Huzzah for updates. :) May there be many, many more.

But for now, enjoy this one.

Giovanni was very grateful for the presence of the second, older boy. The younger one had been nearly ready to slit his throat but he back down at the immediate request of the other boy. Honestly, it didn't surprise him – for one so young his Voice carried an astonishing measure of authority. Upon his behest the younger boy immediate withdrew and bounded to his side.

The boys had intrigued the aging architect and the second boy was much more prone to civil conversation. The younger, whom he discovered was named Raoul, hung behind the older, Erik, in a role that seemed more fitting for his apparent age and Giovanni engaged Erik in discussion. They were, he found out, two orphans and runaways with dubious pasts who were simply trying to make it as best they could. They claimed to be brothers – and with the one wearing a mask, he couldn't tell for sure – but somehow he doubted it.

Despite that possible lie and the implication that hung in the air of what they'd done on their travels – thieving among other possibilities – Giovanni felt a great deal of sympathy towards the two. The older was somewhat withdrawn and the younger quick to anger with others, leading him to believe that they'd encountered many reasons to distrust other people. He invited them to accompany him and noticed their reactions, Erik hanging his head and preferring to remain out of sight, Raoul giving mistrustful, dark glances to even casual passersby.

They stopped at a café and he treated them to lunch. They both had large appetites but he didn't mind. They probably didn't get much to eat since their means of earning, even when supplemented with stealing, were undoubtedly limited. After he had fed them and they had shared what little of their past they were willing to tell of, he took them around the city since he was already somewhat familiar with it. He took them up and down the walkways, through streets and inside beautiful buildings. He took them on a ride in a gondola which Raoul seemed quite enthusiastic about. And he told them of his job as an architect and the work he did, a pursuit which seemed to interest Erik highly.

It was then that he considered taking the boy in as an apprentice. It was a fool thing to do, and he knew it, but there was something about the youth that simply compelled him. He would have been surprised a day or two ago if someone had told him he would offer to take in two nearly complete strangers. It surprised him even more when Erik, giving his 'brother' a long, thoughtful look, decided to accept.

They went with Giovanni and for the first time in a long while the two had something which could be called a 'home.'

Raoul was perturbed by the sudden lack of freedom and the third party who seemed to be intruding on their highly exclusive relationship.

"Why did you say yes? We were fine, just you and me!"

"No," Erik replied calmly. "We were not. The road is no place for a boy like you to grow up on. You will need things. And education. Experience in dealing with other people. A family."

"But you are family! And I deal with other people – I'm with you all the time!"

"That is not what I mean. You need… better examples. There are things that I'm just not good at, that I can't teach you Raoul."

The boy pouted.

"I don't believe that. There's nothing you don't know or can't learn."

Erik gave him a small smile.

"Just go along with it. For me?"

He heaved a sigh.

"OK."

"It's not often that you meet someone like him. He can teach me, really teach me, about the proper way to do things."

"I guess…"

"And he didn't… he didn't ask about it."

Raoul paused to consider this, and finally nodded and settled in Erik's arms in the back of the carriage. He wasn't necessarily comfortable with having another person filling in Erik's fatherly role. However, Giovanni had not asked Erik to remove the mask or inquired about what was beneath it, which went a considerable way towards earning the boy's trust.

By and large, Raoul had discovered, there were two kinds of people. There were people who shunned Erik for wearing a mask but screamed when he took it off, and there were those who cared about him. Until then, he hadn't realized that the second category could be composed of people who were more than just him. In a way that befit his age, he assumed that there was Erik and himself versus society at large which was irreconcilably opposed to their existence, Erik's in particular and Raoul's by correlation, and therefore out to get them.

Giovanni's overlooking of Erik's mask was a definite step in the right direction towards not being one of that horrible throng who either ignored or persecuted them. The fact that he was male was also helpful. Men would at least stand up and fight. Women, if they ever saw Erik's face, would run away or scream and faint, which was worse because he knew how that hurt his brother. He could fight an attacker or verbally parry an insult, but the sheer horror of a scream was nothing he could combat.

The architect lived alone and worked with men. A good sign, not having any women around.

Women, Raoul thought, were horrid creatures. Erik was always a gentleman to them, no matter what, and he could never quite understand why. He had once described the kindness his nurse had shown him when he'd smashed a mirror and Raoul begrudgingly admitted that she might be the exception to the rule. That did not, however, negate the rule. Women were simply not to be trusted.

Raoul closed his eyes and began to nod off in Erik's lap.

"Wouldn't the world be marvelous if there were no women…" he muttered sleepily.

Erik stroked Raoul's golden hair and sighed. The boy was sleeping, breathing in and out softly, within moments of closing his eyes.

"Oh Raoul…"

Erik was immensely glad that Raoul could finally have a normal place to grow up in, at least for the moment, at least until some unforeseen circumstance might precipitate their leaving. Nevertheless, it had been too long since he'd been able to give the boy a warm and comfortable room. Now they were in one of the most lavish rooms Erik had ever stayed in, even nicer that they one he'd had as a boy. Raoul had been in nicer places but he couldn't remember them and no place mattered very much to him unless Erik was there as well.

The architect was evidently well to-do and had designed his own home. The room they were in was large and spacious, with two four-poster beds and rich wood furniture. There were blue drapes and light blue carpet, all of which suited them quite well. Initially, not wanting to be any trouble, Erik had said that he would be glad to take the cellar. He merely wanted Raoul to have his own space. Raoul, however, had pitched a fit and declared that if Erik was going to stay in the basement then so was he and he'd lock himself down there. Erik relented and suggested that they take neighboring rooms, but Raoul wanted them to share a room.

They eventually reached a compromise in which they took one of the larger bedrooms and Giovanni and Erik moved a second bed into it. The man allowed Erik the basement as well, since he enjoyed tinkering but didn't want to clutter up the beautiful room with his odds and ends.

It was all very strange to the two. Raoul had vague feelings of uneasiness at first, feeling twinges of déjà vu between Giovanni's home and a house he could not quite remember. Erik wasn't used to the treatment he was receiving. Giovanni's insistence on getting them clothing and gifts was all quite odd, and he didn't quite know what to make of the man's generosity. Not even his own mother had been so good to him and the suspicions he'd had about the man's motives gradually began to erode away in the face of his sincere munificence.

Giovanni merely marveled at the prodigious talent Erik displayed when it came to inventions and music and nearly any technical pursuit including architecture that he set his mind to. He was quite fond of Raoul as well, an energetic boy whose love of physical pursuits was second only to his affection for Erik. He was a decent singer, to be sure, and Erik had taught him some tricks. However, there was no doubt that his athletic prowess far outstripped his artistic talents. He could appreciate Erik's skill but could not reach it fully.

Together they seemed to strike a wonderful balance, two sides of a whole, a single complete soul that resided in two bodies. Raoul, both obedient and obsessively protective, and Erik, a sensitive teen who managed to uphold responsibilities and burdens that no child should ever face, were so very in tune with one another that it was hard to imagine one without the other.

Slowly, as the days turned into weeks, he began to think of them as the sons he'd never had. Raoul started going to a small, local school and Erik was progressing rapidly under his tutelage. He had talent such as Giovanni had never seen before and he was honored to have him as a student. He was also relieved that he'd prevented the two from ending up somewhere far worse than the streets of Venice. They had acted as adult as they could, forced to by circumstance, but he knew as he watched them living under his roof that both Raoul and Erik were still children who, while deprived of childhood, needed care from someone besides each other.

He could not have asked for a more perfect situation. Everything was wonderful and it would seem to him later that it was almost too wonderful, like a calm before a storm. Though he did not know it, jealousies were brewing and rumors were starting to spread. Not only that, but other even were set into motion that would tear viciously at their relationship. The first visible clouds began to appear on the horizon on a beautiful, sunny day. Raoul was playing in the backyard with the new dog Giovanni had gotten for them and Erik was playing at the piano when a messenger came to the house. Giovanni read the letter and placed it down with a trembling hand, filled with an unaccountable sense of foreboding.

Luciana, his daughter, was coming home.

And that's where I'll leave it until the next time! Luciana's appearance is coming and it's not going to be pretty… To find out how it goes, stick around and an update will show before too long. Hope you enjoyed – reviews are great appreciated.