a pretty name. Did you know Sage is a type of plant? And a color?” You gasped, piquing her interest, “Oh my goodness! It’s the color of my dress!” You said, feigning surprise, as if you were just discovering that fact for the first time. “And guess what?” You whispered. Sage was entranced, gaining the courage to move out from behind her dad and listen to the ‘secret’ you were entrusting her with. “It’s my favorite color.” You smiled softly, making eye contact with the small girl. It made her feel special. She smiled up at her dad, who was watching the interaction intently. “You want to find your desk and set your stuff down, Sage?” You asked her. She nodded fervently, excited to get the day started.

You stood back up to your fill height and led the two to Sage’s desk. “So, Mr. Munson, you are welcome to through story time and coloring. I try to allow time for the parents to stay for a while to help their kids adjust to the new environment.” You told him as Sage was putting her lunch box into her desk. The man seemed to shift uncomfortably, “Ah- I don’t know. Are you sure?” He asked you. You nodded, “Yeah, of course. Every parent is welcome to stay through that time. If Sage doesn’t do well around new people or in a new place, it can help her out a lot.” You assured him. He seemed to think for a moment before nodding, making his decision.

Little did you know, the reason so many people were watching the interaction carefully was because, despite being a good dad who provided for his daughter, the rumor mill still swirled around the Munson family. He didn’t want his daughter to have to deal with the same problems he did, so he was apprehensive about staying, but you seemed to believe it would benefit her if he was there, so he would stay.

Another parent walked through the door, so you excused yourself to go greet them the same way. After your kindergarteners we’re all there, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. You smiled wide, walking to the front of the classroom. “Good morning, everyone! I hope we’re all excited to get started with our day! Today, we are going to…”

After successfully driving Sage to school, and luckily arriving around the time he’d originally intended to somehow, he guided his small daughter through the halls of the school. At the end of the kindergarten hall was Sage’s classroom for the year. He bent down to her level, “You ready? Or do you want to take a minute?” He asked her. He knew that sometimes she had to prepare herself to go into a new situation. He was the same way; needing to take a few breaths or psych himself up for whatever he would encounter. Sage thought for a moment, “I’m ready.” She said, looking determined. He nodded, holding her hand and guiding her to the classroom.

That’s when he spotted you. You had the biggest and most genuine smile on your face as you took a photo with another student. He saw the way you acknowledged him right when he walked into the door, making him feel seen, but still kept your focus on the people you were with, most likely doing the same for them. It was a small gesture, sure, and it may have gone unnoticed by anyone else, but he really didn’t know what to think about all of this. He didn’t recognize you, even though you seemed to be around the same age, so that meant you likely hadn’t heard the nasty rumors that still lingered around him like a rain cloud, even into adulthood. He was drinking in the small kindnesses you showed him in the following interactions.

You reached out and shook his hand, introducing yourself to him. He didn’t know why, but it surprised him that you introduced yourself with your first and last name to him. It made you seem more approachable. He spoke his own name as calmly as he could, internally struggling not to stumble over it. When you bent down to introduce yourself to his daughter, he watched as you related to her immediately, over something as silly as a color. But she opened up quickly to you, which was so incredibly rare for her. He truly couldn’t grasp what it was about you, but he basked in your presence and he didn’t want to leave. Not for Sage’s sake, but for his own. It was no secret to himself that he found you attractive- you were pretty, new to their small town, and he didn’t see a ring- but there was something else he couldn’t place. He obviously couldn’t do anything about it in the moment, so he shifted his attention back to his daughter, helping her prep for her first day.

Once you wrapped the story up, you had the students start on a coloring page that correlated with the story. This was the time for parents to start trickling out. Eddie watched as other parents left. He looked to Sage, “Listen kiddo, I’ve got to go to work, but I’ll pick you up later, okay?” He told her. During pre-k, they’d gotten pretty good at the whole ‘dad’s going to be gone for a few hours but you will be ok’ exchange. Sage nodded, “Okay. Don’t forget about the ice cream and breakfast.” She said, scribbling with a red crayon and not paying him much attention. He ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her head before standing up and heading towards the door.

Before he could leave, you grabbed a piece of paper off of the desk, “Oh, Mr. Munson-“ you whispered, as the students were quietly working as the parents slowly left, “Here is my newsletter for the month. It basically covers everything we’ll be doing in class, and what you can be doing to help supplement Sage’s learning at home. I usually mail these out to the parents, but the front office said your address changed recently?” Eddie took the newsletter and nodded, “Ah- thank you. Yeah, we moved into a new house last week. It was after I registered her, so I’ll have to get that changed. Do you need me to write my address down before I leave?” He asked. “Well, if you would, that would be very helpful, but if Sage will get upset if you’re here longer, I can just wait until you update your information with the office.” You told him quietly. Eddie shook his head, “Nah, Sage is a trooper. She knows the drill.” He said, proud of his daughter.

You smiled softly, a smile that made his knees feel a little weak, and grabbed a pen and a notepad off of your desk, handing it to him. “If you could write down your new address, as well as your phone number, that would be great.” You told him. He had to fight the urge to make a joke about hitting on him in front of the kids. Years ago, that would have been the first thing he said to you, and he wouldn’t have thought twice. But now, his number one concern was his daughter, and doing anything that may end up being detrimental to her, like flirting with her teacher, was off his radar. He scribbled out the information before handing the paper back to you, “Thank you. Just make sure you update this with the office as soon as possible. Hopefully you’ll only hear from me about once or twice a month, as I do the newsletter and a call home for an update. But keep an eye on the events section of the newsletter-“ you said, pointing it out, “-it will have important dates like any parent/teacher conferences and the kid’s Christmas recital on there. And please, don’t hesitate to reach out if you ever have any questions or concerns. My information is down at the bottom. I’ve got an answering machine, so leave a voicemail if I don’t pick up; I should give you a call back within 24 hours.” You informed him quietly, finishing up with a soft smile.

Eddie nodded, taking in all the information you were giving him. It felt like a lot, but he knew that most of the important stuff would be in the paper you gave him. “Thank you. I’ve still got a little more time before work so I think I’ll go to the office now.. where is it again?” He asked, feeling more lost than he should. This is where he went to elementary school, but it had been so long since he’d been in the building it felt a little foreign to him. You smiled and opened the door, pointing him in the right direction through the halls. He thanked you once more, then started off thought the school as you shut the door.

You and Eddie were both left the same thought:

This isn’t good.