Chapter One
*Ryan

I ran up the stairs the apartment, moving into the place and ducking for the kitchen as I noticed Collin on the couch. "Hey," I greeted him, digging out a drink.

"Hey," he returned, studying me. "Your class go well?"

I shrugged at him, digging out a can and gesturing for him.

"Sure," he muttered.

I passed it over, studying him with interest as I noticed he wasn't quite meeting my eyes.

Were they...

I stared at Kevin's identical twin a long moment, he was avoiding my eyes, but I hadn't had a soul gaze with him yet. Considering that meeting eyes with Kevin meant a small room with a shelf dedicated to me, I wondered why Col thought he could trick me into thinking he was his brother. Maybe they hadn't met eyes in a while, they had so many twin mannerisms that it was ridiculous, though.

"How'd your day go?" I asked curiously, turning to dig out snacks. We tended to have a box or two of the crap Collin liked in the house because he'd show up randomly. I moved to pour a bowl full of the stuff so I could set it between us. I wanted him to keep up the game until Kevin got back, because Kev would know I'd caught him with the snacks.

"Not bad," he returned. "Traffic sucked."

"Car alright?"

"I think so," he made a face. "You got a letter from L."

"Oh," I hopped up turning to move over to the mail on the counter to dig that out. I noticed a second letter that was...from Brian? I was pretty sure his surname was Nelson. I blinked at it, then dug down to double check the rest of the pile. It was mostly bills otherwise.

"I think you missed something," he noted.

"Hm?" I asked, breaking into Brian's letter first.

"I think you overlooked something," Collin supplied, grinning at me.

"I'm sure Kev will tell me later," I reassured him.

Kevin burst out laughing from the door to the hall—we were renting an old office, and it had a hall with four offices off the main room. We didn't go back there unless we had wardens in town because it was cheaper to keep our space warmed.

"What?" Collin protested, sitting up straighter. "How could you tell?"

"I don't actually know," I returned as Kevin bounced over to us.

"He did not know until the end!" Collin protested, looking to his brother.

"Yes he did!" Kevin retorted happily, pointing at the snacks. "I don't eat that crap."

"We have that for you specifically," I pointed out, waving the letter to Kev.

"I honestly don't care how well her last test went," he retorted, moving to sit next to his brother.

I snorted, glancing up at them. They had the exact same position, mirror images of each other. They did it all the time. I wondered if they realized they kept their hair trimmed to about the same length.

"It's from Brian," I retorted.

"What?" Kevin asked, sobering.

"Your boyfriend?" Collin asked brightly.

"You're both stupid," I stated, waggling the letter at Kevin. "He says he needs to stay in town for a few nights and that he'd said he was going to write us to be sure, and Bui gave him our address two hours later."

Kevin snorted.

"I wonder if Josh has the address," I muttered, glancing back to Collin. "You hear the psycho?"

"Your...boyfriend?" Collin asked.

I watched him a long moment, realizing that he was really avoiding my eyes. I smirked slightly, continuing to watch him. I knew it'd take him a minute to acknowledge it, but sometimes my urge to smack him only led to fights; other forms of retribution could be just as satisfying and lead to less angry roommates.

"Stop!" he complained.

"Come on," I cajoled happily, moving across the room to stare down at him. "I have Kevin."

"I know you think it's great, but I think it's terrifying," he retorted.

I leaned down, bracing myself against the coffee table as I watched him. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't know for certain that he'd avoid it to the point of leaving the house.

Kevin huffed and threw a bit of cloth at me. I started laughing as I backed off, studying his face carefully as I picked up the t-shirt. Kevin was certain of me, Collin was the dominant of the pair of them, but Kevin reacted to me first. If I'd crossed the line with either of them, he'd let me know, and I'd have to work damn fast damage control.

The problem with Kevin was that he tracked me.

I'd had a soul-gaze with my little sisters at various points when we were younger, so my association with it had mostly been that of someone you were close to. The battlefield incident that had caused my and Kevin's gaze had been caused because he needed help getting to Collin, who'd been injured. The others in our group had been uncertain about proceeding...and I'd known we had to get the twin back.

I had gotten him back, and I'd had to make my very own last stand. I'd thought I was dead, and something about that moment...that moment when I was on my own watching a creature going for Kevin. It had been terrifying, and something inside of me had snapped. The force I'd tapped into had sent the creature flying before I'd laid out everything coming at me. We'd been given three minutes of reprieve, which had been enough to get us and the others all back to the safe zone.

But that moment...Kevin had reached Collin, going to his knees to check on his brother. He'd seen the thing coming at him as I'd yelled, and he'd turned to meet my eyes. From then on he'd been my best friend; we'd always been friendly. We'd both been shaken by that incident, and we'd both understood each other.

Since he knew me so well, he knew when to distract me. He tended to mitigate my violence, though he could also incite it. We'd had instances of both during the war and since.

He shook his head very slightly at me.

I moved back, turning back to the letter and reading it again. That response was either that I'd gone too far or that Collin was having issues. Either way, I needed to do something else.

"Brian wants to stay with us?" Kevin added after a moment.

I had a feeling that he and Collin'd had one of their twinversations, where they had entire discussions without a word.

"Uh, yeah," I looked back to them, seeing Collin curled against the back of the couch.

Okay, it was him having issues, that body language meant emotional upset.

"He says he wants to come here for three days because Gable needs him to meet with someone and then pick up a package."

Kevin nodded, then shrugged slightly. "I guess we can just leave that wing open. When is he coming?"

"Uh..." I blinked, looking up to him and smirking.

Kevin raised his eyebrows at me.

"Today," I explained, turning the envelope over to see the date. "He sent this more than a week ago; I wonder how long it was in the post office."

"So..." Kevin hesitated.

There was a knock on the door.

I snorted, taking the letter and envelope with me as I moved to look out the peephole.

I wanted to laugh when I saw Brian standing there. He looked nervous, but healthy...and he was wearing my sweater.

I pulled the door open, studying him with interest.

"So, I made an assumption," Brian smiled nervously at me. "I didn't hear back from you, but..." he focused on the envelope.

I laughed, pulling him into my chest. "I cannot believe you're still wearing it. I wanted to steal it back."

Brian laughed, hugging me as well. "If you have one that smells like you, I'll trade."

"Are we going to have to have a conversation about this?" I asked, stepping back to let him in.

"Um...shouldn't you invite me in?"

"Well, Brian is a mortal, so crossing my threshold won't do a thing to him."

Brian snorted at that, moving in and heading down the hall with me. "I'm sorry, I really didn't know how else to contact you. L said you just call her, so..." he trailed off as he looked at the twins.

"Brian!" Kevin said happily, bouncing up and moving to hug him. "I'm glad to see you again, you look well."

Brian smiled nervously as he studied Kevin's face, then looked to Collin again.

"I know, it's sidetracking," I agreed. "Collin doesn't usually stay here—Col, this is Brian something or other. Brian this is Collin Riux."

"Hey, nice to meet you," Collin noted brightly as he stood and extended a hand to the male. "That sweater is an interesting fashion statement."

"I told him the story," Kevin noted dryly. "Don't let him make you feel self-conscious."

Brian smiled between them, shifting back to look around at me curiously.

"Um, feel welcome to stay," I urged, tapping the letter against my hand. "Kevin and I have some work we have to do, but I can get you a totem to pass the wards."

"Huh?" Brian asked blankly.

"It's like a key to the house," Collin explained. "Only, if you don't have it you're not just locked out, you're blown to bits. So, you're Ryan's boyfriend?"

Brian stared at him a long moment, then looked almost nervously around to me.

I rolled my eyes, turning to open L's letter. If I didn't let Collin tease me about something, he'd try to find another way to needle me. He was incredibly jealous of Kevin's attention, and so far in their lives, I was the only one that Kevin had held on to.

"I'm sorry," Brian noted nervously. "I'm straight."

Collin burst out laughing, seeming delighted. "He's straight, Ry, you're out of luck!"

"You are ridiculous," I informed him, rolling my eyes to Brian. "I'm not gay or bi or anything, he just loves making people nervous of me in whatever way he can. He's part of the group that calls me the destroyer."

Brian blinked, looking back to Collin again, then around to Kevin. "You're not going to warn me about that sort of thing?"

"Nope," Kevin returned happily, moving around to dig into the ice-box. "I think it's hilarious to watch people squirm. It's even funnier because you were all curled around Ryan the last time we were in Vegas."

Brian gave him an amused and offended look, moving to sit on the couch as he looked around.

"How are you?" I asked the human with interest. "Last I heard, you were still working for Bui, this letter says that. Is it good?"

*Brian

The fact that Kevin had a twin weirded me out to the Nth degree. If they weren't identical, it would have been easier on me, but they even had the same haircut. Even that would have even been alright, but Collin seemed to think it was hilarious to trick me into thinking he was Kevin. If Ryan was in the room, I could tell which one I was talking to, but all three of them were in and out.

I started to feel a little intrusive when my stomach rumbled, and I frowned at my phone. I had a meeting with some sort ally, but Gable had sent me to Los Angeles with the time it took to drive and rest for a night. He'd actually arranged it so I had visiting time, because he knew it was important for young men like me to spend time with my friends.

For all that he insisted that he didn't understand mortals, he certainly knew how to keep me happy. He was considerate of me to the point that I felt like I was shirking my work, and I'd had to find the way to balance his consideration with the job.

Of course, when he'd noticed I was doing that, he'd gotten even worse.

I sighed, rising slightly and looking up to see Ryan.

"Hey," Ryan smiled at me, then ducked into his bedroom.

I felt a pang of disappointment and sat again, pulling up my browser. It'd probably be easier for me to get a hotel; I hadn't realized my letter would have been so late to get to them, so I really was...

"Here."

I flinched back from the cloth that landed in my face, pulling back. I stared down at a sweater when it landed in my lap, then looked up to Ryan.

"Don't let Kev see," he said quickly, gesturing. "If you weren't serious about the smell thing then I'll take it back, but..."

It really did smell like him. I stared at the material, then smiled in spite of myself and moved to tuck it into my bag. I'd been supremely disappointed when I'd had to wash the one I wore, but it really hadn't smelled like him for a while before that. I had no idea what that really meant in the larger scheme of things, but if he wasn't going to tease me about it, I didn't feel the need to fuss.

"Sorry," he added as he looked through the fridge. "Collin showed up with no warning, and we usually have to clean and dust the rooms back there," he indicated the hall they'd been going through. "It's not a problem or anything, but in order to have a bed, we have to change linens and stuff."

"I'm sorry," I noted, seriously, studying him. "I didn't mean to be that unannounced."

He waved it away. "It's not worth the fuss," he promised. "We're always game to have guests. Now, it's about supper time, and Collin will eat whatever we bring him. The ice-box is empty, so I'm thinking Chinese food or pizza."

I smiled at that, feeling better. "Pizza is easier in bulk?"

"Good point, hold on." He turned his head toward the hall. "Kev? Pizza?"

"Yes!" either Kevin or Collin called back.

Ryan waited.

Someone started laughing hard, and one of the twins appeared in the door to look at us brightly.

"Pizza sounds good," he said happily.

Ryan nodded, turning and heading back into his room.

I followed, wondering if that had been both males chiming in on the pizza or just one of them...and then froze as I looked the room over.

It was the room from the soul-gaze. There was no blood on the floor, and it wasn't dark to the point you couldn't see it...the view out the window wasn't a bright desert and there was a full size bed instead of a cot, but...

"Hm?" Ry asked curiously as he gathered up keys and a wallet from a desk.

"This room..."

"I've lived here my entire adult independent life," he met my eyes. "I don't know how Josh knew about it, but the actual details you see are made up of bits of my life that are anchors. They can be benign, like this room, or they can be...incredibly personal, like the crying little girl."

"And I shouldn't mention it," I remembered, thinking a moment. "Sorry, it just sort of shocked me to see is all."

He nodded, moving past me toward the front of the house. He stopped, turning back into his room. He dug into the drawer, then moved over to me and extended...a bracelet. It looked somewhat like a friendship bracelet, but instead of beads, it seemed to have...gems.

"Red jade," he explained, gesturing. "It's the totem. Let me put it on you."

I raised my wrist and watched as he tied it down, muttering something. I waited to feel something from it, but nothing happened.

"We have wards on the stairs and the door," he noted, turning to lead me down the hall again. "It distracts petty robbers or sales people; only people who are looking for us specifically can get up the stairs, and they'll believe the door is unbreakable and locked. We only actually lock it when we're out of town, so you can get in and out if we aren't here. You wanna drive or you want me to?"

"You, if you don't mind," I noted, rubbing at my face. "I only stopped once on my drive in. I'm sort of sick of it."

"Alright," he agreed, leading me down the street to their crappy looking old car. I didn't even recognize the make of the thing.

"It's going to take a while to get the pizzas," he sighed as he moved to unlock the passenger door.

"Call it in?" I asked, patting my phone curiously.

"Oh, hey, you can do that, huh?" he asked brightly, moving around the car. "I'll stay over here so you can get a connection; we just need four larges. We usually do a pepperoni and a meat lover's."

I nodded at him, tilting my head. "Which pizza place is it?"

"Place called Pan Favorite," he supplied. "They always try to tell me to order online and freak out when I note I don't have internet."

I smiled at that, typing the name into my phone and considering the three branches that showed up. I had no idea what life would be like without access to a cell phone, and I was more than willing to give him the benefits of it when I could.

"Oh, it's over on Archer Street," he added. "I think they have a few more places in town, but we go to that one."

I nodded, clicking the call button to that address and winking at the wizard as he climbed into the car.

*Ryan

It was fun to sit with my friends as the evening wore on. Brian had been excessively amused when he'd noticed that our ice-box was not a fridge, and we'd brought out the beer cooler to go with the pizza. Collin had seen Brian fussing with his phone as the evening went on, and had started teasing him about checking in. It had went from that to talk about the phone itself, and then all the neat things that Brian could do with it.

It was late before Kevin stood and stretched, he'd noted that he worked early, and had wandered off to his bedroom. Collin had said good night to us and followed, and Brian had looked around to me with interest.

"They'll catch up for an hour or two, then Col will find his bed," I noted, gesturing toward the hall. "Sorry about the electricity."

"No worries," Brian waved it away. "I don't suppose you have hot water, do you?"

"I can put some on," I offered, looking around to the stove.

"I meant for a shower," he retorted.

"Oh," I hesitated. "Well, the hot water tank only gives us about five minutes of heat. The three of us are used to cold, so you can use that when you get up."

"What do you do?" he asked blankly. "Stand there with it freezing?"

"Nah, you get in and get wet, turn the water of and soap up, then rinse it back off," I grinned slightly.

He shook his head. "That's insane. You're insane. I should ask Gable if he knows a water heater that will work for wizards."

I snorted at that. "I somehow doubt the dragon cares."

"No," Brian agreed, looking around and gesturing to the room. "Do you suppose we should go in there?"

"Sure," I shrugged, moving to grab the candelabra. "Kev does have to get up early, so I guess considerate works."

He snorted, following me into the room and immediately climbing onto the bed.

"Do we have to talk about this?" I teased, setting the light on the desk. "It's about time for me to write L back, if you don't mind."

"I wanted to finish catching up is all," Brian supplied, laying across the bed. "You can wake me up if I fall asleep and I'll take a candle and burn your warehouse down."

I grinned at him, indicating his phone.

He laughed, obviously thinking a moment. "You guys have electricity, right? Because I have a phone, laptop, and tablet that I need for work."

I made an unhappy noise. All three of those things accessed the internet. "Yes, we do," I muttered. "We limit our use of it, though, because lightbulbs blow. Your room has a light and a few outlets."

He nodded, yawning and looking around. "You care if I grab a pillow?"

"Nah," I reassured him, pulling out my clipboard and stationary. "You said Bui is considerate of you, but you never finished explaining it."

"It's great," he yawned as he pulled a pillow up. "He was willing for my day to start at three in the afternoon if I wanted. He changes to a dragon each night and patrols the city limits, though. If I'd have done the three thing, he'd have stayed up until I'd put in my hours, and then slept until I came back...it's what he wants. He wants me in the morning, and then at night for the rest of it. I started out doing four morning hours and four night hours, then realized that he meets with people at night—I hadn't thought of it, really, but he does night shift, meaning that most of his meeting times are between eight and nine at night. So I go over at about seven in the morning. We tend to work through letters and messages, then he goes to bed and I put in another hour nailing down the night's meetings...he changes at about midnight, so I have to account for it."

"What all do you do?" I asked as I considered L's letter. "I wasn't sure what personal assistant would imply."

"He really wants me there to tell him why a human is doing what they're doing; there was this mob guy who tried to get me killed when I noted that he was lying to get more time for his loan. He seriously hired someone to take me out. I shit you not, I had someone follow me back to Bui's one night...came in and told us both that he was supposed to blow my brains out. Scared the piss out of me."

I frowned at him.

"I wanted to talk to you," he noted in amusement. "But that was when L said that you call her."

"I use the payphone out front," I noted. "Our house phone doesn't do long distances."

He studied me a moment. "You don't care that I wanted to call you."

"I do care, it upsets me that you felt like you needed to," I retorted, then realized more of what he was probably getting at and tilted my head at him. "I suppose I should note that my life has been about protecting people; I have three little sisters and a brother. I have a little nephew who sits with me the way you were in Vegas; not so great for your personal pride, I suppose, but I don't mind."

"Do you give them sweaters?" he retorted.

I laughed at that, shrugging. "That strikes me as funny, more than anything," I noted. "And Col will flick you shit, but I've seen Kev use something of mine as a pillow before. It's usually emotional upset, and I got over being weirded out by it."

He studied me a moment, then sighed and looked the room over. "Well, I think Gable ate that guy. I had to tell him that it emotionally rapes me when he asks me if he can eat someone. It wasn't until I said that specifically that he started paying attention to it. He realized that him eating people scared me, not that he ever did it where I could see it anyway, but he stopped letting me know when it happened."

"How often was that?" I asked, focusing on him. If Bui was being a menace, I'd have to report him to the council.

"Well, it happened once with a different guy, someone running prostitutes," he shrugged slightly. "The guy had five women, and they were in pretty bad shape...Gable noted that five was a small number and they should be flourishing. They were actually shouting at each other and the guy left the house. I waited while Bui gave chase, and when he came back he asked me if I wanted the prostitutes. I flipped my shit," he smiled tiredly. "His idea of rape was vague, and his argument was that prostitution was the world's oldest career. I pointed out that the women working with that sort of man were not willing for it, that they'd been tricked into coming by being offered other jobs...he actually got angry with me because he didn't understand why I was suddenly emotional. It was a bit traumatic, actually. He...has this yell," he met my eyes again. "I swear it's more spirit than physical. When he yelled at me, I sort of crumpled into sobs."

"That is bizarre," I said quietly, studying him. "How are you still okay to be working with him?"

"He cares about me," Brian shrugged. "It's a bit creepy how much he cares. When I started actually crying he set the women free and proceeded to buy me a ton of shit while telling me he's a beast and can't help it. I have to control myself, because his response to anger is buying things. You should see my apartment, it's hilarious. The only reason he hasn't bought me a house yet is because he's not sure how to do it without causing me a huge tax increase."

I tilted my head at him.

"I'm almost positive he's going to realize that he can provide me with employee housing," he noted dryly. "I might have a house by the time I get back to Vegas."

"That's neat," I offered, setting the pencil down. I wasn't going to be able to write L while we talked. I shifted down in my seat. "I'm still sort of torn about him eating someone who hired an assassin to kill you."

"Right?" Brian asked, grinning slightly. "I went to meet with Gable for supper at this restaurant he likes. He prefers taking people out to eat at the nicest places in town, and we were talking and he said he'd taken care of the problem so I didn't have to worry. I'm sort of nervous about it, but your type all know me."

"My type?" I protested, amused.

"Fae and creatures," he agreed. "Wizards and vampires; I actually had a professional lunch with the damn woman who used me when I got hired at Secrets. She was all on about what a good time we'd had and how she wouldn't mind doing it again. I was starting to fall under her sway again when Arkady sort of swaggered up to me—Arkady is one of Gable's guards. He's married to this...ah man, this woman," he smirked to me. "She's all passion and fire, and they're absolutely in love with each other. Anyway, Arkady decided to be my guard because my history is with the whites, and he's very loved by her; his touch burns all the vampires. He's done it since before I even quit Secrets. Like, Gable explained to them that he wanted me to work for them, and they all took it upon themselves to find out my schedule."

"Doesn't that seem...extreme?" I hazarded.

"From the outside," he agreed. "But Gable is kind of an awesome employer. I don't know why, but he has unlimited amounts of money. He gave me six thousand off hand when I started. I was waiting for my first check from him and my last check from Secrets to come in and had some bills that were late. He gave me that for my rent."

I snorted, leaning forward to rub at my face.

"Then Hawk gave him a report on my bills—they are super invasive of privacy sometimes. I came in the next day and Hawk had a phone for me and told me that it was for my private use...that's what this is," he added, showing me the phone.

"Hawk?" I asked, blinking at him.

He tilted his head at me. "The secretary who emailed me the job offer," he noted. "It's spelled H O C. He's actually a live-in servant."

"So they just give you tech?" I asked curiously.

He nodded. "I asked them to be honest with me about tracking devices, and he said that the phone is registered to a family account that Gable can track, but he doubted Gable would ever do it and he'd have to walk him through it anyway. I worry sometimes about them eavesdropping, because this is insanely too good a thing. I think the thing about it is that I can still get eaten, it'll just be more than my energy."

"You know we'll come for you," I pointed out, indicating Kevin's room.

"I was hoping to spend more time with him," he admitted, frowning at the door. "But I think his brother will make that messy."

"Col is here for a reason," I shrugged. "I just don't know it. It's either a job or he needs emotional support. Something happened."

He nodded, then sat up and tugged my sweater off. "I'll leave this in here, if you want. We can pretend I left it behind and I won't pull the one you gave me out until I leave."

"Don't worry about it," I reassured him. "It's chilly in here as evening goes on."

He hesitated, then nodded. "I'll be right back."

I watched him go, then focused on the stationary. I started writing L a quick summary of Brian's arrival, then smiled at him when he reappeared with the other sweater on.

"You really don't seem to mind," he noted as he curled back up on my bed. "Is your family like this?"

"Like this?" I echoed, blinking at him as I set the pencil down again. "My little sisters were, and my nephew."

He blinked at me. "Wait, your sisters are all little? Your brother?"

"My brother is older than me, and my sisters are in their late teens," I hesitated, then smirked at him. "You wanna guess which one has the kid?"

He grinned at me.

"My brother," I added, gesturing slightly. "He and his girlfriend have a three year old."

He nodded, yawning and looking around the room. "I'm tired."

"What do you do at night?" I muttered. "You said you do a couple hours in the morning, then come back."

"Go with him," he shrugged. "We go meet with people of all sorts. My usual job is to sit next to him and explain behavior. He's had me at his feet so many times now," he rolled his eyes. "If he pets me I swear I'll swat him. He thinks it's great. It's one of the reasons that assassin didn't do the job. People can't tell if I'm his child, lover, or what, and the more I go around with him the more I realize that his power base is huge. His power base is bigger than Josh's family."

"You've been keeping up with Josh?" I asked quietly, considering the letter to L briefly. "L hasn't said too much lately."

"I did at first," he frowned slightly. "He asked me to coffee a while back, but we ended up arguing. I'm still trying to convince L to have Gable's baby."

I focused on him.

"I know, I know," he waved a hand vaguely. "But the thing is, Gable promised me...so much money if I could convince her. I don't harp at her or make her feel uncomfortable...I just promised to split it with her."

"You...shouldn't talk to me about this," I noted.

"I realize that," he sighed. "But the fact of the matter is that Josh can't be with L if she's not willing to have sex with someone else. He's getting worse, and I tried to point out that if she did...I mean, Gable is sort of generically impressive, she'd probably enjoy it. I know!" he said as I started to draw myself up. "I only said it once when we were drinking together and she giggled for an hour after, we were talking shit at each other. It doesn't matter, though, because Josh hasn't called me for help or anything."

"If you're Bui's pet," I noted, "then you're probably beyond his reach...and if you're trying to convince L to carry another man's child, he's probably not happy with you."

Brian sighed and nodded. "It's sort of lonely, really."

I frowned slightly, tapping the pencil on the desk briefly. "I can give you our message number."

"You have a phone here, right?"

I nodded, gesturing. "It doesn't do long distance, though."

"No, you can't call long distance," he corrected. "If I called you, we could talk as long as I wanted. My phone does at least all of North America, and I think Central America, too. I'll have to look at my account to be sure, but I'm unlimited."

I felt another ping of frustration with my limitations. Being able to call L when we were bored would be great. Not to mention calling my family.

"I'll have to look up our number," I muttered.

He snorted, then yawned again. "I've been trying to get in touch with Josh for a bit," he noted quietly. "But it's not easy when he's avoiding me. L said she'd talk to him for me, but nothing's come of any of it yet. I am sorry...about dropping in on you like this."

"I like having friends over," I reassured him. "The only problem with dropping in is that we have to clean up the hall."

He nodded, looking around the room distantly.

I decided to leave him to it, he was about to fall asleep. I focused on writing to L for a long minute, then looked up to see him watching me.

"Sorry," he muttered, looking away. "I'm exhausted."

"I'll wake you up when I go to bed," I reassured him. I tilted my head a bit. "When did the assassin thing happen?"

"Earlier this week," he muttered quietly, trying to keep his eyes opened.

I studied him a long moment, then gestured. "I'll wake you up."

He sighed and nodded.

I focused on writing my letter, telling L more details about what Brian had said. I hoped he had his phone charged, because he hadn't said anything to me about when his meeting was going to be.

By the time I'd finished writing, I could hear Col's snoring from Kevin's room, and Brian had rolled over to the wall and covered.

I stopped at the edge of the bed, bouncing it with my knee. "Hey."

"Huh?" he muttered, blinking tiredly up at me.

"If you're sleeping in here you need to move your phone. I don't dare touch it."

He stared dazedly at me a moment, then shoved himself up and looked around blankly. Finally, he crawled unsteadily off the bed to set it on top of my letter to L.

I somehow got the impression he wasn't actually awake, so I helped him to lay down again and snatched my pillow from him. He smiled vaguely before laying down on the second pillow and flinching.

"Hm?" I asked, yanking the covers from under him.

"It's cold," he muttered distantly. "I'm cold..."

"Here," I muttered, pulling the blanket back up and turning to close my door. I moved to blow out the candles, then dropped back down on my mattress with my own yawn. He was probably going to call me on not sending him to the other room, but I honestly couldn't care.

A/N: So I have a fourth story written in the series. I'll get it up eventually.