More Than One Way

Chapter One- A Few Missed Calls

(Quick heads up: a lot of the cursing will be censored, but not all of it!)

Anti woke up around four  A.M. to the smell of pancakes. He stretched, shifting into a better position. Only to be awakened again by sirens and a cold breeze. His eyes snapped open. 'Oh, right. I took a nap at the park.' Currently, he was leaning against a tree in a children's park near a small cafe. 'Probably shouldn't have done that, I ended up sleeping- could've ended bad.' 

Anti shrugged it off and got up, dusting himself off. He felt his phone ring in his pocket and looked to see who it was- it was Dark, for the twenty-seventh time- 'Wa-a-a-aAIT JUST A MINUTE- I MISSED 27 CALLS FROM DARK?! HOW DID I SLEEP THROUGH THAT?! OH HE'S GONNA BE SO UPSET!' Anti quickly picked up the phone before he could see how many times Dark texted him. "Heey, buddy..." Anti chuckled nervously. "WHERE THE F*CK ARE YOU?!" Dark screamed. Anti knew this would happen.

Before Anti could answer, Dark went on a rant, "how did you miss so many calls and texts from ALL OF US- and not answer?! And the first thing you say is 'hey, buddy'?! Do you have a death wish?! Are you hurt or not?! Do you know how worried we were?" Dark sighed, "Anti..." Anti slightly smiled. Dark's worry and care was a bittersweet feeling, he couldn't explain it. "I'm fine, I just fell asleep at the park." Anti could almost hear Dark's scowl, "that could've been dangerous, Anti- we were so worried! Don't do it again!" From the other side of the phone, Anti could hear a few egos giggling. "I believe the correct usage would be: 'how worried I was', if I may correct y-you, Dark." Google said from the other side, glitching slightly. Anti snorted. 

"No- no, no, no! I wasn't the only one worried here, young man! Don't play these games with me!" Dark snarled. "Indeed, we were all concerned to some extent- but not to the point where we called 27 times, texted 43 times, and had to be stopped from filing a missing person's report." Google almost laughed, purposefully being a smartass. 

Anti was glad he didn't check his texts. Suddenly, his good mood disappeared, the family's friendly banter was nice to listen to- but didn't help Anti's case. He sighed, "really, Dark? I'm fine. What did you need in the first place?" His eyebrow twitched, hoping that it wasn't what he thought it was. "Anti, I know you said no before- but listen to me! You can't be on the streets like this- it's bad for you! And what if one of the Septics sees you?" Anti flinched, expecting Dark to only get more harsh- but he didn't. Dark's voice softened, "please, Anti, come stay with us! We all love you- and you've always been apart of our family! I know, it'll be tough, but we'll-" Anti's rage suddenly boiled over out of nowhere, "NO, Dark!" Dark sighed, "I just can't stand seeing you like this..." Dark hung up, and Anti immediately felt guilty. 

Anti didn't want to be alone, but he had no choice- he didn't want to hurt anyone again. Dark was his best friend- along with Wilford- and they told each other everything, but Anti couldn't tell him how he felt this time. He knew Dark wouldn't take it well. 

What Anti didn't know was that Dark already knew. Anti had forgot one thing- Dark had been there. Every step Anti is taking down this section of his life- Dark had been there. But even he didn't know what to do. He, himself, had never gotten out of the despair.