Hanahaki

Neglect

"You're avoiding him."

Dark glanced over towards where the brown haired Irishman stood in the doorway of the office. Crossing his arms, Seán watched as Dark looked back down to his work. However, the demon found it quite difficult to do anything with the baby blue eyes of the creator staring at him. Dark grumbled in annoyance, "I haven't been avoiding him. I've just been more busy than usual. Now if you could get out of my office...?"

"Not until you give me a good enough reason for avoiding him. I didn't think he was as much of a nuisance as you perceive him to be. He stopped trying to kill me, after all, so he can't be too bad." Seán pointed out. Dark rolled his eyes. The youtuber clearly didn't understand the concept of working for deadlines. Realizing Dark wasn't going to respond, Seán pulled out his phone, "Alright then I'll just call him and see if-"

Dark was suddenly by Seán's side, grabbing the phone and crushing it in his hand. The creator, not phased in the slightest, frowned in disappointment. Dark dropped the remains of the iPhone onto the ground and placed a hand on the wall beside Seán, "You do not get to make my decisions for me, McLoughlin. If I don't want to talk to Anti, I have my reasons, but I'm certainly not-"

"So you admit it? You don't want to talk to him! Dark, come on here. You can tell me- it's not like I'll just spoil your deepest secrets to the internet or anything, I swear." Dark rolled his eyes as Seán's extremely suspicious promise. However, upon realizing the irishman would most likely pester him about the subject, he gave in, "If you really care to know, the last time I tried to give Anti a good time- not like that you idiot- I took him to a theme park and he almost got murdered. I don't feel like repeating that again."

"So you're just saying you feel guilty because you care for him? Dark, that's how most people feel when someone they love gets hurt. They feel guilty they could have stepped in. Why not just go and talk to him about it? He's gotten better with listening to other people- give him a shot and he'll tell you what he thinks his best. I honestly doubt he'll hold back..." Seán suggested, smiling politely. Dark shook his head, "I have work to do."

With that, he gently pushed Seán out of the room and slammed the door in the irishman's face. Seán rubbed his chin in thought. He had to break Dark's shell somehow. Anti really needed the demon, but Dark wasn't going to allow himself to get close to the glitch in any way- most likely for eternity. Suddenly Seán snapped his fingers. Dark wasn't going to go to Anti, so they'd just have to bring Anti here. Seán smirked to himself, a devious plan forming in his mind as he ran off, looking for the magician of the Septics.

~Meanwhile~

"You passed go, you collect $200 every time you do so." Anti mumbled as he handed the fake cash to the doctor sitting across from him on the floor. Henrik rose an eyebrow in confusion as he set the money beside him, "I do not understand... I already get money from zhese little buildings, so vhy do I get more? It is not a paycheck, correct?"

"I'm surprised you didn't play monopoly back in Germany, Hen. Sure, if you want to think of it as a paycheck then that's fine. It's just how the game is though. And don't start questioning why there's inanimate objects in charge of these places. Just play the game- it's the only decent one in JJ's room." Anti grumbled as he casually rolled the dice. As Anti moved his dog character five spaces, Henrik hummed, "Are you feeling any better?"

"Yeah, I've already healed most the wounds. Shouldn't you know this?" Anti questioned before cursing and moving his piece into jail. Henrik rolled his eyes at the action, before a look of concern passed over his face, "I didn't mean physically. Are you okay emotionally? After vhat happened- zhat must be taking a toll on you, is it not? And... you're vearing your ring..."

Anti glanced down at his hand. He hadn't even realized he'd been wearing it since the night before. But, it just felt right on his finger. Almost as if when he took it off, he was losing a part of himself. Henrik seemed to have realized at as well. Gently taking Anti's hand, he calmly pulled off Anti's ring, "Ve are not going to let you focus on zhe past, Anti. It is important you heal- both physically and emotionally."

"I'm not- I'm not 'focusing on the past'. I just... like my ring, is all. Now can we just back to the game? I don't want to keep talking about this." Anti muttered, seizing the dice and rolling them towards Henrik. The doctor stared into the glitch's eyes for a moment longer before shaking his head with disappointment and taking the dice, rolling gently onto the board. Anti grinned and giggled as Henrik moved his piece over one of Anti's hotels. Holding his hand out for the money Henrik owed him, he glitched out slightly from his in-game greediness. Henrik extended his money out, but before Anti could grab it, he yanked his hand back, "Is it because of Dark?"

"What?" Anti blinked, retracting his hand as well. He stared at the German blankly. Why did the doctor keep bringing up his lovers anyway? What happened with Saleos was the result of a longing for revenge, in which Anti just had a bit of a setback. It was as if Henrik was trying to coax something out of the glitch that wasn't there. Henrik sighed, "My degree is not in therapy, but I can see vhen you are acting strangely. Dark hasn't been coming over as often and zhe only time you vear zhat ring is vhen you are particularly upset vith zhe people you like."

"I don't even like Dark! Jeez, why can't a demon just accessorize every once in a while?" Anti scoffed, crossing his arms. His tone conveyed laughter, but it was clear Anti was done talking about the topic. However, Henrik seemed to have a different idea as he shoved the fake money onto the game board, causing the pieces to topple over with the force. He glared at the man across from him, "Because you don't do zhat vith your ex's vedding ring! Vhy can't you just say how you feel for once vithout making a scene?!"

The two stopped, simply staring at one another. After a few moments of silence, Anti looked away, beginning to clean up the Monopoly game and put it back in its box. It was clear they'd never complete it anyway. Henrik sighed as he got up, "Listen, maybe I am wrong. But if somezhing is going on, I cannot do anyzhing to help vithout you talking to me. If it is about Saleos, or Malcom, or even Dark, just know you can talk to me. Okay...?"

"...okay." Anti whispered under his breath, watching as Henrik nodded contently and left the room. Finishing packing the game, Anti stood up as well. As much as he hated to agree with anything the doctor said, he had a point. Anti needed to confront Dark. He'd come up with a plan and maybe make a script to rehearse, and by the next time the shadow demons would come over, Anti would be finished and ready to-

Suddenly, a large green portal formed behind Anti. A gloved, disembodied hand slowly appeared through it, and without warning, gripped the back of Anti's shirt collar. Before the glitch could do anything to respond, he was pulled backwards through the portal. It sealed up just after him, leaving Henrik completely unassuming in the next room over.

A/N-

This whole chapter is really weird, considering it was written and rewritten over the course of about a year or so. Despite this, it's still just a chapter to further along the plot so I won't have to later on.

Considering how little I actually work on this book, I still don't want to delete it. Contrary to popular belief, I actually do like writing this story lol. It just feels very repetitive. My goal is to make it much more original and less trope-y.