Disclaimer: I do not own DanMachi or any of Omori's original characters, nor do I make any profit off of my writing.

In the weeks that followed that fateful first day of class, Haruhime took note of several key facts when it came to Bell Cranel.

Fact one. The man was hopelessly, desperately, and appallingly the best father she'd ever met in her (admittedly) short life. It wasn't exactly like she'd had the best examples. Her father, if you could even call him that, was absent at best and present at worst. The day he'd dumped her off at that orphanage was the best in her life. It wasn't until then she finally experienced what family was meant to be like. Sure, she was too old for anybody to really want to adopt her, but she had Aisha, and Maria was like the mother she never had.

So, yes, Bell was a terrific father. It was almost scary how he seemed to not even realize it. How could one man be so woefully unaware of how amazing he is?

Gods, the things she wouldn't do to call him da—

Haruhime's forehead slammed down into her desk, her classroom blessedly empty of students.

Sooo, she had a bit of daddy issues. Just a bit! And really, who doesn't?

It was her sister's fault for even making a connection between the two; she knew she never should've brought Bell up to the little minx. Aisha always had sex on the brain and talking about her recent taking with one of her student's fathers was just asking for it.

Fact two. The man was hopelessly, desperately, and appallingly horrible at conversation. It made it very difficult to try to get closer to him. Luckily, fact two was connected with fact three.

Fact three. The man was hopelessly, desperately, and appallingly fond of Wiene. Thanks to a few good weeks of trial and error, Haruhime was intimately familiar with the end-all-be-all to getting Bell Cranel to talk. Just bring up Wiene. She swears just a passing mention of the girl was enough to flip some hidden switch. He'd go from the textbook definition of 'nervous wreck' to this perfect-posture, brave, fatherly hunk of a man, and fuck it was hot.

She needed some of that.

Fact four. His name was Bell Cranel. She really didn't know much else about him. He had a really good butt—err.. character! Definitely character. She supposed that was a rather blatant downside to all of the conversations revolving around a particular dragonette. (Not that she minded seeing the way his eyes lit up when he spoke about Wiene, not at all.) She didn't get to be all that much closer to the father instead.

Fact five! Date? It wasn't a fact, but she was going to get it anyway.

Pulling her face up from her desk, the school teacher stared at the clock. She sighed. Four more hours. That wasn't so bad! She'd been waiting weeks now for Bell to make his move, she could wait a few hours to ask him out herself. (She doubted the dunce was ever going to work up the courage to do it himself.)

She just needed to make it through for more blissful (suffering) hours surrounded by wonderful (loud) children without losing her cool. It was fine. This is fine. It wasn't a problem at all. Seeing so many cute children certainly didn't remind her how she kinda, really, really wanted a little one of her own. Nope. Not true at all. That wasn't the case. No, sirree. She most definitely did not picture herself as a mother in the future, definitely not, and even if she did (which she didn't) it definitely (definitely) had nothing to do with—

"Miss 'Hime!"

Haruhime smiled.

—it had nothing to do with a certain silvery-blue-haired child.

"Hello, Wiene dear, are you not enjoying recess outside?"

The little blue-haired girl shook her head and raced over to her teacher's desk; her metal lunchbox held high above her head as she did. Stopping just in front of Haruhime, Wiene slid her lunch onto the wooden surface before scampering off again. The golden-haired woman watched with no small amount of amusement and fondness as Wiene panted and heaved and huffed as she ever so slowly slid a chair across the room.

"And why aren't you playing outside?"

Wiene was succinct as ever.

"Wanted to eat with you!"

Ah. She might as well schedule a doctor's appointment now, she was positive she wasn't leaving today without diabetes. That was fine. She'd gladly brave the exorbitant costs of insulin if it meant she could gobble up Wiene's sweetness for the rest of her life.

How Bell could ever describe this girl (even lovingly) as a little hellion was beyond her. Wiene was nothing but sweet.

A pause.

Well, she was nothing but sweet after she gets comfortable with the idea of being away from her father. Those first few days were stressful.

Haruhime felt awful that she was actually grateful for Wiene's persistent meltdowns. It meant Bell stuck around a little while longer and gave her more time to talk to him.

"Also, it's cold! Dragon's need heat or our inner fire goes out, that's what papa says!"

The teacher didn't even try to suppress the merry giggle that sprung out unexpectedly at the girl's explanation. It was quickly made clear that the moniker 'little dragon' was more or less created rather than given. Haruhime sincerely doubted Bell ever had any say in the matter. Wiene had been taken by the ideas of dragons since the first she'd ever heard of their tales and she was rather adamant that they were real.

If a world existed where Bell was the hero to Haruhime's damsel, the teacher was certain that Wiene would've been the dragon she thought herself.

"Of course, my apologies, we wouldn't want your inner fire to go out, now would we?"

Wiene shook her head seriously and opened her lunch box.

Haruhime was.. unprepared for how much better the child's good would look compared to hers. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich she'd slaved over that morning was looking less and less appetizing.

Her mouth watered. "What is that?"

Honestly! It looked delicious! Did her father make that?

"Dragon rice!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"It's like rice but with special food for dragons to eat!"

Naturally.

"Oh? And what kind of food does it have?"

Wiene was all-too-happy to elaborate. She pointed toward a strip of orange something that looked suspiciously like a carrot.

"Tha's honeycomb." Definitely carrot.

"And this is gold." Egg.

"There's also mini-elven trees. Papa says it's to appease the des'royer tha's'in all dragons." Broccoli. Just broccoli.

"Dragon eggs!" Peas. Also, why? Why would she even want to eat 'dragon eggs,' if she were, too, a dragon?

"White Tree of the Eldar." A nice Lord of the Rings reference, but it didn't change the fact that it's cauliflower.

"And, of course, pheasant!" Chicken. That was chicken. Did he really need to come up with a dragon-version of chicken?

Haruhime nodded sagely as she observed the stirfry, wondering if it was worth it to ask Wiene the question on her lips.

Ah, what the hell.

"Wiene, how do you feel about vegetables?"

Her nose curled up. "The icky green stuff?"

Ever amicable to the vocabulary of children, the teacher nodded. "The icky green stuff."

"It's icky."

She didn't see that one coming.

"So, say.. broccoli?"

"Is that green?"

Why, yes it is.

"Then it's icky."

"Carrots?"

"Are they green?"

"They're orange."

Wiene hummed. Apparently, not being green meant careful consideration was required. She picked her cup from the table, wrapping both hands carefully around the edge and lifting it up to her mouth as she shrugged, mumbling an 'I don't know' into the straw.

That's fine. Haruhime had just the thing.

It was a good thing she packed some carrots for herself today.

"Here, try this, it's a carrot, see if you like it."

Wiene did. Wiene did not.

"That's ucky."

Huh. Haruhime was learning so many new things. Green means icky. Orange means ucky. Who would've thought?

The rest of recess passed much the same, with the teacher and five-year-old discussing a wide variety of topics. That is if you consider 'wide variety' to mean all things dragon.

(Not that Haruhime minded, she was a bit of a glutton for fantasy stories regardless, and Wiene was one hell of a storyteller for her age.)

As Haruhime would come to understand, Wiene was unapologetically disdainful towards vegetables and Wiene absolutely adored dragon food. 'It makes sense,' she'd say, 'I'm a dragon.'

(And yet Bell still doesn't seem to understand that he's a good father. What a peculiar man.)

Wiene was also rather particular about her species of dragon, though she didn't have a grasp of what a species was or why they were different. Haruhime wasn't positive one what a 'vouivre' was (was that even how she was meant to spell it?) but she could paint a picture now with how long the child had raved about them. Snake-like body with female torso and face. Large wings, black as night. Pointy ears. No horns, that was important to know. Vouivres didn't have horns. What vouivres had was a tear in the center of their forehead.

Haruhime had made the mistake of asking why Wiene did not have the snake's tail or wings like she'd described if she were a vouivre. The child had been adamant that those only appear when somebody removes a Vouivre's tear.

The teacher learned from her mistake and resolutely did not ask about the distinct lack of the 'red gem' that was supposedly inlaid in a vouivre's forehead.

Sadly, lunch came to an end which meant Haruhime had to actually do her job, no matter how much she wished she could discuss dragon politics all day long. Such was life.

The bell rang and Haruhime was all too happy to hear it. Those four hours were torture. She swears her students were trying their hardest to make it as unbearable as possible. Sure, it was a Friday, but that doesn't mean they needed to be so antsy. Wasn't recess supposed to tire them out? Did they even understand that Friday meant it was the end of the school week yet?

It didn't matter. Bell, err.. Mister Cranel would be here soon. She needed to be ready to make her move before any of the single mothers at the school finally realized what a catch he was. She needed to stake her claim. It was just like Wiene said, dragons mate for life and if they find a suitable mate they must stake their claim as fast as possible. Again, the child's knowledge was concerning and Haruhime really hoped she didn't understand the things she was saying.

Yes. Haruhime was going to make her move today. It had been over a month already, fall had sprung and October was rapidly approaching. It was more than enough time that asking him out on a date wouldn't be considered weird or too forward. It was also more than enough time for her to review the school's policies and determine that it was not, in fact, against the rules to court (court?) the parent of a student. It wasn't like any of the other parents could cry foul or claim favoritism over Wiene when their coursework consisted of what numbers came between ten and twenty and how not to draw on walls.

Yes. Haruhime was ready.

Except for the part where she very much wasn't.

She'd been on dates before, sure, but she'd never asked somebody. She'd always been approached. Or set up. But she was never the pursuer. She didn't mind being the one asking the other out, much the contrary, it made her feel powerful. She just didn't know how you're supposed to do it.

Did she just.. say it?

Just a 'hey, dinner?' or was there more to it?

She really ought to figure out quick because—

"Miss Sanjouno, hello."

—Bell was right there.

"Be—err.. Mister Cranel, it's good to see you again."

The father glanced up from where he was holding Wiene's coat up so she could slide her arms through the sleeves. "Are you cold?"

What? Cold? Why would—oh. 'Be—err.' Did he really think that was an audible shiver? Who even says 'brrr' when they're cold?

Haruhime smiled, resisting the urge to laugh at the absurdity of it all. "I'm quite alright, Mister Cranel. In fact, your daughter and I had quite the lovely chat today at lunch because she was cold."

He blinked, tilting his head to the side. "That so? What about?"

She was hyper-aware of his eyes on her as she shrugged, not letting her smile dip for a second. "Dragons, mostly." Then, she smirked, placed her hands on her hips, and leaned forward (ensuring Bell received the most conservative of teases, she was on school property, after all). She'd always scorned her sister's 'lessons on seduction' but she was willing to admit their validity when she saw Bell's eyes dipping down as she spoke. The gentleman he was, he always returned his gaze back to her eyes (insultingly quick too, take a longer look you jerk!), but she could see the red encroaching up his throat clear as day.

Hook.

"You know, I had no idea that you had access to the food dragons need to live! I am impressed, Mister Cranel."

He chuckled and scratched the back of his head, offering her a closed-eye smile that had her pouting. He wouldn't be able to see her if he closed his eyes!

"Well, with a dragon of my own it was important to make sure she was properly fed. We found that Wiene had this strange dislike of most human foods that just weren't there with the draconic alternatives."

"Yes, well, I found our conversation quite enlightening. I wonder if all Cranel's make that good of company over food."

Line.

Haruhime smiled and winked at the father when he opened his eyes, wide and strikingly red irises peeking out in his bewilderment.

"Perhaps I could find out over dinner?"

And sinker.