His alarm was blaring again.
'I fucking swear I turned the damn thing off already.' He growled at life itself and pulled the pillow over his head.
He stretched absentmindedly in his bed, enjoying how cool and comfy the sheets had become. He didn't want to move. He ignored the knocking on his door.
And after a few more minutes of lounging in bed, his phone started to go off.
'Fucking thing' Rage burned deep inside of him but he reached for it blindly on his bedside table before grabbing it and putting it up to his face, squinting.
Aggravated, he rolled his eyes but answered the phone, "What?"
'Hey man, did you forget what day it was?'
"No, why?"
'Then why aren't you ready? I'm at your door'
"Because I don't want to alive right now"
'Come on, Anti, be serious. It's not going to be so bad. You know I can't continuously rent this place for you'
"Never asked you to"
'Oh? And what are you gonna do otherwise? Live on the streets? Sell drugs and prostitute yourself?'
"I would probably be good at that" he joked, "But seriously, Sean, do I have to?" he whined, "We both know they all hate me"
'Don't worry about it. I've already talked to all of them about it. It's cool'
He snorted "I highly doubt that"
'Just get dressed and come on into the kitchen. I'll come in and make ya some breakfast and we can get going, yeah? Marvin promised he'd take care of moving your stuff over later tonight'
Anti groaned again like a child but finally forced himself up, "Whatever. Make me pancakes"
Sean snorted on the other end and answered sarcastically, 'Oh of course, sire. Anything for you, your majesty' he hung up the phone before Anti could counter.
"Asshole" he finally got up and trudged on in to his bathroom.
Not that he wasn't grateful to Sean.
He had tried to help him since the beginning.
It was the other egos that were the problem.
Or really . . .what they thought they knew.
Sean tried to convince the other Septic egos for years that Anti really wasn't the bad guy but then again, coming out of Sean's head, all they knew was the opposite.
They were created with the mindset that Anti was evil incarnate and were implanted with fake memories upon their existence. It was proof enough for them.
It had taken YEARS to get them to agree to give Anti a chance. He just had to prove those false memories wrong.
Easy for Sean to say.
Just because he wasn't a killer didn't mean he wasn't an asshole, himself.
And he wouldn't hide that fact, either.
Getting all cleaned up and dried off, Anti messed around with his hair haphazardly before throwing on some clothes. And not what anyone would really expect, either.
In the videos, he usually wore a black shirt and dark, ragged jeans. But outside of that, he liked other styles just like anyone else would.
Not thinking anything of it, he threw on a gray and maroon hoodie and black sweatpants. It wasn't like he was going to try and impress them or anything.
Slugging himself out of the bathroom, he finally made his way into the kitchen, smelling the beginnings of pancakes and Anti chuckled to himself.
'Didn't think he'd actually do it'
But Sean knew how hard today was for Anti. The last time him and the other Septic egos ran into each other, it wasn't a pleasant time. In their panic, Chase had shot him in the shoulder, Jackie broke a couple of his ribs, Henrik had tried choking him with Jameson helping to hold him down and Marvin had thrown him into the void dimension! When Sean found out, he had to ask for Dark's help to get Anti out of that dimension.
But after a few very long discussions, Sean thought that he finally may have gotten through to the others. Or at least he hoped so. He really couldn't keep paying for Anti's apartment and his own two places in Brighton AND Los Angeles. He'd invite Anti to live with him but Evelien wasn't too fond of that idea.
But if things didn't work out again with the Septic egos, he'd just have to give Anti the LA pad. He thought that maybe it'd be better that way but he just wanted to give the others one last chance to get along.
"Did you actually make me pancakes?" Anti licked his lips, "You know I was just joking, right?"
Sean flipped it to cook on the other side, "Yeah but I also know you really do love these things. I put dark chocolate chips in them too but not too much this time. I know the last time YOU tried to make them, you added WAY too much. Thought I'd have to take you to the hospital"
Anti rolled his eyes, "I was fine~! I was only on the shitter for like half a day!"
"Screaming"
"Fuck off"
Sean laughed at him and handed him his finished breakfast, "Want some syrup or are you just going to inhale it?"
"Like a Dyson" Anti sat at the table, already chowing down and eating his feelings.
Sean let out a laugh, watching his counterpart ego pack away his breakfast. He sighed heavily, just as worried, but wanting to lighten up the mood, "You know . . . Chase's pancakes are even better than mine. Maybe if things work out, you'll find out"
Anti ignored him but slowed down, suddenly feeling a little ill at the mention of them.
Sean crossed his arms, "Anti, you know I'm not trying to force you. I just think that-"
Suddenly, Anti's neck wound started to bleed a little and Sean acted quick with a napkin before any blood could get on his clothes, "Shit! You're getting too worked up, Anti. Come on"
The glitch sighed but let his creator lead him back into the bathroom to patch up his neck, wrapping it up in gauze.
When finished, Sean grit his teeth, "That's just another thing they'll have to get used to. Don't worry, I'll let them know."
The lights started to flicker as Anti scowled.
"I'll let them know about that, too"
"I really am a fucking freak, Sean. I know that. No wonder they're terrified of me"
"It's not that, Anti!" Sean made sure the gauze was secure, "You're just different is all. But that doesn't make you bad. Everything will work out, I promise"
". . . . . . Whatever. I'm going to go finish the pancake"
Anti had a little trouble swallowing the rest of the food down due to his neck but he managed fine enough and afterwards, they were in Evelien's car.
"Hey Gab"
"Hey Anti!" she smiled, "Sorry I didn't come in but I just wanted to give you two some time together, you know? Oh, what happened to your neck?! Are you okay?"
Anti always liked her. She was so sweet and kind, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'm tough"
"I know you are" she giggled and let Sean peck her on the cheek, "We ready to go?"
Anti buckled in his seatbelt and sighed loudly, "I guess"
The drive down was long and tense. At least, Anti thought so. It felt like he was going to his own funeral.
But eventually, they pulled up to a large house in the middle of nowhere. Sean had helped the others find the perfect house for them all just outside of the city where they would be free to walk around and do whatever they wanted for miles.
He didn't want anyone knowing about them all by accident, of course.
And to keep their individual jobs? Of course Marvin had a spell for that, making them look different to 'normal' people's eyes.
And their jobs paid for the house themselves so Sean didn't have to lend a penny.
Anti was sort of jealous of that because he couldn't get a job with the way his neck would bleed sometimes and he'd make electronics around him glitch out if he were anxious. Not to mention HIMSELF glitching out. He felt like a free-loader but there was nothing he could do about it.
"We're here" Sean stated the obvious and turned to look behind him at Anti in the back seat, "You ready?"
"Fuck no"
"Sorry . . . ." Sean really did seem apologetic, "Just one last chance, alright? You still have that phone I gave you?"
Anti tapped his sweatpants pocket.
"If they give you any trouble or you feel threatened in any way, just text or call me. And I'll be here for you, okay?"
"Or you can get ahold of me, too!" Gab butt in and Anti gave her a small smile.
"Yeah, yeah, don't get all mushy on me, 'mom and dad'" he snorted sarcastically.
Sean smiled at him, "Brat. . . . Alright, let's go, then. You coming in, Evelien?"
"Sure thing, babe!"
They got out together but Anti stayed in the car, getting nervous again.
Sean sensed this and opened his side of the car door, leaning down to his level, "Hey, before we go in, I got you something. Maybe it could help your anxiety?"
He took out a small fidget cube and a small bottle of slime. Anti snorted at it, "I don't have ADHD, Sean"
"No, but it can help with your glitching, maybe. It's nothing to be ashamed of, Anti. Ethan messes with this stuff all the time and so does Mark and Dark from time to time. Heard it's really been helping Wilford out, too"
"Along with extensive therapy"
"Just try it, please?"
Anti grumbled to himself. He knew he was just being this way because he was . . . . .
He wasn't scared! He could actually kill them all if he wanted!
But did he want to?
No, not at all.
Anti gulped loudly to himself, taking a long breathe, "Fine. . . thanks, Sean." He took the gifts and put them in the kangaroo pouch of his hoodie, nodding to him that he was ready.
"No problem. . . let's head on up to the door, yeah? Just trust me, Anti."
Finally, Anti got out of the car and started walking up to the house behind Sean and Evelien, unconsciously already fiddling with the fidget cube.
Meanwhile inside the house, once Chase spotted the car pulling up, he was gnawing at his lips again nervously, "They're here!" he shouted out to alert the others.
They were all worried about this day themselves.
Really, after the last incident with Anti, most of them felt bad after Sean had bitched them all out.
Was he really not as bad as he said?
They didn't really give him the chance. The last time, he had only been around them a couple days. And then he accidentally glitched and all hell broke loose.
'Sean says it was an accident but I don't know' he thought to himself, 'What if Anti's just using him? Got him hypnotized or something? But wouldn't Marvin know if that was the case?'
He wasn't sure but Sean did seem to care a lot about him.
Loud rumbling ensued from upstairs and soon enough Jackie and Marvin were bustling down.
"They're early!" Marvin ran to the window to peek out under Chase's own head, his mask hanging askew from his face.
"No they're not!" Jackie argued, "They're late! Sean said they'd be here an hour ago! Where the hell have YOU been!?"
"At the Iplier's, actually, not that that's any of your business" he huffed.
Jackie rolled his eyes, "Hey, where's Henrik? He still at work?"
Jameson appeared from the kitchen and signed, 'He said he had extra paperwork to take care of. Would be home later tonight'
Chase shook his head, "Sean is NOT gonna like that, dudes. He said he wanted everyone here this morning"
Jackie shrugged, "I can't exactly tear 'zhe good doctah' away from his paperwork!"
"Whatever, whatever" Marvin waved it off, still looking outside through the blinds, "What's taking them so long to come inside? Sean's just . . talking to him with the back seat door open. What's he giving him? IS that him?"
"Of course it is." Chase shoved him out of the way, "Who else would it be? Although he does look a little . . . different"
"He looked weird last time, too" Jackie pointed out, "Not wearing black. . . thought he'd be more goth ALL the time"
Jameson tapped on the wall to get their attention, 'They're coming! What do we do?'
Marvin groaned, "I guess we . . . get the door? Evelien's with them. So, Anti wouldn't try anything with her around, right?"
Suddenly Sean knocked on the door and they all tensed.
Chase looked troubled but finally took a long breathe and went to the door, "I'll get it"
They all congregated to the door, prepared to fight for each other but also tried to look nonthreatening just in case what Sean had told them was true.
In that case . . . . they had a lot to feel sorry for.
Chase finally swung open the door with a big fake smile on his face, "Hey guys! How you doing!?"
So what do you guys think of the first chapter? The poll prompt will come up in due time, don't you worry 😅 But is everyone liking it so far? Let me know! 💚