Well... I said once that I couldn't write anything that had to do with high school, but... Huh. Oh well, here it is. Filled with persistent people, embarrassing people, the worse romance you will ever read, and my specialty, idiocy. Enjoy. Read along as Ike becomes the first to get close to Soren (duh), Reyson finds a girlfriend, Tibarn finds possible blackmail against Naesala and Micaiah tries multiple times to find 'the right guy'. The main pairings here will be IkexSoren, NaesalaxTibarn and SothexMicaiah.

I don't own Fire Emblem. Just these strange ideas of mine.

Read on!

Honestly, Soren thought as he gripped his pencil hard with annoyance, this school was said to be one of the most prestigious, that's why I came here. Why are all my classes, then, filled with complete dunderheads?

His mother had been the one to finally drag him out of one of Daein's… lesser schools and send him and –unfortunately- his younger, adoptive brother here, to Serenes Academy. "This school is practically made for minds like yours!" she said. Really.

"…But if you're supposed to multiply it, then…"

For some reason, had last week's events not happened, he would have slammed his books shut right now and left, never to return.

How glad was he that the bell was finally ringing. It was only the end of his first week here and the place was already nearly insufferable. He argued that though some could, not everybody could at least approach his grade, but still… He heaved his heavy shoulder bag off the floor and made to leave the class. It wasn't until he reached his locker on the second floor that he realized that someone had been following him.

"Hey."

He looked up with his best 'what the hell do you want?' stares. "What?"

The male was taller than him by at least a head, but that didn't threaten Soren in the least. He had a muscular build, he had messy blue hair and his facial features were rough but his dark blue eyes were kind. Soren could smell sweat and… laundry detergent and something else that he couldn't place from his clothes.

"I haven't seen you around before, you're new, right?" His voice was deep; it seemed to echo in Soren's mind endlessly. "I'm Ike." He raised a large hand to the shorter male.

Ike. A suiting name for someone like him, Soren thought. "Soren," he said shortly, ignoring Ike's hand and sliding his math textbook into his locker. He pulled out his history book, and when he noticed that Ike hadn't gotten the message and left, he turned to face him again. "Is there something you need from me?"

Ike still held his hand out. "Isn't it rude to ignore someone?"

From that moment, Soren knew Ike was going to be persistent in this and reluctantly decided to shake his hand. "Is that all?"

Ike smiled. "I was just wondering if you needed anything."

"I've been here a week already, why are you asking me now?" Soren said coldly. "Are you just that slow and need the entire week to make a simple decision like the rest of these people?"

Soren's words seemed to slide off Ike and hit the floor like glass. "Nah, I just thought maybe you already had help, but I guess not."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"I was wondering if you wanted a ride home." Ike said, lifting a set of keys in his other hand, not answering Soren's question.

Soren didn't even pause to consider the offer. "No thank you."

"Why not?" Ike asked.

"I am perfectly content with walking, I don't live far. Besides, you don't even know me."

"Doesn't mean I can't get to know you." Ike persisted.

"No." Soren closed the locker and locked it before resolutely turning away and leaving Ike behind.

"See you later, Soren!"

Judging by Ike's attitude, Soren knew that Ike would return again. Hopefully, Ike would have decided that Soren didn't want to know him within the two days that they'd been away from school. Then again, the reason Soren hadn't left yet was because he wanted to see the athlete again. To shoot him down again, of course.

Finally, the clock struck three, and Soren quickly packed his books away and stood up. He ignored Ike from a couple rows away, weaving through the crowds of laguz and beorc and climbed the stairs to the second floor. At his locker again, Ike caught up with him and he started formulating come-backs and insults in order to ward him off.

"So," Ike began, "how was your day?"

"Fine. But are you truly so dumb as to need to have everything explained with utmost detail?" Soren replied coldly, referring to his multiple questions asked during the last hour as he brought out two more books to add to his heavy load.

"No, but are you truly so sad as to need to drive everyone who tries to talk to you into the mud?" Ike shot back, imitating him. "Not literally, of course," he added.

Soren could have gaped like a teenage girl would have, but he stayed in control. He knew what Ike was implying. "I am not weak." He said through gritted teeth.

"Clearly," Ike said, nodded to Soren's bag. "That's looks really heavy, you want a ride home?"

"No." Soren didn't spare Ike a glance as he shut his locker and stalked away.

"See you later, Soren!" Ike called after him again.

"So, I decided that maybe I'll come visit you on Saturday, we can start on that English assignment."

"…I thought you were planning to go out somewhere with Edward." Sothe watched Micaiah as she slowly back the car out of the school parking lot.

"Well…" she paused as she shifted from reverse and finally turned onto the street. "I decided not to, he's… not my type."

"We aren't going to spin out of control if you go the speed limit, Micaiah," Sothe commented, glancing back at the traffic his best friend was currently holding up. "So, what'd he do anyway?"

"Sorry, I keep forgetting I'm not carrying little kids with me." The silver-haired girl said, slowly speeding up. "Ah, nothing, actually, but I could tell he would be uncomfortable. He's always thinking about Laura."

"We could plan to set them up, that'd be interesting." Sothe suggested, letting a smile come up. "I have the perfect idea to get rid of that elephant."

"No," she giggled. "We're not doing that. I can almost see them now…"

Sothe looked out the window at the houses passing by, Micaiah's voice fading out. He wished that she could see the day he got out of the orphanage, instead of when he would trip down the stairs and possibly break a bone, or when someone was going to be an idiot and kick the soccer ball into his face. But that wasn't how it worked. She senses danger and thoughts, never the bright future. Speaking of thoughts, from the silence in the car, Sothe knew that Micaiah had seen what he'd been thinking.

"We're here," she said softly, pulling over in front of the orphanage where Sothe lived.

"You can't come in today?" Sothe asked as he unbuckled and grabbed his backpack from the back seat.

Micaiah shook her head. "Sorry, not today, Mrs. McKlee wants me to babysit, she's working late tonight." She smiled and waved when Sothe hopped out of the passenger seat. "See you tomorrow, Sothe!"

"Yep, thanks, you save me twenty minutes of walking." Sothe laughed as he walked away.

She watched him until he was inside, a habit she picked up from her babysitting job. The boy who'd become something like a brother to her since she started volunteering at the orphanage, not a little boy, she never had to walk him to the door…

She wondered how long… No, she didn't want to think about it.

A ring from her pocket stopped her from pressing the gas again. She dug her phone from her pocket and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?... Yes, Mrs. McKlee, I won't mind, I'll just bring my homework there then… I'm on my way."

Micaiah slid her phone back into her pocket. "Going in early again," she muttered as she drove away from Sothe's home-that-wasn't-home.

"Nestling? Oh, Nestling! Where did you go this time?"

Naesala buried his face in his hands as his uncles voiced resounded throughout the house. "Goddess…" he groaned. In front of him, Seeker snorted into his glass.

"He still calls you 'Nestling'?" Seeker managed to say before he threw his head back, laughing.

"Shut up!" Naesala reached across the coffee table and gave the other raven a swift whack to the side of the head.

"Ah, there you are Nestling!" Nealuchi's entrance caused another wave of chuckles to go through Seeker's body. "I need you to do me a favor, next time you see Reyson-"

"Nealuchi!" Naesala cut him off, "Stop calling me that! You're embarrassing!" He nodded to Seeker to prove his point.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Naesala, I just forget. You aren't the little Nestling I used to care for, ah, I remember when you still had eggshell in your feathers…" The old crow smiled, his eyes seeming to glaze over as he re-lived past times. "Anyway, I need you to ask Reyson, the next time you see him, what that recipe was for that rhubarb pie was. It was delicious; I'd really like to have it."

"Rhubarb? Are you kidding me?" Naesala looked slightly disgusted. "That stuff is-"

"Delicious! I had it last month at my aunt's birthday!" Seeker exclaimed, grinning.

"See? Seeker agrees, smart man, make sure you get Reyson to write it down, I just don't have the time…" With that, Nealuchi left, leaving Naesala muttering about 'the only thing worse'. He looked down at the homework they had been doing, and decided that with Seeker now suffering from fits of laughter, it wasn't worth attempting.

"Well," Seeker apparently shared the same thought. "I think Mr. Demol will be satisfied with this. We got half of it, just tell 'em you didn't understand the rest. He always falls for it."

"Yeah," Naesala closed his book and shoved it in his backpack. "…What now?"

"We could get that eggshell out of your feathers, eh, 'Nestling'?"

"Shut. Up. It's bad enough he still says it, I don't need you on my back too!"