okay just hear me out modern au where tommy ends up picking up ellie from pre school almost everyday since joel is busy but he keeps meeting teacher maria
okay bestie as a preschool teacher you GOT me with this one. like you got me SO GOOD. this might actually get published to ao3, you got me soooo fuckin’ good right now. i have so many unnecessary details for such a simple plot so here’s a cut
tbh i feel like even as busy as joel is, he’d prioritize picking up and dropping of sarah as much as he can, so maybe he and tommy would alternate???? so on days when tommy drops off, joel picks up and when joel drops off, tommy picks up. sarah goes to a public preschool with a lot of kids, so she gets easily overwhelmed and sometimes needs extra cuddles or kind words in the mornings to make it out of the car.
one monday, a couple months into school, sarah is particularly VERY anxious because there’s a new teacher to replace ms. doherty, who quit unexpectedly on friday “because she said we gave her alooooottt of headaches, daddy.” now, sarah knows nothing about the new teacher except that shes a girl from a place called new york—and sarah doesn’t even know what new yawk IS like, thats So Far Away??? (“it’s not really that far, baby,” joel says to her. “and it’s new york. with an o sound.”) still, sarah is VERY concerned:
is new yawk like another planet???? (no, babygirl.) but what if she’s an alien???? (the school only hires human teachers, baby. they promised.) but what if she’s a SECRET alien??? (she won’t be, i promise.) okay but what if she’s mean???? (if she is, you tell me or tommy and we’ll talk to her about it, okay? she shouldn’t be mean to you.) what if she doesn’t play good music at quiet time???? (you can ask her nicely and i bet she will, baby. just say please and thank you, okay?)
still, even with her questions answered, sarah is very nervous on monday. both joel and tommy go with her in an effort to start her day off extra good, especially because joel can’t pick her up. they reassure her that new york has plenty of nice people and her new teacher will probably be one of them. she also gets TWO WHOLE extra minutes of cuddle time with BOTH of them before she and daddy have to leave the car—it’s half for her and half for them, because they’re honestly pretty anxious for her to like her new teacher too
joel is the one to hold sarah’s hand and walk her inside, because the school prefers only one guardian to drop off at a time. tommy’s nervous, but joel actually seems pretty pleased when he gets back to the car with no sarah in tow. surprisingly, he’s back faster than any time they’ve ever dropped sarah off before. with a proud smile, he tells tommy is that miss maria seems really nice. more importantly, she’s Black, which joel says Sarah got really excited about. tommy pries for more details, and he’s glad he does: apparently miss maria has locs, a few even blue and purple, and the first thing sarah’d said to her was an emphatic “😲😍🤩 i like your hair!!!!!!!!,” to which she had responded “thank you! i like your hair! what’s your name, sweets?” and that’d been that
later, when tommy does pickup that day, he doesn’t know what to expect. most times at the end of the day, sarah is super reserved and a bit cranky, eager to get home to finally have time to herself. tommy’s goal is usually to try and get her to at least wave goodbye to her teachers like joel asks—but, more often than not, she opts for reaching for uppies and hiding her face in his chest until they leave.
today??? no. it takes sarah a full two minutes to even notice tommy’s there because her and this drop-dead-fucking-gorgeous woman in a soft-looking lavender pants and blouse set are finishing up a painting at the easel wall. they’re working on what looks like a brown and purple butterfly, probably the most carefully shaped sarah’s ever made.
tommy’s heart stops when this goddess miss maria finally looks over at him and smiles with perfect pearly-whites, waving him over behind sarah’s back. when she says “sarah honey, i think someone’s here for you!” in her sing-songy toddler-tone, tommy swears an angel gets his wings. sarah turns around, shrieks with joy upon seeing him, and runs down to him with her arms out, yelling all the while: “THOMMYYYYYYY!!!!!”—because sarah’s still working on her hard ts—“thommy!!!! thommy thommy thommy come look!!! i made a butterfly for u!!!!! look!!!!! it matches ms. maria!!!!!! it’s gorgeous!!!!” (she’s been obsessed with calling things gorgeous ever since she heard tommy say it about a harley motorbike last week. joel especially thinks it’s cute, especially because of how she over-emphasizes the j-sound: gor-Jus.)
tommy’s never seen her so excited to show her art off at pickup-time before; usually, she waits until they’re home and she’s feeling less shy to start showing off, but she’s babbling and pointing to it as he picks her up and sets her on his hip: “it’s brown and purple like miss maria!!! isnt it so gorgeous, unca thommy??? do you like it???? aren’t they SO gorgeous????”
and now miss maria is looking at him. and he’s looking at her. tommy knows he’s blushing, and he hesitates—which sarah does NOT appreciate, so she says: “unca tommy!!!!!!! don’t be WUDE! thell miss maria she’s gorgeous!!! she is!!!”
luckily, miss maria saves him by explaining, in a slightly firmer teaching voice: “sarah sweets, that’s okay! we’re only just meeting, and that’s not really something you say to a stranger, okay?”
“but why noooooooot?? you are gorgeous! like my butterfly! isn’t she so gorgeous, thommy?”
“well, yeah, of course,” tommy agrees easily, because she obviously is—and shit. now miss maria is looking at him like he’s a fucking bonehead, because he obviously fucking is. “but—uh, i mean—she’s right, hon’. you gotta listen to your teacher, and that’s not somethin’ you say to a stranger, okay?”
but then, after thinking to her tiny self for a few seconds: “well if she stays my teacher then she’s not a stranger, is she???” sarah asks tommy, then turns her conniving little head towards maria, too. “and you said you’d stay! so can he say you’re gorgeous tomorrow?” then, without waiting for an answer, she’s back towards tommy to finish: “i think you should call her gorgeous tomorrow.”
“i think we should go home, s’what i think,” tommy says, finally deciding to save himself from four-year-old torment. he sets sarah down and pats her on the end with a gentle but firm request to go get her stuff from her cubby, which she goes to do without her complaints of being too tired to walk. maria watches them closely with a close-lipped but relaxed grin. when sarah’s out of earshot, he apologizes. “sorry ‘bout that, ma’am.”
“don’t be,” miss maria teases, crossing her arms. “you did call me gorgeous, after all. i’ve had worse introductions.”
“tommy miller,” he offers, moving to shake her hand. he notices her nails are done-up, a sparkly blend of pretty shades of purple that look tie-dyed on somehow. her hands aren’t soft, not really, but they’re smooth enough to make him shiver as he pulls away. “sarah’s uncle.”
“oh, i know,” she reassures, then nods her head pointedly towards sarah. the little one is coming back towards them with her lunchbox in one hand and her water bottle in the other, walking extra careful so she doesn’t trip over herself like she did last week, tommy guesses. clearly fond, maria continues. “she spent all day telling me about you and her daddy. you’re doing great with her.”
“unca thommy! i’m ready to go!” sarah sing-songs, interrupting whatever miss maria might’ve said next. internally, tommy thanks his niece—the you’re doing great was already enough to make him cry, and he’d rather not do so in front of either her or her amazing new teacher. plopping her lunch and bottle at tommy’s feet, sarah gives not one, but two eager waves to miss maria, hands flapping madly up towards the woman’s face. “bye miss mariaaaaa!!!! i’ll see you tomorrow!!!!”
“bye sarah sweets!” maria says back, waving just as enthusiastically. to tommy, she raises an amused, teasing eyebrow. just loud enough for him to hear as he turns away, he hears her say “bye, gorgeous,” and laugh, giving yet another angel a pair of wings.
it takes everything in him to not fall straight to the floor, toppling his own precious niece, right then. he doesn’t think he even breathes until both he and Sarah are secured in the car, him in the front and her in her carseat. she’s already babble singing mary j. blige’s “just fine,” which they usually play and sing on their way home from school to help her regulate. when he plays the song this time, sarah smiles bright at him through the rearview and says “i already feel just fine, unca tommy!!! but can we still play it, just for fun?”
“of course, baby,” he says, and start singing along with her. he’s feeling just fine, too.
🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾
tagging some homies (btw just let me know if u wanna be tagged in this kinda stuff or not guys! im never sure lol): @becomethesun @clickergossip @boilingcowboy @bumblepony
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Oh Raven (Sing Me a Happy Song)
< Chapter 5 | Chapter 7 >
Chapter 6:
Wind ran out, targeting one of the guardians. “Oi!” He yelled, banging his sword against his shield. “Over ‘ere ya nasty landlubber!” The guardian wired to face him, a glowing red dot appearing on his shield. There was a yell from the other side of it as Sky cut off two of its spidery legs with the master sword. The guardian began to turn towards Sky, and Wind rushed in, scrambling up its silver body.
He grunted as it spun, but managed to clamber on top of it. “Wind what the hell are you doing?!” He heard someone scream. He respectfully ignored it.
The guardian spun around in circles, trying to throw wind off, but thanks to Sky it no longer had a balanced amount of legs and stumbled. Wind leant over the front of the now downed guardian, and grinned. “Hello!” He said cheerfully, before shoving his sword into its eye.
Sky quickly helped him down from its corpse, and they ran to help their friends.
-
Raven growled as he dashed towards a Guardian. He never thought he would have to fight two in one day. He cursed the heroes for be so heroic, and himself for giving in. Raven couldn’t tell how they were going, but no one was screaming in pain or grief so they were probably fine.
He rolled out of the way just in time for a blast to go over his head, destroying a statue that stood in a nearby fountain. It was ugly anyway. Raven knew he wouldn’t be able to reflect a blast like he had in te castle, as his shield was close to breaking. Instead, he pulled out a weapon Crow had made. It hadn’t been tested yet, so now was the perfect time to try. (And hope that it didn’t blow up in his face.)
As the guardian spun around to face him again, he gripped the small handheld machine and aimed for its eye. There was a crack, and the red light faded, whatever it was made of shattering.
He sighed and made a mental note to thank Crow, then turned to see what everyone else was doing. They all seemed to be standing, and all the guardians were dead.
“Never again.” Raven declared. “Are you guys pulling me into another crazy fight. Got it?”
“All part of being a hero.” Legend said tiredly.
Raven’s hood had fallen down in the fight, scars available for all to see, but they didn’t stare and for that he was grateful. Raven began walking away, and they followed.
Or at least, they had intended to follow. The group was stopped though, by a hideous roar from the castle, and the crowd’s screams of pure terror. The Links turned, and were greeted by the sight of something indescribable.
It seemed to be some kind of dark cloud, spiralling it’s way up the spires of the castle. It screeched again, dark and threatening, and it’s glowing eyes focussed down on the people staring. They ran.
Everyone tried their best to stay together, but the crowd was frantic, like a raging river pulling them apart. “Go to the roost!” Raven cried, but he couldn’t tell if anyone heard him.
The guards at the middle gates were gone, they’d probably run as soon as they saw the beast. Everyone pushed and pulled, trying to escape.
Raven stumbled as someone barrelled into him, but just as quickly regained his balance and kept running.
Multiple blasts from behind him made him turn, and he saw what must have been at least 50 guardians scurrying out of the castle gates, eyes lit up red.
He dashed down the streets of lower Hyrule. Raven was already tired from the previous fights, but his primal instincts screamed at him to run, run, run.
Run to help them. A voice whispered.
Run to save yourself, said another.
Those people are dying. The first voice said.
You’ll die if you don’t get out of here. The second voice growled.
Find the other heroes. Came the hushed whisper.
Don’t bother looking for them in this crowd.
Run. The first voice murmured.
Run. The second voice echoed.
Run, Link. Came the sigh.
Run, Link! The other voice growled.
People screamed as they madly dashed through the streets and towering buildings collapsed on their supports. Raven’s breathing came in short, sharp gasps.
Up ahead, there was a defeating groan, like a giant waking from a hundred year slumber. People exclaimed in surprise.
The walls to the outside were opening
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