How'd you like my brontosaurus?

"Uh, Mr Jones?" Lane asks as we walk into the music room.

Its lunch time on Wednesday, Lane, Ozz, Emmy and i decided to pay our favourite teacher a visit. We surprisingly spend a lot of time with our middle aged professor.

"Ah, hello all!" Jones says, briefly looking up from his work.

"Hi, um, why is there a small child at the table?" Lane finishes.

Directly in front of Mr Jones, is a miniature version of himself, the same dirty blonde hair, light brown eyes and thin framed glasses. The child looks up at us, completely uninterested and goes back to the picture he was drawing.

"Oh yes, this is my son, Manny." He smiles proudly. "Manny, these are my students."

Manny looks up at us for a second time, his face completely emotionless.

"He's six, he's going through a rebellious stage." Mr Jones explains and we laugh.

I walk over to the smaller Jones and crouch down in front of the table.

"What are you drawing Manny?" I ask in a hushed tone. He brings his eyes to mine.

"A pterodactyl." He replies, his voice small.

I tilt my head to the side and surely enough, it's a surprisingly detailed drawing of a dinosaur, considering he's only six.

Well, expected from a young Jones.

"That's amazing! My favourite dinosaur is a brontosaurus, because i can ride it without being eaten." I explain.

Manny looks at me for a second. His lips twitches and if i blinked, i would've missed it. But it was definitely a smile.

"So, what's baby Jones doing here, big Jones?" Ozzy asks as i stand up. My knees were killing me.

"The babysitter cancelled on us last minute and my wife couldn't bring him into the doctors surgery with her, so we thought school would be the next safest option." Mr Jones explains.

"Don't you have classes to teach?" Lane asks.

"Yes, i feel terrible for not being able to give him attention, but i have no other choice right now." Jones huffs, giving his son a pained smile.

I look from Mr Jones, to little Jones and back again.

"We could look after him." I suggest.

Everyone in the room turns to look at me as if i said something absurd.

"We can?" Lane asks and i nudge him.

"Why not? Jonesy clearly has work to do, i have the last two periods free and it's not like we'd need to leave campus."

"I know you two sat your geography exam this morning, but Ozz and I have to do ours this afternoon." Em points out.

"Well me and Lane can still get the job done." I shrug, looking over at Lane.

He looks a little confused, but nods in agreement even so.

"That... would be amazing!" Mr Jones stands up from his desk. "Thank you Jules, you lifesaver!"

Mini Jones doesn't look as impressed with the exchange, but still doesnt say anything.

"I guess we could hang out in the common room since everyone will be in the exam." Lane adds.

"Okay Man the man, pack up your things into you backpack and go with Jules and Lane, they are my most trusted students." Jones hands his son the backpack that was sitting behind his desk.

Manny doesn't speak once again, but begins picking up his colouring pencils and slipping them into a compartment in his bag.

Once he's done, he jumps down off the table and walks around to his dad.

"You have fun, okay bud?" Mr Jones pulls him into a hug and leans down, kissing him on the forehead.

We all walk toward the door as Mr Jones sits back at his desk, waving to his child.

"You ready kiddo?" Lane asks.

Manny nods, before stretching out a chubby hand to him. Lane looks at me, i can tell he's panicking and i pout at him in awe. He wants to hold his hand.

Lane stretches out his own massive hand and wraps it around Manny's, completely enveloping it.

Emmy and Ozz break away from the group just before the common room, heading to the exam hall.

"Have fun practicing for your future child!" Emmy gives us a thumbs up as she walks away, grinning.

"I hope your pen runs out of ink in the exam!" I call back to her.

Lane walks ahead and opens the door of the common room. Manny hesitates, standing and taking in the massive room in front of him.

The strap of his backpack slips off his shoulder. I pull it back up and tighten it as he looks at me momentarily. I offer him a smile, but he still looks at me straight faced. I've never met such a serious six year old.

♡♡♡

Its's been a couple hours. Manny and I are sat on the carpet. He offered me some paper so i could draw with him and Lane is sprawled out on his sofa seat, flicking through shows and constantly complaining about how bad two o'clock TV is.

I put my pencil down, my hand cramping. Sitting back, i look at my drawing compared to the small boy's beside me. It's safe to say i'm not an artist.

"Okay, i'm gonna go to the vending machine. Would you like anything?" I ask as i stand up and smooth my skirt.

"Yeah, can you get me a-" Lane starts before i throw him a glare. "Oh."

"Chocolate milk." Manny says quietly, not looking up from his picture.

"Okay, any snacks? We don't have much, a bag of crisps or something?"

He looks up at me this time. "You can choose."

I smile at him and nod, turning on my heels to leave the room.

When i reach the machine, i put in fifty pence for the milk, and decide on wotsits for Manny. I feel like they're the safest option since they aren't sharp or anything. I put in two two pound coins for two bags of doritios and these cans of coffee that me and Lane like.

I struggle back up the stairs with all the things in my hand, but finally make it back up to the second floor.

Just as i'm about to walk into the commom room, i hear my name. I peak through the gap in the ajar door.

"Who, Jules?" Lane asks and Manny nods.

"Is she your girlfriend?" It's the first sentence i've heard him say since we met him.

"No, not yet."

"Do you want her to be?" Manny asks.

"Yes, more than anything." Lane replies.

I lean forward so i can hear more.

"Then why isn't she?"

"It's complicated kiddo." Lane sighs as he runs a hand through his hair.

"But you love eachother?"

"Yeah."

"Then why?" Manny picks his pencil back up now.

"I- i don't really know." Lane frowns, resting his chin on his hand.

"She's really pretty." He turns back to his drawing.

"The prettiest." Lane says with a grin, leaning back in his chair again.

I can't help but smile. I hope my cheeks aren't red. Clearing my throat, i push the doors open with my back and walking in, the boys looking at me.

"A chocolate milk for little man, a side of wotsits." I place them down on the table beside him.

"Thank you." Manny looks up and me and smiles. It doesn't reach his eyes, but it's still a smile.

I smile back and stand up, throwing the coffee can at Lane. He catches it in one hand. I follow along with the dorito bag and he lets it fall into his lap.

"Thank you, beautiful." He smirks at me.

I roll my eyes and sit back down next to mini Jones, placing my snacks on the table and picking my pencil up.

As i colour in my picture, i catch Manny looking at me, but he turns back to his picture when our eyes meet.

About half an hour later, Mr Jones walks through the common room doors.

"You guys look like you're having fun." He rubs his hands together as he always does, walking over to the table.

"How'd you like my brontosaurus Jones- i mean Mr Jones." I hold up my picture proudly.

"Trash." Lane coughs from beside us and i scowl at him, flipping him off behind Manny's back.

"Lovely work, Jules!" Mr Jones says before moving around to his son. "Wow, this is awesome little dude."

Manny grins up at his father. A full, bright and sparkly grin. He looks so much like him.

"Your mum is here to pick you up now." Mr Jones continues.

Manny's face falls slightly, but he nods, standing up and beginning to pack away his things again.

"Thank you so much for watching him in your free period guys, you don't understand how much i appreciate it." Mr Jones says as we walk to the door alongside them.

"Anytime Jonesy." Lane butts in, even though he pretty much did nothing.

"Okay, say goodbye Manny." Jones says as we stop at the door.

Manny looks up at me, before stepping forward and wrapping his arms around me. I raise my eyebrows in shock, before returning his hug.

He walks over to Lane who holds out a fist. Manny fist bumps him back and Lane ruffles his hair slightly.

"Bye." Manny says, flattening his hair back down as he walks out the door with his dad.

"Can we have one?" Lane asks as we turn around to head back up to the common.

"Are you gonna carry it in your womb for nearly a year?" I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Fair enough." He laughs.

We walk in silence for a couple beats.

"We should try it." I suddenly say.

"Try having a kid?" Lane frowns, looking at me as if i'm crazy.

"No. Dating." I look at the ground.

He stops in his tracks. I turn around and look at him. His eyes are sparkling, the biggest smile plastered on his face.

"Really?" He asks.

A nod is all i can manage, i'm smiling just as hard as he is.

Lane takes two big strides towards me, taking my cheeks in his hands and pulling me into a delicate kiss.

"Okay." He says, pressing his forehead against mine.

"Okay." I reply.

He stretches out his hand and i wrap my fingers around his pinkie as we continue walking.

"We have the rest of the school year to figure out what comes next." He says, looking down at me. "It'll work out."

I pull his hand up to my face and kiss his scarred knuckles.

"Yeah."

♡♡♡

finally, it took them long enough.

but yaaay, stan jane!

hope you enjoyed,

bye!