"You KNOW we're going with you, right?"

Anti stared off into space, at a wall deep inside his own head. He didn't mean to phase out of the conversation! It just happened.

Marvin snapped his fingers in front of his face, "Yo gullible! You listening to us?"

Anti flinched but finally came back to Earth, "Oh . . .yeah. What's up?"

Jackie sighed loudly, "Chase. . . . . we were talking about Chase and how to agreed to 'hang out' with him today. You know . . . Sunday. . . At the furniture store. . . . where you apparently have a stalker watching your every move"

Anti rolled his eyes, "I don't think it's THAT bad. You guys were practically begging me to go out with the guy before"

Marvin huffed, "Yeah well that was before we knew he had actually been watching you and following you around like a psycho!"

Anti shrugged, "I don't think it's really any different from what I've done to you guys. I 'stalked' you guys all the time"

Henrik stopped drinking his coffee and put down his newspaper, "You did vhat?"

"Never mind. Point is, I think I'll be fine. Chase handled him well before and-"

'We're not coming with JUST because of Zane, chap' Jameson signed to him with concern in his eyes, 'We're coming with you because of you being alone with Chase'

He didn't get it, "He didn't try and kill me at Wendy's"

"Because it was a smaller environment with more people clustered inside" Jackie tried to explain, "Look, we love Chase a lot. We really do. But he can also be very stupid and brash about things. I don't want this turning out to be a long-winded trick or something, you know?"

Anti yawned, "Yeah, okay. Whatever"

Marvin stared at him, "Wait. . . really?"

He shrugged, "Sure. I mean won't it be fun anyway? With us ALL there together?"

Jackie broke out in a small smile, "Heh . . . I mean, I guess" he rolled his eyes, "Anyway . . . so that's not all we wanted to talk about, either, Anti"

The glitch rubbed at the bags under his eyes, "What?"

Marvin blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well . . .  since we're all free now and normal or whatever, we thought it'd be neat to well . . . I mean really just Jackie and I . . ..  take last names!"

"Huh?" this was the most confusing conversation of the day for Anti to grasp, "Last names . . . But you don't NEED last names"

"Well think about it" Jackie hummed, "It's kinda weird that everyone else has last names except for us. We just thought it'd be fun to do . . as sort of a celebratory kind of thing, you know?"

Anti blinked, processing it, "Oh. . . well I guess I understand that then. It's your choice, after all. What did you guys pick?"

Henrik snorted, "They're nothing too different so don't get your hopes up"

'I like them!' Jameson clapped.

"Alright!" Jackie started off, "Well so you know how my name is Jackieboyman, right? Well I thought I'd maybe go off of that and change it up to a civilian name! My full name now is gonna be Jackie Bowman!"

They all  sat in silence and Anti didn't know whether or not he was waiting for his confirmation or not. Apparently he was.

"Oh!" Anti glanced around at the others, "Well . . . Sure, why not? As long as you like it. Seems pretty cool"

Jackie smiled and gave him a thumbs up, "It's awesome, right? Now Marv! Tell him yours!"

"Right!" Marvin grinned wide, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the most marvelous last name this Septic can offer!" he snapped his fingers and an invisible audience clapping noise surrounded Anti's apartment.

"PLEASE give a round of applause tooooo~" a sudden blast of a glitter bomb covered everyone and everything and a light fog drifted through the room.

"MARVIN MAGNUS THE MAGNIFICENT MAGICIAN!"

Suddenly the glitter and fog disappeared and Marvin bowed to accept the applause from his brothers.

"So extra" Henrik clicked his tongue but still clapped nonetheless.

Anti snorted and clapped, too, "It's nice! I like it!"

"I KNEW YOU WOULD!" Marvin shouted, "Anyway, that's that. We just figure since we have Henrik Schneeplestein, Jameson Jackson and even Chase Brody . . . Jackie and I deserved a little something special!"

"WAIT!" Jackie gasped, "I just thought of something! Anti! YOU don't have a last name, either!"

Anti looked sheepish, "Actually . . . . I do"

It was everyone's turn now to freeze.

Henrik actually looked curious now, "Now zhis, I'm curious of. Vhat is it?"

"Well" Anti blushed, "You guys know how sometimes Sherry calls me Andy, right? Well I figured a long time ago I could make my own identity. My full civilian name is Andy Samuals"

Jameson had stars in his eyes, 'That's so adorable! Like Septiceye Sam!'

"Fitting" Jackie nodded, "I like it."

"More normal zhan 'Marvin Magnus'" Henrik teased the magician.

"Oh fuck off, Hen!"

Anti laughed but quickly fell out of the happy attitude. He just. . . lately he just couldn't get himself into a good mood. He was happy . . .just . . . there was something inside of him that felt like a  . . a hole in his heart. He couldn't' exactly tell the others that, though or else they'd worry.

He was pretty sure they could see it, he was so tired but Anti just hoped they thought he was just tired, which wasn't a complete lie.

After chatting a bit more and teasing, it was finally time to go to meet Chase. Truth be told, Anti was anxious about it. This was the first time ALL of his family would be together hanging out and talking. He hoped it'd go well.

Chase sat at a table in the furniture store in wait. Really, he was nervous. He hadn't spent any time alone with Anti. The Wendy's didn't really count. Was he really like what the others thought him to be? Nice? Kind? He knew the answer was yes after talking with him before but he couldn't help but to have doubts.

He didn't know why he barged in between Anti and that Zane guy before. Perhaps he could just SEE Anti was uncomfortable and that set him off.

Whatever the case, he'd keep a look out for that creep, too. He wasn't gonna let Anti date him, no way. He seemed kind of nice before when HE had met him alone here but at the restaurant, he just made it too weird. He had no choice but to stop the interaction.

'When is he getting here? He didn't tell the others, did he? Fuck, what a nightmare that'd be. They probably all still hate me for shooting him'

Why wouldn't they? He had done a terrible thing and he deserved to be hated for it, right?

'Story of my fucking life'

"OI, CHASE!"

His musings were interrupted by a familiar voice shouting for him. Chase looked up to see his nightmares had become a reality.

'FUCK!' Suddenly Chase paled and he tensed up. He didn't want to speak to the others just yet!

Marvin bolted over to him with a sly smirk on his face, "What's the matter, Ace? You scaaaaaared~"

Chase glared at him, "I was supposed to be meeting and talking with Anti alone"

Anti and the others came up to the table, too and the glitch had a buzzing noise coming from him, looking sheepish, "Hope you don't mind. They wouldn't say no to coming"

Chase sighed, "It's  . . . it's fine."

"Too bad if it ain't" Jackie chuckled, "But seriously, how you been, dude? Anti said you work at a fast food place now or something?"

"Oh . . . yeah."

"Nothing to be ashamed of" Henrik shrugged, "I got my doctor's license from a cereal box!"

They all stared at him.

"Vhat? You all already knew zhat" he sat down in a chair, seemingly unbothered.

"Right" Marvin rolled his eyes and muttered, "And he wants to be a real doctor . . . that'll be interesting"

"I heard zhat!"

Chase snickered softly. He had missed their bickering, "Anyway . . . So . . .what's up?"

'Heard about you going all protective for Anti the other day. That was sweet of you!' Jameson teased him.

"I! I mean-" Chase looked away with a little bit of a sneer, "Well who else was gonna make sure that freak got told what for?"

Anti sat next to Chase, "I don't know. I kinda liked him. I think he was just really nervous"

"You're not dating him!" Chase used his dad voice.

Anti rolled his eyes but shut up.

Jackie snickered, "Aw look at you being a good protective older brother!"

Chase scowled at him but Anti butt in, "But I'm technically older than all of you. I was there for all your creation."

"That's weird to think about" Marvin fixed his mask, "As an eyeball or . . . this?"

"As Sam first and then Sean changed me soon after"

"And zhen you told him to fuck off!" Henrik smirked.

The glitch chuckled, "Y-yeah. It pretty much went down like that." he stifled a yawn.

Chase noticed and tapped his fingers on the table, "Hm. Not getting enough sleep around these rowdy fuckers?"

"Hey!" Marvin shouted in defense but couldn't actually say anything.

Anti just chuckled, "Nah . . . I think I'm sleeping fine. Just tired lately is all"

"Right . . . . I think Sean's been that way, too, lately"

They all looked at him strangely.

Jackie went a little red in anger, "And why the fuck would we care?"

"You do" Chase scoffed, "Don't act like you don't. Have you visited his channel lately?"

"No" Henrik sighed, "To be honest, we've been taking care of each other. Getting to know Anti. Having actual fun for once"

"Is this why you wanted to talk to Anti alone?" Marvin glared at Chase, "To what? Guilt-trip him or something? Because it won't work!"

"No" Chase was honest about it, "No, that's not it at all. I just . . .well I guess I was closest to Sean. I'm just worried about him is all. He was so-"

"Depressed" Anti finished, "Yeah. . .. he's always been like that"

Chase nodded, "It had gotten worse when the others stopped talking to him. And now when he just let everyone go? He stopped uploading videos completely. He hasn't been on social media since, either"

"Good" Jackie scoffed, "It'll give him more time to think about what he's done"

Chase didn't know what to say. He knew they were right but also . . . he still cared for Sean even though he was also still pretty mad at him.

He sighed, "Yeah . . . . I don't know anymore"

Anti swallowed and decided to look around, "I'm gonna go get a cookie and some lemonade. Maybe say hi to Sherry. Be right back"

With that, Anti got up and walked away and Jameson crossed his arms, 'See now? We've made him upset.'

"Anti's been through a lot, Chase. I'm sorry but Sean doesn't get any excuses for his behavior. Depressed or not, there are no reason good enough to make what he did to him or us okay"

Chase nodded, "I know. . . I know. I'm not saying. I'm just saying . . . ." he sighed, "Forget it."

This was the awkward tension he wanted to avoid but here he just had to invoke it.

Anti went up to the little lemonade booth, grabbing a cookie and lemonade. Sherry wasn't there giving them out this time so he figured she must be busy with clients.

He sipped on the lemonade and was about to go trudging off to the others again when a small voice stopped him.

"Um . .. hey there"

Anti tensed and turned around. Of course.

"Oh . . .hey. Zane, right?"

"Yeah" the guy looked decently ashamed of himself, "Look, about the other night-"

Anti shrugged, "You're a little bit of an oddball, I'll say that"

"Right . . . " he didn't seem less anxious. Still in black clothes with his many accessories and a few piercings here and there. But his eyes seemed kind.

"So what'd you wanna say?" Anti bit into his cookie, "Sorry? For what? Being a creep?"

"Yeah . . ." he looked him in the eye. His eyes were blue. 

"I know what I said and how I came up to you was WAY out of line. It shouldn't have happened. Truth be told, yeah, I've been kinda stalking you. . . But only here! At uh . .. this store"

"Riiiight. I don't know if I believe that.

"It's true! I really did only see you at the theater by coincidence . . . and followed you and that girl at that fast food place"

"And said some really weird things and tried to barge in my bubble after a date gone wrong"

He looked even MORE sad with himself, "Yeah . . . I'm . . . I don't know really how to talk to other people. I didn't know how else to confront you. I was gonna a while ago when you were at this store by yourself but then you started coming with your brothers and I got really nervous"

Anti understood that, he really did. Being sociable sometimes was really hard. Even for him.

Zane whined in defeat, "I'm sorry for weirding you out. It won't happen again, I promise. I-"

Suddenly the guy paled and looked terrified, looking at something behind Anti, "Um"

Anti knew without even having to look.

"I thought I made it clear at the restaurant, fucking punk" 

"What you saying to Anti? You making him uncomfortable again?"

"Stalkers can get in serious trouble, you know."

"BEAT IT"

"Oookay!" Anti turned to his brothers. They were all behind him making sure he was okay, "Guys, you can cool it! Chill out. I can take care of myself"

Chase snarled, "I don't trust him"

Zane handed out a cookie, "Peace offering?" he squeaked.

Chase grabbed it before Anti could, "Careful, it might be roofied." 

"Oh geez. Zane, you better get out of here before they go off leash or something. I'll see ya some other time"

"YOU WILL?!" They all looked shocked, even Zane.

Anti shrugged and waved Zane off, "See ya"

Zane blushed but ran off, afraid of Anti's brothers coming after him.

Anti snorted and looked at his brothers again who were all together looking irritated and pissed and concerned.

"What?"

Chase looked ready to explode, "You are NOT dating him!"

For once, they all had something to agree about, making Anti just laugh it off.

Going back to their table, they snacked, laughed and bickered with each other.

It was one of the best days Anti had ever had.

He hadn't smiled so big in forever. This is what he had wanted all along.

A family.

Then why did it feel . . ..  so empty, still?

He couldn't explain it and he didn't want to tell the others. He thought this feeling would go away.

But it just kept getting stronger and stronger. He felt so tired and out of it.

'It's just a bug or something . .. . that's all. I'm just tired.'

But he knew deep down something else was weighing down on him.

He just . . . didn't feel quite whole yet.

How could he fix that if having all of his family there with him wasn't the answer?