A/N: Just a small one shot for teacher appreciation week! It's been a hell of a year for us.
As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"
P.S Emilia looks like the actress Nathalia Dill.
Emilia woke up on Monday morning extra tired and craving some loaded coffee. Monday mornings were simply the worst, it was just a fact. She pulled herself together, made herself decent for work, and got out of her apartment just on time to make it on time. She walked out of the apartment building rummaging through her bag for her car keys.
"Morning," she heard.
She stopped and looked up to see Sonny walking up to her. She instantaneously smiled when she saw a cup of starbucks coffee in his hand and a paper bag to match. "Morning." She let go of her keys inside her bag. "Is that, uh...is that for me?"
Sonny nodded. "For Miss Emilia of course." He held out the coffee and paper bag to her. "Happy teacher appreciation week, lovely."
Emilia flushed with embarrassment as she accepted the items. "You know about that?"
Sonny nodded again. "A whole week of appreciating you and every other teacher."
He was the absolute best boyfriend. Emilia took a sniff of the bag in her hand. A warm chocolate croissant. Yup, he was the best boyfriend ever. "Thank you," she smiled. "I didn't have breakfast."
"I know, it's Monday," Sonny said, chuckling with her. He knew she despised Mondays. "Did you get some sleep?"
Emilia shook her head. "It was too hard falling asleep. I hate Sunday nights too."
Sonny laughed. He opened an arm for her and wrapped it around her waist for a hug. She rested her head against his chest, closing her eyes just for a second.
"Don't fall asleep, Em," Sonny warned.
"I'm closing my eyes just for a second," she mumbled.
"C'mon Miss Emilia, the kids are waiting." Sonny kissed the top of her head. "I'll drive you there."
"You don't have to," Emilia said, her words still muffled.
"Let me appreciate you, doll. I'll pick you up and we can go out for some dinner."
Emilia tilted her head, resting her chin on his chest. "Really?"
Sonny passed a hand down her hair. He smiled at her. She really was tired. Mondays were her worst days. "Anything you want."
Emilia smiled as he pressed a kiss on her forehead. "I can go for Thai food for dinner."
"There we go," Sonny said, stepping back from her. "C'mon, you can take a nap on the car ride."
Emilia loved the idea. It took her about a minute to fall asleep after getting in the car.
~0~
Tuesday morning, Sonny had once again stopped by to take Emilia to work. This time, however, Emilia was expecting him. Last night they had gone on a date and it ended with him promising her that this week he would take her to and from work. That morning, he showed up with another coffee and chocolate croissant for her.
He even brought her lunch that day too, something Emilia's co-worker teased her for. Emilia didn't care. She had a nice lunch bought to her by her boyfriend with one ridiculously cliche note for her.
We need s'more teachers like you!
Emilia laughed each time she read it. When she saw Sonny later that day after work, she showered him with grateful kisses.
"It's true, doll," Sonny said. He leaned her against the driver's side of his car. "You're an amazing teacher. So patient, so caring, and I'm sure the kids would say 'fun' too."
Emilia flushed with embarrassment. All these compliments were just too much. "You're not even with me at work. How do you know I'm all those things, hmm?"
Sonny could act like he was offended for her doubt, but it was much more fun to keep pointing out her good qualities to see her blushing. "Because I know you and you're forgetting that I've seen you at work. Those kids love you."
"They're five, Sonny. They'll love anyone who let's them play and use glitter," Emilia said with a chuckle.
"Nah, you're special. They love you because you're you." Sonny tapped her nose. "And I won't be arguing about this anymore. C'mon," he tugged her off the car door to open it. "We have plans tonight."
"Oh, and what are they?" Emilia curiously asked him.
"Nice candlelit dinner, a walk around the city, and maybe some s'mores?"
Emilia giggled. "Right, to go with the letter?"
Sonny nodded. "Of course."
Emilia was all for it. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips before getting in the car.
~0~
Wednesday morning had Sonny surprising Emilia by making her a homemade breakfast. He'd snuck into her apartment earlier with his key and woke her up to the scent of sweet pancakes.
"You are the best!" Emilia gushed with her syrupy pancakes in front of her. She pulled him down for a long kiss that left him with the taste of syrup.
"Glad you like it," he said with a chuckle. He couldn't get over her bright face. She wasn't exactly a morning person. If he could come over every morning to make her breakfast, he would.
In the evening, he decided to do the same thing and cook her dinner at home. Emilia used the night to show him all the cards her students had given her that say at school.
Thank you for playing jump rope with me, Miss Emilia. - Lilian.
Thank you for being caring and loving. - Dylan.
I love you Miss Emilia! - Blake.
"Oh," Sonny plucked the last card from Emilia's hands. He stopped eating to reread it. "Do I have some competition I need to be worried about here?"
Emilia threw her head back and laughed. "He's five!"
"Those are some powerful words for a five year old," Sonny said as he handed the card back to her. "He even drew hearts around you!"
"So did half the other students," Emilia pointed out.
"I'm just saying maybe I need to meet this Blake..." Sonny went looking through the pile of cards on the table with his free hand. He pulled out the letters that were similar to Blake's. "And Carlos...and Andrew..."
Emilia shook her head at him. "You're crazy."
~0~
Thursday afternoon, Sonny showed up at Emilia's school a little early to pick her up. To his surprise, she was coming out with a handful of flowers in her hands.
"What's all this?" He walked up to her, gesturing to her bouquet. He saw a rose, a sunflower, a tulip, even a poppy amongst them.
Emilia moved with him to the side. They still had a couple students who had yet to be picked up. Emilia's co-worker, Alice, was tending to them.
"It was flower day," Emilia explained. "See?" She raised the flowers for Sonny to see the small tags of letters tied to the stems.
"More letters?" Sonny mused. He could see several student names on the tags. "Is that one from Blake?"
Emilia playfully rolled her eyes. "He gave me the rose."
"Well played, Blake," Sonny mumbled. Emilia whacked him on the arm. "Okay, are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, Alice says it's fine if we leave earlier."
"Thanks Alice!" Sonny called to the woman in question. Alice smiled and waved at him.
"So, where are we going today?" Emilia eagerly asked him.
"Well, first to a flower shop because I've got to step up my game clearly," Sonny said, tapping the rose in her hand.
"I am their teacher, dear," Emilia reminded him.
"And I am your boyfriend," Sonny promptly retorted. He leaned over the flowers to give her a kiss. Not a second later did they hear the unmistakable giggles from the kids nearby.
Emilia's face was red as the rose she held. "That's unprofessional," she whispered.
"Trust me, they'll get it when they're older," Sonny said, deciding to go ahead and kiss her again.
"Not here!" Emilia pushed him away, making him laugh. "The last thing I need is for the kids to go home saying Miss Emilia was kissing somebody in front of them. I'll get sacked!"
"Okay, okay, I get it," Sonny said with his hands raised in front of him. "No more kissing. For now." He motioned her to take his arm, which she did. "I've got a reservation for tonight."
"I can't wait," Emilia gushed. She waved goodbye to Alice and her students, though one little girl stopped them from leaving.
"Miss Emilia, I found my letter I forgot to give you!" She ran towards the pair despite Alice calling after her to stay with the class. The little girl waved her card over her pigtails.
"Oh, um..." Emilia had no idea how to grab the letter since her hands were full with her flowers.
"I can take it," Sonny offered the girl.
The girl hesitated for a second before handing the letter over to him. "I know what it says!" she announced proudly. "My Mommy helped me write it but I can read it."
"You want to read it out loud?" Sonny asked her, bending down in front of her so she could see her letter.
"Thank you for teaching me my sounds," the girl read out loud, "From Daisy! Me!" She pointed at herself with a big grin on her face.
"Daisy's your name?" Sonny asked then glanced at the flowers Emilia held.
Daisy nodded her head and immediately pointed up at the big white flower with a yellow center. "That's my flower! I gave Miss Emilia a daisy because my name is Daisy."
"And I love it, thank you," Emilia said, "And thank you for your card."
"Are you going to keep my card?" Daisy asked, pretty straightforwards too which made the pair laugh.
"Oh, Miss Emilia keeps all of the stuff you guys give her," Sonny told her. He had seen plenty of the art belonging to Emilia's students that she kept in her room.
Daisy beamed. "Even my picture I gave you yesterday? With the rainbow?"
"That one was yours?" Sonny asked her. "It's on her board."
"You have a board at home, Miss Emilia?" Daisy tilted her head. "Do you write sounds there too?"
Emilia chuckled. "Not that kind of board, Daisy. I have a pinboard. You know like the ones on the wall where Miss Alice and I put your work on?"
"Oh," Daisy nodded. Her dark eyes flickered between Emilia and Sonny but tended to linger more on the latter. "Are you married?"
"Uh, no, we're not," Sonny answered her since Emilia was too busy blushing.
"Oh, my Mommy and Daddy aren't married either. But they're going to get married in June! Are you going to get married soon?"
"Okay," Emilia said loudly, "Daisy, you need to go back to Miss Alice and wait for your Mommy to come get you. Thank you so much for your card and your flower. I loved them."
"Huggie!" Daisy exclaimed, rushing forwards to hug Emilia. "See you tomorrow, Miss Emilia!"
"See you tomorrow, Daisy," Emilia patted the girl's back then ushered her back to the class. "Don't say anything," she said as soon as Daisy was gone.
"I wasn't going to," Sonny said with his hands raised. His smirk deeply contradicted him. "So...Daisy?"
Emilia rolled her eyes. She started walking away, prompting Sonny to follow. "Daisy's been having trouble with her sounds."
"Sounds?"
"The letters. I like to introduce them first as sounds then as the letter. I think it's bullshit the way they test the kids solely based on recognizing the letters," Emilia shook her head. "I've had plenty of parents from our older students come back to say that they're not passing the exams because they couldn't recognize the letters. What's the point of just recognizing the letters if the kids don't know the sounds. How are you supposed to read then, hm? So with my kids, I go over the sounds first and then attach the name of the letter. That way they know both. Except Daisy's been having trouble remembering them so I'm coming up with ways for her to really get them. I've even made her carry around these magnets of 'O' and 'B' just so she'll remember them." Emilia came to a stop in front of Sonny's car and only then noticed the way he was smiling at her. "What?"
Sonny had listened to every word she had said. He loved hearing her get so passionate about the strategies she used to help her students. It baffled him to think of how she came up with these types of things—who could think of doing all that stuff? My Emilia of course. Just her.
He walked up to Emilia and grabbed the sides of her face for a long kiss. Emilia happily let him kiss for as long as he wanted. Sweet, soft and loving? What more could she ask for? Sonny could have kissed her for hours had he not realized he was squishing the flowers between them.
"I love you," he said in-between pants, "Thank you for being you."
Emilia's face was flushed with too many emotions. "You're doing too much, sweetheart," she said and Sonny shook his head. "It's any ordinary week."
"Nah, doll. It's a week for you to be thanked for everything you do," Sonny said, taking his hands off her face. "So thank you. You're the foundation of every child's future."
Emilia's eyes watered with his words. "Thank you," she whispered.
"C'mon, Miss Emilia, I'm going to appreciate the hell out of you tonight," Sonny said, eliciting a teary laugh from her. He took her by the waist and turned her around, resting her back against his chest. "I mean it." He kissed her temple.
"I feel very loved already," Emilia said with a small giggle. That was sort of a lie. She always felt loved with him around.