I finally figured out what to do with this chapter. I don't think it came out all that great, but at least I've updated, right?

Nothing's mine.

Yao's POV

"Done –aru," I stepped back and looked at the board in front of me. So we could keep track of everybody that was already here, and those that would be coming, Ludwig had suggested we write down all the people here. The information was written like this:

Name (age) Reason for not having a home, Relatives in the apartment (relation), Family outside of house (yes/no)

The board currently said:

*Antonio Fernandez Carriedo (13) Left home, None, Yes

Lovino Vargas (10) Parents killed, Feliciano (brother), No

Feliciano Vargas (10) Parents killed, Lovino (brother), No

*Ludwig Beillschmidt (12) Ran away, Gilbert (brother), Yes

Gilbert Beillschmidt (13) Ran away, Ludwig (brother), Yes

Alfred F. Jones (11) Left home, Matthew (half brother), Yes

Matthew Williams (10) Left home, Alfred (half brother), Yes

*Wang Yao (15) House burnt down, Kiku (adopted brother) Yong Soo (adopted brother), No

Kiku Honda (12) House burnt down, Yao (adopted brother) Yong Soo (adopted brother), No

Im Yong Soo (11) House burnt down, Yao (adopted brother) Kiku (adopted brother), No

The names marked with stars were the people that everybody agreed should be in charge (Antonio because he owns the place, Ludwig because he was the most responsible, and me because of my age). Well, Alfred and Gilbert actually argued that they could run everything, but their brothers told us that would be a very bad idea.

"Ve~ Lunch is ready!" Feliciano called from the kitchen. He had volunteered to do most of the cooking for now. He was going to make pasta, but Ludwig told him that he was tired of it after three meals in a row, so he made grilled cheese sandwiches (one of the only things that could be made with his limited ingredients) instead.

Everybody gathered at the plastic fold-out tables and started eating, among other things. Lovino was yelling at Antonio again, Feliciano was chattering about something to Ludwig (who was barely listening), Alfred and Gilbert were arguing over whether heroics or awesomeness was better, Yong Soo was groping Kiku (just so he could see his reaction), and Matthew was nowhere to be found.

"What kind of crazy place is this –aru?" I sighed. "I don't know how long I can take this..." I rested my head in my hands, but then I felt somebody touching my shoulder. Kiku, now that he was free from Yong Soo, had come over.

"I know what you're thinking," he said. "It's kind of odd here, but can you honestly say you would rather be in a box somewhere?" I smiled at him. He was right, this was definitely better than that.

After everybody had finished their lunch, they went off in all different directions. I met Antonio at the front door and we headed off towards the city. It had already been decided that I would keep earning money with my guqin while he went off and did odd jobs for people. After all, there were a lot of people to feed.

I was starting to realize that Antonio was almost always happy. Even when he talked about getting yelled at he was smiling. He actually kind of reminded me of Yong Soo, just not as annoying.

I stopped at an empty corner and set up while the Spaniard kept going. Once I was ready I let my fingers start moving, one hand plucking the strings and the other sliding across them. Before long I had closed my eyes and tuned out the noise of the people around me.

I didn't open my eyes again until I felt I tap on top of my head. "Time to go home!" Antonio said. I looked around. The sun was starting to set, and I had collected about $30. Pretty good day.

"Alright –aru," I said. I packed up my guqin and started the walk home.

Kiku's POV

I flopped down on my bed, panting softly. It had taken me a good fifteen minutes to get away from Yong Soo and his groping. And judging by the yells from downstairs, it sounded like this time he had decided to go after… Alfred and Matthew? At the same time? Oh, Yong Soo. I will never understand you.

As I laid there, I started to wonder what kinds of people would be living here next. It seemed like Antonio was ready to let any kid stay here, so there were sure to be more, and probably soon. Then I had an idea.

"I wonder if they would want to…" I said to myself. "I guess I'll just have to ask Yao to take me to see them when he gets back." No sooner than I said that, I heard the front door open.

"We're home -aru!" came the call from two floors down. I headed down there to ask him.

"Well, I'm gonna go talk to Lovi~" said Antonio. "He said he'd wait for me today." And he walked away. When Yao spotted me, he smiled.

"Hey, Kiku. How was your day -aru?" he asked.

"It was fine," I replied. Then I asked, "Would you mind taking me somewhere?"

"Hm? Where do you want to go -aru?"

"There are a couple of friends of mine that I want to tell about this place." He thought for a second and then nodded.

"Let me just put this away," he said, lifting his guqin case a little. "Then we should go before Yong Soo decides he wants to tag along."

"Actually, he should come, too." Yao looked surprised that I wasn't trying to avoid the younger boy for once, but then he shrugged and headed towards our room.

"Good," I whispered to myself. "Those two need a place to go before they get taken back again."

Lovino's POV

Bored. I was very, very bored. And there was nothing to do. The only way I would be able to entertain myself in this place would be to hang out with other people, but Feliciano was with the potato bastards (who I refused to go near), Alfred and Yong Soo kind of annoyed me, Kiku… I didn't even know what to think about him, I couldn't even find Matthew, and the others were gone.

And to make things worse, the tomato bastard had kept asking me to wait for him to come home today, and I got tired of arguing. So now I was sitting on the bed in his room, staring at the ceiling for lack of anything else to do.

After an eternity of doing nothing, I noticed a sound coming from the room next door. Mine and Feliciano's room. When I listened closer I realized it was the sound of somebody crying.

I jumped off the bed and ran to our room. I hesitated for a second, but I slowly opened the door and walked inside, and there was my brother, sitting on his bed and sobbing into his hands.

"Feli," I whispered, but he didn't seem to hear me, so I tried a little louder. "Feli, what happened?" This time he heard me and looked up, but he couldn't say anything, he just kept crying. I sighed and seated myself next to him. I put my arm around his shoulders and stroked his hair, careful to avoid his curl. It was always a bit awkward for me to do this, but it had proved to be one of the easiest ways to calm my brother down.

Once he looked like he could talk again, I asked, "Did something happen? 'Cause if those potatoes hurt you, I swear I'll-"

"No," he said,"It wasn't them. I just," he paused for a moment and continued. "I was just thinking, well… we're never gonna see Mama and Papa again, are we?" My eyes widened and I took a deep breath to avoid crying myself. It's not like I hadn't already realized this, but hearing somebody say it out loud made me realize it was really true.

"No, we're not," I told him. We were silent for a while, until his tears started to fall again.

Ludwig's POV

It had been a while since Feliciano had suddenly left for his room. He looked really sad about something, but it seemed like following him wouldn't be a very good idea. But now I was thinking I should go check and make sure he was okay.

When I walked over to his room two doors down, I saw a confused looking Antonio going towards it, too.

"Oh, hey, Ludwig. Have you seen Lovi?" he asked when he saw me.

"Nein. Have you seen Feliciano?"

"Nope," he said. "I guess they're in there, then." He pointed to their room and I nodded. When we walked inside (Antonio didn't even bother to knock), we saw something neither of us expected. Feliciano was crying, and Lovino had his arm around him and was stroking his hair in an attempt to comfort him.

I waited for the yells that were sure to come from the older of the two, but he just calmly looked up and said. "Go away."

"But, Lovi-" Antonio started, but he was cut off.

"Just… just leave us alone for a little while, okay? At least until he calms down. We'll see you two at dinner." Antonio and I left the room and stood in silence in the hall for a few moments.

"Wow…" he said, breaking the silence.

"I think that's the first time he hasn't yelled at either of us in a couple of days," I said.

"…he was staying calm for Feliciano's sake, I think." When I gave him a questioning look, he explained, "It looked like whatever made Feli so upset made him want to cry, too. He just didn't want Feli to be sad any more. And if he had yelled then he might not have been able to keep himself calm enough to keep from breaking down."

I stared at him. I didn't think this guy was capable of noticing stuff like that. Though it seemed like he could only do this with Lovino. That was probably a good thing, though, since I don't think anybody else would be able to figure him out.

"I'm gonna go lay down for a bit," he said. "See you at dinner!"

Arthur's POV

"Peter!" I called. Where could he have run off to this time? I swear, every time I turned around he was gone.

'Hey, jerk!" I heard my brother call from nearby. I let out a relieved sigh. Looks like I wouldn't have to search all over the city for him this time.

"Do you really have to call me a jerk whenever you talk to me?" I asked him. "I do have a name, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, jerk. Anyway, look! Yong Soo and Kiku are here!" I looked behind and saw that yes, they were coming over to us.

"Oh. Hi, Kiku," I said as I waved to him.

"Hello, Arthur." He bowed slightly. I really don't know why he thought he needed to be so formal with me. We had known each other for several months already. Oh well.

While Peter went to talk to Yong Soo, I noticed the other Asian boy(?) standing behind Kiku. "Oh!" he said when he realized that I didn't know this person. "This is Yao. Yao, this is Arthur, and that boy's his brother Peter."

"Oh, Kiku's mentioned you before. Nice to meet you." I turned back to Kiku. "So what are you doing here, anyway? Besides having your brother distract Peter so I can relax for a second." I honestly didn't expect the answer he gave me.

"I know a place where you can stay."

Antonio's POV

Yao and his brothers got back about an hour after they had left. And while Kiku made dinner, I found myself having to update the list of residents:

Arthur Kirkland (12) Ran from orphanage, Peter (brother), No

Peter Kirkland (9) Ran from orphanage, Arthur (brother), No

So… yeah. Iggy and Sea-kun ^^ I'm gonna say right now, I don't really know if there are orphanages in Seattle. But that's what the "fiction" part of fanfiction is for. Not everything has to be entirely accurate, right? ^^;

Thank you to peppaminty for the first fanart anybody's sent me for any of my fics (no, Justin, your's doesn't count. Getting art from a friend doesn't make me feel as awesome as getting art from a complete stranger.) Here's the link (take out spaces):

peppaminty. deviantart. com/art/I-m-a-Guy-aru-187006714

Till next time. Reviews make Feli happy again (=¬=)9