**By the way, "deadly", when said here in Aussieland is meant as something's great :P**


~2~

Nico fingered the worn copy of Homer's The Odyssey that had been slipped under his door.

Really, first twenty minutes and he's already getting secret messages from crazy people? Geez.

Inside the cover was a note with scratchy handwriting.

What's your two?

Nico, thank-God, had no idea what that meant, and was only pulled from his rousing as all of the cell doors in his corridor opened. Nico tossed the book onto the top shelf of the aluminium bookcase, and headed for the door. He figured it was pretty staple to follow the flow of people, so, looking at the ground, he headed in the opposite direction of where he and Chris had come from minutes earlier. Just around the corner from the corridor that housed his room was a huge common-area, with tables and chairs, and, to Nico's incredibly sarcastic delight, crazy people. They milled about, some sitting, some standing, but all of them being crazy. What made Nico sick to his stomach was the sheer amount of old people. Ugh. Nico didn't like socialising anyway, but the elderly were even worse. Don't even get started on crazy old people. There was one girl who even looked younger than Nico's fifteen years, and Nico would've approached her if the wasn't curled up next to the wall, staring at the floor like it was trying to kill her. He simply stood there, trying to ignore the itching on his arms and just focus on what Chris had been telling him. Once a day, you'll meet with Leo— he's a councillor of ours, and a really good one. You have him, and the girls have Reyna, who I hear is nice, too. If you want to swap, just let someone know.

Great. Not even an orientation, but Nico looked forward to talking with someone sane.

He'd always been afraid of fully opening up to the councillors at his school, knowing it was policy to tell a parent or guardian if the child was a danger to themselves or others. Nico had never truthfully shared his thoughts with anyone, and hoped he'd feel comfortable enough around this Leo guy to work through some obvious problems that had been marinading in his head for years now. Really, Nico thought to himself with a small laugh, it's not like it's policy to tell my parents and I get in trouble— I'm already in the loony bin!

Someone calling his name aroused Nico from his thoughts.

"Nicky! Nicky, here!" Okay, someone nearly calling his name. Nico followed the voice, and saw two boys sitting at a far-off table. Trying to look as invisible as possible, he approached them.

They looked sane enough, and at least they looked his age.

One was kind of Chinese-looking, with short dark hair and sharp features on a chubby face and stocky body, calmly sitting with his tray of food on front of him. The other, though, was tall and lean, with longish, black, windswept hair, a bit like Nico's. He was standing and waving an arm in Nico's direction. As he got nearer, he saw just how defined the taller boy's features were— striking green eyes, sharp cheekbones and a solid chin, all on what looked like a decently muscled body.

"It's Nico, actually," He said once he was close enough. The older boy settled down, and patted the bench beside him with a friendly grin.

"Well, Nico, care to join us?" He said upon Nico's hesitation. Thinking he had nothing to lose, Nico sat down.

"Not much of a talker on your first day, huh?"

Nico just looked at him.

"I get it. Well, welcome," He said, extending a hand. He didn't seem to take offence when Nico didn't take it.

"This charming devil is Frank." Nico nodded to the boy who was digging into his noodles.

"And I'm Straighforward," The boy said, extending his hand again at Nico, "Some say Frank and I aren't related, but as twins our names are-"

"Ro roar ot," Frank managed throughout his noodles, pausing to swallow, "He's Percy."

Nico turned back to Percy, who had a mischievous grin playing over his face, obviously caught in the act. Nico finally took his hand, much to the boy's delight.

"I hope you got my message?" Percy said once they were sitting down again after showing Nico where to get his tray of food. Nico shot his new friend a glance.

"The book?" And upon Percy's expression added, "Oh, yeah. I had no idea what that was… All about…"

Percy turned to him, suddenly serious.

"Well, as you may've guessed, it's pretty important to know just how crazy people are around here, so Frank and I came up with a stats system." Nico was intrigued, even if Percy ended up being properly crazy, he enjoyed conversing with him.

"Level Ones are the not crazy and harmless, which I'm guessing you are." Nico quickly nodded.

"Good, that's you and me both," Percy said with a grin.

"What about Frank?" The other boy's eyes lifted to meet Nico's, almost daring him to say something more. Thankfully, Percy pulled his attention back.

"Frank's like a One-and-a-half," He said quickly, continuing before Nico could ask anything else.

"All these senile old fools, and you and me, we're Ones. The Twos are the sometimes-crazy, harmless-at-the-best-of-times-but-not-always bunch," Percy said, pointing to a few distinct members around the room, including the girl Nico had initially spotted.

"The Threes are the fully crazy but still harmless groups," Percy pointed to many of the older people around the room, "and Fours are… For lack of better words, properly crazy."

Nico almost shot milk out of his nose. Oh yes, he and Percy would get along.

"The fully crazy, rip your heads off, types." Percy continued, ignoring Nico's spit take. Frank pointed right between Percy and Nico, and they all turned to see, at the back corner of the room, one of the few inmates who was sitting alone. A blond guy who mustn't have been much older than Percy was sitting with his back pressed against the wall, the look on his face screaming: I feel like I'm back in prison! But what really unnerved Nico was that he was watching them.

Nico quickly turned away, his vision landing on a couple sitting at the other side of the room. They consisted of a girl who almost looked Native American, curled up on some huge, blond, bulking brute's lap, whispering to him and stroking his face.

"What about them?" He asked, inconspicuously nodding in their direction. Once Frank and Percy saw who he was talking about, they spun back around faster than Nico to the Level Four guy.

"Oh goodness…" Percy started.

"Don't even— just…" Frank hung his head in his hands, and Percy took over again.

"Level Fives, do not look, certainly do not approach, do not anything if they are near, you got that?" He had grabbed Nico's arm, making the smaller boy look into his eyes. Nico nodded fearfully, getting more unsure of this place by the moment. As if sensing his discomfort, Percy's grin was suddenly back.

"Anyway, a more one-on-one stats system that Frank and I made up is: you get two words or short phrases to describe how you ended up in this hellhole." Percy said with a smile.

"Percy's making it sound a lot more complicated than it is— it's just the two top things that make you crazy, like the rest of us." Frank ignored Percy's scowl, "For Perce here, bi-polar and minor psychosis all the way."

"And for Frank, MPD takes the cake for both of his points." Interrupted Percy, obviously not happy Frank stepped on his moment. MPD Nico recognised as Multiple Personality Disorder. Now Nico got what Percy was talking about— Frank being a one and a half.

Frank was sometimes someone else, and that someone else was sometimes dangerous. Right. Nico looked back up at the two boys, who were looking at him expectantly.

"Oh, right. Um…" Nico paused to gather his words, "Suicidal… Tendencies…?" Nico used the phrase all those damned doctors had come up with, and continued when nobody interrupted.

"And… Depression, I think." Percy grinned.

"Deadly." He commented, You have no idea, Nico thought to himself, but could tell it was a complement. He had never met anyone who understood how Nico could actually love his "problems", and smiled nervously back at Percy.

Suddenly, Clarisse came to mind. Nico inwardly shuddered— the girl had been Nico's friend until he trusted her enough to bring up how he was depressed, and she told the school psychologist. No consulting Nico, no trying to talk it through with him first, nothing.

"You okay there, Nico?" Nico looked up at Percy's concerned face.

"Yeah, I'm just… This chicken is horrible." He said, knowing he must've looked green around the gills. Percy just laughed and commented on the food too.

~ O ~

Later, as Nico was making the short trip back to his room, Frank pulled him over.

"Hey, Nico, I know this is a lot to take in on your first day, so don't actually feel like you have to do anything, okay?" Frank gave Nico a genuine smile and Nico was genuinely grateful. Then he noticed the absence of Frank's "twin".

"Where'd Percy go?" Nico asked.

"He's with Luke. Talking." Was all Frank said before he retreated to his own room. Nico didn't remember anyone being pointed out as Luke. Maybe they'd meet tomorrow.

Nico went into his room to see a note on his bed. It said his appointment time with Dr. Valdez tomorrow, and Nico wadded it up and threw it onto the floor. He promptly curled up on the bed into a little ball, and fell asleep, trying to ignore the feeling in his wrists.