Friday, late evening

     After worrying over Daniel's silence for the entirety of Wednesday night, he had found out the boy had asked for a couple days off from work to take care of his mother. His father had told him, but only because he needed Frey to take over Daniel's shift on Friday, lacking other employees that had been willing wo work an extra shift.

Since Frey knew what was going on in Daniel's life, he had agreed to help the boy by taking over his shift, and he had decided he'd stop by on Saturday to see if he could be of more help during the day too.

The least he could do is make sure Daniel and Hannah would have decent meals to eat, and nothing else to worry about besides taking care of their mother.

On the other hand, taking over Daniel's shift had meant he had to cancel his plans to take Jenna out for a drink, and that did not go without an annoyed reaction from Jenna's side.

She had asked him why he all of the sudden was willing to work on Friday's, while he had always refused to do so in the past.

He still needed to talk to her about the fact she was demanding most of his time and attention, but he still hadn't found the right moment to do so. After ballet had ended on Wednesday, Julia had attacked him in a hug and he had agreed to drop her off at home too, so they would be able to catch up on the way there.

Of course, his mother had noticed him dropping Julia off, and she had tried to get him to stay—move back in with them. He wasn't ready, specifically not because she had still refused to accept the fact he had a bipolar disorder, even after being diagnosed by an actual psychiatrist.

And then the new flow of texts and calls from her had started again, and Frey had eventually told her to leave him alone for the time being, because it wasn't helping her case to get him to come home again. On the contrary, it was only driving Frey further away. He really didn't need her controlling his life again. He really couldn't deal with her schedules and rules right now. He needed the time off he had right now, to spend time with both Jenna and Daniel.

Lacy was warming up to the idea if him not being a complete jerk, and they had worked a shift without any bickering or fighting—or dirty looks on her behalf.

They had actually worked together fine, and Lacy had even covered for his tasks so that he could spend some of his time during his shift to talk with Jenna.

But their conversations were still a bit rusty, and Frey had almost asked her if she knew what had happened between him and Daniel multiple times.

He hadn't, but it was hard since Jenna was visibly, but silently, fuzzing over something the whole evening.

Even now that Frey's shift had ended, she wasn't her outgoing and cheerful self that she was when they first started hanging out.

There was no joking, no teasing, not even much flirting.

He had eventually had it with her silent-treatment, even if he figured she wasn't doing it on purpose and had pulled her to a quieter area to talk.

"What's going on?" He asked with a bit of annoyance, as soon as they had reached the hallway where teenagers were bustling around, either entering the club, leaving it, trying to find their coats or just cooling down after dancing.

"Nothing is going on that you don't know about." Jenna simply replied, shrugging a shoulder. She was biting the straw of her drink, not looking him in the eye.

"Yeah, I don't buy it. Something is bothering you."

She bit her lip and shrugged again, shuffling her foot around on the sticky floor. "Robby's still bothering me."

"He isn't here, right? Is he? Because I can get him kicked out..."

"He isn't here. Not that I know of at least."

"Then why is it bothering you right now?"

"Because... I feel like you're pushing me away. You like Daniel more, don't you?"

"What? I don't know!" Frey admitted annoyed. "How am I supposed to know when there's always someone there to ruin my time with him."

"Do you mean me?" Jenna frowned, and she sounded a bit angry. "Besides, I know you've spent some time with him alone."

"No, not just you. It's Hannah, or any of our friends." Frey didn't really know how to reply to her hinting to his alone time with Daniel. So, she knew? But how was he supposed to behave when it came to that.

"But you did have time alone." Jenna crossed her arms. "Just admit it, Frey. You don't like me, and I can't figure out why you're still pretending you do."

"Because I like the Jenna that I saw when we started hanging out. Not the one who demanded all my time and gets annoyed when I have to work, or when I want to hang out with friends. I like that Jenna that didn't care that much and was just herself."

"Well, this is me too, when I freak out because Robby decided to start bothering me again."

"Can't you just tell your parents? Why don't you want them to get involved again?"

"Because, Frey, they'll forbid me from going outside on my own. I don't want to be locked in the house because some psycho can't take his loss and leave me alone. And I'm fine whenever I'm with you, but you keep avoiding me."

"I'm not avoiding you. I'm just busy with other things too. You know I just got diagnosed and that I'm dealing with that too."

"Yeah, but why don't you talk to me about it?"

Frey shrugged, not really knowing why he stopped talking to her about it, after telling her about it last Monday. "I just don't know what to say. And I don't want to talk about it while getting to know you."

"But isn't that a part of you that I should get to know too? This isn't just so you can get to know me. This is about us getting to know each other."

"So, can we agree to just let things go the way they go, instead of forcing it?" Frey sighed. "Just do what we did in the beginning and have fun together?"

"Sounds good."

"But can you please promise me you'll give me some time to get to know Daniel too?"

"If you promise to be honest about your feelings, if you ever lose interest in me."

"I will, I promise." Frey smiled, and Jenna hugged him with a small smile of her own. As a small gesture, Frey planted a kiss on top of her head. "Let's go and dance for a bit, and then I'll take you home."

     They had some fun after their short conversation. Jenna had kept her promise and had simply made fun with him, goofing around on the dancefloor with their friends, every so often stealing a kiss just because they could.

Frey had ignored Hendrik, James and Wes sending him weird looks. For all they know he was dating Daniel, and not Jenna. But then again, they'd probably think he was still the old Frey who didn't do dating and was now having fun with another person again.

He didn't correct their thoughts, he just focused on Jenna and having a good time until she had to go home.

The next day, he had cleaned his bedroom, before he had gone over to the supermarket to buy food—mac and cheese since he knew Hannah would love that—and rode his bike to Daniel to offer some support.

He was nervous about it if he was being completely honest. He had no idea if Daniel would appreciate the gesture. Daniel was the kind of person that never wanted to hurt anyone and could never send them away if they tried to help. But he was also a guy with pride—as little as it was—that tried to pretend as if he was dealing with everything just fine.

Which was another reason Frey had bought Hannah's favourite food. This wasn't just about helping Daniel. This was about helping the Quinn family.

When he arrived, it was Hannah that answered the door.

She instantly started smiling happily when she saw Frey.

"Frey!" She called out cheerfully, grabbing his hand to pull him in. "What do you have there?" She eyed the bag with food suspiciously.

"I have a surprise for you." He chuckled, but came to a halt when he entered the small living room and his eyes found Mitchel, seated at the couch—looking a bit bored—holding Hannah's baby doll Sophia.

"Danny!?" Hannah called out, and instantly Mitchel shushed her.

"Hannah, your mom needs to rest. You know Danny told you to keep the volume down."

"Of the TV, yeah." Hannah giggled.

"He meant your voice too." Mitchel laughed over Hannah's cheeky smile, before he looked Frey up and down.

"I'll go get him." Hannah chirped, and ran off to go and get Daniel.

"What are you doing here?" Frey and Mitchel asked in the exact same time. Frey refused to answer, but Mitchel did.

"I'm watching Hannah since Danny has his hands full on helping their mother. She's sick from... do you even know anything about their mother?" Mitchel stood up. "I mean, just dropping by like this in a time like this..."

"Don't pretend that you're better." Frey spat at him in annoyance. "I know more than enough, and that's why I'm here." Frey looked down at the bag full of groceries he was still holding.

"Frey?" Daniel sounded surprised, and not very excited to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see if I could do anything to help... and I bought Hannah's favourite meal..."

"Oh! Are we going to eat mac and chees, Danny?" Hannah clapped her hands excitedly.

"I don't really have time to cook, sweety." Daniel sighed, still looking at Frey. "We're ordering in some food..."

"I can cook." Mitchel offered, pissing Frey off even further when he snatched the bag from his hold. "I'll cook while watching Hannah, no problem."

"Wh-what?" Frey followed Mitchel while he walked to the kitchen.

After kissing Daniel on the cheek.

"Are you two...?" Frey looked back at Daniel and mumbled; "okay if that's what you want..." He turned around, heading to the front door without looking back. He felt both hurt and lied to because Daniel went behind his back and apparently decided to date Mitchel again.

"Frey, wait—" Daniel pleaded when he pulled the front door open. "It's not what you think."

"It looks a damn lot like what I think." Frey grumbled, pulled his wrist from Daniel's hold. "Seriously, Danny. After all that he did to you?"

"He... he changed..."

"He's a cunning little shithead that's probably pretending to be nice because he wants you back." Frey hissed, stepping away from Daniel with an angry look. "And the least you could've done was tell me I wasn't the only one. I obviously wouldn't have been angry. Well, maybe, but not because you're seeing someone else. But because it's him that you're seeing."

"Frey, listen... I still like you... I just... I'm confused too and..."

"Save it, Danny. Do whatever the fuck you want. But don't start crying if he's acting like a jerk again." Frey turned around and stormed off without looking back to see Daniel's reaction.

He wasn't so much hurt because Daniel wanted to see other people too. It was only fair that if Frey could date him and Jenna in the same time, they could see other people too.

He just couldn't understand why, of all people, Daniel wanted to see Mitchel again.

Words: +/- 2005

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