- Chapter 15 - The Secret is Out -
Warnings: Mentions of abuse, eating problems
Third Person POV
"Oh yeah, Anth, one last thing," Jack starts, making everyone turn to him, confused.
Anthony was dreading the next words to come out of Jack's mouth.
He probably knew what they were, but he was praying he was wrong.
"You need to tell them today" Jack states.
Anthony freezes, tensing in Mush's arms, causing Mush's eyebrows to furrow.
"I'll do it later" Anthony whispers.
Jack shakes his head.
"No. Today Anthony, now. I will do it for you if you don't" Jack responds.
Anthony starts trembling, he did not want to tell them.
Specs bends down and takes his hands. "Hey, hey. No one is gonna be mad about this, but Jack's right. You need to tell them. How would they feel if they knew you were risking your life?"
"My father would kill us" Anthony whispers, as Specs wipes tears off of his face.
Romeo pops out of a ceiling vent. "Can I go kill him?"
"Anthony?!" Specs questions, looking up at his boyfriend, worried.
Romeo shakes his head. "No, you amazing idiot, his father!"
Specs shakes his head.
Romeo just shrugs. "Well, in that case,"
Romeo jumps out of the vent, landing on the bed next to Anthony and Mush, Anthony in the middle of the two. "Hey guys!"
Anthony jumps, startled. "What the heck, Ro?!"
"Don't mind me, I'm just here to see the start of my OTP" Romeo states, leaning back against the bed.
Jack turns to Specs. "He knows?"
Specs shrugs turning to Anthony, who points to Romeo. "He is right there."
"Thank you Anthony, I hate it when people talk like I'm not here." Romeo comments. Anthony nods. "One, I did get my name for a reason. Two, it took me a while but I figured it out on my own."
Jack and Specs nod.
Spot cuts in. "Can we get back to the problem? He's risking his life over a secret?"
Jack turns to Anthony. "Glove."
Anthony nods, letting Jack take his hand, while a few more tears fall from his eyes. He knew Jack would've just forced him to take it off anyway.
Jack pulls off his glove to reveal his soulmate mark.
Immediately when they see it, Albert and Spot's eyes widen. "You're our soulmate?"
Blink and Mush's eyes widen as well.
Albert's eyebrows furrow. "I've seen this mark. It's been on me since I was six. How long have you known this, Jack?"
"A month or so" Jack answers.
Albert's eyes widen.
"Anthony, you should've told us" Albert states.
Romeo's laugh interrupts them.
"Love you all, but stop quoting Hamilton" Romeo laughs, causing a few of the boys to laugh as well.
"Anthony, why-"
"I don't care" Anthony whispers, squeezing his eyes shut like it'll help him stop crying.
Albert and Spot look at him, confused. "What?"
Anthony stands up, tears streaming down his face. "I said 'I don't care'! You don't even know why I didn't tell you! Forget you were ever told this, and go back to leaving me alone and being happy together."
Anthony quickly gets up, shaking Mush's arms off of him. He tries to run out of the room, but Albert and Spot stop him by grabbing him into a hug between the two of them.
"Stop. Let go of me" Anthony whimpers, as he struggles against their grip.
It was useless. He knew that.
He was so physically tired from never sleeping that he couldn't do anything, but he didn't care; he still tried.
"Shh. It's okay" Albert whispers, running his hands through Anthony's hair.
When someone ran their fingers through their hair, they immediately got tired and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't stay awake for long. (This is just a head cannon I use.)
Spot had done it with Al, same with Al to Spot, and Jack had done it to most of the boys.
Now, they just had to figure out how long Anthony could fight the tiredness.
Albert knew Anthony hadn't been sleeping, but he was stubborn.
Albert usually could fight it a bit, and Ike, and his twin, could last for a while, but Crutchie and Mush couldn't stay awake for more than five minutes.
"Stop it." Anthony whispers, his fights to get Albert's hand away from his hair and to get away from Albert and Spot growing weaker.
"Guys-" Anthony's whispers became inaudible as he grew more tired.
He could feel it. His eyes were getting heavy and he was losing awareness of his surroundings.
It was almost like what had happened when his father would beat him and he lost too much blood or when he couldn't breath during a panic attack.
With that thought, Anthony fought harder to stay awake. They're going to hurt me if I don't. Leave me, just like everyone else.
Albert, Spot, and Jack share a look. How the heck is he keeping this up? This has to be pure stubbornness.
Spot quietly starts humming the tune to a lullaby. He knew that would probably help Anthony fall asleep.
They knew it'd be useless to try to get through to him while he was running on such little sleep. He could break at any second, heck, he already had.
Anthony's protests again became weak, until they finally stopped.
Albert could tell by his breathing that he wasn't fully asleep, but he was very close.
After a few more minutes, Anthony went limp in Albert and Spot's arms as he fell asleep. His breathing fell into a steady rhythm.
"Why is he so scared?" Spot asks Jack, who frowns.
"His father" Jack answers.
Spot nods, also frowning.
Spot turns back to Albert, who was staring sorrowfully at Anthony, still playing with his hair. "His attempts to stay awake had to be pure stubbornness and fear. I mean, he looked really tired and I could tell he was."
Spot nods. "Was it from crying?"
Albert shakes his head. "It wasn't fully from crying. He has been up all night for the past few days, I know since I usually wake up at the same time, get a drink, and then go back to sleep at like 2am. He's been awake almost every time I've done it since he got here, and it's been to many days to have just been coincidences."
Spot's frown deepens, as he turns to Jack. He looks Jack in the eyes, silently asking something.
Jack nods. "Romeo, you and Anthony are gonna switch rooms for at least the next few nights."
Romeo nods, making a silent agreement with Blink, Specs, and Mush, as the four of them share small smirks.
Jack rolls his eyes. "Fine. Mush and Blink will stay in here, and Specs and Romeo can stay in Specs and Blink's room."
The four boys grin at Jack and then each other.
Specs turns to Jack. "Thanks Jack. We're gonna leave you guys be so that we don't disturb Anthony. Love you tons."
Mush, Blink, and Romeo quietly chorus a 'love you guys'.
Jack, Spot, and Albert whisper a 'love you' back as the four boys exit the room.
"When he wakes up, tell me, okay?" Jack asks. Spot and Albert nod.
Jack carefully hugs them. "Love you both."
"Love you, Jack" They whisper as they watch him leave the room.
Albert turns to Spot. "I told you he had a chance of being our soulmate."
Spot smiles. "That you did. I just hope that everything turns out okay."
"It will. I really hope it will."
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