AN: Just wanted to write something about them being little and cute. Enjoy.
On his first day of school he's different. All the other kids have uniforms, but his mum never bought him one. She said it was okay, that he didn't need fancy clothes to learn how to read. He picks a shirt with a dinosaur to wear, one of his favourites, but the other kids tease him about it.
"Where's your uniform?" they say. "You can't come to school without one."
He doesn't see why it matters.
"Deano the dinosaur!" They chant, laughing, and he hates it.
He tells them so, they laugh some more, and he gets mad. He cries, and tries to push them away, but there are too many, and he ends up falling on the asphalt, kids all around him, laughing and calling him names.
He hates school, never wants to come back, he needs to get away from these mean kids, but they won't let him go.
And then he sees him, one of the big boys, and thinks maybe he isn't like the rest. He looks at the big boy who has blonde hair and isn't laughing. Help me, he thinks, I'm too little to stop them. And then something amazing happens. The big boy sticks up for him.
"Leave him alone," the big boy says, stepping into the circle, shoving the meanest kid away. Now he's surrounded by bullies too, but he doesn't care. It turns into a real fight, and the big boy is a good fighter, but there are a lot of other kids, and Dean decides he can't just sit here crying like a baby. He jumps up, uses every bit of strength he has to help the big boy fight the mean kids off.
He's kicking and hitting for all he's worth when he feels a grown-up's hand grab his arm and pull him back.
"That's enough!" the teacher yells.
He's dazed for a second, trying to see through the tears and catch his breath.
"What's going on here?" the teacher demands.
"They started it," the mean kid quickly says, pointing at Dean and the big boy. "They said our uniforms were stupid."
The big boy is wearing a uniform, so Dean thinks the teacher would be an idiot to believe that.
It turns out she is an idiot.
"You two, to the principal's office now."
Sitting outside the office, Dean is scared. The only thing his mum said when she dropped him off was 'I better not get a call from the principal'. Now here he is, and the first bell hasn't even rung yet.
"Hey." He turns his head to look at the big boy who is sitting beside him. The boy's mouth pulls up into a smile that instantly makes Dean feel better. "I like your shirt. It's cool."
Dean smiles back.
"Spinosaurus is my favourite."
"Mine's velociraptor. Have you seen Jurassic Park?"
Dean shakes his head, wishing he were cooler like the big boy.
"I have the video, you can come over to my place and we can watch it."
"Really?" he says excitedly.
"Yeah. My mum will let you. I'm Colby."
"I'm Dean."
The office lady glares at them for talking, so they stop, but Dean is bursting with excitement. The big boy, Colby, is nice to him. Maybe it means...
"Are you my friend?" Dean whispers, so they won't get in trouble again.
Colby gives him another one of those smiles.
"Yeah," he whispers back. "We're friends."
But then he's frowning, and Dean worries he's said something wrong.
"You're bleeding," Colby says.
Dean looks down at his knee, it's skinned from where he got knocked over.
It looks bad, he wants to cry, he doesn't know what to do.
"Hang on," Colby says, getting up and going over to the office lady. He talks to her and comes back with a band-aid.
Dean watches as Colby kneels down, a little bit scared it will hurt, but he trusts Colby not to make it any worse than it has to be.
Colby looks at Dean's knee, like he's trying to figure something out, then he grabs the bottom of his school shirt and spits on it. He uses it to wipe the blood away, then he sticks the band-aid on.
Dean looks up at him, amazed. Colby just ruined his clean uniform for him.
"Your shirt's dirty."
Colby shrugs.
"We're friends," he says, like that fact can fix anything, and looking at Colby who is so cool and in control, he believes it.
Dean wants to say something, something about how he hopes they can be friends forever, but the door of the office opens.
"Colby Thorne," the principal calls. "I thought I told you I didn't want see you in this office again. It's the first day of school..."
"Sorry Miss," Colby says, but already Dean can tell he doesn't mean it.
Colby is the only person who's ever been nice to him, and if Colby doesn't care about breaking the rules then Dean decides right there, that neither does he.