Anti knew a fake smile when he saw one.
And Chase was throwing out a big one. Unfortunately, Sean couldn't tell the difference, though, bless his heart, and neither could Evelien.
"Hey guys!" Chase grinned, "We were expecting you earlier. Traffic trouble?"
Sean gave him a quick hug which stung Anti a little, "Nah, man. We just wanted to talk a bit more is all. Must have lost track of time. Sorry about that"
Chase glanced towards Anti and it was painfully obvious he didn't want to acknowledge him but he forced himself to anyway, "Not like you'll never see each other again. I'm sure everything will work out better this time . . . ." he swallowed and tensed a little, losing his friendly nature just a tad, "You gotta understand, Anti . . . . the memories we were 'born' with-"
"And you gotta understand when Sean says that all that shit didn't happen . .. it didn't happen. What don't you get?" Anti couldn't help it. He had to force it down their throats somehow and what better way to do it then when Sean's right there with him?
Not that he was a coward or anything.
Evelien sighed, "Whoo boy. Easy there." she then addressed Chase, "He's a bit grouchy in the mornings"
Chase stared at Anti, gripping the frame of the door tightly but he nodded, taking in Evelien's words, "Yeah uh . . .yeah. Aren't we all? I could use some coffee myself"
Jackie peered over to shove Chase away, "Let them in, already, man. Looks a little chilly out. You two staying for a bit, I assume?"
Sean nodded, "Oh yeah. I wanna make sure Anti's comfortable before we take off."
"Not a fooking dog, McLoughlin" Anti scoffed and stuffed his hands in his hoodie pouch to foo around with the fidget cube again. This was way too tense for its own good.
Sean ruffled Anti's hair, "Nah, you're more like a spoiled brat"
Anti seemed to pout at that, "Whatever, 'dad'"
Marvin chuckled from the other room, "THAT could be taken out of context!"
"Shut up, Marv!" Sean shouted.
Chase let them all in, "Let's chill in the living room for a bit. I'll get some coffee and tea made up. How do you like your coffee, Anti? Or do you want tea?"
The glitch was a bit thrown off by the question but spoke softly, "Coffee. Tons of milk and sugar and some ice?"
The father egos hummed "Didn't take you as a sweets kinda guy"
"Yeah well there's a lot you don't know about me" Anti trailed behind Gab and Sean as Chase went off to get the beverages.
Jackie, Marvin and Jameson made some room for them all along the couch and chairs but Anti chose to stick tight to Sean.
Catching the action, Sean smiled, "Hey Marvin. . . . how's your cat doing? She up in your room?"
"You have a cat?" Anti was suddenly intrigued. He loved animals more than humans. Who wouldn't?
Marvin was taken aback but smiled a bit, "Uh . . yeah. Got her last year after the last time you were here. You like cats? Or are you allergic?"
"I . . . I like cats. I mean, your mask freaks me out but-OW! Hey!"
Sean elbowed him to shut him up, "You have no filter, do you?"
"It's fine" Marvin chuckled and took his mask off to ease him a bit. Anti was slightly drawn to the scar on the side of the magician's face that went from his eyebrow down to his jaw. He had another nick over his nose but they weren't . . . bothersome at all, "You can meet her later if you want. Last I saw, she was upstairs taking a nap."
There was an awkward silence in the air for a few moments until Sean finally spoke up again.
"Where's Hen? He in his room or something?"
Jackie hissed awkwardly, "Uh . . . he's at work, actually"
"What? Seriously? I told him he needed to be here this morning. I needed to talk to him about some things"
'What things?' Jameson asked.
"Well-" Sean stopped as Chase came back in with a tray of drinks and snacks, "Oh, thanks, man"
"Thanks, Chase!" Evelien sipped on her tea.
"No probs" he handed Anti's his last but something stopped the glitch from drinking it.
"What's wrong, Anti?" Sean asked him, "That's your favorite drink, right?"
"Is it poisoned?" He couldn't stop himself from asking.
"What?!" Jackie huffed, "Why would we poison you?!"
"Oh, I wonder why" Anti spat back sarcastically.
"Dude, I didn't poison your coffee." Chase persisted.
"But how do I know that?" Anti didn't trust this one bit. He should have went in and watched him make it.
Evelien solved the problem, though and took the glass from him, drinking a gulp, " . . . . . . See? Not poisoned!"
Anti gaped at her, "Jaysus, Evelien!"
Sean covered his face and shook his head, "Oh my god"
Marvin rolled his eyes, "But see? It's fine."
Anti was anxious again but brought the cup to his lips to sip on the drink.
He didn't realize everyone was staring at him until he noticed the tense silence again.
Besides Sean and Evelien, the others were looking at him with disgust, making Anti even MORE nervous.
"Wh-what? Did I get any on my face?"
Sean bit his lip, feeling bad for him, "Your neck, Anti."
"Dude, are you alright?!" Chase shouted, breaking out of his shock, "The fooking hell!?"
Anti touched his gauzed throat immediately only to pull back to see blood on his fingers. He was bleeding through the bandages!
"Dammit. . . I uh . . . I'm sorry. Uh. . I-"
"It happens" Sean interrupted, "He's just nervous is all. Come on, Anti. I'll take you to the bathroom. This is one of the things I wanted to talk to Henrik about"
When Sean got him to the bathroom, Anti couldn't even look at him, letting him work expertly on the wound. He'd done it a million times before, after all.
"It's okay, Anti. They'll just have to get used to it"
"Yeah right. How can you get used to someone bleeding out continuously like a fucking monster? They probably think I'm even more of a demon, now"
"Hey, you can't help that, Anti. . . . It's all my fault, anyways"
"You saw their faces"
"They'll get over it. I'll make sure of that. Maybe Marvin can do something about it, huh? Let's go ask"
Anti shook his head, "Can we just. . . pretend it didn't happen?"
Sean sighed but finished on Anti's neck in silence, "Let's go back out"
When they did, Sean explained that everything was fine and they all moved on to different topics.
Anti found himself unable to listen, though. He just . . . drifted off into a daydream, pretending he was anywhere else but there.
After close to an hour, though, Sean shook him out of it, "Hey, man. Did we lose you there for a bit?"
Anti looked around at them all but kept his head down, "S-sorry."
"S'fine" Jackie raised his brow at him, "Just tried to ask if you wanted to see your new room?"
"Isn't it the one I had the last time I was here?"
"Well yeah-"
"The one where you assholes tried to cage me in?"
"That won't happen again, Anti" Marvin tried to reassure him.
"I don't want to be here" Anti stopped him, "Let's get that out there. Stop the bullshit. And I know you guys don't want me here, too. Trying to fake politeness. Try it all you want, I can still see through it"
"Anti-"
"No, Sean it's fine. He's right" Chase looked Anti in the eyes, "We don't want him here. But we also haven't even tried to give it a shot yet. I know things are tense right now but I DO agree that we need to at least TRY. After all . . . Have to listen to what you've told us, right Sean? Our memories aren't our own?"
Sean sighed with a light groan, "Chase, I-"
"And, really, we should be pissed off at you, Sean, for that. If it is as you say and Anti really isn't a killer. Why did you create us with memories of him being so? Why give us fake memories at all?"
"Because he was an insensitive moron who didn't know any better" Anti answered for him.
". . . . . . " Sean smirked at the both of them, "Glad to see you guys actually agree on something"
"Tch" Chase sighed, " . . . You like video games, Anti?"
Anti narrowed his eyes at him in suspicion but quietly nodded.
For a while, the conversation went by slowly and strange like this but eventually eased up.
Sean noticed the time and grumbled to Evelien, "It's lunchtime. I told Pewds I'd record with him and some others"
"Wanna give him a call to let him know it'll be a little bit?"
"Yeah. . . You guys want some lunch delivered while I'm on my phone?"
"Sure, man" Jackie grinned, "I could go for some delivery!"
Jameson grinned, 'As long as we get something sweet with it, I'm fine'
"Anti what do you want?" Sean asked, "And please for the love of god, choose something remotely good for you this time"
Anti grumbled to himself, "Well, forget it, then"
"Let me guess. . . the blood of the innocent?" Marvin chortled until he realized he made an insensitive joke, "Uh . .. never mind. . . sorry"
Anti glared at him, "For your information . . . I hate blood. . . . makes this stupid neck a living hell, really"
"Do you want me to do something about that-?"
"Touch me with that wand OR your hands and I'll break them."
Sean pretended he didn't hear the conversation. There would probably be far worse when he left.
But while he got on the phone to order the food, Evelien stood up and motioned for Anti to follow her into the kitchen.
Arms crossed, he moped behind her and Evelien whispered to him concerningly, "Are you sure you'll be okay here? I can tell Sean to forget it and you can move in with us if you want, Anti"
Anti shook his head but he was touched by her words, "I . . don't want to be a burden to you guys. You two need your space together. I couldn't just . . . you know"
"Then what about the LA house? Sean said if this didn't work out, you could go there anyway. You don't have to stay here, Anti, if you're not comfortable. You do have options, sweety"
Anti felt the need to cry, she was so nice and gentle. Evelien was always like that to him. Always so motherly.
But he couldn't just run away now. He had to at least try, too, just as Chase said.
It COULD work, after all. Maybe if they all just talked more.
Not that it was Anti's strong-suit.
"I'll be fine, Gab." Anti decided, "I'll let you guys know if anything happens. I promise"
Evelien still looked worried for him but nodded, accepting his decision, "Okay"
A bit later, the food arrived just as Sean and Evelien were getting ready to leave.
Once again, Sean and Evelien spoke to Anti alone to make sure he'd be okay but Anti was tough and acted justly so.
"Just go."
"Call me if anything happens, Anti" Sean glared at the others sternly, "Nothing better happen.. . . . Tell Henrik what I said, too, Chase, alright?"
Anti's blood pressure slowly rose higher and higher as Sean closed the door, leaving him alone with his 'brothers'.
He gulped, realizing what just really happened.
He started to shake and his breathing picked up.
Luckily, Chase recognized the behavior and spoke to him softly, "Hey, man. . . . wanna eat with us? Looks like Sean got you some tacos. You like Mexican food?"
Anti stuffed his hands in the pouch of his hoodie again and messed with the cube. It really did help and later, he wanted to try to mess around with the slime stuff, "Uh . . . y-yeah"
He let Chase lead the way into the kitchen and they all had a small and quiet lunch together.
They noticed Anti's neck starting to bleed again, of course, but tried not to mention it or draw attention to it this time.
Progress.
Sean wouldn't stop texting him to make sure he was alright. Since Gab was driving, he didn't have a lot to distract himself with. It really was like Anti was Sean's kid.
Marvin left soon after lunch and got his stuff from his old place and teleported it all into his room. After that was quickly settled, Chase led him up.
And once again, Anti felt like he was being led into a big lie. It was all for show, wasn't it? Did they still not trust him even after Sean's many attempts to persuade them?
Anti swallowed as they got to his door and Chase had his hands in his pockets looking just as nervous.
"Here you are. Figured maybe you could use some time to yourself now for a bit. Get used to the atmosphere. Henrik will be home soon and I'll explain your. . . Neck problem. I guess I hadn't even noticed it last time" he tried to laugh about it but Anti wasn't stupid.
Chase was pale and he wouldn't even look him in the eye.
Was he really that intimidating?
"Can you . . . Even look me in the eye when you talk to me. . . Or is this still a problem for you guys? Because I can call Sean right now and-"
"No" Chase looked him dead in the eyes then, ". . . . Im sorry, it's just. . . A lot to get used to. You KNOW what's in our memories, right? You think we can just turn it off? I'd like to, fucking believe me. . . But life doesn't work that way."
"Can't Marvin do a spell or something?"
"Do you think we haven't tried? Nothing works." Chase's eyes turned stony, "Anti. . . My made-up memories consist of you torturing my brothers and . . . My kids. I don't want that memory just as much as you, dude"
Anti gulped and Chase noticed blood leaking through his gauze again.
"Might want something heavier for your neck. Maybe Henrik will have an idea. . Or you could always let Marv help you out"
". . . Maybe." He didn't want anyone here touching his neck! At least not yet after Chase just said all THAT.
Chase cleared this throat just as Sean sent Anti another text, "I'll leave you to it, then. I believe Marvin even set up your TV for you so you're good to go to just chill or whatever"
Anti nodded and mumbled a soft thanks and Chase walked away.
Anti could feel the tension leaving him already and he practically bolted into the room, locking the door behind him.
A few hours later, the front door opened and the other Septic egos happily greeted their hard-working brother.
Zhe Good Doctah was home.