take my hand (take my whole life, too)

1. north is up

age eight

"Your map is upside down, dumbass."

Natsu jumps, looking up from the paper in his hands for the source of the voice. It's a boy, about his age, sitting on the ground by a nearby tree, knees against his chest with his arms wrapped around them. He's got a bloody lip and looks like he's been crying.

"That's a grownup word," Natsu says seriously, staring at the boy.

"I'm eight," the boy scoffs. "I can say whatever I want." He sniffs and wipes his nose with his sleeve.

"Why are you crying?" Natsu asks, and the boy scowls at him.

"'m not."

"Yes you are."

"I'm not!" The boy's voice wobbles, and his face turns blotchier as he shouts at Natsu, then hides his face in his arms. "Go 'way," he mumbles.

Natsu stares at the boy for a minute, then folds the map in half and shoves it in his back pocket. He moves closer, sitting down nearby and opening his backpack.

"My uncle made cookies," he says, pulling out a sandwich bag. "They're really good."

The boy peeks up, eyes red, and when Natsu holds out one of the cookies, he slowly takes it. "Thanks."

They sit in silence and eat their cookies, and eventually the boy stops crying. "I'm Gray," he says quietly.

"I'm Natsu."

"That's a funny name."

"You're a funny name," Natsu retorts, sticking his tongue out at Gray. "Why're you bleeding?"

Gray scowls. "My brother."

"He hit you?" Natsu's eyes widen. "That's mean."

"He's a jerk," Gray says, but he doesn't sound quite as angry as before, and he quickly adds, "Sometimes."

"My sister is a jerk sometimes too," Natsu says, poking at a caterpillar that's making its way across the grass between them. "But she never hit me."

"Lyon's sad," Gray mumbles as he presses his forehead to his knees again. "He didn't mean it."

"Why's he sad?"

"None of your business."

"Why are you sad?"

"I'm not."

Natsu frowns at Gray, who ignores him, digging a trench in the dirt by his foot instead. His fingernails are dirty, and the back of his hand has a stripe of blood across it. A silver bracelet that's a bit too big for him hangs off his wrist and Natsu wants to ask about it, but he doesn't.

Instead, he pulls the crumpled map out of his pocket and spreads it out between them. "I'm not dumb," he says. "I just got lost."

"It's because you're going the wrong way," Gray says, peering at the map. "North's that way." He points back to the direction that Natsu had come from.

"Nuh-uh," Natsu says, shaking his head. "North is up. See?" He points to the arrows on the map – the one labelled 'N' is pointing toward the top of the paper.

"That's not how it works," Gray says, rolling his eyes.

"Oh yeah, where's the north star?" Natsu demands, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Gray.

"That's not—"

"It's up," Natsu insists. He tips his head back and looks up into the sky – it's getting dark and he should probably get home before his dad gets worried. "I'm gonna climb that tree."