A/N: Yesterday a miracle happened. I was going through my emails and discovered a handful of my old stories back in '12-'13 that I, for some reason, sent to myself but I'm not complaining. A little part of me that had died from my deleted stories is breathing again lol. Although they're all shitty with grammar and loop holes because I was like 14-15 writing these... I don't care lol. Anyways this is one I had planned on starting but for now it stays as a one shot. I did not tweak this, nor did I do any work of editing. It's the exact same way how it was back in 2013.
Bullies
Natsu slumped deep in his chair as his teacher went from desk to desk handing out the graded math test. Natsu hated school, he hated learning and he absolutely hated math. He crossed his little arms around his chest and tried to look nonchalant but on the inside his heart was in his throat as the teacher came closer to his table. Two tables ahead of him his best friend Lisanna cheered at her test results.
"What did you get Lisanna?" Lucy, another friend of Natsu's, peered over Lisanna's shoulder. "An A plus, great job!" Lucy squealed and Lisanna squealed happily back.
"And you?" Lisanna asked and Lucy held up her paper. Natsu couldn't see but from the girls' squealing, she must have gotten an A plus too. This made Natsu slump even further into his chair and groan softly. The teacher finally reached him and set the piece of paper face down on the corner of his desk before walking on to the next second grader.
Natsu grabbed the paper and clumsily shoved it inside his crammed book bag. He would burn it once he got home, Igneel wouldn't have to know at all. Unbeknownst to the seven year old, a pair of cold mischevious eyes had watched his every move.
After school was let out Natsu walked after his two happy friends to their meeting place where a couple of kids waited for them. "ERZA! GRAY! Lucy and I got A's!" Lisanna shouted happily as she and Lucy ran to the kids.
Erza and Gray were two grades above them so every day after school, since their classes ended before Natsu's and the girl's, they waited next to the school building underneath a huge oak tree.
As Lisanna and Lucy reached the two, Natsu hung back lost in his brooding thoughts. Gray noticed this after congratulating the girls and was about to get Natsu's attention when Hughes popped up behind the oblivious pinkette and snatched his bookbag off his shoulders.
"! -Hey!" Natsu shouted and tried to get it back. Cackling, Hughes easily dodged him and shook his bag in the air tauntingly.
"Why didn't you read your test score, huh?" The purple/white hair boy taunted while tipping Natsu's bag upside down and unzipped it. Crumpled pieces of paper, broken pencils, a chewed eraser and candy wrappers spilled out onto the ground.
"Leave him alone!" Lucy and Lisanna cried out together. Both were surprised that Hughes would do such a thing- in front of Erza no less. Erza herself seemed surprised, much so that she was glued to the ground. Only Gray moved forward, snatching the bag from Hughes and knelt down to pick up Natsu's things.
Hughes nor Natsu seemed to care about that; Hughes had what he wanted and Natsu desperately tried to get it back. Natsu breathed heavily from trying to retrieve his stolen test and made another lunge attempt to take it. Hughes just shoved out his hand and Natsu ran into it face first before snapping back and falling on the ground.
Hughes grinned wickedly as he read the paper. "Oh I see. Didn't want any of your friends to see what a failure you are, huh. I don't blame you with this crap ass score." The boy waved the paper in the air as he stared down at the pinkette. "How stupid are you? Even a baby could do better than this!" Eyes not leaving Natsu's, Hughes crumbled the paper up into a ball and tossed it carelessly behind him. The pinkette sat with his tiny hands clenched into fists at his sides as he glared up at the bully with angry tears in his eyes.
"Aww, did I make the wittle baby cwy?" Hughes snorted and turned as if he were about to walk away. "Save your tears for mama."
Gray and Erza watched Hughes walk off, their faces half shadowed with anger. "I won't forgive myself for just letting that happen." Erza spoke as Gray stood up, everything back inside Natsu's bag. He zipped it up and sighed.
"We'll kick his butt later but for now-" He nodded in Natsu's direction where Lucy and Lisanna huddled around the pinkette protectively.
"Are you okay?"
"Do you want a hug?"
"What a jerk, excuse my language, but gosh!"
"My blood is boiling. Here Natsu-"
"NO!" Natsu shouted at Lisanna. The girl had been uncrumbling his test score paper when Natsu surged forward and grabbed it out of her tiny hands. He held the paper to his chest, knees pulled up and his head face down. His tiny frame shook slightly from too many emotions going through his body.
Lisanna looked hurt and accepted Lucy's comforting arm looping through hers. "I was just giving it back.." Lisanna said softly. The two girls stared at their unresponsive friend while Gray and Erza exchanged looks.
"Natsu, he's gone now, you can look at us." Lucy tried before looking up at Erza who'd set a warm hand on her shoulder.
"Let me walk you two home." Erza said, smiling softly. Lucy and Lisanna looked at each other, then at Natsu and sighed. Together they knelt down and gave Natsu a hug before turning away.
"We'll past the pond that has baby ducks, do you two want to see them?" Erza asked and instantly the girls' mood changed.
"Yes!" they both shrieked and skipped ahead with Erza following.
Once the girls were gone, Gray moved. He sat on the ground before Natsu, his legs spread so Natsu was in between them. Scooting forward, Gray gently grasped the crumpled paper snagged in Natsu's tiny fingers. When Natsu felt the pressure of someone else's fingers on his paper, he tensed and tightened his hold.
"It's just me, Natsu." Gray murmured. "I won't laugh." Despite the age difference and their weird friend slash rival getup, Natsu and Gray share a relatively close bond. Gray tugged the paper but Natsu held on. The raven haired boy pressed his head to Natsu's. "I won't laugh." Gray repeated. It was a couple of minutes before Natsu let go and Gray gently tugged the paper from his loose fingers.
With their heads still pressed together, Gray stared down at the paper and saw all the red marks Natsu had been hiding. He heard a sniffle before Natsu shakily asking, "Am I stupid Gray?"
"Of course not. You're just having a little trouble with math and that's fine. No one is perfect so don't let some scum bag feed your head lies." The older boy answered. "Don't let anything negative get to you no matter what. Look at this, Natsu," Gray held up the boy's paper and waited patiently until Natsu did. Gray waved it gently. "This is fixable."
Natsu's watery eyes widened. "It is?" he breathed out and Gray's heart panged.
"Yes. It's all easy when you put your all into it." Gray answered, smiling a bit. It disappeared when Natsu looked crestfallen and hid his face away back into his knees.
"But all my grades are like that one," Natsu pointed at the paper without looking at it. "I'm dumb. I can't read, I can't write. I don't know how to spell. I don't know anything."
"Why don't you ask for help Natsu." Gray said, staring at the small pinkette. He earned a shrug.
"I don't want to look stupid in front of everyone." came the muffled reply.
"Natsu, you aren't stupid. I told you this is fixable and I'm going to help you fix it." Gray said and Natsu peered up at him.
"You will?"
Gray smiled. "I've done it all before, I'll help you with whatever you need. Come on, we can start now." The fourth grader stood up and pulled Natsu up after him who grabbed his bag.
"But don't you have your own homework?" The pinkette asked as he was led away from the school grounds.
"I'll help you with yours and then do mine. And we'll be doing this everyday until your grades get better." Gray declared.
"Everyday?" Natsu squeaked. Gray nodded and turned to smile at the slightly intimidated looking second grader.
"Yes, but if you do a good job I'll give you surprises." Natsu's eyes lightened up at that. "But you have to give your all, okay?"
"O-okay." Natsu nodded, a look of determination crossing over his face.
...
"The problem says that the man made 100 balloons altogether and at the end of the day from selling them, came home with 19. How many balloons did he sell?" Gray asked. Natsu's face was scrunched up as he thought. Gray waited patiently until Natsu shrugged his shoulders weakly.
"I- I don't know.." the pinkette mumbled and looked away embarrassedly.
"That's okay. Let's break it down. The man has 100 balloons to start with, right?"
Natsu nodded. He sat close with Gray on the floor in the small living room. All of their school work was out on the low wooden table. Natsu's father is a busy man and is hardly home so he hired a caretaker for Natsu. She was in the middle of cooking dinner in the kitchen, leaving the two boys to their homework.
"And somehow he ends up with 19 which is less than 100, yes?" Gray said, looking at Natsu with his dark eyes. Natsu stared into them and nodded. "So.. what happened? Did he get more balloons or did he lose balloons? In other words, did more balloons add on or did balloons get subtracted?"
"What does that mean?" Natsu asked and Gray smiled.
"Take away."
Natsu stared down at the problem for a full minute before hesitantly saying, "Subracket balloons." Gray chuckled.
"Subtracted," he corrected Natsu but nodded. "Good job, you answered the question."
"I did?" the pinkette asked excitedly.
"Yes, the problem wants to know which order of operation you use and-" Gray stopped and stared at the confused look Natsu was giving him. "Never mind, let's move on."
... 2 years later ...
"Let go!" fourth grader Natsu ordered breathlessly as he struggled to keep hold of his red folder that was half snatched in Hughe's clutches.
"Why, you tryna hide something?" Hughes jeered. "Like a epic failed grade?" Natsu glared at the boy.
"It's none of your business!" The two continued their scruffle in the school's bathroom. A foot came out of nowhere, knocking Natsu down easily. The pinkette gasped and clutched his stomach, agony written on his face. Hughes put his foot back on the ground and opened the folder.
"It is since you flaunted your gay ass out in the hall. What made you so damn happy, huh?" Hughes flipped through the pages in the folder as Natsu struggled to get up.
"Th-that's not yours!" He huffed out, glaring daggers at the other boy.
"Oh, I see." It was deja vu all over again. Hughes looked at Natsu who felt uneasy when seeing something dark flicker behind Hughe's eyes. "Finally getting a bit smarter are we now."
Natsu didn't say anything, not until Hughes ripped his test result paper in two, balled it up and tossed it in the trash. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" The pinkette roared, confused and angry. He launched himself at the other but only earned a hard punch in the gut. Immediately Natsu fell to floor, gasping for breath.
Hughes said nothing as he left the bathroom. After a minute Natsu began moving, trying to to ignore the pain and the angry tears that wanted to well up. He refused and slowly staggered to his feet before going to the trash bin. As he dug for his paper, the bathroom door opened and in stepped Gray.
"Oh, there you are." The six grader said before blinking. "What's so interesting in there?"
Natsu jolted with surprise and whipped around to face Gray. "Wh-what are you doing here?" he asked, trying to look innocent. How humiliating it would be to have to explain himself to Gray of all people on why he was digging in the trash.
"I need to pee?" Gray said and narrowed his eyes. Natsu's school uniform seemed wrinkled and he seemed to be holding himself up with great difficulty. "What happened?"
Fuck it. "Nothing!" Natsu squeaked before rushing out. Gray stood there staring at the spot Natsu once stood in. Then his feet moved him to the trash and he gently moved used paper towels around until he found the split papers of Natsu's test score.
...
"And you were just going to leave this?" Gray accused once he met up with the others under the oak tree. Natsu was there looking a little guilty as he stared at the torn paper in Gray's hand.
"I know- I don't know, you don't understand." The pinkette replied looking away. The girls looked confused.
"What's going on?" Erza asked. She was more mature looking as were Lisanna and Lucy.
"Nothing, why don't you take those two to the park. I saw a family of rabbits." Without waiting for a reply, Gray grabbed Natsu and led him away.
"Uh.. sure." Erza said.
On the walk to Natsu's house, Gray attacked him with questions. "Why would you leave this in the trash? Ripped nonetheless! This is the best score you've ever gotten! You should be proud of this, not dumping it."
Natsu glared at his friend. "Do you think I wanted it dumped?" They'd reached his small house and he, after staring at Gray, trotted up the stone steps. Gray blinked after him before following.
"What is that supposed to mean, that you didn't do this? Was it Hughes?"
Natsu unlocked the front door. "I don't wanna talk about it. It's not important."
"It is to me." Gray retorted. And for some reason that comment made Natsu's heart pick up. Instead of questioning himself as to why his heart rate quickened, the pinkette pulled out his homework and waited for Gray who sighed and dropped the conversation.
... 2 years later...
It was getting worse. No matter how hard Natsu fought back, Hughes was still stronger. The pinkette mused to himself on what he could have possibly done to the bully as he dabbed at his split lip. How it even begun to get physical is beyond Natsu. Why Hughes tore up his decent test score sheets is beyond him. Better yet, Hughes picking on him for the past four years is beyond him. So there he stood in front of the mirror, cleaning his wound and thinking hard on what in the world he did to make Hughes hate his guts. Natsu huffed out in annoyance as he glared at his reflection.
What really bothered him was why he has let this go on for so long. He hasn't told his friends -though he's pretty sure Gray has a hunch- and knows that if they find out, they'll be mad at him. He's mad at him himself! He shouldn't be treated this way for no explanation. But when he thinks about telling somone, (specifically Gray who he's pretty sure has a hunch) shame and embarrassment washes over him. Natsu studied himself in the mirror, watching his dark eyes cloud over with emotion.
Erza has so many activities she leads in school, Lisanna and Lucy are at the top of all the classes plus trying out for sports and Gray- Natsu sighed.
"He's doing enough as it is helping me with school."
"And now you're talking to your reflection." came a cool voice from the door. Natsu jumped and stared in the mirror at Gray who stood there with his arms hanging stiffly at his sides.
"Gray, wha-"
"If you ask me what I'm doing here I will beat you with a stick. Who the fuck did that to you?" The eighth grader stomped over to the flushed Natsu. "Why does Hughes pick a fight with you all the time?" Gray demanded as he gently grasped Natsu's flushed cheeks. He leaned down to inspect the injured lip and Natsu felt his body spark up in flames at the closeness.
"I-I never told you who it was." he mumbled out. Gray glared coldly at him.
"You don't need to tell me, I can see for my damn self." The black haired teen grabbed a fresh paper towel, folded it up neatly and ran it under warm water before pressing it to Natsu's lip.
"I just did that." The pinkette said, voice muffled from the paper towel.
"Shut up, I'm doing it now." Gray snapped making Natsu blink at him in surprise. He opened his mouth but Gray growled at him in warning. So he just closed his eyes.
...
"Natsu, what happened to your lip?" Lucy asked as she and Lisanna fussed over him. They were at the oak tree and once more, all looking more mature from over the years.
"It's fine." Natsu said as each girl grabbed onto his arms.
"You aren't starting to fight are you?" Lisanna demanded.
Lucy narrowed her eyes. "Or is someone messing with you?"
"I'm fine, really." Natsu smiled, ignoring the loud scoff from Gray. That perked the girl's attention.
"Gray, what do you know?" the two immediately began to pester Gray while Natsu sweat dropped. Erza on the other hand studied the pinkette from her position propped up against the tree.
"Natsu." She said making said boy freeze.
"Uh... yes?" Natsu asked a little nervously. Erza stared at him before peeling herself off the tree and walking to stand next to him.
"We're your friends." is all she said before walking away, calling for Lucy and Lisanna.
"We'll get to the bottom of this Natsu." declared Lisanna as she followed her senior.
"Damn straight we will." Lucy added as she trailed after the girls.