Dayton had been deep into her homework and chatting with her friends. The chatting was mostly mindless, the kind where you answered on autopilot while your brain stayed locked on the page in front of you.
On Discord, Hayden was narrating her life like she was livestreaming a documentary.
“I’m literally about to start a petition against fractions,” Hayden announced. “Like, as a human rights issue.”
Nicole made a quiet sound that was half laugh, half sigh. “That is not what human rights are.”
“It’s what they should be,” Hayden argued. “Because why is seven eighths even allowed to exist.”
Hannah’s camera was on, but her eyes were mostly on her sketchbook. Pencil tucked behind her ear, hand moving in slow, careful shading. “You can just… reduce it.”
Hayden gasped like she’d been betrayed. “Hannah, that’s giving teacher.”
Hannah didn’t look up. “It’s giving math.”
Kinsley’s little tablet view was low-angle again, like she was propped against Nicole’s hoodie on the downstairs couch. The hood was up, her eyes sharp, her tone dry. “Hayden, if you start a petition against fractions, I’m starting one against your voice.”
Hayden clutched her chest dramatically. “Violence.”
Nicole shifted under her blanket pile. “Everyone shut up for three minutes so I can finish this paragraph.”
“Bold request,” Hayden said.
Dayton smirked at her worksheet, pencil moving. She liked this part of the night. The familiar. The normal. The routine that still existed even though her day had been… whatever today was.
Then she felt a tapping on the side of her foot.
Light. Quick. Almost irritating.
Her first instinct was to lift one foot and scratch the other like you did without thinking.
But before instinct could take over, she looked down.
Ezra stood beside her socked foot, shoulders tight, face angled up like he was trying to decide whether interrupting her was worth whatever reaction he’d get. His collar sat neat against his throat. The two charms caught the fairy light when he shifted, making the softest tick.
Dayton’s stomach did that little flip it always did now, the one that came from realizing she could hurt him without meaning to.
“Are you done exploring?” she asked, keeping her voice low. “Do you need something?”
The question still felt weird because it was her teacher. She was asking Ezra, Mr. Rhys of all people, if he was done walking around her room like it was a terrarium.
Ezra’s eyes flicked toward the desk, then back up to her. “Yes,” he said, and his voice was controlled, but tired. “I’d like to sit for a bit.”
Dayton didn’t argue. She got it. The floor, clean to a normal person, was not clean at four inches tall. Dust was boulders. A stray hair was a rope. A crumb was basically a hazard.
She lowered her hand to the carpet beside him, palm open.
Ezra hesitated for half a second, then climbed in.
The trepidation was still there. He moved to the middle of her palm and sat down like he’d decided that was the safest spot. Being carried was still something he hadn’t gotten comfortable with, and Dayton could tell he hated that she could tell.
Dayton lifted him carefully and brought him up to the desk.
As soon as she set her hand down, Ezra’s gaze snapped toward her laptop.
The grid of faces filled the screen, bright and huge to him. Her friends. His former students. Their rooms. Their lights. Their normal lives playing out in little rectangles.
The laptop screen must have looked like one of those giant movie theater screens from his old life, except now the movie was just… them. Talking. Laughing. Doing homework. Existing.
Ezra sat slightly off to the side of the camera view, close enough to hear everything, far enough that he wasn’t “on display.” Dayton noticed the choice and didn’t comment.
On the call, Hayden was still going.
“Dayton,” Hayden said, suddenly suspicious, “why are you quiet. That’s never a good sign.”
“I’m doing homework,” Dayton said automatically.
Nicole snorted. “She says that like it’s not the weirdest sentence.”
“It’s literally the most normal sentence,” Dayton argued.
Hannah’s pencil paused for a second. “It’s normal. It’s just… the rest isn’t.”
Dayton felt her face heat and she didn’t know why. She kept her pencil moving like if she kept writing, the conversation couldn’t pin her down.
Kinsley’s eyes narrowed on her little tablet screen. “Is Ezra there right now.”
Dayton didn’t look at Ezra, but she could feel him sitting in her palm, still as a statue. His posture was too straight. His hands folded too neatly. Like he was trying to disappear while being held inches from her keyboard.
“Yeah,” Dayton said. “He’s right here.”
Hayden’s eyes widened. “Wait are you holding him while you do homework.”
“It’s not like… a thing,” Dayton said defensively.
“It’s literally a thing,” Kinsley said, deadpan.
Nicole leaned closer to her camera, voice a little softer. “Is he okay?”
Dayton’s throat tightened. She glanced down at Ezra, and his eyes were not on the call anymore. They were on the desk.
On her worksheet.
Because from where he sat, the paper wasn’t fully visible, but the bottom edge hung over the desk enough that he could see lines and numbers if he leaned forward.
Ezra’s gaze tracked, quiet and focused. Not judgmental. Not smug.
Just… engaged.
Dayton hated how familiar that look was.
It was the look he used to have when he was grading. The look he used to have when he caught a mistake and decided whether it was worth calling attention to.
Dayton’s pencil slowed.
Ezra cleared his throat softly.
Dayton’s heart jumped, stupidly. She muted her mic without thinking.
“What,” she whispered, too sharp.
Ezra didn’t flinch. He just kept his eyes on the worksheet. “That step,” he said quietly. “You dropped the denominator.”
Dayton blinked. “No I didn’t.”
Ezra didn’t argue. He didn’t push. He just shifted slightly in her palm, and the charms gave a tiny tick.
Dayton leaned closer and checked.
And there it was.
The denominator missing like it had never existed.
Her stomach sank in the worst way, because she didn’t just make mistakes. She prided herself on not making mistakes.
Especially not the kind a former teacher could catch from the floor.
Dayton erased fast, fixed it, rewrote the line. Her face was hot.
Ezra watched, silent.
When she was done, she muttered, “Okay. Fine. You were right.”
Ezra’s shoulders loosened by the smallest amount, like that was the only thing he wanted. Not praise. Just acknowledgment.
Dayton unmuted her mic and tried to sound like her world wasn’t weird.
“Okay,” she said to the call. “Pause outfit court. Math emergency.”
Hayden gasped dramatically. “Math emergency? That’s not real.”
“It is,” Nicole said immediately, already curious. “What happened?”
Dayton hesitated. Then, because lying would be pointless, she said, “Ezra caught a mistake.”
There was a beat of silence where everyone processed that sentence.
Then Hayden leaned forward, eyes shining. “Wait, Ezra is… tutoring you right now.”
“I did not say tutoring,” Dayton snapped.
Kinsley’s voice cut in, sharp but not joking. “Let him help. If he’s offering, let him help.”
Nicole nodded slowly like she was making a guardian decision. “Yeah. If he’s actually willing.”
Hannah’s voice was quiet and thoughtful. “It makes sense. He likes being useful.”
Dayton looked down at Ezra again.
He was still sitting in her palm, not looking at the call anymore. Looking at the paper like it mattered.
Like he mattered.
Dayton’s throat tightened.
She tapped her pencil once on the desk.
“Fine,” she said, mostly to Ezra. “You can help.”
Ezra’s eyes flicked up to her face, then down again.
Dayton added quickly, because she needed boundaries. “But quietly. No teacher voice.”
Ezra nodded once.
And on the laptop screen, Hayden’s grin slowly turned feral.
“Oh my god,” Hayden said. “If Ezra is helping you… can he help me too.”
Nicole’s eyebrows lifted. “Hayden.”
“What?” Hayden said, already reaching for chaos. “I’m being logical. This is literally resource sharing.”
Kinsley’s expression on her tiny tablet was pure satisfaction. “Welcome to the group project era.”
Dayton stared at the screen, horrified.
Ezra sat in her hand like a borrowed tool suddenly everyone wanted.
And for the first time all day, Dayton realized something worse than the SEA.
This was going to become normal.
Dayton regretted it the second Hayden’s eyes lit up.
It wasn’t even subtle. Hayden leaned closer to her camera like she’d just been handed a cheat code.
“Oh my god,” Hayden said, practically vibrating. “Ezra. Hi. Okay. So. Hypothetically. If someone is struggling in math, and that someone is me, and you are… you know… literally right there—”
“Hayden,” Nicole warned, already.
Hayden ignored her completely. “—could you, like, explain ratios in a way that doesn’t make me want to walk into the ocean.”
Dayton stared at the screen. “This is not a tutoring session.”
“This is community,” Hayden said, dead serious. “Hannah literally said ‘this is what community looks like.’”
“I said that about you guys bullying Dayton into boots,” Hannah murmured, pencil still moving.
“Same thing,” Hayden insisted. She grabbed a notebook and shoved it toward her camera. The page was full of numbers and frantic arrows. “Okay. Look. I don’t understand what it wants. Like, what is it even asking me.”
Dayton’s fingers tightened around her pencil. She looked down at Ezra.
He was still sitting in her palm on the desk edge, off-camera. His posture was straight, like he was refusing to relax out of spite. The charms on his collar made a tiny tick when he shifted his weight. He glanced at the laptop screen, then away.
Dayton could almost see him doing the math in his head: if he says no, he looks uncooperative. If he says yes, he becomes… useful. A role. A function. A thing everyone can use without thinking too hard about the fact that he’s a person.
Ezra cleared his throat.
“I can answer a question,” he said carefully, voice quiet. “One. If it’s… quick.”
Hayden’s grin widened like a villain being handed the keys to the city. “Yes.”
Nicole immediately cut in. “Hayden. Don’t be weird.”
“I’m not being weird,” Hayden said, offended. “I’m being academic.”
Kinsley’s little tablet view shifted slightly, like she’d sat up straighter on the couch. Her eyes narrowed. “Be normal, Hayden.”
“I am normal,” Hayden insisted. “Okay Ezra, question one—”
“Hayden,” Dayton snapped, sharper than she meant.
Hayden paused, blinking. “What.”
Dayton exhaled through her nose. “You’re gonna ask him nicely.”
Hayden’s mouth dropped open like she couldn’t believe Dayton was setting manners rules in the middle of a Discord call. Then she did it anyway, because Dayton’s tone had a way of making people comply even when they were annoyed about it.
“Ezra,” Hayden said, suddenly sweet. “Can you please help me with question five.”
Nicole muttered, “Thank you.”
Ezra didn’t answer right away. He looked at Dayton.
Dayton hated that she could feel the weight of his look on her face. Like he was asking permission without asking it.
She gave a small nod. Not enthusiastic. Just… allowance.
Ezra’s gaze returned to the laptop. “Read it.”
Hayden squinted at her paper dramatically. “Okay. A recipe uses a ratio of two cups flour to three cups sugar. If you have twelve cups of flour, how much sugar do you need.”
Ezra’s answer came instantly, like it had been waiting behind his teeth. “Eighteen.”
Hayden blinked. “What.”
“Two to three,” Ezra said, patient. “If flour is multiplied by six, sugar is multiplied by six. Three times six is eighteen.”
Hayden stared like he’d performed witchcraft. “Okay wait that was… actually easy.”
Nicole sighed. “Yes. That’s why it’s called a ratio.”
Hayden pointed at her camera. “No, because you guys don’t explain it like that. You explain it like it’s a threat.”
“I didn’t even explain it,” Nicole said. “I literally just said ‘it’s a ratio.’”
“Exactly,” Hayden replied. “Threat.”
Hannah made a soft sound that might’ve been a laugh. “Hayden thinks math is bullying.”
“Math is bullying,” Hayden said firmly. Then she grabbed her notebook again and leaned closer to the camera. “Okay question two—”
Dayton held up a hand. “Hayden.”
Hayden froze, mid-lunge. “What.”
“Don’t burn him out,” Dayton said, and she hated how it sounded like she was talking about a pet, but she didn’t know how else to say it. “He’s not… infinite.”
Ezra’s jaw tightened a fraction.
Nicole’s eyes flicked to Dayton’s camera, then away. She didn’t comment, but Dayton could feel the silent note being filed: careful, Day.
Kinsley’s voice cut in, blunt. “Also, he’s not your Siri.”
Hayden put a hand to her chest. “Okay that is so unfair because Siri never helps me. Siri tells me to use the internet and then I cry.”
Ezra exhaled slowly. “One more,” he said, controlled. “Go.”
Hayden’s eyes lit up again. “Okay. A map scale says one inch equals five miles—”
“Stop,” Nicole said instantly. “Hayden, that’s not even the assignment.”
“It’s on the review,” Hayden protested.
Nicole’s tone stayed calm but dangerous. “We are not doing your review right now.”
Hayden pouted at her camera. “This is oppression.”
Dayton rubbed her forehead. “Just ask the next one from the sheet.”
Hayden rolled her eyes dramatically, flipped pages, and jabbed her finger at something. “Okay. If a ratio is seven to four and you increase the first number by fourteen, what happens to the ratio.”
Kinsley made a small disgusted noise. “That’s a trick question.”
Ezra didn’t flinch. “If you increase only the first number, it changes. It becomes twenty-one to four.”
Hayden stared. “That’s it?”
“Yes,” Ezra said. “Ratios don’t stay the same unless you scale both parts equally.”
Hayden went quiet for half a second, then whispered, awed, “He’s so smart.”
Dayton’s stomach tightened again.
Because Hayden didn’t say it like “teacher smart.” Hayden said it like she’d forgotten Ezra was ever anything else.
Nicole’s voice softened, like she’d heard that same shift. “Hayden.”
“What?” Hayden snapped, then calmed. “I’m just saying. He’s… he’s good at it.”
Ezra’s gaze flicked away from the screen like he didn’t want to be watched while being praised.
Dayton looked down at him.
He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t basking. He looked… steadier. Like answering something had given him an anchor in the room. Like he could be more than a body in her space.
But Dayton could also see the danger.
Because the moment he was useful, people stopped thinking about what he’d lost.
Useful was the easiest kind of dehumanization to swallow.
Hayden, of course, couldn’t stop.
“Okay,” she said, already flipping pages again, “last question, I swear—”
“No,” Dayton said immediately.
Hayden’s mouth dropped open. “Dayton!”
Dayton’s voice stayed flat. “You got two.”
Hayden looked betrayed. “That’s—”
“That’s two more than you were gonna get,” Kinsley cut in, smug.
Nicole nodded. “Yeah. Two more than you deserve after the ‘Siri’ comment.”
“I said I’m sorry,” Hayden complained. “Ezra, am I allowed to ask one more if I’m polite.”
Ezra’s eyes went to Dayton again, and Dayton hated that she’d become the gate.
Dayton sighed. “One more. And then we’re done.”
Hayden’s grin returned instantly. “YES. Okay. Ezra. Please. I’m begging. How do I know when to reduce a ratio.”
Ezra didn’t even have to think. “When both numbers share a common factor.”
Hayden squinted. “A what.”
“A number that divides both evenly,” Ezra said. “Like… ten and fifteen share five. You can reduce ten to fifteen to two to three.”
Hayden’s face lit up like someone had turned on a lamp. “Ohhhh.”
Nicole groaned. “You didn’t know that?”
Hayden ignored her. “Okay wait. That makes sense. Okay. Ezra, thank you. You are… you are like math therapy.”
Kinsley’s eyes narrowed. “Do not call him math therapy.”
Hayden laughed. “Fine. He’s math… father.”
Dayton snapped, “Hayden.”
Hannah finally looked up, eyes amused in that quiet way she had. “That’s worse.”
Hayden grinned shamelessly. “It’s memorable.”
Ezra’s mouth twitched like he might be laughing and refusing to let it happen.
“Goodnight,” Ezra said dryly.
“Wait,” Hayden said immediately. “Don’t go.”
Dayton put her pencil down with a decisive click. “He’s done.”
Nicole added, gentler, “We’re all done. We still have homework.”
Hayden slumped dramatically back onto her bed. “You guys are literally anti-learning.”
“You literally just learned,” Nicole said.
Kinsley’s voice went quieter, more serious. “Ezra.”
Ezra’s head turned slightly toward the laptop.
Kinsley held his gaze through the screen, eyes sharp. “Don’t let them turn you into a tool.”
The call went quiet again, but it was a different kind of quiet now. Not awkward. More… real.
Ezra didn’t answer fast. Then, carefully, he said, “I won’t.”
Dayton’s throat tightened in a way she refused to name.
Hayden, because she couldn’t stand sincerity for more than three seconds, whispered loudly, “Kinslayer just saved his soul.”
“Kins,” Nicole warned.
Kinsley’s mouth twitched. “Shut up, Hayden.”
Dayton exhaled, picked up her pencil again, and forced her eyes back to the page.
A bit of an ominous line there by Kinsley.
Well she knows how Hayden can be. She can be a lot.
That’s about what i’d have expected from Hayden lol she’s always come across as opportunistic to me, not relative to her being a good or bad person.
Props to Kinsley Nicole and Dayton for pushing back on it. even if it isn’t out of malice, Hayden doing it says a lot more than she’s meaning to.
Agreed. I mean to Hayden’s credit she was struggling to understand and was asking questions to learn.
However the Dayton, Nicole, and Kinsley are keeping Ezra from being regressed to just a thing.
Hayden as a character I kind of wrote her as someone who has a touch of adhd/add.
Where they can get overstimulated at times. So the girls kind of know how to reign her in and help.
oh that’s a great flaw for her. explains a lot lol i’ll try to keep that in mind going forward.
I agree, it gives Hayden some depth as a character.
Hayden has ADHD like Sara, but I don’t think that’s the issue; she’s clearly behind her friends in education.
ADHD in America is normally undiagnosed and the kids in America so the kids don’t get
The tools on how to appropriately learn when they are in the core development years.
So they end up behind.
Sara more suffers from depression as the core disability, flaw, etc. mind you not her only one. Just that’s the what I would call dominant one.
I think like most things it depends on the person. My daughter has ADHD like I do and she is taking advanced computer coding and computer science in collage. And I did great in college. I do agree that some people need help with finding their way to learn. Everyone is a different puzzle.
I have ADHD and I look at it as a super power lol. I used to have 4 wide screen computer monitors at work with different engineering issues on them because I could keep hoping around. I’m in my 50s now so I missed the start of doctors giving out meds to boys in school that got their stuff done early or had a short attention span lol.
I think Hayden was showing respect by thinking he was smart and asking questions. She was treating him more then a equal.
it’s a slippery slope that’s the issue. like it starts with just a question about math, then it’s lit, then eventually Ezra is in the same position cindy and greg are with Madison and her friends, doing all their homework. it wasn’t out of malice, but the question for these moments is “what happens if he says no?” or does he feel that he can say no. if he doesn’t feel he can say no to the request or there’s repercussions for him not wanting to, he’s probably being seen more as a thing and a tool than a individual, which Kinsley Nicole and Dayton don’t want.
those are all valid points.
1) “Being carried was still something he hadn’t gotten comfortable with, and Dayton could tell he hated that she could tell” I can see why he’d want to put on a brave front, and why he’s not like that it;s not working
2) ““Dayton, why are you quiet. That’s never a good sign.” Much of what Dayton does are bad signe
3) “Wait are you holding him while you do homework?” She literally just picked him up
4) “Is he okay?” No, but he’s not injured
5) “That step, You dropped the denominator.” – “No I didn’t.” Typical Dayton, getting defensive when offered help
6) “And there it was. The denominator was missing like it had never existed” Once again Ezra was right
7) “Her stomach sank in the worst way, because she didn’t just make mistakes. She prided herself on not making mistakes.” Everyone makes mistakes, Dayton, especially you, IF you didn’t you’d probably know Jordan a lot better
8) “Wait, Ezra is… tutoring you right now.” no, but it is something Dayton would take advantage of
9) “Let him help. If he’s offering, let him help.” – “Yeah. If he’s actually willing.” – “It makes sense. He likes being useful.” He doesn’t want to be useful, he wants to point out her flaws
10) “But quietly. No teacher voice.” God forbid the man helping you education talk like he’s helping your education
11) . “Ezra. Hi. Okay. So. Hypothetically. If someone is struggling in math, and that someone is me, and you are… you know… literally right there—” – “—could you, like, explain ratios in a way that doesn’t make me want to walk into the ocean.” Hayden making asking for help harder than it needs to be
12) “Dayton could almost see him doing the math in his head: if he says no, he looks uncooperative. If he says yes, he becomes… useful. A role. A function. A thing everyone can use without thinking too hard about the fact that he’s a person.” Dude needs to ask the all-important question, What’s in is for him?
13) “You’re gonna ask him nicely.” – “Hayden’s mouth dropped open like she couldn’t believe Dayton was setting manners rules in the middle of a Discord call.” A bit hypocritical for Dayton to be policing others’ manners, especially towards Littles
14) “Okay. A recipe uses a ratio of two cups of flour to three cups of sugar. If you have twelve cups of flour, how much sugar do you need?” That’s bretty basic maths for a 13yo to be struggling with
15) “No, because you guys don’t explain it like that. You explain it like it’s a threat.” I know that’s how Dayton would at least
16) “Hayden thinks math is bullying.” – “Math is bullying,” Well, it is an acronym for “Mental Abuse To Humans”
17) “Okay question two—” – “Hayden.” – “What.” – “Don’t burn him out,” The agreement was one question
18) “she hated how it sounded like she was talking about a pet” She wanted to make him her pet.
19) “Okay, that is so unfair because Siri never helps me. Siri tells me to use the internet, and then I cry.” Now I wanna hug Hayden, damnit
20) “He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t basking. He looked… steadier. Like answering something had given him an anchor in the room. Like he could be more than a body in her space” I’m glad he found a way to participate.
21) “But Dayton could also see the danger. Because the moment he was useful, people stopped thinking about what he’d lost. Useful was the easiest kind of dehumanisation to swallow.” Dehumanising him isn’t something Dayton’s against, though.
22) ““last question, I swear—” – “No,” Dayton saw him feeling useful and decided absolutely not.
23) “Ezra’s eyes went to Dayton again, and Dayton hated that she’d become the gate.” literally, Dayton’s goal. She wanted to block him out of an educational position
24) “Fine. He’s math… father.” She’s working her way up to Math Daddy, isn’t she?
25) “Ezra’s mouth twitched like he might be laughing and refusing to let it happen.” Definitely a good idea to put a stop to this before it gets out of hand
26) “Don’t let them turn you into a tool.” Solid advice, but considering where he’d rather be right now, that he was good with the district doing exactly that, I don’t think being a tool is his worst-case scenario.
A) I think Haden would make a fun guardian
B) I think this was a step forward for Ezra and Dayton’s relationship.
C) I like Kins was watching out for her Little brother in arms
D) I really enjoyed how Ezra was able to slide into their social call and become part of their group. I think it could hopefully lead to him going shopping and other things with the group including Kins as another little in the adventures. It could really make his life feel more complete with a friend group that see’s him as a friend not a former teacher.