Regret (Ianthony)

Three Months, Two Weeks Prior

Smiling like an idiot, Ian carefully stepped into the living room, something dangling from his hand. "Dude, you gotta see what I just got from Pet Smart."

"Not a snake," Anthony groaned without looking up. For some reason, Ian had always had a fascination with all the animals that terrified Anthony. Spiders, snakes, sharks, you name it, Ian loved it. It made Anthony want to both puke and commend Ian for his fearlessness at the same time.

"Nah, I didn't wanna freak you out. I got Herbert instead." Ian walked over to the couch where Anthony was stationed, and Anthony removed his eyes from the television screen. Ian sat beside him gently, then held out a transparent plastic bag that was filled with water. The bag housed a fiery red beta fish that had a permanent look of ignorance.

"You know that fish only have a memory span of five seconds, right?" Anthony retorted, studying the fish in the bag.

"Mhm," Ian responded, too busy sizing up his new pet to pay much attention to what Anthony had said, Then, he sympathized, "Poor guy killed all the other fish that were in the same tank as him, so they had to separate him. He's a mean son of a bitch." He prodded the bag, receiving no reaction from the fish.

"Of course he is! All beta fish are like that," Anthony remarked.

"Well, this one's a keeper. He didn't just kill them, he ate them." This drew Anthony's eyes to Ian's.

"Seriously?"

Ian nodded with the devious expression of a child telling a particularly scary story. "Bones and all. The guy who sold him to me told me that the fish even bit him a couple of times."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Anthony stated, "Fish don't bite."

"Twenty bucks says they do." Ian appeared extremely smug in a way that was endearing.

"You're on, fucker. Put this bitch in a bowl and the bet's on." Anthony was absolutely certain that he was right, but he couldn't help but feel nervous as he looked over the fish once more. The fish still looked dazed, but it reminded Anthony of the expression of a drunk person, and drunk people freaked him out when he was still sober. It was like the alcohol controlled them and the people were helpless against it, even though he knew it only amplified their emotions. It still scared him, regardless.

Ian stood and began his journey to the kitchen, Anthony trailing behind him all the while. Ian sat the bag with the fish in it on the counter, taking care to make sure the bag wouldn't roll off and fall before producing a bag from his other hand that Anthony hadn't noticed before. From the bag, he pulled out a small fish bowl, a can of fish food, and a small sack of those weird crushed marbles that were used for decoration at the bottom of vases and fish bowls. Ian grabbed the bowl and strode to the sink, filling the bowl nearly to the brim with tap water.

"Um... Are you sure you don't need special water for the fish?" Anthony asked hesitantly. Although he didn't honestly care whether the fish lived or died, he was worried that Ian would have a mental breakdown if the fish was dead before morning.

"Yep, I made sure to ask the checkout lady before I left," Ian confirmed, setting the bowl on the counter beside the fish's bag. Then, he grabbed the bag, untied the top, and poured both the fish and its water into the already mostly-full bowl, which made the water overflow and spill all over the counter.

"Nice job, dipshit," Anthony teased.

"Shut up," Ian replied without conviction. The small insults between the two were only for play and therefore weren't taken seriously. If anyone other than Anthony had said that to Ian, Anthony was sure Ian would have knocked their lights out in seconds. Ian had a tougher reaction than most people believed.

Without wiping up the spilled water, Ian pointed to the fish in the bowl and directed, "Put your hand in the bowl, pussy."

Anthony thrust his hand in the bowl with no hesitation, swirling it around for good measure. Hopefully that would scare the fish enough that it would find no reason to assault him. But, it turned out that his actions had only managed to piss the fish off; in less than five seconds, the fish swam at his hand at the speed of light and chomped down on Anthony's soft hand with its toothless, circular mouth. Even though it didn't really hurt, Anthony screamed and retracted his hand from the bowl, fish dangling from his fingertips from suction.

"Ah! Get it off, GET IT OFF!!!" Anthony yelped, flailing his hand around and accidentally slapping Ian on the back in the process.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Ian yelled, attempting to snatch the fish off of Anthony's middle finger, but Anthony was freaking out too much, and he was moving all too fast. "CALM DOWN, MOTHERFUCKER!!!" Ian screeched, stunning Anthony into lack of motion in which Ian yanked the fish off him and tossed it back in the bowl.

It was quiet before Anthony silently made his way back to his room, gently shutting the door behind him. He could hear Ian's laughter all the way across the house.