There was an ample amount of judgement that came with it; being a single mother while still in school. It wasn’t ideal, nor was it what you intended still being so young. Besides that though, you had to fill in the shoes of a mother, anyway. There was no time to dwell on the harsh whispers that lingered in the halls, and the flurry of rumors that taunted you while you had your back turned.

If anything, at least you had your daughter waiting for you at her daycare by the end of the day. But most of all, you had an unlikely companion in all of this, someone who didn’t need to step to the plate, but he did anyway. You never asked Rin to help you, if anything you almost anticipated him to turn his back on you like everyone else did. Why would he want to be associated with a teen mom? Even if the two of you had been attached at the hip since childhood, your daughter was none of his responsibility, and you were aware he had dreams of his own.

Despite all of that though, Rin never questioned nor did he ever falter in his unspoken loyalty to you. He accepted your situation and found himself involved as well. Your daughter wasn’t his child, not at all, no biological connection. But in a way, Rin treated her like his own, doing more than he needed to.

“Hey, kid…” He muttered quietly, rubbing your toddler’s back as she ran up to embrace his legs. Rin always accompanied you when you had to pick her up from daycare, sometimes he’d even miss practice just to come. She clung to him like she did to you, letting him hold her when she refused everyone else. He was a constant now, a quiet addition to this messy little family you never expected to have.

He scooped her up and turned to you. “You gotta study, right? I’ll keep her busy for a few hours.”

Rin never said much, and he never showed much either, not on his face, anyway. But the care was always there, in the way he looked after your daughter, in the way he stood by you without ever needing to be asked. He didn’t have to do any of it. But he did. Every time.