Work Text:
Wolf was a nervous wreck. Ever since she moved in with Kipo and her family, she had been homeschooled. Lio and Song had taught her everything that was expected of a ten year old. She'd turned eleven and started fifth grade in the Hugo Oak Academy.
Everything had gone well so far. She was catching up in school and she'd made a couple of friends who she saw regularly outside of school. She did her homework assignments and got average grades. She had been doing so well, until...
Her teachers started talking about the upcoming exams just a few weeks before Christmas break. Wolf dreaded the moment that she would have to take her math exam. Despite Lio's and Song's support, Wolf only barely passed her grade in math. She was struggling. She didn't understand all of the different numbers or why she had to count in a certain way. Math was confusing and an exam would just make everything harder.
Benson was doing well in math. So was Kipo - although she had always been great at math. And everything else. Lio and Song were scientists, so math was a second nature to them. Even her own friends did great. Wolf was the only one in her social life who struggled.
Before she met Kipo, she had been great at everything! She'd known how to survive, how to fight and where to find the yummiest bugs. Now, she felt so out of pocket. She never had to do math as a survivor. It was one of the things she missed about it.
Wolf was sitting by her desk in her room, erasing everything that she had counted wrong in her math book. She was on the verge of pulling her hair out. She was hopeless!
A knock on her door interrupted her 'studying'.
"Come in", she called out and turned around when her door opened go reveal her dad.
"Hey, kiddo. I just wanted to see how you were doing", Lio explained with a smile, walking up to his daughter's desk.
"I'm fine", Wolf muttered, looking at the marks in her math book after she had been furiously erasing almost everything on the page.
"Do you need any help? I know you've got your exams coming up", Lio offered but Wolf shook her head.
She couldn't let him know that she already knew that she was going to fail her exams. She couldn't let him know that she was struggling. She couldn't let him know that she wasn't as perfect as the rest of the family.
"Are you sure? I don't mind if you have any questions or if there's something that you don't understand", Lio continued and Wolf just nodded at his words before assuring him that she was fine.
Lio left, proud of his daughter for doing so good in school. He knew that it couldn't have been easy since she wasn't used to it.
At dinner, Wolf was quiet. She didn't touch her food and she didn't engage in the conversations held at the table. Her sudden change in demeanor worried Lio. She was usually more talkative. Or at least she would add a word into the conversation every once in a while. But this time, she left the table as soon as she was allowed and went back to her room. Lio decided to have a talk with her after he'd finished dinner.
He wouldn't let his daughter suffer in silence.
When he walked back into her room, he found her sitting by her desk once again. She seemed to be in a bad mood, if the pouting and clenched fist was anything to go by.
"Honey, can we talk?" He asked, causing Wolf to flinch as she hadn't noticed when her dad entered her room.
She answered with a shrug, watching as her dad sat down on the edge of her bed, patting beside him to silently ask Wolf to sit beside him. With a sigh, Wolf walked up to her dad and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"What do you want?" Wolf asked immediately, the question coming out ruder than she intended.
"I'm worried about you. I know that you don't like talking about your problems, but I'm here for you. Song too. We just want to help you, but we can't do that if we don't know what the problem is", Lio explained.
"Fine. I know that I'm gonna fail this stupid math exams and get bad grades. It doesn't matter how much I try, I still don't understand anything!" Wolf finally revealed and her dad was surprised by the fact that he hadn't noticed the way that Wolf was feeling.
"That's not a problem at all! You-"
"Yes, it is!" Wolf interrupted, "everyone in this family knows math except for me. I study everyday, but I still don't get it. I'm not perfect like Kipo or Benson..."
Lio immediately pulled Wolf into his arms, hugging her tightly.
"I don't want you to be like Kipo or Benson. You don't need to be like them. I want you to be you. I love you for you. It's okay to struggle because nobody's perfect. What's important is that you try your best and are proud of yourself just like how I'm proud of you!"
"You're proud of me?" Wolf asked.
"Of course I am! I'm proud of you for fighting though, despite having a hard time. You never give up when things get though and you're one of the sweetest kids I know. You don't need to be perfect because nobody's perfect. You just have to let people in. Let me help you," Lio spoke and Wolf had to wipe the tears in her eyes away.
"Okay, dad", Wolf finally agreed and Lio gave his daughter one last hug before grabbing her math book to help her understand what she was supposed to do.
Wolf passed her math exam with a grade higher than normal. She and her family went out to celebrate and Lio praised her as if she had just won the Oscars. Wolf was glad that she took her dad's advice. She started letting her parents in in her life and let them know when she was struggling.
And they always helped her. Wolf was proud of herself for taking one step further into her new life as an Oak kid.
But the people that were even prouder of her was her parents.