Chapter 1
The alley that Michael and his friends liked to frequent was fairly close to the Queer shelter that had taken them in the first place. It was close enough to that place that most of the other people on the street avoided it, but far away enough from the cookie-cutter neighborhood next to them that it didn't give him a headache everytime he looked in the wrong direction.
God, he hated that neighborhood. And all the self-righteous people in it. Although...
His eyes strayed to the youngest (and newest) member of the group, whose home life was unstable for a reason Michael didn't quite understand, if he were honest. But the kid, Harry, was great nevertheless. Full of energy and spirit, and once he'd been able to get past the wall the kid had put up, he'd become angrier and more sarcastic, taking after Michael's twin sister, Layla. The flannel shirt Harry was wearing had once been his cousin's, and the kids first project; he'd trimmed down the bottom with some safety scissors, used the scraps to patch some of the holes, and saved the rest for later. It was pretty smart, for a 10 year old that had been 8 at the time.
So maybe the people in that neighborhood weren't all that bad. Especially since Harry was also cute as a button; some meals from the shelter had put some more weight in him and made his cheeks less sallow. Michael had found the kid's bright green eyes absolutely charming- there was something almost disarming about the way one cloudy eye, marred by a lightning-shaped scar, would sparkle as he side-eyed people in amusement.
Yeah, Michael would absolutely kill any motherfucker that tried to lure those eyes into darkened alleyways even he knew not to go into. It was enough that the kid had a horrid aunt and uncle to go back to- all he and his friends could do was slowly, but surely undo the damage brought on him, extending the time the kid had available to go outside by bringing him to some of the friendlier all-ages concerts and practically forcing him to eat dinner first at the shelter. The last thing Harry needed was the horrors that had been brought upon his twin and Briget, the latter of which ended up having a miscarriage.
He snapped out of his thoughts as Layla shoved his shoulder, making the chain on his jacket rattle in near-perfect synchronicity. "You've been staring at that wall for half an hour idiot," she said without preamble, grabbing his wrist to steady him. "Just thinking about the kid," he muttered, using his chin to point at the boy in question. He was sitting on the edge of a dumpster, held steady by Briget, while Leaf told him a wild story about moshing that Michael himself had heard about thirty times at this point. "Yeah? Wish I could shive those fuckin' relatives of his. Dunno why he insists on going back everyday," Layla let go of his wrist, fidgeting with the dental floss stitching on her gloves. "Well you've gotta admire his mentality of staying in school," he pointed out. "If anything, he at least's gonna learn how to read and write," "Well, he should be able to go without livin' with those shitty monsters that call themselves relatives. I'm surprised at this point that the kid hasn't grabbed a kitchen knife and slashed his aunt's eyes out, especially since they apparently give him free range of the kitchen," "You know he's far too soft to do that. He ain't like you Layla,"