Brothers By Design

The next morning began as the previous one had. Kane told Devin that if he wasn’t going to eat lunch he was going to have to start eating more at breakfast and at snacktime. Devin agreed and managed to eat nearly a third of what was on his plate. It was a marked improvement, double what he had been eating since the hospital. Kane hoped that as Dr. Porter had promised Devin’s appetite would increase to normal.

Dr. Nelson had been more pessimistic on that subject, saying that after so many years of deprivation, Devin’s system, even healed, would never be able to tolerate much food all at once. He had suggested that the frequent snacks Kane and Albert pressed on Devin were going to be their best bet in getting him to gain much-needed weight.

The lunch room was crowded and loud, so it came as no surprise to Kane that Devin didn’t want to eat. Or that he would be uncomfortable in a crowded locker room of much bigger boys. The classroom had to be intimidating. Kane decided that he’d wait a few weeks before asking if the partition helped.

In the car he reminded Devin to ignore the girl if she approached or spoke, to see if she could be discouraged without threats or violence. Kane didn’t want to get in trouble at the new school so soon. On the other hand, not doing something right away could give it a chance to get worse, and went against the way he did things. One glance at Devin curled next to him reinforced the decision to wait a few days. But only until Friday. Monday, he would do things his way.

He’d promised to try. Try to change, to become better. Not for himself, but for Devin. If he screwed up, they’d kill Devin. Of that Kane had no doubt. There was no leaving the experiment and moving on. The former thug would end up either dead or in Long-ville. The abused kid would end up dead one way or another. Good incentive to try to change, so long as he could think before he acted.

They made it into the building before Jessica found them, blathering stupidities and not letting anyone else get a word in. Kane ignored her, turning his head and talking to Devin as if she wasn’t there. He didn’t give her a chance to say goodbye at the classroom, ushering Devin in without so much as a single glance in her direction. He saw her standing in the hall gaping as they got into their seats.

He wasn’t the only one. A few of the other students warned him to keep an eye on his friend, stating that a crossed or thwarted Jessica was a nasty Jessica. Kane thanked each of them for the warning, but said nothing that could be reported to the girl or the adults to get him in trouble. He expected Devin to be upset, but he did not seem fazed by the warnings.

“Are you okay, Devi?”

Devin nodded, smiling at him.

“You protect me,” he said simply. Kane agreed. If only everything could be that simple.

******

Gym class and volleyball. Kane liked volleyball. He liked pretty much everything they did in gym class. Anything that involved moving around was good. Volleyball was fun because he got to hit the ball as hard as he wanted, and as long as it went over the net nobody got mad at him. What could be better?

Devin was sitting on the sidelines, drawing. Kane had never known anyone who drew so much. All of his friends had been physical, like himself. It was different, but not bad. It made Devin happy, at any rate, and was something he could do no matter where they happened to be.

An incoming ball went wild, missing Devin by only a foot. Kane frowned and positioned himself closer to the boundary line. They happened, wild balls, but he didn’t like them. If you couldn’t control the ball, you shouldn’t be hitting it.

It happened again, missing Devin by perhaps half a foot. Now Kane was suspicious. Twice in the same area was not an accident -- somebody was aiming for Devin. He resettled, focusing on the game.

The ball sailed across the net to the other side. Right to Jessica, who had run forward at the last second. She hit it hard, grunting with the effort, right toward Devin. Kane ran and intercepted it, slamming it back at her. With his enhanced speed and strength, the ball whistled through the air and struck her in the chest. She went down hard to the floor. The gym fell silent.

The coach ran over to check on the downed girl. Kane turned on his heel and went to squat next to Devin, who was still sketching. Devin looked up, smiling with bashful cheerfulness. Kane grinned back, winked, ruffled Devin’s hair, and returned to the court.

The other team had crowded around the downed girl and coach, as his own team approached the net. Kane did the same. He’d get in trouble, but he didn’t care. The damned girl had tried to hurt Devin. He was a little shaken; he’d forgotten about his enhancements, had been acting on the instinct to protect Devin.

“Go get the nurse!”

Several kids took off. Kane remained in the crowd, ignoring the looks and questions from the other kids. He didn’t gloat or smile; what he had done wasn’t nice. Still, he was pretty sure everybody got the message. He hoped so, anyway. Otherwise he was surrounded by complete idiots. Which, unfortunately, was possible.

The nurse came to supervise as Jessica was carried away to the clinic. Everyone was sent to change into regular clothing, then told to spend the rest of the period on the bleachers. The locker-room was quiet. Kane was on the receiving end of several almost scared looks, but he ignored them. He’d gotten used to them. He was, after all, a thug.

“Could someone explain what happened?” It was Ms. Milton, arriving as the kids

clambered into the bleachers.

“Jessica hit the ball, and Kane hit it back,” Randolph said, shrugging, his voice even and calm. “ like we’re supposed to.” Several others agreed.

“I guess I hit it harder than I thought,” Kane said apologetically, stunned at the show of support.

He’d expected to be turned in for hurting the girl, and had prepared himself for all kinds of trouble. This was unexpected. He wondered why they were defending him, then decided not to worry about it. Somebody would let him know what they wanted in return. As long as it didn’t involve hurting or upsetting Devin, he didn’t much care.

He wasn’t surprised Randolph did the talking. Randolph was a miniature adult. Dark black hair and bright blue eyes that saw and analyzed everything. He wore button-down shirts, khaki pants, and dress shoes. To school. He would be the leader of whatever passed as a gang in this place of books instead of Slates. Kane wondered what that would mean.

Ms. Milton lectured. She couldn’t do anything else. Everyone in the class insisted that Kane had returned the ball as he was supposed to. She left with frustration written all over her face. Kane let out a breath when she was gone. He wanted to o sit with Devin on the sidelines, but didn’t quite dare. Things were going too well; he might screw it up by ignoring the order to stay on the bleachers.

“She a hahd-nose, but ain’t bad as some,” a low voice said. Kane turned, startled.

A blond kid, William, settled next to him with a wry grimace. William was another boy most often left alone. He rarely smiled, was rude and nasty to almost everybody, and spoke with a thick, indefinable accent. Most of the other kids were openly afraid of the pre-teen, which was odd, considering he was not large and did not bully anyone.

“Tha scuddick ya clabbered’s glaikit,” the boy went on with a shake of his head. “Ya’d think she’d’a leastways been ambagious ‘bout messin wi’ ya gazooney.”

“Uh…what?”

“He said that Jessica’s dumb,” a female voice explained. A red-haired girl sat behind William. “And that you would think she’d have been more careful about messing with your boyfriend.” She giggled. “Wills always needs a translator.”

William scowled, tilting his head back to glare at the girl. She smiled back at him, unimpressed. After a moment he looked away, muttering something Kane didn’t quite catch.

“Yeah, but you love me, anyway.” To Kane’s surprise, William agreed.

He must have stared. William was looking at him as if he had lost his mind.

“Ya din’t know ’bout me n Maggie? Ah thought evehbody knew.”

“Today’s only his second day, Wills,” the girl, Maggie, pointed out. “He hasn’t been here long enough to be told.” She smiled at Kane. “It takes a couple of weeks before anybody will decide if you’re okay or not. Of course, now that you’ve shown you won’t put up with Jessica, it won’t take long before everybody decides to be friends with you.”

“Or that they scared of ya,” William shrugged. “Which wuks as well. Bettah, ifn ya dun wanna be harried by a bunch a lack wits.”

Maggie rolled her eyes but didn’t comment. Kane considered what William had said, then agreed that it probably was better if most of them were scared of him. William nodded.

Maggie and William sat with him until the end of class, the boys making occasional comments to each other. Maggie seemed content to sit and listen, humming to herself, now and then translating something William had said.

After class Randolph approached him. Kane wasn’t sure what to expect. He was surprised when Randolph invited him to go to the local park on Saturday to play. He explained what they would be playing would depend on the weather and who showed up, but he and Devin were more than welcome to join them. If Devin wished to be left alone, Randolph went on in his very adult, authoritative way, nobody would mess with him.

******

Steve had received a phone call about the gym incident. He looked very serious as he and Kane climbed into the car, fixing Kane with a long look and saying they were going to talk when they got home. Kane nodded. He’d expected as much. Devin looked confused and more than a little worried, but cuddled against Kane.

Once home they ate the snack the cook had waiting for them. Kane was pleased to see that Devin ate nearly half of the food on his plate. Still not enough, but better than he had been doing. They went upstairs to start homework. Kane let Devin get settled, ruffled his hair, then told him he was going to go talk to Steve, but he’d be back. Devin looked worried but asked no questions.

Steve was walking into the house as Kane came down the stairs. With a grim nod he led the way into the music room, shutting the door.

“Would you care to explain what happened today?”

With a shrug, Kane did. He kept his voice neutral, his sentences short and to the point. When he was done Steve was quiet for a long minute.

“She’s had to be hospitalized,” he said at last, watching Kane. “Broken ribs. Probably internal damage as well. We told the parents we would pay the bill, since you were the one who hit the ball.”

Kane considered. “I guess that’s fair,” he said. “Bet they wouldn’t have offered to do the same if she’d hurt Devin, though.”

“Probably not,” Steve admitted. “And, since everyone in your class swears you did nothing wrong, we don’t have to pay. However, you and I both know you aimed for her intending to hurt her. And this prevents the parents from pressing assault charges.”

“Not that bad,” Kane defended. “I wanted to knock the wind out of her.” He frowned. “Forgot about the enhancements. Not saying that excuses what I did, ’cuz I didn’t mean to hurt her that bad. I can’t let myself forget in the future.” At least the parents weren’t going to press charges. That would have been bad.

“No, you can’t,” Steve agreed. “I understand you were trying to protect Devin, but you have to remember that you are a lot stronger than the other kids now. You could cause serious damagem or even kill one of them, if you forget again.”

Kane knew he was violent and stuff. Didn’t mean he wanted to become a killer. What would happen to Devin if he got sent to Long-ville?

“I’ll remember,” he swore. “I’ll be more careful.”

“I’m glad to hear it. However, because of this, it has been decided that you aren’t going to be given access to Shyla to avenge what she did to Devin.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Kane, but those are the orders. Given what you did to someone who did not actually harm Devin, its felt that in retaliation for what was done, you would likely kill Shyla. Or come very close to doing so.”

Kane admitted to himself that he probably would kill the bitch for what she’d done. Still, was he supposed to let it go? How? Knowing what she’d done and that she was going to get away with it would eat him alive from the inside out.

Well, if they weren’t going to allow him to do something, he’d have to do it without permission. There was no way she was getting away with it. At least they had Steve instead of her living with them. It was a small victory, but it counted. And they probably only meant he couldn’t physically do anything. There were still her records.

“We’ll bring in a trainer for you,” Steve went on. “To teach you various forms of fighting as well as controlling your anger.” He hesitated. “You may also consider encouraging Devin to participate.”

Kane nodded. Might do Devin some good, at least in the self-confidence department. Might even help him not need Kane as much.

“I’ll talk to him. Can I go? Homework, you know.” And Devin worried if he was gone any length of time.

“Go on. If I keep you much longer somebody will probably have hysterics.” It was said with a slight, wry grin. Kane scowled.

“Are you saying something bad about Devin?” he demanded. “It ain’t his fault...”

“I meant you,” Steve interrupted. “You have as rough a time with separation as he does. Haven’t you noticed?”

The comment brought Kane up short. He hadn’t noticed, but wouldn’t be surprised to find out it was true. After all, Devin was his responsibility. And people tended to try to hurt Devin when he wasn’t around. It made sense he’d be antsy when they were separated. How could he protect Devin if he wasn’t there? Especially given the fact that most people seemed determined to beat on him when Kane wasn’t around. He still needed to figure out the reason.

He said as much to Steve. Maybe Steve or Albert would know if there’d ever been some kind of experiment that would have turned Devin into a punching bag. He’d have to ask them about it later. Instead, remembering, he explained about the invitation for Saturday. When asked, he admitted that he would like to go. Steve agreed to allow it, provided he got in no further trouble at school.

******

“Kane!”

Kane held out his arms as Devin came running toward him to be embraced. Kane rubbed his upper back, getting as much comfort as he knew he was giving. So what if he had trouble with separation? So he liked having his boy close. Nobody’s business but his own. And it was weird to be calling Devin his boy. He didn’t know why he’d started, but it came naturally in his head, so he guessed he was stuck with it.

“I missed you, Kane. I was scared he was gonna try and hurt you.”

Kane squeezed him close. Trust Devin to automatically assume somebody was going to try to hurt him. It was weird, having somebody worry about him like that. His own father had quit worrying a long time ago -- or, if he hadn’t quit worrying, he’d stopped letting it show. It had always been lectures on getting caught or something. Which was probably the only way his father had known to show he cared. But ir didn’t work very well.

“Steve wanted to talk. About school ’n stuff. They’re gonna bring in a trainer for me, to practice my fighting, controlling my temper and stuff like that. That’s all. Nobody here’s gonna hurt me, or you.So don’t you go worrying about it, all right?”

“Kay.”

“That’s my good boy. How’s the homework coming?”

“Not so bad, I guess.” Devin rubbed his face against Kane’s shoulder, sighing. “I missed you.”

“Well I’m back now, so you won’t miss me anymore. Let’s get our homework finished and see what we can do.”

“Kay.”