#maidtea

“Just a second!” Petra replies. She pulls out a cardboard box full of costumes, frowning at the colorful wigs and props that are inside. She searches through it for a second, shoving aside a feather boa and a tutu, before shoving it back onto the shelf with a sigh. She turns back to Eren, smoothing her hair down with a hand. “Are you sure you didn’t put the apron somewhere else? I can’t find it in here.”

“It’s the last place I remember putting it,” Eren tells her. He looks down when a child tugs at his leg and then returns his gaze back to Petra. “It’s fine if you can’t find it. I’ll just do without. We still have to set everything up too.”

“Alright,” Petra says with a sigh. She stands up, brushing off her jeans before finally exiting the closet. She grabs the apron hanging on the wall, slipping it on. “Eren, you can go ahead and set up first.”

“Alright!” he says cheerfully. Her colleague calls for the kids to line up at the door before leading them all. They follow him like ducklings, eagerly watching as he sets up the water lab - a favorite summertime activity for the kindergarteners where they can play with little waterworks. The children squeal when they see him pull out the hose to fill the water table, and their shrieks escalate when he turns the hose towards them and soaks their feet.

Petra can’t help smiling as she watches them. When Eren was first assigned to her class at the beginning of the year, she was nervous about being partnered with him. Although she had been teaching for five years at that point, she didn’t feel experienced enough to be a mentor, but she soon found that Eren required little guidance. He was a natural with children, and kids were naturally drawn to him. He knew how to make them laugh, when to scold them, and when to console them. There were only a few instances when Eren ever needed her assistance - speaking to parents or authority figures - but he began to get the hang of that as the school year went on. She’s certain that he’ll be able to handle his own class sometime in the near future, so she’ll value all the help he’s giving to her while she still has him as a partner.

When Petra steps out, apron tied around her waist, she finds Eren playing in the front with some of the kids. He kneels beside the kids so that he’s almost their height, playing with some plastic boats and listening intently as the kids babble about a story they’re making up about a kraken living in the water. Occasionally, he looks up to watch the more energetic kids - kids that aren’t content with standing in one place and splashing around in the water - on the lawn chasing each other around with water guns. Every now and then, he adds his own spin to the story, creating a hero that is able to thwart nearly every ridiculous obstacle that the children throw at him. His fictitious hero is able to delight the children and even Petra finds herself smiling. It’s only when Eren hears her stifled giggle that he realizes that Petra is watching him.

“Hey!” he says with a bright smile. Petra personally dislikes playing at the water table - she usually gets soaked some way or another - but Eren looks content with his elbows deep in the water. He waves a plastic fireman toy at her. “Do you want a turn?”

Petra shakes her head. “It’s fine. It looks like you have everything covered here,” she tells him. She gestures towards the little kiddie pool a few feet away. “I think I’ll go fishing with the other kids while you’re busy here. And keep an eye on Gabi and the others, of course.”

“Let me know if you catch something interesting!” He gives her a wink, and for a moment Petra thinks that he must be unaware of exactly how charming he can be. If he were teaching in high school, his charisma would definitely gain him some troublesome attention from female students. Then again, they already have kindergartners declaring their love for Eren and announcing their intentions to marry him. Eren always brushes off these innocent proposals with a laugh and a wave of a hand.

Petra finds herself sitting cross-legged on the ground between two students, Udo and Zofia. Unlike the other two, she’s not really fishing, although she does pull out whatever gets stuck to the magnet at the end of her pole. Really, she’s just observing the other children around them while listening to Udo and Zofia arguing with each other.

“I told you I’m catching the red fish!” Zofia says with a scowl after Udo has once again knocked her fishing pole away from her target and towards a green plastic fish instead. “Why don’t you find your own fish to catch?”

Udo shrugs, not at all bothered that his friend is irritated with him. He ceases his teasing for a moment and holds his fishing pole limply in his hands. After a moment, he says, “There are a lot of fish in the sea.” Both Zofia and Petra turn to look at him - Zofia more out of annoyance than anything, but Petra is surprised to hear such words from a five-year-old. When neither person responds, Udo continues, “There are a lot of fish in the sea, so you don’t have to get upset about one red fish.”

“That’s very wise of you to say, Udo,” Petra says, looking over at her student affectionately. It’s always amusing to hear such pearls of wisdom from young children. She suspects that he’s parroting something he overheard a relative say.

“Thank you,” Udo replies. He goes back to fishing, nudging another plastic fish away from Zofia. He ignores her when she scowls at him. “My aunt says that a lot when she’s upset. ‘There are other fish in the sea.’ And then she cries and eats a whole gallon of ice cream. Sometimes she lets me have some when my mom isn’t looking though.”

“Oh, is that so?” Petra says. Her mind wanders, searching for another topic to move onto. She really doesn’t want to discuss Udo’s aunt’s love life. She fiddles with her fishing rod, bobbing the little magnet at the end in and out of the water. “Do you have a favorite fish, Udo?”

“I like sharks,” Udo tells her. He yanks at his rod and pulls out another red fish. “But my aunt says they’re not the kind of fish she’s talking about. She says that all girls want a really big fish. I don’t really get it, but she says I’ll know when I get older.”

“She means a whale,” Zofia says. She gets annoyed when Udo tries to snatch another red fish from her. She finally does away with her rod, tossing it off to the side, and plunges her hands into the pool. When she finally pulls them out, each hand holds a scarlet toy. “Whales are the biggest things in the ocean.”

“Whales aren’t fish,” Udo frowns.

Zofia wrinkles her nose. “Then what are they?”

The little boy pauses for a moment, unsure, but reiterates that whales are not fish. Zofia, of course, vehemently disagrees with him and Petra only quietly observes, not bothering to correct either of them. She’s not sure they can handle the characteristics that differentiate fish from mammals at this age.

Suddenly, Udo turns to Petra while Zofia is speaking mid-sentence. “What about you, Miss Petra?” he asks. He does not notice Zofia fuming behind him. “Are you looking for a big fish too?”

“Er, not at the moment,” Petra says. She regrets her reply immediately, but the sudden question had surprised her into answering.

“Maybe she’s not old enough,” Zofia murmurs.

It’s not that she doesn’t think of going, er, fishing every once in a while, but her career as a kindergarten teacher takes a lot more time than one would think. By the time she gets home, she’s too tired to grab dinner let alone dress for a date. Even if she did have the energy to go looking for a date, she’s not sure how she would go about doing that. Go on one of those dating apps? Or even one of those dating websites? She’d prefer one of those meet-cutes in classic romantic comedy films, but goodness knows that her life isn’t a movie. She’d be fortunate to even find someone moderately good-looking, but the only men she ever comes into contact with are either married or single fathers who are only interested in her as a babysitter for their kids. She really should go out more. Petra doesn’t mind the idea of being single, but she does think it would be nice to have someone to treat her to dinner and take her out on dates. The thought of having to “go fishing,” as Udo’s aunt would probably put it, is just far too troublesome though, Petra thinks with a sigh.

Petra turns to Udo, ready to change the subject. Just as she’s about to open her mouth and ask the kids about their opinion of the beach, there’s a loud shout from Eren followed by squeals and laughter from the children behind her. Petra turns around in alarm to see Gabi and Falco gripping the handle of the hose while spraying everyone in Eren’s area with cold water.

Immediately, Petra stands up, her fishing pole forgotten, and runs over. “Gabi! Falco! Let go of the hose!” she shouts. Her words are barely heard over the shrieks of the other children. Thankfully, they’re so distracted that they hardly notice her coming for them from the side. She’s able to wrestle the hose away from them without much trouble. When she finally looks over at them, the dripping hose dangling from her hand, they don’t look ashamed in the least. If anything, they’re delighted.

“Look!” Gabi cries, doubling over in laughter. She points a finger at Eren. Gasping for breath, she giggles, “He’s all wet!”

“He looks so funny,” Falco laughs, a huge grin on his face. He’s usually a good kid, but he’s easily dragged into mischief with a little coaxing from Gabi. “His clothes are all wet too! It’s like he went swimming!”

“If I knew this was going to happen, I would have brought my swimming trunks,” Eren jokes. Water drips from his clothes and he frowns as he grabs the fabric of his shirt and tries to wring it out. It hardly helps though and he can only look over at Petra with a resigned smile on his face as he combs his dripping locks away from his eyes. “Too bad we couldn’t find that other apron, huh?”

“Yeah,” Petra murmurs, but she’s not really listening. It’s difficult to concentrate when her coworker is right in front of her with his white cotton t-shirt soaked through.

She had always been aware of Eren’s looks. It was difficult not to notice him when he stepped in her classroom that first day in August. All six feet of him looked as if it belonged on a fashion magazine, not a kindergarten classroom. It didn’t help that he has a habit of wearing comfortable jeans and fitted tees - not the standard wardrobe for a teacher, but they were practical so Petra never had the heart to ask him to wear more professional clothing. The other parents didn’t seem to mind his clothing either. The mothers in particular - married or otherwise - seemed to adore Eren’s tight-fitting jeans, the soft t-shirts that showed off his strapping arms, and his charming, boyish smile. While Petra wouldn’t say she’s immune to his charms, she’s made sure never to be anything but professional with him. Workplace romances are far too messy, she thought. However, looking at Eren right now with his hair sopping wet and sticking to his face and his hard-toned abdominal muscles visible underneath the thin fabric of his soaked shirt, she’s starting to consider making an exception.

“Gosh, look at that boy,” Petra hears someone say behind her. When she turns her head, she sees two mothers - probably here to pick their children up early - observing the sight of Eren sopping wet. It’s quite evident from their expressions that they like what they see. “It makes you wonder what else he’s hiding underneath all that.”

“What a catch,” her companion sighs wistfully. “If I weren’t married, I’d certainly go after him.”

Hearing them talk, Petra feels her ears start to burn and she finds herself walking hurriedly over to Eren, who is too busy trying to dry himself off to notice his admirers. He only looks up when Petra shoves her apron in his chest.

“Here, take this,” Petra says. She glances back at the women who are currently glaring at her for obscuring their view. “You need this more than me right now.”

“Are you sure?” Eren asks, eyebrows raised. “It’s fine. I can just grab an extra shirt later.”

“Just put it on!” Petra says, waving the apron in his face. She’s relieved when he finally puts it on, finding that she can breathe properly now that he’s not standing (pretty much) half-naked in front of her. “We should clean up now. It looks like everyone’s had enough fun. Some more than enough.” Her eyes flit over to Gabi and Falco, who are still busy giggling to themselves.

“Sounds good,” he says. He calls to the other children, telling them to collect their toys and gather while Petra goes over to empty and deflate the kiddie pool.