Count The Shadows (Prequel to Test the Limits)

Get Up And Get Down With The Sickness

"You look like shit."

Murphy was already standing in the middle of the rink with Anti's skates in hand, his arms folded across his chest as he watched Anti sniff, rubbing his nose with the back of his long sleeve black t-shirt.

"Thanks, you too." Anti countered, earning a soft chuckle from Murphy as he handed Anti his skates.

"Are you sure you're okay enough to do this?" Murphy asked.

"I don't exactly have a choice since we're leaving for Finland in a week for the competition." Anti reminded him before turning away and coughing into the crook of his elbow.

"You have a point." Murphy admitted grudgingly before starting the lesson.

They had to end earlier than Anti wanted to since the medicine Anti had taken earlier was making him extremely drowsy and nearly keep falling on the ice. The only thing stopping him from falling was Murphy's hand that would always catch him.

It was around ten in the morning when they ended, which gave him time to go home and take a nap before eating a lunch of tomato soup he had reheated in the microwave and crackers.

While he ate, he watched Mark and Jack, feeling like it was impossible to hate them. They helped people, were nice, and very funny, which was the exact opposite of him and what he did.

"I'm even worse than the dark side of Jack, at least people like him." Anti mused aloud through a mouthful of cracker.

Well, at least one person likes me, Anti thought, thinking of Dark.

His heart skipped a beat of when he thought of him, which was all the time when he wasn't thinking about the competition.

He could picture his smile and hear his deep laugh in his ears when he closed his eyes.

His eyes flew open when his phone started vibrating.

"What Infelix?" Anti sighed wearily as he answered.

"God you sound like Squidward." Infelix remarked.

"And you sound like a bitch. Bye." Anti snapped as he hung up, not in the mood to give Infelix an update about his progress since he wasn't making as much as he wanted.

He had finally mastered the first part of the routine for the competition, but the second part was proving to be more challenging.

After lunch, Anti went back to the rink to practice before he returned home a couple hours later to do laundry so he would have clothes to pack.

In the middle of packing, his phone alerted him that he was getting another call.

"I swear if it's Infelix." Anti growled under his breath as he answered it.

"Anti?"

"Dark!" Anti exclaimed happily, abandoning his suitcase at the foot of his bed and sitting on the edge of his bed.

"I'm finally done with practice for the day, so I wanted to call and see what's up. Infelix told me you where a bit...tense, earlier when he called." Dark explained.

"He's the one that made fun of my voice, it's not my fault I'm still sick." Anti scowled.

"It's okay Antiboy." Dark assured him soothingly.

"Antiboy?" Anti repeated with a snicker.

"Would you rather be called honey or sweetums?" Dark teased. Anti could perfectly imagine the goofy grin on his face.

"Fine, I'll just have to call you...Darkle Sparkle." Anti decided with a nod, even though Dark couldn't see it.

"I love it." Dark chuckled.

"You working on packing?" Dark added.

"Yeah, and laundry so I actually have clothes." Anti replied.

"Same here." Dark sighed.

They both fell silent, neither of them sure what to talk about.

"Do you ever miss the arcade room?" Anti blurted randomly.

"Yeah, why?" Dark asked.

"We should get a house and have an entire room just like it, no cameras, just us and a bunch of video games." Anti smiled.

"I'd like that." Dark chuckled again.

"By the way, what were you going to say last time I called you? You started saying something, then changed your mind and hung up." Anti pressed in curiosity.

"Nothing. Anyway I gotta go, bye!" Dark hastily ended the call before Anti could say goodbye as well.

Anti tossed his phone onto his bedside table before walking to the kitchen, eating a hot pocket for dinner, then watching YouTube videos until he fell asleep, wondering why Dark had acted weird before he hung up.

He's probably just nervous about the competition, Anti thought as he closed his eyes.

Something in the back of his mind nagged at him and seemed to think otherwise, making it near impossible for him to sleep.

Sorry this ones kinda short, it's a filler since the next chapter will be more plot driven about...stuff. You'll have to read it to find out😈