Anti didn't know what to do, really.

Now that he was an adult again, so many things were so weird to him.

How was he suppose to talk to the others?

How was he supposed to do anything now without asking permission?

Marvin's spell really had messed him up.

If he hadn't started to think more responsibly, he would have stayed a kid forever.

But also, it was hard for him now to get OUT of that child-like mindscape. Like he almost forgot how to adult.

Not that it would be hard to do for him in the first place-

It's been a few days now since he became an adult again. Henrik was wrapping up his neck down in the basement clinic. It was odd to care for a full-grown Anti but the glitch didn't scare or freak him out like before. He still had that kid aura.

"You feeling better?" the doctor asked him, disrupting the silence, "Any pain?"

Anti shrugged, slouching on the patient table but didn't say anything.

"You've been quiet since zhe fight"

He snorted.

Henrik sighed heavily, "You know you are welcome here . . . correct?"

He shrugged again.

Henrik set back to work dressing up his neck again but after a while, Anti finally caved.

"You all are just accepting me because of the KID version you knew"

"Are you not zhat same person? You still act zhe same, stubborn as usual."

Anti glared at him but his specialty scary glare had lost its effect entirely over the Septic egos. Anti then just rolled his eyes, "You all still treat me like a child"

"Vell you don't exactly fight it, do you?"

Anti grabbed the doctor's wrist, stopping him, "What am I to all of you? Now that I'm . . ." he couldn't finish it.

"Tis sad you have to ask that. We've all been through a lot together zhese last few months. You'd think you'd get it by now." but he didn't elaborate beyond that and once he was finished patching up his neck, Anti didn't ask more.

Henrik just ushered him out with a sucker and a small pat on the back.

With that over, Anti snuck into the kitchen and fixed himself a thermos of coffee. Oh how he missed it so much. And he could drink more of it without getting the jitters like when he was a kid! He thought about stealing one of Marvin's cookies but thought better of it. They already indulged themselves that night after the fight and it wasn't exactly a great time. It appeared even as an adult, Anti couldn't really handle weed or edibles.

Stuffing his other hand in his pocket, Anti wandered on his way to his room but was met by Jameson who waved his hands in front of him to catch his attention.

Anti hummed and spoke through the sucker, "What you want?"

Jameson wasn't perturbed by his attitude though and seemed excited, 'It's October today! I would think you'd be excited! Isn't it you favorite month?'

Anti shrugged, "I guess. Isn't it yours too? It's your birthday the 31st"

"And yours is the 10th! What do you want for your birthday, chap?'

'Chap? Jameson only uses British slang when he's trying to hide something. Wonder what it could be . . . '

"Nothing" Anti wasn't in the best of moods ever since the big fight.

'Oh don't say that' Jameson waved off his sour mannerism, 'We want to make your first birthday with us special. Do you want a party? What kind of presents do you want? What kind of food? Pizza?'

"Who wouldn't want pizza?" Anti retorted with a light smirk, "But I really don't need anything. Don't go through the trouble. Besides . . . . you keep saying 'we' but why are you the only one asking me this stuff?"

Jameson looked a bit sheepish, 'Well honestly . . . . I'm not supposed to bring it up at all. The others thought it'd be a touchy subject to ask about it and we were all just going to do something different but I thought it'd be best to see what YOU'D want first'

'He's always been more considerate than the others. But what does he mean by that? Touchy subject? Everyone doing something different? I don't get it but whatever'

"Well I already told ya I don't care. You all shouldn't bother doing anything for me anyway. I've caused enough trouble as a kid. I don't need to be spoiled like the brat I'm NOT anymore" without waiting for Jameson to sign anything, Anti brushed past him on the way up to his room again.

He spent most of the morning up there until lunch when Chase knocked on his door to let him know it was ready.

Anti opened the door to make him stop knocking, "I'm not hungry. I'll just scavenge something later"

Chase snorted and crossed his arms at him, "Oh really? I don't think so. You're coming down to eat with us and that's final"

Anti glared at him but it was just like with Henrik. Useless.

"I just don't feel like it, alright? Leave me the hell alone"

Chase stopped the door from being shut in his face, "Dude, I'm not ready for your teen phase. Just come grab something at least. You can bring it up to your room. Or do you want me to bring something up to you?"

"I said I'm fine" Anti was getting irritated, "And I'm not a teen! Imma grown ass man!"

"Yeah sure, okay" Chase waved it off, pissing Anti off even more but he continued, "I'm just trying to make sure you're fed, man"

"I don't see why you assholes bother! I should just leave! Then I wouldn't have to put up with you all parenting me!"

"Hey come on, that's not fair, Anti! We just-"

"I'm not a kid anymore! You all shouldn't care about me! You could kick me out and I wouldn't fight it! I understand! Do you feel like you HAVE to keep me here because of what Jackie said? Well FUCK JACKIE! I don't see him here that much anymore! He's off saving people in the city again because he doesn't need to look after a kid anymore! He just felt obligated like YOU all still do! So stop asking me what I fucking want and DO WANT YOU ASSHOLES WANT!"

Without waiting for Chase's response, Anti slammed the door in his face.

But he immediately regretted it. Anti clawed at the door and hit it, grabbing at his own hair.

'Why did I say all of that? They just- . . .right? I should . . .'

Anti sighed and groaned before opening the door again but Chase was already gone.

Anti felt even worse.

'I shouldn't assume . . . maybe they really DO care . . . but they shouldn't. It's too weird. Too surreal now to think about how things were a few days ago.'

He didn't want to admit it but he felt vulnerable. Scared. He didn't want to lose them and yet he didn't want them to feel like they were obligated to let him stay. He didn't want they to pretend that he was still welcome there.

Slowly, Anti shut the door again. He really didn't want to go downstairs NOW.

As he turned to go back to his bed and pout, Marvin was there instead!

The magician was munching on some sushi laying on his belly on Anti's bed and flipping through his phone.

"Uh . . . what are you doing in here?"

Marvin glanced at him and stuffed another sashimi in his mouth, "Chilling. How 'bout you?"

"Um . . .. nothing"

"Nothing huh? Why can't you come down for lunch then?"

"Not you, too. Can you guys just-"

"Shut up" Anti was surprised at Marvin's sudden demand but clamped his mouth shut obediently.

Marvin sat up and revealed another dish of sushi behind his cape, "Get over here and eat with me, moron"

He couldn't argue with the magician. There was never any use to it.

Anti sighed and walked over, joining him on his own bed and taking the sushi bento box.

Marvin stretched on Anti's bed, yawning as he did so and pushing his feet in Anti's ribs just to irritate him further but the glitch was beyond being mad anymore, choosing just to shock him lightly to make him stop.

The magician snorted and chuckled a bit, "You know that was pretty shitty saying that to Chase, right?"

"I know"

"I heard you saying the same things to Jameson earlier, too"

Anti didn't say anything to that.

"Why do you think that way, Anti? You KNOW we care about you, right?"

He shrugged.

"Don't you shrug at me! Answer me!"

"I don't know . . . . You shouldn't care"

"Well too damn bad. It's how we feel. Get used to it"

Anti stopped eating, lost in his own thoughts for a moment.

Marvin shoved him again with his foot, "And what you said about Jackie . . really? You of all people know how much he cares about you now. True, he used to hate you but things have changed. Everything has changed and the sooner you realize that, the better. Jackie's not here right now because he's making sure people like the Red Rattlesnakes stay out of our city. So no one gets hurt like we all were"

At the mention of the gang, Anti cringed. He still had nightmares from that night. He should be happy he killed them all but he couldn't stop thinking about what could have happened if Jackie hadn't saved him.

"Sorry" Marvin knew from his face he triggered him, "But the point is, Anti . . . We love you and there's no changing that. You got it?"

He looked solemn but Marvin wasn't the hugging type of person, choosing to boop his nose instead to get his attention elsewhere.

Anti crinkled his nose at the action and huffed but it seemed to have lifted his mood at least a little. He nodded and went back to eating.

Not knowing what else to say to convince him, after they were finished eating, Marvin left the room, giving Anti time to think on what he said.

His words did hit, though. Anti felt a little better after their talk but he was still triggered and held himself while looking through his phone on Tik Tok to take his mind off of everything.

That night, Jackie came back home and Chase chose to order out pizza, hoping Anti would at least come down for dinner.

He didn't.

After a while, there was a knock on Anti's door but he didn't answer.

But the other didn't care, opening it anyway, "Hey"

Anti looked up from his phone and couldn't help but smile just a crack. It was Jackie, "Hey"

"The others say you've been difficult today" Jackie brought some pizza over to him on a plate, "You didn't come down for lunch but Marvin said he stuffed sushi down your throat"

Anti snorted, "Practically"

Jackie sat on his bed with him, handing him the plate of pizza, "He also told me your guy's conversation. . . "

Anti shut off his phone but kept it in his hand, "What of it?"

"The others aren't so good at communication. . . . And I'm not either. But you kind of helped me with that lately. Getting to know you and all . . . We DO care about you, Anti. That's all there is to it and too bad if you don't like it. We're not gonna stop"

"You shou-"

"And you can't tell us we shouldn't because you can't tell us how we should feel. We remember who you used to be, Anti. We're not ignorant fools. We just see the man you've become now. We might not all be good at talking to each other but we do KNOW each other and how we feel. We love you, kid"

"I'm not a-"

"You'll always be 'kid' to me. No arguing. We love you because we've finally seen the real you. Kid, adult. It doesn't matter. You've changed and even if you don't see it, we DO" Jackie ruffled his hair, "You're our brother. You're always welcome here. You can stay or go if YOU want to but know that we will ALWAYS love you, brother"

Honestly, Anti felt like he'd cry. Ever since he was a kid, his emotions had heightened. He felt so stupid for getting so emotional or dramatic sometimes but he couldn't control it.

He bit his lip to stop himself from crying in front of Jackie.

The hero wasn't blind, though and saw it. Not saying anything, he just leaned in and hugged him. At first Anti was still but quickly fell into and hugged him back fiercely, tears seeping into the hero's uniform. They stayed like that for a while. Jackie knew Anti had to let his emotions out.

But after a few more minutes, Anti pulled away and Jackie ruffled his hair again. They talked a little more before Jackie finally left, letting Anti eat his pizza in peace.

But that night. . . . nightmares of that night brewed in his head again. And if that wasn't bad enough, a small storm was going over them, too.

A monster hovering over him gripping his throat. Touching him. Laughing at how helpless he was. Hitting him and saying sickly sweet things in his ear.

Anti bolted up in his bed, shaking violently and crying. He grabbed his knife to try and make himself feel better but it didn't work. The thunder and lightning outside made his whole body ache and glitch out of his control and he hated the feeling. It was starting to hurt.

He didn't think anything of it. He just got up. It was hard to walk like this. He thought he'd pass out, his blood pressure was probably so high right now. But he knew what would fix it.

Anti's heart was pounding but he snuck into the room and softly walked over to the bed.

He didn't want to wake him. He just wanted to feel safe. But with the glitching, it was hard to be sneaky.

Anti carefully laid in Jackie's bed over the covers and slowly snuggled in so his back was against Jackie's back. He was hoping that feeling Jackie's body against his would be enough to ease the effects of the storm.

Only then did he slowly calm down. He took one of Jackie's pillows and held it close to him along with his knife just in case his nightmares became reality.

Jackie wasn't asleep, though.

He felt Anti walk in. Honestly at first he thought it was dream of his own that he came in. He could feel that Anti had his knife on him but something was off. He could feel fear on him. Then he heard the thunder and lightning outside.

'Oh. I get it now'

And then he felt Anti crawl into the bed and press his back against his.

Jackie smiled slightly, 'Not a kid anymore, my ass. It's alright, though. He must have had a nightmare.'

He couldn't just leave Anti like this, though. He had to let Anti know he was completely safe and everything would be okay. He could feel that he had been crying.

Jackie turned around and just as a few weeks ago, he hugged Anti to him in his arms, letting his opposite charge soothe Anti's glitching from the storm.

Anti turned around to face him and snuggled even more into Jackie, letting his brother help him.

"It's alright, Anti. I got you. I won't let anything happen to you. You're safe, little brother"

The soft words were enough to lull him and after the storm finally passed, so did his uncontrollable glitching.

"Thanks, Jackie"

"Mm-hm"

Anti didn't leave but Jackie didn't mind. He'd always keep him safe. No matter how old he was.

Epilogue

Anti was in better spirits since that night. It had been about a week since then.

And now it was his birthday.

The first birthday he was spending with his family.

He had given up telling them all he didn't want anything. That he didn't want to do anything or make them do anything for him.

They wouldn't listen to it.

And now here he was in the living room surrounded by tons of people he knew that actually seemed to give a fuck about him. They had given him a surprise party!

The Septics had invited the Ipliers over for the big party.

There were games, tons of food and presents and Anti couldn't have felt more overwhelmed with it all.

Even Dark had given him a present. It was a brown dress-suit that he'd probably never wear but it was a nice thought at least.

Chase got him a nerf gun for them to play with and some whiskey not to mention his kids had made their Uncle Anti a card, not at all confused or worried about who he WAS before. Jameson got him that mini green lava lamp he had wanted and Henrik got him his own custom coffee thermos so he would stop stealing HIS.

Marvin gave him his special mocha cookies WITHOUT weed and the black magic book to burn in the fire so he wouldn't be tempted on using anymore curses.

And Jackie got him a new knife. A glowing green Karambit that glowed in the dark so he'd always know where it was even at night.

He got many more presents from the Ipliers as well including delivery gift cards but his favorite was the knife, let's be honest.

Speaking of delivery-

The door bell rang.

"Ah! That's the pizza!" Chase went to get up but he fell backwards again, clearly already a bit drunk.

"I'll get it" Anti stood up and went to open the door.

When he did, the delivery guy was familiar. But obviously he had remembered HIM.

The poor kid squeaked but couldn't say anything.

Anti smirked but didn't say anything, either. He just took the pizza out of his hands and winked at him before shutting the door in his face with out paying. He hadn't changed THAT much!

Anti handed out the pizza and they all played more games and watched some horror movies together. Even after the Ipliers left, the Septics still partied.

They all stayed up so late, they found themselves cuddling each other on the couch, sandwiching them all on it with Anti and Jackie in the middle and Chase, Marvin, Henrik and Jameson on their sides.

Anti held his new knife to his chest as he rested on Jackie's side and Marvin had his head resting on Anti's shoulder.

It was enough to lull him to sleep, a big smile on his face.

It would be hard for a while still to get completely comfortable with being an adult again.

But that was fine.

He had his family to help him.

'They really do care . . . . . . Never thought they would' he still had those thoughts.

'It's a nice feeling . . . I didn't think I'd ever get this. But even as a kid, I should have known'

Anti fell asleep with his family, content with having many more nights like this.

'Many more . . . . is it so childish of me to want that? To be so greedy?'

He didn't care anymore.

He had a family and that's all that mattered.

The end! As always, thank you all so much for reading! I love and appreciate all of your comments and votes! Let me know what you thought about it! Honestly, I didn't think it'd be this long but here we are! I know the last chapter before this was pretty gruesome so I thought I'd give everyone some fluff to end on :)

And now to finish 'My Enemy'! If anyone hasn't started to read that one, go on and give it a shot because I'll be solely working on that one now until it's finished before I start a new book so expect more frequent updates for it!

Love you all and hope you all have a great day! Thank you all again for reading! :D