The deliver guy was fine.

Well . . . . defining 'fine' could take awhile. He wasn't locked up in Anti's guest room anymore.

Anti got to have a little fun with his new knife that night. It took several days after to brainwash the guy into believing he had never met Anti before then and why he was there in the first place so he could let him leave. He didn't want to KILL the man who brought him his food, after all.

Torture and brainwash, though, yeah, he was up for that. But it did take a lot out of him to make sure the guy was also zoned out while leaving. He wasn't magic like Marvin, so he had to use different techniques that were just as effective. Just a bit more difficult.

And now his rent was due and he had go to out to fetch more money.

'Hopefully I won't run into buzz-kill today. . . Maybe I should manage the money I steal better?'

The thought was only briefly in his head before Anti shook it out.

'But I COULD just steal from an ATM . . . . . Then again where's the fun in that? I'd rather know what my victim looks like. See the crushed look on their faces' he chuckled to himself.

Yeah, he was an asshole. Did he give a shit?

Pft. No!

Cracking his back, feeling a little glitch as he did so, Anti glanced out his apartment window, 'It's kind of cloudy out, though. Hopefully it doesn't storm today. Might blow my cover'

Anti had a problem, you see. He hated storms. Not because he was afraid of them, that wasn't the case. No, of course not. He hated storms because his glitching would start to get out of his control. And if he couldn't control that part of him, he'd give away his identity. The perfect catch for Jackie to find and attack him.

And unfortunately, Anti couldn't glitch to get away because he wouldn't have control over how or when he glitches.

'Doesn't look like it's gonna amount to much, though. I should be fine'

He needed that money for his rent today or else the land-lord would be on his ass.

'I can't go to the mall today. Spider-bitch might be there patrolling after the other day. I should try somewhere else'

Throwing on a black hoodie, Anti hid his special new knife in his back pocket, threw on his shoes and made his way out.

"Where's Jackie at this morning?" Chase asked Marvin, making himself some tea, "Patrolling again?"

Marvin munched on a smoked salmon bagel for his breakfast, "Yeah. Said he wanted to catch Anti this time. Fed up with him and all that"

"He says that every time. You think he'll actually capture him one of these days, bro?"

Marvin shrugged, "Eh . . . Not really. He'd probably kill him first"

The father sipped his drink, "He agreed not to"

"And you believed him? Jackie's got beef with him. I'm surprised you're not in the same boat honestly"

"Oh, I am. I don't care either way. It's just that we agreed that we wouldn't. I don't like going back on my word much less others going back on theirs"

The magician nodded, "I know this about you, my dude" he mocked him and snorted, "So the twin's birthday is coming up right?"

Chase's shoulder's visibly sagged, "Uh . . yeah. Yeah, it is"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine" Chase waved it off, "It's coming up next week."

"Stacey gonna-"

"Fucking doubt it" he scoffed and suddenly realized how prickly he sounded, "I mean. . . yeah, probably not. Her sister is staying with her, too his coming week. Came from America for the twin's birthday. Which means-"

Marvin finished for him, "Which means it'll be two against one. You know I could always-"

"No thanks, Marv." Chase stopped him with a slight chuckle, "No offense but your hypnotism shit isn't exactly foolproof."

The magician shrugged, "Says you. Made you believe you were a duck the other day and made you forget but whatever" he mumbled the last bit into his cup of coffee.

Chase heard it, though and narrowed his eyes at him, "What?"

"Nothing! Anyway, so-"

But before he could save himself, a loud rumbling did the job for him.

"Is that the washer again?"

Chase let the other bit go for now, ". . .Yeah. Been making that noise every time now and I can't figure out why. Henrik says it's because we over-fill it but I think it's because of all your capes"

"Hey now! Maybe it's something else! You don't know!"

"Then why don't you fix it with your magic?"

Marvin huffed, stuffing the rest of his bagel in his mouth, "Maybe I will!"

Chase smirked, watching as he stomped off to the laundry room.

'Sucker'

As Marvin was performing a diagnostic spell on the washer, Jameson walked into the kitchen, having heard everything go down. He shook his head playfully at Chase.

'You always have to goad him into doing housework around here with his magic, don't you?'

"At least he's doing his fair share of chores" Chase smirked, drinking more of his tea.

Meanwhile Marvin was in the living room doing just that, 'Hm. . . Looks like it might actually be this part going bad. I know Chase conned me into doing this but we can't live with our washer about to break. It could flood a good chunk of the first floor if we're not careful'

Making up his mind, Marvin rolled his eyes and left the laundry room, going back into the kitchen, "I'm going to the hardware store uptown. I should be back in a couple hours"

Chase looked at him startled, "Wait, it's actually something?"

"Yup. A part going bad. I'll be back soon"

'Good luck!' Jameson signed to him, 'Can you pick me up some cookies while you're out?'

"Sure thing, James."

"And can you get me more tea? I'm running out"

"Get yer own tea"

Chase huffed but snickered as Marvin dramatically left the room, 'I guess I deserved that'

"See ya later!"

Anti leaned against the side of a highly rated hotel. It was near the mall but far enough away that Jackie wouldn't look for him there. He tried to keep his spots diverse and he shuffled them around so there wouldn't be a pattern.

Watching the people go in and out, he'd say he picked the perfect spot with the expensive clothing and accessories they wore.

'Pompous assholes' he thought to himself, 'People should fooking thank me. Taking from the rich. At least they can make more. . . . Then again, I did steal the cash off that delivery boy, too'

Anti just kept watching as a prime candidate exited the hotel, wearing an expensive suit and a fancy pin and watch.

'Asshole reminds me of Darkiplier. Found my victim! This'll be fun' slinking into the shadows, Anti trailed behind him as he left for his car. Not that he'd make it there.

Marvin was out of his element. He didn't know what EXACTLY he was looking for but he knew what it looked like, although he had difficulty explaining it to the people up front.

They were more interested in how he looked, "What's with the drapes?"

"I'm a magician. . . . You know what? Don't worry. I'll figure it out, myself" he tried to be polite about it but somehow he cringed at himself, sensing how they could take his tone as rude, "Sorry. I just don't want to take up too much of your time"

He had a feeling they probably thought he was odd anyway with his outfit and the everything about him. The man just went back to being on his phone.

'This IS that part of town, though, where they are less. . . . accepting. I should be careful, I suppose. Don't wanna start trouble.'

Marvin wasn't afraid though, of course. He wore a white blouse with black pants, his cat mask hanging off of his scarf-belt. Along with his long hair pulled up in a pony-tail, he had flecks of green stripes underneath partings, eyeshadow and eyeliner on and not to mention, he looked especially extra with his dark purple cape and black boots.

He spotted some man staring at him strangely but refused to make eye contact as to not encourage any stupidity on his part.

Marvin finally wandered over to the washer and dryer appliance parts and tried to search for what he needed.

Behind him, he could just barely hear their snickers and rude comments but refused to goad them.

'Ah! Here it is!' he grabbed the part that he needed and wandered back up to the front of the store to pay.

One of the cashiers looked him up and down before scoffing, "You heading to a convention or something, sweetheart?"

Marvin blinked at him. He obviously hadn't heard him speaking to the other cashier before, "Uh . . . No, actually. I'm just grabbing this and going back home is all"

Obviously the man thought he was a woman and quickly changed his attitude to a more sour one, "Hm. You're one of those people then?"

Marvin could tell he wasn't going to escape this conversation but tried to play dumb, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, sir. Can I just pay for this part and go?"

Two men behind him snickered and the cashier 'helping' him smirked, "In a moment. What's it like being a bottom bitch? You get women AND gay men, do ya sugar?"

Marvin closed his eyes with a deep sigh and glared at him, "I don't think that's any of your business, sir. Now kindly scan my part before I call for your manager on your rude conduct"

One of the men behind him chuckled, "Maybe I should scan one of HIS parts. Make sure he's really not a woman in disguise" Marvin could feel him edge closer from behind.

That's where he lost his patience.

Turning sharply behind him, Marvin waved his hand in an intricate way, "MAYBE, you should walk away and think about your life choices and consider how rude you're being to strangers!"

He snapped his fingers and immediately the man turned around and walked away, a somber look on his face. The other man that was with him stared in confusion, "Wh-what the?! Phil! The hell you doing!? He's just a fa-"

Marvin gripped the back of the guy's neck and whispered in his ear, "Walk away with him and try and steal something expensive"

Without a word, he did as he was told and walked away.

'Should keep them busy for a bit. And Chase says my hypnotism is shit! Ha!'

He turned back to face the cashier and snapped his fingers at him, "Scan my shit and let me pay fer it. I don't have all day to deal with your ignorance"

The other cashier briefly watched as the other did as he was told and Marvin took the bag. The other obviously knew something weird just happened but didn't appear to really care. He'd rather be on his phone.

"Thank you. Have a good day, now!" he whisked his cape around himself and left dramatically.

In the distance as he left, he could just barely hear the alarm system go off as the other two tried to steal a mini fridge.

'Serves them right'

He started to walk on back home with his washer part.

Anti was way too excited for his own good. Not only did he steal enough money for two months rent, but he also was able to snag the man's watch without him noticing.

'Stupid bastard' he'd admit the man was pretty good looking but that must have been all he had going for him, 'Must be a model or something. Most of them are kinda dumb anyway'

All he had to do was trip him up with an invisible glitch and help him up. That's IT! It was the oldest trick in the fucking book!

Anti giggled to himself looking through all the money he managed to grab. The watch was okay but he'd just sell it online. Watches weren't his thing, really but he could tell it was expensive.

He looked up at the clouds again and again just to be sure but it looked like today was a good day without any problems, 'I better get home and throw some of this at the land-lord. This should shut him up fer a bit'

As long as there wasn't any lightening, he should be fine to glitch through one of the telephone phones or someone's smartphone.

Putting the money up, in his pocket, Anti yawned and flipped down his hoodie to prepare himself.

Until something hit him in the chest, that is.

Marvin could just teleport back home but it was days like this that he liked the most. Cloudy skies just on the verge of raining, the slightly cool breeze running through his hair.

'Next thing though when I get home, Chase'll probably expect me to install the part myself! He better not. He knows I'm not savvy in those parts'

His thoughts quickly wandered to the spells he had been practicing the last few days, 'It's been getting easier and easier to work them out. I know they're black magic and all but they're so cool! I've been craving something more difficult lately. Who's to say I can't handle it? Not like I'd ever use it on anything! I just wanna know I'm capable of more is all. The others don't understand that, though'

Lost in his thoughts, Marvin swung the bag back and forth, not really noticing anything around him.

Perhaps that might have been a mistake.

'Maybe I could try out some other spells in the book when I get home. Could they work on inanimate objects, too, I wonder? I could TRY it.' He thought of the spell in his head softly. The best thing he could do, then was to memorize it. Studying was important when it came to spell-work.

As he swung the bag back and forth like a metronome, he barely heard footsteps coming towards him but he kept swinging it, lost in the moment.

'Let's see. . . it went like . .'

"OOOF! THE FOOK!?"

Marvin realized suddenly he must have accidentally hit someone with his bag, "AH! I'm so sorry! I-"

He stopped, seeing who was in front of him.

The man before him halted as well.

It was like they were frozen in time, staring at the counterparts of each other.

Anti's eye twitched and he snarled, "You-" he looked like he was about to try and attack him.

Marvin didn't think. He just acted.

With a sudden frightened yelp, Marvin jut both his hands out towards him with his eyes closed, "AH!! SHIT!"

He kept his eyes closed until he realized nothing had happened to HIM. And it was pretty quiet. Usually Anti would be waving his knife around at him and yelling at him rudely.

Marvin slowly opened his eyes.

'Oh no.'

On the ground was something he did NOT expect.

And it didn't look good on him, either.

'I . . .. I accidentally used . . . the spell'

His breathing increased seeing a smaller version of Anti laying unconscious on the concrete sidewalk. Marvin screamed in his head, 'I'm so fooking stupid! Did I actually-'

He leaned down suddenly to examine him, making sure he didn't kill Anti, too.

'No, he's still alive' He looked around to see that a couple of people seemed to notice him leaning down next to an unconscious small being, 'This looks bad.'

Without a second thought, he picked Anti up in the baggy clothes and spoke loudly, "Ah poor thing!" he addressed the strangers, "Could you imagine having narcolepsy so young?! Uh! My poor nephew!'

The strangers seemed to buy it and walked off.

Marvin held Anti in his arms, slightly panicking to himself, 'I can't believe it . .. I told myself I wouldn't do it. Why!? Why did I . .'

He cursed himself, remembering how he had been going over the spell in his head before running into him.

'I can't believe . . . I actually turned Anti into a kid . . .. .

.

.

.

The fook should I do!?'