A/N: Hey uh warning my dudes this one talks about some suicide. Like not explicitly but it is mentioned and used to explain why Daniel is in this mess soooo. Yeah. If you don't want that you might wanna skip it. Buuuut if you are okay you'll get pissed anyway because uh this is Ethan and Daniel bonding time XD the bad mental health stuffs for Daniel finishes at "In fact the whole coming back to life thing..."
Also! I'm very sorry but, I thought that using the correct name in pronouns would be out of character for Claire, so D is dead named and misgendered in Claire's POV. If that will cause you deep upset, please skip it. You must understand that I wanted to keep consistent. As an Agender person, it was extremely hard for me to get through writing it, so please refrain from attacking me pls. Honestly, it's not all that important. It's just a phone call to the boss and her figuring out what is going on with D's results. If you feel like you're missing out on anything, I will summarise her thoughts in the next chapter. Anyway, enjoy the chapter friends.

Ethan's POV:

"So. You were suicidal? I mean I don't mean to intrude, you don't have to answer."

Daniel looks at me and smiles. Not even a sad one. Just his usual, bright, glorious, beaming smile. "Nah, it's okay. But yeah. I was. I was homeless, everyone had abandoned me. My family, my friends...my boyfriend. I had nothing. And so my solution to that was to yeet myself out my fifth floor window. I regret it now...In fact the whole coming back to life thing has made me happier than ever. I have people here...I have you."

"Gay."

Daniel shoves me off him and laughs. "Well duh. I'm probably more gay than you."

"Can you really get more gay then 'I don't care about gender or genitalia, just please fuck me for the love of god'?"

Daniel looks off to the distance, a smile on his face. "I guess not."

I jump up in victory. "Hah! Bow before your gay lord!"

Daniel kneels in front of me and bows his head. "My great gay lord, I am at your gay service."

"Uh that sounded like you were propositioning me to have sex with you."

Daniel looks up and winks. "I mean, if you want to I wouldn't complain."

"First of all, where? In the space with literally zero privacy? Second of all, fuck off. Third of all, I can't. I know that they're dead but...but we were dead. And we came back. And I don't want to get with someone else until I find out whether or not they are dead. I still love D, Daniel. And I can't give up on them given the circumstances."

Daniel looks slightly disappointed, but also smiles in understanding. "It's okay Ethan. For now? Good friends is more than good enough for me."

I smile. "And hey. I might not want to have sex with you right now buuuut I am not opposed to having some cuddles to make up for the ones I've lost."

Daniel smiles at me. "You got it, Gay Lord."

I roll my eyes. "Shut the fuck up Discount Disciple."

A bell rings, signalling the end of activity time. Daniel turns to me, an exaggerated pout on his face. "It looks like I have to part from you and the alliteration nickname. Goodbye gay lord. We shall meet tomorrow once more."

I smile and roll my eyes. "You're such a nerd."

We hug and part ways, making our ways to our respective rooms.

As I'm about to enter my room, someone catches my eye.

A girl.

With honey brown hair.

And square shaped lenses.

And she's been two fucking doors down from me this entire fucking time.

Even with my glasses on I couldn't see if it was who I thought it was. 'Damn this old prescription...'

I walk closer, stopping her right before she's about to open the door.

It's her.

It's her.

It's-

"Frodo. It's you?" Robin says in disbelief.

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D's POV:

"What the fuck are you doing?" Taylor asks me as I crush my pill and the pill she gave me with the end of a paintbrush.

"I'm making sure we don't get caught. I mean, what if they count how many are in there? It would ruin everything. We have no idea what these are and I'm not keen on finding out through ingesting one." I explain as I put the powder in a water cup holding coloured water and walk over to the taps to tip it out and refill it.

Taylor nodded her head, as if to show that she agreed. "Good plan. Anyway, I talked to the two older guys in our group. Leather Jacket and Trench-coat."

"And?"

"They said they've died like, over a hundred times each? And that this place felt uneasy at first but once they started taking the pills they felt a lot better."

I feel my whole face scrunch into the middle. I'm puzzled. "The pills made them feel better? That's...okay. There seems to be like three options here."

Taylor sits down next to me, her expression focused. "And they are?"

"One, we're over thinking this and the pills are just imported from America. Two, we're right and there's something going on..."

Taylor raises an eyebrow. "What's three?"

I lift my head. "None of this is real."

"D!" I hear my name being called and turn towards the familiar voice. It's Nate.

"D. Hey buddy, sorry to interrupt, but Cla- Doctor Stine wants to see you."

I almost let my shock show. But I catch myself before I do something stupid. I just nod to Nate and hop off the chair.

He leads me to where I first met Doctor Stine. 'Hope there's no handcuffs this time...'

As soon as I'm sitting in the chair, Nate politely leaves, shutting the door behind him.

"D. How are you feeling?"

I shrug. "Pretty good I guess? I mean it's still weird, being here and all. I'm also still pretty shocked to know I have schizophrenia. But I'm not bad. I've made a friend. I just hope we both get better soon."

Doctor Stine nods her head and writes something down on her clipboard. "Are you sure you feel nothing out of the ordinary?"

I shake my head. "Not really. I feel...safe. I guess that's weird. But it's made me less angry."

Doctor Stine nods and writes something on her clipboard once more. "Well okay. I'm glad to hear it. I'm just doing routine checks on all the patients, seeing how their recovery is going. Your health is our number one priority. Go on D, I think it's time for you to go back to your room."

I nod. Nate comes back in and helps me off the chair. The doctor waves goodbye as I'm led off to my room.

The halls are empty, only me and Nate are left. He opens the door and wishes me a goodnight, promising that he'll get more things me to do while I'm in my room. I thank him and he smiles as he closes the door.

I look to the bedside table, my bottle of pills still there. I grab one, and pretend to put it in my mouth in case there's a camera and swallow the water that was left. I get into bed, slipping the pill into my shorts once my hands and legs are under the sheets.

I open up my laptop and put on the second season of Carmilla. I never got to finish that marathon with Ethan...

I hold back my tears from that thought. Relaxing to the sound of the opening theme ringing through the lonely room.

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Robin's POV:

"Frodo? It's you?" I say in disbelief.

Ethan Colt is standing here. In front of me. With the same dumbstruck look in his eyes as I probably do.

What are the odds?

"Yeah. It's me. I can't believe it's you!" Ethan suddenly smiles and pulls me in for a hug. "Oh I never thought I would be so fucking happy to hear you insult my height!" He releases me, a big smile on his face. "It's nice to see you with eyeballs and a tongue, Watson."

"Nice to have eyeballs and a tongue, Shortstack." I laugh back.

Ethan laughs back. "Hey, by any chance have those eyeballs and tongue seen slash talked to D?" Ethan asks, his face so full of hope.

I'm so happy that I can give him a happy answer.

"Yeah. I have. They're okay Ethan."

Ethan lets out a gasp of disbelief, happiness and relief. "Oh thank fucking Christ. Where are they?"

"In the room next to yours actually."

I grin. This feels oddly like I'm playing matchmaker but with two people who were already together.

"Well, I'll wait for him then."

I look to the clock that's in my room. 'Shit...'

"In like two minutes they're gonna start checking the rooms. You can't wait Ethan. I'm sorry."

Ethan deflates. I can see it in his features that he wants to fight that notion. But in his eyes I can see he knows that he really should be in his room already.

A single tear falls down his face as he runs to his room, almost slamming the door closed.

I quickly get into mine and close the door softly.

I turn around and find a big bottle of pills. It's actually kind of intimidating.

What was that advice that D gave me?

[A/N: If a * symbol appears it means it's a memory/flashback]

*Don't just ignore the pills. Take out what you need, pretend to take it, then shove it into a pocket. Destroy it as discretely as you can the next day. It'll work. Trust me.*

'If you say so D...'

I walk up to the bottle and take two out of it. Putting my hand to my mouth, the pills trapped in my fingers, I kick my head back then quickly grab the glass of water and drink it.

I slip into my bed, finding a pocket in my jeans.

'I sure hope this works...'

I open up my MacBook and I'm surprised to find a message.

[A/N: Okay so another new thing? Maybe? Idk but if there are {} things surrounding the dialogue and a name thingy it's a messaging convo thingy. Idk. You're smart you'll get it.]

{[email protected]: Okay so I kinda remembered that Ethan had your email on a post it note one time and I might have developed photographic memory and remembered it but idk could be wrong, if this isn't Robin this would be super awkward...}
{[email protected]: Oh, this is D Anfide btw}

'Huh...this is helpful. We can talk about theories and stuff even in our rooms...nice.'
{Me: This is Robin. You didn't fail. Congrats Anfide}

The sight of the little bubbles bouncing on my screen makes me more excited than I really should be. Just before D replies, I change their contact name.

{Anfide: Thanks Vancam. I don't really have anything to talk about but it's good we have a way to communicate now}

{Me: This is a good idea. I'm going to go back to my B99 binge now}

{Anfide: Holy shit! You like Brooklyn 99!?}

{Me: Duh, it's only one of the four tv shows worth my time}

{Anfide: Agreed! Can we talk about how Jake Peralta owns my heart?}

{Me: Only if we can also talk about how Ray Holt owns everyone's souls?}

{Anfide: You have yourself a deal}

I smile. This is a very good idea. Not just for the investigation...
But also for binge watching Brooklyn 99.

I can totally see what Ethan sees in D now.
———————————————————————————
Claire's POV:
"...so in conclusion, I don't know what the fuck is going on. The results for this stupid kid isn't matching what he's saying. Just, he says he's taken the pills and that he feels better, but the brain scans show no change in the neural pathways and the blood results don't show the drugs in his system. And when I sent Nathaniel down to his room to check the pill bottle he said the seal had been broken and that some had been taken out. So I don't know if the machine is faulty or if the kid is doing some type of magic trick on his pills. Any advice?"

I bite my nails in anticipation as I hear a sigh come from the receiver.

"No advice here Doctor Dildo. Figure out how to fix it on your own. This is your phase, not mine."

"Technically they're all your phases, jackass."

"Is that any way to talk to your superior?"

I realise my error too late. Calling your boss a jackass is never a good idea.

Fuck.

"I'm sorry, sir. I will figure out what the problem is. Thank you. Have a nice day."

I hang up before he could reply and sink into my office chair. What could possibly be going on with Dion's results?

Do I need to do more thorough blood tests?

Brain scans?

X-rays?

A mother fucking voodoo doll?

I'm stumped. I slam my head against my desk and groan. I don't know what to do.
...wait.

Maybe I need to get Dion to open up. Give him a friend. Someone to get Dion to talk about what he's doing and then have that someone relay the information onto me...

While we wait for Lena, I know exactly what to do.

Maybe Nathaniel isn't worthless after all.

I pick up my phone and tap on my darling, naive brother's contact.

"Claire? Are you okay, do you need something?"

The corner of my lips tip up. I can feel my smug smirk forming on my face. "Nate! Hello brother...

...I need a favour from you."