I can't believe you agreed to tuitor him," Mary griped as they walked threw the door, "Especially after all that with the math challenge."
"You saw the look on his dad's face. There was no way I could I could send him away without at least trying to help," Toby countered.
"Who are you two talking about?" Lenora asked.
"Seamus. His dad was all on his case about his Physics grade so TB agreed to tuitor him."
"He didn't do well in Physics? Odd. He did well in math and science."
"I know," Toby nodded, "But apparently a 'B' isn't goood enough for his dad. Now he won't let him go to Space Camp like he had promised at the begining of the school year. We overheard a lot before he asked."
"A 'B'!?" Lenora gasped, "A 'B' is a very good grade! I don't know what is wrong with that man but I swear-"
"Are vve talking about Mr. Johnson? Because I heard him yelling at Seamus on my vvay home."
"Ja, Papa," Mary turned.
"Also, no one can know that I am the one tutoring him because his dad doesn't like us," Toby noted, "And I know why he doesn't like Mama but what did you do to make him mad, Papa?"
"I encouraged Seamus to try out for ze musical. 'No son of mine is going to be dancing around on a stage like zat.' He said."
"Arschloch. Seamus is a good singer. Not a bad dancer either."
"Mary!"
"I say vve let it slide zis time, Lenora. She only said it before I did."(1)
"Ok. So...how are we going to explain Fragwa to him?"
"To who?" Eli walked iin.
LLB
The day of Toby and Seamus's first tuitor session, Eli went to Steve's house to help keep Mr. Johnson off thier trail. Mary took Fragwa and Gnome Chompski into her room to keep them out of sight. Toby went threw his notes from class to find all the ones that were in English. Notes in German would likely confuse Seamus. The boy in question arrived at noon.
None of them had seen anyone look as nervous as Seamus did when he stood on thier porch. He had hidden his bike by the garage and now looked like he wanted to hide in his backpack.
"Come in, Seamus," Otto had answered the door, "I don't know if you do zis at home but please take off your shoes. Bärchen is setting up in ze dinning room."
"O-Ok. Thank's Herr Scaarbach."
"Bitte, Seamus."
Seamus nodded after a moment and moved into the dinning room. It wasn't uncommon for Otto too use simple German in class.
"Hello, Seamus," Lenora set two glasses of lemonade on the table, "Toby should be down in just a moment."
"No, I'm right here," Toby walked in, book under his arm.
"Oh, danke, Mama," he said apon seeing the glasses of lemonade on the table.
"Bitte, Toby."
Seamus watched the interaction with curious eyes.
"Lenora, Kann ich mit dir in der Küche reden?" Otto grabbed her arm.
Toby and Seamus watched them go before exchanging a look.
"Um...what was that all about?" Seamus asked.
"I dunno," Toby shrugged, "He just said he wanted to talk in the kitchen...So, what are you having trouble with?"
"Heck if I know," Seamus pulled out his own notes, "I just got a few wrong in all of it."
"I figured. So...how about we work on a bit of everything. Sound good?"
"Whatever."
They heard a door open and close upstairs.
"Fragwa! Nein! Komm hierher zurück!" They heard Mary shout.
"What the-"
"Our cat. Fragwa doesn't take to kindly to strangers so Mary was keeping her locked in her room while you're here. Problem is, Fragwa can open doors," Toby explained.
"Fragwa?"
"It derives from the German word 'Frage' meaning question. Basically, her name is 'Mystery'."(2)
"Oh..."
After that, the two boys worked on sample problems and went over notes for about two hours uninterrupted.
"You don't seem to actually be having trouble with anything. Heck, your past tests even seem to say that your biggest problem was in copying the answer over from where you showed your work. Sr. Uhl only takes half a point off for that. It's a easy mistake I've even see him make."
"That doesn't help me keep Dad off my back," Seamus said, laying his head on the table, "He expects perfect grades if I want to go anywhere?"
"Seamus, no offense but your dad sucks. Just so you know," Toby started packing up his notes.
"Trust me, I know," Seamus didn't pick up his head, "I live with him."
He stood and started packing up his own notes, "Hey, um, what does 'Bitte' mean? I heard your dad say it and then your mom. Herr Scaarbach says it in class but I don't actually know what it is."
Toby had to think for a moment, not used to this kind of question, "Um, bitte changes depending on the context. I said, 'Danke' which means thank you. So when Mama said, 'Bitte' it meant 'You're welcome'. But, it can also mean 'please' and 'sorry' and a lot of other things."
Seamus nodded.
"Hey, if you'd like, since you don't actually need physics help but you need your dad to think you are getting it, why don't we teach you German in stead?"
Seamus stared at him.
"You could tell your dad you're picking it up from Sr. Uhl since he's the Physics teacher and I doubt your dad can tell the difference between Austrian and-"
"Why?"
"Because knowing multiple languages is fun! And cool! And useful! Did you know that knowing multiple languages makes people more likely to hire you! I'm on my fo-third with Spanish and Mary's on four! She can speak German and English, read Japanese, and she is learning Spanish! Don't get me started on our parents! Espe-"
"No, I mean, why would you do that?"
"Oh," Toby bowed his head, "Um, Mary and I heard overheard that you wanted to go to space camp. It just happens that we love space too. Maybe, if we please your dad enough, he'll change his mind."
Seamus chuckled a little, "You know, Tarron said the same thing about the math challenge. He...um...D-Don't tell your mom but he threw the chanllange so my dad wouldn't get mad. Ha."
Now it was Toby's turn to stare. Eventually, he nodded.
"Alright. I won't tell her."
"Thanks, man. So...does Thursday work for you?"
"Sure. See you then. Bring a fresh notebook."
"...Ok..."
As soon as the door closed behind behind Seamus, Toby went to the kitchen to find his parents.
"I think Seamus's dad is abusing him."
Otto nodded, "VVe vvere sinking ze same zing."
"But, without any proof we can't report it," Lenora explained, "All the teachers have been keeping an eye on the situation for a few years now but we still can't do anything."(3)
Toby hung his head, "I know. I just thought I should say something."
"It vvas ze right zing to do, Bärchen. VVe'll do everyzing vve can to help him," Otto put his hand around Toby's shoulder, "Now, zere is somezing vve need to tell you und ze ozers."
"Ok, I'll go get Mary."
LLB
Within the hour, Eli got home and all the Scaarbachs were gathered in the living room for a family meeting.
"Ok, I get what TB is saying. It makes sense," Mary nodded.
"Yeah, Steve told me similar things about his dad," Eli admited, "And I saw some books in Coach's car and office."
"But you're telling us that Seamus isn't human? Like us?" Toby looked between his parents.
"Yes. A werewolf, to be specific," Lenora repeated.(4)
"How come you didn't notice at school?" Mary asked Otto.
"At ze school, zere vvere so may different scents zat I could never figure out who it vvas. Here, I vvas easily able to identify vvhere ze different smell vvas coming from. I knew as soon as he vvalked threw ze door."
"So...What are we going to do?"
"We want to talk to him about it," Lenora confessed, "We want him to know he can trust us and that we can help him when the full moon comes around."
"But only if he vvants us to."
The teens exchanged a look. It was part of their job as The Young Trollhunters to help other supernatural kids. But, it was a big step to take with someone who, only a couple weeks before, had bullied them.
"It's alright if you three aren't ok with it," Lenora insisted, "We won't tell him if you don't want us to. Just think about it, alright?"
The teens nodded in unison.
LLB
Three weeks passed before they actually made their choice. By that point, Seamus wasn't as shy when entering the house, had met Fragwa, and even had his own pair of house shoes for when he came over. They started to see him smile from time to time and he would walk in threw the back door, barely nocking as he went.
Now, however, the Scaarbachs and Seamus were all sitting around the living room. Otto, Lenora, and Eli all sat on the sopha, Toby and Mary were both sitting in the old LayZBoy chair together (5), and Seamus had brought in a chair from the dinning room.
"What was it you wanted to talk to me about, Herr and Freu Scaarbach?"
"Seamus, what would you say if we told you that none of us are human?"
Seamus's eyes grew wide and he shrunk down in his seat, "W-What are you talking about?"
Otto shifted into his natural troll form, then into Walter, before finally settling back into his human form. Seamus watched with wide eyes.
"You-I saw you during the eclipse! You killed some of those monsters!"
Otto laughed, "Zat is true. I am a changling polymorph. I can be anyone I vvant at any given time."
"So you chose to look like that?"
"Vvhat's wrong vviz how I look?"
"Nothing!"
Lenora rolled her eyes before her and Eli shifted into their Fay forms. Lenora's black curls hung down the back of her blue chiton, clipped back with gold rings. Her gold wings cascaded down like an elegant cape. Eli's silver wings stood up as he wasn't yet able to fold them like his mother. A silver circlet stood out against his black hair and his chiton was deep green. Lenora swiped her hand down his back, folding his wings.
Seamus sat up, "F-Faries! You two are fairies! That...that actually makes a lot of sense."
He turned to look at Toby and Mary, "But...your two are adopted, right? So you're different than your parents?"
Mary waved her hand and a ball of lemonade lifted out of her glass and into her mouth, "What do you think?"
Seamus was silent for only a second, "You're a waterbender!? That's awesome!"
"Mermaid, actually."
"That's even cooler!" He turned to Toby, "What about you?"
"Hold up!" Mary lifted her hands, "You're not questioning a mermaid with legs?"
"No. Mermaids of the Pacific, like Japan and Australia, have legs when dry."
Mary's jaw dropped. Seamus turned back to Toby who, in turn, shifted into his Acoridian form. There was a ripping sound as his extra arms tore threw his shirt and vest.
"Oops."
"Alien?"
"Acoridian," Toby corrected, "My PawPaw was from a planet called Acoridian 5."
Seamus nodded before turning back to Otto and Lenora, "Why are you telling me this?"
The husband and wife exchanged a look.
"Did you learn about mermaids while reaserching the full moon?"
Seamus ducked in his chair once more, "W-What are you talking about."
"It's alright, Seamus. VVe vvon't tell anyvone."
Seamus shrank back again. Lenora walked over and put her arm around the teen, "Seamus, it's alright. No one will hurt you. We are all like you, remember? We just want to help."
"How can you? I've been reaserching since I was ten! Mom was reaserching before that! There is no cure for 'werewolf'."
"Zat doesn't mean vve can't help you. VVhat do you usually do on ze full moon?"
"Sneak out. Tell Dad that I'm going to Steve's or work and hide out in the forest. Then I hope for the best."
"We know a much safer way," Mary leaned forward, "A way that no one will get hurt."
"H-How?"For the first time, Seamus looked hopeful.
"There's a whole magic world!" Eli bounced in his seat.
Lenora held him closer, "In a place called 'Heartstone Trollmarket'."
1) If your bio family sucks, a Changling family will claim you.
2) Frage is German for question. However, Fragwa is not German for Mystery. It has no literal translation in any language but Frage was the closest I could find. So I went with this.
3) I tried to report an abusive situation and found this out the hard way...
4) I'm just embracing ALL the old HC for this fic!
5) Once again, I speak from experience. My sister, cousin, and I could all fit in our Pipi's at once until we were between 11 and 13.