#looking like the parties teachers would throw for elementary students when they collect enough box tops

[blackaleycatt]

It's so funny how the crew will be like "omg guys we have to get ready for our Christmas/Halloween/etc party" and then it just be the 5 of them eating food in the living room of the same place they live in with a few decorations. Like if y'all don't invite the villains or something 💀

[trashfor-imagines]

The Music Series: Haikyū Edition! | 1

FIRE FOR YOU ft. Tendou x Reader

Concept: The Music Series will be a collection of one shots based on a song or music video for each story. Titles will be hyperlinked to the song or a music video for your convenience. :)

Summary: You’d known Tendou since elementary school. It was obvious that the two of you would catch feelings some day; unfortunately, you were the first to fall and he wasn’t extending his hand to save you. Warnings: Angst. Thoughts of suicide. Mentions sex.

-

It was chilly as you stood at the red post office box not far from campus, staring at it with several envelopes in your hands. With a sigh, you bit your lip, depositing them. You applied early for universities that were accepting far and wide. Anything to get you out of Japan at this point. Heading back toward campus, you stopped by a vending machine, buying a strawberry milk. Your nose and cheeks were rosy from the cool breeze that nipped at your face.

“Hi, (Y/N)! It’s so chilly out today for September,” a girl you knew from class commented as you stood on the corner together, waiting for the pedestrian light.

“Oh, yes it is,” you replied softly. The two of you fell silent.

“Ah- see you in class,” she spoke quickly, running ahead a few steps when the signal changed. You walked slowly, allowing the distance to grow between you. It was clear your classmate didn’t want to talk for any longer beyond the casual chitchat. Your life was filled with that now.

Walking into your dorm, you slipped off your shoes, and put away your coat and scarf before collapsing onto your bed. This melancholy cloud that followed you was old enough to feel normal, but new enough to still weigh heavily on you. Two more terms, you could endure it.

The next morning, you woke and moved on autopilot. You cared about your appearance still - that was a comfort to you. It meant you hadn’t lost all hope. Smiling at yourself in the mirror, you allowed the expression to fade away as you left the confines of your room. It was probably the only smile you’d muster today. The walk to class was lonely.

“Hey, that’s the cute girl I want to ask out,” whispered a boy as you passed in the hall. He was a third year as well, but in a different class.

“What? You’ve got to be kidding you can’t like her.”

“Why not, man? She’s a looker.”

“She’s that crazy girl from first term!”

Taking your seat, the fourth desk in the first column of desks closest to the door, you waited patiently for class to start, you stared at a spot on the chalkboard, spinning your pen in your hand without much thought to it. It was something you learned when you were small and it became a habit for when you had nothing to do. You almost fumbled your pen when a tall head of red hair walked in, laughing with a group of boys. You refused to let your eyes rest on him for long, turning your head to stare at the wall that separated you from the hallway. You were thankful his seat was next to the window and far away from you. It was almost funny now. You remembered a time when you wished he was much closer.

Tendou Satori had been your other half for all of your youth. You remembered the day you first saw him in elementary school during recess. There was something about the red haired demon boy with a bowl cut as he squatted by himself, using a stick to draw pictures in the dirt. Brave little you picked up a stick and squatted right beside him. You lost a lot of friends that day when you decided to hang out with the demon boy, but you gained Satori and he had been enough for over ten years. Honestly, you never realized he was your only friend until now. As the two of you grew older and volleyball helped him gain confidence, it was easier for him to make friends and the two of you were clearly a package deal. Both sets of your parents joked throughout your friendship that they hoped the two of you would even marry one day.

This past May, just at the start of your third year, had been the beginning of the end of the dynamic duo.

It was his birthday and you had just gotten back to campus from a dinner party with the volleyball club. Satori had been walking with his arm around your shoulders, something he’d done since you two first became friends.

“Ey! Best-chan and I are going to walk around some more. See you tomorrow!” he called out to the boys.

“Happy birthday again Tendou!”

“Goodnight (Y/N)!”

“See you!”

Soon it was just the two of you walking around campus, laughing and teasing one another. The two of you ended up in a game of tag before laying out on the soccer field, tired and breathing heavy. Reaching into your small purse, you pulled out an envelope and dropped it on his chest.

“Oh Best-chan, I though you forgot,” he spoke with a teasing tone, opening the envelope. Inside was a hand embroidered patch you spent weeks working on that said GUESS MONSTER. “I love it! You did this on your own didn’t you. You’re so talented. Will you put it on my sports jacket?”

“Of course!” You turned over so you lay on your stomach, propping yourself up by your arms so you could see his face better. Bending your legs at the knees, you casually kicked your legs behind you. “Sa-Sa, are you happy with your birthday this year?”

He thought carefully about his day. “Well, there’s one thing I want.”

“What is it?”

He looked over to you slyly and his voice was teasing. “I don’t know.”

You laughed at him and rolled your eyes. “I didn’t think you’d be embarrassed.”

“I’m not the one who’d be embarrassed, Best-chan.” He pouted and gently bumped your shoulder. “Don’t act weird when I ask you, okay? You can say no.”

You perked up a bit, realizing it had something to do with you. “Promise.”

“I want us to be friends with benefits, (Y/N).”

Shaking your head, you sat up to pay attention when the teacher walked in, standing to bow and say the good morning greeting. Taking your seat, you focused on your lesson and prayed for classes to be interesting and for time to pass quickly.

It was during your third class when a student came to deliver a note to the teacher.

“(Y/N), you’ve been requested to the teacher’s room.”

Standing, you bowed before leaving, ignoring the gazes of your classmates. As you walked the hall to approach the teacher’s room, you spotted Coach Washijou standing there, stern as ever. You bowed in respect.

“(Y/N), I’ll keep this simple. I need you to come back to the club,” he spoke.

“Coach, the boys don’t want me there.”

“Then they’re idiots! You’re the best manager I’ve ever had. You’ve been with us since your first year and these kids were spoiled by you. All they know is how to play,” he spoke loudly, clearly annoyed thinking about the team. “I don’t know what happened and I don’t care. This team won’t succeed if they don’t have the perfect support and that’s you. You graduate this year right? So I’ll also need you to train your replacement to do things exactly as you. I’ll see you at practice tomorrow morning. You should remember the time. Don’t be late.”

Did this grown adult just bully you? Holding back your sigh of annoyance, you simply bowed, understanding that was the end of discussion and headed back to class.

He barked at your retreating figure, “And learn to smile again, team manager!”

Excellent.

As you approached the classroom door, you stopped, hand on the door knob. You peered through the small window of the classroom, eyes floating over the faces of some of your classmates. Sighing, you backed away, and headed to your dorm to change. You needed to get out of here.

Throwing on a pink crop top and black overalls with the legs cuffed and slipping into some white Keds, you grabbed a crossbody purse and coat before heading into town. You walked along the river, kicking stones on the sidewalk. Crossing the river, you found yourself approaching the Gokoku Shrine at Sendai Castle. You followed the traditional religious practices by the book: purifying yourself with water, depositing a 5 yen coin for luck, ringing the bell, bowing twice and clapping twice, making sure not to skip a step. There weren’t many people around, so you took your time as you prayed. You felt tears well and slip from the corners of your eyes.

You were still gasping, taking in shaky breaths, your nerves still sending signals through your body. Arms and legs wrapped around you tightly as kisses were placed along your shoulder. Tendou nuzzled his face against your neck, pressing more kisses to your skin. 

“You’re so good,” he mumbled into your ear, kissing your cheek. Turning your head slightly, your noses touched. He yawned and gave you an eskimo kiss before pressing his lips against yours.

“Really?” you whispered quietly, suddenly very conscious of yourself.

He laughed and nodded. “You feeling okay?”

“I feel... really different. I don’t really know,” you were honest with him. This had been your first time and now that it happened you were so thankful that it was your best friend. It made it so easy to communicate and you didn’t feel embarrassed for being unsure or telling him when you didn’t like something.

With a teasing smile, he blew a raspberry on your cheek. “Remember Best-chan, just don’t fall in love with me! You promised.”

Laughing, you rolled your eyes. “Who’d fall for you, Guess-chan?”

Stretching out, he got up and headed to the bathroom and left you alone. Biting your lip, you curled up into a ball, a sense of insecurity bubbling up within you. You heard the water running for the tub and he popped his head back out and your fears disappeared in a heartbeat. “Let’s clean up. I’ll give you a bath!”

Biting your lip, you bowed once more in thanks before stepping away. Wiping tears from your cheeks, you walked around the temple grounds.

“Miss?”

Looking up, you saw the shrine’s kannushi. He smiled peacefully at you. You bowed to him.

“How can I help you?” you asked, offering your own smile.

“Would you walk with me a bit?” he asked. Nodding, you walked with him silently. “The weather’s so nice isn’t it?”

“Ah, I suppose. It’s getting colder.”

“Yes, it is, but soon it will be spring again and everything will be new again. Bad weather will always pass. I saw you pray. I was very concerned to see the heavy cloud over you.” You said nothing in response, wringing your hands together. He stopped walking and you stilled as well. “Here. This is for you. I’ll be sure to ask kami to give your prayer extra consideration.”

Shiawase. A happiness amulet.

Arms were wrapped lazily around you as you lay in bed with Tendou after a very active evening. The two of you had bathed and Tendou put new sheets on the bed, the usual post intimacy ritual. Now the two of you were watching the newest episode of an anime he’s been following and cuddling. This had been going on for months now and it had been incredible.

The two of you had always been close, but now it felt like a different level. You knew so much more about him now. Both of you shared mindless and sometimes deep thoughts with one another that one usually wouldn’t speak of and gave each other the intimate affection you both craved. You hadn’t realized you were missing out on feeling loved in this way. 

“Tendou, I have something for you.” You reached over into the drawer of your nightstand, pulling out a charm and hanging it in front of his face. “Kaiun. It’s a good luck talisman.”

His eyes sparkled as he looked at the charm that was as red as his hair. “You’re the best, Best-chan. Next match we win’s for you!”

Accepting it, you bowed. “Thank you so much.”

He hummed, a pleasing sound emitting from him as he nodded his head and bid you good day, going on his way. When he was out of sight, you headed back to campus. Tomorrow was going to be a long day with how early you’d have to get up.

It was 5AM when your alarm went off. Going through your routine, you put your hair up in a dutch braid and dressed in your maroon shorts and a white t-shirt. Grabbing your forgotten team manager jacket from the back of your closet, you headed to the gymnasium and punched in the code, opening it up. You found the lights easily in the dark from years of routine. It took only a few minutes to check your old notes and prepare drinks for the team. You rolled out the giant carts of volleyballs before setting up the net and getting towels for the team. Checking your watch, you headed over to the gym door and stood, waiting to greet the coach and players.

Ushijima was the first to arrive.

“Good morning, Ushijima.”

The towering captain acknowledge you, politely bowing in response. “I see Washijou was successful.”

“He’s not an easy person to reject.”

He hummed in agreement. “Do your best then.”

Soon the team trickled in, every one of them surprised to see you greet them; it seemed the captain was the only one the coach decided to discuss this situation with. Coach Washijou seemed quite smug and greeted you formally when he arrived. The only one missing was Tendou. Sighing, you went ahead and set up the safety net over the entry way to keep balls from escaping on accident. It was time to start practice and he was always late.

Fifteen minutes later you heard a series of apologies as Tendou slipped in, laughing off his tardiness. Coach Wahijou wasn’t having it and immediately had the boy doing flying laps until he said stop. Biting your lip, you tried not to take pleasure in him getting punished, or from the expression on his face when his gaze landed on you. You spent the morning running errands for Coach Wahijou, refilling sports drinks, collecting strays, and tossing balls for sets. It’d been a while, but you did your best to record stats for review and take notes of what Coach had to say. At the end of practice, Coach announced you were officially returning and dismissed everyone. He told you to just take care of water bottles and towels then to head off for school so you were out of there pretty quickly without having to talk to anyone.

Time seemed to tick by slowly. Tendou had made eye contact with you when he walked into class, sending you a look of pure confusion. You could feel him staring at you throughout your classes; a burning feeling. When school ended, you were quick to leave and get ready for volleyball practice, setting up just as you did that morning, except this time the boys were there putting up the nets. Coach Wahijou introduced you to the first year that would be taking over as team manager when you graduated. You had them pump air into the balls and take care of the laundry from this morning’s practice. Every once in a while, when there was time, you’d show them how to record stats and how they needed to keep notes on how each player had preferences, for example the way they liked their sports drinks made and how to tell when each player was getting tired; it was important to know when you were needed.

A few hours later, practice ended and you were putting things away in the storage room while your first year took care of the drink bottles and towels. You were looking for the push broom when a shadow fell over you.

“I love you.”

It was a whisper, but he heard it. His face was stoic and his body stopped moving, an extreme contrast from his wild and passionate expressions just moments ago. You laid beneath him in his shadow, breathing labored, eyes glazed with need and confusion. Without any further hesitation, he got off of you, slipping on his clothes and heading for the door.

“Satori wait! I’m sorry,” you sat up with realization, wrapping a sheet around you. “Please. I didn’t-”

Turning around, he gave you a look that had never been directed at you before and you felt almost fearful of it, stopping you from finishing your sentence.

“Get out. We’re done. Don’t be here when I come back.” Opening the door, he quickly left, leaving you to cry alone.

“So you’re back.”

Pretending not to notice him, you continued about your search, heading further into the room. Sighing, at not seeing the broom, you crawled over a couple of boxes, looking behind a shelving unit.

“When’d you decide to rejoin?”

Not there either. Bending down, your expression relaxed, finding the broom shoved under the shelving unit. Grabbing it, you turned around to find him in your way. The sight of him standing there gave you flashbacks of the intimate and compromising positions you’d been in with him in here. Your eyes fell to the patch on the shoulder of his sports jacket, the one you made for him.

Blinking, you spoke plainly, your voice more quiet than you had meant to be, “Excuse me, I have to sweep the gym and study before it gets late.”

“How’ve you been?” he tried again.

You raised a brow in response. Was he really trying to ask you that?

He laughed a little, clearly uncomfortable, and ran a hand through his hair. He picked up a volleyball from the cart and spun it in his hands. “Did you ever decide on plans for after graduation?”

Did he genuinely want to make small talk? Doubtful. Your face stayed expressionless, but your eyes spoke volumes and you wondered if he could see your pain. “Does it matter?”

“We haven’t spoken in months,” he stated, gripping the volleyball tightly in his large hands. “I just want to know what’s going to happen to you.”

“Satori, do you have a minute?”

He was chatting in the hallway with a few boys from class when you approached him. He didn’t even turn to acknowledge you. You stood there awkwardly, your classmates staring at you while your best friend ignored your existence. Biting your lip, you bowed your head, “Sorry for bothering you all. Please excuse me.”

“Tendou, (Y/N) looked like she had something important to say.”

“Did you guys get into a fight or something?”

“I don’t know what she wants and I don’t care. She’s crazy.”

Tendou’s words felt like being stabbed by a thousand knives.

Your gaze was fierce as you looked him in the eye. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to ask me those questions and you don’t get to know the answers. Now get out of my way so I can finish with practice.”

Stunned, he let you pass him. Thankfully he didn’t bother you again the rest of clean up. Knowing him, it was because of the first year’s presence around you. It created a buffer zone. You closed up the gym when you were finished. It took a bit longer so you decided you needed to go straight to bed in order to get up early enough to set up morning practice again.

Weeks continued on like this and soon it was nearing the Spring High Representative Playoffs in October. It only took a couple of weeks for your first year to get up to speed. You had them handling clean up for you, allowing you to get out of practices quickly. What you truly wished for was for them to already know how to organize and help run training camps so you could go home for a weekend instead of being stuck in a different prefecture at some other school with Tendou Satori for several days.

The bus ride to the training camp was insufferable. Tendou sat right behind you and burned holes into the back of your head. When everyone finally got to camp it only took a day for him to finally corner you alone. Thankfully, a few of the players from the university interrupted him and you could get away. Unfortunately, he was persistent.

“(Y/N), let’s talk,” he spoke seriously one evening. He had waited for you to finish your evening shower before bed and intercepted you in the stairwell on your way back to the female team manager’s room. When you said nothing, he continued, “Look, I know you’re still hurt-”

“Tendou!” you yelled at him, your voice echoing through the stairwell. “I confessed my feelings and you told me to get out. Then you wouldn’t speak to me when I begged you to and you even said lies about me. Hurt doesn’t describe it.” You still felt broken and beyond repair.

Soon after Tendou called you crazy, there were whispers, stories that got crazier and crazier with every time they were retold. Everything from Tendou being a victim of your lifetime of stalking to you being mentally unstable after he rejected you circulated around your class. You tried to approach Tendou to get him to stop the rumors, but he only ignored you and it fueled the stories.

So you stopped.

You stopped trying to talk to him before you made it worse. You did everything you could to limit being around him from changing how you walked to class, quitting as the team manager, and even asking for a class change - which was denied. You no longer looked in his direction if you could help it. You ate lunch alone. You kept to yourself.

People who you thought were friends avoided you, but continued to talk with Tendou, making you realize that you never had friends. You had Tendou and Tendou had friends. It made you laugh at how things had turned around. Before Tendou, you had plenty of friends and he had none. Now look at you both.

For weeks after school, you’d leave campus and walk to the Gokoku Shrine. When you crossed the bridge over the Hirose River, you’d contemplate your own end. You’d then go to the shrine and pray about it, asking for those dark thoughts to go away. It happened only once, but one night you even dared to stand on the parapet. 

One day, out of the blue, the whispers at school no longer stabbed at you. When you crossed the bridge, you didn’t have dark thoughts anymore. You stopped going to the shrine as often. Slowly, you let yourself change, studying harder and making it a goal to leave Japan. You’d remove yourself from the situation in a different way. The world was too large to stay in Japan. You’d start somewhere new.

“If you want to apologize, then do it. Just leave me alone afterwards. I’m so tired of everything. I wish it never happened.” He stood there silently and you felt it was so typical of him to not even apologize. You moved to walk past him, but he stood in your way. Making a second attempt to pass him, he reached for your hand and you slapped it away. “Enough, Tendou.”

He left you alone for the rest of training camp. In fact, he didn’t try to speak to you again until after the Spring High Playoffs. Their loss to Karasuno was a heavy hit. He tried talking to you about something mundane like his sports drink not being prepared correctly by the first year, and even though you wanted to tell him to go figure it out, you silently took care of it, knowing how much the loss was hurting everyone. Coach Washijou immediately put you to work in organizing a First Year Training Camp to be held at Shiratorizawa in early December and thankfully that kept you busy. 

It was the day before the training camp and you found yourself walking through town, headed toward the shrine to say a prayer. When you were leaving, you stopped at the top of the steps, looking out at the skyline. It was supposed to snow soon. You were half way down the stairs when you saw Tendou waiting at the bottom of the steps. Pausing before him, for the briefest of moments, you headed back to campus. He’d been silently walking with you until you got to the bridge where you stopped half way across. 

When you didn’t move, he cleared his throat and spoke calmly, “We know I’m not the type to apologize. I did those things because I meant to at the time. But I look back and I’m filled with regret. I ruined our friendship on purpose. I set us up to fail because... I was falling in love with you every day. I was going to fix it, but I wasn’t ready yet, then everything got so bad from the rumors. I didn’t mean for it to explode like it did.”

Your shoulders tensed at his words. “Why did you do it? If you didn’t mean for it, why did you let it happen? Why did you want to sleep with me?”

“To know what love was... And I learned it’s painful. Before you even said it, I could tell you loved me too, just by how you looked at me, but as long as you never said it out loud, it was fine. Then, when you said you loved me, I remembered how lonely it was before you. I couldn’t look at you anymore. You got in my head. After I walked out, I thought about what to do. Loving me meant you could stop one day, so I chose when to end it to get it over with instead of going through these feelings again in the future.”

“You didn’t even consider that it could work out between us and doomed us from the start. That’s weak and so selfish. And you’re an idiot.”

“I guess I’m all those things.”

“I don’t think you’re justified in what you did and I know you'll never apologize, but you said more than I ever expected you to. So what do you want from me?”

He was silent, thinking hard about what he wanted. “Right now, I guess I just want to know if you’ll be okay.”

You leaned against the parapet of the bridge, looking down at the river as the icy water flowed. “I used to think of dying every time I crossed this bridge. I walked to the shrine every day and I’d think of jumping. Maybe the water would put out this fire I felt burning away at me and end it all. Then I’d go and pray for those thoughts to go away.”

“So praying worked?” he asked, leaning against the parapet with you.

“Maybe.” You exhaled and watched the cloud of warm breath swirl and disappear before your eyes. “You learn to stop loving me?”

“Maybe. I thought so for a while, but I’m not sure anymore.” He peered over at you. “Did you? Stop loving me, I mean.”

“I still cry about you, so probably not.”

“Oh.”

-

Let me know if you want to be tagged in any future Haikyū!! content I create!

tag list: @hihiq​

[mygrandmathinksimsassy]

Maddie, I need kindergarten/daycare teacher Ben Solo in my life like I need Adam in a brocade dinner jacket.

(This was initially going to be a prompt fill and now it’s a whole thing that I’ll be posting to AO3)

“You’re a teacher?”

Ben doesn’t look like a teacher. At least not like any teacher Rey has ever had.

Finn covered her halfof rent last month.

Rey thought she’d havegot a research job by now, or at the very least, an internship she could dopart-time while working somewhere else for what would hopefully be more thanminimum wage. She doesn’t need a career just yet, just something that looksdecent enough to talk about if she ends up getting any interviews for any ofthe schools that have asked for secondary applications, but apparently that isasking too much. 

It’s taking a bit toolong to get hired.

Finn might have tohelp with the next month too.

–

She owes him one. Sheowes him thousands of times for everything he’s done for her since they satnext to each other in that physics class he ended up dropping when he decidedpre-med was not for him, but she definitely owes him at least one. 

Finn has been teachingfor about a month now, at the ritzy elementary school on the other side oftown, the one that looks like something out of a movie. It’s the sort of placeshe would have killed to go to as a kid, a place where they send thesixth-graders to a wilderness camp every year and the textbooks were written inthe past decade.

It’s the kind ofschool that has enough money to throw a carnival to welcome back theirstudents.

The kind of carnivalthat apparently needs volunteers.

–

It’s eight on a Fridaynight. Finn has been passing out by nine every night since he’s started, wornout from keeping up with a class of thirty third graders, but he’s wide awakeright now.

Apparently, it’s timeto collect.

“I don’t think I’mqualified to run a first aid tent.“

The Great British Bake-Off drones on in the background when Finn asks herto fill in for a parent volunteer who dropped out the night before. If shemisses Mary Berry complain about a “soggy bottom,” then that defeats the entirepoint of the drinking game she found when drafting cover letters got a bit toooverwhelming.

“It’s not like you’regoing to have to operate on anyone,” Finn says. “We just need a warm body tohand out band-aids. You can say it’s clinical experience. It’ll look good onyour resume.” 

Someone ends updropping their cake, a confection that looks nothing like the tastefulillustration they had been shown at the beginning of the episode. and they bothreach for their glasses of the cheapest wine she could find at Target.

“I will pay you infriendship- “

“We’re already friends.”

“Then I will also payyou in takeout afterward,” Finn tells her. “Whatever you want. My treat.”

“Indian food or I’ll quit.”

“Whatever you want.”

She was always going to say yes. Finn knows that. She knows that.

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t appreciate the bribe.

“Fine,” she says. “I’ll do it.”

“Thank god.” Finn letsout a sigh and sinks back against the couch they found on the side of the roadwhen the college kids moved out of their apartments at the end of the schoolyear. 

It’s still a prettydecent couch. It hardly looks like it came from the street.

“I already signedyou up.”

–

The school Finnteaches at is nice. 

Like really nice.

Nice enough where shefeels bad for showing up in jeans and a t-shirt that she got from doing a 10k afew years back.

The moms are allwearing Lilly Pulitzer in shades that run the gamut from aqua to lavender. Afew of the more daring ones are in green. All of them have blow outs and roundsunglasses perched on their heads complete with iced coffees that seemed gluedto the inside of their hands. 

The dads are all inthe same light blue button down tucked into the same pair of khakis. It’s likethey all agreed on a uniform beforehand and she pities any kids who get losttoday because they are going to have a hell of a time.

She follows Finn througha balloon archway toward a makeshift fairground covered in orange and bluedecorations. A handful of kids wave to him when Finn makes it onto the campus,calling out his name like he’s a rock star trying to make it out of an airport.They are all thrilled when he waves back at them and it’s worth it to volunteereven if it’s just to see how happy Finn is now that he’s in his element.

There are roughly ahundred different booths with different carnival games and kids already liningup to win stuffed animals and way too much candy.

It might be the bestparty she’s ever been to.

–

The first aid tent ison the corner of the makeshift fair grounds, just across from a ring toss gameand right by where someone is setting up a popcorn maker.

The department chairFinn works with, a swanlike woman named Amilyn, is already waiting. She’s got ahead of pink hair with a matching pink stud in her nose and a maxi dressunderneath a flowy rust-colored cardigan. There are Birkenstocks peeking outunderneath the hem of her dress with pink leather straps, ones that lookwell-worn like she’s been holding onto them since Lilith fair.

There was a car in theteacher’s parking lot covered in political bumper stickers urging passersby to“Coexist.”

One guess as to whoseit was.

 "You must beRey,” she says. There’s a unicorn already painted onto her face, but somehow,she makes it work. “Finn has told me so much about you. I feel like I knowyou already.”

She must look panickedat the notoriety because Amilyn smiles in an almost maternal way.

“Only good things,”she tells her. “Let’s get you set up.”

Rey is given a firstaid kit with plenty of band-aids and a cooler filled with water bottles andjuice. There are two folding chairs with “Chandrila Elementary” embroidered inblue fabric on the back and a little trash can just behind the table.

“If you need anything,I’ll be at the face painting booth pretending I know how to draw.” Amilyn givesthe tent a once-over. “Seriously, don’t hesitate to let me know if you needanything.”

“It’s ok,” Rey tellsher. “I’ll be fine.”

When Amilyn leaves thetent, it looks like she’s gliding.

The DJ- the schoolseriously hired a DJ-is playing a “Hey Ya!” at a volume so loud that Rey canbarely hear herself think. There is no chance any of these kids know whatsong is playing, but that doesn’t stop them from dancing. They’re all too youngto care about how they look, dancing just because there is music and because itseems fun, and she lets herself focus on something other than waiting for anyof the places she’s applied to call her back.

It’ll be ok.

If it’s not, there’sonly six hours to go.

–

Running the first aidtent isn’t that bad. Definitely worth the promise of as much takeout Finn iswilling to put on his credit card.

A handful of kids comein with banged up knees from falling on the black top, in need of bandages andjuice boxes before they’re ready to get back to the fun. They’re allsurprisingly well-behaved, all saying please and thank you without anyprompting from the parents who all seem way more worried than they do.

One of the moms stopsby and asks if she has anything for a migraine. When she offers up an Advil- byfar the strongest thing she has- the mom reluctantly accepts.

It’s pleasant. Boring.

Until one of the dadsstops by.

He definitely doesn’tlook the other dads.

For one thing, he’ssoaking wet. His dark hair is dripping, but still long enough to reach where acollar would be and the shirt he’s wearing- a bright orange monstrosity withthe words “Chandrila Coyotes” emblazoned on the front- sticks to his chest. Hischest is broad- big in a way that makes her think he must spend every freemoment in the gym- and she can pretty much see all of it with just how wet heis. His arms look like they might burst through the fabric. She can only hopeshe’s there when they do.

Instead of khakis,he’s in black swim trunks that cling to his thighs. His surprisingly muscularthighs.

The swim trunks clingto other parts too. They are doing an excellent job.

The only thing thatmakes him seem remotely mortal, is just how horrible the color contrast is. Helooks like he’s some sort of walking billboard for Halloween who wanted tostart the ad campaign about two months early, but she finds it in herself toforgive him for the misstep.

He’s definitelydifferent from the other dads.

She tries not tostare, but she must be staring, because it’s like she’s forgotten how to speakuntil he clears his throat.

“I cut my arm onsomething.“ 

He has a nice voice.Deep. The sort of voice people would pay good money to have narrate a naturedocumentary.

She remembers just howwords work and then promptly embarrasses herself.

“Is that how you gotcovered in water?”

“It was my shift inthe dunk tank.” He says this like a dunk tank was the obvious answer, but she’snever really spent much time around kids, so it might very well be. “Someasshole sixth grader spent ten dollars trying to knock me in.”

“I thought that wasthe whole point of a dunk tank.”

He looks at her withexasperation, practically rolling his eyes, and she shrugs her shouldersbecause it’s the only thing she can think to do.

“Can you just look atmy cut?”

She motions to thefree chair and her mystery patient takes a seat. He is too big for the chair,the same way he’s too big for his shirt, and when he holds up his forearm forher to inspect, it’s a wonder she can actually focus on the cut.

He is wet, but whenshe takes his arm, he’s warm.

The cut isn’t too bad-nothing that won’t heal in a couple of days so long as he doesn’t pick at it-but it’s the most blood she’s seen all day, so she can’t really fault him forcoming by. She lets the evaluation take longer than it needs to be, studyingthe muscle in his arm before glancing down at his hands.

He has nice hands,this mystery DILF, big hands that might be larger than her face. There isn’t aring on his finger and she didn’t think she was at that point yet, to ogle strangemen and wonder if they’re married, but apparently, she is. It’s a realizationthat makes her feel a little old, but she doesn’t have enough time to dwell onit when he speaks again.

“What’s the prognosis,doc?”

“I’m not entirelysure,” she says. She’s still holding onto his arm, but he doesn’t pull away, soshe keeps holding on. “But I think it’ll have to come off.”

He smiles at that,revealing teeth that are big and white and imperfect. His eyes crinkle up allsmall and she is so pleased with herself, so pleased to have earned this smile,that she can barely stand it.

“I figured as much.”His voice is completely dead pan when his face fades back into an exasperatedneutrality. “Just give me some whiskey and a stick to bite on and we’re good toamputate.” 

“I don’t have anybooze with me.” 

“That’s a shame.”Mystery DILF lets out a melodramatic sigh, but his lips still curl up at theends, the ghost of a smile. “I’ll just settle for gangrene.”

She smiles before shereaches into the first-aid kit and pulls out a fresh baby wipe to mop up theblood.

Mystery DILF watchesher when she cleans his cut, in a way that makes her acutely aware ofeverything that she’s doing, every brush of the wipe against his muscularforearm, every time she sucks in a breath. The way he looks at her makes timeslow down somehow, until the dulcet tones of “Gangnam Style” blaring in thebackground fade completely away.

It’s overwhelming, notin a bad way, just overwhelming and so she tries to make conversation becauseit feels like she might float off the ground.

“How old are yourkids?”

“I don’t have any kids,”he scoffs. “I work here.” 

“You’re a teacher?” 

He doesn’t look like ateacher. At least not like any teacher she’s ever had.

“Would I be at anelementary school carnival if I weren’t?” Mystery not-DILF says. “I’m herebecause I have to be. Trust me, I have better things to do.”

He hasn’t beenbleeding for a few minutes now, but she can’t stop touching his arm.

“Most people likecarnivals.”

“Most people don’thave to deal with parents bugging them the entire time,” he says. “We’ve onlyhad two weeks of classes and I already have at least five different peopleasking about their kid’s college readiness. It just starts earlier eachyear.“

“What grade do youteach?”

She’s thinking sixthgrade. It’s a nice image, the thought of him unraveling the mysteries of theancient world, using his deep voice to introduce kids to the classics.

“Kindergarten.”

“Bullshit.”

She snorts, and helooks like she slapped him.

“It’s notbullshit,” he says. “I promise.”

“You don’t seem like akindergarten teacher.” She struggles to find the right word for what she’strying to convey, to reconcile the thought of this man with his broad shouldersand deadpan expression surrounded by screaming kids that just barely come uppast his knee. “Kindergarten teachers are supposed to be…”

“Supposed to bewomen?” He says with a smug expression. “I get that a lot.”

“That’s not what I wasgoing to say.” 

“What was it then?” Heraises his eyebrows expectantly. “Enlighten me, doctor.”

“They are supposed tobe nice.”

“I happen to bevery nice.” 

“I don’t know,” shesays with a shrug. “You just called a kid an asshole like five minutes ago.”

“I’ve known that kidsince he was five. I know for a fact that he is an asshole,” he tells her.“That doesn’t mean I’m not nice.”

He doesn’t seem like amean person, but she doubts that this man is nice.

Nice men don’t wearshirts that cling to every muscle. Nice men don’t look like him.

“How did you end upworking the first aid tent in the first place?” He asks. “You just decided tobe a Good Samaritan for the day?”

“My roommate just startedworking here last month,” Rey tells him. “He guilted me into volunteeringbecause he knew that I didn’t have anything better to do.” 

“Who’s your roommate?”

“Finn Abejide,” shetells him. “He’s teaching third grade.”

“I know who he is,”the guys says. “I didn’t know he had a roommate.” 

He says this likehaving a roommate is some grand revelation. Which is bullshit.

Lots of people have roommates.

“Well now youdo.”

She lifts the secondbaby wipe from his arm and reluctantly lets go.

“What type of band-aid do you want?”

“Surprise me.”

She chooses two of thebandages from the most sparkly of the boxes she’s been provided.

Not because she thinkshe’ll be embarrassed. If he chose to wear that shirt, then he’s definitely pastthe point of embarrassment. But because it amuses her. Because the quickershe picks out a band-aid, the quicker she can get back to touching him.

She gently adheres theband-aids- purple ones with horses printed all over- and he smirks when helooks down.

“Twilight Sparkle,” hesays. “Excellent choice” 

“How do you know MyLittle Pony?” She zips up the first-aid kit. “They’re a little after your time.”

“I spend most of myweek with five-year olds,” he says. “I have forgotten more about My Little Ponythan most people will ever know.” 

He leans back in hischair and there’s no real reason for him to stay- he’s no longer bleeding andhe’s all patched up, so she uses the only tool left at her disposal.

“Do you want ajuice box?” She reaches into the cooler, fishing for what’s left of herhaul. “I’ve been giving them to every patient.”

"Sure,” he says. “Whynot?”

She hands one to him.When he takes it, his fingers brush against hers.

His hands are way toobig for the juice box-it’s meant for someone tiny and everything about him ishuge- and when he jams the straw in, a few droplets splatter on her shirt.

“Sorry about that,” hesays sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to get you wet.” 

He realizes what he’sjust said just about when she realizes it.

His mouth gets allsmall like he just sucked on a lemon and she is not blushing, why would she beblushing. That would be stupid. 

The silence that hangsbetween them is almost painful. The conversation that follows is even worse.

"This is good juice.”

"It came with thetent.”

“Still goodthough.” 

He finishes the juicebox in another lengthy sip. When he’s done, he crumples it into a ball and aimsfor the little recycling bin in the corner. The crumpled juice box landswith a thud.

When he stands up fromhis chair, she has to crane her neck up just to take him all in.

"I’ll see youaround.”

He leaves her with anod, the sort of stilted one guys use to greet each other on the street, andshe nods right back.

It’s only after he’sgone that she realizes she never got his name 

–

The booth is prettymuch dead for the rest of the day and so she watches the ring toss game sinceher phone is essentially dead.

A little boy, probablykindergarten age but there’s no way she really can tell has spent the lastthirty minutes trying to win a stuffed animal. His aim is terrible, bad enoughwhere half the rings land on the ground, and she can hear the beginnings of atantrum when her Patient Zero swoops in.

He’s basically tallerthan the booth so it doesn’t take him that long to land all three rings on thebottles set up behind the partition. The woman behind the booth hands him astuffed animal alligator and then he crouches down so he’s eye level to thekid.

He hands the alligatorto the kid- a dark haired little boy with skinned knees- and the boy sweeps himinto a hug. Her patient hugs right back and she looks away when he catches herwatching.

–

She looks for him whenthey walk back to Finn’s car, hoping to get a name or maybe even another smile.

But Patient Zero isalready gone when they leave 

–

Finn buys enoughtakeout to last them through the weekend.

"I promise Ididn’t mean to abandon you-“ Finn opens one of the containers and the smell ofsamosas fills the air. Her stomach rumbles like she’s just remembering thatshe’s hungry and she looks forward to the food coma that is sure to come. “-Ihad to convince like twenty of my kids to ask for balloon animal snakes becauseI couldn’t figure out how to make anything else.”

"It’s alright.”She spoons half the Chana Masala onto her plate. It might the happiest she’sever been to see a chickpea. "One of the teachers got hurt so we hung outfor a bit.

"Who wasit?”

“I don’t know,” shesays. “A guy teacher.”

“Was it Mr. Yoda?”Finn asks hopefully “Because I want him to be my grandpa. I will give him theadoption papers to sign if I ever figure out his first name.“

"This guy wasn’treally grandpa age.” Her mouth is still half full. "I didn’t get his name.He was a kindergarten teacher. Tall.”

“Are you talkingabout Ben Solo?" 

“You know I don’t knowwho that is.” 

"You would knowwho he is. He’s a dick.” She studies each portion of the last samosa beforefinally taking the one that’s about three millimeters thicker. Finn pops theother half in his mouth but that doesn’t stop him from ranting. “He’s the onlyguy even close to our age and I think he’s said like three words to me since Istarted. I literally have not seen him talking to another adult.  It’slike he’s made it his mission in life not to make any friends.”

 "I don’t know.”

She reaches for thelast samosa and thinks about the man who won a crying kid a toy.

“Heseemed nice.”