TRIGGER WARNINGS: Mentions of abuse. If Bull arc 2 made you uncomfortable, I mention his arms in this, though I don't go into specifics.

By the time Crow was slated to go into kindergarten, the Reys had adopted him. It was a good thing they did, because the kids in his class most certainly did not need more reasons to tease the young bird brawler. Crow thanked his parents (both sets) and every god he knew of when the head of the gang in their area sent someone to inform them that they would be moving to a small town in Idaho called Rochester. The family was allowed a week to get ready before they would have to ship out. They were considered lucky, seeing as they got to keep their names.

It turned out that they were going to be helping to expand the gang's reach. Crow had been told the gang worked as a support system for anybody who needed it, whether they were brawlers, runaways, or just people who needed a place to stay. There weren't that many centers in Idaho, so it made sense that they would be moving there.

The siblings exchanged sad goodbyes with Ricky, who promised his family would be moving to help with expansion as soon as his new siblings were able to move.. His mom was pregnant with a pair of twins, so the LaRoos would be staying in Broken Arrow. Ricky swore up and down that he would call or text as much as he could, and left both Reys kids with a parting gift: a Hadestown t-Shirt for Crow (nevermind the fact that it was far to large for him) and two rings set with gems, A peridot for Crow's birthday and an amethyst for Ricky's.

"I just know that you like the idea of healing gems and all that, and I thought our birthstones would be a good start. I ordered you a necklace with yours, but it hasn't-" he let out a small cough as she ran into him with a hug- "come in yet."

"Ricky, you're the greatest."

"Thanks Luce." The two drew away from the hug when Mrs. Reys called out that it was time to go.

As they drove away, Ricky gave a single, solemn wave.

Time skip brought to you by me shipping my OCs with each other

Idaho was, overall, a pretty cool place.

It was nice that he could feel helpful as he did all he could to help the gang get started in the little city he would now be calling home. The people who wanted to join were nice, and they also mostly wanted to help. Within a month, the gang was running a small shelter on the edge of town. Crow visited every day (with adult supervision of course) to spread joy around the building that was trying so very hard not to be as terribly drab as it was.

It was pretty cool being in the gang, too, because there were kids from all over the country coming in with their families. There were two or three more who were brawlers, so he wasn't completely alone there either. The brawler he was closest to was Roxy. She was a stark white cheetah, with a stripe of black running up her nose. She wore a leather jacket with the gang's symbol stitched onto the back most days, and the girl came to school clad in a large fluffy sky-blue sweater that matched her eyes when the jacket was dirty. She gave the best hugs.

There was an older woman in the gang too, a lady by the name of Mrs. Corduroy who picked the kids up from school every day. She was in her late seventies or early eighties (nobody knew for sure), but somehow her hair was the same dirty blonde it had probably been forty years ago. She was outrageously nice and was a huge fan of randomly giving gang members slices of pie. In her defense, it was very good pie.

Of course, his new home had its downsides, too.

Kids were cruel, even more so than they had been in Broken Arrow. Lucy had his back, but she went to a different school because she was a middle schooler. Roxy, who was tough as nails (and had very sharp claws) was with him most of the day.

Except when she wasn't.

Roxy was a good reader. A really good reader. So, she was moved up a grade for reading classes. Her class did reading right before lunch, which meant she went with the to lunch right after reading and then recess.

So, during lunch and recess, Crow was on his own.

He spent most days hiding in the bathroom while others played, and asked for cold lunches from his parents so that he could avoid the lunch line. Every day, when his recess and her lunch were over, she found him and made sure he wasn't bruised up. He usually wasn't.

That wasn't to say a fair few of the bigger, older boys weren't still nursing cat scratches.

The friends had gotten in the habit of sparring on the roof while they waited for Mrs. Corduroy to arrive. Once she pulled up in front of the school in her worn Volkswagen, Roxy would climb on to Crow's back and hold on for dear life as the bird brawler jumped off the roof using his super. Between Crow's and Roxy's animalistic reflexes, they were able to catch all fourteen daggers that came with the maneuver. From there, Mrs. Corduroy would usher them into her beat up old van, asking how their days were and if there was anyone she needed to be mad at on that particular day.

Generally, life was good.

A year and a half after the Reys moved to Rochester, the LaRoos arrived, with babies Jayden and Braylon in tow. The reunion was joyful, with Lucy clinging to Ricky nearly the entire time as she fiddled with the necklace he got her and Crow attempting to steal the twins so he could play with them. The LaRoo family moved in just three doors away from the Reys, which made the whole thing even sweeter.

Two months later, Lucy and Ricky started dating, and the only people who were even mildly surprised by this development were Lucy and Ricky.

All in all, Crow was alive, and so were all his loved ones, and that was what mattered.

The young bird brawler was starting to come out of his shell, too, which was decidedly a good thing. He was starting to walk away from the shadow of his parent's death, which was making him and everyone around him happier. As his classmates matured, a few of them started looking past him and Roxy being Brawlers, so they began to make friends outside of the gang. They slowly gained popularity, until even those who disliked brawlers the most had a grudging friendship with them. Part of this was Roxy's no bullshit attitude and solid advice, but Crow's now charismatic personality had some part in attracting the other students as well. As his class grew, so did Crow. his closest friends and family watched him turn from a boy that only spoke when absolutely necessary to a normal, goofy, big-hearted, loud-mouthed kid.

As he grew, he also revealed his intelligence. Crow began throwing himself into school as he got older, and his teachers began to see just how well he absorbed material. While he wasn't the fastest and couldn't have an assignment done within a few minutes like Roxy, he had the best comprehension in the class. He was in advanced classes almost all day, and the only reason he hadn't skipped a grade was because he insisted on staying in the same class as Roxy, who despised anything with numbers and absolutely refused to give more than 50% effort in math class.

He did, however, start tutoring.

At first, he just stayed after school for a few minutes when he understood a concept that one of his classmates didn't. Soon enough, though, his teachers found out how much he liked teaching his classmates and recommended tutoring. There was a program through the school where students could talk to a teacher and get set up with a tutor. Naturally, Crow jumped at the opportunity, especially since there was a chance he would get paid if parents could spare the cash for a tip.

So, every day, Roxy would go to a gang hideout with Mrs. Corduroy and the other kids while Crow stayed after to be picked up by Lucy and Ricky when he was done with his tutoring for the day.

Tutoring was how he met Brady Trankston.

The kid was short and skinny too skinny and wearing a baggy black hoodie. He had a slightly dirtied white cast with frayed edges on one arm and a bandage hidden beneath his hoodie on the other. Normally with just the cast, Crow would dismiss it as clumsiness. However, the bandage set off alarms, especially seeing as it was hidden. In the gang, Crow had seen just a few too many concealed bandages to dismiss them.

Act cool, Crow, ask about wounds later, he thought to himself.

"Hey! Brady Trankston, right?" Crow watched as the boy nodded and fiddled with the edge of his cast. He made a mental note of the kid's timidness as he pulled up a chair. He also made note of the way the kid scanned him, as if he was trying to assess the threat he posed.

Crow pulled up a chair and introduced himself.

"Well, my name's Lester, but you can call me Crow. Everyone does. You know, 'cuz, caw?" Crow chuckled a bit at the boy's shock. "I'm surprised you didn't notice when I walked in. Now, what do you need help with?" the boy looked down at his lap.

"Stupid Mrs. Doddly is basically flunking me for neatness. Plus, I just had ta take some time off and I can't catch up," He grumbled. Crow made a point of glancing at his cast.

Time off is an understatement, kid.

"Yeah, I didn't like her much when I had her for class. Let's get to it!"

Time skip brought to you by deja vu

After they had finished Brady's times tables, Brady started to throw his stuff in his bag, rubbing his sleeve up against his bandages. Crow decided he needed to ask about the various wounds, and quickly.

"Hey kid, you don't seem like an 'I fell out of a tree' kind of guy. How'd you break your arm?" His heart sank as Brady froze, and fell a little further for every second the kid sat and thought. Eventually, he seemed to make up his mind.

"It was my dad."

Crow felt paralyzed. His mind carried him back to all of the kids who had dragged themselves bloody and bruised into one of the hideouts. He thought about the kids who had made it, but hadn't been the same afterwards.

He thought back to the kids that hadn't made it.

At that moment, he decided he would be adopting the boy in front of him.

He thought quickly and decided that if the kid was telling him this, either something had changed or was about to.

"Dang, kid! If your dad is built like you, most adults couldn't take a beating from him! You're strong like a bull, ain't you?" A light bulb went off in his head. "That's what I'll call you! Bull!" He snorted as Bull choked on air.

"Why?"

"If you told me about him, you just got him out of your life. New name, New you!" Crow tried to seem confident despite being extremely shaken. "I've found it works flawlessly!" As Bull giggled wetly at the comment, he couldn't help but think one thing.

After all, it worked for a boy named Lester.

Yo yo yo that was emotionally draining! UwU

I'm planning on writing a Crow epilogue, just because I have some stuff that I want to wrap up for this arc, and then I'm going to write a Retropolis epilogue. That's going to jump off from where Bibi gets to Retropolis and just kind of highlight some various things to date. I.E, where they will be picked up during the last arc of this book by some... people... yeah. Mmhmm. Not being suspicious.

Anywho, ginormous thanks to QueenCollie (fanfiction only) and SammyScripts (Sammy_Scripts on Ao3) for letting me use their characters! Roxy, formerly Cheetaria, belongs to Collie and Mrs. Corduroy belongs to Sam and appears exclusively in We're Keeping Her! Both of these writers are really great, so you should totally check them out if you haven't done that!

Thank you, please keep reading, and goodnight!