You're no good for me, but baby I want you, I want you.

And if you go, I wanna go with you. And if you die, I wanna die with you.

What goes through someone's mind when they are faced with not just one of the kidnappers that held one of their brothers hostage, but to also witness such raw codependency bring out such ugly and valid emotions.

Such as shock, horror, or even worse, disgust.

Veneer sighed defeatedly, he placed Floyd back down on the table before pushing and nudging him over closer to John Dory who stood in front of them with crossed arms, a look of shock and confusion at the sudden action. Floyd was also taken aback at Veneer's sudden action and tried looking back as he was being pushed forward, he tried to push back against Veneer's hand, he didn't want to leave Veneer alone or be left alone himself with his brothers who might just take him away.

Poppy and Viva glanced at each other in confusion and then back at Veneer, noticing his tired and saddened expression as he got Floyd close enough for John Dory to have a grasp on him,

"I...I don't want to be the reason you fight with all your brothers Floyd. I had promised to take you back and free you, I've done that...and so.." Veneer talked in a low and steady voice, he looked directly at the table and not at anyone else, too humiliated to lift his gaze. But before Veneer could finish,

"And I promised you that I wouldn't leave you behind!" he had a defensive stance, fists balled as he stood before him in all seriousness,

"....Floyd please, I've done what I had to, there's no reason for me to be here..!" Veneer tried to argue,

"That's not true! You weren't safe! You were also a victim and needed to leave!"

Veneer had finally looked up at that last statement, his tears had stopped but occasional tears would still flow down his face, he was tired and ashamed. He didn't like all these eyes on him, didn't like this attention and felt so suffocated. He wanted to run far away once again and drown himself in the nearest lake he could find. And so that's what he did, he slammed his palms on the table and made a run for it.

Floyd tried to chase after him but he was tackled by both John and Clay, he tried to call out for him and tugged harshly against his brothers. But he was also held onto by Branch and Bruce trying to calm him down, and reassuring him that he'd be back or they'd find him soon, a simple tactic to simply calm him down as he fell to his knees. Floyd himself has been through a rollercoaster of emotions in such a short time, he feels his head spinning as he's being soothed by the others as small and stray tears flow down his own face.

Truthfully, he was hurt.

And felt betrayed, not by Veneer.

But by his own brothers, and how quickly they were to turn their backs on his Veneer.

Everything felt like such a blur, muffled voices were circling his hearing and many colors were clouding his vision. It wasn't till they all backed away from him that he could finally ground himself and feel his senses settle down. Poppy had told everyone to give him some room, she's seen this type of behavior in Branch before, he was being overwhelmed and overstimulated and needed a moment for himself. The restaurant has mostly emptied by now, not many customers were left and the remaining ones have drunk themselves silly so they have fallen asleep or passed out in their seats. They were in complete silence and privacy,

"I just...can't believe this.." John started, Floyd turned to him in confusion,

"What..?" he was a bit quiet,

"I can't believe you've defended him after everything he's done to you! It's like you're suffering from Stockholm syndrome or something!" John complained, everyone else started worrying knowing his words would affect Floyd.