"Erza, shouldn't Erik be coming home soon?" Gray asked from the dark green couch he was getting comfortable in after a long, hard day on a mission. His wife, Erza, was organizing the contents in the pantry of the kitchen once again. She left the room in favor of his.
"According to the schedule, school was out fifteen minutes ago. He should be back any min—"
Slam! Erza and Gray snap their necks towards the noise that resulted from a door slamming, most likely the front door. Gray frowned, knowing that this was a bad sign.
"Mom! Dad!" he cried. Erik was a fairly tall preadolescent boy with broad shoulders and trailing red hair that his Aunt Lucy enjoyed to braid. He was still quite skinny, but Erza was determined to build up his muscle for his magic training. He was still a rather soft boy, who could easily get hurt and cry. He leaped into Gray's welcoming arms and allowed his tears to rain on his father's jacket.
Gray took this chance to comfort his son by leafing through his flawless, smooth locks (Levy was always jealous of his hair for being so manageable). "Is something the matter, Erik? Was it school?" Erza strode over to the two to put a hand on Erik's shoulder. Gray held him by the arms, and both looked into his blurry, dark eyes.
"The kids at school are making fun of my hair again. Also, they said the things I liked were 'girly', and they called me a girl." He sniffed before snot came sliding down his face. Gray looked back at Erza, who gave a nod. He looked back at Erik again, and smiled warmly.
"What makes them think you're a girl?"
"Well, they said it was because I like pink, and I like fairies and cooking more than ninjas and weapons." Once again, Gray looked at Erza. She nodded more quickly this time.
He turned back to Erik, and rubbed the tears off of his cheeks. "Okay, Erik. This is how it works. First of all, there's nothing wrong with girls. They're nearly the same as us guys. We'll elaborate on the details later. There's nothing wrong with being a girl in the first place. Second of all, just because you like those things doesn't make you a girl. What you like doesn't determine the sex or gender you have. Girls can like dinosaurs and superheroes if they want to, and same goes to boys. What those kids were doing is taking a stereotypical gender role and assuming that since you don't act the way a guy acts in a gender role, you're a girl. Thing is, though, that it's all stupid and rude. You are Erik, and that's all that should ever matter."
With that, Erik grasped the back of Gray's shirt harder than normal. Erza smiled at Gray with pride, while he looked relieved that his words were able to calm their child.
Later on that night, Erza and Gray sat in bed for a while before getting to sleep.
"I can't believe we're already teaching him about gender roles and misogyny at an age like this. He's only twelve!" Erza exclaimed. Gray sighed and shrugged.
"Well, I guess it's pretty important." She laughed, and leaned down to capture his lips in a playful kiss.
That was Tears! :3 Mind a review?