Note: Requested by @alexessa1. I hope you enjoy this one-shot!
Pairing: H2OVanoss
Jonathan walked down the hall, looking for cell number 123. His new patient was in there. He finally found it and opened the door quietly. He scanned the room, finding his patient. His patient sat in the middle of the room huddled in a ball. When he shut the door behind him, his patient looked up. He looked as though he had been crying.
"Evan Fong?" Jonathan asked. Evan nodded. Jonathan smiled at him slightly before walking up to him and sitting down. "Hello, Evan. My name's Jonathan, and I'm going to be taking care of you, okay?" Evan nodded again, sniffling and wiping his eyes. "I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're gonna have to answer honestly, okay?" Evan nodded once more. "Alright, here we go. You have someone in your head, correct? Can you tell me about them?" Evan's eyes widened and he started shaking his head. "No? Why not?"
"Because he's afraid that you'll find out his tricks," Evan whispered, his voice cracking.
"Who's tricks? Evan, if you want me to help, you've gotta talk to me. I promise I won't find out their tricks if you tell me who." Evan took in a deep, shaky breath before replying.
"He calls himself Hoodini."
"Like the magician?" Evan nodded. "What kind of tricks does he have?"
"His most famous one is his disappearing act."
"How does he do that?"
"I'm not allowed to say."
"Why not? I mean, I know you're supposed to keep a magician's secret and all, but is that the only reason you're keeping quiet?"
Evan paused, and his eyes started filling up with tears again. "I'm not allowed to say because he'll hurt me and others," he choked out. He started to cry. Jonathan knew that he wasn't supposed to do this, but he pulled Evan into a hug anyways. Evan sobbed into Jonathan's shoulder as Jonathan comforted him.
"Don't worry Evan, we'll get rid of him, okay?" Evan nodded as he pulled back from the hug. Jonathan smiled at him before getting up. "I have to go check up on some other patients, but I'll come back tomorrow, okay?" Evan nodded as he pulled himself back into a ball.
As Jonathan left the room, he sighed. He really wanted to help Evan out, but he just didn't know how.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In only a month, Evan had gotten more responsive to Jonathan's questions. He still wouldn't answer anything about Hoodini, but he answered other questions.
Today was Jonathan's day off. Or so he thought. At lunch time, he got a call from work. "Dr. Dennis, we need you back here. Now." Jonathan didn't know what had happened, but the urgency their voice was enough to convince him. He quickly grabbed his stuff and rushed there.
"What happened?" He asked once he got there, panting from the rushing he did to get there.
"Evan got out of his cell. We're trying to get him back, and we think that you can do it."
"Do you know where he is?"
"Yeah, he's in one of the storage rooms. We've got him surrounded, but he won't come out. I'll show you." They rushed to the scene. It was a huge storage room. Boxes filled the room, along with some tables, chairs, and other things. They let Jonathan go in by himself.
"Who goes there?" Evan's voice rumbled through the room. Jonathan couldn't place where it was coming from.
"It's me, Jonathan. Where are you Evan?" Evan laughed.
"Evan? Evan isn't here today, sir. Only I, the great Hoodini!" Jonathan was surprised. This was the first time he had gotten to talk to Hoodini.
"Well, Hoodini, where are you?"
"Now, if I told you that it would ruin the fun, now wouldn't it?"
Jonathan huffed and started walking around the room. "Maybe, but we need Evan back. You can continue to be Hoodini there."
"Nonsense! I have to have my special lair in order to be as mysterious as possible."
Jonathan thought for a moment. How was he supposed to find Evan? An idea struck him, and he started to smile. "Mr. Hoodini, you are a magician, correct?"
"Indeed."
"Well, would you mind coming out and showing me a trick or two? You don't have to explain how they work."
There was a pause. "Wasn't the disappearing act enough?"
"I wasn't here for the disappearing act. Is that your only trick?"
"Ha! Of course not! I have many tricks up my sleeve, like all magicians."
"Then why don't you show them to me?"
"And why would I do that?"
"To prove that you're not lying. Plus, I could help you with some of your tricks if you want."
Another pause. "You would?"
"Yep. But I can't help you if you're hiding."
Hoodini started to laugh. "For a second, you almost got me! You know, I like you already."
"What do you mean I almost got you?"
"You tried to get me out of hiding. It almost worked, but I saw through your tricks."
Jonathan frowned. That was his only idea. He started thinking again. Evan had to be somewhere up high in the room in order for his voice to be carried out. "Hey Hoodini, do you think you could pull off your disappearing act again?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Just curious."
"Well, no, I can't. I only do it once, and you missed it. Maybe next time."
Jonathan found a ladder that was up against some boxes that nearly reached the ceiling. He climbed it, and looked at the row of boxes. There were about five that he could get to.
He opened the first box. Nobody there. He went for the second box. Still nobody. Then there was the third box. It was taped shut, unlike the first two. "Hoodini, I think I found your hiding spot."
This time, Hoodini didn't respond. Jonathan knew he had found it, and with some more effort, was able to open the box. There Hoodini sat, looking up at Jonathan. He gave him a sheepish grin. "Well, you found me. Are you gonna bring me back to my cell?"
"Well, yeah, I have to. Come on, I'll help you out." Jonathan lent out his hand, and Hoodini took it. He crawled out of the box and down the ladder before being led to his cell.
"Well, I'm back. You gonna leave me now?"
"No, actually. I have a couple of questions to ask you, if you don't mind." Hoodini's smile fell.
"If you mean my tricks, then I'm not telling you anything."
"I do not mean your tricks." Hoodini's smile returned.
"Well, in that case, lay your questions on me."
"When did you first stick with Evan?"
"He was six at the time. It was his birthday, actually. He had gotten this magician outfit that he absolutely adored. He barely took it off. He then created me, your beloved Hoodini."
"Why did you stick?"
"Evan needed me, of course. Isn't that how it always goes? When you've got no one else to go to, you put it in your own hands to find someone who listens, even if they're not real."
"You're very self aware about yourself."
"Yes, I've been told."
"Evan has mentioned you hurting him and others. What's that all about?" Hoodini's smile faded.
"Let me get things straight with you; I am a protector. I protect Evan. Those people I 'hurt'? It was for Evan's sake."
"What were the people doing?"
"They were saying that he was crazy. Insane. Just because he needed someone to talk to and chose 'himself'. It hurt Evan. So I had to stop it."
"And what about him saying you hurt him?"
"It was for his own good. He was trying to forget me. Pretend I didn't exist. Just so he could get 'better'. But he was fine from the start! Others had put this, this thought into his head, saying it was a simple thing, forgetting about me. But it's not. And I proved it to them. Evan knows this."
Jonathan was startled by the responses he was getting. Hoodini practically had a leash on Evan's life.
"Have you ever thought about the fact that you yourself might be hurting Evan for your own good?" Hoodini laughed.
"That's crazy! I do everything for Evan, and Evan only. I do what's best for him."
"Well, from the looks of it, you're just doing it for you. You don't want to be forgotten. Evan wants you to be gone, but you don't want to leave. So, you start to tell yourself you're doing these things for Evan, when they're really for you." Hoodini seemed taken aback by the answer.
"No. That's not true. Evan needs me."
"No, Evan needs you to be gone." Hoodini didn't answer. Actually, he didn't talk for the rest of the day. Jonathan stayed at work, just to make sure everything was alright.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Jonathan rushed to his job. He wanted to make sure Evan was okay. He sped walked to Evan's room, quickly entering it. "Evan?" Evan looked up. A small smile grew on Evan's face when he saw Jonathan.
"Hi." Jonathan felt a smile grow on his own face.
"Oh thank god you're okay. Do you remember anything from yesterday?" Evan's smile dropped as he thought.
"I remember... I remember hearing that you weren't going to be here, and I remember being upset about it. That's it." Jonathan blinked.
Had he been the cause of Evan's outburst? No, that couldn't have been it, could it? He shook it off and smiled at Evan.
"Well, nobody got hurt, if that's what you're wondering. I did have a conversation with Hoodini, though." Evan's face immediately went into panic.
"Oh god, did he do anything to you? Please tell me he didn't. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he did, and-" Jonathan cut him off by putting his hands on Evan's shoulders.
"Evan, calm down. He didn't do anything to me." Evan calmed down instantly. "I just asked him a couple of questions, that's all."
"Did he answer any of them?"
"All of them, actually. And I don't think he'll be out for a little while."
"Why do you say that?"
"Oh, just a hunch."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jonathan and Evan became closer and closer. Jonathan's favorite part of the day was getting to see Evan, and Evan was brighten up everytime he saw Jonathan. Eventually, whenever Jonathan would have a break time, he always used it to go see Evan.
Then came the day when Evan was released. Since Evan hadn't had an incident for over a year, he was deemed mentally stable. At the end of the day, him and Jonathan stood outside of the building. "Well, congrats. You're finally free," Jonathan said, patting Evan on the shoulder.
"Yeah. I am."
They sat in silence before Evan finally spoke up. "Uh, hey, Jonathan? Can I uh, do something real quick?"
"Uh, yeah. What do you want to do?" Evan didn't reply. He just grabbed Jonathan's face lightly before kissing him. Jonathan was taken aback by the action, but eventually kissed back. Evan pulled back, resting his forehead on Jonathan's.
"Thank you," he whispered. Jonathan smiled.
"Anything for you, Evan. Anything for you."