All the egos seem to despise Anti, no matter how sorry he is. But the good doctor Henrik Von Schneeplestein seems to hate him more than everyone.
What will happen when Anti has had enough of the pain?
Will everyone still hate him?
Will Henrik still...
My sight is dark and blurry, but I can still see Jameson sign that he was going to get the doc. Why would he want to help? I'm sure that this is just an excuse to leave and not have to deal with me. I try to calm my breathing, but everything just makes it worse. Fuck! I can't breathe! I need to breathe! Maybe I can act like nothing happened when they try to help me. Perhaps then I won't feel so bad about myself. I won't have to worry about people thinking I'm soft. I won't have to worry about my reputation being crushed. Yeah... yeah. Everything can go back to normal. Everyone wins! Right? My breathing calms down a bit, and I can feel the shaking slow down.
Everything will be okay. All I have to do is act like nothing ever happened. I never had that argument. I never threw up. The others never saw my unconscious body. I never had a depressive episode. I never went to Schneep's office. We never talked. It's just an act. It always has been, though, hasn't it? Pretending I'm okay when I'm not. Pretending that I'm fine being alone. Pretending I'm tough and cocky when all I really want is to cuddle up in my pillows and plushies and read my manga. But what I want doesn't matter. Not while they're on my back. If I pretend that nothing happened... that I'm okay, then I can go back to cuddling to my plushies and playing Shadow Of The Colossus at 4am.
All I have to do... is p r e t e n d.
I was so focused on my thoughts that I didn't notice that I grabbed one of my many plushies off the shelf. Or that I moved from the closet door to under my small desk. The plushie I grasped was one that doubled as a backpack, though you can't fit a lot in it. It looked like a white rabbit with long ears that reached its feet. The feet and the bottom of its ears have red and black spades on them, the arms plain white and soft to hold. Large, bright red eyes and a little 'x' mouth as its face. On top of its head is a tiny top hat that has red and black stripes that alternate around it. Under the toy's head is a bowtie with black and red on each side. Finally, a small handbag hangs off its shoulder. It's shaped like a heart, with another red hear inside it. Inside the red heart is a black spade. It's really cutesy...
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I grasp it tighter and snuggle my face into the top of its head, before just resting my forehead against it. Soon I hear footsteps lead up to my door, and I begin to panic again. I quickly glitch out from under the table and glitch the plushie back to its original place on the shelf. I put on the most convincing irritated face I can and take a deep breath as the door swiftly clicks open, and the doc walks in, followed by Jameson and Chase. "Anti! Are Ju alvight? Jameson told us zat Ju vere having an attack." The doc says while gently gripping my biceps. Now, Anti... you have two choices. You could A) Tell them Jameson is wrong and potentially lose your only friend, or B) Slightly bend the truth while also keeping up the façade. What will it be Anti?
"Well, He was wrong. The fumes from the cleaning stuff were just getting to me. So it probably just looked like I was having an anxiety attack. Anyway... What are you assholes doing in my room?! Don't any of you know what knocking is?" I growl out at them. All their expressions change. Chase looks confused as ever, James looks like he's not buying it while also looking heartbroken, and Henrik is REALLY not buying my shit.
Well done, Anti...
Somehow...
You have managed to do both options in one go.
Congratulations...
"That is bullshit. How can the cleaning supplies get to you if it's all still closed?" He's got me there... "I have heightened senses. Demon quirk." Sigh... well, at least Jameson and Chase look somewhat convinced.
More Chase then Jameson but same difference. The other egos all share half a brain cell anyway... Jack gets the other half to himself.
"Why are there so many toys in here?" Chase asks, trying to light up the odd tension in the room. "Hey yeah... I never got to ask you. Why ARE there so many toys in here?" Jameson signs to me. Jesus Christ, here we go... I look away from the group to the pool of vomit on the floor, the doc let go of my arms and took a cautious step back. Silence. There has to a way to keep up this tough facade while also keeping what friendship I have with Jameson, right? There has to be something! Schneep jumps in to save me answering. "Ve can get to ze questioning latah. Let's just verk on ziz mess here first Ja?" He smiles, looking at the other men in the room. "Zen aftah zat I can have a private chat vith Anti here about this 'heightened zensez' bevore you two question him on vy he loves stuved animals. Zound good?"
We all nod in approval, some more enthusiastic than others, before Schneep continues. "Sehr gut! Zen, let's get to it." Classic Schneeplestine. Always being the voice of reason in the situation. "WAIT! Why do I have to help? I didn't do anything!" Chase questions irritated. "Because your here, Chase. It doesn't matter if you did anything. It's a big mess." I roll my eyes at the grumpy dad as Schneep throws me a mop from the other side of the room. I glitch over the bucket of soapy water and stick the mop in it triumphantly. Henrik gives everyone else something to do as I look at his facial expression.
His face is filled with confidence, being used to giving instructions, and leading other people. Henrik is the head doctor at the hospital where he works, so he probably has seen worse than this. From what I know, he's a big science nerd (go figure), and he really likes to read in his spare time. His eyes sparkle with a prideful authority, and his smirk gets covered by his medical mask. A natural-born leader and wonderful man. Too bad, his ex-wife was too much of a slut to see how incredible her ex-husband was. I feel a small amount of heat rise to my face and shake off my thoughts before anyone could notice.
"Now, Ju all have gloves on? The first ztep iz to try and get az much vomit off by uzing ze cloths and ziz zpoon." Schneep told us, holding up a regular soup spoon. I pushed the mop and bucket in the corner to my red gaming chair and plopped onto the carpet on my knees. I glitched a tactical shovel into my hand and screwed off the shovel part before chucking the rest next to the bucket. "Is that Mark's tactical shovel?" Chase asks. I respond by putting a finger up to my lips and 'shhh'ing him. In full honesty, I have no idea if it's Marks or not. "Solange es hilft." I glitch a bin next to me and start to shovel what I can into it. There is a lot I don't actually know about the other egos.
I only ever got the information I needed at the time I needed it. "Hey, Anti." That's how I know Jackie won't fight me when he can avoid it, how Marvin used to use black magic, and was a dark magician, how Jameson accidentally murdered someone. How Stacy use to abuse Chase, emotionally and physically, and how Henrik sometimes kills his patients on purpose, along with how his now ex-wife was cheating on him WAY before he found out. "Anti." Even at his wedding, she was a cheating bitch. I feel kind of bad not telling him, but past Anti wouldn't have cared.
Thousands of random men. Some from the club, some were other people looking to cheat. She always knew how to get away with it. Until she started to get too confident with it, and Henrik found out. She should have known he was a smart man... It's surprising he didn't find out sooner. "ANTI." I snap out from my thoughts and look to see the doctor next to me, with this hand clicking in my face. "You awake, bro?" Chase laughs, high-fiving James. "What happened?" I asked the doctor, he giggled "Mein Gott Anti... We finished step 1, we tried to move on, but you kept shoveling the carpet."
"Oh, sorry..."
"It's fine, it's fine! Let's just move on, alright? We have to eat at some point." He giggles out again. He has his mask hanging off his ear and a light blush lying on his cheeks and nose. So much for everything going back to normal... "Alvight zen! Let's move to step 2!"
