So sorry that it's taken me so long to write; I've gotten 9 chapters written, though, and just wrote him getting into cherub. Woo!

Hopefully, you'll be happy with this chapter. I found that whilst it's slow moving, it just felt right. Like I've said before, I don't want to rush the story along. In real books, they wouldn't work like that, otherwise the story would be over in, like, 50 pages. Which wouldn't sell.

Alright, so we meet some Cherub people in this chapter. That's all I'm going to say right now on the subject.

Warning: Language

Disclaimer: I don't own AR/Cherub

Thanks go to Edrick for beta'ing this chapter and future chapters, and who gave me heaps of advice and directions on where it will go.

Chapter Four

"I know you're there, so you may as well just come out."

Silence greeted him, and he smiled.

"Think I'm talking to myself? You two behind the machines, with black hair. I know you're there."

Alex Rider

"How did you know we were here?" Alex couldn't help but smirk, but kept his head down so they wouldn't see.

"Brown hair amongst white washing machines? Pretty obvious. Not to mention the fingers on top of the washing machine was a dead giveaway." He said, the smirk now evident in his voice.

"Shit," one of the boys said, before they both stood up from their crouched position.

Alex could instantly tell they were twins; their looks so similar, as well as their height, eye colour and hair colour. Identical twins. The only thing that different about them was their top colour; one was in the latest Arsenal home football shirt, the other in the Arsenal away football shirt.

They, too, were taking him in; looking first at his face, then at his clothes.

"So, you're twins. Double trouble?"

The boys looked at each other, before smiling, dimples in their cheeks.

"Oh yes, neither of us can get in trouble 'cause if one of us does something, they can't tell who dunnit, so neither of us gets punished," said the boy in the home shirt. "Well, sometimes they punish us both, but whatever."

"So what're your names then?" Alex directed at the twins, changing the topic.

"I'm Connor," the boy in the home shirt said, "and he's Callum," he pointed at the other boy. Connor must be the more out-going twin, as Callum stayed quiet. "And you're Meat."

"Meat?" Alex asked, confused.

"Yeah, you know, like a new person? Fresh meat? You're new, so you're Meat," Callum finally spoke, "It's nothing against you… everyone gets called Meat to start with." He paused, thinking. "Well, we got called Meat one and Meat two, 'cause there was two of us."

Connor looked at him, before speaking, "Anyway, you want us to show you around? It's best you know straight away where you can and can't go-"

"There're places you can't go?" Alex interrupted, skeptical.

"Oh yeah. Well, some people can go there, but we can't 'cause we're too young and not 'right' cause there's two of us."

"So, you're not allowed to go some places because there's two of you?" He guessed these were the 'other' rules that Lauren had told him he'd be told about.

"Yeah."

"That's stupid."

Again, both boys looked at each other, as though a message was passed from one to the other.

"Yeah, well, they're stupid in here. You want us to show you around or what?"

Alex agreed, and followed them out the doorway.

Their first stop was the back room that led out onto the garden. In it were three very old and worn sofas, a television and four mismatched chairs at a rectangular table with various drinks on top.

Four kids were in this room, between the ages of, at a guess, ten and sixteen. The eldest, a blonde haired boy, took up a sofa himself, while the younger children sat on the floor. Only he was watching the TV, in which Alex could see a chase between very expensive cars was going on. Alex remembered this scene from one of the Terminator movies, although he couldn't tell which one.

"You're allowed in this room, but unless you're fifteen or older, you're not allowed on the chairs. You 'afta sit on the floor," Connor said.

"Come on. We'll show you the kitchen."

Again, Alex followed the boys, this time into the kitchen. It was a messy place, and was significantly dissimilar to Alex's kitchen at home. Although it had a gas hob, cupboards and a kettle in the room, it also had two fridges, three ovens another three sinks. All of which were dirty, with unwashed plates and oily cutlery piled in them. The fridges and ovens had streaks of grease on them, and rotted left-overs littered the floor at certain corners. Hygiene standards must clearly not be a priority in this place, Alex mused.

"Anyone's allowed in here, although you can't take anything from the fridge just before or after lunch. Unless it's a drink. You're allowed one of those at any time, although unless it's water or juice, you're limited to having one fizzy drink a day," Callum explained.

Alex just nodded, taking everything in.

"Oh, and you'll most likely be put on washing up duty for the first couple of weeks while you're here, unless the elders like you and say otherwise."

At this, Alex was confused as to who the 'elders' where. The adults?

"Elders?" He asked.

"Yeah, those who are fifteen or older. The adults said that we're supposed to sit down on a Sunday night and come up with routines on who's got what duty so that we have some responsibility and stuff, but the adults just can't be bothered to make the routines 'cause they know the elders'll never like it and complain to them, so instead they said we should manage it," Connor replied, with traces of unhappiness in his voice. "Anyway, the elders say that they'll keep their rooms tidy and the rest of us have to do stuff like bathroom cleaning and washing up 'n' all that."

The boy was clearly miffed at having to do so much work, and Alex was sympathetic with them; they'd have to put up with it a lot longer than Alex would; at the most, he'd only have to deal with it for a month. These boys could be here until they were sixteen and old enough to go to a half-way house by themselves if they so wished.

"Anyway, they'll put you on kitchen duty, 'cause you're old enough to be around knives and that," Callum said, but paused when it came to Alex's age. "Actually, how old are you?" He asked.

"Um, I'm thirteen." remembering his new age, he almost said he was fifteen.

They both looked at him, squinting almost.

"You look older than thirteen," Connor stated.

Alex shrugged, trying to seem as if he was told that everyday, "yeah, I know. I'm just big for my age."

"Right," they obviously didn't believe him, but they couldn't really say he was lying; after all, if he was lying, they probably figured that it'd come out some time if someone overheard the adults talking about him.

Deciding not to pursue the matter, the boys continued on, and they showed him the games room. Or rather, the games room door. They weren't allowed in there, and so couldn't enter.

"You're not supposed to go in here, either, unless you're invited," Callum elaborated when he took in Alex's raised eyebrows at the door.

"And you've not been invited, either, shit head, so move on."

At the new voice, both twins instantly moved away from the door, but Alex, not knowing, stood his ground and looked towards the girls who had spoken.

"Why can't they go in? It's a free space. Anyone should be allowed in," Alex said to the girl.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't dignify him with a response. Instead, she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the way, pushing past him into the room.

The twins looked at him, before looking down, almost simultaneously.

"You really shouldn't piss one of the elders off, Meat. They'll just beat you up if you do." One of them said - with their heads down, Alex wasn't sure which one spoke, but guessed it was Connor.

"I'm not afraid of them," Alex stated; and that's all it was, a statement. He wasn't trying to be tough. He just really wasn't afraid of them. After facing many bad guys who wanted to kill him, kids his age - even if they thought he was younger than he was - didn't scare him.

"You should be. If you piss one of 'em off, you'll hafta face all of 'em," again, Alex couldn't tell which one spoke.

Deciding this was an opportunity to get Cherub interested in him, Alex mentioned his training in Karate.

"Yeah, well. I'm a black belt in Karate. And I've done some other martial arts training, too," he smiled ruthlessly, "not all of it legal, so I'm a mean opponent." Again, he smiled, even if this time it was forced. Alex had had to do some martial arts during his snakehead mission, including participating in Muay Tai, although unwillingly.

This got the two boys' attention. They looked at him, then at each other. Finally, they grinned.

"I've suddenly got the feeling that you're only going to be my friend because of my martial arts…"

The boys, together, snickered.

Deciding not to linger in case another 'elder' came along, the boys moved on. This time, they showed him the upstairs rooms.

"The first floor is the adult's rooms. You're not allowed on their floor unless it's an emergency. Normally, they're not in their rooms anyway, but you're still not allowed in them." Conner said. As they went to the next flight of stairs, again Alex wasn't allowed to see the rooms.

"Second floor is the girls' rooms. You're not allowed on their floor unless for a proper reason. The adults banned us from their floor, because the elders, well… you know," Connor stammered slightly, blushing.

The other twin grinned at him mischievously, "No, Connor, I don't think I do know. Why don't you tell me?" Again he grinned.

Connor didn't, though, instead punching his brother's arm and shoving him further up the stairs.

Alex laughed at the two boys' antics, finding them strangely amusing.

On the next floor, Alex was finally allowed to enter.

"And this floor is for the boys. The best floor, of course," Connor grinned, whilst Callum huffed at him. "You'll be in with us 'cause you're our age. There's six rooms, one for ten year olds, one for eleven year olds and so on… I'm sure you get the picture."

The boys led him to a door with a sign on it that said "13 - boys only." Across from the room was another door that said "bathroom - boys only." Alex realised he'd have to share it with many other boys, some older than him and some younger, and a slight shudder ran through him.

"Welcome to your new home!" Connor almost yelled out when they stopped at his new room.

Opening the door, the twins stepped inside and let Alex follow them in.

Inside were ten beds, five on each side of the room. The layout kind of reminded him of his time in the SAS, with the beds in his hut being separated by lockers. It was exactly like that, although the room was much brighter and more lived in.

At each side of the bed was a fairly large locker, each with a padlock locking it shut. Alex assumed that any clothes or possessions the kids owned would be locked up so that no one could steal their things, because very little else in the form of personal belongings were in the room.

Three boys, each around thirteen, were in the room. One of them, a dark-haired boy, greeted the twins while the other two ignored them.

"CC! You's don't normally come in 'ere at this time of day! What yas doin' in 'ere?"

"Showing Meat 'round, Chris." Connor began. "He's gonna be sleeping in here with us."

The boy, Chris, looked at Alex, almost as if he were sizing him up.

"You can pick any of those three beds near the door. The rest are taken," Callum pointed at the beds, before whispering to Alex, "Although you shouldn't take the one closest to the door; you'll get beaten up otherwise 'cause it shows weakness or something."

Alex nodded, as if agreeing, and sat down on the free bed farthest away from the door.

Connor, ignoring the two, spoke again to Chris. "Meat here knows Karate. Apparently a black belt, and he's done some other martial arts, too. Or so he ses. It'll be good to have him on our side if the elders pick a fight with us."

Chris looked to Alex, again as if sizing him up. "Does he now? Wanna fight, Meat? Play-fight, of course. We can't fight properly 'cause the adults'll find out someway. They always do."

There was no way Alex could say no. If he did, it would look as if he had lying about his martial arts abilities, as well as making him look weak; an easy target.

"Um, sure." He agreed.

Chris grinned, getting off his bed, and moved towards Alex. Standing a meter or so from him, Chris suddenly moved, raising his fist from his side straight into Alex's face. Or where Alex's face had been a second ago.

Alex had anticipated that Chris would fight dirty; this was a kids home, and Chris had more than likely been taught to fight on the streets. No initialising the fight by bowing for him.

So when Chris had went to punch, Alex had ducked and moved to the opposite side of the fist. Leaping up slightly, Alex grabbed onto Chris's out-stretched arm and pulled on it, unbalancing the boy. Bringing his elbow up, he whacked it into the front of Chris's arm, making him bend forwards. Kicking his foot out, Alex swiped the other boys' ankle, and knocked him to the ground. Pinning him with one arm behind his back, Alex knelt on Chris's back and told him that he won.

Chris wasn't a sore loser, and when Alex let him up, grinned at Alex and declared that it would be 'good to have him on our side.'

Alex noticed that again, the twins were looking at each other, and again were grinning. Do they grin at everything? Alex wondered.

For the rest of the day, and night, Alex stayed in his new room, only venturing out to collect his clean clothing. Twisting the clothes out in the sink next to the machines, Alex carried the now wet-but-not-dripping clothes to his new room. He hung them on the radiators, where the other boys had told him to, and soon after went to sleep.

Alright, so what'd you think? Like I said at the top of the page, I'm taking this slow, trying to give you all of the deets like you would find in a book.

Please note: I have never been to a children's home before, and whilst I'm guessing it's nothing like the Tracy Beaker television programme, we're everything is pretty much hunky-dory, I don't actually know how things work or what goes on in them. I'm assuming, though, that the older the people in there, and the longer they've been there, the darker they are…

Anyway, review, please.