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Ethan burst into laughter when Daniel caught on to the joke. It was short-lived, though, by the shoe that hit the side of his head. He yelped and rubbed the area that was hit. "Hey!"
"Ethan, watch your movie. Daniel, don't talk like that." Fredrich ordered, a vein pulsing at the side of his head. He'd rather get flowers himself and hand them to Han than have to babysit these two.
"But he started it!" the brunette protested. When Fredrich gave him a scolding glare, Ethan sighed angrily and glowered at the TV. "Stupid brat." he mumbled under his breath.

"Daniel, it's seven-forty." Fredrich said, not falling for the boy's look like Ellery did. "All the animals are asleep. Let's just watch a movie until it's your bedtime." he said and moved to sit on the other end of the couch.

This was perhaps the longest night of his life. Whenever Fredrich had to go to the restroom, get the two snacks, or change DVDs, he'd come back to see either Daniel biting Ethan or Ethan teasing Daniel mercilessly. It had gotten so bad that the detective had to sit between the two. The only thing that made things bearable were the texts he got from Ellery.
He had just finished telling Ellery to get him a drink when he got back when he got a call from Han. His dark blue eyes looked over to see Ethan eyeing the phone himself, a hopeful yet depressed look on his face.
Left with no choice, Fredrich got up and moved to the kitchen to answer the phone.

About ten minutes passed before Fredrich returned, an annoyed look on his face as he tightly gripped the phone. "Daniel, it's time to go to bed." he said and walked over to him. "Let's tuck you in."
"W-Wait." Ethan said, a hand held out. He quickly pulled it back and looked down, something sad on his face. "Did... Did Lock say anything about, umm... about me?" When Fredrich gave him a sympathetic look, the hopeful smile on the Texan's face fell. He mumbled an, "Oh...", and turned around to face the TV, or more the DVD title screen.

Spotting movement out of the corner of his eye, Ethan turned his head to see Daniel angrily offering him some candy. The Texan blinked for a second, then his confused expression melted into a tearful gratitude. "Thanks." he smiled and took the candy.
Smiling a little himself, Fredrich reached out and put a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Come on." he said and began taking him to his bedroom.

Fredrich lifted Daniel up and set him on the bed, pulling the blanket over him when he heard the question. A slightly sad smile showed on his face. "It's going to take a lot more than a piece of candy to cheer him up right now." he answered honestly. "But it definitely helped, and it was definitely the right thing to do. Now get some sleep. You'll be spending the day tomorrow with Officer West and his family." he said. He kissed the boy's forehead and uttered a good night to him before walking out of the room.
When he walked into the living room, he turned his head to see Ethan watching the candy wrapper as he chewed on what had been inside. "Your kid may be a jerk," he said and paused the move the sugary ball around. "but he's got great taste in candy!"
Fredrich looked at him for a while then smiled under his breath and moved to kitchen table, setting his laptop down and opening it to get information.

Hearing the door open, Ethan looked up to see Lock looming over him. He gasped in surprise then froze and clutched his throat, feeling the piece of candy roll down to the middle of his throat. After a few hacks and coughs, he finally got the candy back to his mouth and looked at Lock again. He stared for a moment then scrambled to sit upright on the couch and look as sophisticated as he could. He gave Lock a sideways glance then back at the TV, huffing, "I like it here. Everyone's nicer." The small bite marks from Daniel and the distant glare from Fredrich said otherwise.
He felt something held out to him and looked over to see what it was. His eyes bulged wide at the rarest delicacy he knew. "Is that...?" he swiped the box from the blonde and gazed at it like a child getting the latest video game console for Christmas. "A Terry's Chocolate Orange?! They don't come out in America unless it's a holiday! H-How did you get these?" he asked and gave the blonde a stupefied look.

Before Lock could finish talking, however, Ethan was on his feet, arms tightly wrapped around the taller man's waist. "I'm sorry!" he cried out, a sniveling mess. "It's all my fault! The meanness, the sex, the passion! I-I'll try harder next time! I'll wear that girl's uniform! I-I'll even do that whole naked apron thing! I'll-"
Fredrich audibly cleared his throat from besides the two, making the Texan jump but keep his grip on Lock. "If you two are done, I'd like to talk to Han about his friends." He gave the blonde a look then went back to his laptop.

"By what I was able to put together, it was definitely a planned meeting." Fredrich said as he pulled up a few windows, one showing text messages and call history of both Haneul and Heinrich, another one showing an old article over Eun-Ho and Su-Young's relationship, and one talking about the Frog King fairy tale. "Every fairytale ends with the king and queen marrying. King and queen. Male and female. It's a bit of a reach, but I have a feeling your butler friend wanted to keep it that way and wanted to break up Balthazar with Eun-Ho." He paused and closed his eyes, still not willing to believe that the spoiled brat was now a king in his fifties that was also dating his moron of a worker. "Haneul called Su-Young about a day ago. It was only a few minutes long, so he knew what he had to say. He already knew the relationship between Eun-Ho and Su-Young, and yet he still talked her into meeting them; he had it planned from the very beginning. Heinrich also called a cab in the middle of the meeting, so he also knew what was going to be the end result." He moved the laptop for Lock to see. "Frankly, Han, I don't know why you needed me to do this. I think you'd have figured it out just by watching the scene. They didn't appear to be too secretive if I can figure it out after ten minutes. Then again, it's you I'm talking to."

"You can't always give your friends the benefit of the doubt, Han." Fredrich said. "People often do what we don't expect, especially if it's for love. An esteemed detective like yourself should know that." he said in a dry tone.
Ethan smiled when Lock went back to him and curled his fingers around his hand, missing that feeling. "Thanks again for letting me stay for a while, Fredrich." he said, though it was evident all his attention was on Lock.
The Austrian looked at Ethan and observed the tiny hearts floating above his head before sighing. He nodded his goodbye to them and gave them a half wave as they walked out.

Once out of the apartment, Ethan waited for them to reach the elevator before asking, "So what exactly happened with your friends?"