(I rewrote Hissy Fit since rereading the old one made me realize that I could've done better lol.)
Gajeel rubbed his face as he contemplated how to handle this situation. He was a tried-and-true Caregiver, proud of what he does and damn good at it too. But nothing really tried a Caregiver’s patience more than a temper tantrum.
Littles had wildly different personalities and needs, so therefore they threw tantrums for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes it was as easy a fix as feeding them if they were simply hungry, or you could spend an entire evening trying to figure it out.
Especially when the Little in question had been so good for him the entire day prior and it seemed like nothing set him off, and since most Littles on the younger end had trouble verbalizing their bigger feelings.
The third problem was that this Little wasn’t known for his tantrums. He was normally pretty relaxed when he wasn’t giddy and excited for as long as Gajeel had known him. He didn’t even think the other was capable of such a fit.
But here he was. The one eyed redhead in question was on his belly on the floor, wailing and shouting while kicking his legs in the air while his face was bright red and soaked from the tears pouring out of his good eye.
“Alright, Kiddo, that’s enough of that,” Gajeel scooped him up off the floor.
Gajeel winced at the volume. ‘No,’ had quickly become Cobra’s favorite word once the fit started, and he was no easier to handle now. He thrashed and kicked while Gajeel fought to keep him in his arms. He knew the Little Slayer falling wouldn’t hurt from such a short height, but for a Little it would still be unpleasant.
That being said, Cobra did everything in his power to be dropped from thrashing, to kicking, to even outright punching Gajeel’s chest.
“Ah ah!” Gajeel kept trying to adjust the Little so that he couldn’t keep hitting, but trying to juggle not being hit with not dropping him was a task easier said than done, “Keep this up, and you’re getting the naughty corner!”
Cobra faced Gajeel and hissed at him, not unlike a cat would (The joys of Dragon Slayer Littles sometimes.), then turned his attention to trying to bite the Caregiver’s arms.
“I tried to warn you,” the Caregiver said, then carried the still thrashing Little to the chair facing the wall. The moment he let go, Cobra dashed off.
“Dammit!” Gajeel hissed. He was suspicious that Cobra would try to escape, but he hadn’t anticipated something that fast nor so soon.
He tracked Cobra down, and found him practically tearing his room apart. He gasped when he looked behind his bed. Before he could attempt to crawl under, Gajeel grabbed him by his waist, which prompted another shrill wail as he fought to escape, “No no no NO NO! LET GO!”
Gajeel pulled him up until he was standing. Keeping a firm grip on Cobra’s shoulders, he made the Little Slayer face him. “What has gotten into you today? What’s wrong?”
Cobra growled, hissed, and started baring his teeth and gnashing his jaws at Gajeel. It’d actually look pretty intimidating if Cobra’s face wasn’t red with tears still pouring down his cheek and he wasn’t in his snake patterned shirt with a pacifier clipped to it.
But regardless, it was still a show of disrespect that Gajeel couldn’t let slide lest Cobra start doing it more often.
“Oi, none of that,” he ordered as he carried Cobra out to the corner again, sitting him down. This time, he didn’t let go until he was certain the other Slayer wouldn’t move.
“Thirty minutes,” Gajeel said, ignoring Cobra’s indignant growling as the Little pulled on his hair. Gajeel gently pried his hands away, “Hands in your lap, not in your hair…” while Cobra just wriggled and stomped his feet.
“You know better than all of this growling and hissing at me like that. I know for a fact that you do. But until you are able to start behaving and can tell me why you’re acting out, you’ll sit here.”
Cobra only looked up at the Caregiver and hissed again, but when that only led to Gajeel raising a brow with his arms crossed, the Little finally turned to the wall and fortunately, didn’t move from the chair. He tucked his head low and started quietly sobbing.
Gajeel sat nearby to keep an eye on the Little. Fortunately, Cobra never made any attempt to leave his spot. His cries eventually settled as he started resting his forehead against the wall, tracing his finger along the bumps in the paint.
When the time was up, Gajeel walked over to him, then slowly picked him up so as to not startle him.
He sat down on the couch, cradling Cobra close to his chest as he pondered what to do with him.
Calming him down was easier said than done since Gajeel didn’t know what set him off to begin with and nothing worked so far. It also didn’t help that Gajeel wasn’t knowledgeable enough to know what usually works for Cobra, as he had only taken in the Little a few months prior and this had never been a problem before.
Cobra wriggled in Gajeel’s grasp for a solid few minutes before giving up and going limp. He buried his face into the Caregiver’s chest, tugging on his shirt while whining and sobbing.
“Are you ready to tell me what's wrong now?”
Cobra let out a shrill whine, gripping the other’s shirt tighter and even trying to bite and tear at it.
“Hey,” Gajeel held up the pacifier to Cobra’s mouth. The Little paused to stare at it, before opening his mouth with a quiet, ‘Ah.’ Gajeel slipped the pacifier in and watched as Cobra nursed it. While Cobra was far from calm, judging by the tears still rolling down his cheek, he was getting somewhere.
“Deep breaths, kid,” Gajeel instructed. Cobra shakily inhaled, then exhaled. He repeated the action with Gajeel’s guidance, finally easing up slightly.
“Alright. Now, I know you’re upset, but I need you to tell me what’s the matter. Why are you pitching such a fit today?”
Cobra’s breath hitched as he inhaled, pressing a hand to his eye before wailing, “I-I wa-want.. m-m-my Sn-Snakey!”
His snake plush? Gajeel hummed. He knew how important it was to the Little Slayer. It was on the older side, but it was Cobra’s comfort toy (And honestly probably the first toy he's been allowed to own since leaving prison.), and for the first time that morning, he realized it was suspiciously absent.
“Well, let's go looking, then,” Gajeel placed Cobra down. The Little grabbed his hand and started dragging him back to the bedroom. Once inside, he pointed at the bed frantically.
“It's under there?” Right, he must've spotted it when he was tearing the room apart earlier.
Cobra dropped to the floor and started crawling under the bed. Instead of intervening this time, Gajeel knelt down, spotting Cobra hugging the plush snake to his chest.
It must have fallen under the bed at some point the night prior.
“Ah. That must feel a lot better, doesn't it?” he asked.
Cobra let out a quiet noise.
Gajeel reached in, gently pulling Cobra out of hiding before sitting him on the bed and sitting next to him. “Look at me,” he ordered gently.
Cobra made another quiet noise when Gajeel wiped his face with a tissue, drying his eye and cleaning his nose.
Cobra let out a quiet sigh as he buried his nose in the fabric of the snake, before yawning widely.
“Tired? I can't say I blame you,” Gajeel coaxed Cobra into laying down, then tucked him under the blanket.
Cobra curled up under the blanket, keeping his Snakey held against his chest.
He blindly patted around for his pacifier until Gajeel placed it to his mouth, and the Little took it. With his Snakey safe against his chest, Cobra quickly passed out.
The Caregiver stayed with him until his breathing evened out and he was softly snoring.
At least he didn’t have to worry about Cobra fussing over a nap. Hopefully, he’ll be in a better mindset once he wakes up.
Gajeel was taken out of his work by rustling in the kitchen. When he went to investigate, he spotted Cobra rummaging through the freezer while the snake was sitting on the dining table.
“What are you looking for?” Gajeel asked, causing Cobra to flinch. He slowly closed the door and looked at the Caregiver sheepishly. His face was still red and slightly puffy.
“Um.. ice cream..?” he grinned weakly. Looked like he was bigger than before, but still pretty Little.
“Don’t have any,” Gajeel sat the Little down at the table. “You’re getting a proper lunch.”
“But my throat hurts..” he pulled his Snakey closer to himself.
“Then I’ll give you some broth,” Gajeel said, ruffling his hair. “Besides, growly little Hatchlings don't get ice cream.”
Cobra made a face, obviously wanting to argue, but also not wanting to go back into timeout. Eventually, the latter won out and he just sighed and rested his chin on the table.
“Since you're bigger now, we need to have a talk,” Gajeel said, putting the bowl down in front of Cobra.
“Mmm..” Cobra grabbed the bowl and pulled it closer and stared into it, not wanting to meet the Caregiver’s gaze.
“Nn-nn…” Cobra kept his head down.
“Nope, none of that. Look at me, Erik,” Gajeel said a bit more firmly. At the use of his real name, Cobra finally forced himself to look at Gajeel.
“Thank you. Now, about today. I know you were upset and in hindsight, I should've noticed your toy was missing,” he began, “But, that gives you no excuse to have been growling and hissing at me. I'm your Caregiver, not some opponent. You know better than that. Tell me.”
“B-because it's…” Cobra glanced down and held his Snakey in both hands, rubbing and squeezing the soft fabric, “It's… disre- dis- disre…” he gritted his teeth in frustration as the word twisted his tongue. Gajeel was about to speak until Cobra continued, “Mean.. It's mean… and.. it was wrong..”
“Because growling and hissing is… meant to… intim.. in-tim-i-date…” he sounded the word out slowly this time. Gajeel placed a hand over his with a quiet, “Good.” Cobra nodded, “A-and I shouldn't be trying to do that to.. to you..” he finished.
“Good. Now can I ask why you did it?” Gajeel leaned forward slightly. Cobra shrugged, “Mm.. dunno…” he admitted, “Felt bad.. really bad..” He held his Snakey tighter as he said, “My.. my Sn-Snakey was gone.. and.. and..”
He lifted his hands to his head as tears stung his eyes, “Being a L-Little is stu-upid! I-I-I lost my toy… and it… it f-felt li-i-ike the house.. was… was gonna come apar-art..!”
“Hey, kid, look at me,” Gajeel said, grabbing Cobra’s wrists to lower his hands, “It's not stupid. You care about your Snakey a lot and losing it gave you some big feelings. It's a normal thing for Littles to go through.”
Cobra sniffled quietly as he wiped his eye.
“Deep breaths. Just like we practiced.”
Cobra took a moment to breathe. He held his Snakey close to his chest, rubbing its back to help himself calm down.
“There we go. And like I said, you had some big feelings. But instead of taking out those big feelings on others, you need to come to me so we can work through it.”
“Sc-scared… Thought I lost it.. fore-ever..” Cobra admitted, “I know better but… when I'm small.. It's… easy to.. over.. over… over-re-act..”
“I know, but you found it and now we know that if it goes missing again, under the bed will be a prime spot to look,” Gajeel rubbed Cobra’s hand.
“And no more of that being a Little is stupid talk. I know you're still getting used to it,” and if Gajeel could go back in time and beat the hell out of Brain, he would, “But being a Little is normal. All those feelings you have are valid. It's not stupid or anything for you to have reacted the way you did. What's important is that you're feeling better now.”
“If you feel yourself getting worked up again, I want you to come to me so we can work through it together, alright?” Gajeel said.
Cobra slowly nodded, then hesitated before asking, “Does.. this mean you’re not.. mad..?”
“Yeah, but you were disciplined for it already and all’s been forgiven. Littles act up, they push back, and they test rules sometimes, but that’s just what they do. I’m not going to expect you to be perfectly behaved all the time. That’d just be unfair to you. Do you understand?”
Cobra nodded, a lot less hesitantly this time.
“Now, can you eat by yourself, or do you need me to help?”
Cobra slowly lifted the spoon, then sipped from it. He let out a content noise as it soothed his throat.
“Once we’re done with lunch, if you’re on your best behavior for the rest of the day, we can head out to the park tomorrow. Sound good?”
Cobra gasped excitedly, “Yes, please!”
