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Shiri was going to kill his brother. A slow and painful death by sporks if he had anything to do with it.

Clenching his jaw he tried not to stomp down the street as he carried his sobbing child.

Wiping at his eyes Tanz hiccupped and held onto his father with a white knuckled grip. “Why’d he hurt Monkey?” Tanz asked in a cracking voice.

Closing his eyes Shiri kissed his child on the forehead as he hiked his backpack higher on his back. “Don’t worry sweety, we’ll fix Monkey when we get home. Neil has to work tonight so he won’t be coming back until late.”

Tanz nodded into Shiri’s shoulder. Neil had torn one of Monkey’s arms off when they were fighting earlier in the day. Shiri then volunteered to take Tanz with him as he made his bank run.

“Just give me a few minutes and then we will go get some ice cream and plums alright.” Shiri hated nothing more then to see his usually happy child in tears.

He just hoped that the people at the bank wouldn’t mind him taking Tanz in with him. They usually liked to hear him stumble over his words as he bragged about his kid. Hopefully they will like Tanz as much as they said they would.

Shiri gave Tanz one last squeeze as he walked into the Bank.

Shiri nodded back awkwardly as the assistant lead him to a room off to the side. He just needed to make some quick changes to the Café account then he could get Tanz home.

This is what he was hoping at least. When he saw the women sitting behind the desk he relaxed, she looked professional, so this wouldn’t take too much time.

Tanz squealed and held onto Shiri even tighter when his father tried to put him down.

Shiri blushed and apologized to the women. “I’m sorry. He’s just really upset-” He glanced around the room and noticed the child sitting there. His breath came out of him in a rush as his eyes widened. The child felt different. But that might have been because of his colorless eyes.

Tanz sniffed and looked up to see what Shiri was looking at as his father went to take a seat. Tanz fell into his lap as he took in the office. Something made his dad nervous he just needed to-

“Pretty.” Tanz gasped as he wiped his eyes to clear away the tears. "Even better then Cole.” Tanz told his dad as he went to speak with the women.

“My name is Shiri Matakami,” Shiri said slowly there was no need to be nervous if Tanz didn’t mind them he didn’t need to make his kid even more upset. "And I am here to talk with you about moving some of my funds to a different account?”

"Can I go play?” Tanz asked quietly not taking his eyes off of the other child.

Shiri and blinked and looked to the women across the desk.

“If it’s alright?” Shiri asked smiling awkwardly to the banker in front of him.

Tanz smiled his eyes still red and wet from crying. Jumping off of Shiri’s lap he ignored his father’s grunt of pain as he walked over and sat down in front of the other child. He couldn’t see too well so Tanz thought it would be best to sit down for a while, or at least until he was allowed to stand up again.

“Mm Tanz.” He sniffed trying to clear his eyes again. The tears still welled up even though he wasn’t so sad anymore. “You’re the same as me aren’t you? My daddy tells me that I came from a scary house where the rats like to eat people.” Tanz nodded as if trying to banish the bad mood and smile again.

Looking away from his mood swing prone child Shiri answered the question he was asked. “Ah! Yes.” Shiri turned around and grabbed his bag now that his lap wasn’t full of a crying toddler. He pulled out a folder and set it on the table and took out some slips and checks. “Can you put these checks in the Café account and these in my savings?” Shiri looked up with a small smile. He had no idea what he was doing and hoped that she either knew it or ignored it totally.

Tanz glanced at his father as he started talking but then glanced back at the boy in front of him. “I really think you are pretty. Dad always tells me that I shouldn’t tell people that but it’s mean to just think it and not tell people.” The little boy nodded to himself and smiled the only sign of his bad mood was the redness of his eyes and the occasional sniffle.

Shiri nodded and sat back. Glad that he didn’t have to do anything as the banker he instead looked to check on Tanz and his new friend. Anyone Tanz meets automatically is his friend. Except Neil. But Shiri didn’t want to get into that again.

“Takan.” Tanz smiled as he tasted the name. “It’s almost like mine, but not.” Tanz tilted his head thinking. “I think that the rats in the scary place eat people ‘cause all their friends are getting eated in other places…”

Tanz’s smile grew wider as he slammed his hands down on the floor in front of him. “You’re really pretty. Your colors are all soft and your eyes are different.” Tanz whispered the last part of his sentence.

“Your eyes aren’t like Cole’s and Lynet’s.” The child tried to explain. Shiri always tells him that he needs to explain everything that he says to people. He has already gotten in trouble at the café for calling people or things pretty when he has no reason to.

Scrunching his face up Tanz tried to think. “White is so different. Different is pretty.”

Tanz blushed. He never had put his fascination into words like this before. Hoping Takan didn’t act like everyone else he talked to Tanz looked at the ground. Maybe he should have just stayed with Shiri.

Tanz glanced up eyes wide as Tak stomped his foot. He missed the first part, but it didn’t seemed to be aimed at him. Even if Takan was yelling, Tanz hoped he did nothing wrong.

“Neil said that you either embrace change or you...” Scrunching his eye shut Tanz tried to remember what else his uncle said, but he couldn’t grasp it. Sighing Tanz just looked at Tak and smiled touching his face.

“Mm blushing.” Tanz mumbled. He usually never gets embarrassed for what does or says. He doesn’t like to regret things so after something happens he usually flies with it. But this was different somehow. Tanz felt so small and helpless when he looked at Tak.

“It means that my head’ll esplode if I don’t be careful.” Tanz didn’t know if that was true. But Otto tells everyone that all the time when they turn red, so he thought it would be something smart to say.

Tanz spread his hands out in front of him and looked up at Takan. “What’s your mom like?” Tanz whispered, making sure that Shiri wasn’t paying attention to him. “Dad gets up really early everyday and makes me go to work with him, then it’s bed time when we get home.” Tanz wanted to see if all parents were like that and Takan seemed like he would give him a honest answer.

“Just my head would ‘splode. I don’t think I have any guts in my head.” Tanz tilted his head to think hoping he wasn’t wrong. He didn’t want to lie to his new friend, Tanz didn’t like liars. They made people unhappy.

“Um,” Tanz looked at Takan and then at Shiri, he was looking for guidance but his father wasn’t much help. Shiri looked just as lost as he felt. “I dunno if you should talk about your mommy like that.” Biting his lip he got closer and whispered to Takan. “It might hurt her feelings. And no one likes it when there feelings get hurt.”

Tanz sniffled. “Neil’s mean all the time and makes people not like him. My dad won’t let me talk to him anymore even though he’s my uncle.” Tanz hoped that Tak wouldn’t get mad at him, he already got yelled at once today he didn’t want it to happen again.

Shiri panicked. He knew Tanz was trying to make things better, but he seemed to just make it worse. Scrambling to think of something to say Shiri blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“So, how’s the weather?” He wanted to smack himself after he said it but he couldn’t regret it now. These kids might seem mature for their ages but he hoped the kid didn’t mean it. Then Tanz would want to take him home. And Shiri has the feeling that he won’t be able to say ‘no’ to Tanz if he asked.

Tanz tried not to be sad. Just because Tak didn’t get along with his mom didn’t mean that he should feel bad. It was none of his business. “No one can be nice all the time, and you gotta be nice to everyone even if they are mean to you.” Tanz nodded to himself and wiped his nose. “That’s what I do. But it doesn’t work sometimes…”

Looking up with childish wonder Tanz gave Tak a huge smile. “You’d do that? Just for me?” Unable to help himself, Tanz launched himself at Takan with a thankful laugh. Tanz never had a friend who would do something like that.

Shiri tried not to look stupid and just blink at her. But then he thought that asking a question like that kinda killed the whole intelligence thing. Sighing to himself Shiri turned just in time to see his kid turn into his own lethal projectile.

“Tanz!” He shouted in shock. Shiri blushed and went to apologize to Ms. Greysmith but stopped short at the way Tanz laughed. He hasn’t heard his kid be happy like that in a long time. Tanz usually acts content so other people around him don’t get sad, but no one had made him smile that much.

Unable to stop them, tears started to pool in Tanz eyes as he stared at Takan. Realizing that Tak didn’t want to see him cry Tanz snuggled into the boy under him and spoke in a soft whisper.

“ You’re my bestest and only friend.”
Tanz knew that most people just put up with him and it hurt sometimes, but now that he found someone he wasn’t going to be sad anymore.