Dayton pressed her hand flat to the cafeteria table, fingers splayed in quiet expectation, like she was setting down a rule instead of a palm.
Her gaze dropped to the tiny figure pacing the cool laminated surface.
Ezra J. Harris. Or what was left of him.
A man who used to command a room with nothing but a look and a pause, now dwarfed by plastic trays and sticker covered water bottles and the bright, careless giggles of girls who could snap their fingers and change his whole day.
He wasn’t her teacher anymore.
He was hers.
Just hers.
Dayton liked the way that thought fit in her mouth. My Little. It curled on her tongue the way “boyfriend” did the first time someone dared you to say it out loud, except this wasn’t a crush. This was work. Ownership. Paperwork. Training. A summer of exams and drills and being told, again and again, that hesitation was how Littles got hurt.
She’d begged. Negotiated. Argued. Filled out forms that asked for things no thirteen year old should have to know.
And now she had him.
Only a few hours into their first school day together, and she already saw the problem ahead.
Ezra still carried himself like someone important. Still blinked like he expected questions, not hands. Still moved like the world was going to step aside for him out of respect, as if respect was a currency he could still spend.
His tiny dress shoes clacked softly as he paced, the sound absurdly loud to Dayton’s ears in the cafeteria roar. Every step looked careful. Every step looked like effort disguised as control.
He hated the collar. She could tell. The little jingle of the charm was like a tell in poker. He’d stiffen every time it moved, like his body thought it could out stubborn reality.
He turned, paused at the edge of her hand, then climbed into her palm.
The warmth of her skin rose through the soles of his shoes and into his knees. He didn’t look up. He couldn’t. Looking up meant admitting the scale. Looking up meant admitting he was being carried like a phone, like a hamster, like something that didn’t get a say in where it went.
Dayton watched him anyway, clinical and satisfied in a way that made her feel older than she was. Earlier, the microphone was removed from him in class. No warning, no explanation. Just a quick flex of authority, the same way you’d snap a pencil you didn’t want someone else to use.
No voice amplification now.
No teacher voice.
Just the small squeak of whatever his throat could manage, and only if she let him.
At the nearby table, Hannah stood and lifted her tray with a thunk. “Can you believe Evan got a Little?”
Hayden scoffed, leaving her chair crooked. “No one but her crew has even seen it though. Like, is it even real?”
Dayton didn’t flinch. “She was being picky. Bound to happen eventually.”
Her eyes flicked down to Ezra’s bowl clipped to her tray. “Are you done with your pellets?”
Ezra nodded.
He wasn’t full, not exactly. Hunger wasn’t a thing he got to negotiate like a person anymore. Hunger was a signal, a body problem to be solved. He’d learned that this morning, right after the SEA had walked into his classroom like they owned the walls.
Dayton tipped the remaining pellets into the trash with a clean, practiced motion, then poured out his water with the same brisk dismissal someone might give to a half-finished soda. She wiped the bowl dry with a napkin before slipping it into her bag.
It wasn’t theatrical. It wasn’t cruel in the way people on TV were cruel.
It was casual.
And casual, Ezra was learning, was its own kind of violence.
“Dayton,” Nicole said, voice lowering, slicing through the rhythm. “It’s Charity. Supposedly.”
Dayton froze.
The world didn’t stop. The cafeteria noise didn’t dim. But Dayton did, like someone had hit pause on her.
She looked at Nicole, then down at Ezra, brow tightening. “Seriously?”
Nicole nodded, lips curling slightly like she regretted bringing it up but couldn’t not bring it up.
Ezra tilted his head. He didn’t speak. He could tell the name meant something because Dayton’s mouth changed around it, like she’d bitten something bitter.
“Don’t say anything to Sara,” Dayton warned, voice quiet but absolute.
Hannah blinked. “Wait. Who’s Charity?”
“She bullied Sara,” Nicole said vaguely.
“Like your sister Sara?” Hayden asked, squinting like she was assembling puzzle pieces.
“She is my sister,” Dayton corrected, cool and sharp. “Not blood. But vacations, holidays, birthday brunches. Sara’s family.”
The way Dayton said family was different. Less defensive. More final.
“She used to want Charity,” Dayton added, like she was talking about an old phone case Sara regretted ever loving. “Not anymore.” She said with a finalty like there were details there she wasnt going to share.
Ezra watched Dayton’s thumb shift slightly against his side, not squeezing, not hurting, just… anchoring. A tiny movement that told him she was thinking hard.
Sara Reeves. Sarandipity. The name had already hit him earlier like a bright spotlight. Now it lurked behind Dayton’s eyes, not as a celebrity, but as something protected.
The bell tone for the end of lunch chimed and the girls flowed with the crowd, dumping trays, grabbing bags, falling into hallway motion like a school of fish.
Dayton rose with them.
The hallway hit Ezra like weather.
The air changed, cooler, tinged with metal and deodorant, and that faint fruit scented marker smell that lived in Roosevelt’s walls. The sound changed, too. Less roar, more echo. Sneakers squeaking. Locker doors slamming. Voices bouncing off tile in sharp, effortless bursts.
Every step Dayton took rattled through her hand and into Ezra’s bones.
He didn’t realize how much a human body moved while walking until he became something that had to be carried through it.
A few seventh graders glanced up as Dayton and her friends passed. A boy in an oversized hoodie stared too long and mouthed, “Mr. Rhys?” with a half laugh he tried to hide behind his sleeve. A girl with a glittery headband nudged her friend hard enough to make her stumble.
Ezra caught every glance like tiny pebbles thrown at his dignity.
He used to walk these halls like they meant something.
Now he was a prop in a middle school parade.
“Did you hear about Ms. Whittaker’s new seating chart?” Hannah asked, twisting her juice pouch like it had personally offended her. She posted it on the portal.
“Ugh, alphabetical,” Nicole groaned. Her blonde braid swung as she walked. “I’m stuck next to Jake, and he smells like sunscreen. Even in January.”
Hayden gasped, delighted. “Yes! It’s like, dude, it’s snowing. What are you protecting yourself from? Clouds?”
“Could be worse,” Dayton said, shifting Ezra slightly to settle him more securely as they passed the trash cans. “You could be next to Quinn and her nightmare unicorn doodles.”
Nicole mimed a shudder. “The skulls. With bows.”
They all laughed, bright and chiming, and it washed right over Ezra like he wasn’t there.
He tried to stay steady as Dayton’s fingers adjusted, repositioned him without even thinking. Not malicious. Just… practical. She moved. So he moved.
They passed Mr. Heller from Science, navy cardigan, coffee in hand. His eyes flicked to Ezra, then away almost immediately. His smile was forced, his voice tight.
“Miss Harris,” he said stiffly. “Quite the… companion you’ve got there.”
Dayton smiled back, polite and contained. “Thank you, Mr. Heller.”
Ezra waited. A pause. A question. Anything. A flicker of recognition that said: Ezra. Are you alright?
Mr. Heller gave nothing. He nodded once and walked on.
Ezra’s stomach sank.
Teachers didn’t engage. That was the rule. Everyone knew it. Unauthorized engagement. Interference. Even if they thought it was wrong, even if they privately disagreed, they had a job and a mortgage and a life that was full sized and protected by law.
So they smiled at Dayton.
And ignored Ezra.
The girls turned the corner past lockers freshly painted sky blue. The clang of doors rang like punctuation marks between gossip bursts.
“Think Ms. Whittaker will grade easier than… you know,” Hayden said, tilting her chin toward Ezra like he was hallway décor.
“She’ll grade how she’s supposed to,” Dayton said simply. “Ezra wasn’t exactly a softie.”
The word landed.
Softie.
Like he’d been a vibe, not a person.
Heat rose to Ezra’s cheeks and he hated that his body still betrayed him with blushes. They weren’t being cruel. Not exactly. Their indifference was worse. Their casualness made it clear they’d already adapted.
Nicole dug through her oversized sweater pocket like she was searching for a relic. “Okay, baggy sleeves are officially it. Ainsley said so.”
Ezra blinked. Ainsley. TikToks. Trends. It felt like falling into a language he didn’t speak while everyone else was fluent and laughing.
“Bro,” Hayden said, flipping open her compact, “Ainsley could wear a trash bag and still get likes. It’s not fair.”
The compact mirror flashed.
Ezra saw Hayden’s reflection: huge lashes, glossed lips, practiced tilt of her chin. The girls moved like they were being filmed even when nobody was filming. Like life was a montage and they were aware of the camera even when there wasn’t one.
He used to grade them on essays about Brave New World.
Now he listened to them debate mascara like it was statecraft.
“Speaking of looks,” Dayton said with a small smirk, “Quinn’s boots today were insane. Full equestrian vibes.”
“She thinks she’s in a Netflix drama,” Hayden groaned. “You go to Roosevelt Middle, babe. Calm down.”
More laughter.
Ezra wasn’t part of it.
He looked up at Dayton’s hand as she laughed, bracelets jingling softly against the lavender sheen of her nails. He used to notice symbolism, metaphors, motifs.
Now he noticed nail color.
Because nail color filled his entire sky.
“You guys,” Hannah whispered dramatically, “did you see Brooklyn’s eyeliner?”
“It was fire, but she is trying to hard,” Dayton said, rolling her eyes like she was quoting scripture.
“She probably sets an alarm for five-thirty,” Nicole said, grinning.
Ezra exhaled slowly.
Brooklyn.
He remembered grading her essay on To Kill a Mockingbird. Now her name came up because of eyeliner. Not because she was brilliant. Not because she’d made an argument that surprised him. Because of her make up technique.
It felt like watching his old world dissolve into glitter.
As they walked, Ms. Whittaker appeared from a side corridor, clipboard in hand. Her eyes caught Ezra for half a second longer than politeness allowed.
Something flickered in her expression. Pity, maybe. Discomfort. A memory.
Her voice stayed even.
“Ladies,” she said.
“Hi, Ms. Whittaker!” Nicole chirped immediately, posture straightening like she’d been trained by a dog whistle.
Whittaker nodded and moved on.
No “Ezra.”
No pause.
No acknowledgement that the man she’d trained under was now riding in a student’s palm like a keychain.
The hallway swallowed her footsteps.
The world kept spinning. Ezra wasn’t sure if she didn’t care or it was just easier to pretend after seeing your place of work swallowed by a swarm of agents like a drug bust.
The bell rang, echoing through the tiled halls like a summons.
Dayton’s fingers curled slightly around Ezra in rhythm with her steps, not squeezing, just securing him. A grip meant for safety. A grip meant for ownership.
Ezra looked down the corridor, long and bright and full of ordinary middle school life: lip gloss tubes clicking shut, gum snapping, gossip unspooling like ribbon.
I loved the tie-in to Evan’s World with the mention of Evan, Brooklyn, and Charity by Nicole, as well as the description of Dayton’s actions with Ezra, with her hand.
I am excited to see if Dayton meets charity, that would be fun.
The revelation that Madison Wesson was also going to the same School that an unregistered Little teacher taught at was a wild twist.
I’m wondering if she was in his class, what Cindy’s reaction would have been to learning about him, if perhaps there was a counterclaim made by the Wessons that Dayton’s was competing with. (bare in mind, Cindy and Greg are still pre-infection and think they’re immune at this point)
thanks. its a fun way to branch out the world. I’ve planned to include Dayton as a bridge forawhile.
0) Having him sit beside a book labelled “Human behaviour” while getting a crash course in that topic is a nice poetic shot, though it’s nothing like what’s described in this episode’s text. I’m wondering if this is tomorrow’s (or one of next week’s) image posted today?
1.1) “Dayton liked the way that thought fit in her mouth. My Little. It curled on her tongue the way “boyfriend” did the first time someone dared you to say it out loud” Dayton reveling in her position is very in character
1.2) “except this wasn’t a crush. This was work. Ownership.” According to Mal those can be the same thing.
2) “Only a few hours into their first school day together, and she already saw the problem ahead. Ezra still carried himself like someone important.” Oh know her Little still has his self-respect.
3) ‘microphone was removed from him in class. No warning, no explanation. Just a quick flex of authority, the same way you’d snap a pencil you didn’t want someone else to use” Wait, was it also snapped?
4) “Can you believe Evan got a Little? No one but her crew has even seen it, though. Like, is it even real?” So Dayton goes to the same School as Madison and her friends, interesting.
4) “It wasn’t theatrical. It wasn’t cruel in the way people on TV were cruel. It was casual” Casual cruelty is a thing
5) “Dayton, It’s Charity. Supposedly.” Yes, Nicole, all guardians think that taking care of a Little is a form of charity- no waitt you meant the person didn’t you? lol
6) “Wait. Who’s Charity?” “She bullied Sara,” “Like your sister Sara?” Bit of an understatement, but I’d be surprised if they all knew how much damage was actually done.
7) “She used to want Charity, Not anymore.” Sara moving past revenge is one of her biggest moments IMHO. thoug I do kinda wish she hadn’t gotten that closure
8) “Ugh, alphabetical, I’m stuck next to Jake, and he smells like sunscreen. Even in January.” Sunscreen isn’t a bad smell, though, but these girls looking for shallow faults in others if typical girl behavour. (Alphabetical seating charts do suck, though)
9) “You could be next to Quinn and her nightmare unicorn doodles. The skulls. With bows.” That sounds adorable
10) “Teachers didn’t engage. That was the rule. Everyone knew it. Unauthorized engagement. Interference. Even if they thought it was wrong, even if they privately disagreed, they had a job and a mortgage and a life that was full-sized and protected by law” Damn, that’d suck, these are his colleagues, his friends, yet now they’re nothing.
11) “Think Ms. Whittaker will grade easier than… You know,” Yes, her new lesson plan is designed to dumb down the class
12) “It was fire, but she is trying to hard,” – “She probably sets an alarm for five-thirty,” Whats’ wrong with that? My alarm’s set for five-thirty (except on Smallara post days, then it’s 4:30)
13) “No “Ezra.” No pause. No acknowledgement that the man she’d trained under was now riding in a student’s palm like a keychain.” Cassie respected Ezra, but also resented him, and didn’t like that a Little had a class and she didn’t.
1.1) I think this is the first time Asuka has allowed her to admit it, even to herself!
2) Her dark side is emerging.
7) So Dayton is very much aware of Sara’s change of attitude towards Charity.
8) Whittaker is out to make the class hers in every way!
10) Still waiting to see a “colleague” revel in Ezra’s demise. 😇
11) See comment #8…
12) 😆
13) She had no emotional attachment to him (friendly or otherwise), even less so now. He’s just a Little to her.
1.1&2) her true self is finally coming forward.
7) seems like it.
8&11) distancing herself from Ezra seems wise.
10) I think Cassie’s your best bet for that.
13) I think he was always just a Little to her.
0) I edited this chapter severaltimes so hte locker scene got lessened each time until it wasnt there But i liked the image because i spent alot of time finding a text book and getting the right one. So i posted it anyway.
1) She did want a little. She never hid that from anyone. So her being happy about it i dont think is a bad thing. It shows shes not ungrateful. She wanted one and even if it wasnt the ideal little or the little she would have selected if every little was available to her. she still has one and its her little.
As looking at it from Ezra’s perspective you are right but looking at it from Dayton’s perspective she is fulfilling a desire and want she had. She did work for it. she is sacrificing for it. She is going to be expending alot of money for this. I do think some of those points get lost when its just viewed from Ezra’s pov.
1.2) Yeah but mallory is special.
2) Carrying yourself with importance is fine but I do think carrying yourself as if nothing has changed which is what dayton is getting at can be a problem.
3) it wasn’t snapped. While the example still works in this version it was referencing hte original version on that scene where its snapped and dropped in the garbage.
4) they do. If some of the hallway character models were people from Madison’s world. I even snuck Ava into a scene to see if anyone would notice. I’ve planned ot have Dayton be the counter in terms of popularity at Madisons school for a bit now.
5) yup good ol Charity Kingsley.
6) Only dayton knows everything. Nicole knows some. Hayden and hannah know nothing.
7) It is a big development for Sara. As seh was so hell bent on revenge. But Jordy and Chloe have been good for her.
8) its not a bad smell but it would be annoying to smell everyday. I feel like it would a justfiable annoyance. I was kind of using some of the annoyance to show there age.
9) I can see how that may not fit in with the crowd. Atleast not the popular crowd.
10) Well Ezra wasn’t the most personable to be fair. He had people he helped but the majority of the staff he didnt engage with that much.
11) I think you may be latching on to hard to the dumbing down. there are ways to simplify lessons and concepts and not make them so politically divisive without dumbing down things to an extreme.
12)i’m honored to be part of your wake up routine. Nothing inherently wrong but tehy were more just saying she is trying to hard.
13) all your points are true. LIke he was a co-worker but they wrent friends or anything. She pretty much sees him as a little. Shes not wanting him harmed or mistreated but she doesnt have any urge to do anything special either. He is a little, he has a guaridan now. Its been handled her life goes on.
0) Fair enough, i typically skim the images fir that reason
1.1) she got her way and is now feeling happy about it, regardless of how hurtful or cruel she was about it, very typical Dayton behaviour.
2) I’d say he’s putting on a brave face, but I would say the way he carries himself has changed, just maybe not as much or how Dayton thought it would. Not into the submissive pet/slave Dayton wanted.
3) I see, snapping it wouldn’t make sense, if it’s little stuff it’d be expensive, good for resale.
4) Nice I’ll keep an eye of for Easter egg cross overs, and imma find Ava.
Dayton being the most popular in their grade then, Evan and her Friends being the popular ones in the grade below makes sense.
Or did you mean a Mal vs Maisy Vs Charity type set up?
7) Pity she isn’t as good for Jordan as he is for her.
8) Well, its also my smell, because I wear sunscreen every (work) day. *starts crying*
9) I’m hoping we meet this Quin
10) I could see that.
11) That’s one i can probably let go of.
13) she always looked down on him, now she looks further down on him.
4) Is Ava behind Dayton and Hayden in 27?
Yeah