[College. Stress. Want to rewrite this entire story. Father accidentally deleted my progress on this chapter.

That's all I got for an excuse. :( Sorry! I'll try and get back on track with this! Enjoy this small chapter update while I work on doing just that.]

Alfred kept his head low as his ruby eyes stared up at the girl through his lashes. What did they mean by payback? He hadn't done anything! Maybe this is what happened to kids who cried on their first day of school.

"Please, no!" he cried out as he covered his face with his hands and began to sob all over again. He couldn't help it. He just wanted to make friends and be a normal kid for once!

You're not in a normal family.

Francis' voice flowed about in his head and he shuddered. Was he being punished for not being normal?

"Keep your chin up when I'm talking to you, brat!" The presumed leader of the group shouted at him, rolling her eyes at the sight of Alfred. "Stop crying! This kid's nothing like Matt, are you sure you got the right one?" She turned around and narrowed her eyes at another girl.

A smaller girl with blonde hair and a large green bow in her hair just glared daggers right back at her. "You calling me a liar?"

"I'm just saying that this kid looks like a pinch on his arm would send him running home to his mommy!" The girl in front of the other two responded with a sneer.

"I don't have a mommy anymore," Alfred whispered. He's not sure why he felt the need to speak up, but he did and there was no taking the words back out of the air.

"Oh boo hoo! None of us have moms, kid! You're nothing special." Her upper lip curled up in what appeared to be disgust as she gave Alfred a once over. "Whatever. Crying weenie or not, we're going to use you to get back at your brother for messing with us last time."

"Matt wouldn't do anyth-" Alfred was immediately cut off when the girl's fist connected with the side of his face. With wide eyes he fell onto his side and curled up into a ball. The stream of tears that had momentarily stopped came back full force as he ducked his chin in and held himself. This isn't what he wanted. He wanted to escape this when he ran away. He wanted this to be nothing but a nightmare that he could leave behind when he woke up in Oliver's arms.

"Mama! ¡Ven aquí!" A voice behind Alfred practically screamed. Taking a chance, he opened his eyes (not realizing that they had closed) and watched as the girls' faces in front of him instantly changed from cruel to scared. For the first time since they had stopped him they actually looked like little girls. "Get away from him!" That familiar voice once again shouted. Soon, Alfred felt a hand on his shoulder lightly shaking him. "Alfred! Amigo, are you okay?"

The small American shook his head slowly, regretting his decision when he instantly felt dizzy.

Suddenly, a much louder voice pierced his ears. "HEY YOU LITTLE BRATS! GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I GET THE PRINCIPAL INVOLVED AND GET YOU ALL EXPELLED!"

Almost immediately did Alfred hear the sounds of feet rapidly pounding on concrete as the three girls ran away.

Before he could see who had scared them off he found himself drifting away into peaceful darkness. The last thing he heard was a much softer voice, "Don't worry, I have Oliver on speed dial."

When Alfred woke up it was far from pleasant. His eyes shot open and he was suddenly sitting up in bed while wheezing for air. He coughed a few times, tears swelling up in his eyes from the lack of oxygen as a gentle hand was placed on his back.

"Alfred! Oh honey, try and take a deep breath!" A very worried Oliver prompted. Alfred did as he was told, inhaling as much air as he could get before exhaling. After doing this multiple times he was finally given the opportunity to take in his surroundings. His head twisted from side to side, unfocused eyes trying to look at everything at once. Upon realizing he was in his room he let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Oh honey," Oliver whispered as he slid his arms around Alfred's waist and brought him up onto his lap. Alfred didn't resist as the man made him rest his head on his chest. Oliver himself was shaking as he tried to soothe the smaller boy in his arms.

"What happened?" Alfred croaked out. Once again that proved to be a mistake because he began coughing all over again. This time however a cup found its way to his lips and he happily parted them to allow the water entrance. After calming down for a second time, he tilted his head up to look at his new guardian.

"Sweetie, Diego and his mother brought you home after, according to them, you were in a fight with a few girls. Is this true?" The usually bright pink man bit his lower lip as if fearing the worst in Alfred's answer.

Alfred absorbed that for a moment. Diego. Yes, Diego was there. His mom though? That must have been the voice he heard that had scared the other girls away. Diego's mommy was a hero in his book.

"Yeah," was all he could say as the arms around him squeezed him closer.

"Al! Al!" Alfred lifted his head up from Oliver's chest and looked over his shoulder as his new brother came running into the room. He was breathing hard with his hands on his knees- hunched over even as he quickly scanned the younger boy over. "Are you okay?"

Alfred stared at him hard for what felt like an eternity before he turned back around and said nothing. An awkward silence filled the room and Alfred could have sworn he heard Oliver softly sigh above him.

"Alfie?" Matthew asked with confusion dripping from his voice. "Whats the matter?"

Still Alfred adamantly refused to looked at him. Instead, he buried his face into Oliver's shoulder and bit his bottom lip.

"Matthew," Oliver jumped in with yet another soft whisper. "Why don't you tell papa that Alfred woke up, okay?"

"But-"

"Matthew." Oliver sounded absolutely resolute.

Another silence filled the room before the sound of sneakers dragging on the floor cued Matthew leaving.

Alfred knew this wasn't over. Things were never easy.

"Honey," Oliver tried but Alfred speedily shook his head. Later. Not now. He didn't want to talk now.

The mean girls had said that he was getting beat up because of Matthew. So it was Matthew's fault that he got hit in the first place. Maybe he would ask his brother later why they had said that, but for now... He just wanted to go back to sleep and forget the dull pain in his head.

"My boys' first fight," Oliver mumbled before shaking the already half-asleep boy in his arms. "Hey! No going back to sleep! You might have something!"

Well there went that idea.

Ven aquí = Come here