The Complex Kids.

William had kept Ryan for an unusually long time, so Gabe went to check on the pair of them, leaving Brendon and Dru alone in their room. "So . . . how was your first day as scout?" she asked, trying to keep her resolution to make nice.

"I didn't see any cops."

"That's good." Dru said. "They usually leave us alone unless they catch us doing shit."

"Have you ever run into them before?"

Dru snorted. "I give one of them blowjobs every Thursday." Brendon lowered his head, ashamed, and she tried not to roll her eyes. "You'll get . . ." Her voice trailed off as she heard Gabe's raised voice.

"I don't care if he's in your group, he's in my family and he's got a fucking right to tell you what he doesn't want to do, Beckett!"

"Wait here." Dru told Brendon, patting him on the cheek and walking out of their room toward Will's.

Ryan was crying and struggling to put his clothes on as quickly as possible. William had his too-tight jeans on, but was shirtless, hands on his hips, yelling at Gabe who had his hands in fists and was yelling back. Ryan pushed between the two boys and threw his arms around Dru's waist, crying against her shirt. "Make them stop." he whispered. "I don't want them to fight, Dru."

"Go back to Brendon, Ryan." the girl said, leaning down and kissing the top of his head. After Ryan had gone back to the room, Dru's hands found her hips. "What the fuck'd you do to him, Beckett?" she demanded.

"Apparently Ryan didn't want to have a second go, but William here decided that Ryan's agreement wasn't necessary." Gabe said, eyes never leaving the other boy. If it weren't for his arms suddenly flying around her waist, Dru's hands would have closed around William's neck.

"You're not a pimp!" she screamed hysterically. "You don't own him! No means no!" The other kids were watching their female leader screaming at the leader of the BH with concern. Nobody wanted war to erupt within The Complex.

"Dru, go take care of the boys." Gabe said evenly. When the girl continued to struggle, he squeezed her tight enough to take her breath way. "Go check on the boys, Dru. Now."

Bitter tears streamed down the girl's face as she stormed back to their room. "You okay?" she asked Ryan. Brendon was holding him uncertainly, running a hand up and down his back. The boy nodded, burying his face in Brendon's shirt. "'Kay." Dru said, sitting down on her and Gabe's side of the room and drawing her knees up to her chest.

The three of them sat there in silence, listening to Gabe and Will fight until Gabe came back, bending low to kiss the top of Ryan's head before sitting beside Dru and letting her snuggle against him. "What did you do?" she asked.

"Warned him."

"That's all?"

"I'm not going to start a feud, Dru. Will runs the BH. Ryan's a hooker. He's warned. If he's not stupid, he'll listen. Otherwise I'll give him to Liz for fun."

"She'd like that."

"Exactly." Gabe sighed and raked a hand through his dirty hair before cursing loudly. "I'm too wound. I'm going to find Pete."

"Do you need a condom?" Dru asked. "I still have some from Sister Agnes." Sister Agnes was a nun who gave out condoms and clean needles and kept tabs on the working girls and boys. Needless to say, she wasn't exactly within Vatican favor.

"I'm good, babe." Gabe leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips before leaving the room.

"I thought you were dating him." Brendon said to Dru in a small voice, arms still around Ryan.

The girl smiled, a true smile this time. "No. I'm a GP, Brendon. I can't be faithful. And Gabe likes boys, too. But we love each other. That's all that matters really."

Then Ryan started kissing Brendon and the younger boy responded. Dru turned her head, slightly disturbed, before getting up and leaving their room. Her eyes scanned the rest of The Complex. She could see Pete and Gabe under a blanket, Liz and The Butcher talking, some GP girls trading make-up, a group of the kids smoking pot, Agatha and some of the Peddler kids playing with her baby.

This was what she was the leader of: jackshit.

She definitely looked the part.

* * *

Dru saw Liz around the hotel more often that she normally did the next few days and she had a suspicion that it was on a favor to Gabe. Probably a sex favor. Liz didn't do anything for free. Although she may have for Dru. There was a time, a few months before, when Liz happened down the alleyway where a guy was forcing the older girl to her knees. Neither girl stayed to find out what happened, but both were fairly sure he didn't survive Liz's knife and boots.

But not even Liz could save Dru from what was about to happen.

Dru's bouts of depression weren't unheard of, but they were rare. Every six months or so she sunk into one and it changed the entire atmosphere of The Complex. Dru and Gabe were their leaders and if something happened to a leader, it affected all of them. Ryan had yet to see the girl he regarded as an older sister go through one.

Now he was running through the neighborhood looking for Gabe while Pete helped Brendon with Dru's cuts. The boy found Gabe trading words and money with a police officer that happened to be a client of Ryan's.

The boy waited for Gabe to turn before running up to him, make-up streaked from tears. "Something's wrong with Dru."

"What's wrong with her?" Gabe asked, bending down slightly and using his thumbs to wipe at Ryan's cheeks.

"She's crying and bleeding. She told Brendon she should die." Ryan grabbed Gabe's hands. "We got to go. I left her with Pete and Bren."

"You left her with Pete?" Gabe snapped, grabbing Ryan's hand and dragging him down the street. "Why him?"

Ryan started crying again. "He said he could take care of the cuts."

"Don't leave her with people I fuck." Gabe softened his voice when Ryan started crying harder. "Don't cry, Ry. I'm sorry. I'm not mad, all right?"

"Is Dru going to be okay?" Ryan asked in a small voice, looking up at the older boy.

Gabe sighed. "Yeah." He took a steadying breath. "This happens. The last time was before we adopted you." The older boy tried to smile.

They were entering The Complex now which was unusually silent except for Dru crying. Everyone avoided Gabe’s eyes as he walked to his room.

Dru looked up at her counterpart, make-up streaked down her cheeks, eyelashes soaked, arm wrapped in what looked like an old tee shirt. “Gabey.” she whispered.

The boy blinked hard and nodded his head, indicating that everyone should leave. Ryan stayed right outside the room, crying silently, knees pulled up to his chest. Brendon stayed with him, not saying a word.

“Baby girl . . .” Gabe cooed gently. “What’s wrong?” Dru didn’t say anything, just picked at her cuticles, refusing to meet the boy’s eyes. “Dru-baby . . . what’s wrong?”

“He was mean.” the girl finally whispered. “He . . . he . . . called me names ‘cause I wouldn’t let him fuck me in the ass. Whore, slut. Things in Italian. Conchuda.”

“That’s Spanish, baby girl.” Gabe murmured.

“Well, I never heard you say it.”

“I never would.” He pressed his lips gently to her temple. ”Te quiero.”

Dru sniffled. “I want some shit. Can you see what Trav has?” Gabe kissed her hard and left. Ryan and Brendon immediately came into the room, sitting on their side, Ryan staring at Dru with big, scared eyes.

Then Kristen walked in. She was one of the Peddler Kids. Gabe and Dru had nearly adopted her, but she and Nate (a Loner) fell in love so she moved into his room instead. She pressed something into Dru’s hand and kissed her cheek before leaving the room. Dru looked down at it. A small, clumsily-made stuffed heart. Made of felt and probably stuffed with sawdust. Dru squeezed it tightly before putting it in the tin soup can she kept things in. (Condoms, lipstick, tampons, a nail file.)

Gabe came back with a square packet of tinfoil as she was putting the can back in it’s place. Cocaine. He held his hand out to Dru and she sniffled, avoiding his eyes. “Hand it over. Now.” The girl was red in the face from trying not to cry as she reached under their pillow and pulled out a razorblade.

Gabe took it from her. “You know I’d never raise a hand to you, Druscilla,” he said in a low voice, “but Jesus. Get a hold of yourself.” Two tears rolled down her cheeks. “Stop it. I don’t want you getting the coke wet.” Gabe turned to Ryan. “And no, you cannot.”

“But—“

“No. I’m not giving you drugs. And if I find out you took anything stronger than pot from Will, I’m beating the shit out of you.” With that note of finality, Ryan crossed his arms stubbornly and watched Gabe lean down to start cutting the powder into lines.

The boy snorted his first, then Dru. Ryan knew from experience that the pair would be fucking in minutes. He took Brendon’s hand and lead him quietly from their room. Soon enough, Dru’s panting and Gabe’s Spanish cursing filled The Complex.

This, in turn, lead to Ryan’s erection and Brendon getting fucked in one of the empty rooms after he got a condom from one of the BH. Ryan and Brendon switched fucking and getting fucked, but Ryan usually got fucked more because he was used to it. After the two boys emerged from the room, they ran straight into William Beckett, who was seething.

“This better not affect anything with your customers, Ryan Ross.” he said through gritted teeth.

Ryan grabbed Brendon’s hand and tugged on it. “Let’s go.”

Gabe and Dru were lying under their sheet. Ryan could see the straps of Dru’s bra and Gabe was shirtless, so he figured it was safe to go in. He’d seen them both naked before anyway. He and Brendon sat up while Brendon read quietly from a book Ryan had stolen from the public library. He stuttered slightly when he read and he finally snapped the book shut, flushing with embarrassment.

Ryan kissed him softly on the cheek. “It’s okay. I think it’s cute.”

Brendon didn’t say anything, but he threw himself down on their pillow. Ryan lay down beside him, gently stroking his boyfriend’s hair. “It’s okay. We all have something we can’t do.”

“My dad said I was retarded.” Brendon said in a small voice.

“Well, that’s stupid. You knew every word you read. I didn’t even know that one word. ‘Fluid’, I think. I thought it was ‘flued’.” Ryan wrapped his arms around Brendon’s waist. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” the younger boy replied, sniffling.

Gabe and Dru were quiet on their side of the room. He had his arms around her waist and she was absently stroking his chest. “I can’t work tomorrow.” she whispered.

“Not tomorrow, no.” Gabe agreed softly. “But the day after. Just stick with blowjobs until the cuts heal. You’ll come with me tomorrow.”

“Baby-sitting?” Dru snapped, voice vicious. Ryan and Brendon both turned to look, wide-eyed.

“You obviously need one.” Gabe said coolly. “Don’t you give me that look, Druscilla. You’ll listen to me or there’s going to be hell to pay.”

“I’m scared.” she said, voice deadpanned.

“Shut the fuck up.” Gabe snapped.

The girl feel silent. Ryan and Brendon turned their backs to them. Gabe’s breathing was heavy. But he never once tightened his arms around Dru’s waist.

* * *

Liz and the Butcher were fighting. Apparently she’d done a drug he didn’t approve of and he had done someone she didn’t like. It happened once or twice a week. The Butcher was protective and Liz had anger issues. It annoyed Gabe to no end, but no one ever got hurt, so he couldn’t really do anything about it.

“You’re a pill-popping bitch!”

“You’re a cunt-hungry asshole!”

They both quieted when Gabe emerged from his room. There was no expression on his face and he didn’t say a word. The Butcher gave in first, disappearing back into their room Gabe and Liz stared at each other for a few more moments before she muttered ‘whatever’ and disappeared after her counterpart. Then Gabe went back to his room.

A few hours later, the boy sent Ryan and Brendon to get breakfast, refusing to let Dru out of his sight. They returned with breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds. Five of them (two for Gabe). After the four of them ate, Dru kicked Ryan and Brendon out so she could give Gabe his morning blowjob. Liz screamed for Brendon in a sentence composed mainly of curse words and he let Ryan give him a quick kiss before he ran after her, terrified.

After Dru finished with Gabe, she called Ryan back in and did his make-up and hair before sending him off to Will. “You could just let me sleep.” she said quietly, turning to look at the boy beside her.

“I could.” he said. “But I’m not going to. Get dressed. I have cops to pay off today.”

“But Gabey . . .”

He leaned down and kissed Dru lightly on the mouth. “Please.”

“But—“

“Please.”

Dru sighed. “Fine. I love you.”

“I love you too, baby girl.”