the hospital

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Mayah_Playah

"He might still be with Fredrich." Ethan pointed out. "Maybe you should check up on him while I wait on Niji?" he suggested and nudged his head over to the little girl asleep on his nearly sleeping himself brother.

"Are you sure they weren't referring to Markus?" Fredrich rebutted, although he had to admit that it was more logical that they referred to Lock as their son. He had nothing to do with Markus' arrival at the hospital, and he did save Han from a bullet. Lock as one of their sons, that meant marriage. Married to Ethan... Fredrich narrowed his eyes and looked down at the food on him. He still didn't like the thought of ripping apart the two, no matter how much he loved Ethan, but if he, or Ellery, could find a way to slip Lock out of love with Ethan...
"If you still need my help with your plans for Han, I'll assist you." he said quietly and looked at the ground around Ellery.

 

[Mayah Playah]

"I'd rather not go in there and make him cry again," sighed the Korean as he ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, if I make that boy cry one more time, I'm pretty sure he'll never forgive me, and I need an assistant in my line of work. I love you, Ethan, but you can't type."

The songwriter sat back on the chair, looking at his necklace again. "I don't know if my family plan will work anymore," he admitted, sighing. "Do you have any ideas?"

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Ethan shot him a look. "These hands were meant to peel oranges, not type." he justified. "And how do you make him cry? Aren't you guys best friends?"

Fredrich gave it thought. "What about that other plan of yours?" he suggested and looked at the younger male. "About us pretending to be a couple? I think it will have a good reaction against the two, especially after our 'break-up'." he said while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his middle finger and his thumb.

 

[Mayah Playah]

He sighed and glanced up to Ethan and sighed again. "We're the best of friends. But any cross word from me is enough to break through that angry, lonely barrier of his and make him sob."

"And how do you suppose we'll sell that you transferred your feelings to me? Have you ever even been in a relationship with a man?" asked the songwriter, standing and gripping the necklace in his fist. "I mean, even if it's possible that we could use their comforting words against them, it seems like Ethan's the only male you can make yourself seem attracted to."

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"But you can't just leave him alone with someone he barely knows." Ethan said. "Do you want me to get him or...?"

"Well, no..." Fredrich replied and bashfully rubbed the back of his head. Ethan was the first man he ever really considered having a relationship with, but he knew that it wasn't much different. Of course, knowing Ethan, they'd act like only acquaintances out in the open, and the sex would be different, too. Fredrich blushed at the thought, and the memory of the recording Lock had sprang to mind, which didn't help at all.
Looking back at Ellery when he heard all the doubts surfacing, he chuckled lightly, "You give me too little credit. I'm a better actor than you think." He smiled softly, his stoic face turning warm for a moment, like whenever he saw Ethan. "Besides, shouldn't you be asking yourself the same thing?"

 

[Mayah Playah]

"Go ahead," he said, sitting in the chair and staring at Niji. "Be careful around Waltz, okay?"

Ellery silently moved the food from the bed with quick ease, then sat beside Fredrich and looked up at him with gentle, softened eyes. He leaned a little closer, setting his hand on the detective's arm and blushing lightly. If someone had peeked in, Ellery would look like any other smitten young man, delighted and excited, although nervous, to be by the man he liked/loved. "I used to help Lock run lines back in Korea," he mumbled, cheeks growing slightly darker. "Believe me, I can make people believe I'm in love with you. We might need to set rules though." His hand dropped, and he moved away just a bit, green eyes clouding once again with the hard, silent hatred he carried for the world. "I don't think you'd be able to work in the whole "real, happy, and loving couple" schtick, so we might have to act like shy ones. That means little to no PDA, and I get to be the cute one."

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"Yeah, yeah." Ethan waved off as he walked out of the room.

"It'd be hard for me to be cute." Fredrich attempted a joke. "I wouldn't mind an occasional hand holding, but, and I'm sure this is fairly obvious, never remove my gloves." His own expression turned serious once more. "And we are only to do this around them." He turned his head when he heard the door open and tensed up when Ethan stepped inside.
"Oh! Umm... Sorry if I interrupted something." Ethan blushed, feeling as though he ruined a mood, and tried to look away, ending up facing his back to them to avoid anymore awkwardness (but it seemed to add to it) "Umm, Lock was worried about you, Ellery. Are you alright? Need anything...?"

 

[Mayah Playah]

Ellery almost laughed at the idea of actually allowing the man to touch him skin-to-skin, then turned at the sound of the door opening. He appeared somewhat crestfallen at the sight of Ethan, and pursed his lips. "You interrupted nothing," he said coldly, then shook his head. "I'm fine. There's really nothing I need from either of you." Turning back to Fredrich, he blushed lightly and stood. "I should probably get my charger from my car. We should finish our...conversation....later, yes?"

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Fredrich glanced at Ellery and the obvious anger in his tone, then he noticed the blush on his face. Showtime already? he thought before coughing into a balled fist and nervously adjusting his glasses. "Y... Yes. Another time." he murmured and looked away to hide his own blush.

Ethan stifled the urge to roll his eyes at Ellery. He wasn't sure why exactly this guy hated his guts - he'd never seen best friends like this - but he was getting pretty tired of the rather b_tchy attitude he had towards him. He hesitated when he noticed his shadow twitched and tried desperately to calm himself down. Being around Lock made him more social, but he was still paranoid about the shadow that affected everyone. Hell, it almost got him thrown in jail!
Noticing the tension in the air, Ethan looked at the two and quirked an eyebrow. Both of them were blushing, conversation... Ahh. "Oh. Oh! Oh, umm.... Oh jeez, sorry." he blabbed, unsure of whether to feel awkward or to laugh. Two cold and distant men together? Something about that was hilarious, but who was Ethan to judge, right? Still, he was a bit surprised to know that Fredrich moved on so fast. He felt he had the right to be a little hurt; after all, it's like when you know there's one guy that'll always be head over heels for you, but then you notice he leaves because he's done flirting with you and getting rejected. It's just like getting a little hole in your heart, but hey, he was happy, so was Fredrich now, so it was fine.
"Well, as long as you don't need anything, I guess I'll just head back." Ethan said with an awkward swing of his arms and a thumb pointed to the doorway. "So, uh... see ya later." He spun around on his heel and strode out, beaming at the thought of telling Lock. Ooh, what would his reaction be??

 

[Mayah Playah]

Ellery crossed his arms and nodded to the younger male, pursing his lips. "Tell Lock that I'll debrief him on the new case after I finish telling Fre- ...I mean...Detective Waltz." Ellery blushed brighter at his blunder, turning back to look at Fredrich with slightly adoring eyes. Sparkles practically filled the air, and flowers could be sensed fluttering down around them. Ellery didn't even look back at Ethan as he left, keeping his shy, longing gaze on the detective.
Once the door was closed, however, the coldness once again returned, and he reached up to brush his hair from his eyes. "Well, there goes the spark," he sighed, making sure the door was shut.

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"It seems Ethan already believes there's something between us." Fredrich commented as his own distance reformed. With a sigh he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Do you think it will be the same with Han?"

"Lock! Lock!" Ethan hurried with a hushed yet excited tone. He practically ran into the room and looked at his boyfriend with shaking fists and bright eyes. "You'll never guess what I walked in on!" he hissed like the excited gossiper he was - B-But he always did this even before he realized his orientation! It didn't make him less of a man or anything! "There's totally something going on between Ellery and Fredrich, they were all awkward and blushy and, dude, I know I saw, like, sparkles flying! Like in those manga books I found in your closet - I've kinda been getting into them, not gonna lie - when those lovers are staring at each other and the background changes? It was just like that!"

 

[Mayah Playah]

"I think he'll have to see it to believe it," replied Ellery, pulling out his laptop charger from his bag and setting it up. "Wilhelm's probably telling Lock about it right now, so we should probably set up another awkward encounter before he get shere to see for himself. Any ideas?"

Meanwhile, the Korean blinked and tilted his head. "Wait...Waltz and Ellie?" he repeated, shaking his head in confusion. "But Ellie hates Waltz. He thinks he's irritating, cold, and cruel."

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Do you know how many times I wish this whole adventure was a manga? We'd be so rich!

"I'm not good at romantic gestures." Fredrich admitted bluntly as though he knew that was already obvious. "What do you think we should do?"

"Sure didn't seem that way when I walked in on them!" Ethan said with a toothy grin. "He was sitting on Fredrich's bed, and-and their faces were all close and stuff! Hey, maybe Ellery was just putting up a front for you, y'know? Since you don't like Fredrich that much and all."

 

[Mayah Playah]

Ellery shrugged and sighed. "I don't know. I mean, we could do the obvious thing and kiss, but wouldn't that be selling the whole damn thing too fast?"

"Now this, I've got to see for myself," he said, standing and walking over to the door. "You coming with?"

Awesome nerd

If you can find a way to pitch it to a manga creator, I'd be more than happy to work with you.

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"Well... Let's think of this another way." Fredrich started. "Think of me as Han. What would you do if the one you loved was in this situation, bedridden with only you as company?"

"You think I'd miss seeing your reaction?" beamed Ethan as he started heading out the door. "C'mon! I bet they're doing perverted Asian tricks." he giggled like a schoolgirl. If Lock was perverted then he'd love to see how perverted his best friend was!