Don moved into the small lunchroom and looked around.

He had been adopted by his parents...by Jim and Julie, anyway…when he was pretty young. He didn't remember much about the orphanage, but he wasn't expecting what he came back to.

It was like high school, but there was nowhere to go when class was done. There were kids of all ages and most of them were quiet and nervous and angry. And they knew each other.

He was a stranger.

He could feel eyes on him all day, as he went to find a bed in the long, single room all the boys slept in, and as he was taken around by Prentiss and shown where everything was.

He felt them then, in the lunchroom. Like being the new kid in school or something.

Angry eyes. Scared. Hostile. He was a new element in the lives of a bunch of kids who were already floating so uncertainly. He knew that. But he didn't like it, even if he understood it. It was a matter of time before the angrier of the kids sought him out, pushed him around. Made sure he knew his place.

He went through the line to get his food and stood for a moment, uncertain, eying the strange kids already sitting.

As he stood there a tray slammed into his back, and a curse rang out behind him.

He jumped and wheeled around, and surprise made him instantly warm and happy.

Raf stood there, small and wiry and looking ready to curse up a storm.

Don grinned, unable to help it. Raf. A friend, in that miserable place. A good friend, who knew him and got him a birthday present and sparred with him. Before he could say anything, though, his eyes caught on Raf's face.

On the huge circle of black, bruised skin around his eye.

His grin faded and he opened his mouth to ask.

Raf backed up, his anger draining away. He raised his hands, not even bothering to pick up the tray and the food he'd dropped. "Shit. Sorry. Didn't see you."

Don blinked. "What?"

Raf looked around. His eyes were wide, his movements uneven. If Don didn't know him better, he'd think Raf was scared.

"Look, it was an accident. Just leave it, okay? Please?"

"Leave what?" Don moved towards him.

Raf's arms shot up, hands in front of his face. "Hey! I said I was sorry. Don't hit me again!"

"Again?" Don stared at him.

Raf cursed, turning on his heel and flying out the door of the lunchroom, past a protesting caretaker who started after him.

Don stood there, baffled.

A hand touched his arm, and he jumped again. He turned.

Some strange kid, tall and red-haired. "Dude. You really socked Psycho Boy in the eye?"

Don blinked. "Uh."

The kid grinned. "Don't worry, I won't get you into trouble. Come on, you gotta tell us how it happened. Nobody messes with Rafael. I never seen him back up to anyone before."

Don went when the kid led him, glancing back towards the door Raf had flown from.

"You must be a badass, man. Nobody gonna mess with you if you took Raf out."

Don blinked, looked around the lunchroom again. Eyes were still on him, but the looks were different. Whispers went up as he passed.

Redhead led him to a table crammed with older boys. "Hey, guys, this is…uh…"

Don turned back to the redhead. "Don."

"Yeah. Don. Psycho-killer."

"Man, you gave Psycho that shiner? You must have balls the size of subway cars."

Don laughed, a jolt of surprise at the grins that greeted him - and the rather distracting mental image he conjured up.

He sat down.

When Raf found him, later that night after curfew, he was in bed, wide away, looking up at the ceiling and thinking how it hadn't been a rotten first day entirely.

And Raf appeared out of the darkness, bright eyes and grinning teeth. "Yo, Psycho-Killer."

Don grinned and rolled over. "Hey! I thought you were nuts earlier!"

Raf chucked him on the arm. "Nope. Just smoothing your way a little."

Don squinted through the darkness. Raf's face was mostly shadow but Don could see the darkness around his eye. "That's real?"

Raf blinked, but shrugged. "Yeah."

"You didn't…?"

"I didn't get myself socked in the face just for your geeky ass, no."

"Then how--"

"Don't question it. Just be glad it ain't gonna happen to you now."

Don frowned. "Raf. If someone hit you--"

"Basta, amigo." Raf smirked. "None of these dainty little chicas would even try it. Now get to sleep. And keep your mouth shut to Yoshi about it, okay?"

Don frowned.

"Donnie."

"Okay, okay. I promise."

Raf slipped away.

"Gracias, Raf," Don said into the dark.

"De nada, mi hermano," came the quiet answer from out of his sight.

Don smiled as he lay back.

He felt at loose ends. His family as he knew it was gone. Most of his stuff was at Leo and Mike's place to keep it safe. He was in a strange dorm with strange kids. He was already being called Psycho-killer, and as a nickname for Don it was probably the least fitting one ever.

But he fell asleep easily, with Raf's voice in his head. Hermano. It was one of his favorite words in Spanish.

Brother.

"Miss Prentiss. You're not giving me an answer."

She was quiet, even after he broke the already long silence. Finally she sighed. "Yoshi, you'd be making me the happiest person in the world right now, only…I don't think I could allow it."

Yoshi regarded her over the booth and their barely touched meals. Files lay around the table, notes Yoshi was giving for others of her boys that he worked with. Files she had on boys who could use his lessons.

Yoshi didn't want to think about new students. He was, and he admitted it to himself fully, entirely biased at the moment towards two children whose futures were still uncertain.

She frowned, taking up her coffee mug. "Listen. I don't think Don will be any problem. I know he enjoys your lessons, and I think he would be glad to join you and your boys." She smiled faintly. "He's really a good kid. He would probably have already found another home by now if most couples weren't looking for someone younger. I'll start the paperwork on him, and hopefully we can make that happen."

He picked up instantly on her hesitation. "Which leaves Rafael."

She nodded. "Rafael. It's nothing to do with you, Yoshi. Much as I hate to admit it, I would hesitate to recommend him for anyone's home. The boy is just…he's dangerous. You should know that more than anyone."

Yoshi frowned. "Has he not behaved better these last few months?"

"Better? Maybe. But better still puts him in the top five for badly behaved kids." She frowned. Her mouth opened, then shut. She looked at her coffee.

"What is it you're struggling to keep from me?"

She shot him a wry smile. "You see too much, Yoshi. Listen…Rafael…he has the potential to ruin what you're doing for these kids, and I really don't want to see that happen. As much as I'd like to see a troubled kid find a caring home, you do too much good for too many other kids."

"Why do you suppose Rafael would be a danger to me? I've worked with him for almost two years now."

"And I'm amazed you've lasted this long." She set her cup down, steeling herself. "Alright, I'll put it to you this way - Rafael has lived with four different families since he was five. He has worked with two different doctors. He has been trusted to the care of all these different, respected people and he hasn't failed once to rebel and run away, and try to do damage as he went."

"Damage."

"Mostly in the form of accusations. You name it, Raf claims it's been done to him. Abuse, molestation, starvation, intimidation. He's tried more than once to kick dirt on a counselor at the orphanage, a man I've known for many years and who has never hurt a child in his life."

Yoshi regarded her, tossing this new information around in his mind.

She smiled sheepishly. "I should have told you. I would have, if he'd started on you. But he hasn't. And, I have to say, you're the first authority figure he hasn't turned on. Of course none of the accusations had the slightest hint of evidence to support them, but these days even a hint of something like that would be enough to ruin you, Yoshi."

"You believe Rafael is a liar."

She blinked. "Are you listening to me here? The boy's pathological. He can't walk away from someone without inventing a persecution fantasy against them."

Yoshi's lips pressed together in a tight line. He breathed in, out, steady and even. "My request stands. I would like custody of Rafael as well as Don."

She sighed, shaking her head as she gathered up her share of the files. "Yoshi, you have all kinds of respect from me, but you're wrong about this kid. I'll start the papers going on Don, and…hell. I'll look into Raf. He has some disciplinary charges to see through, as always, but in a few weeks I'll see what I can get going."

"Thank you, Miss Prentiss." Yoshi bowed his head, polite as ever, ignoring the sheer stressed white of his knuckles around his teacup. "I appreciate your help."

"Just remember, I warned you."

"And you need not do it again." His smile cooled on his face. "I know my boys."

Leo glanced to the side, barely blinking his eyelids open wide enough to squint. "You in position?"

Mike sounded exasperated. "Yeah, Leo. Geez. I know you're perfect and all, but some of us don't have to make 'sitting here' an exact science."

Leo grinned. "You should be focusing. Clearing your mind."

"My mind's always clear. A helium balloon, isn't that what Donnie said the other day?"

"Mikey."

Mike giggled, but stopped it quickly. After a few moments his breathing was even, steady.

Leo shut his eyes. "Concentrate," he murmured, adopting almost instinctively the low, lilting voice his father had always used when the training involved meditation and focus. "Breathe."

Mike obeyed.

Leo's eyes opened. He watched his brother, sitting on the opposite bed, and let his frown reveal itself finally. He kept talking, slow and soothing. "Focus on the air you breathe in and out. Focus on the bed beneath you and the clothes you're wearing."

Mike's face stayed blank, his breathing even. With his eyes shut, focusing, he seemed very different than Mike any other time. Someone so hyper and full of life shouldn't respond so well to meditation, but Mike did. And Leo was glad.

"Focus on the present. This room, the shape of the space. Focus on my voice." He watched his brother, trying to keep his voice blank.

He didn't want to feel bad when he looked at Mike. He tried not to.

But he was older now, and he understood things more than he used to. He understood that when Mike got mad it had a reason, and when he slept so badly it was because someone did bad things to him.

He even understood what Raf meant when he told him once that Mike was getting fucked. Though he didn't talk to Mike about it, or to his dad. He understood that fucked meant something really, really bad when it was said about a kid like Mike.

He understood more than he wanted to.

But he was a brother now, and he loved Mike a lot, and since he was there with him and he could help, he did.

Mike's face was clear, his breathing deep.

Leo's frown relaxed. The meditation usually helped. Making Mike focus on the here and now made it harder for the past to invade his dreams.

A noise caught his ear in the silence of the room, and he turned his head towards the door.

His father stood, peering in, probably wondering why so close to bedtime they were being so quiet.

Leo held a finger to his mouth.

But his father wouldn't have said anything either way, probably. He saw them both sitting in their meditation poses, and a thoughtful surprise kept him quiet.

He returned Leonardo's gaze, and somehow Leo knew he saw everything. He always did. He knew about Mike's bad dreams and he knew about whatever had hurt him in the past.

His father smiled, and though the expression was just a slight tilt of his mouth, Leo saw past it to the pride burning in his father's eyes.

Pride for his children. For Leo, helping his brother, and for Mike, making the right choices to rid himself of his demons.

Leo warmed to see it.

He'd never had a bad life, really. His dad felt guilty sometimes because Leo didn't go to a normal school like other kids, or have a lot of friends when he was younger. But Leo knew it was a better life than most other kids had.

Still, though he never went a day without knowing how much his father loved him, seeing how proud his father was still made him grin and his eyes burn.

Yoshi shut the door after a moment, silent the whole time.

Leo turned back to Mike, who hadn't lost his focus for a second. "Better?"

Mike's eyes opened after a few more seconds, eyelids lifting slow and heavy. He smiled, and it was more peaceful than his usual cheery grins. "Yeah."

"No nightmares, okay?"

"Okay." Mike met his eyes and bit his lip and crawled under the covers into bed.

Leo waited, keeping his pose, until Mike's breathing was deep in sleep. He stood and went to his brother and saw the small smile still on his face, and he knew.

No nightmares.

He shut the light off and got into bed.

"Raf!"

He looked up, surprised but more than happy to snatch whatever it was interrupting his bored contemplation of the stupid homework he was being punished for not doing. "Donnie? Jesus, relax."

Don stood in the doorway to the classroom, beaming. He looked back down the hall either way before he came in, shutting the door behind him. "I had to tell you! Miss Prentiss says I'm going to a home!"

"Already? Holy shit." Raf pushed his assignment back, grinning crooked and tight. "Must be those big pretty eyes of yours. Got all the gueros going nuts."

Don laughed. "But it's not some guero, it's Master Yoshi!"

Raf blinked. "Yoshi?"

"She says he wants me, and it's been approved already and as soon as Yoshi moves them into some house he just bought that has a whole room just for me, she says I can go!"

Raf looked at him.

Don peeked behind him. "Damn, someone's coming. I'll see you on the way to lessons, okay? I can tell you everything!"

Luckily Raf didn't have to reply. Don was gone too fast for it to matter.

When he looked back down at his work he saw the pencil had somehow split in two in his hand.