Unfamiliar

CHAPTER four

He stood in front of his mirror, constructing his mask in order to be prepared for socialization. He was going to meet their host in a few minutes and Anxiety was terrified, so he applied more eye-shadow and plastered his disguise over the terror that used to be clear on his face. Instead he looked emotionless, like usual.

Anxiety felt a pull in his gut, that must be Thomas summoning him. Taking a deep breath he allowed himself to be summoned, appearing on the staircase in Thomas' living room. The others looked at him with various levels of disgust and hatred on their faces, although Logic looks as unemotional as usual. Anxiety liked that about the older side, it was easier to deal with quiet hatred than it was for loud hatred for him anyway.

"I don't understand why you insisted upon meeting him," Prince muttered angrily as he glared at the younger. His hatred for Anxiety had only grown in the few months that they had known each other, despite never speaking to the younger unless it was to insult him.

"Come on guys, be nice. He is part of me," Thomas said, shooting a glare at Prince before looking at me, "glad to meet you, Anxiety," he said, avoiding eye contact. He was grateful, eye contact was suffocating.

"Yeah... hi," He muttered back, unsure how he was meant to respond. He had never had a conversation like this before.

--- a year later ---

"I want to start including you in videos, is that okay?" Thomas asked, and Anxiety froze.

Thomas' fans wold hate me, can I handle other people hating me? Can I handle being around people for so long? What if I mess up? What if -

He looked Thomas in the eye and saw the hope in them. He couldn't let Thomas down, not anymore than he already did anyway. And if he refused the others would use it against him and make him feel even more guilty, and Anxiety really didn't want to give them more reasons to hate him. They had enough ammunition.

"Okay, I... I'll do it," Anxiety muttered into his oversized black hoodie.

--- 3 months later ---

Anxiety sat in his room, the others where having a movie marathon. He almost wanted to join them, but the thought of being insulted tore that thought down. He couldn't handle that.

Suddenly he felt Thomas summon him. He allowed himself to be taken out of the mindscape and into the real world, he had nothing better to do after all.

"What do you want?" He questioned Thomas, who was sitting on the sofa with a blanket beside him.

"Wanna watch a movie?" Thomas asked, patting the space next to him on his couch. Anxiety was frozen in shock, no one had ever willingly invited him to spend time with them. Ever.

"Oh... uh... sure," He muttered, mask cracking slightly in surprise and allowing his uncertainty to show briefly.

--- Thomas POV, 2 Movies later ---

My mind was stuck on the look Anxiety had on his face after I invited him to join me in watching a movie, the pure surprise and doubt on his face made my heart heavy. It only confirmed my suspicions that the others purposely excluded Anxiety, something which I tried to convince myself wasn't true but when ever I had nearly succeeded Anxiety's raw emotion flashed into my head and I couldn't bring myself to believe it.

The young side was practically asleep, he was leaning against the couch with a light blue blanket draped over his small frame. Sometimes it was easy to forget that he was younger than the others, but at times like these where he let his guard drop it was obvious that the side was barely a teenager.

However his guard returned as soon as the other three joined us and, without so much as assessing the situation, started to shout at Anxiety. They where going on about him "bothering me" and that he needed to "give me a break" without even letting me get a word in otherwise. Honestly I enjoyed Anxiety's company, even when he was doing his job.

I was about to try and silence them all, make the older sides see reason, when Prince stepped forwards, his hands waving around as he spoke, and Anxiety flinched away from him, falling off the couch. That made us all freeze, Anxiety had never reacted that way before.

He looked up, terror clear in his eyes, and shakily got off the floor. His whole body was trembling and I wasn't surprised when he fell over again, although this time I was ready and caught him before he hit the floor. The panic must've made him pass out because he wasn't conscious when I lay him on the couch.

"Start talking," I said to the others, demanding answers for why Anxiety - a child! - flinched away from Prince. They all started talking at once, giving me a headache and not allowing him to actually hear a word anyone was saying. "One at a time, please."

"Why do you think we know the reason behind Anxiety's weird response?" Prince muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. He had the decency to look slightly guilty at least.

"Well you have known him his whole life, I have known him for a year," I said slowly, as if it was obvious.

"Actually, that isn't true, kiddo. We've only known Anxiety for two years," Morality replied, fighting with the cardigan around his shoulders nervously.

"What? Hasn't he told you anything about his life before?" I questioned, surely someone knew something about why he had reacted so differently. "Has something like this ever happened before?"

"He seemed terrified of us when he first arrived, we figured to let him come to us rather than force him to talk," Logic explained, seeming seeing no flaw in his reasoning.

"And does letting him come to you include you all insulting him, excluding him?" I yelled in frustration.

"What do you mean?" Morality asked me, slowly coming closer to try and calm me down.

"When have you ever invited him to one of your movie nights?" I asked, already knowing the answer, "Never. When have you ever complimented him?"

Logic opened his mouth, like he was about to answer my question.

"Outside of a scripted video," I added, and Logics mouth shut, "I think you all just proved my point. And if you must know, since this is the reason you all came here anyway, I invited Anxiety to watch movies with me, because you all obviously never spend any time with him!"

At least they had the decency to ashamed of their actions, even Prince looked remorseful.

"Yes," Prince said, guilt clearly lacing his voice.

"Yes what?" I questioned, confused.

"Yes this has happened before."

"Okay, that is very worrying. Why didnt any of you confront him about that?" I asked, and they seemed like they where about to give me an answer when I spoke again, "No, dont answer that but you are all going to stay here and we will talk to Anxiety when he wakes up. Okay?"