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Family is something a person cannot choose. They are people given to you, when the Maker's hands guide you to your body and whisper, "Yes, they will help you grow."

But family does not live in blood, though it can. It does not live in the mind, though it could. Family lives in the soul, created with the stardust that lives in your body. They are purposeful and giving with no reservations; they are the reservations and the concern and the worry. They do not just become an arm, they become the spine - the lungs - the heart.

And, like most good things, they come without warning.

Only eight years old and already seeing leather wings, Scorpio came into Taurus' life with all the force of a body hitting the floor. His eyes were wide, some darkness swaying in them, and his arms tight around the small body of his little brother.

Taurus wasn't sure how to feel about his new family. Scorpio was quiet most days and Libra was only a baby. That didn't stop Taurus from protecting them, though; even as a ten year old, he knew that he had to protect and love his family.

Scorpio was often teased at school and Taurus would always try his best to keep them away from his brother. To his parents' dismay, it sometimes ended in bloodied fists and black eyes, but Taurus always stood his ground. When Scorpio was down, it was Taurus who came to him with bruised knuckles and a piece of candy.

It took only a few months for Scorpio to find his own friends, but Taurus was his constant shadow. Scorpio would never admit it, especially to his new friend Aries, but Scorpio loved knowing that Taurus would be there for him and Libra.

However, Scorpio could never shake the darkness from his eyes. The unknown death of his father still shook him long after and Scorpio could take the unknowing no longer.

Four years had passed in the wake of his father's absence until Scorpio grew too restless for the steady life Taurus gave him. He had grown into a bubbly boy, quick with a joke and quicker with a smile, but his father dwelled in the back of his mind. Scorpio gave his father more presence than a dead man needed and soon, just like his father, Scorpio left too.

Years later, were anyone to be brave enough to ask and Scorpio drunk enough to tell, he would talk about packing as much as he could. He would take a drink and smack his lips and say he kissed little five year old Libra's head before he left. He would tilt his head and see his father in his glass and murmur how he stopped outside of Taurus' door but kept going anyway. But that was years from Scorpio as he then was, 12 years old and so very hungry as most orphans were.

And when Taurus woke up that next day, he would gain that very taste; he would crave it every day for ten years and even then, he would not be satisfied.

For any person like Taurus, hunger was a hard thing to ignore. It seemed to fester in his belly, crawl into his blood, push at his limbs to move - to search - to eat until he could stomach the meal no more. Information on Scorpio became his sole intake and nothing else could satiate the pain.

Taurus went hungry for ten years. But in that decade, he had found water when food was scarce.

Capricorn was easily like him in many ways. He was just as blunt as Taurus, sometimes even more so, and he was very rarely excited for anything—but that was where Sagittarius came in. She had bounced into Taurus' life and kept a firm hold on him, not letting him have any room to breathe or think. In some ways she reminded him of a young Scorpio, filled with giggles, and in others Taurus saw Libra, a cheerful young man rather than a brash young boy.

Most days she was just Sagittarius and Taurus loved her for that.

It was difficult to not get close to the ever calm Capricorn and the darling Sagittarius, so Taurus didn't bother staying away. He knew what a losing fight looked like and it was a vision of him, trapped between the two on his own couch, a bawling Sagittarius on his lap while they watched old cartoon movies. Winning that battle strangely looked the same as losing it, but Taurus didn't mind.

The two were handfuls on good days and an absolute truck load on bad ones but they kept his mind off of Scorpio. Until he finally came back, however.

It was as if he had never left. Taurus blinked and he was gone - gone and left, no word or note, vanished and missing to some where. Taurus blinked and there he was - present and standing, hands tucked into worn pockets, and that stupid grin Taurus would know anywhere—

And then Taurus punched him.

Scorpio, for all that he was playful, had let out a serious curse as blood ran from his nose. Taurus stood there, silent as a statue with eyes as dead as one, gazing down at the familiar red hair.

Neither of them had thought they would reunite like that. Neither of them thought they would begin to date soon after that either, but wasn't that how adulthood worked? When the child cried, the adult laughed; just as when the child ran, the adult attacked.

But Taurus and Scorpio were hardly adults. However, just like in any good masquerade, they played their part well.

Perhaps too well.

Taurus was a far too possessive lover for Scorpio. He grew wary over other people and even Scorpio himself some days, but Scorpio could not blame him. Instead, he blamed himself. Every time he thought to open his mouth, it clicked shut just like the front door did so long ago. In turn, Scorpio was far too careless for Taurus. Methodical Taurus could not match Scorpio's pace and, if he ever did, he did not keep it for long.

After ten years of living with himself and a few others he had found along the way, Scorpio had not realized all that Taurus would give him. He had given him a home, something steady to always be able to return to, but Taurus had also given him something planned, something so protective it stifled him.

For Taurus, he just did not want to have to let Scorpio go again. Would not. Could not.

It wasn't so much as Taurus letting go but Scorpio leaving: something just too familiar to be comfortable.

In the end, it was something they could see from the beginning, but had never wanted to talk about. As if their home was filled with smog but they continued to breathe it in anyway. It was Scorpio to see it for what it was: poison.

Scorpio had dreaded bringing up the topic. Though Taurus did not scare him or intimidate him, Scorpio still had no way to know how Taurus would react. If Taurus would let him go at all. If he could look through the past and not just see Scorpio as he still was at 12 years old. He refused to think of all the times he saw that young child look back at him in the mirror, refused to see what a hypocrite he was whenever he looked at Taurus and only saw a boy two years older than him with a halo around his head.

When Scorpio finally got the words out, he had curled into himself. His shoulders had been weighed down and he played with his fingers, so cold when they were usually the warmest part of him. He didn't dare look Taurus in the eye - didn't think either of them could take it.

"Why?" Taurus had asked. His voice was steady and Scorpio had nearly raised his head to see if his face was as calm as his voice. If he had, he would have seen that Taurus was anything but.

"Because we—we stifle one another, Taurus. I... I think we're still too stuck in the past. We never did really talk about what happened, you know."

It took all of Taurus' pride to not drop to his knees, but he was nothing if not stubborn. His knees were locked as his mouth thinned and tightened. Taurus had stared at Scorpio's bowed head and tried to breathe quietly, tried to not take the heaving gulps of air he so desperately needed. He would not beg for what Scorpio could not give him.

"Just please, promise me one thing."

Scorpio kept his head low. "What?" the word was softer than air.

Taurus had curled his hands around Scorpio's cold fingers. His eyes were as blue as the sky behind thunderclouds and as sad as one, too.

"Don't leave me like that again."

A deep flinch came over Scorpio before he could stop it. He seemed to sink even more into himself but Taurus did not release his grip. It was so easy to explain away the whims and wills of children but it was impossible to erase the hurt that they could cause.

Children, both men knew, could be cruel. Childhood, however, could be crueler.

"...I promise, Taurus."

And Scorpio tried to keep that oath. Tried so hard to not fall back into the silence he had lived in for ten years, but old habits were hard to break.

Taurus fared no better—after all, a starving man knew that nothing but a feast could slate his appetite and, oh, how Taurus had starved.

They had lived together for the better part of five years and all of their friends had cheered them on. Capricorn had banned together with Aries in getting the two together in the first place while Sagittarius and Libra still laughed themselves silly over their meeting. Even the rest of their group had not been too surprised to know that they had gotten together but neither were they surprised to see that they had fallen apart.

Maybe two would show them pity but the rest would just look at them and shake their heads.

More years passed after their parting. They texted as often as they dared, then sent each other messages when they didn't, and soon both slowed down. Taurus became more and more busy as time rolled on and Scorpio just never knew what to say. Without the other there, the silence between them was eaten by weeks of no contact that soon became months.

It seemed to be fated that they would only ever cross each other's path.

The next time they saw each other was a few years after their break up. It was a sunny day, bright and warm, just like the last two times they had met. Scorpio had been bounding across the grass, easily eating up the space from one end of the park to the other, when he had stopped so quickly he nearly fell over.

Just a few yards away was Taurus, his hands filled with ice cream. Scorpio nearly took off, worried that it both was and was not the man he had left twice, but before he could get another step away, Taurus spotted him too.

The older of the two came to a more gentle halt in front of Scorpio. After tugging down his headphones, Scorpio cleared his throat. "Hey, um. Hey, Taurus."

Taurus nodded, eyes impassive but curious. "Hello, Scorpio. I have to say, I'm a little surprised to see you."

"Yeah, same," Scorpio scratched at the back of his head, feeling more awkward than ever. He tried to psych himself up but he was so taken off guard that he was only able to really produce some noises before he got an entire sentence out.

"So, uh, what are you doing here?" Scorpio asked, hands deeps in his pockets and cheeks a rosy pink.

Taurus gazed at him, his eyes still as bright and as blue as the day Scorpio broke his heart. "My daughter wanted to come."

Scorpio's head snapped to Taurus'. The blond looked bemused as Scorpio opened and closed his mouth over and over. Thankfully, saving Scorpio a few more minutes of embarrassment, a small shift near Taurus' knee caught Scorpio's attention. A tiny girl in bright blue and purple was practically fused to Taurus' leg.

While Scorpio hadn't really dealt with a kid since Libra was a child, he knew exactly what to do.

"Well, now, who's this pretty young lady?" Scorpio leaned down until he was face to face with the little girl.

She hid behind Taurus' leg, her tiny hands clutching at his pants. She glanced at Taurus and, when he nodded, she grinned at Scorpio. "I'm Allie! And this is my daddy!"

Scorpio's smile grew even more and he held out a hand. "Why, it's nice to meet you, Allie! I'm Scorpio. I'm a really old friend of your dad's."

Allie gasped, eyes bright. She immediately surged at Scorpio, squealing, "Really?!"

He easily met Allie's enthusiasm with his own as he picked her up. "Really!" He said, swinging her around. Scorpio settled the young girl in the crook of his arm and asked, "Is there anything you wanna know about your old man here?"

Taurus huffed but Scorpio could see his mouth twitch in amusement. Scorpio wiggled his eyebrows above Allie's head and Taurus had to mask his laugh with a cough. Allie turned her big eyes on him and asked, "Daddy, are you okay?"

Scorpio had to bite his lip at the question, hoping to hold in as much laughter as possible. Taurus rubbed his throat, small chuckles still getting the best of him as he said, "I'm fine, honey, just got a tickle in my throat."

Allie batted her lashes once. Twice. Three times before shrugging and turning back to Scorpio. That was the final straw for the two men and both burst into laughter. If there was something hysterical about it, Allie was merciful enough to not call attention to it.

When they both finally settled down, Scorpio was swarmed with the many questions the little girl had. As a giant child himself, Scorpio had no problem keeping her fast pace and Taurus was glad to have the unintended break from his daughter's overwhelming energy.

Taurus looked over at the both of them and smiled. Scorpio had the biggest grin he had ever seen as the younger man played with Allie. Taurus could hardly believe the joy on Scorpio's face. It was the happiest he had ever seen him.

As if sensing his mood, or perhaps they had simply heard their names in his thoughts, Scorpio and Allie looked up at him together. Taurus' smile grew into a matching grin and he shook his head before joining them. It had been far too long since the two of them had been together and he planned to enjoy the time.

He hoped for even more time. They both did.