Two weeks had passed since Squalo had found out Bel hadn't been eating. In those two weeks, he had also discovered the reason the blond had been starving himself; when he had been with his parents, he had been beaten for trying to feed himself, told that he was too fat and undeserving of food, among other things that Rasiel had been unable to talk about without crying. It had appalled Squalo to hear these things from the boy, but he could only imagine how the twins must feel having to live with the delusions about themselves that their parents had planted in their heads.

Squalo was working his ass off trying to combat this, giving the older twin small snacks to pass on to his brother so that Bel would nibble at things every now and then, seeing as he still refused to so much as look at the meals that were placed in front of him four times a day; with the adults around, the smallest male just wouldn't eat, and leaving the room didn't help; Bel knew Squalo was hanging around somewhere in the house, waiting for him to pick up the cutlery and raise it to his lips.

But now that Bel was getting something into his stomach and his exhaustion had mostly lifted, he wasn't as difficult as he had first been; he still liked being by himself, and he distanced himself from the three he lived with, but he was no longer destroying property, even if he still threw temper tantrums in an effort to get what Squalo had been told was called 'bad touch'; talking to a child psychologist had helped the man understand a little more on why Bel behaved the way he did, learning that his youngest charge was simply seeking nurture through the only means he knew; aggression.

The silver-haired male understood that Bel was still a child and physical contact was a necessary part of his mental and emotional growth, so he usually went out of his way to pat Bel on the head or back, trying to show him there was such a thing as gentleness.

Bel would have to come to learn this eventually, right?

Tonight, now that the twins were in bed, fast asleep, Squalo was pacing around his bedroom, muttering to himself. Xanxus lay on the king-size bed with his hands behind his head, watching his lover move back and forth.

"The fuck are you doing?" Xanxus questioned, five minutes after the younger male had started.

"Thinking." Squalo didn't stop pacing.

The dark-haired man rolled his eyes, not surprised by this answer; his boyfriend had always had a habit of getting himself worked up over everything. "Get the fuck in bed."

Squalo shook his head. His eyes fell on the folder they had received from the orphanage, sitting on the desk waiting to be opened; with Bel refusing to eat and trying to get him back on the right path, the two males hadn't found the time or the strength to open it and read up on their backgrounds – it didn't matter too much, as one just had to look at the twins to realise their childhood had been cruel.

"Well, what are you thinking about?" Xanxus made no move to get close to his lover as Squalo finally sat on the bed, having brought the folder with him; like every other night, he kept his hands to himself, feeling no need to touch the other – if they weren't fucking, what was the point of touching Squalo?

"School." Squalo opened the folder, picking up the first page. His eyes scanned the bold headings, noticing that this one was individual details about the twins, such as their legal names and birth-dates. "They have to go to school."

"Why would you stress so much on that?" Xanxus did love Squalo, but he wasn't the empathetic type; he wouldn't show his affection readily or display anything that could be taken as weakness, which was why he always seemed so cold to his partner.

"Because obviously they need an education and other kids to be with, dumbass. I just don't know how they'll handle it."

"Why not worry about that when it happens?" Xanxus rolled onto his side, resting on top of the blankets. His back was to Squalo as he closed his eyes, sighing. "You owe me a steak for making me put up with this shit."

Squalo ignored the older male, memorising the important details about the twins. He then slipped that page to the back once he was done with it, noticing that what he was now looking at contained information about the boys' backgrounds.

Investigation was done after the removal of the children, discovering there had been on-going physical and sexual abuse, neglect of childrens' needs, and possible child pornography revolving around the removed children. The latter has yet to be confirmed. Bruises and open wounds were discovered all over the youngest child while the eldest had little physical damage. The youngest also shows severe emotional disturbance, suggesting they may have been abused more.

Despite this, both children show symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and possible mood disorder. Their behaviour reflects more than just their abuse, leaving the possibility that there was more to their treatment than has been revealed and further problems may develop in future.

Squalo felt sick as he read the detailed description of each investigation, finding it no surprise that the twins behaved the way they did; fearful and, in Bel's case, angry.

"Xanxus."

Xanxus grunted, half-asleep.

"You should read this tomorrow." Squalo slipped everything back into the folder, putting it onto the bedside drawer. "It's important."

The dark-haired male just grunted again, barely taking in what his partner was saying. Squalo rolled onto his side as well, their backs facing each other. Neither of them worried about the blankets and, soon enough, they were both fast asleep.

~~The next morning~~

After breakfast, and once the twins had had a shower and gotten dressed, Squalo entered their room.

"Boys, we're going to go into town. Put some shoes on." Squalo, though he still had to work on his temper, was generally calm when he spoke to the kids, not wanting to upset them.

Rasiel put down the dinosaur figurines he had been playing with to do as he was told. Bel, however, continued fighting his own with each other, ignoring Squalo's orders.

"Voi… Bel..." Squalo stepped further into the room, knowing he had to be patient and avoid touching the boy; he had originally had his suspicions about why the younger twin feared touch, and the files he had been given confirmed it; he would be afraid of people touching him as well if he had been sexually abused by his parents for so many years – how could someone trust anyone after that kind of betrayal? "Bel, I know you heard me. Put the dinosaurs down and put shoes on."

Bel tensed as the man came closer to him. He dropped the toys he had been playing with, getting up and moving to the closet where their shoes were. He hesitantly slipped on the white lace-up boots he had picked out when his guardian took them shopping for new clothing before standing by the closet with his head down, a silent gesture that he was ready to leave.

"Come on, guys." Squalo patted Rasiel's head as the boy gripped his sleeve, knowing that, unlike Bel, Rasiel liked being close to people. The youngest twin really must have suffered the brunt of the abuse for whatever reason.

The twins were quiet like usual as they followed Squalo downstairs and out of the house. They passively climbed into the backseat and allowed Squalo to double-check that their seat-belts were fastened properly, Rasiel being fascinated by how much the man seemed to care about their safety while Bel continued to distrust their guardian.

When Squalo got into the driver's seat and started the car, Rasiel spoke in a quiet tone, still getting used to Squalo and Xanxus. "Where are we going...?"

"To find a school for you." Squalo reversed the car out of the driveway, driving to the right of his neighbourhood.

"School?" Rasiel shifted uncomfortably, having heard of school when they came to the orphanage, but not entirely knowing what happened at them; were schools safe places? "...We've never gone to school..."

"We'll find one that you like, okay?" Squalo, who usually made up his own road rules, stopped at the end of his street and indicated as he waited to pull out into heavier traffic; as long as the twins were in the car with him, he was sensible, not wanting to involve them in a collision. "It will be good for you. You'll make some friends, I'm sure of it."

"We never... had friends before..." The older twin sighed at these words. He felt Bel press closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around the slightly smaller twin; he knew how his brother craved for love, but after experiencing nothing but hate for so long, he knew the younger had come to treat love and kindness as a sort of myth, a legend that would never come true.

Squalo glanced in the rear-view mirror, noticing the way Bel curled into the older twin. It bothered him that the boy didn't trust anyone else to touch him, but he understood; Rasiel was probably the only comfort he had ever experienced.

"Well, this might be a chance for you to have some." Squalo merged into traffic, heading towards the school with the highest reputation, hoping Bel and Rasiel would like it. He was truly trying his best to be as good a guardian as he possibly could, and he hoped the kids could see that; he really would do anything for them because he knew that if they hadn't managed to worm themselves into his closed-off heart somehow, he would have taken them back to the orphanage long ago, but instead they had managed to crack open his distant exterior and help him find a whole other side to himself, one that could love those kids as his own.

~~XX~~

After arriving at the school Squalo had in mind, the man had spoken to the receptionist and explained his situation, and was now walking into the principal's office, hoping that the twins would be okay with this and behave; the last thing he needed was for Bel to muck up and have the school refuse to enrol them.

"Hello." The man sitting at the desk was tall, his black hair short. He wore a suit and a tie, and glasses sat on the edge of his nose. His office was tidy, a few filing drawers scattered here and there. A computer sat on his desk, some papers spread out before him that he must have been studying before his guests' arrival. "Principal Fuse. My assistant told me you're interested in enrolling your children?"

Squalo nodded, moving to sit at the chairs resting on the other side of the desk. He looked down as Rasiel tugged on his shirt, finding tiny arms rising into the air, a silent request to be picked up.

"You're lucky you're cute..." Squalo muttered as he lifted Rasiel onto his lap, letting the boy play with his silver tresses. Bel took the seat next to them, looking anywhere but at the two adults.

"What beautiful children." The dark-haired man beamed at Bel and Rasiel in a friendly manner, his eyes soft as he surveyed them. Squalo briefly wondered if he had any idea that though the twins were beautiful kids to look at, all it took to ruin that was for Bel to open his mouth and say something. "Your wife must be very pretty."

"They're adopted." Squalo shrugged, surprised that the taller male hadn't pegged him as gay already; he seemed to get it everywhere else he went.

"Oh, of course." Fuse's smile never faltered, seemingly accepting of Squalo's orientation, a nice change for the man in question. "Is there anything you feel we should know? Usually when it comes to adopted children, we try and cater for any special needs that may have arisen from an earlier age."

Squalo shrugged again, doing his best to hold in his temper; he wasn't much of a social person, preferring to stay home and fight with Xanxus. He pointed down at Rasiel, his dark eyes bored. "This one is fine; he's usually just very anxious about people. The other one doesn't eat, or get along very well with other people."

"Well, how about we take a tour of the school and see what they think?" Fuse offered. "If they decide they like it, we can talk more on what we can do for them."

The silver-haired male nodded. He stood up, holding Rasiel close to him. He looked down at Bel, his usually-hard eyes gentle as he observed his charge. "Do you want to be picked up, too, Bel?"

Bel shook his head, getting up from the chair. He waited until Squalo had left the office, keeping distance between them as he followed the two adults out to the side of the school.

The surrounding area was green, with plenty of trees surrounding it. There was a sandpit, a cement play area with a sunshade above it, and something Bel only knew how to describe as lots of big metal bars with resembled an oddly-shaped ladder.

"This is the playground."

Bel looked up when Fuse spoke again. He noticed that the man was pointing towards what he had just been looking at, but had he really heard that right? Was it really called a playground?

Playground...? Bel blinked as a small shiver ran up his spine, memories crossing his mind. ...Those bars look heavy, like the ones Mother hit me with... How can you play with those...?

"Squalo...?"

Squalo looked down at Rasiel, noticing the boy was frowning deeply. "What's wrong?"

"...I don't like that..." The older twin's lip trembled as he pointed to the playground. "It... It's scary..."

"You don't have to go near it if you don't want to." Squalo tightened his hold on Rasiel, not entirely sure of why a playground was scaring the boy; could it have something to do with the abuse? But how could that be the case? Was it even a possible scenario?

"We'll leave and take a tour of the rest of the school," Fuse offered, not wanting the twins to become upset; he had seen a lot of adopted children come in and out of his school, and he had had enough experience with them to know that some kids had better backgrounds than others; these twins clearly weren't one of the more fortunate ones to have graced his school with their presence.

The rest of the tour went easily, neither of the twins getting upset once the playground left their sights. It was quiet as they returned to Fuse's office, sitting again in the positions they had all been in before they had left.

"Well, boys, what did you think?" Fuse smiled at the twins as he waited for an answer, knowing not to expect much; the twins were on the quiet side, that much he could see.

Bel just looked away, leaving Rasiel to speak. "...We don't... like the playground..."

"Well, that's okay. Apart from the playground, was the school to your liking?"

Rasiel nodded, moving closer to Squalo. "Yes..."

Fuse smiled at the boy before he turned his attention back to Squalo. "Is there anything you have in mind that you think may be beneficial to their circumstances?"

"Well, if you can make sure they're kept together, that would be great." Squalo sighed before shrugging. "I really don't know; I'm still getting used to them as much as they are to me."

"I could try and arrange for another student to stay with them," the principal offered, knowing that would be one of their best options; that way the boys would know someone and wouldn't feel completely lost. "An older student. Female?"

Squalo looked down at the boy in his lap, not wanting to make any decisions that his kids might not want. "How does that sound?"

Rasiel licked his lips before he spoke, in a quiet, uncertain voice. "...Are they... nice...?"

"Well, the student I have in mind is a bit of a loner herself, actually." Fuse smiled. "But the times I've spoken to her, she seems very nice. I'll call her in and you can see if you like her first."

Bel didn't acknowledge this conversation; he was picking at the hem of his new striped shirt, his downturned mouth moving with silent words. He flinched when Fuse stood up to fetch the student, relaxing only once the man had left the room.

"Are you alright, Bel?" Squalo was threading Rasiel's soft golden locks around his fingers as he paid close attention to his youngest charge, hoping this wouldn't be too soon for them; while he was sure the taller twin would be able to handle this new change in a somewhat okay manner, it was Bel he was worried about; would the emotionally unstable boy cope with another sudden revolution?

Bel looked up at his guardian for a few seconds before he turned away again, tearing a small thread from his shirt. "…"

With a sigh, Squalo turned his attention to Rasiel instead. "What about you, Siel? Are you okay with this?"

Rasiel was resting against Squalo's chest, not sure if he was going to like this or not; the other kids in the orphanage they had been taken to were cruel to them, teasing them for things out of their control - the 'student' wouldn't be like that, would they...? "I'm scared…"

"I'm sure you are, but at least give it a chance; you might like it if you do."

The boy nodded, trying to find the strength to trust his guardian's words. Snuggling in closer to the long-haired male, he let his eyes slip closed as he forced himself to relax.

"This must be them." Squalo turned to the door as it opened, revealing a girl wearing the standard female version of the school uniform. A black skirt stopped mid-thigh while a white dress-shirt was tucked into it. Long, black stockings disappeared beneath the skirt, and the purple blazer she wore finished her uniform. Her long indigo hair fell below her chin, but the top of her face was hidden behind a large hood, revealing only her mouth.

Fuse, who had been standing beside the girl, returned to his chair before addressing his guest. "Squalo-san, this is Viper, though she prefers to go by the name of Mammon. She's twelve, if that will make your boys feel better."

Squalo shrugged, knowing this wasn't up to him; it was up to the boys.

"Viper, these two boys here might be joining our students," the man started, smiling at the female. "They're a bit shy, so would you mind taking care of them so they're not alone?"

"Am I getting paid for it?" The girl was quiet as she spoke, as if she wasn't all that used to socialising herself – if she could so blatantly request money for something like this, then she really must lack social skills she should have learnt already.

Squalo grumbled as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket. He opened it, his hand going to grab money, before he stopped and looked down at the twins as a thought crossed his mind.

"Do you like her?" The long-haired man asked, only to receive a nod from Rasiel. Bel was staring at Mammon, but he didn't seem to be taking much notice of anything else around him as he hadn't shown any sign of hearing his guardian. "Bel? Bel."

Bel turned to look at Squalo, frowning. "What...?" The younger twin was even quieter than Rasiel when he spoke, and it made their adoptive parent wonder just what was going through his mind; the boy seemed timid as usual, but there was also a hint of uncertainty about him, as if he wanted to accept this but was finding it hard to do so.

"I asked if you like her." Squalo frowned.

"Oh... Yes..." Bel looked away, ignoring all else that was said to him. Squalo had a feeling Bel was lying and had only said that to avoid confrontation, considering he hadn't warmed up to anyone else yet - the man wasn't even sure if he liked his own brother.

Squalo withdrew fifty euros from his wallet, handing it to the girl. "You'd better take care of them..."

"Pay me weekly and I will." With that said, Mammon tucked the bills into the pocket on her skirt, leaving the room without another word.

Squalo grumbled under his breath as he slipped his wallet back into its pocket. Rasiel, who was sitting so close to him, could make out something about 'monthly payments instead'.

"I'm going to take that as the sign you wish to enrol them?" Fuse smiled at Squalo, seemingly oblivious to the other's bad temper.

Squalo just sighed as he nodded, hating to part with his hard-earned money.

"Squalo...?"

The silver-haired man looked down at Rasiel, forcing a smile onto his face for the boy. "Hm?"

"...Can..." Rasiel looked away as he moved a hand to his tummy. "...I'm hungry..."

Squalo held the boy tighter, knowing that Rasiel had one hell of an appetite. "We'll get lunch after we leave here."

Rasiel nodded, watching as Fuse slid a few sheets of paper over to Squalo, telling him to sign it. He could see Bel had gone back to staring at the door, as if he was waiting for the girl to return.

"Brother…?" Rasiel reached out, brushing his fingers against his twin's arm. He jumped slightly when Bel flinched at the touch, but it didn't deter him from whispering, "I don't think she's coming back…"

Bel frowned at these words, mumbling something incomprehensible as he fidgeted at this sudden information. He wasn't sure of what he was feeling, just that he wanted the girl to return; her soft tone had drawn him to her, made him feel warm – made him feel as if he could get from her what his own mother had never given him.

"…Okay…" Bel whispered back to his brother, unable to hide the heartbroken tone in his voice; if she wasn't coming back… there goes the only chance he would probably ever have to experience the kind of love he wanted. Sniffing, the boy rubbed at his damp eyes, letting himself slump forward; if love did exist, would he ever be able to experience it one day? Or was he doomed to a life of suffering and hate?

If that was the case, Bel didn't want to keep living just to feel the anger that consumed him every day.