Wednesday, around midnight

     Daniel didn't have many fears. He was protective over Hannah since she was his innocent little sister that deserved a better life.

He was afraid he would end up alone because he always fell for the wrong guys—like Mitchel and Frey—even though both seemed to behave just fine, and even help him out in some ways.

Thirdly, he was afraid his mother was going to die. Which was pretty much a fear he dreamed about most of the nights, waking up crying, only to run to his mother and make sure she was still alive.

Which he found was true every time; she was always breathing calmly in her sleep, mumbling like she always did.

Until he went to see how she was doing on Tuesday after he came home from school. She was coughing, she was throwing up, and she had a spiking fever, and Daniel had called the doctor in complete panic.

His mother was taken to hospital after the doctor came over to diagnose her with a severe pneumonia, concluding she wasn't strong enough to fight it herself; she needed treatment.

Daniel had quickly called the one person he knew would have time to come over and watch Hannah while he went to hospital to take care of his mother's business; Mitchel.

He indeed came over right away, told him to take the time and that he would watch Hannah as long as needed.

Daniel had been exhausted to no end once he came home late in the evening, finding Mitchel asleep on the couch, and Hannah safely tucked into her bed.

He had slumped down on the couch with a sigh, and grabbed the mail, dreading the usual bills and reminders of bills that still were waiting to be paid, when he found the official looking envelope that he didn't recognize at all.

He had opened it—his curiosity getting the best of him—postponing to answer to Frey's texts late in the meantime.

He had felt confused at first and relieved right after reading the first couple of lines, but then he started to feel hopeless;

His father had died, and the letter was officially informing him—as his son—and Hannah—as his daughter—that they were the only two heirs.

But Daniel already knew there was nothing his father could've possibly left them, and by the end of the letter, that suspicion had been confirmed.

He left them nothing but debts.

More things to pay, more debts to take care off.

Daniel had stared at the letter for what must've been hours on an end, not knowing what to do, or how to deal with this.

How would he ever be able to pay off the assholes debts, if he wasn't even capable of paying all their own bills in time?

He had no time left to work more than he already did, he had no energy left to do so either.

He could drop out of school, but that would equal a shitty wage the rest of his life, and he at least wanted a diploma to be able to earn a decent wage later.

He knew college had been out of the question long ago. He tried saving up to go to college at first, and later—since he couldn't save up enough money fast enough for his own college fund—he was saving for Hannah. But then his mother got ill, things got worse, and he had to use the money to keep the three of them alive and off the streets.

Daniel was tired, and he didn't know how much longer he could keep things up. Eventually he broke down crying somewhere in the middle of the night, waking Mitchel up with his sobbing that he couldn't keep in any longer.

"Wow, what happened?" Mitchel perked up with a sleepy face, rubbing his eyes before he stood up, walked towards Daniel, and pulled the boy in his arms after he sat back down next to him. "How bad is it?"

"Mom—mom's-s-s... fine... She—she will b-be." Daniel stuttered in between his raking sobs and rigid breaths, while he buried his face in the croak of the other boy's neck.

"Than what's wrong?" Mitchel whispered, soothingly rubbing his back with a flat hand, the other holding his head gently. "Tell me what made you upset?"

"I-I... I don't... I can't... I'm so done." Daniel admitted in defeat. "I can't... anymore."

"Hey, come on. I'm here, helping you." Mitchel gently nudged him, before he cupped his face and whipped away the tears with his thumbs. "It'll be okay."

"No, it—it won't." Daniel pulled his head from Mitchel's hold, feeling suffocated at the close proximity of their faces—not in a good way. "I'm sick and tired of all these bills piling up and it just keeps going and going and going..." Daniel ranted, raising his still hoarse voice in anger because it just felt good to cry for once, to let it all out. To be mad at the world for them being in the shitty situation they were in; all caused by a guy who had recently died.

Probably some stupid overdose, Daniel figured as he looked at the letter in his hand again.

"What's that?" Mitchel asked, not at all fazed by Daniel's angry words. He stood up and took the letter from Daniel's hold.

Mitchel, on the other hand, remained calm while he read the letter, and Daniel didn't care enough to stop him from sticking his nose into their business. Mitchel knew exactly how poor they were. He had always known from the beginning, and recently he started buying them food; probably as a way to suck up to him.

"It's not as bad as you think." Mitchel said calmly while he looked up, and Daniel snorted in reply, laughing out bitterly right afterwards. "It's exactly as bad as I think." Daniel waved around an arm dramatically. "Might as well give up. There's no money, yet that dickhead had the audacity to die and leave us with more debts to pay."

"You pretend as if he died on purpose." Mitchel chuckled awkwardly. He didn't know how to behave when it came to Daniel and his opinion about his father. For a jerk like Mitchel, he did care a lot about his own parents. He admired them, so he didn't know what it was like to absolutely despise his own father.

"He probably did. He was like that." Daniel shrugged, sighed, and slumped back on the couch. "I'm so fucking tired, I can't deal with this right now."

"Danny, go to bed, and sleep. Tomorrow, I will help you deal with all of this. I promise."

"I'm too worked up to sleep." Daniel shrugged off Mitchel's hand on his shoulder. He didn't want Mitchel to come over again the next day. He wanted to spend time with Frey like he promised. And he just wanted to have a quiet day if Frey wouldn't be able to meet up.

He most certainly did not want to spend another day with Mitchel. That would simply be too much.

And when Mitchel had lifted his chin and leaned in to kiss him, Daniel pulled away automatically, and scowled at Mitchel. "Can you not?"

"But..."

"I don't' like you like that anymore." Daniel himself was probably just as surprised by the firmness he had spoken with. Was he really over Mitchel? Just like that? Or had he been over Mitchel a long time ago, and was he just longing for a relationship; to be loved by someone?

Whatever the answer was, he knew he needed to make it very obvious that they weren't ever going to get back together.

"Mitch, we're done, you know we are. We have been for months."

"Yeah, but I thought..."

"You thought wrong. We're not going to get together again. We could be friends if you want to, but I'm over you."

He had just needed to get over his lingering feelings for Mitchel so that he could allow Frey in without comparing him to anyone else. So that Frey would be enough, no matter how much of a jerk he could be at times.

As long as Frey would be as sweet and kind to him as he was being lately, Daniel was sure he could deal with his bad treats too.

He badly wanted to admit his feelings to Frey, but the fear of Frey turning him down was too big. As long as there was still a possibility Frey would fall in love with Jenna, he was going to be careful.

But at least he had closed his chapter with Mitchel now.

Thursday, midday

     On Thursday, Daniel had overslept and eventually decided to take a day off from school to spend with Hannah. He had called Hannah and himself in sick and had taken her to the park.

He was mostly deep in thought about the whole situation; their mother in hospital, their father officially dead, the endless amount of debts that kept growing every month.

He was tired, and he had no idea how to solve anything. He couldn't even handle things with his father's 'heritage' because he was still underaged. His mother needed to take care of things, but she wasn't currently capable of doing so.

Daniel had however pushed the thoughts aside after Hannah had asked what was going on a couple of times already.

She knew she wasn't supposed to ask tons of questions about their mother whenever she went to hospital; she knew what was going on, and she knew why their mother was in hospital right then.

But Daniel didn't want to answer endless of questions about it. The well-known 'why, why, why' phase had started, and Daniel had agreed with her he would honestly tell her what was going on—the censored version of course—and she wouldn't keep asking questions in return.

Daniel had eventually taken Hannah to the playground and watched her play, while he grabbed his phone, and sent out an apology to Frey for not replying to him any sooner.

He shortly explained to him that things got difficult at home and it took up all his attention. He asked if Frey was okay with postponing their date until things calmed down again, but Frey pleaded for them to have a date that week.

He was adamant about it, and Daniel wondered why he was in such a hurry all of the sudden. He didn't get the impression Frey was rushing to figure out his feelings for him. He was spending most of his time with Jenna and they seemed to hit it off great.

Daniel did secretly hope he was under the false impression they were hitting anything of. That would mean he still had a chance. And Frey was so adamant about a date, that he started to believe Frey in fact was still interested in him.

But when he asked why he was in such a hurry, Frey simply told him he would explain later; not over the phone.

"Who are you texting with?" Hannah asked amused. "They make you smile."

"They do?" Daniel looked up to find Hannah standing in front of him, bend over to read his texts. He did notice he had a small smile on his face; the first in two days.

"Ooh, is Frey coming over again soon?" Hannah clapped her hands and Daniel covered his phone to prevent her from reading more of their conversations. They had slowly begun to flirt again after Frey had reluctantly accepted his apology—even though something about Frey's tone was still off—and Hannah didn't have to know that much.

"Eh, possibly. But not as long as mom is in hospital, you know that."

"Why not? Can't he watch me instead of Mitch?"

"You want him to watch you?" Daniel frowned, but smiled nonetheless when Hannah eagerly nodded with a smirk on her face.

Why didn't he ask Frey to help? He was almost completely sure Frey would help. Hadn't he attempted to help last weekend?

Didn't he bake cupcakes with Hannah for her class, or a cake with Jenna for Hannah's birthday?

So, what if they couldn't exactly go on a date this week, but they would hang out at his house, while keeping an eye on Hannah in the meantime?

What was wrong about that?

"You want Frey to come over to watch you?" Daniel asked again to make sure, knowing he still needed to find someone to watch her on Friday evening. They could go home after school together and eat with the three of them, and then Frey could watch her while Daniel worked.

If he wanted to.

So, Daniel asked him, telling Frey that Hannah was asking about him too.

"And, and, and?" Hannah was now leaning against him impatiently.

"I just asked."

"Doesn't he reply right away? Weren't you talking to him?"

"I was..." Daniel stopped talking when his phone vibrated, and he opened Frey's reply, feeling a little disappointed when he read a simple 'I can't. I'll explain later' on his phone.

"Maybe another time, okay?" Daniel whispered to Hannah when she pouted after he read the text out loud. He put an arm around her and hugged her to his side. "I bet he's just busy. I'll ask Annette if you can stay over for the weekend, so I can work."

Hannah nodded, but Daniel knew she didn't like the fact she was staying over with others a lot more than any other kid. But at least Hannah wasn't raised to be annoying or whiny. She helped him just by not complaining about anything.

Daniel wished he wouldn't have to disappoint her as much as he did.

But for now, there was nothing he could change about their situation.

Words: +/- 2245

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