Chapter 87: Daniel is Alive

Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Daniel is Alive

Classes settled into their usual rhythm with Daniel back in his seat, and it wasn’t long before he was leaning over between lectures, clearly starved for information.

"Okay, catch me up," Daniel said. "What’d I miss? Feels like I’ve been gone a month."

"It’s been like a week."

"Feels longer when you’re staring at hospital ceiling tiles."

Garrett considered where to actually start. "Thing’s have changed a lot. Got a decent chunk saved up now. Apartment’s better. Actually cook properly these days."

"Wait, you cook now?"

"Turns out I’m good at it."

"That’s genuinely unsettling information." Daniel shook his head slowly. "What else?"

"Freya and I are together now."

Daniel’s eyebrows shot up. "Wait, seriously? Since when?"

"A little while."

"You couldn’t have texted me this? I was literally in a hospital bed with nothing to do."

"Didn’t want to overload you while you were recovering."

"Sure. Sure, that’s definitely the reason." Daniel grinned, though something flickered behind it too fast for Garrett to fully read, gone before it settled into anything. "And Emiliana?"

"Complicated. Still figuring that one out."

"Complicated how?"

"Just complicated." Garrett left it there, deliberately vague, no mention of Brian, the system, or the file currently sitting on his coffee table. "Some stuff with her family. Long story."

"You’ve had a busy week."

"You have no idea."

Daniel didn’t push past the vagueness, apparently satisfied enough with the surface version of things, and the conversation drifted easily from there, familiar in a way that made the last week feel like it hadn’t actually put much distance between them.

They spotted Freya near the courtyard after their last class, and Garrett’s face broke into an easy smile before he’d fully registered doing it.

"Hey," he said, falling into step beside her.

"Hey yourself." She glanced past him toward Daniel. "Oh, look who’s alive."

"Everyone’s very concerned with confirming that today," Daniel said, though his voice came out thinner than usual, some of his usual easy confidence noticeably absent.

Garrett and Freya settled into their usual back and forth almost immediately, talking about nothing in particular, the classes, Daniel’s return, some minor drama from earlier in the week. Daniel hovered nearby, clearly trying to find his way into the conversation, opening his mouth a couple of times before the words seemed to catch somewhere on the way out.

"So, uh," Daniel started at one point, directed vaguely at Freya. "How’s, um. How’s everything been. With you."

"Good," Freya said, glancing at him, mild curiosity crossing her face at the stammer. "You okay? You seem kind of off."

"I’m fine." Daniel’s voice pitched slightly higher than normal. "Totally fine. Just, you know. Hospital brain. Still catching up."

Garrett caught the whole exchange without saying anything, already understanding exactly what was happening. He knew Daniel’s feelings for Freya well enough by now, knew this particular brand of stammering wasn’t hospital brain at all.

Freya studied Daniel a second longer, something in her expression softening with concern rather than suspicion. "You sure? You can head home early if you’re still not feeling great."

"No, no, I’m good." Daniel’s smile came out a little too wide.

Garrett considered the situation for a moment, then decided the kindest thing he could do was step back and give Daniel some room to actually get through a sentence without an audience.

"I’ll leave you two alone," Garrett said, already shifting his weight to go.

Freya frowned immediately. "What? Why are you leaving?"

Garrett paused, genuinely caught off guard. He’d expected her to take the obvious opening.

"Figured you two might want to catch up," he said, keeping it light.

"I see Daniel plenty." Freya fell into step beside Garrett instead, apparently not reading the moment the way he’d intended it. "You’re the one I haven’t seen all day."

Garrett glanced back at Daniel as they started walking, catching the flicker of disappointment cross his friend’s face before Daniel smoothed it over, quick enough that Freya, walking ahead now, missed it entirely.

Garrett didn’t say anything about it. Didn’t call attention to what had just happened, didn’t try to force the outcome back the other way either. He just let it sit, quiet and unspoken between him and Daniel, an understanding neither of them needed to say out loud.

"I should probably head home," Daniel said after a beat, voice back to something closer to normal now that the pressure of the moment had passed. "Still kind of tired. Hospital thing."

"You sure?" Garrett asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah. Catch up more tomorrow." Daniel gave a small wave, already turning to go. "Bye, Freya."

"Bye! Feel better!"

Garrett watched him go for a second, knowing exactly why he was leaving but deciding not to say anything. Then he turned back toward Freya, who was already talking about something else entirely.

"Poor Daniel," Freya said as they continued walking. "He seemed really out of it. You think the accident messed with him more than he’s letting on?"

"Maybe," Garrett said, which wasn’t a lie, exactly, even if it wasn’t the whole truth either.

"He’s usually a lot more, I don’t know. Chatty. Today he could barely get a sentence out."

"Probably still recovering."

Freya hummed, apparently satisfied with that explanation, and the conversation drifted elsewhere, easy and unhurried now that it was just the two of them.

Garrett let his mind drift briefly toward Daniel, toward the disappointment he’d caught and quickly buried, wondering whether he should’ve handled the moment differently, whether stepping aside sooner or more obviously might have actually worked instead of falling flat the way it had. He didn’t land on an answer. Freya genuinely had no idea Daniel felt anything beyond friendship, and there wasn’t an easy way to fix that without betraying something that wasn’t his to share.

"You walking home?" Freya asked eventually, glancing at him.

"Yeah."

"Same way as me, then. Might as well walk together."

"Sure."

They fell into step, the university crowd thinning out behind them as the streets grew quieter, the conversation loosening further now that there was nobody else to account for.

"So," Freya said, bumping his shoulder lightly with hers. "You disappeared on me for a bit there. Distracted boyfriend behavior."

"Wasn’t distracted."

"You were a little distracted."

"Multitasking."

"Sure. That’s what we’re calling it."

She kept the conversation going easily, asking about his day, teasing him about small things, finding reasons to slow their pace whenever a topic seemed worth lingering on longer. Garrett noticed it without needing to examine it too hard, the simple, obvious fact that she wanted this walk to last a little longer than the distance between campus and their building actually required.

He didn’t overthink it. Just let the walk continue at whatever pace she wanted to set, comfortable in a way that required nothing more complicated than actually being there.