Sunday was, for lack of a better word, boring.

Dan didn't have it in him to try and make Phil move from where he'd apparently set up permanent residence in their room. Seeing his dad, after all the shit he'd been through, could not be easy to get over. No, Dan decided to leave him be, only bothering him to make him eat and to shower.

But this was too much, he thought. Dan knew this was hard for Phil, but he didn't think it warranted this kind of reaction. Phil was out of it, completely. It wasn't Dan's place to judge or make assumptions, but he was really starting to worry. He felt powerless, not able to do anything to help him.

Which was why he was going to talk to the Highers. It was about time he payed them a visit anyway, about their 'new' ritual they'd performed on Phil. Now was a good a time as any to also discuss if this depression thing was normal behavior for a newly changed Reaper. He was being paranoid, he knew, but it was the only way he'd settle his weary mind.

It was closing in on ten o'clock at night when Dan pushed open the door of their room, staring at the smallish lump under the covers before climbing up next to Phil, wrapping an arm around him. Dan knew he was awake cause he'd been asleep pretty much all day, and he could also feel his shallow breathing. Too fast for him to be unconscious.

"Would you be okay alone for a few hours?" He asked softly into the darkness, breathing against his hair. Phil shifted in his arms, turning to face him. At least he'd reacted.

"Where are you going?" He asked, and Dan tensed at the worried edge in his voice. He sounded like he couldn't handle the thought of being by himself.

"To talk to the Highers." He said. Phil's fingers gripped Dan's shirt absently, and Dan wondered what the hell they'd done to make Phil act like that just by hearing them mentioned. "I won't be long, promise. But you know how Portal Keys are. I just want to make sure you'll be fine without me."

Phil didn't say anything for a while, and Dan was about to reject the idea when he spoke up.

"I'll be fine." Phil whispered faintly. "Hurry back?"

"Of course." Dan said, and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. There was that pull in his stomach, telling him it was a bad idea for him to leave, but he had to. After another minute or so of just laying there, Dan left again, looking back in the room once more before leaving.

~ ~ ~

The first thing he did when he reached HQ was go see PJ.

The halls were pretty empty as he walked through them, which he found slightly odd since this was usually the time that other Reapers chose to hang out outside their empty rooms and socialize. He payed no mind to it though, and knocked on PJs door when he reached it.

After a few seconds of waiting, the door opened and Chris was there, smiling at him. "Dan, hey." He said. "Wasn't expecting you. Thought you were on a job?"

"I am." He said. "I came to talk to the Highers, and wanted to see PJ maybe. Is he here?"

"Sorry." Chris said politely. "He left about an hour ago, no idea where he is. Might be back later though, if you want to wait till then." Dan didn't miss the small disappointment in Chris's voice, and wondered exactly what was going on between them.

"Sounds okay then." Dan said. "See you later?" Dan waved slightly before turning and heading to where the Highers chambers were.

He was kind of dreading this. Him and the Highers had never been on good terms, that was
obvious, but bringing up any faults in their system was the worst thing you could do. He'd heard fetched tales about it here and there, never thinking much of it, but now it was sitting on his chest like a weight.

He reached the tall doors soon enough and paused for a second, before pushing them open and walking into the dark room.

"Daniel." One of them said. Dan bowed his head respectfully, deciding this was not the time to be an asshole. This was important.

"Highers." He replied, bouncing on his feet slightly. "Sorry I didn't give any warning about my visit. I wanted to talk to you about... about Phil."

There was pause, that filled the vast room heavily, and Dan waited for them to respond.

"What about Mr. Lester do you wish to speak about?" One asked after some time.

"He's been acting, weird lately." Dan began. Brushing his hair to the side and clearing his throat. "I don't really know what it might be, but he'd been off. I'd go as far as to say depressed, but maybe I'm overthinking it. And I wanted to know if it could be a possible side affect of the ritual." He waited again, shifting from side to side. He hated that they always took way too long to respond.

"Hard to say." Another one of them said eventually. "There are many different reactions to the ritual, as you know. Not many cases like Philips, though."

"If it is," Dan continued. "Would it last forever? Like, like mine?"

"I don't know." The same Higher answered. "Time limit does vary. Maybe not."

"Thank you." Dan said, with a small bow. And then hesitated again, trying to figure out a way to bring up the second thing he had on his mind. He didn't pride himself on relying in others, for information or otherwise, and was never find of asking other people for things.

"Something else you want to ask, Daniel?" One of them asked, and Dan glanced up for a second.

"Yes, actually." He said, taking a deep breath. "After... after the ritual, I found some, scars on Phil. I asked him where they had come from, and he said. He said that you guys had done it, for the ritual. And I wanted to know why that was, since I never had to go through that, or anyone else I know, for that matter."

Fuck, he regretted this. He could almost feel the state of the Highers on him, and he barley kept from fidgeting anxiously. He wanted to leave. Go back to Phil and make sure he was okay. Why weren't they saying anything?

"I'm sorry Daniel. I'm afraid we can't disclose that information to you."

"Bullshit." Dan exclaimed without hesitation. So much for trying to be respectful for once. "That's my boyfriend we're talking about, and I want to know why the hell you feel the need to fucking bleed him like-"

"Watch yourself, Daniel." Another one of them warned, and Dan stopped, his cheeks hot and his teeth clenched tightly. "We have reasons for what we do, and if we say you don't have the right to know, then you don't."

Dan huffed irritatedly. Fuck them and their self righteous intentions. "Fine." He bit out sharply. "Thank you for seeing me." And then he turned and burst out of the doors, waiting until he was a good distance away before freakin out, yelling and kicking the wall.

This sucked ass! What the hell was he supposed to do now, no way was he sitting around and letting them do as they pleased. Doing this kind of stuff, hurting Phil, and then keeping it hush hush was suspicious as shit, and Dan wasn't having it. He didn't know why he'd ever agreed to come back here.

"Dan?"

Dan looked up at the sound of his name and saw PJ walking towards him, look in slightly worried.

"Hey Peej." He sighed, combing his fingers through his hair roughly.

"What are you doing here. Aren't you on a job?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk to the Highers." Dan explained. "I was actually in my way to see if you'd come back to your room. I came by before and Chris said you'd left somewhere."

"Oh, yeah." Peej said with a laugh. "I've been checking up on a lot of stuff around here, it's not the most organized right now." Dan nodded. His friend had always been a perfectionist.

"Are you and Chris okay?" Dan asked suddenly, as they started walking together. PJ stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down at the floor. So there was something going on.

"It's nothing." PJ said at Dan's raised eyebrow. "He's been kind of... worried lately. I don't know what for, its not like I'm risking my life or anything. And he gets a little irritated whenever I brush it off. Nothing."

"You shouldn't do that." Dan said, nudging Peej with his elbow to get him to look up. "If he's really worried, you should let him know it's nothing. He'll go crazy if you leave with nothing like that."

PJ sighed, but nodded. "I know, I'm being a horrible boyfriend. I just... I've never done this before, you know? He's my first serious relationship, and I have no experience with that kin of thing. I just have to figure it out."

They stopped as they reached Peejs room, and Dan patted his shoulder. "You'll be fine." He assured.

"Don't you have your own lover to cuddle up with?" Peej asked with a smile, and Dan rolled his eyes.

"Matter of fact I do. And here I am wasting my time talking to you." PJ shoved him, and Dan laughed, heading back where he'd come from. "Make good choices!"

"Fuck off!" PJ yelled after him.

~ ~ ~

When Dan walked back into their house, it was on the edge of midnight. It was quiet and extremely dark, and he struggled to find his way to their room.

Phil was snoring in their bed, and Dan stared at him, at how less worried he looked like this.

He missed the carefree, book reading, shy Phil he'd fallen in love with. He was different now, and it was really affecting the both of them. He really hoped this bout of tension between them didn't go on for long.

With a tired sigh, Dan pulled off his clothes and climbed into the bed next to Phil, moving in close so he could bury his face into the creole of Phil's neck and shoulder. They had to get up early again tomorrow and go to school, and worry about this case at the same time. And Dan had to worry about Phil as well.

They hadn't gotten much work done as it was, and tomorrow would have to be a binge working day. Despite the fact that he hated putting energy into this, he didn't want to leave anything unfinished.

He was starting to break out from all the stress.

~ ~ ~

a/n: what's up again, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between.

I'm a horrible person, I know. I'm trying to my best to finish this story, cause seriously, I've been writing it for the longest time. And sorry the updates are so slow.

But other than that, I hope you guys liked this chapter and are going to stick around for more. Peace :3