Anti stared at Marvin.

They were all in the kitchen at the dining table for breakfast.

It was just the next day after the Iplier fiasco.

Anti narrowed his eyes at the magician until finally he gave in.

"What is it, Anti?" he sighed dramatically, knowing this wasn't going to be good.

The kid version of Anti glared, "I'm mad at you"

"I figured that"

The others at the table were prepared for some words being thrown between the two.

"Why didn't you tell me I could be stuck like this forever?" Anti's bottom lip quivered only slightly. He wasn't wanting to get emotional but as a kid . . .. his emotions were running his life, basically, "I don't WANNA be a kid forever!"

"Anti . . . I . . I just didn't want to worry you. Or anyone else"

Chase snorted, "Too late for that, bro"

"You could have at LEAST told US" Henrik was even upset.

". . .I'm sorry" Marvin stopped eating, leaning his head on his hand, "You're right . .. I should have told you guys. That's on me. I know I shouldn't have even been IN that black magic book to begin with. This is all my fault and-"

"Stop" Jackie interrupted him.

Everyone looked to the hero who stopped eating, too. Jackie breathed in slowly, "There's nothing we can do about the past. From now on, we should be focusing on the future"

Anti pouted but he couldn't help but agree, "Fine . . . ." he kicked under the table, "What now?"

Now it was Marvin's turn to stare at him but before he could say anything, Jameson piped up with some quick signs, 'What about that incident yesterday? At the electronics store? With Anti's neck?'

"That WAS pretty weird" Chase nodded, "I haven't seen you do that since you've been here"

"You guys said his neck bled?" Jackie asked, trying to think of the cause, "What were you guys doing when it happened?"

Anti shrugged, "We were just looking at some lava lamps"

Everyone waited for him to eventually finish, knowing there was more to it than that.

Anti rolled his eyes, "Fine. I WAS thinking about stealing it! Okay?! But I didn't! . . . . I knew I didn't need to steal anything anymore . . . and I didn't need it"

.

.

.

Marvin slammed his hands down on the table, abruptly standing up in all his fabulous glory.

"EYE OF THE BEHOLDER!"

"what?"

Even Anti looked scared of the sudden outburst, backing in closer to his chair, eyes wide.

Marvin looked like he saw a ghost. It was all so obvious!

"You were thinking about stealing the lamp! But you DIDN'T! You made a mature decision!"

None of them still got it.

Marvin wanted to slap them.

"Which MEANS, only ANTI can fix it! It's in the eye of the beholder and how he sees himself!"

"Which means . . . ." Chase thought about it, "Anti has to . . think of himself as an adult?"

"But I've done that before!" Anti whined, "It didn't work!"

"Maybe that's because you were consciously thinking about it and trying to FORCE yourself to believe it." Marvin put together, "I think you really have to believe it yourself, Anti. You have to act like the age you want back"

"How do ve know this will actually work?" Henrik was skeptical, "How do we know his neck wasn't just a fluke?"

"We don't"

Jackie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Oh my god . . . you're just guessing, aren't you?"

"IT'S BETTER THAN NOTHING! TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!"

Anti sat in his chair, thinking about it. If what Marvin said was true, maybe he could have hope after all.

But then again . . . . .

'If I turn back into an adult . . .. will they still let me live here?' he turned to glance at Jackie, 'Will he go back to hating me?'

A month ago, he wouldn't have cared. He would have done everything he could to go back to his normal life. Stealing, torturing delivery boys, scamming, pranking and running from the Septic egos.

But now . . . life wasn't so bad right now. As a kid.

Breakfast ended pretty abruptly.

Jackie was alerted by local police that there was a hostage situation they couldn't control so he had to leave.

Anti didn't realize until then that Jackie hadn't left the house really since Anti had been a kid. Usually the entire reason Jackie would be out being the hero was because Anti kept stirring up trouble for him.

But now it seemed as if others were taking Anti's place.

And Anti was now one of them waiting anxiously for Jackie's return.

The little glitch laid on his bed up in his room, fixing his little handkerchief around his neck so it'd stay a little tight, 'I haven't had to worry about it for a while . . . I hope it doesn't get on the sheets'

He curled up in a ball, thinking about yesterday as well and about the Iplier egos and Darkiplier.

'I'm . .. glad things turned out okay for them. I guess. Dark actually does care about them. I don't know why I lost it and started yelling at them. They were just being so stupid!'

But on the inside, he knew.

Anti felt like he were the runaway egos and Dark was the Septics. In a way. It was sort of like that. Anti couldn't stand how childish they were being. Why couldn't they have just talked to Dark about how they were feeling? Why did they just run away like cowards instead?

'Dark was really worried about them. Willing to work together with his enemy. And now Jackie is doing that, too. We're . . . close now, right?'

Anti like to think so . . somewhat.

Oh, who was he kidding? He was Jackie's number one fan now, practically as ridiculous as it sounded!

He had grown attached to all of them, really.

Chase cooked for him and looked out for him, Jackie protected him and kept him close, Marvin would steal or grab sweets for him, Henrik would do random check-ups on him and Jameson would do near almost anything to make him laugh or smile at least a tiny bit.

A month ago, Anti would have nearly killed them all.

And now . . . .

He had to admit now that he never wanted to leave.

He just wanted to be a part of their family.

But if he turned back into an adult . . would they really accept him as much?

He wanted to believe it but his anxiety was taking over.

'Of course they wouldn't. They'd probably either kick me out immediately or lock me up. Who am I kidding? No, I can't turn back into an adult. I can't'

Anti curled in tighter on himself in the fetal position and started to cry, his emotions building upon his depression and fears.

'I'll . . . . . I'll just stay a kid forever . . and then they'll HAVE to keep me. And things will stay exactly how they are between us.'

Later that night, Jackie returned home. It was a long ordeal but he managed to save everyone involved in the hostage crisis.

He couldn't stop thinking about Anti, though.

He wanted him to turn back to normal but then again, he kind of didn't.

He knew the others sort of thought the same thing, too but they also wanted what was best for Anti.

The kid seemed so sad ever since the fight with that gang. He seemed . . . so unlike himself but Jackie couldn't really blame him.

Anti was so much more anxious now. Sad, anxious and clingy. Not that Jackie minded but also, he didn't want Anti to be sad. He missed the old Antisepticeye, believe it or not.

And he knew the others did, too.

'I have to help him. I don't think Anti's in the right state of mind right now to think of himself as an adult. With his childish emotions increased, it'll be even harder for him to change back if Marvin's hunch is correct.'

Jackie knew he'd have to bring the old Anti back up to the surface and he wasn't looking forward to it.

'For now, though, tonight . . . for now I can enjoy the little brat a little longer. Enjoy him not trying to kill me, that is'

Jameson told him Anti was up in his room so Jackie made his way up there and knocked on his door, going in.

"Hey, I'm back. You wanna play some video games together?"

Anti stared at him, sort of surprised but Jackie wasn't ignorant. He saw Anti's tears and knew something was wrong but he couldn't just bring it up to him. He knew Anti would get defensive otherwise.

The glitch 'discreetly' wiped his face off pretending he had a yawn and nodded, trying to hide his little smile.

Jackie was worried.

He knew when Anti turned back, they wouldn't have these moments anymore. Anti would go back to being his normal bratty and asshole self. He might go back to trying to kill or hurt them but Jackie was prepared for that. He had a plan to talk to him about it eventually.

Hopefully then, he could convince Anti that he could still live with them and be their brother.

But that conversation wouldn't happen tonight. They played Minecraft together for a few hours and then Anti fell asleep cuddle into Jackie like a damn cat.

'I won't ever have this chance again, probably.'

He remembered the last time Anti was in his room. Anti had a nightmare after the gang had nearly . . .

Jackie let him in his bed to comfort him and Anti had cuddled into him like the frightened child he was. Jackie never knew how Chase felt as a father until that moment. He didn't want anything bad to happen to Anti ever again. He wanted to keep him safe forever and keep him just as he was forever.

Even if he knew that wasn't possible.

Jackie turned off the lights and tucked Anti in on the other side of the bed. He laid on his own side and faced away from him. He couldn't sleep, thinking about Anti's predicament over and over again.

He didn't want Anti to turn back to an adult . . . but he knew it was the right thing to do.

He had to help him do it.

The next day, Anti woke up in the bed alone, Jackie already gone.

He was worried at first that it was all a dream but he realized he was in Jackie's room.

Getting up, Anti made his way downstairs, rubbing his sore eyes.

He got to the kitchen and saw everyone at the table with their plates already fixed.

Anti didn't understand, "Wh-why didn't anyone wake me up?"

Nobody liked it, especially Chase but Jackie answered, "You know when we eat. From now on, you should make sure you wake up on time. Get your plate and eat"

Anti didn't like this. It felt like they were pushing him away.

But he got his plate and was about to get his breakfast when he realized something.

"I can't reach the stove"

"Get a chair, then"

It was killing Chase so bad not to just get his plate for him.

But Anti nonetheless, grabbed his chair and drug it to the stove, climbing up it and put some food on his plate. He then climbed down and drug the chair back over to the table, put his plate on the table and climbed back up the chair.

He was winded but he started to dig in, only a bit disconcerted that everyone else was already almost done. He felt . . excluded.

And no one was talking to him. They just mumbled amongst themselves about what they'd do for the day and it was extremely off-putting.

"D-did I . . . do something wrong?"

They all stopped and stared at him.

Jackie realized his mistake and groaned a little, "N-no, Anti. Sorry, it's just . . . we thought that if we treated you more like an adult, it'd help you turn back quicker"

". . . .Oh" Anti didn't like this.

"It's nothing against you, kid" Chase already messed up, "We're just trying to help!"

Anti didn't respond. He just sat there, finishing what was left on his plate slower than before.

He didn't understand. And they didn't understand how wrongly they were going about things. It was just all wrong and Anti hated it. He felt so . . . alone all of a sudden. And here he thought him and Jackie were having fun last night playing Minecraft. They were really like brothers! What happened?

'Now that they think they know how to reverse the spell . . . . They really are trying to get rid of me . . .'