A/N Alternatively titled "the one where anxiety is good with kids", but I figured this was more suiting.

TRIGGER WARNING: panic attack. I will put a notice in bold where it starts and finishes.

-

Missy knocked on Anxiety's door with blankets bundled up in his arms. Pranks was behind him holding the rest of the gifts - a platter of brownies and movie discs.

"Do you think he'll let us in?" Pranks whispered to his friend.

Missy shrugged. "Let's see."

They waited nervously. They heard footsteps that seemed to struggle forward come to a stop at the door. It creaked open to Anxiety slouching against the frame, hunched over but still somehow blocking the two children's view of his room.

He raised an eyebrow and gestured to what they were holding.

Missy took this as a sign to explain themselves. "Uh, we wanted to see how you were doing," he muttered, cheeks red, "so we brought gifts!" At that, both he and Pranks held up their armfuls of things, as if Anxiety couldn't already see them. The elder looked them over once more and they held their breaths.

Anxiety opened the door wider and stood aside.

"Thank you!" Missy exclaimed, beaming at him before running inside with Pranks. Once they were settled on Anxiety's bed, they started talking a mile a minute.

"Okay, so we know you like Disney movies," Pranks started, spreading out his selection.

"So we brought some with us and also," Missy chimed in.

"We thought that we could build a blanket fort-"

"Like you used to do for us-"

"But this time we have brownies-"

"Logan helped Thomas make these-"

"Oh and Prince gave us the movies-"

"And Morality gave us all these blankets!" Missy finished.

It was quite clear by now that Anxiety was trying to hide his smile (he had always enjoyed their double act) but both Misleading Compliments and Pranks saw through it anyway. They grinned to each other – so far, so good.

"So which one do you want to watch?" Pranks asked, bouncing on the bed slightly.

Anxiety tensed and shrugged. The children saw this and were confused for the smallest of seconds – then they realised.

"Oh," Missy whispered to himself. All of a sudden, he brightened up. "Well, it's okay if you don't feel like talking right now – we get it! How about you just point to one?" He suggested.

It was true what he said about "getting it". Back when they were younger and it was just himself, Pranks and Anxiety, when they only had each other and sometimes Morality, Anxiety would tire easily. He wouldn't have the energy to be bothered to speak. Originally, it had made the two chatty kids annoyed, but they understood better now. They knew that on days like these, when his thoughts got the better of him, it sapped all of Anxiety's energy away just to get out of bed, so they got why he wasn't talking. Besides, with all the crazy schemes they had back then, Anxiety was entitled to feel worn out!

The person in question scanned the names of the movies before him. There were quite a few that he liked, but he wanted something they could all enjoy – meaning Old Yeller and Bambi were definitely out. He quickly decided on a classic he knew the children loved.

"You want Alice in Wonderland?" Pranks asked excitedly, already jumping up to put the disc in the player.

Anxiety knew he had made the right choice and nodded. Missy squealed and clapped his hands, getting up to start the blanket fort. The elder knew he was eventually going to have to fix it up (because, let's face it, Missy and Pranks are hopeless at building them), but he was content to let the children have their fun. Especially when their fun involved him eating brownies, watching movies and not having to speak.

-

Compliments was snuggled right next to Anxiety, Pranks on the other side, and was just about to fall asleep when he heard it. The second movie that night (Snow White) was just coming to an end when someone knocked lightly on the bedroom door.

He groaned when he realised that Anxiety certainly wasn't going to answer it and that Pranks would claim that he was too lazy, which meant Missy had to do it. He made a show of dragging himself out of the comfortable fort he had built (or at least, helped to build), as the others watched on, snickering.

Missy opened the door to be met with the one "Sander Side", as he had now taken to calling them, who he didn't know well. "Hello, Logic," he chirped. "What can I do for you?"

Logan seemed surprised to see the kid. "Uh, is Anxiety awake?" He tried to peer in, but the dark room prevented his untrained eyes from seeing much.

"Yeah, why?" Missy could feel Anxiety's eyes boring into the back of his head and felt himself get defensive all of a sudden. He still believed that someone was responsible for the tears he saw earlier, and his money was on the guy who rarely thought about the opinions of others before he said things. In other words, Missy suspected Logic.

"Can I speak to him?" Logan questioned, still trying to look around Compliments.

"I don't know," he shrugged. He checked behind him to see Anxiety getting up. Pranks followed. "Wait, yeah, he's coming."

Compliments stepped aside. Soon, Anxiety stood in the doorway, flanked by the two ridiculously small children.

Logic looked relieved to see someone he knew and visibly relaxed. "Anxiety!" he cried happily.

The said side nodded in acknowledgement. Logic deflated a little.

"Uh, Thomas and the others were wondering if you would like to join us for dinner." His uncertainty made it seem almost like a question.

Anxiety pursed his lips. Pranks took this as a cue to take over.

"I really don't think he's feeling up for it," he said, crossing his arms and glaring at Logic. Anxiety swatted him lightly. "Ow! Isn't he the enemy?" Pranks cried out.

Anxiety shook his head.

"Shouldn't we let Anxiety answer for himself?" Logic stared at him expectantly.

(start of attack)

His eyes widened at the question. Surely Logan didn't want him to speak now, of all the times? But he just kept looking at him and Anxiety was getting anxious. His fingernails started digging into his palms as he opened his mouth uselessly. Nothing came out. He could see Logic looking at him weirdly and he knew his breathing was picking up and-

"Hey, Anxiety, breathe. I'm sure Logic didn't know, it's okay," the suddenly calm and soothing Missy said. He unclasped Anxiety's right hand and Pranks did the same on the left, both knowing what to do after witnessing so many of his attacks.

Anxiety struggled to comprehend the request. His mind was screaming at him, all his thoughts gone turbulent and jumbling up. One second he was thinking about how Logic was still looking at him and the next he was thinking of the rest of them waiting for him to come to dinner, like he was expected to. His knees soon gave way and he vaguely recognised sets of hands lowering him to the floor.

Another person spoke up then. "Hey, breathe with me, okay? Breathe in for four seconds, hold for seven and then release for eight. Like this," Logic sucked in a deep, exaggerated breath and Anxiety attempted to do the same. He didn't even come close to the criteria, but Logic kept breathing and so did he.

In. Hold. Out. In. Hold. Out. In. Hold. Out.

"You're doing it!" Pranks quietly cheered, rubbing his back.

Soon enough, Anxiety's breathing levelled out. He looked up to see everyone's concerned gaze and his mind briefly went back to panic. The only thing that stopped him was his body, which was too physically and emotionally tired to even start up the anxiety process.

(end of attack)

"I'm sorry for whatever I did," Logic whispered.

Anxiety looked to Missy, who immediately knew what to say. "It's okay. He wasn't in the talking mood today and when you expected an answer of him, he freaked out. He'll be alright," Missy consoled.

"Should I go then?" Logic asked, shuffling his feet on the spot and wringing his hands. Anxiety felt bad – he knew the guy was blaming himself right now.

"W-wait," he stuttered, voice cracking. Logic faced him right away. "I-is P-P-Princey," he huffed in frustration at his own slowness, "ma-ad?"

"Of course not!" Logan declared.

"But I..." Anxiety trailed off involuntarily. He cleared his throat. "M-M-Mora-" he gave up, deciding he wouldn't be able to say that. "D-dad?"

"Morality isn't mad either, if that's what you're asking." Anxiety was about to protest when Logic spoke again. "Don't speak. It's draining you. We were all worried about you this afternoon, you realise?" His expression softened when the other simply shrugged. "We've been over this, you defended Morality. Roman feels bad, sure, but he doesn't blame you. No one does."

Missy, who had been quiet during this exchange, scrutinised Logic before nodding at Pranks. "You know, you're not as bad as we thought," he decided.

"Yeah, definitely not as bad," Pranks agreed. "So, thank you for helping with one of our best friends."

"Of course. Anxiety is a fellow side of Thomas, and I'll be damned if I let anything happen to him," Logic stated.

Anxiety could only manage a small smile, but the others knew how happy he actually was, even without him saying it.

-

A/N I wrote this chapter to procrastinate starting my school work. AKA assessment. Please send help. I apologise for any mistakes - I'm very tired. If you see any, don't be afraid to point it out so I can fix it. (Note: if you think some words should be spelt with a 'z' instead of 's', in Australia that's the accepted spelling. Same thing with levelled/leveled.)