"Alright guys, I'll be back from LA in a month." Jack told the egos as he stood by the door with his suitcase in hand.

"Robbie no want Jack go!" Robbie whined childishly, crawling towards Jack before wrapping his arms around the Irishman's leg.

"He'll be back soon bud." Chase promised the zombie with a grunt as he managed to get Robbie to let go of Jack, Chase sitting on the couch with Robbie slumped over in front of him.

"Or he could just not come back, that'd be nice." Anti remarked under his breath, Jackaboy shooting a glare at the glitch as Jack waved goodbye and walked outside.

"Bye guys!"

The house was silent for the moment as the door slammed shut, Anti the first ego to stand up off of the couch.

"Aight, imma head out." Anti declared, striding towards the door before Jackaboy grabbed the glitch's arm to stop him.

"Dude, Jack told us-"

"In case you haven't noticed super zero, Jack isn't here." Anti interrupted, roughly pulling his arm free from the hero's grip.

Jameson quickly intervened by stepping in front of Anti and shaking his head with a stern expression.

"Out of my way ya mute dipshit." Anti scowled as he shoved Jameson out of the way, the dapper male hitting the wall before crumpling to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Damnit Anti, you could've seriously hurt Jameson!" Schneep snapped as he knelt in front of Jameson, noticing a vibrant purple bruise beginning to form on Jameson's pale forehead.

"His fault for getting in my way." Anti shrugged as he continued towards the door, Marvin rolling his eyes in irritation as he pointed a hand at the door.

The door locked with an audible click, Anti muttering curse words under his breath as he fought to break the door open.

"Bro, why don't we just stay here and relax?" Chase interjected from where he was watching over Robbie, the zombie still pouting since Jack had left.

"Because I don't do what Jack wants like all of you puppets, I do what I want!" Anti snarled as he stormed towards Marvin with his knife raised to strike, the magician flinching back with his eyes squeezed shut.

"Ok."

Anti paused as he looked over at Jackaboy, his frustrated frown replaced with a smug grin as he lowered his knife.

"You can leave the house, but we all have to stick together and try to not look too...suspicious." Jackaboy continued, glancing over at Marvin.

"Fuck you, I'm keeping this on." Marvin shot back, a hand instinctively touching the side of his mask.

"Marvin, you-"

"It's fine Jackaboy, you just vorry about yourself." Schneep cut in sternly, using his authoritative tone he reserved for patients.

Jackaboy let out an exasperated sigh as he stormed off into Jack's room to find clothes to change into, Marvin casting an illusion on Anti's neck to hide the glitch's scar.

Jackaboy soon returned dressed in a Spider-Man hoodie with jeans and tennis shoes, the hero's hands shoved into his hoodie pockets as he emerged from Jack's room.

Jameson grinned as he flashed Jackaboy a thumbs up, Schneep, draping his lab coat on the arm of the couch.

"We ready to go?" Chase prompted impatiently, the male shifting from foot to foot while Robbie inched towards the door.

"You guys are taking forever." Anti groaned before he glitched out of view, the egos  standing in silence for a moment as they stared at the spot where Anti had been standing moments before.

"God damnit!" Jackaboy cursed through gritted teeth as he ran outside to look for Anti, the rest of the egos quickly following after.

"How the hell are we going to find Anti?!" Marvin shouted to Jackaboy as they ran, the group earning lingering stares from pedestrians.

"Ant likes to do things Jack disapproves of, we can only assume that he's at-"

Jackaboy abruptly broke off as he skidded to a stop, Chase nearly running into the hero as he panted for air.

"A pet store?" Jackaboy murmured in confusion, looking through the window of the shop to see Anti talking with the owner.

"He might be trying to kill the guy." Marvin chimed in grimly, Jackaboy nodding as he strode forward.

"-everyone calls me turtle, so I've thought about getting one. Oh, and these are the idiots I mentioned earlier." Anti told the store owner, gesturing to Jackaboy and the others as they entered.

"My name is Carl, and welcome to my store! You're welcome to take any animal you want to play with out of their kennel or cage, just be sure to be careful with them." The man told the group.

Jameson's expression brightened as he immediately darted over to the bird section, listening to a pair of brightly colored parakeets chirping happily.

"Anti, what are you doing here?" Jackaboy hissed, Anti ignoring the hero as he looked around at the different reptiles.

"Not to be rude of anything, but are you all brothers or something? You all kinda look the same." Carl remarked, Anti and Jackaboy exchanging a look.

"Yes."

"Hell no."

The man frowned in confusion as he glanced between the two, Schneep breathing out an exasperated sigh.

"Ve are all relatives." Schneep explained, Chase absent mindlessly nodding in agreement from where he was looking at the dogs.

Jameson soon came up to the store owner with a blue parakeet on one shoulder and a green parakeet on the other, the mute paying for the birds before Jackaboy noticed.

"Jameson, why the hell did you buy birds? Jack's gonna kill you." Jackaboy groaned in irritation, Jameson scribbling his answer down in the notebook he carried with him.

They're nice to listen to! I named them Green and Blue

"Hey, how much is it for this guy?"

Jackaboy turned to see a long black snake wrapped around Anti's neck like a scarf, it's forked tongue flickering as its beady black eyes bore into Jackaboy's.

"The black rat snake? Oh, he's about fifty bucks. Some guy brought him in since he thought it was too dangerous." Carl informed the glitch.

"Anti, you are not buying a fucking snake!" Jackaboy exclaimed as Anti reached into his pocket, staring Jackaboy in the eyes as he held out the requested amount.

The store owner took the money and put in in the register as Anti ran a hand down the snake's long body, a genuine smile lighting up his face.

"Bro, what're you gonna name it?" Chase gasped excitedly as he jogged over to Anti, the glitch, watching the snake wind its way around his arm.

"Danger." Anti decided, holding his hand in front of the snake so its tongue flicked out to tickle Anti's hand.

"What's up Danger?" Chase laughed as he reached out towards Danger, the snake hissing at Chase.

"Where did you even get the money?" Jackaboy groaned, the snake's head resting on Anti's shoulder.

"Jack's savings." Anti admitted, turning to look for a tank for his snake before Jackaboy could argue further.

"Zhis little guy is nice." Schneep cooed as he held a tan bunny in his arms, its small nose sniffing Schneep's fingers.

"Yeah, Holland-Lop rabbits are pretty good pets since they are entertained easily and are pretty chill. That rabbit'll cost ya seventy-five." Carl remarked, the German already searching his pockets for money.

"Henrik, you're not getting a pet too, Jack'll kill us when he gets back!" Jackaboy blurted, Schneep already handing the male money.

"Oops." Schneep shrugged, adjusting the rabbit in his arms so he was holding the rabbit like a baby.

"No way Doc, you got a pet to? What's their name gonna be?" Chase asked eagerly from across the store, Schneep gently nuzzling his head against the rabbit's.

"Laughter, since laughter is zhe best medicine." Schneep murmured, Jackaboy moodily standing in the corner of the store with his arms folded across his chest.

"Hey there, I can tell that you're special." Marvin whispered as he held a hand out to a white cat with sapphire blue eyes, the cat meowing as it rubbed its head against Marvin's hand.

"That cat's a rescue, we found him starving in an alley looking for scraps. White cats aren't real common, so he'll cost a hundred bucks." The store owner chimed in.

Jackaboy remained stoic as Marvin paid for the cat, the magician's new pet happily padding alongside their new owner.

"Don't worry Draíocht, I'll take care of you." Marvin chuckled as he looked down at the cat, running a hand through the cat's white fur.

"Robbie find friend!" Robbie giggled as a light brown hamster crawled into the zombie's hand, the small animal squeaking quietly.

"Be careful bud, he's pretty small." Chase instructed softly, a small smile lighting up his face as he watched Robbie giggle again.

"Hamsters are pretty good pets, especially for kids since they're low maintenance and cuddly, that one costs twenty bucks." The store owner called out, Chase paying for the hamster since Robbie didn't have money.

"Ham is new friend." Robbie told Chase happily, the hamster scrambling up Robbie's arm to rest on the zombie's shoulder as Chase returned to the dog section.

"Aw guys, I think he likes me!" Chase laughed as a Jack Russell Terrier ran laps around him while barking excitedly, his tail wagging back and forth in a blur.

"Jack Russell Terriers are pretty excitable and full of energy, and this one's a purebred. He'll cost you three hundred." The store owner stated, Chase's smile fading.

"I...I don't have-"

"I'll cover it."

Chase looked over at Jackaboy with wide eyes as the hero slapped the money into the man's hand, the store owner happily counting out the money while the terrier yapped in excitement.

"I don't approve of any of this really, but...it's making you guys happy, and that's my main concern. If Jack gets mad at us when he comes back, I'll take the blame and say that it was my fault. I won't let him take the pets away either, I know how much they mean to you guys." Jackaboy promised, stiffening in surprise as Chase wrapped his arms around Jackaboy.

"Thanks so much bro! It means the world to me to have someone to keep me company when I can't see my kids." Chase mumbled, his words muffled since his face was buried in Jackaboy's hoodie.

The hero chuckled as Chase let go, his eyes scanning the happy faces of his fellow egos before he started to move towards the door.

"Are you not getting a pet for yourself?" Carl questioned Jackaboy, the hero pausing at the doorway.

"I-I probably won't have the time to take care of one, I-"

Jackaboy broke off as Carl disappeared into the back of the store, the male returning with a black and tan ferret curled up in his hands.

"Ferrets are kind of high maintenance, but something tells me that you're used to a lot of responsibility." Carl observed, holding the ferret out to Jackaboy.

The hero smiled as the ferret clambered into his hands and curled up once more, its face resting against Jackaboy's palm.

"How much-"

"You all have paid for so much already, I'll let ya have a freebie. Don't go telling other people about this though." Carl winked, turning his back on the group as they left the pet store with their new companions and supplies.

"So Jackaboy, you got a name for your new sidekick?" Marvin prompted, the hero thinking for a moment before answering.

"Yeah...I think I'll call them Carl."

A/N: This chapter was long, but I think it's a cute one so I hope you guys enjoyed! I had fun writing it and doing some research :)

P.S: Draíocht is Irish for "magic"