Complicated

"Are you sure we should sit here again?"

"Dude, we sit here every day," the young mantis, Li, replied, shaking his head. "You always sit behind me for no reason except that you think that anything will get you in trouble."

"Because we're not supposed to sit here! And I don't want my mom to yell at me," the other mantis, Hao, whined. "She's scary when she's mad!"

"She doesn't even hit you!" Li argued.

"She verbally abuses me!"

"THAT'S NOTHING TO BE SCARED OF!" Li protested. "Now are you gonna sit here and be a man, or are you gonna run and hide like you always do?"

"Running sounds safer..."

"Running is for cowards." The sound of thundering footsteps behind the two insects caught their attention. Familiar footsteps. Li smirked as he turned to face the familiar, towering figure who guarded their school yard with stern and strict rules that the other teachers largely ignored. The one who made sure no kids cut class or went home early. A large gorilla named Zhuang. "Time to be a man." He stood up before Zhuang, who glared down at him.

"You know you're not supposed to be here," he said loudly, gruffly in tone.

"Well, this school sucks and has stupid rules," Li retorted. "So... Don't expect us to listen to your stupid rules! Right Hao?"

There was no response.

Li paused, then repeated, "Right Hao?" He turned, and, of course, his friend was nowhere to be seen. What a coward, Li thought, shaking his head. "COWARD!" he yelled out, to where ever his friend had run off to.

Chuckling nervously, Li turned back toward Zhuang. "Ummm... I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"A lot of trouble."

Lucky for Li, his mother wasn't upset or angry over the fact her only son got in trouble at school... Again. She was a chill parent. She knew that Zhuang guy had it out for her son and found reasons to get him in trouble almost everyday.

"Mom, I swear, he's the biggest wimp in all of China!" Li complained. "Maybe even the whole WORLD! I mean, who is that terrified of getting in trouble?"

Li's mother was busy cleaning their small home. "Who are we walking about again?"

"Hao!

"Okay, stop right there, Li," his mother said, sternly, turning toward her son. "I told you I don't want to hear you complain about your only friend at school. Be thankful that you at least have a friend. Now I know I'm the cool mom, and I'll admit that, but talking about your friend behind his back is very rude."

"But he was major issues!" Li whined.

"Issues?"

"Yes!"

"Like what?"

"Paranoia issues," he replied. "He's absolutely terrified of his mother, who, by the way, doesn't even hit him! She just yells at him and is strict! So, because he doesn't want to risk getting yelled at, he tries everything he can to not get in trouble at school. And I mean everything. Example: Hao never goes to the bathroom during class. He always goes after class and I have to wait thirty minutes for him."

"There's nothing wrong with that," she said, going back to her cleaning.

"Mom, everyone is allowed to go to the bathroom during class," Li explained. "If you gotta go, you gotta go! He simply thinks that the teacher will penalize him for even asking to go."

His mother opened her mouth to come up with a reason, but had none.

"Oh, and that's ANOTHER thing: his grades."

"Grades are important," his mother sighed, continuing to clean.

"Hao has good grades!" Li responded. "But he still freaks out if he misses ONE homework assignment. ONE!"

His mother shrugged. "He's a perfectionist."

"I'm the one with the bad grades!" Li protested. "I should be scared, not him!"

"Speaking of which, you better work on those grades," his mother warned him.

Li rolled his eyes. "I will, I will... Anyway-"

"How much more of this are you going to tell me?" his mother asked.

"Until you understand what I have to deal with one a regular basis." He took a deep breath and went on, "Not only is he paranoid and won't even sit at our old lunch spot because we got in trouble there only ONE time-"

"-And today," his mother added.

"And today," Li sighed. "But when we did get in trouble, he literally BURST INTO TEARS ON THE SPOT."

"He might be sensitive."

"Sensitive?" Li's breathing became raged. "SENSITIVE?"

"Oh boy, here it goes," his mother sighed.

"Mom, the boy has issues!" he yelled, "He was crying like he got beat up or something, or like someone in his family died!"

"You've always been a rebellious kid," his mother said. "He's just.. cautious."

"OVERLY cautious," Li added. "He's not assertive at ALL. How is he going to live if he can't get yelled at without crying, or take risks without having a panic attack?"

"He might not be a risk taker," she reminded him.

"That's why his brother always yells at him and NEVER wants to be around him," he explained, shaking his head. "He's pathetic."

"Brother?"

"Half-brother," Li sighed. "His brother is cool. He can stand up for himself like a real man. And he's two years younger than us! Do you see where I'm trying to go with this?"

"Not really."

"Plus his sense of humor SUCKS."

"Not everyone can be a comedic genius."

"Mom, Hao's sense of humor is like that of a five-year-old girl," Li stated. "And that laugh of his... Every time he laughs I pray that I become deaf."

"People are not all the same." She didn't turn to look at her son, but stayed focused on her task of cleaning.

"And he sings."

Now his mother was puzzled. She raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at her son. "He... sings?"

Li nodded. "Horribly," he shuddered. "And he always insists on singing. His brother can sing like an angel, and him? When Hao sings it sounds like someone vomiting. I swear, Mom... I will behead myself if he ever sings again."

She was starting to get fed up with her son's constant complaining. "Oh stop it, Li! He's your ONLY friend at school. Would you rather be friendless and seen as a loner, or have a friend who is..." she tried to find the right word. "...unique?"

There was a pause. "I'd rather not go to school."

"That wasn't one of the options."

Li sighed, hanging his head. "I know... He just... annoys me."

"I know he does," she said softly. "You just have to deal with it."

All of his friends stared back at him with bored expressions.

"And what exactly was the point of that story?" Tigress asked, appearing the most bored.

"If your only friend is a wimp, don't go to school," Mantis explained, nodding once.

There was a long pause. "That's not really a great message to tell kids," Po admitted.

Mantis only shrugged.

A/N: I thought it would be a funny idea to right this. I can see Mantis as a kid having a wimpy, paranoid friend. XD Wrote this for fun.

Btw, Li is Mantis. Obviously. His name, "Li" means strength in Chinese. It fits him well. And Hao in Chinese means "the good". Makes sense. XD and Zhuang means "strong, robust".

Please review!