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Henry Mills was generally a happy kid. His life was a little strange, even for the denizens of Storybrooke, Maine, but only a little considering that the town was made up of characters from fairy tales, transported by curse to this land where there was no magic. Overall, he thought it was pretty cool. His family was perhaps a little stranger than most, especially considering that one of his mothers was the one who cast the curse, and the other was the one who broke it. But as a general rule, he wouldn't change his life for any other. He had also been chosen for the part of the young prince in the town solstice celebration opposite his grandfather, the near immortal sorcerer, Rumplestiltskin. He was looking forward to it. So when he was distracted on the afternoon when he went to have fun practicing 'vanquishing' his grandfather for the parade, it was noticed. The boy had been so happy to get the part, and his grandfather was looking forward to taking a look at his costume. But when the boy came over, there was something seemingly off about him. He set about practicing with what seemed to be more determination than pleasure. "Talk to your grandson," Belle urged him quietly when they took a break and Henry had gone into the other room for cocoa and iced biscuits. They had both noticed it from the moment his father dropped him off.
Henry sat over a cup of Belle's cocoa and cookies and tried not to think of his troubles. He should be enjoying this; going to his grandfather's house was one of his favourite things. Actually, having Rumplestiltskin for a grandfather was kind of a little cooler than having Prince Charming as a grandfather, but he'd never tell either of them that. It's just with his grandfather Charming, he felt like he had to be kind of perfect, where as his other grandfather was less...perfect. Besides, his house was full of all kinds of cool things, with interesting histories. He'd even let him come down to his work room sometimes, as long as Henry kept his hands in his pockets. But right at the moment, even spending time with his grandfather practicing for the parade wasn't making him feel any better.
The problem with living in Storybrooke was that there were two kinds of kids. There were the ones like Grace, or Hansel and Gretel, the ones that had been born in the old world and had been cursed with the rest of the town. Then there were the ones that had been born in Storybrooke, some of them the product of strange matchmaking on the part of one of his mothers. It made things a little awkward, especially when the curse broke and some of the couples split, or remembered that they were married to other people, though none of those families was quite as complicated as his. Everyone had been trying to be good about it, but it hadn't been easy. Of course, technically, he was one of those kids; he had been born in this world. But he had always been a little different than the other kids, especially since he was the only one that had seen the curse for what it was. All of that should have made him either popular or hated on both sides, now that the curse was gone. Then there was the other problem; his parents, not to mention his other mother and his grandparents, were kind of a big deal in town, whether he wanted them to be or not. At the moment, it was definitely a ‘not.’
Right now he was having trouble with one of the kids from school, a boy named Kevin, and his little gang of boys. Kevin, born in Storybrooke, was a year older than Henry and twice his size. Also, he'd never liked him, curse or no curse. He was a big kid, bigger than the others in his class, and not particularly good at school, though whether that was because he didn't like it, or he just didn't care, Henry had no clue. He wasn't the kind of kid who appreciated reading or writing, or stories that didn't involve blowing things up, and thought that people who did were weak and weird. Actually, he thought most of the kids who were from the other world were weird to begin with. He made fun of their fairy tales, or their fairy tale parents. It didn't help that in the Storybrooke game of 'who were your parents back in the old world' Kevin's parents were...unremarkable. They had no stories about them, hadn't been married to anyone, even each other at the time. Henry had asked his granddad, Prince Charming once, he thought that Kevin's father had been a guardsman to someone or another, though he couldn't remember who, just that it wasn't him, so the breaking of the curse that had kept the world where it was really meant nothing to the other boy, and he hated everyone for whom it did, especially Henry Mills.
It started the day after the names had been pulled for the Winter Solstice celebration. Henry had been standing on a stool behind the desk at the library, which was serving as headquarters for the festival planning, now that school was over for the holidays. The library itself was only moderately full and quietly decorated with a big tree in the corner near the children's books, and a table top display of holiday stories in the center. There were even fairy lights and garland draped over the desk. His grandmother Snow and his future grandmother (he was still not sure what to call her) were pinning his tunic. Well, Snow was pinning; Belle was 'supervising' as she finished stitching the trim on his cloak, sitting in the office chair and trying not to let people fuss over her. It seemed that everyone was really careful about her, with the baby and all, either because they all loved her, or because they were afraid of what his grandfather would do if anything happened; probably both since Belle was nice to everyone. Kevin had come into the library for some reason with some of his other friends. That in itself was weird; he'd never seen the older boy in the library before, and it wasn't like it was for school work since they were on break. But he'd shrugged it off, not thinking too much about it, trying as he was to stand still so his grandmother didn't poke him with a pin.
Henry didn't usually try to avoid anyone, but lately Kevin’s behavior had really been getting worse. Last week he had pushed Gretel into a bank of lockers at school. Plus, he had been rude to his grandmother Snow, which almost no one ever was, in the hall when she had told him to stop running. When Kevin and his friends started messing with the book display, Henry glared at him from the top of the chair, trying to warn him off. Henry didn't want him being a jerk, especially not to Belle, who didn't deserve it. She had worked hard on making the library warm and welcoming. He knew she could take care of herself, but she was pregnant and his father, both his mothers and his other grandparents had all said she shouldn't be upset. Not that most people would think about upsetting her in the normal course of events, but right now people were walking even more carefully around her than before. Just because Rumplestiltskin had been helpful with various situations that had arisen (he'd saved Henry more than once, and the town a few times), that didn't mean people trusted his grandfather much. It was well known exactly how far he would go for Belle. But Kevin wasn't that smart. As soon as his grandmother and Belle had got him out of his costume, and he had started to leave, Kevin was there, getting in his face about 'wearing a dress' and calling him 'fairy boy.' He didn't mean to get into an argument with him, really he didn't. Fortunately for him, Martin, Belle's assistant, had been there, telling the boys to break it up and move along as he returned to the library from his lunch. But Kevin kept it up. He had been picking on Henry for two solid days since the assembly that marked the end of school for the holidays, since he and Gretel had been picked for the parade. Sometimes Henry felt like Kevin and his cronies were following him, unless he was with his Papa. It wasn't even like it was his fault, not like everyone didn't put their own names in the box, and they all watched the principal pick the name, so regardless of what the older boy said, there wasn't anything weird about it. It could have just as easily been Kevin, (though he was kind of glad it wasn't; he'd have probably done something stupid, and Rumplestiltskin wasn't cool with stupid).
Henry was sick of it, of his taunting, his showing up whenever Henry was alone, and if he said one more thing about his mothers (either of them), his father (“What kind of name is Baelfire, anyway?”), or his grandparents ("Who do they think they are?”), he was just going to explode. At least the bully had more sense than to insult his other grandfather (probably his parents had taught him that his grandfather came at the sound of his name; it was true in the old world), but still Henry was at the end of his rope. He'd actually gotten almost far enough to threaten him with Rumplestiltskin, something he usually never thought about. His mom, former Evil Queen Regina, was trying hard to be a better person for him, and he knew Rumplestiltskin was going through the same struggle; he just had more people to be good for (he didn't know if that was better or worse, but maybe he would ask, someday).
Plus, he didn't want to talk to his papa about it; he was still kind of getting used to having one after all these years. He was cool and everything, and since he had moved in with them after his grandparents finally moved into their house, he thought things were going pretty well; maybe even his parents getting married as well. Emma was busy with the sheriff's office, training the new deputy, and his other Mom, no longer the mayor, had returned to her love of horses and was working on breeding and training them. That was also cool, and she had bought him a horse of his own (after a certain amount of wrangling with Emma who was a city girl and distrustful of 'large, dangerous livestock'). It was good; she said it was what she really wanted to do before her mother had forced her to get married to Snow White's father (and didn't that make his family tree even more complicated when his adopted mom was his grandmother's step mother? Even thinking about it made his head hurt.). Plus she seemed happier than he could remember her being, and not as inclined to want to know where he was every minute of the day. But rather than think about any of that, Henry decided he should try to focus on the parade and getting to spend time with his grandfather.
"Something on your mind, lad?" Rumplestiltskin asked after Belle had left them alone in the kitchen with their treats. She had made him her special hot chocolate, the kind that was made with milk in a pan with added cinnamon just for him, but his grandfather preferred tea.
"No, not really," he said, but in a voice that said 'yes, very much'.
"Care to tell me what's not on your mind then?" Rumplestiltskin said, as he pulled out another chair at the kitchen table and offered his grandson another cookie.
"It's just…" Henry paused, thinking very hard about how he wanted to say it without causing trouble. He didn't like Kevin, but he didn't want him turned into a garden slug either; well, not most days anyway. Rumplestiltskin was trying, but he was pretty sure that finding out some kid was bullying him would be enough to make him do something. "There's this kid..."
"There are any number of them, it seems; care to tell me which one?" his grandfather said. He had that look, the one that seemed casual, but didn't bode well for whoever or whatever was causing trouble. He flicked his fingers dramatically.
"It doesn't matter; he's not important," Henry told him. His grandfather sighed and nodded with what might have been a touch of disappointment, but then he was pretty sure it was mostly play acting. Belle would probably have his head if he turned Kevin into, well, anything. "I don't want to get him into trouble. I don't really want to have anything to do with him, but it’s like he goes out of his way to be where I am. Plus he has been bothering some of the other kids." Henry looked at his grandfather hoping for understanding. He didn't really want to talk about it with anyone, but his grandfather wasn't just anyone. He was old (and not just in the 'my parents are sooooo old' way), and if anyone would know how to deal with a bully (assuming he could keep him from doing something unfortunate to the bully in question), it was him.
"Hmmm, bully troubles. Are sure you wouldn't want me to just turn him into a snail?" he asked, with a smile that said he was mostly teasing. "No? Probably better; Belle doesn't like it, and I am trying to cut back. How about something from the vertebrate category?" That made Henry laugh. He knew he shouldn't because he was pretty sure if he really wanted him to, Rumplestiltskin would do it, but it was still fun to think about.
"His parents probably wouldn't like it," Henry said, shaking his head. "I mean, someone's got to like him, right?"
"Parents usually do," Rumplestiltskin agreed. "It’s in the contract. So, why exactly is this boy bothering you, besides being short on good sense?"
"I don't know; he used to just ignore me, before the curse broke. Then he started hassling me, but not anymore than he hassled anyone else. He likes to mess with Hansel and Gretel too; he makes fun of their names. I think he's been picking on Grace at school, but he doesn't get much chance, because Jefferson is always at the door to meet her afterward, and you know how quiet she can be sometimes."
"She's probably afraid that her father would send him...somewhere," Rumplestiltskin said thoughtfully. "So he is mostly picking on kids that are from the old world?"
"Not really, he used to pick on pretty much anyone who was smaller than he is, and he still does. But since the curse broke, he's kind of been pushing this whole..." Henry paused trying to find the right way to say what was on his mine.
"Us versus them?" His grandfather supplied. Henry nodded. "It's a pretty good strategy; it's even older than I am. I assume that you count as 'them' because of your family." The old sorcerer sighed.
"I guess, but he was usually only sort of mean to me, ‘til I got picked for the parade."
"Ah, jealousy. Tell me, who are or were his parents?"
"That would be telling you who he was," Henry said sharply. "But they weren't anyone, not even married to each other. They don't have any stories."
"I think you have hit on the problem right there, lad. Before the curse broke, being the big kid gave him some importance. Then the curse broke and there were a whole group of children who had books and stories written about them, whose parents were people that everyone read about in this world. Add that children grew up faster in our world, many had jobs, practiced fighting from an early age, that kind of thing, and he's suddenly lost his importance. When you have seen a troll, or grown up on stories of the Ogre wars, the school bully just isn't as scary." Henry nodded. It made sense; he knew a couple of kids who used to hang out with Kevin had stopped, though he had thought before that they had just gotten smarter.
"So what do I do to get him to stop messing with me?" he asked. He could see his grandfather thinking about it, very seriously. His papa had told him some things, about their history, how his grandfather had been treated before he became the Dark One. He'd said he mostly let them get away with it, because he couldn't fight, and needed to be able to take care of his son. But Henry realised that if anyone knew how to deal with bullies, he really had chosen the right family member. He knew from both sides.
"There is no one solution to this. It really depends. He will probably be less of a problem after the parade, once the spotlight is off you. That being said, you need to be prepared. Avoiding him won't do any good, except to reinforce the idea that he is getting to you. But I can help a little..." he said, leaning towards the boy.
When Belle returned to the kitchen to shoo them back to practice, the two of them were thick as thieves, and Henry seemed much more himself. He didn't even look too embarrassed when his grandfather reached and put his arms around her for a kiss. Of course with his other grandparents, he was probably more used to public displays of affection than he ought to be.
---
The Parade and the final battle had been awesome! Henry had known his grandfather was going to do a little magic but actually being there to see it up close was always a thrill. He'd had a lot of fun. Then he had got his crown from Gretel, and sat down in the throne next to her to watch the bonfire with a big mug of hot chocolate. It was pretty cool; everyone seemed to be dressed in some sort of costume; Gretel told him that it was mostly people dressed in the kind of thing they used to wear back home for the solstice. Henry figured it wasn't bad for special occasions, but he'd be happy with jeans for every day. His mother Regina was actually sitting with Snow, seemingly having a pleasant conversation, and when she caught his eye, he smiled encouragingly. He thought she looked pretty good in the red gown. All the princesses were wearing what he thought of as their special colours, which made them kind of like a rainbow.
He and Gretel had already gone around the bonfire, just like they were supposed to, to lead the dance, followed by his grandparents. Now everyone was just hanging out and having a good time. His mom had agreed that they could stay to watch the sunrise, and he knew that Papa had a couple of sleeping bags in the car for later. For now though, he wanted to go get some more hot chocolate and maybe some cake. He'd asked the others and Hansel decided to go with him. They had both had kind of enough of girls for the moment, and it meant that Gretel and Grace could talk about whatever it was that girls talked about when they were alone.
The two boys weren't in any hurry; there were cool things to see at the little carnival that had been set up. Hansel had got to see some of it earlier but Henry had been busy with last minute preparations, so they took a little detour. After all, they didn't have any other duties. They were walking along, just having a good time, when someone ran into Henry and knocked him to the ground.
"Hey, watch where you're going," he said looking up to see his least favourite person. Instantly he was on his guard, and wondering if he was going to have to put some of Rumplestiltskin's less than completely fair fighting techniques to use.
"You're the one that needs to be watching, klutz, you ran into me," Kevin said. He had a couple of his usual friends with him.
"No he didn't," Hansel said. The other boy had also had enough and neither one of them were interested in being pushed around anymore.
"You calling me a liar?" Kevin said coming forward to get in his face.
"Pretty much," Hansel said, surprising Henry. They had talked about this, but he wasn't expecting them to get into a fight right here in the middle of the carnival. Plus, he didn't want to get in trouble, especially where his whole family would have to know about it. "You're a bully too."
"You got something to say, fairy boy?" Kevin said, turning to Henry.
"My name is Henry, and we both know that there aren't any boy fairies," he said, stepping forward and looking him straight in the eye. He didn't start this, and he was pretty sure that the other boy wouldn't start a fight in the open. "And nope, not really. You are a bully, and you ran into me. Come on, Hansel, let's go get some more of Granny's hot chocolate." He waved to the other boy, picked up the mug he'd dropped when Kevin ran into him.
"You going to let him talk to you that way?" One of the two boys asked Kevin as they started to walk away. Henry was wishing that he had been going the other direction so his back wasn't to them, but he wasn't going to turn around now.
"You think you're so special," Kevin taunted him.
"No, I don't," Henry said turning back to face him. "I think I'm just like everyone else; you're the one who wants to make something out of it."
"What are you going to do about it? Going to tattle tale like a little baby?" A couple of other kids had spotted the confrontation and drifted over, though so far it was quiet enough that the adults weren't noticing, especially since they were by the sweets booths.
"If I was going to do that, do you think you would still be standing there?" he asked. It wasn't exactly threatening him, but it was enough of a statement of fact that most of the kids around him were nodding in agreement.
"That's... don't you threaten me, I'll..." the boy could tell he was losing ground and was going to have to do something. Kevin raised his fists and started toward Henry, determined to wipe the dirt with him.
Henry stood his ground trying to remember what either of his grandfather's had said about fighting someone who was bigger than he was, when Hansel stepped up next to him. "He didn't threaten you, but if you're going to fight him, I guess you will have to fight me too," he said with a shrug of his thin shoulders.
"I'll..."
"Me too," someone said from behind Henry. He looked. The kid was kind of familiar, the way that all the kids are in a small town with a pretty small school. In fact, there was a small chorus of agreement, from the four or five kids that had gathered around. Kevin looked back at his two compatriots, but they weren't looking at him, clearly not having signed up to get into a big fight where they could so easily be caught.
"You're not worth my time," Kevin said, finally. "I'll get you later."
"Why don't you just leave me alone? In fact, why don't you just leave all of us alone? I've never done anything to you; what's your problem?" Kevin looked at him like he'd just grown a second head.
"You are my problem," Kevin said. "You and all your little friends, you think you are so special."
"No, I just got lucky. Next year, it might be you, or him, or anyone else."
"Yeah, but you're one of that fairy tale lot, acting like you are better than everyone else," he growled at them.
"I was born here too," another boy, (Greg, who Henry recognized from the library) said. "So was Henry."
"You still think you're special; I know better, I do, and I'll get you later," he said, gesturing to the other two boys to follow him as he turned away. Henry just stood there. He didn't understand Kevin, but for the moment he had stood his ground. Some of the other kids had his back too, not just the ones that he was friends with. Hopefully this meant that people were getting over the differences. Maybe Kevin would learn, and maybe he wouldn't but right now, things were pretty good in his world. Looking over his shoulder, he wasn't too surprised to see Rumplestiltskin, one arm around Belle, looking at him. His grandfather winked slowly and he turned towards whatever it was his girlfriend was showing him in the booth. Henry just smiled and then he and the other boys headed back on their mission. Standing up to bullies was thirsty work, and he was definitely ready for more hot chocolate.