Important Author's Note: A few things really quick. I have done some very minor research on mental illnesses like OCD when writing this so if you find anything in here offensive or so grossly inaccurate that it ruins the story please let me know. Also, this fic is AU but I am taking plot elements from both the Anime and the Manga. If you have only seen the anime you should be okay but so far there will be at least one part of the plot that will a spoiler for the manga.

(These trigger warnings will be throughout the story so if any of these things will bother you or be triggers for you this might not be the best story to read. I'll put more warnings later if things need to be added to the list because I have not finished writing the story yet.) Trigger Warnings: mental illnesses like OCD, Depression, eating disorders etc. are being dealt with, mentions of self-harm, and child abuse.

Chapter One: The Not So Perfect Boy

A discreet, black car pulled up in front of a pristine, modern building. The shrubbery out front was well cared for and the fountain that sat at the exact center of the walkway was clean of any debris. From outside no one would guess it was a mental hospital were it not for the large sign declaring it to be so.

Once the car was parked and the engine turned off the driver got out and went around to open the back passenger side door. An adolescent boy sat in the backseat staring down at his hands making no movement to leave his seat.

"Sir?" the driver said with concern in his voice.

"This isn't right." The boy said quietly. "I shouldn't be here."

"I'll get your bags. You come out when you're ready."

The boy stared up at the building as he swallowed a lump in his throat. He tapped eight times on each of his knees before reluctantly climbing out of the car. He continued staring up at the building as he crossed his arms over his chest. "How long?" he asked with a sigh although he already knew the answer.

The driver closed the trunk and turned to the boy, bags in hand. "Your father said that the agreement was at least two months."

They started up to the front of the building, the boy lagging behind. With each step the boy's heart beat harder and faster in his chest, his breathing got shallower. A sense of panic was building inside him. When they reached the doors the boy veered off to one of the benches that sat on either side of the doors. He sat down and put his head between his knees, his breathing ragged.

The driver looked around awkwardly, obviously unsure about what he was supposed to do. "Sir, would you like me to go inside and get someone?" he asked. "A nurse, maybe?"

The boy looked up slightly. Sweat was sticking his dark bangs to his forehead. "Call my father." He ordered.

The driver sighed and set down the bags. He did as the boy asked and called his boss.

"What's up?" came a lighthearted voice through the phone.

"Sir, your son wishes to speak with you." The driver handed his phone to the boy who was still trying to regulate his breathing.

"Dad, I can't do this."

There was only silence for a long time on both their ends. "I'm sorry. This was the agreement we settled on. If we go back on it now. I will have to pay more than they were originally asking for and you might be formally charged with something, Kid."

"I'm not crazy." Kid argued.

"I know that, but…" his father hesitated. "This might be good for you."

"Dad-"

"Let Mickey get you checked in. And I will visit you tomorrow."

With that the call was disconnected. Kid sat on the bench staring down at the phone in his hand. He knew that this wasn't his dad's fault, but he couldn't help but feel like his dad had been looking for some reason to send him to this place. He could see that his neurotic tendencies were wearing on his father. The most recent incident had been the last straw for everyone involved.

Kid was doing his usual checks, making sure that all the art hanging on the walls was perfectly parallel with the floor. He lived in a mansion so this usually took a while. Measuring tape in hand, he made his way down the hall, but as he passed his room he stopped. He could hear someone inside. His hands were shaking as he opened the door.

The maid was inside dusting the surface of his desk, moving things around and leaving them very asymmetrical. Kid could feel his blood boiling, angry tears threatened to spill from his eyes. How many times had he told her not to touch his room?

"What are you doing?" he asked in a shaky voice.

The maid didn't bother to look up, continuing her job as she replied. "I'm dusting."

"I told you not to come in here."

"Look, I've worked with people before who tell me 'Oh, don't clean this room this week.' And then when I don't clean it they get all uppity so I just like to cover my bases." As she continued to shuffle things around on the desk Kid could feel his eye begin to twitch. Nothing was how it was supposed to be. She stacked all the books on one side, instead of two on each side of the desk. "Why do you have two lamps on your desk?"

Kid couldn't take it anymore. "GET OUT!" he screamed. "STOP RUINING IT, YOU DISGUSTING PIG!"

The maid dropped the pencil holder she had just picked up and turned around, staring at him with wide eyes. Pencils and pens rolled around on the hardwood floor. Everything had been perfect and she had destroyed it. Kid didn't realize what he was doing until he had already completed the motion of throwing the tape measurer at her. She tried to run past him, sobbing. Kid continued throwing whatever was in reach as she rushed out of the room.

Once she was gone Kid looked around to see his room in shambles. Later, after his father heard about the incident he found Kid crying and nearly pulling his hair out as he tried to return the symmetry to his room.

The maid ended up filing a lawsuit and also threatening to press charges and go to the press. The settlement was a fairly large payment and Kid spending at least two months in a psychiatric facility. After the settlement was reached his father immediately made arrangements for Kid at the mental hospital his grandfather opened. The irony was not lost on him.

"Do you think I'm crazy?"

"… of course not, Sir."

Kid looked up at his driver as he let out a humorless laugh. "You hesitated, Mickey."

"Sir, I didn't mean-"

Kid held up a hand to stop him. "It's okay." He put his hands on his knees and subtly tapped eight times on each before getting to his feet.

The checking in process went fast than expected since his father had already taken care of the paperwork. Soon enough Kid found himself on the other side with only a fraction of the items he came in with. Apparently most of the stuff he had packed was prohibited and therefore confiscated.

He was handed a couple sets of the patient uniforms, a plain white t-shirt and matching loose-fitting pants, and was then led by a nurse to his room. They walked through the first set of doors into the outer common area for the patients. Kid glanced around to see a few of patients playing a board game, a group was gathered around the television, and then there was another group sitting around chatting. He quickly looked down at the clothing in his hand to distract himself from the asymmetrical arrangement of the furniture.

"It looks like everyone's having fun, huh?" the nurse asked with a smile.

Kid couldn't help but look back up. He let out a groan of frustration. "It's all wrong."

The nurse looked at Kid in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"The furniture, it's all over the place. The arrangement is completely chaotic!"

"Well, I'll see who I can talk to about that."

Kid bristled at the patronizing tone but continued to follow her down a hall to the rows of patients' rooms. One of the doors was open for him to see a girl laying on her bed reading a magazine as they passed by. So far most of the people there seemed to be pretty normal. He felt a miniscule amount of the tension leave him at that thought.

The nurse stopped in front of a door and gesture to the small row of numbers in the exact center of it. "This is your room. Number one-oh-seven."

"This can't be right." Kid told her as he started to panic. "I can't have a room number ending in seven. This can't be happening." He dropped the bag of the few belongings he was allowed to keep beside him and clutched the stack of clothing in his other arm to his chest as he slid down the hallway wall. It felt like everything was closing in around him. "It can't be seven!" he cried out.

"It's okay." The nurse told him calmly. "We're gonna fix this."

Just then a girl with light brown pig tails poked her head out of the room across the hall. She looked down at Kid then to the door he sitting beside, then turned to the nurse who was trying to calm him. "If he needs a different room, I'm willing to trade." She said as she stepped fully out of her room.

Kid looked up at the room the girl had just stepped out from. The door read 108. He scrambled to his feet and threw his arms around her. "Thank you, thank you. Eight is so much better than seven. It's a perfectly symmetrical number."

"Yeah, eight is pretty awesome." The girl half-heartedly agreed as she tried to gently pull away from Kid.

"Sorry." Kid apologized awkwardly as he let go of the girl.

"That's very kind of you, Maka." The nurse commented. "Let's get started on moving your stuff then." She turned to Kid who was refolding the stack of clothes that were now wrinkled. "They said you want to be called Kid, right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Well, Kid, if you want to leave your stuff there, I'll keep an eye on it, and you can go hang out in the common area. I'll let you know when we finished moving Maka's things."

Kid was very unsure but reluctantly nodded and set the refolded stack of clothing on top of his bag. He carefully ventured back out into the common area. Well, he stood at the edge of the room as he observed everyone's activities. They were all doing much of the same as he saw only minutes earlier. The furniture was still very much a mess. His hands were itching to bring symmetry to the room.

Kid walked over and grabbed hold of the empty card table and pulled it across the room. A few of the patients looked up curiously but he ignored them. He arranged the chairs around it then moved over to the reading area.

Kid cleared his throat to gain the attention of the two teens who were reading quietly on the sofa. They both looked up. "I need you to stand for a moment." He told them seriously.

The girl got up quickly and then stood back. The boy sighed in exasperation and threw his book down before stomping down the hallway that led to the patients' rooms. Kid wasn't fazed by the boy's reaction and continued on his mission. It didn't take long before he had the entire room's attention.

Some were laughing, others were looking on in confusion, and then there were the few that glared at Kid like he had done them some personal offense. Yet Kid ignored all of them in favor of bringing symmetry to the common area. In fact he was so focused on his task he didn't notice one of the other patients leave and then return with the nurse who had been helping him earlier.

"See, Nurse Thalia, he's moving everything around. Dude's crazier than I am."

Nurse Thalia shook her head. "Hey, we don't use that word here." She quickly turned her attention to Kid, carefully approaching him. "Kid, Maka is almost done moving her stuff. You should probably go start putting your thing away."

"Okay, I'll do that as soon as I finish here." Kid replied as he started arranging the seats in front of the television.

"A lot of the patients liked everything how it was."

Kid shook his head. "Nonsense! How can anyone think in such an asymmetrical environment?"

Nurse Thalia sighed. "If you don't get started on your room you may not have time to fix it how you want it before dinner."

Kid paused for a moment. If he didn't set up his own personal space in the symmetrical pattern that he required it would bug him all throughout dinner. No, as much as it pained him the common area would have to wait. "Just give me a minute." Kid finished arranging the chairs in front of the TV before making his way to his room. He cringed when he heard everyone's relieved sighs as he walked away.

Kid sat on the stripped bed as he watched Maka remove the last of her things. "Everyone here seems pretty normal." Kid commented. "Well, more normal than I am anyways."

Maka gave him a strained smile. "We all have our issues, even if they aren't on the surface for everyone to see."

"Why are you here?"

Maka frowned and stayed silent as she gathered the last of her things. As she made her way to the door Kid thought she wasn't going to answer. Then she suddenly turned back to him a forced smile on her face. "You're gonna learn enough about me in group therapy without me giving you a sneak peek." Then she was gone.

As Kid started putting away the few personal items he had there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

Nurse Thalia entered the room, fresh sheets in hand. She started to put them on the bed as she asked. "How are you doing so far?"

"Best day of my life." Kid replied sarcastically.

Nurse Thalia finished putting on the sheets without another word. She only said, "Dinner is at five. You can ask Maka to show you where the dining room is." Before leaving.

Kid organized and then reorganized his room several times before five o'clock. Yet it still didn't seem right. Maka came to his room two minutes after five so that she could show him to the dining room. "We need to get going. We get cake tonight for dessert and if we don't hurry Blackstar will eat it all and then all we'll get is tapioca pudding."

Kid let his hands hang by his sides and subtly tapped eight times as he looked around his room. Something was off. "The pillows!" he exclaimed, startling Maka. He went over and moved the pillows over a couple inches so that they were in the exact center of his bed. His eyes lit up as he looked around his room. "Now it's perfect."

"Then let's go."

Maka led the way to the dining room. They went through the line to retrieve their food and Kid was relieved to find that the meals were of a high quality. He followed Maka over to a table that had two other teens already sitting there.

"Hey, guys." She greeted them as she sat down. "This is Kid. Kid, this is Soul and Crona."

Soul looked unimpressed as he nodded in greeting. Crona continued to stare down at his untouched dinner seeming to be unaware of anyone around him. Kid sat down next to Maka and started rearranging his food so that it sat symmetrically on his tray.

"Where's Blackstar?" Maka asked Soul.

Soul chuckled. "He's busy regaling Tsubaki with tales of his strength and bravery."

Maka sighed. "Poor Tsubaki. I keep telling her to stop letting Blackstar keep her after the end of her shift."

"Is Tsubaki a nurse?" Kid asked as he started counting out his green beans into separate equal piles.

"No, she's a volunteer. She's the only one who can handle Blackstar." Maka suddenly turned her attention to Crona. "Crona, you need to eat something. Do you want the doctor's to start monitoring your eating habits again?"

Crona slowly looked up and shook his head. Kid was surprised to see how empty the younger boy's eyes were. He reminded Kid of a scared rabbit, who had a pack of wolves on its tail. Crona carefully picked up his fork and speared one green bean on its tines. He stared at it for abnormal length of time before actually putting it in his mouth and slowly chewing.

Kid went back to sorting his food, half-listening to Maka and Soul's conversation. About ten minutes later he had his food sorted, counted, and perfectly symmetrical on his plate. He was ready to start eating when he looked up and saw a young woman with long, dark hair pulled back into a pony tail and a boy with shocking blue hair approaching the table.

Kid was surprised to see that the girl was not dressed in one of the patient's uniforms, or nurse scrubs, instead she was wearing jeans and a flattering green top.

"The mighty Blackstar has arrived!" The boy announced as he leapt onto the table. Unfortunately, "the mighty Blackstar's" foot landed right in Kid's dinner.

The young woman suddenly looked very panicked. "Blackstar! You can't jump on the tables!"

Blackstar started laughing but moments later leapt back down off the table. Kid glared at his dinner that now had a giant footprint in it. All his hard work for nothing.

"Are you the new patient?" Kid looked up to find that the young woman was now standing beside his chair.

He nodded. "Yes, I am."

"I was told to give this to you."

Kid took the piece of paper she was holding out to him. It was a schedule for the week. "Thank you."

"I'm Tsubaki. I volunteer here most days after school. Let me know if you ever need anything." She smiled at him and Kid couldn't help but give her a small smile in return. He liked that she seemed so genuine.

"So you're the new guy everyone's been talking about!" Blackstar shouted obnoxiously, wiping the smiles off both of their faces. "Everyone's supposed to be talking about me! You think you can suddenly waltz in here and take my place as the biggest guy around here? You're not so big! In fact, you're kinda puny!"

Kid got to his feet, mostly to demonstrate that he was indeed taller than Blackstar. He picked up his food and went to walk past the boy but Blackstar moved to stand in front of him.

"Blackstar, just let him go. It's his first day here." Tsubaki pleaded.

Blackstar ignored her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"You stepped in my food. I need to throw it away."

Kid could hear off to the side Crona whispering to Maka. "Are they going to fight? I don't think I'll know how to handle it if they do."

Blackstar's next movements were so quick that Kid didn't even realizes what was happening until five seconds after it was over. The other boy had taken Kid's dinner and dumped it all over him. Kid cringed as he felt the mashed potatoes slide down the back of his shirt.

Blackstar laughed uproariously as orderlies came running over to defuse the situation. Kid was led back to his room to get cleaned up while Blackstar was ushered away to get his food. Tsubaki kept trying to apologize as Kid left the dining room.

Kid stood in front of the mirror after his shower. He carefully combed his hair, trying to get it lay just right. He froze in his effort when he noticed something. The dye in his hair was fading, the white stripes were barely visible, but he knew soon enough they would shining through like a neon sign saying "This boy is asymmetrical!" He cursed the fact that his hair simply refused to hold hair dye. It was probably due to the same genetic mutation that gave him the three white stripes on only half of his hair in the first place.

He had been told that the patients were not allowed to dye their hair but that boy, Blackstar had blue hair… It was probably left over from before he was admitted. Kid sighed heavily as he finished combing his hair. "Two months." He muttered. Two months until this was all over and he could start regularly dying his hair again. For now he would just have to deal with those damned white stripes coming through again.