(Name) clutched her books close to her as she and Tino made their way out of the school building. The Finnish teen had called his friends telling them that he would be stopping by the library and wouldn't meet them after school. And after checking to make sure the coast was clear, the two exited the building and made it down the street.

"So, you want to stop by a café? I heard there's one with some really good cake." Tino spoke, breaking the silence.

"How can you think about cake when your life as you know it is on the line?" Questioned the girl, looking up at the blond as the two walked down the street.

Tino chuckled softly, shrugging his shoulders. "I've come to grips with it by now." He turned a corner, looking over his shoulder to see (Name) right next to him. "I've had enough of turning away from the bullying. I'm going to try and protect you, as well as Ravis, Toris, and Eduard."

The girl was still unconvinced. "What about the others? Lukas, Emil, and Berwald?"

Walking up to a café door, (Name) stopped as Tino stopped in front of her. She heard him sigh, as his back was turned to her. He looked over his shoulder and met her (e/c) gaze, smiling gently at the girl. "How about I tell you a story once we're inside?"

~~~

(Name) sat down once she had received her (fave iced tea/coffee drink), and watched as Tino sat across from her, carrying a box of what looked like a strawberry cake.

"So, what was this story you said you would tell me?" (Name) questioned the Finnish teen.

Tino looked into her eyes, he light violet orbs giving off a somewhat hard and serious look. "If I am going to tell you this story, will you give me a more detailed description of yours? Such as why you can't tell anyone or how it all started?" He replied. "It should be fair, I think."

"Depends if I think you need to know or not." (Name) responded, sipping her drink.

"A yes or a no is all it takes." Tino hummed, resting his chin on his palm.

The girl gave it a final thought before speaking again. "If I agree, you go first?"

A small smile returned to Tino's face, agreeing with a nod.

"Fine then."

Tino sighed softly, looking down at the table. "Well... I've known everyone since we were little... Matthias, Berwald, Lukas, and Emil. Before we met Berwald, it was three, me, Matthias, and Lukas. Emil was a bit too young, but I'll get back to that..." He chuckled, pausing for a moment. "Then, Berwald moved into the house next to mine and I became his friend... Of course he was a little scary at first, but he was really nice to me, and others as well. Though, Matthias didn't like him too much, and he eventually cut me off from his friend group, basically letting Emil take my place."

"Sounds like some regular elementary school fight to me..." The girl spoke as Tino paused in his story telling.

"Maybe, but it was still hard on him... You see, Matthias' mother abandoned him when he was young. His father turned to drinking, and he didn't have a very pleasant home life until his father sobered up when we got to middle school." Tino explained. "He has abandonment issues, that's why he got so mad at me and Berwald. I think he w just scared of being left behind by everyone because of Berwald, so he just cut the two of us off..."

(Name) slowly nodded, listening to Tino as he explained Matthias' past. It was rough, she had to admit that. She still knew where her mother was, Matthias hasn't heard from his in years...

"Once we got to middle school, we joined back up, and it became the five of us... You know middle school, the couple years where you go through your worst time as a young teen... Puberty hits, your hormones rage. You get it, yeah?" He asked, meeting her gaze.

"Of course."

Tino sighed again, heavier this time looking off to the side. "Well, that's when we all went through our phases... Berwald came out with his sexuality to us, the four of us being the very first people he told since he moved. He moved to our town because he got bullied so much for being different in his old school. He didn't act like boys his age at the time, plus he went to a rough school with mean kids who all lived near him. They would follow him home from school, teasing him the entire time. Thinking it was best for him, his parents took him away from all that to a place where he would hopefully be accepted. "

He paused, frowning as he spoke. "... Emil was an accidental baby... His and Lukas' parents didn't mean to have him but the kept him anyway. That's why Lukas is always forcing his brotherly love onto Emil. Lukas only told the three of us because Emil and his mother got into a fight one day, she screamed at him saying that he should have never been born. Of course, she apologized profusely afterwards, but Emil is still really self-conscious about it."

(Name) blinked in surprise about the secrets he was sharing. She was going to interject, but he continued on.

"Lukas went through a depression that made everyone besides us think he was crazy. He would scream at mythical monsters most of the night, saying he wouldn't allow the evil trolls to hurt his friends and family. He was put onto some pills that made it even worse, so he was sent away for a couple months during the summer of our seventh grade year... It was so bad that he nearly broke Matthias' wrist as we tried to calm him down one night... By the time he got back, he was basically what he is today..."

"Tino-"

"And me... I had a rough dad. He would always tell me to toughen up, made me do a lot of things that would toughen me up. Lift weights that were three times over the safe amount that I should be lifting and it often left me with torn muscles and broken joints. Making me run in the summer to the point of me blacking out from exhaustion and dehydration. Forcing me to eat hardly anything but a bag of carrots and a bottle of water... Eventually he was charged with child abuse, leaving me in the care of my current mother and step-father. He was released with minimal charges, but I hardly see him anymore."

(Name) stared at the teen in disbelief. "T-Tino... Why the hell did you tell me all that?"

"Because you have a right to know. If the four of us are being your friends in secret because of everything Matthias knows about us, you should know why we kept the secret." He answered simply.

(Name) hesitated to speak, still trying to process everything that Tino had told her. "But still..."

The Finn smiled slightly, reaching a hand to hers, gently patting it. "I know. The past is never easy, but you need to get it all behind you at some point..."

She nodded in agreement. "So... My turn?"

"Your turn."

The girl sighed softly, staring down into her drink. "Well... I was about six years old, my brother was about fifteen. My mother began cheating on my father with her boss. I caught her coming home from a date with him while my father and brother were away on a camping trip... She made me swear that I wouldn't tell my brother or my father." She paused, taking another sip of her drink.

"Take your time... I'm in no hurry." Tino spoke gently, not wanting to rush the girl.

"Geez, your making this sound like therapy..." She mumbled before continuing. "It continued on for about three more years until my father finally found out. There was a huge custody battle over me, since I was only nine... I was bribed, screamed at, cried over... But, my brother was the one who got me since he was old enough, he already had a steady income since he graduated with high honors with award money to spare, and he was going to the community law school so he could have the time to take care of me..."

"(Name)... I'm so sorry that you had to go through that..." Tino spoke in a hushed tone.

"Ever since, the relationship between our parents has been rough. There's the occasional birthday card in the mail with some money, a phone call, but that's about it. When I got into middle school there was another custody battle over me. If I got into any trouble, may it be my grades are too low or I get into a fight with someone, or I'm getting hurt in anyway, I get taken away from my brother and go to one of my parents... I don't want to leave Louis, he's been the best family for me in the last couple years, and I don't want him getting punished for me..." She continued to explain.

Tino nodded, coming to a realization. "That's why you keep it all a secret... You don't want your brother to look bad..."

"He's busy enough, and I don't want him to go through anymore trouble. The second custody battle was hard enough on him, and I don't want him to look back in front of his clients... So I have to keep my problems to myself... So he won't worry." She sighed, chewing on the inside of her cheek nervously as she spilled out her past to Tino.

The male nodded slowly, taking in her story. "... I'm sorry, (Name)... I should have done something last year... You shouldn't have to deal with this on your own, not for this long."

She sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I have been... And doing pretty well at it, too. I mean... There is you and Matthew that I really talk to about this, but beside you guys, I'm basically alone..."

(Name) stiffened slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. She looked up to see Tino leaning across the table, smiling at her. "Don't you worry about a thing... Now you have someone else you can talk to about it all. Seeing as I can't exactly tell anyone that I'm about to be bullied without getting myself in even deeper trouble."

The girl smiled a bit, nodding in response. "Yeah... Thanks, Tino."

~~~

(Name) made her way up the school steps the next day, her bag packed with her homework and text books. She sighed as she walked into to see the halls busier than usual. As she made her way to her locker, she spotted a note on her locker, written nearly with black ink.

"Come to the football field. You know what will happen if you don't." It read. She could tell immediately who wrote it when she spotted a small and crude drawing of a chick in the corner. Frowning, (Name) hurriedly left her locker and ran out of the hall, outside the school building and racing down the wet grass towards the field.

As it came into view, (Name) already spotted a couple of figures that caused a feeling of dread to flood through her body. She could easily distinguish the tallest figure as Ivan, and a shorter but well built white haired Prussian as Gilbert, as well as a couple people behind Gilbert, probably Antonio, Francis, and Lovino if she had to guess.

What made her blood run cold was she saw Ivan standing on someone's back, that someone was laying face down, and straining to try and get Ivan off him.

"Well! Seems like you got my note! Kesesese!" Gilbert yelled to the girl, laughing as she stopped only a few yards away from the group of boys.

(Name) stiffly nodded, looking over the faces of the boys before looking in horror at the person that Ivan was standing on.

"My, I was wondering how long I would have to stand on him. The longer you took, the longer he was going to have to hold me." Ivan hummed, stepping off the boy he was standing on.

The blond quickly sat up, coming and sputtering as he tried to get air back into his lungs. He had a busted lip that was swelling pretty badly. His cheeks were red, slowly turning black and blue. Below his right eye was a bruise, one that would leave the boy with a black eye for at least a month.

"Next time you have a friend attack me, that friend will receive the same treatment as this one here." Ivan spoke, getting behind the hunched over blonde, kicking him in the stomach with enough force to knock him at (Name)'s feet.

"T-Tino..." She breathed out, kneeling down to him.

"To be honest, I didn't have anything against Tino that I can remember, but I owed Ivan a couple favors, and this was pretty easy payment," Gilbert spoke, scrolling through his phone. "You know, I wonder what Matthias will do, once he hears about what happened to Tino because he helped you."

(Name) held Tino's shoulders as he continued to coughs trying to get his breath back after Ivan kicked it out of him. She looked up at the group of boys, gritting her teeth.

"Of course, it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for you." Francis hummed with a shrug.

"Agreed, if (Name) had gone ahead and offed herself a long time ago, Tino wouldn't be hurt, and she wouldn't have to get beaten to a pulp by Matthias once he finds out that Tino's hurt because of her." Antonio added, a smirk playing his lips

"Wh-what about you guys? I'm sure he'll be mad once he finds out you did this to Tino!" She tried to call back at them.

"Eh, Matthias isn't that kind of person. He's going to search for the one mostly at fault, and that's you." Gilbert replied with a smirk.

With that, the bullies left, leaving (Name) to help Tino into a sitting position. She glanced over her shoulder as they all left, none of them looking back as they went. Turning back to Tino, he panted softly, wiping the blood from his lip.

"Tino..."

"Don't worry... This was predictable... Frankly, I didn't think he would stand on me, though." The teen spoke with a sigh, sitting back.

(Name) watched Tino sitting back, a wave of guilt washing over her like a tsunami. "I... I'm so sorry..." She murmured quietly, afraid to meet his violet gaze.

Looking at her, Tino chuckled softly before leaning forward and patting her head. "Don't worry about it. I know it was going to happen some way or other... Though, I'm a little worried about Berwald, Lukas, and Emil. They still don't know about yesterday."

(Name) sighed quietly, nodding. "Alright... But we should get you cleaned up. God knows what a teacher will do if they see you like that." She spoke, standing and holding a hand out for the Finn.

Tino smiled gratefully at (Name), taking her hand into his. With enough effort, he got to his feet with little strain. "Thanks... They really did a number on my stomach and back. It's going to hurt for a bit."

"Mm. I'm still sore from Monday." She admitted with a soft sigh. "But, luckily for you I carry around the makeup that I use to cover up my bruises."

Tino let out a soft chuckle as the two walked. "Oh boy, makeup."

~~~

(Name) walked down the hall, Tino next to her. It was the end of her study hall period and his free period, so the two decided to spend time together before break. The halls weren't crowded, but there were the occasional groups of students, staring and murmuring as the two passed.

It was odd to see one of the boys from Matthias' group without at least one other member of the group. And seeing anyone with (Name) was surprising all in itself. So there was the murmuring throughout the halls as they passed.

Of course, Tino had been cleaned up from the attack. All the blood from his lip was cleaned, his bruised face was covered up with enough foundation and power to where it seemed like he was just his normal, happy self. But even though he wasn't bruised and bleeding, it was still strange to see someone like him with someone like (Name).

"So, you nervous about Latin?" Tino asked, knowing that she shared that class with Matthias.

"Well... A bit. I mean, I know Lukas will be there, but he's the last person I would expect to help." (Name) replied with a shrug.

"I see... Well don't be afraid to go to Mr. Vargas. Sit close to his desk today." He advised.

The two continued their small chatter all the way to (Name)'a locker. Tino stood by her, leaning against the wall as she opened the door. He glanced up, spotting a picture of (Name) and her brother. He smiled at the photo and chuckled softly, causing (Name) to turn her attention to him.

"Sorry... You and your brother must be really close." He spoke.

"We are... There are some times where he goes to conferences. We went to the beach one year, and a friend of his had to leave early so he let us stay in his timeshare apartment. We got a couple more days of vacation which was really nice." (Name) explained with a small laugh.

Tino smiled and nodded. "Nice... Me and everyone else, we're so close that we consider ourselves brothers. Of course the only ones related by blood are Lukas and Emil, but we all liked the thought. It's nice when you think about-"

"You!! Din kælling!!" A loud voice yelled from one end of the hallway, a voice that made both Tino's and (Name)'s blood run cold. Before either of them knew it, Tino was gently pushed away from (Name) while said girl was shoved roughly against the lockers.

(Name) grunted in pain before looking up into the harsh glare of an angry Dane. Footsteps running towards them alerted her that Berwald, Lukas, and Emil had joined Tino on the sidelines once again.

"You... You fucking piece of shit..." Matthias growled. "You got him hurt, you fucking bitch!!" He yelled, pulling a punch back and hitting her square in the stomach.

"Matthias! Stop!! It wasn't her fault!!" Tino exclaimed, trying to go to the two, but was held back by Berwald. "I was the one who made Ivan angry!!"

"By protecting her!!" Matthias retorted, looking back at Tino before punching (Name) in the stomach again, sending her sliding to the floor then repeatedly kicking her in the stomach. "Who the fuck do you think you are?! Some damsel in distress? Luring in guys in to help you like a little whore?!" He questioned.

(Name) never had time to respond. Every time she opened her mouth, what only came out was a yelp or a grunt of pain. She struggled to at least try to get away, but it didn't help. Matthias grabbed her by her (h/c) locks like he did days before.

"Matthias knock it off!!" Tino yelled, getting out of Berwald's grasp and grabbing on Matthias' shoulder in attempt to pulling him away from the girl on the floor.

It was in vain, however. The Dane roughing shoved Tino away, causing him to fall to his back on the floor with a gasp and a yelp. He flinched in pain, laying on the floor. Ivan dealt a lot of damage for standing on his back for who knows how long.

Matthias turned his head from (Name) when he heard Tino's yelp, seeing that he knocked one of his best friends to the floor. He turned away to go to the teen on the floor, but Berwald, Lukas, and Emil made it to him first. The Swedish boy got Tino into a sitting position, giving Matthias a hard look.

"T-Tino, I-I didn't mean it. Honest..." Matthias tried to speak, trying to apologize.

Tino grunted softly, giving the Dane a harsh stare. "It... It wasn't her fault! It was mine!" He spoke, doing his best to defend the girl as she got into a sitting position against the wall. "I was the one who got Ivan so mad, there's no need to get angry at her!"

Matthias met Tino's gaze. "But she got you hurt! It's because of her that Ivan beat you up!! Besides... I'm going to have to let Gilbert know..." He moved from Tino back to (Name), who flinched as he walked over. "Seems like we're going to have another session like we did on Monday, (Name)."

"Matthias! Listen!!" Tino exclaimed, trying to stand.

"Tino, just rest okay? We'll get you to class once I'm done here." Matthias spoke before grabbing (Name) by the front of her shirt.

(Name) braced herself for another hard hit from Matthias by squeezing her eyes closed, but no hit came. She heard the sound of something making contact with a hard object. She was dropped to the floor, knocking the breath out of her when she heard Matthias exclaim out of pain.

"Ow!! What the hell, Lukas?!" Matthias exclaimed, holding the back of his head.

The normal, monotonous Norwegian held a hard and cold stare with the Dane. His fists clenched and a frown etched onto his face.

"I've had enough of you and your damn tough guy act, Matt." Lukas growled, keeping his stare with Matthias as Emil walked over to help (Name) stand, and walk her over to Berwald and Tino, who was on his feet with the help of the Swedish teen.

"I've watched you and your asshole friends torture her for the past year and a half for no reason besides trying to be cool and to follow a crowd. I let it by for too long, and what tore it was when you just shoved Tino out of your way." Lukas growled, clenching his fists.

"L-Lukas, that was an accident-"

Lukas held up a hand to stop the Dane. "Bull. Fucking. Shit. You may have hurt him on accident, but Tino got himself hurt because he was tired of being a passerby. And I think I can speak for the rest of us, when I say that I'm tired of it too."

Matthias, as well as (Name), stood shocked at Lukas' retaliation. She glanced at Emil and Berwald to see that the two of them were also giving Matthias cold glares.

"L-Lukas... C'ome on, bro..." Matthias spoke.

"Let us know when you get your shit together... Don't think that a stupid 'I'm sorry' will fix anything. If it isn't a sincere apology, don't even bother talking to us again... Oh, and if you think that it was just Ivan who did this to Tino, ask your albino asshole friend." The Norwegian finished, turning from the Dane, and walking towards the group of three boys and girl. He gently took (Name) by the wrist and led her down the hall

The girl walked with Lukas, Emil, Berwald, and Tino. She glanced over her shoulder at Matthias who stood shocked, watching as his best friends left him standing in the hallway. "Lukas..."

"Don't talk... Just don't... Not now." The Norwegian spoke as he led the way away from his former friend.

~~~

Matthias watched in horror as his best friends left with the victim he terrorized along side other guys for the past year and a half. As they left, Matthias ran a hand through his hair, trying to process what just happened.

"Yo! Matt! What's up with you?" Exclaimed a certain albino German as he made his way down the hall towards the Dane.

The blue eyed teen turned to the boy, thinking back to what Lukas told him before he left. "Ask your albino asshole friend."

"Hey, Gil... Do you know anything about Tino getting beaten up today?" He asked the German.

The German blinked at the question. "Eh? Tino... Oh, the baby-faced guy you hang out with? Yeah, I think that I saw Ivan with him this morning. Something happen?"

"Yeah... You know anything about it? Like, were you there?"

Gilbert shrugged. "I might have been, I had to pay in a debt to pay to someone."

Just the sound of that sentence made Matthias' blood boil.

The German grinned at his friend. "Hey, you want to hang out later in Latin? Mess with (Na-)"

"Just shut up... And stay away from me asshole..." Matthias growled under his breath, pushing past the German as he was joined by Antonio and Francis.

"What's up with Matthias?" Asked the Spaniard.

Gilbert shrugged. "Hell if I know... He might have heard about what happened with Tino and that we were there."

"Ah well, what's he going to do? Not like he can get us by himself." Francis replied, patting Gilbert's shoulder.

"True. Hey, you guys want to get a snack from the cafeteria during break?"

"Oh! Si! I think the principle finally agreed to start serving churros!"

"Why would he do that? Pastries are the best thing to serve at breakfast."

"Come on, a churro is basically a pastry. I mean sure it's deep fried, but it's rolled in sugar and cinnamon! It's basically a cinnamon roll, bit it's not baked and it doesn't have the icing!"

The German nodded as the three walked down the hallway. "We'll see, but I think I'll still stick to a wurst sandwich."