(Fanart by @VanishingWinter)

You're okay. You might be small, but you're not afraid.

He wanted to believe his thoughts, but all of the yelling from the halls echoing through his locker had him shivering in the back corner. He stared down at his toes, tapping each so that the claws would clink on the metal bottom. It was something to distract himself, but it didn't help a whole lot.

Grayson wasn't sure how long he'd sat there when he heard the click of the lock, making him snap his head up and squeak in surprise. How did someone open my lock without the code? When the latch was lifted and the door swung open, Grayson nearly left a pellet in the back of his locker. It was the mean kid who had locked him inside it in the first place.

His face looked none-too-happy as he knelt down and hesitantly picked up Grayson's clothing. It was obvious he didn't like him, so why was he there?

He not going to steal my clothing, is he?

Grayson squeaked twice as he flicked an ear, worried and confused.

The guy jumped and grumbled at him. Okay, don't squeak. Got it. Instead, he just sat in the corner counting his little pink toes until the boy spoke again.

"Listen uh, Grayson?"

He glanced up at the boy and nodded slightly to acknowledge his name.

"Yeah, uh, Grayson. Sorry about locking you in here earlier. No offense, but I really don't like mice."

Grayson's eyes narrowed on him as if to say. No crap.

The boy chuckled and leaned back with his clothes folded in his arms.

"I suppose that much was pretty obvious. Can you shift back yet?" He asked.

Grayson shook his head and let his ears droop a little. They were pretty big for a mouse. His mother always called him her little elephant.

"Um, alright. Darn it, I can't just leave you in here but if you start walking around at that size you're going to get squashed."

True story.

"Alright, um..."

"Hey Erin! You messing with that poor toothpick again? I bet you used your massive ears to hear the combination, eh?" Someone shouted.

Grayson saw a boy lean over Erin's shoulder. Oh no. The wolf! He shrank back into the corner immediately, but there wasn't really anywhere else to go since he was already against the wall.

"No, I just want to get him out of here, but..."

Erin shivered and made a face, which Grayson made right back at him.

"Spunky little guy. Come here." The wolf shifter said as he reached for him. No way! Grayson bolted to the other side of the locker and squeaked, making the gray-haired boy jump, but got a growl from the wolf one.

"Little mouse, you should know better than to run from a predator." The wolf said.

No. I know better than to let a predator catch me.

With an aggressive squeak Grayson lunged, biting the wolf with all of his might... right before the guy grabbed him with his other hand and tossed him into his lunchbox.

Hey!

The feeling of being carried made him lose his balance several times and crash into an apple, then sandwich.

This is no way to treat another person. Let alone a cute little mouse!

"Let's just take him to the picnic tables since it's lunch time anyways. If he shifts back he can just change behind us." Erin said as Wolf nodded and swung his lunchbox. They ducked inside the cafeteria together and Erin grabbed a small salad and water before they walked outside. Thankfully, it wasn't too hot out and their table, the one in the shade, was free.

Wolf tossed his lunch on the table and plopped down beside him, giving a good stretch with his arms in the air before unzipping his lunchbox, only to see a very cocky little glare from a tiny mouse being directed up at him... while it ate his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Oh you little!" Wolf growled.

"That's what you get for putting a mouse in your lunchbox." Erin said, smirking.

Wolf grabbed the mouse by its tail and held it upside down, watching the thing as it squirmed and squeaked.

Gross.

"Put it down already. The sooner it becomes relaxed the faster it can get out of that form." Erin said.

When Wolf set it down it glared up at them and twitched its whiskers. Again, gross. When it finished its little pouting display, it ran over and promptly dove into Erin's salad bowl.

"Hey!" He yelled as he jumped to his feet and fell backward over the bench and into the grass. When he blinked open his eyes, Erin saw Wolf snickering down at him as he straddled the bench.

"Mouse two, Erin zero."

"Whatever." Erin grumbled as he got to his feet and slid back onto the bench, glaring at Grayson.

"Get out of my salad and put that carrot down, now."

No one took his carrots. Those were the best part and the salad only came with four tiny ones. Also, considering there were only three left, including the one between the mouse's grubby little pink paws, Erin knew that he had already somehow eaten one in the time it took him to get up.

"Drop. The. Carrot. Now." He warned.

Erin's eyes were level with his as he stooped over, trying to look intimidating so that Grayson wouldn't bite his beloved food. He was an elephant shifter, after all. And elephants loved their food.

The little bugger tilted its ears back and squeaked, making Erin jump again and sit back.

"Freaking mice." He growled, frustrated.

Wolf grabbed the mouse right out of his salad, sending the carrot flying as he dangled the demonic creature right in front of Erin's face.

"Aw, little Erin doesn't wanna share his cawwots wit the widdle mousy!" He taunted, making him want to smack him as he tilted the mouse back and forth a few times. Before he could do anything else with it, however, he was forced to let go as a naked kid dropped, upside down, into Erin's lap.

Well, this is humiliating. 

Grayson's legs were up on either side of Erin's shoulders and he was on his back, in his lap, giving him a rather nice view of certain parts of his anatomy that he'd preferred to keep private. He felt his nose turn bright pink as his entire face lit up like fireworks. With a sheepishly embarrassed smile, he forced himself to roll off Erin's lap and drop into the grass beneath the table.

"Clothes, please!" He squeaked.

The wolf shifter quickly tossed him his stuff under the table and within a minute Grayson tugged them on, then reappeared on the other side of the table. His hair was a bit messy but thankfully he wasn't a mouse anymore.

When he looked over at the two boys, Grayson frowned. Why are they staring at me like that? He actually realized that he had quite a few more people than just them ogling him. There were at least fifteen other people who had been eating outside at nearby tables that were now all staring and whispering. Great. My first day of school and now I bet my privates are going to be posted to those weird social websites soon.

Noticing the grey-haired boy getting up, Grayson lifted his head and watched as he stalked over to each and every table. He took the phone of each kid that had it out and deleted whatever pictures they had taken before returning.

Grayson wanted to say something, to at least thank him, but he couldn't find the words.

"You owe me two carrots." Erin said, making Grayson's brows go up. He did actually find himself grinning as he dug into his pocket. After a moment he pulled out a small bag, then handed it over to Erin with a smile.

"Here."

It was a snack his mother often gave him when he was nervous. If he didn't have something to nibble on in a stressful situation, he often bit his nails down to stubs.

"You can have them." He said.

The look on the boy's face was a mixture between surprise and exuberance as he inhaled three of the small carrots as if they were candy. Not even I can eat them that quickly...

When he heard snickering, Grayson glanced at Erin's friend.

"You made the elephant so happy." He said with a knowing smirk.

Ah, so he is an elephant. He'd had a hunch, but it was nice to hear it confirmed.

"Can you shift?" He asked Erin, a hint of excited curiosity in his eyes.

Erin raised a brow as he devoured two more baby carrots.

"Please? Elephants are so cool!" Grayson said with enthusiasm.

Erin looked at his friend, then back to Grayson before swallowing his food.

"No."

Grayson frowned, hunching his shoulders a little. "Why?"

The boy glared at him as he pointed a baby carrot in his direction.

"Because, I'm not a fan of showing off my junk to everyone at school by stripping naked and shifting in the middle of lunch."

Oh.

Touche.