A/N: Story is vaguely set around Paramore's song "Misery Business". I own neither the song, nor the Boondock Saints.

"I'm in the business of misery,
Let's take it from the top.
She's got a body like an hourglass, it's ticking like a clock.
It's a matter of time before we all run out,
When I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth."

~Misery Business - Paramore~

She had known them for what had felt like forever. In truth, it had been little over three years. When it came to it, Laura was more than a little surprised that she had met the twin brothers at all. She rarely visited bars, and had only been new in Boston, not having a job, and not really having much of any place to live. They had helped her. Said that it was only the right thing to do. She looked over at the two of them joking with other patrons at the bar, and smiled fondly, leaning back into the booth. She swirled the dark coloured liquid in her glass somewhat sombrely, her mind going back to the night where she had first met the McManus twins…

It was dark, the dead of night. Shivering, Laura pulled her thin sweater closer to her, trying to ward of the chill from the November air. Ducking into an alley, the feeling of being followed only intensified, leaving a cold weight in the pit of her stomach. Looking about nervously, she could barely even see the light at the end of the alley, but she could clearly hear the slightly muffled footsteps behfind her. Speeding up, she nearly fell over a bag of garbage, and she winced as something sliced her thigh. Pushing herself on, she kept moving, the ominous feeling getting worse.

At the end of the alley she had been moving toward, a shadow moved into place. A burly man stood, blocking the mouth of the alley, holding what appeared to be a long metal pipe. Laura could hear it hitting his hand as he played with it, and though she couldn't see his face, she knew that there would be a nasty smile on it. Turning abruptly, she nearly fell into the man who had been following her. He wore black gloves, and was holding a switchblade in his right hand. They were both dressed in suits, and the smaller one with the switchblade wore what appeared to be a black fedora. Gulping, she looked back and forth between them, feeling cornered.

"W-what d'you want?"

The small man laughed. "Money. And perhaps a bit of your time." His smirk bellied his less than innocent request. Laura tried to move away from them, only to be caught by the larger man.

"P-p-please, if it's money you want, I – I'll give you what I have. It's not much, but it's all I have. Just… let me go, please." She tried to reason with them, and found the knife at her throat moments later.

"We need compensation if you don't have that much money darling." His oily tone made her cringe, and she struggled uselessly against the burly mammoth who currently held her hostage.

"Let me go!" Laura yelled, wishing that there was a police officer somewhere nearby, hoping that someone would come and help her.

The small man leaned closer to her, letting her smell his rancid breath. "Now, there'll be no screaming. This'll be nice and quiet, alright?" He pushed the blade further against her neck, making her wince.

"I'd suggest ye listen ta the lass." Spoke a voice from the end of the alley, much to Laura's relief.

"And why would I want to do that?!" The man with the knife bit out sharply, glaring at someone behind her that she couldn't see.

A light chuckle. "Well, we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"S'up ta you mate." Spoke another voice, somewhat similar to the first. They were both clearly accented, something British that Laura couldn't recognize. The small man gestured to the large man to drop her, and she fell to the ground of the alley, groaning as the rolled to her feet, moving to the side of the alley, out of reach.

"Now, I'd suggest fer ye ta move on outta here, got it?" Laura turned to look at the speaker, and was pleasantly surprised to see a fairly handsome man in a black trench coat – he had dirty blond hair, and stood at a fairly average height and build. Standing beside him was another man in the same type of trench coat, about the same size, with dark brown hair. Laura was dragged back into the conversation when the small man sneered at the two of them.

"You don't even have a weapon!"

"Ye want ta fuckin' bet on it?" Spoke the brown haired one aggressively, and the small man seemed to back down.

"Let's go. We can find plenty of other commission before the night is out."

"I'd recommend against that. There is no rest for the wicked."

Something in how the blond man said the last phrase terrified Laura, and she tried to merge with the wall as the two cutthroats passed. She closed her eyes, and sank to the ground, shaking from fear and the cold. She could hear footsteps coming her way. Moments later, she heard them stop in front of her, and felt a warm hand on her chin.

"Ye don't have ta be scared anymore love." The voice was surprisingly persuasive, and Laura opened her eyes to see her hazel eyes staring into dark blue orbs. Taking in a sudden breath, she tried to move further way from him.

"Hey, hey! Calm down. I'm not gonna hurt ya! We're not gonna hurt ya." He saw her less than convinced look and he sighed. "Would we have spent all the effort savin' ye if we were only gonna hurt ye later?" When she shook her head, he smiled. "Exactly. C'mon, let's get ye up." He offered a hand, and she gingerly took it, still somewhat suspicious. However, she fell into step with them as they walked from the alley.

It was only when she stumbled that they turned to see what was wrong with her.

"Oi, Murph, get over here!" The blonde's voice sounded tense, and for a moment Laura wondered why.

"What is it Conn?" The dark haired man – Murph she assumed – came back as the blond – probably Conn, or maybe even Connor – gestured to her leg.

"She's got a nasty lookin' gash here."

Murph took a look at her leg, and Laura held in her embarrassment of their intense scrutiny. "Fuck. Aye, that she does. We should probably take 'er back ta our apartment, check 'er out."

"Ye good fer walkin'? Conn had a worried expression on his face, and Laura looked at him, speechless.

"What? Wh-why would you be taking me to your apartment, and not to a doctor or soemthing?!" The panic was still evident in her voice, even as she tried to stare them down.

He shrugged. "Eh, ye don't need a doctor fer somethin' this small."

"If it was small, you wouldn't be interested in it at all." She pointed out bluntly. "And why would you be taking a perfect stranger back to your home anyway?"

"Let's just say we have a soft spot fer the damsel in distress. We're offerin' ta help ye." The dark hair man half glared at her.

"And I just met you two, so forgive me if I'm not partial to trusting you!" She glared back, not pleased that they assumed that she needed help - even if it was true.

"What other choice 'ave ye got lass?" Conn asked, crossing his arms.

"We-well, I could, uh..." She looked around hesitantly.

"Yer new in town, aren't ye?" He continued on without waiting for a reply. "Otherwise ye'd not be out this late, in this part o'town. Ye don't have anywhere ta hole up, ye were just attacked by two low lifes, and ye got two strangers offerin' ta help ye out. Tell me, what other options d'ye have?"

"The police..." She stammered.

The dark haired one scoffed. "D'ye really think that'll do any good?"

"It's supposed to." She looked up at him, an odd mix of wistfullness and fear on her face. "L-look, if you guys could just, uh, direct me to the nearest clinic, or police station, or something..." Laura paused, not sure what exactly she would do. "Uhh... Just, a clinic then."

"Lass... jus' come with us. We wouldn't like ta see ye endin' up as tomorrow morning's headline cuz we didn't make sure ye got somewhere safe ta sleep." Conn wheddled, and she shook her head.

"No. I don't know you guys. I... I'm really glad you saved me and all, but, I-I can manage on my own, thank you."

Conn turned to the other man. "Jesus, she's stubborn Murph!"

"Aye, I think I like her." Murph chuckled. Laura simply glared at the two of them, crossing her arms across her chest, not liking being mocked.

Conn smacked the other man, then turned back to Laura. "Listen, wait, what's yer name?"

"I don't know yours." Her response was obstinate as before.

"That's how ye thank people who just saved yer ass?" Murph spoke up, leaning against a wall, and Laura glared at him.

"Fine. I'm Laura. Now, who the hell are you two?"

"Gee, some thanks." He snorted. "I'm Murphy, and this is my brother, Connor."

"Brothers?" She asked.

Connor spoke this time. "Twins."

She was taken aback. "Er… you don't look it. Not at first."

"Hear that a lot. Now that ye know our names, will ye come with us? We're not gonna harm ye in any way, we just wanna make sure yer alright."

She paused, considering the offer for a moment, feeling a bit more comfortable with the two of them now that she had names to pin to their faces. "Alright." She finally relented, giving them an equally measured stare. "But I swear, if either of you tries anything, I'll take your balls off!"

They laughed, Connor wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Aye Murph, I think I like her too."

Laura shook her head forlornly. She had waited three years. Three long years for them to realize that she wasn't just a girl who'd get herself hurt all the time, that she was there for them, both of them. But neither of them noticed. She had to pick up the pieces so many times from their failed relationships that it felt like she was cutting her hands on shards of glass every time she was their shoulder to cry on.

There were things she didn't know about the two of them, things that she was certain they were trying to hide from her. Things that she didn't like being kept in the dark about. They both seemed so light-hearted on the outside, but she had seen the change, felt the change. They had a friend once, a pretty weird Italian named Rocco. About a year ago, he stopped calling, and neither of the twins would tell her what happened. And the two of them would disappear, gone for days on end, and then reappear as if nothing strange had just happened. And, on top of that, there was the rather odd matter of the reappearance of their father, a man she had only barely heard about before his mysterious arrival around the same time Rocco disappeared. As a final oddly mismatched piece to the puzzle was the FBI officer that the two of them hung around, a Paul Smecker. Laura shook her head. It was all too much to process. Especially when she was supposed to be here having a good time.

Especially when she hoped that she'd finally get a chance to be with Connor.

Getting up, she moved through the crowd to get to the bar. About half way there, she saw something that made her stop cold.

A pretty, thin, blonde girl. Flipping her hair, flirting with Connor.

Kissing Connor.