Without You (Adam Taurus x Faunus!OC)

Special Chapter - Adam's Backstory

<A/N> Warning: This chapter contains some content regarding bullying and might be uncomfortable for some readers.

"Hurry up, guys! The faun is getting away!"

"Haha! Look at the little bull run!"

"I can't believe he thought we'd stay friends!"

"Ha! Us with the likes of him?"

"Ya, not a chance!"

"Guys! He's trying to climb the fence!"

"Get him!"

At the sound of those two words, a group of five young boys runs towards a red-haired boy, one that is desperately trying to climb the tall school fence and make it to the other side. He was halfway there.

The group makes it to the fence. The tallest amongst them was able to pull the red-haired boy off the fence and push him to the ground, leaving him lying down flat and defenseless. 

"Where do you think you're going?" the tall boy asks the red-head, who is now sitting up. "You think you can just leave, Adam?" 

Adam Taurus then began to mumble something, but none of the other boys were able to hear.

"What was that, you faun? I don't speak animal, haha!"

"I-I t-thought - ow! L-let go!!"

"Wow, check out his horns," said another boy that grabbed Adam's hair, bringing him closer to get a better look at his small horns. "I can't believe he was able to hide them from us this whole time."

"Ya, we should have been able to tell he was a faun this whole time. His last name should have been a clue," said the tall boy.

"But we got him now, ha!" another boy chimed in.

"Yep," continued the one that was holding Adam's red hair. "What my dad said was true. Fauns are just liars."

"I'm not a liar!" Adam exclaimed, startling some of the boys. "Please, Charlie!"

"Don't say my name!" the boy holding Adam's hair yelled, before slapping Adam square in the face. Charlie was now standing up, towering over Adam, who was feeling his cheek.

"B-but, I thought we were friends!" Adam continued, the desperation and fear clear in his voice. "We used to play together all the time! Why do you guys hate me now?!"

"Ha, you think it isn't obvious?" Charlie answered. "Cuz now you got those . . . things," he said as he pointed at Adam's head.

"So what?" Adam asked, getting up from the ground and standing up so that he and Charlie were eye-to-eye. His voice was starting to sound more confident. "I'm still the same person. So what if there's some horns now?"

"They weren't there before," Charlie went on, "that means you were trying to trick us, weren't you?"

"No!" Adam pleaded. "They just take a while to start growing! It runs in my family! They usually come when we turn five, so if anything, I got them two years late!"

"Ha, no wonder you started wearing that hat every day. You were trying to hide your horns! See you are a liar! No wonder you never let us go to your house! Liar, liar, liar!"

"No, I'm not! I -"

"Hey, look who it is!" one of the other boys called out, pointing towards the school building.

All of them, including Adam, turned their heads to where the boy was pointing. When Adam saw who it was, he was relieved. 

It was Stella. One of Adam's closest friends. She was also another faunus student. A frog faunus, to be exact. It's easy for her to hide the fact that she's not human because her faunus trait is a long frog tongue, which isn't easily visible since she can control its length. As long as she doesn't stick her tongue out, no one would be able to find out she's actually a faunus. The only reason Adam knows that she's a faunus is because both their fathers are friends.