Cutie

"You..." Anxiety whispers. Rain smiles awkwardly- I'm sure it's been a while of us just sitting here, staring at him. 

"What?" He finally asks. Anxiety slowly shakes his head, both at Rain and me. I guess that means we don't tell him. Rain stares for another few seconds at the both of us before he sighs, resuming his eating. 

Anxiety and I finish our meals quickly. I can read Anni's gaze and it's telling me to follow him right now in this very instant, so I do. We dump the plates in the kitchen like Morality always scoffs at Thomas not doing and rush up the stairs.

As soon as we reach the top Anxiety whips around. I almost end up crashing into him, but manage to stop with only a few inches or so between us. He doesn't seem to care that much, though. 

"He knows." Anxiety says decisively. I sigh, pulling a hand through my hair.

"I don't know about that." I speak, apparently sounding too doubtful for my fellow trait's liking as he scoffs at me. "What?" Anxiety's eyes suddenly become sad.

"He has to know." He mumbles. "He just has to be aware." I watch on as my friend begins pacing around the upstairs corridor, mumbling silently to himself. "Anxiety." He isn't paying attention to me. "Anxiety!" I rest a hand on his shoulder, attempting to pull him out of the trance he's in.

"If he knows then they might!" Anxiety cries at me, eyes wide. 

I slowly drop my hand.

"They have to know... They have to." He continues, pulling at his hair. "They..." 

"Hey, hey, Anxiety. Hey, listen to me." I start to murmur, noticing the signs of an oncoming panic attack. He goes quiet, then his breathing gets loud. Then he stops breathing at all unless you make him. "You're okay. We're okay. You're just a little overwhelmed, is all. Of course there's a chance that we can make them aware. It's not at all impossible, okay? It'll all be okay."

The thing about his panic attacks is that words rarely help that much, because he isn't actually listening. But there has to be some way for me to get to him before he reaches the event horizon... In an attempt to do so, I wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him close to me. He starts sobbing, but I can barely make that out over his uneven, panicked breathing. 

"You'll be okay. I promise we'll make it okay." I start to stroke his hair. 

"We can find them."

-----

The next day we spend anxiously staring at the clock, waiting for lunch to come and go. We haven't returned to Morality's classroom since we first saw him, so it's anxiety and dread combined for the both of us. On one hand I'm almost excited to see him again, on the other I know it'll hurt if he isn't able to realize the situation.

Anxiety tries to not eat lunch, but I don't allow that. "At the very least have an apple." He scoffs, glaring at the red fruit when I slide it over. Thomas glances at us in concern.

"Anni, are you okay?" He asks. Anxiety shrugs, putting the apple in his hand and staring at it. I frown but don't say anything, knowing about the nausea he is likely experiencing at the moment. I suppose eating would only upset the butterflies even more.

And so finally the bell rings. We part with Thomas, waving our goodbyes, before turning down the long hallway torwards I can only see as our make-it-or-break-it scenario of the day. Make-it-or-break-Anxiety, more like- I don't know when he started to care so much about our fellow trait, but it's clear that he does.

"You ready?" I ask.

"No." He mumbles, stepping through the open classroom door. Morality's already there, along with several students. The plan is to talk to him after class, so they won't interfere. 

Morality smiles when he sees us. "See, there you are! Is there any reason you stopped going to my lessons?" 

"Sorry." Anxiety mumbles, tightening his grip on the satchel strap over his shoulder and heading to the back of the room. Morality's eyebrows raise as his eyes follow the black-dressed student. I take this opportunity to get away unquestioned, joining Anxiety in the back. 

Another three minutes pass before class starts. "So, class, today we're..."

After not really working on the provided assignment for fifty minutes or so, the bell rings. Morality says goodbye to the class, receiving responses from no one.

These students are cardboard people. 

I look over at Anxiety, seeing if he's ready. He seems as prepared as he'll ever be, so I take the initiative and walk up to our fellow personality facet and wait for him to organise (in a Morality type way) his papers so he'll notice me. 

"Oh, Prince. Hello there." He finally says.

"Hi, uh, mister..." 

"Morgan." He smiles. I see Anxiety joining us in my peripheral, and he almost flinches when Morality calls him Anni rather than his actual name.

"Oh, sorry. I used to know you as Morality." I say. Anxiety sends me a skeptical look, a was that really the best way to go about this look, that I ignore.

"Morality? Wow, you really got that one wrong!" He chuckles to himself. 

"Did you really forget?" Anxiety mumbles. 

"Huh?"

"Did you really forget it all? Thomas? Logan? Prince? Me?" Morality looks bewildered. "Did you forget the plates on Thomas's nightstand that you always told him to move, but when he did he never reached the dishwasher anyway?" Anxiety clenches his fists, staring down at the floor. "Did you forget the dreams of Broadway? How could you forget the nights you spent complaining about the high pizza intake for hours? The countertop covered in crumbs? Did you forget it all?"

I stare in shock at Anxiety, at his shoulders as they shake. I turn my gaze to Morality...

"I'm sorry, I... I don't know what you're talking about." He laughs nervously, and Anxiety begins to chuckle. Darkly. 

"I guess you really did." And with that, Anxiety is out the door.

"I'm... Sorry, about that." I mumble, turning to follow Anxiety. "I'll see you tomorrow, Morality." And so I leave the classroom behind me.

We don't go to the classes following Morality's this day either- just like then we return straight back to my house. I find it strange that Anxiety's coma dream parents aren't looking for him, but I'm not going to ask for their attention. 

Anxiety hasn't spoken a word.

He doesn't say a single word for hours.

I guess that's okay. 

I turn on the tv, sit down on the couch and watch some cartoon about some cat for a while. Anxiety joins me eventually, and somehow, hours pass. Anxiety falls asleep on my shoulder and I'm about to fall asleep on his when the door opens.

I can hear my 'parents' coo about the cuteness of us (me pretending to sleep, because I simply don't have the energy to combat another challenge today) before they head upstairs. Not a lot of time passes before I'm actually asleep.

It's got to be midnight when I wake up. Maybe even past that, who knows? What I do know is that someone is knocking on the door and it sure as hell isn't a person that actually lives here. With that in mind I gently move Anxiety's body from the places where it's attached to mine and stand up from the couch. The knocking was hurried, loud, and it's very soon that I hear it again.

"Mmph." Anxiety groans, opening his eyes and rubbing them. I press my finger to my lips, signalling him to be quiet, and head for the hallway. There's an umbrella leaning against the inside wall, so I grab it and prepare to open. Anxiety watches passively from above the backrest of the couch.

My hand wraps around the handle. It's cold, waking me up a little bit and making me more prepared to defend us from whatever threat presents itself. 

I unlock the door, and I press the handle down, taking a deep breath. There's shuffling on the other side, nervous shuffling. My hold on the umbrella tightens. I hope that this will be a sufficient weapon. 

And I open the door. On the other side is...

Morality, gasping for air. 

"I remember," he wheezes, moving the palms of his hands to his knees. It's been a minute or so since the knocking started, so if he hasn't calmed by now he must've ran quite the distance (or maybe he's just not a frequenter of the gym). 

It takes some time for me to realize.

"You remember."