You aren't stupid, Tuna." You promise the older boy.

He smiles and ruffles your hair. "Thanks Sol."

His smile makes you smile. You love him, and wish he was your brother; your real brother, not an adoptive one like he is now, but you love him all the same. He's only ten, and he has a mental disability but he takes care of you. You both were both adopted when you were young by a nice lady and her husband. You were only four at the time and didn't really understand much, you just knew you and your friend Tuna were finally going to get a family. You were happy.

Two years later, the nice woman died. Her husband got upset about it. You and Tuna were sad too. You were also scared. Your Daddy started drinking. When he drank he scared you. He would yell, and scream, and hit both you and your brother.

Then one day Tuna made a mistake. It wasn't his fault; he was always bad at gym. He was clumsy and we all knew it. He showed daddy the report card and the bad grade in gym, and the next thing you knew, you were in the hospital with a big brother that you swore was dead.

He couldn't die. He had to protect you! He promised he'd always be there for you and he'd always love you. Hot tears were steaming down your cheeks, but you still did your best not to show that you were crying your eyes out. As soon as Tuna passed out, your daddy left. He said he had to go somewhere and told you to call 9-11.

"Mituna fell down the stairs" He said in a very sweet and soothing voice. You knew that wasn't true, but that was the story daddy wanted you to tell the doctors. You would listen to him.

You nod in agreement, not looking him in the eyes.

"Good boy, Sollux." He ruffled your hair and you felt sick. Only Tuna could ruffle your hair, it was your special thing with your big brother.

Mituna ended up getting brain damage. It made Daddy stop hitting him for a while, which made you happy, it also made him happy.

But that didn't stop Daddy from hitting you. There were many days you stayed home because Daddy didn't want the teachers to see your bruises. He let Tuna stay home with you so the two of you got to play a lot. You didn't mind. You were only in kindergarten, so it didn't matter if you missed school.

Daddy wouldn't come home every night, so a lot of times Tuna put you to bed. He would tuck you in, and read you a story. Then he would sing you a special song that he said was just for you. He wasn't a very good singer, but that was okay, you loved that he was singing to you.

A few weeks after the "accident", as people called it, happened, Daddy went back to his old ways. Sometimes he would send you to bed early, and go into Tuna's room. You heard Tuna scream whenever that happened, and you would hear your Daddy make noises make sounds too. You didn't like those nights, and you knew Tuna didn't either. You would sneak into his room an hour after the noises stopped and you would cuddle with him. He was always naked on those nights, and his cheeks were stained with dried up tears.

When you turned ten Tuna told you about those nights you would come in and cuddle with him. He told you that that man would rape him. You weren't entirely sure what that meant at the time, but Tuna explained. He hated Daddy; he hated Daddy more then anything. That is the day you decided you would never call that man Daddy again; that was the moment you decided that you hated that man.

You didn't play with Tuna much by the time you turned thirteen. Instead, you talked. He told you about his girl friend, Latula, and you would listen. You would never admit it, but you were jealous of Latula. You were jealous because she was with him. Maybe you were both adopted by the same people, but Mituna was never your brother. He was your best friend, and at twelve you started to realize you were in love with him.

Sometimes, you wondered if he might secretly love you as well, so when you turned fourteen, you kissed him.