The elementary school gym is buzzing with excitement, kids darting between tables, parents juggling juice boxes and art projects, the air thick with the smell of crayons and glue.

At the center of it all, Y/N moves like she was born for this. She kneels to tie a kid’s shoe, gives another a high-five for winning the spelling bee, and remembers everyone’s names like it’s second nature. Her laugh is warm, the kind that makes even the shyest kids come out of their shells.

And her students? They orbit her like she’s the sun.

One of them, Juno Cameron, small for her age but sharp-eyed, runs up clutching her drawing of a rocket ship. “Miss Y/N! Miss Y/N! Look at my drawing! Please!”

Y/N crouches down to look at it, her face lighting up. “Juno, this is incredible. You even remembered the boosters on the bottom, so smart.” She looks up instinctively, ready to hand it greet her father.

And then she sees him.

Rafe Cameron.

He’s leaning against the edge of the table, a little too big for the space, broad shoulders filling out his black Henley. Y/N remembers Rafe slightly from their childhood, he’s a few years older than Y/N, and not to mention a Kook to her Pogue. But he doesn’t move like the cocky boy she remembers from Figure Eight summers, he moves like a man who’s carrying something heavy.

Juno tugs his hand impatiently. “Daddy, look! Miss Rhodes says it’s incredible.”

Rafe looks at the paper, then at Ivy. His eyes linger a beat too long, scanning her in that way that makes her pulse jump. “She talks about you all the time,” he says. “Guess now I get why.”

Y/N swallows, forcing herself to stand to shake his hand despite having known him since they were younger. “Juno’s one of my brightest students. She’s creative, determined… and a little stubborn.” She flashes a grin down at Juno. “Wonder where she gets that from.”

Rafe’s mouth twitches, almost a smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He smooths his hand over Juno’s hair, and for a second there’s something softer in him. Something that belongs only to her.

Her mom’s not in the picture. Everyone knows it, though no one dares say it aloud. Juno’s mother walked out two months after delivering Juno, her entire family leaving the island. Now, Juno clings to her dad like he’s the only safe thing in the world. And maybe he is.

When Y/N looks back to Rafe, she finds Rafe still watching her. Not the way other parents do, with gratitude or idle curiosity. No, he watches her like he’s trying to figure out why she’s so good at giving kids what the world took away from him.

“Thanks for… y’know. Being good to her.” He says, watching as Juno races off to one of her friends.

Y/N smiles softly, tucking her hands into her cardigan pockets to steady herself. “She makes it easy.”