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You spring out of bed the instant you wake up, because there’s no time to waste when today’s the day! You bound down the stairs, cheerfully but quickly greeting your cat Pounce, because even though he’s the cutest kitty in the whole wide world, you haveta get ready as fast as possible so you are definitely not late to school! You scarf down some cereal, throw on your clothes, and brush your little wildcat fangs like you’re supposed to every morning before scampering out to catch the bus. In your rush however, you are left with plenty of time to spare and fidget eagerly at the street corner. Your mind immediately drifts to why this is going to be such a great day!!
Today’s the day of the project your teacher has been telling you all month to prepare for, and it’s one of the biggest grades of your whole third grade year. Instead of feeling apprehensive, you only know excitement because the assignment is to research any animal of you choosing, and (duh!) you’re gonna do the most mighty, majestic animal there is, a cat! You love cats, and have for quite a long time, because they are just so purrfect (heehee), and you’ve even started making cat puns every day (though only at home, you’re not brave enough to do that at school yet).
…And there’s the bus! You clamber on, all smiles and friendly waves to the driver, and find an empty seat in the back where you can relax and daydream in peace.
~~oOo~~
You take your seat by the window, enough to the back to be overlooked, enough to the front to absorb the lessons, and in a prime spot for daydreaming: it’s the perfect little niche in the classroom for you. But right now you don’t care about that, class has started and the teacher’s gonna explain the project! Okay, so instructions are passed out, rubrics and templates reviewed, and you’re totally pumped for starting on this as soon as you get home, because you get to learn everything you’ve wanted to know about the absolute best ani—
There’s no way you heard that right.
Oh no, nononono.
The teacher’s already assigning partners (yep you heard right), and even though you realize somewhere in the back of your mind you’ll have to persuade whoever you get stuck with to research cats, you’re freaking out because it’s a few months into school and you know nobody in your class, only the small group of bullies (oh please no I can’t work with one of them), and you definitely have no friends and no social skills to make any. The few times you have been gently persuaded by the teacher to talk, your small cleft has made you stutter and lisp, and even though it’s nothing like it was years ago, it’s enough fodder for bullies and only increases your shyness.
“Nepeta Leijon and Equius Zahhak are partners.” Recognition of your name jerks you out of your panicked reverie, and it’s said with one you don’t recognize, as the teacher points to a boy on the other side of the classroom. He’s tall for your age, wearing a neat school blazer and expensive-looking slacks, paired with small, square glasses just slightly tinted. He promptly responds with a pointed “yes, ma’am” and you scramble back to reality, nodding your head energetically.
As soon as everyone is paired up, there is a mad dash as students scatter across the classroom, finding partners and supplies. You stand and thread your way to the boy’s desk, shyly sitting down in a newly-vacated seat to his left.
“H-hi,” you venture, tentatively waving a hand. “You’re Equius, right? I’m Nepeta, and I’m sure we’ll have such a great time working together!” By the end, you’ve got your natural spunk back, and give a cheerful grin for punctuation.
“Of course, this is a very important school project after all, and it would benefit our superior and the product if we were to cooperate amicably,” he politely agrees, appearing nonplussed.
Hmm, that was kinda confusing, but he seems nice enough! “Um, when you said ‘supurrior’, did you mean the teacher? But yeah, I fursonally like being furiendly with people instead of disagreeing with them!”
“Did-did you just make cat puns in your speech? With purr, and fur, and…that is just so…unspeakably crude.” He recoils a little, and a small bead of sweat appears at his temple.
Oh you just did that. You cannot believe you just let cat puns slip! More than once! Okay, so you just gave a classmate a lot of bullying material. Gotta smooth this over, make it seem like it doesn’t really matter…
“Is not! I was only doing that because I was about to say that we should totally research cats! I was just trying to be funny…” Give a little pout, and sold. You can see his eyes soften, even if his face is stiff and set.
“In that case, I suppose it would only behoove me to canter to your whims, as I would like to make a case for my preferred animal to research, the strong and majestic horse,” he teasingly retorts, playfully emphasizing the puns (and strong, for some reason).
You give yourself a moment to mentally sigh in relief. First impression recovered, now down to the current problem: you are not gonna let some random classmate ruin a project you’ve been looking forward to for weeks! “Well, I want to research cats really bad, and I think they’d make an easier project than horses. They’re good hunters, and soft and furry, and really really cute!” You scrunch your face up and look him right in the eyes (or glasses, you guess). You have to make him understand!
“And I would prefer to research horses, as they are far superior to the common feline,” Equius calmly retorts. You can see the barest hint of an eyebrow rise above his glasses.
You sputter in indignation. “No way! Cats are the best, and I want to research them.” You cross your arms stubbornly and turn away in your chair. You aren’t giving up this battle!
Equius speaks, his tone growing colder and matching yours in obstinacy, “I strongly disagree, though it seems you are sticking to your beliefs, which is admirable. Until you concede defeat, I will not be speaking to you.”
“Fine!” you agree with a huff, bouncing in your seat since you can’t turn away any more.
The seconds tick by awkwardly, and you fidget. Maybe you shouldn’t have been so quick to get upset. This project means a lot to you, but for all you know, it could be the same for him! Your eyes cast downward in sudden shame, but your arms stay tightly folded, unwilling to lose the argument.
“Alright class, pack it up, time for lunch!” At the teacher’s sudden announcement, you start, but leap at the chance to escape the stalemate, quite literally out of your chair. Beating Equius to the front of the classroom, you’re one of the first in line to march behind the teacher to lunch. While giving you a welcome reprieve from the argument, that doesn’t mean you’re in any hurry to get to the cafeteria. You always sit at the end of the table by yourself, and try to avoid the other kids. They would only pick on you.
You sigh, and head towards the lunch line to get your food.
~~oOo~~
You smile, feeling the warm sunshine on your face after the cold of the cafeteria. Recess will always be your favorite time of day, even if you enjoy your classes. You stalk off to a corner of the playground and plan to daydream about being a cat, as usual, when an arm abruptly thrusts in front of you, stopping you in your tracks.
“Where do you think you’re going, stupid?” You follow the arm to find a boy, who leers at you. You immediately recognize him as one of your regular bullies. Two of his...friends? stand a few steps behind him. This was just shaping up to be a spectacular day, wasn’t it?
You futilely attempt to appear smaller and wince, despite yourself. You’ve dealt with these bullies before, you can take anything they can dish out. “Haha yeah, were you gonna sneak off and talk to yourself again?” one of the other boys chimes in.
“N-no,” you deny, though you know full well it won’t do you any good. Channeling your inner stealthy huntress, you try to inch around the arm still stuck aggressively in front of you, before the boy notices and pushes you roughly onto the sandy, packed ground.
Bullies have teased you before, maybe given you mocking glances or sneers in class, but they’re never gone so far as to hurt you. You sit in the dirt a moment, stunned, then attempt to stand hurriedly. One of the others sees and takes the opportunity to push you back down.
At this point tears are building on your eyes, both from pain and fear. Your three assailants form a rough semicircle in your field of vision, jeering down at you. “What’s the matter? Is baby gonna cry~?”
“Waa waa, cry for mommy, baby.”
“Uh oh, looks like the baby’s gonna cry for mommy~.”
You’re totally lost. You do the only thing you can think of, which is to tuck you head into your knees and scrunch yourself into a ball, in the foolish hope it’ll protect you from their words.
A familiar voice interrupts the jeers, but you can’t make out the muffled words through your tight-tucked ball. You’re curious, but you don’t dare to look up. Too young to be a teacher, so that means it’s a student, which is never good.
“I’ll repeat my question for you simple-minded plebeians. Why are you harassing this girl?”
You hear the voice again, louder this time. It takes a second to register, but when you do you’re full of disbelief. Equius?! But why?
A sudden surge of curiosity overpowers your fear and your face peeks out from underneath your knees. The first thing you see is Equius standing authoritatively, his back to you, an effective shield against the other three boys, who are standing still, slightly cowed.
As you watch, the leader seems to regain a bit of bravado and puffs up like an offended kitty (ugh, you don’t want to compare these horrible kids to cats, bad brain). “Who do you think you are, talking to us like that? And it’s none of your business anyway, so just buzz off.”
You can’t see his face, but Equius’ frame tenses slightly. “I think I will not ‘buzz off’,” he sniffs disdainfully, “and you never answered my question.” You raise your head in surprise, eyes wide. This is the first you’ve seen of a kid standing up to bullies, and you never thought it could be done outside of flippant actors on T.V.
The leader narrows his eyes, and steps forward threateningly. The other two follow behind as if attached by puppet string. “We’re gonna teach you a lesson for saying that,” he sneers. Now that fear isn’t clouding your brain, you realize how incredibly cheesy that sounds. Is he trying to quote from a movie or something?
A second later it hits that oh no Equius is gonna get hurt bad and it’s all my fault what do I do
Suddenly, you feel your hand yanked upwards from your knees, bringing you roughly to your feet. Your head snaps up, looking Equius in the face as he whispers, “Run.”
You both book it across the playground, him almost crushing your hand as he pulls you along, with no more power against him than a leaf in the wind. You stop on the opposite side of where the bullies are just standing, bewildered, under the safe gaze of a few bored teachers.
He drops your hand unceremoniously, and wipes his now-sweaty palms on a small handkerchief he draws from his pocket. Your mind, trying to play catch-up from the whirlwind of the last few minutes’ events, leads you to just stare at his face in silence.
He cringes, and attempts to explain himself. “I-I’m terribly sorry, it was none of my business, but you looked like some assistance was needed in managing the situation and I couldn’t help myself from stepping in…I-it is a terribly bad idea to fight on school grounds in such brazen defiance of our educational superiors, even though I am more than strong enough to take those rude ruffians. I hope you understand, and will forgive m—”
You interrupt his long-winded explanation with a hand on his shoulder before it can go any further. “There’s no need to apawlogize, Equius. I dunno what those boys were gonna do, but it wasn’t gonna be good! So…” you trail off, suddenly bashful, “thank you.” You retract your hand, and scoot away awkwardly a few steps, unsure of what to do. From the mixture of expressions on his face, he doesn’t either.
A shrill whistle splits the silence, signaling the end of recess. What is it with timely interruptions today?
You shuffle backwards, suddenly give him a wholehearted grin and wave, and then turn on a dime and race towards the school building.
~~oOo~~
Back in class you slump in your seat, dismayed. The teacher just announced that this morning was all you could work on the project today, and you should take the papers home to review. On the bright side, you don’t have to argue with Equius anymore over it! But should you start research on your own, not knowing what animal to choose? That’s not fair to him, because you know you’ll research cats, and he doesn’t want that. Augh!
You stew in your thoughts grumpily, until a quick flash of movement catches your eye. You perk up slightly, but cautiously, in case it’s the bullies trying to get your attention as the teacher drones on about some assignment or other. It happens again, and as you pinpoint it, it’s accompanied by a small, hesitant smile quicker than you can blink. It’s…is Equius waving at you? That’s unexpected, but not unwelcome; you decide to give a tiny wave back, more of a hand twitch, really. You still don’t want to attract attention. Your large, if shy, grin makes up for it, you think.
Maybe you just found a new friend today.
~~oOo~~
The dismissal bell’s rung, school is over, and you are ready to go home after the…exciting day you had. Sure, let’s go with that. Slinging your backpack over your shoulder, you saunter out of the classroom, pretending you’re a cat with their adorable, jaunty airs. Humming softly to yourself, you make your way outside of the school, where your mom will pick you up.
You hear soft but firm strides approaching quickly behind you, and hastily move to the side of the hallway to make room. Instead of a busy stranger brushing past, Equius draws into your view and keeps pace beside you. You wait a few moments in silence, but he doesn’t say anything. You’re got no idea what he wants; maybe small talk will help?
“So whe—”
“I noticed you were looking rather nervously around the classroom when you waved to me,” he blurts. Your slight annoyance at being interrupted vanishes when you hear what he has to say next. “Do…those boys harass you often? Like, in class too?”
Your legs grind to a halt, and all you can do is gape. How did he notice? And more importantly, why does he care enough to seek you out?
He notes your shocked confusion silently, patiently waiting for you to answer.
“T-they,” you attempt to explain, and fall silent. What would you say to get him to leave your problems alone? They’re yours to deal with, not his, and you don’t want to burden him. And yet…would having someone to listen, who knows what you’re going through, having a friend, be such a bad thing? Your frown doesn’t escape his notice.
“They have been bullying me if that’s what you mean,” you tentatively say. “B-but! I don’t want anyone getting hurt, a-and…” Your confidence gone, you trail off, biting your lip.
He picks up where you left off with ease, much to your surprise. “But you don’t want me to fight them, just to be around to deter their efforts?” You nod shyly.
A small, one-sided smile lifts the edge of a glasses frame. “I’d be happy to.”
“Hey w-wait!” You suddenly interrupt, flailing your arms in front of him. He flinches back, startled. “Sorry,” you apologize, “it’s just that if we’re friends now and if you’re gonna protect me then I gotta do something for you! That’s what furiends are for, right?” You grin hopefully.
“I suppose…” Equius looks distinctly nervous. It hits you that you’ve never seen him with any other students either, and that he might be as friendless and inexperienced as you.
“Wellll…” You try to think of anything, and fail. “I promise to help you with whatever you need! How’s that?” You try for a sheepish smile.
He lets a little laugh escape. “That’s fine, Nepeta. I don’t expect anything anyways.”
“Too bad!” you cry exuberantly. “We’re gonna be the best of friends, and there’s nothing you can say about it!” Your natural cheer comes pounding out in a rush of energy, so you grab his arm and run for the exit, him half-heartedly resisting and smiling all the way.
~~oOo~~Coda~~oOo~~
Walking side by side out of the school building, Equius appears to be mulling over something. “At first we got along like cats and dogs, didn’t we,” he starts.
You interrupt him cheekily, “Nah, more like cats and horses!”
“That doesn’t make sense, Nepeta.”
“More like your face doesn’t make sense~! Heehee!”