Laughing surrounded Anti.

He felt so small and helpless.

He didn't have his knife with him and he was all alone.

Except for the monsters coming after him.

They were on him, touching him and holding him down, keeping him quiet.

He tried to call for help but no one came.

The last thing Anti remembered was screaming as the largest monster hung over him and -

*GASP!* Anti shot up, his heart racing. He could feel tears running down his face already.

He looked around but realized he was in an unfamiliar room on a futon.

And then he remembered.

He spotted the bed a few feet away and bolted towards it with his knife still in his hand just in case. He shook the man roughly in the bed who had been fast asleep lightly snoring.

Upon being shaken, though, he jolted and woke up just as quickly as Anti had, "Wha? Whas goin' on? . . . . Anti?"

The poor kid was shaking like a leaf and he looked absolutely terrified, "The b-bad men are coming! They're coming! Y-you have ta hide me!"

"Bad men?" but the more Jackie woke up, he realized.

Anti had a nightmare. He never wanted to kill someone so badly than he did those gang members.

Jackie sighed, "Anti . . it was just a nightmare. Trust me. Those guys won't come anywhere near you now, okay? Especially not when you're around me"

He didn't look convinced and his bottom lip trembled. He looked ready to ball.

"B-but they were t-touching me again! And laughing! They were gonna-!"

"It's okay. Not while I'm here" Jackie sighed, biting his lip. He hoped Anti wouldn't tell any of the others about what he was about to offer, "D-do you wanna sleep with me?"

Like the child he was right now, Anti nervously nodded.

Jackie had never felt so weird before. Was this what Chase had to deal with all the time? He made some room for Anti and scooted over, patting the spot for him.

He almost snickered watching Anti struggle to crawl up the bed but he had to lay some ground rules, "First off. I know I said you could keep the knife again. But when you're asleep, I'd like it if you just kept it under your pillow at least. That okay?"

With a slight pout, Anti slowly stuffed the knife under the pillow.

"Good." Jackie ruffled his hair playfully to lighten things and he covered him up, "Now go to sleep, alright? I'll be right here"

"Promise they won't get me?"

" . . . I promise. I'll kill them before they get anywhere near you, kid"

That seemed to settle him down finally since Jackie noticed he stopped shaking, "Night, kid"

With that, he rolled over facing away from him. It was weird enough sharing a bed with his 'brother' but also a kid? It felt odd to him.

What was even weirder, though was when he felt him cuddle up to him, scooching his own back against Jackie's.

'I'm SO cleaning out that storage room in the morning. Hopefully he'll feel better soon to at least trust Marvin's wards around the house to keep him safe'

That morning, when Jackie woke up, he still felt Anti cuddled up against him. It felt like he hadn't even moved. Did cuddling him really make him feel that much safer?

Whatever the case, Jackie was ready to get up and stretched, cracking his back and neck.

As he carefully got out of bed, Jackie stared at Anti as he moved positions, taking over the entire bed with his little body. Jackie actually felt himself snort at how cute it actually looked.

But he caught himself and shook his head, 'Why am I thinking that? Yeah sure he's a kid and it's adorable but it's also Anti. Who's supposed to turn back into a grown ass adult soon. I should ask Marvin about that again. I swear he's keeping something from us. I bet he's still practicing that black magic shit. Told him to stop that crap. It was that very shit that got us stuck IN this mess to start with'

Anti yawned in his sleep and stretched before flopping again, grumbling.

Jackie did a hard blink to snap himself out of it, 'Why does he have to be as cute as Sammy and Kallie, though? It's just so weird!'

With that, Jackie left to go to the bathroom and showered and got dressed in some casual wear. A black and red shirt and some grey jeans. When he came back out, Anti was still sleeping but yet in ANOTHER weird position on the verge of falling off the bed.

"Hm . . ." Jackie thought for a moment. He walked over back to the bed and held one of his pillows.

If anyone else walked in, it'd look like he was contemplating on suffocating Anti in his sleep. But that wasn't the case at all.

Without really thinking about it, Jackie swung the pillow at Anti, knocking him off the bed. The loud thunk as he hit the floor made Jackie snort but he instantly regretted it once he remembered Anti's bruises.

'Dammit! Why'd I do that!? But it WAS kind of funny. . .'

"Ooooooowwww" Anti woke up on the floor. It didn't hurt that bad but he still FELL off the bed.

"Oh shit! You okay, kid?" Jackie's voice alerted him but it sounded. . .over-dramatized. Anti got up and peeked his head over the other side of the bed.

"I was just getting ready to wake you up when you fell off the bed stretching! You okay? How's your bruises?"

Anti didn't know why but he felt like Jackie had something to do with it. But he thought past it and shrugged, "I'm fine"

"Oh good! Good. . . . . . . . you want breakfast?"

As the two came downstairs, Anti had his knife in his little pocket. They could hear the bustling around and laughing and Jackie sighed in relief. He was thankful that Stacey hadn't come yet to collect the kids. He wanted to say good-bye before they had to go.

Getting into the kitchen, the hero vaguely noticed Anti shift behind him. It was obvious he still wasn't comfortable around the other kids. Maybe because he knew he was actually their uncle and it was too weird to be friends with them knowing he'd turn back into an adult soon.

"Uncle Jackie! Andy!" Kallie bolted straight for Anti, forcibly pulling him away from his 'dad', "Are you okay!? We didn't get to see ya really last night!"

"Yeah!" Sammy walked over, "Dad says we shouldn't ask you but-"

"And yet you still do!" Chase groaned dramatically, "Kids, just get back over here and eat. We don't have much time left until your mother comes and take you home"

"Aw but that's no fair, daddy!" Kallie pouted.

Chase looked happy to hear that, "Aw, Kal, that's so swe-"

"We didn't get to hear ANYTHING about what happened to Andy! And we wanna hang out with him more today!"

"Yeah! We didn't get to yesterday!" Sammy whined.

Chase deflated but rolled his eyes, "Andy just had a hard day yesterday is all and you shouldn't bug him about it."

"Andy, what you want for breakfast? Eggs? Bacon? French Toast?"

'Or I can make crepes!' Jameson signed excitedly. He just wanted crepes for HIS breakfast, really.

Anti mumbled something, throwing everyone off.

"Vhat was that, child?" Henrik tried.

Anti shut down a little and wouldn't respond. He didn't want to repeat himself in front of everyone. Really it was a juxtaposition compared to how he behaved usually before the attack.

Marvin tried to at least be nice, though, "Hey, it's okay. You can tell us. What you hungry for?"

Anti looked up at Jackie, though, unsure, and that's when the hero knew just how much that gang had ruined Anti, "It's alright." he leaned down next to him, "You can tell ME if you want"

Everyone was floored when Anti whispered his answer in Jackie's ear.

"He says he wants Chase's eggs. If. . . if that's okay"

"Of course that's okay!" Chase grinned, "That's MORE than okay, Anti! Don't you worry about it!"

"I want your eggs, too, dad!" Kallie joined in.

"Me too! Me too!" Sammy hopped up and down.

"Okay, okay" he chuckled, "Just don't tell your mother"

By the time they had finished eating, there was a knock on the door.

Chase wanted to groan, "That'd be the witch- I MEAN MOTHER. . . That'd be your mother"

Of course the kids whined. They wanted to spend more time with their dad and new friend, Andy.

"Really? Witch?" Marvin took offense to that word apparently.

"You guys know the rules." Chase calmed the flame, "Your mother and I made a promise to one another and remember, you don't go back on your word, right?"

But even he wanted to whine as he went to answer the door and the kids went to go get their things ready.

Anti peeked out from the kitchen, watching the odd interaction between Stacey and Chase.

"Hey, they ready?"

Chase leaned on his door frame, "Getting ready now. We just had breakfast"

"Oh god, please don't tell me you gave them those fucking eggs again"

"Heheh. . . They practically begged for 'em"

She swat his chest lightly, "You bastard! They might get sick from that crap!"

Chase snorted almost playfully, "Doubt it. They ate FAR worse while they were here"

"Chase Brody!" But before she could complain further, she noticed Anti watching from afar, "Oh hi again, sweety! Where's your daddy?"

Anti suddenly frowned at her and Chase wanted to laugh at the face he made.

Stacey still seemed to find it cute, though, "What was your name? Andy, right? Can you come over here and introduce yourself to me? Last time, we didn't get to talk much!"

Anti stayed where he was, "The last time a woman wanted me up close, she tried to kidnap me"

Stacey blinked, "Uh . . what?"

Even Chase was concerned, "What? Why didn't Jackie say anything about THAT?!"

"huH! Some father HE is! Can't even keep a good eye on his son!" Stacey huffed, "I guess all McLoughlin boys are the same"

Chase snorted, "And I guess all the women in your family are all bitches. Give it a rest, Stace. KIDS, YOUR MOTHER'S WAITING FOR YA!"

"COMING!" they hollered from another room.

Jackie then walked in, though and Stacey's mood changed REAL quick.

"Oh! Hello, Jackie!" she said so sweetly, "I hear you son almost got kidnapped one time? I do hope everything is okay now"

Jackie just shrugged though, "It's none of your business" he stretched and cracked his back, making some of his muscles show through the fabric.

Stacey nearly fainted and Anti could SEE the drool wanting to drip down her face.

But the woman snapped out of it quick enough and gestured to Anti once more, "I'm sorry for pestering . . . . It's just . . if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm available" she winked in clear view of Chase.

'Oh hell no'

Now Anti was upset and was tempted on throwing his knife at her but instead as the other Septic egos came in to say good bye to the kids, he stuck his tongue out at her.

"HUSSY!"

The Septics practically all had to cover their mouths to prevent themselves from busting out laughing.

Stacey gasped at his behavior, "Teach your boy some manners! He can't just-"

"Nah, I think on this, he's right." Jackie stopped her and ruffled Anti's hair proudly, "That's my boy" he played along with the role.

Before she could retaliate, however, Kallie and Sammy rushed down and each said good bye to their uncles.

Chase nodded to Stacey as she went to leave, "Have a good day, Hussy. I MEAN Stacey!" he smirked, though, knowing what he said before shutting the door in her face.

And as the door shut, they all cracked up, especially Chase, "Hahahahahahaahha! Good one! I'm gonna remember that! High five, little man!"

Chase held his hand out to Anti but he seemed to have forgotten his trauma. Anti stepped back more towards Jackie in fear of getting hit but the hero grabbed Chase's hand before it scared Anti too much.

"Don't raise your hand up like that to him."

Chase froze.

Since when . . . .

Since when did HE become someone Anti feared??

It was then that Chase realized he was no longer Anti's parental figure in the house.

His newly protective older brother Jackie was.

"Oh . . sorry." Chase scratched the back of his neck, "My bad, bro. Hey you guys wanna go watch a movie together? Nice get-up by the way, Jackie. Very casual."

"Fuck off. I can pull off casual!"

"Not saying you couldn't, dude!" Chase swat him gently, "You're rocking it! Nice change from the uniform all the time. Now let's go chill and hang. We could watch a Marvel movie if you want?"

Jackie just rolled his eyes, "Actually, I can't. Anti and I were gonna clear out the storage room and go get some new furniture and a bed for him"

They all stopped in their tracks.

"HUH?"

Even Anti was surprised. He was actually gonna keep his word?

"Oh. . . really? You're . . you're gonna let him have his own room, finally?"

"IT'S ABOUT TIME!" Marvin groaned, "Poor kid's gonna have back issues if he stays any longer on that damn couch!"

"I agree" Henrik seconded.

'Perhaps I could help clean out the storage room?' Jameson asked, 'I'd love to help!'

"Of course, James. Then afterwards, we could all go to the mall to that furniture store"

Anti suddenly tensed and everyone saw it.

"Uh . . " Chase wondered out loud, "Maybe it'd be a good idea to keep him at home for a while longer now? He had a pretty bad day yesterday remember?"

Jackie just kept Anti close to him, looking down as if to mostly reassure HIM.

"But this time, I'LL be with him. And if anyone lays a hand on him, they're getting beat"

Uh-oh.

It appears that Jackie has taken the newly protective older brother role to a whole new level.

At least Anti appreciated it, though. He actually managed to smile a bit then.