Charlie

He almost makes it through the sentence without giggling. It's a truly valiant effort.

@bulletproof-slimeboy

Ethan is on his feet so fast he nearly loses his balance. He's at the door in seconds, and by the time he opens it, he's already beaming.

"Charlie! Niki!"

It looks like he wants to hug them. It also looks like he's frozen in indecision as to which one to hug first.

And then there's tears in his eyes, which widen as he realizes he's about to start crying.

"Shit, it's so good to see you guys."

His voice breaks over the last word as the tears threaten to spill over.

The door is open wide, and the room behind him is... as messy as it can be when one has so few possessions. There's a laptop and mouse sitting on a desk, across the room from an entirely unmade bed. There's at least four pairs of socks scattered around, and on the floor in the middle of the room is a pile of plastic Easter eggs.

It's been a long time, after all. And they didn't exactly give him a choice, just a warning, it wasn't like Ethan could have said no without sounding like an asshole when they were both so excited to see him... Yeah, Niki turned out to actually want to spend time together but they're different people and all and he really should have given more warning like a couple days at least or at least included Ethan in the original planning, it's been actual months since they made up that hypothetical future hangout and then never brought it up again-

Aaaand he's doing it again. Charlie grimaces, then realises, hey, that's not a normal expression to have on his face right now, and makes a concerted effort to stop doing that.

He should. Probably be speaking. Like a normal person, yes. Indeed.

"I missed you too, Niki."

The smile on his face falters as emotions slam into him one after another; overwhelm, joy, excitement, and overarchingly, relief at seeing his people again.

He lets Niki hold his face for a few seconds before leaning in and pulling her into a tight hug. Tremors run through his limbs at the odd angle, but he doesn't pull away.

They're so, so happy to see each other. To be near each other. It looks like they're home.

It's. It also feels like he's intruding on a private moment, sort of. Like he's wandered down the wrong hallway and he's about to get caught seeing something he wasn't meant to.

They smell different. Which is- fucking weird, probably, to notice, but he notices it at this proximity. The last time he saw them, when they were all in the hospital, everything had a clinical air to it, an almost sanitized undertone. The soap they had been provided definitely did.

Now, they smell more like actual people. One of them has a vaguely floral undertone, he's not sure which. Either way, this... makes it all the more real. They're free. Their own people.

Briefly, a faintly bitter feeling crosses his mind at the fact that he isn't yet free of facilities and treatments.

He shakes it off quickly, though. Focus on what's in front of you.

Emotions make his chest feel tight, and the breath he takes in to respond stutters on its way in.

"I love you guys. I didn't-"

His voice breaks, and he takes another breath to steady himself before trying again.

Nothing bad is going to happen here.

And as long as he can’t see much of anything, he doesn’t have to see that unrestrained love in his friends’ eyes directed at him.

Or.

Ethan echoes the sentiment immediately. The tears falling down his face are getting in Niki's hair with the way he's leaning against her, but he doesn't move or wipe them away, instead opting to let them fall.

"We're all alive, and we're safe."

It sounds like he doesn't quite believe it. But at the same time, it sounds like he's putting everything he has into it.

"Did you guys think..."

He pauses. Word this carefully.

“I think- yeah. Not, uh, not for a long time, before… Y’know. But I did once. After, uhm.” His voice is shaking. He hasn’t thought about it in- shit, years, probably. A decade? It can’t be much longer than that, he’s sure of it, but honestly has no idea exactly how long it’s been.

He forces a yawn and keeps talking.

“After uh, a show I was in as a kid, I mean my first one, when I was little. I thought I- I’d find my brother, and we’d go get our- my, uh- fuc- sorry. We, we’d go get the Puzzler, and we’d get out somehow, and live… Out there, I mean here. I never really- I don’t think I decided where, exactly. I didn’t know enough about the outside to imagine it.

“Nothing like this, basically. I never thought to picture myself grown up, or living- anything close to on my own. This is… This is new.”

Charlie’s eyes wander over the unmade bed, the slightly concerning eggs. His hand unclenches. It’s hard to make his fingers relax. He’s going to damage the chair if he keeps picking at it. The heel of his hand brushes over his chest instead, and stays there.

"Sorry for- uh. For bringing it up."

A beat. A realization.

"You two were.... in there for longer than I was. I didn't get a chance to get-"

Nope. No. He cuts off the train of thought and shakes his head.

"I'm glad we're all out. Safe. Hap-"

Hm.

"Happy."

He finds himself picking at his thumb, an idle fidgety motion that he doesn't entirely realize he's doing. Guilt twists in his gut and he frowns, then forces his face back into what he intends to be a smile, but comes out as more of a grimace.

“It’s okay to need that.”

For lack of anything else to look at, he ends up sort of watching Ethan fidget. That looks like it might start to hurt, in a minute, if he keeps messing with his skin...

Charlie moves a little closer and holds out his own hands, finally properly meeting his friend’s eyes. For about two seconds.

"Okay. Warning next time. Got it."

He's still picking at his hand, and a bead of blood smudges onto his fingertips. Another wince, and he wipes it away before reaching out and taking Charlie's hands. He squeezes, a little more tightly than he means to.

"So, uh..."

A hesitation. Searching for something to say, a topic to change to. Then his gaze lands on the floor.

After a moment, he stands and steps forward to crouch down. He picks out five random eggs, and hands two each to Niki and Charlie. Niki gets a red one and a yellow one, and Charlie gets green and blue. For himself, he keeps one purple one.

After handing out the eggs, he sits back down on the edge of his bed and pulls his legs up to sit cris cross.

And so is the chocolate, as he discovers by unwrapping the green one and biting it in half.

"I haven't tried any of them yet," he hums, picking at the wrapper of his own egg.

It rips under his nails. Then it rips again. He's not unwrapping it so much as picking small pieces of the foil off. A frustrated huff, then he finally manages to unwrap it properly.

He takes a small, experimental bite, and even though he's pretty sure they're allergen free, anxiety twinges in his chest regardless at the potential that the anons weren't as powerful as he thought. It's an absurd worry, he's seen firsthand how stupidly powerful the anons could be if they wanted to be, but...

As he chews, nothing happens, and his shoulders relax slightly.

There’s something else he was supposed to be remembering, isn’t there?

Damn it, now that’s going to bug him until he figures it out. What’s he forgetting that was important for specifically right now? Something about the eggs-? No, that’s just eggs, maybe their hair, he was wondering whether he should ask… But that’s a different thing! That’s not the thing.

Maybe someone else will know.

“There’s a thing I’m supposed to be remembering, I think,” he tries, not particularly expecting results. “Like, for right now. For us? Maybe, or it could be about us, or, uh… Niki! Niki you went to CVS!”

"You can move the egg plate if you want," he gestures vaguely in the direction of the plate of burnt eggs. "If it's in the way."

When he sees what colours Niki is holding out, his expression falters. For the barest moment, his face entirely falls, and then he pulls it back into a shaky rendition of a smile as he tries to mask his reaction.

"Oh!"

His heart leaps into his throat, then drops to hammer in his stomach.

"Black and white are- are nice."

What do you remember?

"They remind me of.. ."

He trails off. What was it called?

The name doesn't come to mind.

Ethan looks… Shaken. Pretty badly, at that, this is not a good response, this is supposed to be a positive thing for all of them- Charlie has no idea what black and white could mean to his friend, but he doesn’t have to know why it’s upsetting to see that it is, does he?

Figure out the details later. Right now they fix the immediate problem. He can do that much.

Charlie reaches over and picks up the white, turning it over in his hands. He’s not sure what the plan was for doing that, but he’s holding a bottle of nail polish now, so he’s gonna roll with it.

"Ye- yeah, uh. Can we both do pink?" he asks hesitantly.

Act normal, man, come on. Stop being weird about nail polish.

Vaguely -- and belatedly -- he does pick up on the gentled tone in Charlie's voice, but it doesn't bother him. The softened tone is kind of like a balm to his frayed nerves.

Don't apologize. Don't apologize. Don't-

"Sorry," he adds.

“…And, uh. Don’t worry about it, man, seriously. We sort of sprung this meeting, and the nail thing on you with like no warning, right? We’re not gonna get annoyed at you for how you respond to it.”

It takes him a second to realize Niki is reaching out for his hand. After she opens the bottle -- the strong smell shocks him back into the moment -- he extends his left hand and puts it into hers.

With the closer look at his hand, it's clear that he spends a decent amount of time picking and biting at his fingers. Tiny tears and injuries line the edges of his nails, and the nails themselves are bitten down and uneven.

"I.... kinda like the smell of it. Is that weird? That might be weird."

"I like the glitter," he hums. "And, yeah, they've been.... quiet for me, too. Sometimes if I post I'll get an influx, but it's...."

He hesitates, glances warily up at the corners of the room, the silent motion of the TV screen.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

He retracts his newly painted hand and extends the other one. The glitter shimmers in the lighting as he holds up his hand to examine the new polish.

"Glitter-?" He starts, and then, "Oh. Huh."

Clearly he missed a visit from one of the anons while he was...

Distracted is technically the right word, probably, but it feels wrong to think of Mia as a distraction in any situation. As if he wasn't supposed to be focusing on her. Shit, he still does feel kind of bad for not really listening to what's going on here, though. What were they talking about?

He, too, is trying to keep his hands from shaking -- and failing. There's a slight tremor to them, more noticeable in his left hand but definitely present in both.

He wonders if Mia would like a scarf. Maybe he could learn to knit. Does he already know how to knit? He's done a lot of things out of boredom in the last two years, but he doesn't remember learning to knit. Hmmm. He'll have to find out. Later.

Right, shit, the conversation. Charlie, come on, focus.

"That's.... really interesting, actually." He means it as he says it. "If you're happy with it, I'm happy with it."

He looks back at his nails when Niki comments on the color, and the smile turns less forced, more real.

Just as he’s starting to wonder what Niki’s gotten distracted by, an unexpected weight lands in his lap, and he looks down to see one of the eyes. Surprised, he picks it up and turns it around, looking - oh! Hello.

After a moment's pause, he drags his attention back to the matter at hand(s). He holds up his hands to admire the new nail polish.

"They look great, thank you Niki!" he says brightly, wiggling his fingers slightly to watch the glitter shift in the light.

A beat passes before he processed what Charlie said.

He pats Pillbug again and shakes his hand out - he’s gotten used to the texture, yeah, but it still makes his skin crawl if he keeps contact for too long. He’s really not sure if it is the texture, or something about their almost eldritch nature, that makes him restless.

Speaking of which. “I think it’s time for you to head home, little dude. This is Ethan and this is Niki, they’re my friends - and I’ll spend time with you later, but I haven’t seen them in a long time, so if you could, y’know…”

The distinct idea of luck settles in his brain, and he squints at the door as if it'll give him more information. It doesn't.

"Those things are.... weird. It's interesting! I'm not eating my words here! But they're.... Charlie, they're weird."

He tears his gaze away from the door and looks at Charlie with an expression more puzzled than he intends.

"I am sorry about that, seriously," he says. "I'm not gonna pretend they're not weird, I know they are, but they're mostly just - lonely, I think? They like meeting people, and being around people. We, uh... I've had a couple conversations with them about boundaries, and accepting that not everyone's gonna be okay with them hanging around, but we're not totally there yet. I'll try to make sure they don't try to visit either of you again."

"I don't- what? I don't chew through doors!"

He pauses, considering what he just said.

"Also, why am I defensive about that, it- that wasn't a real accusation-"

He sighs at himself and shakes his head, though he is smiling again by the end of the sentence. When Niki turns her attention to Charlie's nails, he shifts how he's sitting and- does not put his hands down on the blanket. His nail polish remains intact.

He cuts himself off before he can spiral too far into talking in placating circles, rolling the pink bottle between his hands. He hadn't actually realized he was getting nervous until he was overwhelmed by a grand total of... Two yes or no questions, one of which was probably hypothetical.

Great. Okay.

This is so much harder than it looks. Maybe it’s actually supposed to be, or maybe it’s his own depth perception screwing him over, but he has to give the task everything he’s got to avoid painting her fingers right along with the nails. It’s kind of meditative, actually. This is nice. And that feels like a treasonous word to even think in regard to her, so he backs up and tries again. It’s good. It’s calming.

He’s not doing a perfect job or anything, but that’s… Okay, he thinks. He can make mistakes here. No one’s gonna be killed because of them.

The brush slips, and he frowns at the streak of glimmering pink paint trailing out from the corner of her nail, wondering what he did to cause that. He didn’t think he was using too much force, or anything, and he hadn’t meant to move in that direction at all- and she’s shaking. Her hand is trembling in his, fingers curling likely without any conscious input from her, and no wonder he messed up, but how didn’t he notice earlier?

He puts the tiny brush back into its bottle and squeezes her hand lightly, scraping over the wet paint to get most of it off the places it’s not meant to be, then looks up at her face. He has to squint a little, for just a second; the rest of the room is brighter than he remembered.

Then the peace breaks for a moment as Charlie pauses, checks in with Niki, and Ethan tears his gaze away from her hands to instead look at her face. The tension that rests there is.... concerning, but familiar in an odd way that he decides not to read too much into.

"It isn't stupid."

He says it quietly, internally wincing as he does because he knows he's about to parrot his therapist.

Streak of nail polish semi-successfully removed from Niki’s skin, he goes back to painting her nails, carefully lining his hand up with hers after every time he has to dip the brush back into the bottle. He ends up moving his head a lot, trying to use the different angles to judge where exactly he is.

He almost makes it through the sentence without giggling. It's a truly valiant effort.

@bulletproof-slimeboy

Ethan is on his feet so fast he nearly loses his balance. He's at the door in seconds, and by the time he opens it, he's already beaming.

"Charlie! Niki!"

It looks like he wants to hug them. It also looks like he's frozen in indecision as to which one to hug first.

And then there's tears in his eyes, which widen as he realizes he's about to start crying.

"Shit, it's so good to see you guys."

His voice breaks over the last word as the tears threaten to spill over.

The door is open wide, and the room behind him is... as messy as it can be when one has so few possessions. There's a laptop and mouse sitting on a desk, across the room from an entirely unmade bed. There's at least four pairs of socks scattered around, and on the floor in the middle of the room is a pile of plastic Easter eggs.

It's been a long time, after all. And they didn't exactly give him a choice, just a warning, it wasn't like Ethan could have said no without sounding like an asshole when they were both so excited to see him... Yeah, Niki turned out to actually want to spend time together but they're different people and all and he really should have given more warning like a couple days at least or at least included Ethan in the original planning, it's been actual months since they made up that hypothetical future hangout and then never brought it up again-

Aaaand he's doing it again. Charlie grimaces, then realises, hey, that's not a normal expression to have on his face right now, and makes a concerted effort to stop doing that.

He should. Probably be speaking. Like a normal person, yes. Indeed.

"I missed you too, Niki."

The smile on his face falters as emotions slam into him one after another; overwhelm, joy, excitement, and overarchingly, relief at seeing his people again.

He lets Niki hold his face for a few seconds before leaning in and pulling her into a tight hug. Tremors run through his limbs at the odd angle, but he doesn't pull away.

They're so, so happy to see each other. To be near each other. It looks like they're home.

It's. It also feels like he's intruding on a private moment, sort of. Like he's wandered down the wrong hallway and he's about to get caught seeing something he wasn't meant to.

They smell different. Which is- fucking weird, probably, to notice, but he notices it at this proximity. The last time he saw them, when they were all in the hospital, everything had a clinical air to it, an almost sanitized undertone. The soap they had been provided definitely did.

Now, they smell more like actual people. One of them has a vaguely floral undertone, he's not sure which. Either way, this... makes it all the more real. They're free. Their own people.

Briefly, a faintly bitter feeling crosses his mind at the fact that he isn't yet free of facilities and treatments.

He shakes it off quickly, though. Focus on what's in front of you.

Emotions make his chest feel tight, and the breath he takes in to respond stutters on its way in.

"I love you guys. I didn't-"

His voice breaks, and he takes another breath to steady himself before trying again.

Nothing bad is going to happen here.

And as long as he can’t see much of anything, he doesn’t have to see that unrestrained love in his friends’ eyes directed at him.

Or.

Ethan echoes the sentiment immediately. The tears falling down his face are getting in Niki's hair with the way he's leaning against her, but he doesn't move or wipe them away, instead opting to let them fall.

"We're all alive, and we're safe."

It sounds like he doesn't quite believe it. But at the same time, it sounds like he's putting everything he has into it.

"Did you guys think..."

He pauses. Word this carefully.

“I think- yeah. Not, uh, not for a long time, before… Y’know. But I did once. After, uhm.” His voice is shaking. He hasn’t thought about it in- shit, years, probably. A decade? It can’t be much longer than that, he’s sure of it, but honestly has no idea exactly how long it’s been.

He forces a yawn and keeps talking.

“After uh, a show I was in as a kid, I mean my first one, when I was little. I thought I- I’d find my brother, and we’d go get our- my, uh- fuc- sorry. We, we’d go get the Puzzler, and we’d get out somehow, and live… Out there, I mean here. I never really- I don’t think I decided where, exactly. I didn’t know enough about the outside to imagine it.

“Nothing like this, basically. I never thought to picture myself grown up, or living- anything close to on my own. This is… This is new.”

Charlie’s eyes wander over the unmade bed, the slightly concerning eggs. His hand unclenches. It’s hard to make his fingers relax. He’s going to damage the chair if he keeps picking at it. The heel of his hand brushes over his chest instead, and stays there.

"Sorry for- uh. For bringing it up."

A beat. A realization.

"You two were.... in there for longer than I was. I didn't get a chance to get-"

Nope. No. He cuts off the train of thought and shakes his head.

"I'm glad we're all out. Safe. Hap-"

Hm.

"Happy."

He finds himself picking at his thumb, an idle fidgety motion that he doesn't entirely realize he's doing. Guilt twists in his gut and he frowns, then forces his face back into what he intends to be a smile, but comes out as more of a grimace.

“It’s okay to need that.”

For lack of anything else to look at, he ends up sort of watching Ethan fidget. That looks like it might start to hurt, in a minute, if he keeps messing with his skin...

Charlie moves a little closer and holds out his own hands, finally properly meeting his friend’s eyes. For about two seconds.

"Okay. Warning next time. Got it."

He's still picking at his hand, and a bead of blood smudges onto his fingertips. Another wince, and he wipes it away before reaching out and taking Charlie's hands. He squeezes, a little more tightly than he means to.

"So, uh..."

A hesitation. Searching for something to say, a topic to change to. Then his gaze lands on the floor.

After a moment, he stands and steps forward to crouch down. He picks out five random eggs, and hands two each to Niki and Charlie. Niki gets a red one and a yellow one, and Charlie gets green and blue. For himself, he keeps one purple one.

After handing out the eggs, he sits back down on the edge of his bed and pulls his legs up to sit cris cross.

And so is the chocolate, as he discovers by unwrapping the green one and biting it in half.

"I haven't tried any of them yet," he hums, picking at the wrapper of his own egg.

It rips under his nails. Then it rips again. He's not unwrapping it so much as picking small pieces of the foil off. A frustrated huff, then he finally manages to unwrap it properly.

He takes a small, experimental bite, and even though he's pretty sure they're allergen free, anxiety twinges in his chest regardless at the potential that the anons weren't as powerful as he thought. It's an absurd worry, he's seen firsthand how stupidly powerful the anons could be if they wanted to be, but...

As he chews, nothing happens, and his shoulders relax slightly.

There’s something else he was supposed to be remembering, isn’t there?

Damn it, now that’s going to bug him until he figures it out. What’s he forgetting that was important for specifically right now? Something about the eggs-? No, that’s just eggs, maybe their hair, he was wondering whether he should ask… But that’s a different thing! That’s not the thing.

Maybe someone else will know.

“There’s a thing I’m supposed to be remembering, I think,” he tries, not particularly expecting results. “Like, for right now. For us? Maybe, or it could be about us, or, uh… Niki! Niki you went to CVS!”

"You can move the egg plate if you want," he gestures vaguely in the direction of the plate of burnt eggs. "If it's in the way."

When he sees what colours Niki is holding out, his expression falters. For the barest moment, his face entirely falls, and then he pulls it back into a shaky rendition of a smile as he tries to mask his reaction.

"Oh!"

His heart leaps into his throat, then drops to hammer in his stomach.

"Black and white are- are nice."

What do you remember?

"They remind me of.. ."

He trails off. What was it called?

The name doesn't come to mind.

Ethan looks… Shaken. Pretty badly, at that, this is not a good response, this is supposed to be a positive thing for all of them- Charlie has no idea what black and white could mean to his friend, but he doesn’t have to know why it’s upsetting to see that it is, does he?

Figure out the details later. Right now they fix the immediate problem. He can do that much.

Charlie reaches over and picks up the white, turning it over in his hands. He’s not sure what the plan was for doing that, but he’s holding a bottle of nail polish now, so he’s gonna roll with it.

"Ye- yeah, uh. Can we both do pink?" he asks hesitantly.

Act normal, man, come on. Stop being weird about nail polish.

Vaguely -- and belatedly -- he does pick up on the gentled tone in Charlie's voice, but it doesn't bother him. The softened tone is kind of like a balm to his frayed nerves.

Don't apologize. Don't apologize. Don't-

"Sorry," he adds.

“…And, uh. Don’t worry about it, man, seriously. We sort of sprung this meeting, and the nail thing on you with like no warning, right? We’re not gonna get annoyed at you for how you respond to it.”

It takes him a second to realize Niki is reaching out for his hand. After she opens the bottle -- the strong smell shocks him back into the moment -- he extends his left hand and puts it into hers.

With the closer look at his hand, it's clear that he spends a decent amount of time picking and biting at his fingers. Tiny tears and injuries line the edges of his nails, and the nails themselves are bitten down and uneven.

"I.... kinda like the smell of it. Is that weird? That might be weird."

"I like the glitter," he hums. "And, yeah, they've been.... quiet for me, too. Sometimes if I post I'll get an influx, but it's...."

He hesitates, glances warily up at the corners of the room, the silent motion of the TV screen.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

He retracts his newly painted hand and extends the other one. The glitter shimmers in the lighting as he holds up his hand to examine the new polish.

"Glitter-?" He starts, and then, "Oh. Huh."

Clearly he missed a visit from one of the anons while he was...

Distracted is technically the right word, probably, but it feels wrong to think of Mia as a distraction in any situation. As if he wasn't supposed to be focusing on her. Shit, he still does feel kind of bad for not really listening to what's going on here, though. What were they talking about?

He, too, is trying to keep his hands from shaking -- and failing. There's a slight tremor to them, more noticeable in his left hand but definitely present in both.

He wonders if Mia would like a scarf. Maybe he could learn to knit. Does he already know how to knit? He's done a lot of things out of boredom in the last two years, but he doesn't remember learning to knit. Hmmm. He'll have to find out. Later.

Right, shit, the conversation. Charlie, come on, focus.

"That's.... really interesting, actually." He means it as he says it. "If you're happy with it, I'm happy with it."

He looks back at his nails when Niki comments on the color, and the smile turns less forced, more real.

Just as he’s starting to wonder what Niki’s gotten distracted by, an unexpected weight lands in his lap, and he looks down to see one of the eyes. Surprised, he picks it up and turns it around, looking - oh! Hello.

After a moment's pause, he drags his attention back to the matter at hand(s). He holds up his hands to admire the new nail polish.

"They look great, thank you Niki!" he says brightly, wiggling his fingers slightly to watch the glitter shift in the light.

A beat passes before he processed what Charlie said.

He pats Pillbug again and shakes his hand out - he’s gotten used to the texture, yeah, but it still makes his skin crawl if he keeps contact for too long. He’s really not sure if it is the texture, or something about their almost eldritch nature, that makes him restless.

Speaking of which. “I think it’s time for you to head home, little dude. This is Ethan and this is Niki, they’re my friends - and I’ll spend time with you later, but I haven’t seen them in a long time, so if you could, y’know…”

The distinct idea of luck settles in his brain, and he squints at the door as if it'll give him more information. It doesn't.

"Those things are.... weird. It's interesting! I'm not eating my words here! But they're.... Charlie, they're weird."

He tears his gaze away from the door and looks at Charlie with an expression more puzzled than he intends.

"I am sorry about that, seriously," he says. "I'm not gonna pretend they're not weird, I know they are, but they're mostly just - lonely, I think? They like meeting people, and being around people. We, uh... I've had a couple conversations with them about boundaries, and accepting that not everyone's gonna be okay with them hanging around, but we're not totally there yet. I'll try to make sure they don't try to visit either of you again."

"I don't- what? I don't chew through doors!"

He pauses, considering what he just said.

"Also, why am I defensive about that, it- that wasn't a real accusation-"

He sighs at himself and shakes his head, though he is smiling again by the end of the sentence. When Niki turns her attention to Charlie's nails, he shifts how he's sitting and- does not put his hands down on the blanket. His nail polish remains intact.

He cuts himself off before he can spiral too far into talking in placating circles, rolling the pink bottle between his hands. He hadn't actually realized he was getting nervous until he was overwhelmed by a grand total of... Two yes or no questions, one of which was probably hypothetical.

Great. Okay.

This is so much harder than it looks. Maybe it’s actually supposed to be, or maybe it’s his own depth perception screwing him over, but he has to give the task everything he’s got to avoid painting her fingers right along with the nails. It’s kind of meditative, actually. This is nice. And that feels like a treasonous word to even think in regard to her, so he backs up and tries again. It’s good. It’s calming.

He’s not doing a perfect job or anything, but that’s… Okay, he thinks. He can make mistakes here. No one’s gonna be killed because of them.

The brush slips, and he frowns at the streak of glimmering pink paint trailing out from the corner of her nail, wondering what he did to cause that. He didn’t think he was using too much force, or anything, and he hadn’t meant to move in that direction at all- and she’s shaking. Her hand is trembling in his, fingers curling likely without any conscious input from her, and no wonder he messed up, but how didn’t he notice earlier?

He puts the tiny brush back into its bottle and squeezes her hand lightly, scraping over the wet paint to get most of it off the places it’s not meant to be, then looks up at her face. He has to squint a little, for just a second; the rest of the room is brighter than he remembered.

He almost makes it through the sentence without giggling. It's a truly valiant effort.

@bulletproof-slimeboy

Ethan is on his feet so fast he nearly loses his balance. He's at the door in seconds, and by the time he opens it, he's already beaming.

"Charlie! Niki!"

It looks like he wants to hug them. It also looks like he's frozen in indecision as to which one to hug first.

And then there's tears in his eyes, which widen as he realizes he's about to start crying.

"Shit, it's so good to see you guys."

His voice breaks over the last word as the tears threaten to spill over.

The door is open wide, and the room behind him is... as messy as it can be when one has so few possessions. There's a laptop and mouse sitting on a desk, across the room from an entirely unmade bed. There's at least four pairs of socks scattered around, and on the floor in the middle of the room is a pile of plastic Easter eggs.

It's been a long time, after all. And they didn't exactly give him a choice, just a warning, it wasn't like Ethan could have said no without sounding like an asshole when they were both so excited to see him... Yeah, Niki turned out to actually want to spend time together but they're different people and all and he really should have given more warning like a couple days at least or at least included Ethan in the original planning, it's been actual months since they made up that hypothetical future hangout and then never brought it up again-

Aaaand he's doing it again. Charlie grimaces, then realises, hey, that's not a normal expression to have on his face right now, and makes a concerted effort to stop doing that.

He should. Probably be speaking. Like a normal person, yes. Indeed.

"I missed you too, Niki."

The smile on his face falters as emotions slam into him one after another; overwhelm, joy, excitement, and overarchingly, relief at seeing his people again.

He lets Niki hold his face for a few seconds before leaning in and pulling her into a tight hug. Tremors run through his limbs at the odd angle, but he doesn't pull away.

They're so, so happy to see each other. To be near each other. It looks like they're home.

It's. It also feels like he's intruding on a private moment, sort of. Like he's wandered down the wrong hallway and he's about to get caught seeing something he wasn't meant to.

They smell different. Which is- fucking weird, probably, to notice, but he notices it at this proximity. The last time he saw them, when they were all in the hospital, everything had a clinical air to it, an almost sanitized undertone. The soap they had been provided definitely did.

Now, they smell more like actual people. One of them has a vaguely floral undertone, he's not sure which. Either way, this... makes it all the more real. They're free. Their own people.

Briefly, a faintly bitter feeling crosses his mind at the fact that he isn't yet free of facilities and treatments.

He shakes it off quickly, though. Focus on what's in front of you.

Emotions make his chest feel tight, and the breath he takes in to respond stutters on its way in.

"I love you guys. I didn't-"

His voice breaks, and he takes another breath to steady himself before trying again.

Nothing bad is going to happen here.

And as long as he can’t see much of anything, he doesn’t have to see that unrestrained love in his friends’ eyes directed at him.

Or.

Ethan echoes the sentiment immediately. The tears falling down his face are getting in Niki's hair with the way he's leaning against her, but he doesn't move or wipe them away, instead opting to let them fall.

"We're all alive, and we're safe."

It sounds like he doesn't quite believe it. But at the same time, it sounds like he's putting everything he has into it.

"Did you guys think..."

He pauses. Word this carefully.

“I think- yeah. Not, uh, not for a long time, before… Y’know. But I did once. After, uhm.” His voice is shaking. He hasn’t thought about it in- shit, years, probably. A decade? It can’t be much longer than that, he’s sure of it, but honestly has no idea exactly how long it’s been.

He forces a yawn and keeps talking.

“After uh, a show I was in as a kid, I mean my first one, when I was little. I thought I- I’d find my brother, and we’d go get our- my, uh- fuc- sorry. We, we’d go get the Puzzler, and we’d get out somehow, and live… Out there, I mean here. I never really- I don’t think I decided where, exactly. I didn’t know enough about the outside to imagine it.

“Nothing like this, basically. I never thought to picture myself grown up, or living- anything close to on my own. This is… This is new.”

Charlie’s eyes wander over the unmade bed, the slightly concerning eggs. His hand unclenches. It’s hard to make his fingers relax. He’s going to damage the chair if he keeps picking at it. The heel of his hand brushes over his chest instead, and stays there.

"Sorry for- uh. For bringing it up."

A beat. A realization.

"You two were.... in there for longer than I was. I didn't get a chance to get-"

Nope. No. He cuts off the train of thought and shakes his head.

"I'm glad we're all out. Safe. Hap-"

Hm.

"Happy."

He finds himself picking at his thumb, an idle fidgety motion that he doesn't entirely realize he's doing. Guilt twists in his gut and he frowns, then forces his face back into what he intends to be a smile, but comes out as more of a grimace.

“It’s okay to need that.”

For lack of anything else to look at, he ends up sort of watching Ethan fidget. That looks like it might start to hurt, in a minute, if he keeps messing with his skin...

Charlie moves a little closer and holds out his own hands, finally properly meeting his friend’s eyes. For about two seconds.

"Okay. Warning next time. Got it."

He's still picking at his hand, and a bead of blood smudges onto his fingertips. Another wince, and he wipes it away before reaching out and taking Charlie's hands. He squeezes, a little more tightly than he means to.

"So, uh..."

A hesitation. Searching for something to say, a topic to change to. Then his gaze lands on the floor.

After a moment, he stands and steps forward to crouch down. He picks out five random eggs, and hands two each to Niki and Charlie. Niki gets a red one and a yellow one, and Charlie gets green and blue. For himself, he keeps one purple one.

After handing out the eggs, he sits back down on the edge of his bed and pulls his legs up to sit cris cross.

And so is the chocolate, as he discovers by unwrapping the green one and biting it in half.

"I haven't tried any of them yet," he hums, picking at the wrapper of his own egg.

It rips under his nails. Then it rips again. He's not unwrapping it so much as picking small pieces of the foil off. A frustrated huff, then he finally manages to unwrap it properly.

He takes a small, experimental bite, and even though he's pretty sure they're allergen free, anxiety twinges in his chest regardless at the potential that the anons weren't as powerful as he thought. It's an absurd worry, he's seen firsthand how stupidly powerful the anons could be if they wanted to be, but...

As he chews, nothing happens, and his shoulders relax slightly.

There’s something else he was supposed to be remembering, isn’t there?

Damn it, now that’s going to bug him until he figures it out. What’s he forgetting that was important for specifically right now? Something about the eggs-? No, that’s just eggs, maybe their hair, he was wondering whether he should ask… But that’s a different thing! That’s not the thing.

Maybe someone else will know.

“There’s a thing I’m supposed to be remembering, I think,” he tries, not particularly expecting results. “Like, for right now. For us? Maybe, or it could be about us, or, uh… Niki! Niki you went to CVS!”

"You can move the egg plate if you want," he gestures vaguely in the direction of the plate of burnt eggs. "If it's in the way."

When he sees what colours Niki is holding out, his expression falters. For the barest moment, his face entirely falls, and then he pulls it back into a shaky rendition of a smile as he tries to mask his reaction.

"Oh!"

His heart leaps into his throat, then drops to hammer in his stomach.

"Black and white are- are nice."

What do you remember?

"They remind me of.. ."

He trails off. What was it called?

The name doesn't come to mind.

Ethan looks… Shaken. Pretty badly, at that, this is not a good response, this is supposed to be a positive thing for all of them- Charlie has no idea what black and white could mean to his friend, but he doesn’t have to know why it’s upsetting to see that it is, does he?

Figure out the details later. Right now they fix the immediate problem. He can do that much.

Charlie reaches over and picks up the white, turning it over in his hands. He’s not sure what the plan was for doing that, but he’s holding a bottle of nail polish now, so he’s gonna roll with it.

"Ye- yeah, uh. Can we both do pink?" he asks hesitantly.

Act normal, man, come on. Stop being weird about nail polish.

Vaguely -- and belatedly -- he does pick up on the gentled tone in Charlie's voice, but it doesn't bother him. The softened tone is kind of like a balm to his frayed nerves.

Don't apologize. Don't apologize. Don't-

"Sorry," he adds.

“…And, uh. Don’t worry about it, man, seriously. We sort of sprung this meeting, and the nail thing on you with like no warning, right? We’re not gonna get annoyed at you for how you respond to it.”

It takes him a second to realize Niki is reaching out for his hand. After she opens the bottle -- the strong smell shocks him back into the moment -- he extends his left hand and puts it into hers.

With the closer look at his hand, it's clear that he spends a decent amount of time picking and biting at his fingers. Tiny tears and injuries line the edges of his nails, and the nails themselves are bitten down and uneven.

"I.... kinda like the smell of it. Is that weird? That might be weird."

"I like the glitter," he hums. "And, yeah, they've been.... quiet for me, too. Sometimes if I post I'll get an influx, but it's...."

He hesitates, glances warily up at the corners of the room, the silent motion of the TV screen.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

He retracts his newly painted hand and extends the other one. The glitter shimmers in the lighting as he holds up his hand to examine the new polish.

"Glitter-?" He starts, and then, "Oh. Huh."

Clearly he missed a visit from one of the anons while he was...

Distracted is technically the right word, probably, but it feels wrong to think of Mia as a distraction in any situation. As if he wasn't supposed to be focusing on her. Shit, he still does feel kind of bad for not really listening to what's going on here, though. What were they talking about?

He, too, is trying to keep his hands from shaking -- and failing. There's a slight tremor to them, more noticeable in his left hand but definitely present in both.

He wonders if Mia would like a scarf. Maybe he could learn to knit. Does he already know how to knit? He's done a lot of things out of boredom in the last two years, but he doesn't remember learning to knit. Hmmm. He'll have to find out. Later.

Right, shit, the conversation. Charlie, come on, focus.

"That's.... really interesting, actually." He means it as he says it. "If you're happy with it, I'm happy with it."

He looks back at his nails when Niki comments on the color, and the smile turns less forced, more real.

Just as he’s starting to wonder what Niki’s gotten distracted by, an unexpected weight lands in his lap, and he looks down to see one of the eyes. Surprised, he picks it up and turns it around, looking - oh! Hello.

After a moment's pause, he drags his attention back to the matter at hand(s). He holds up his hands to admire the new nail polish.

"They look great, thank you Niki!" he says brightly, wiggling his fingers slightly to watch the glitter shift in the light.

A beat passes before he processed what Charlie said.

He pats Pillbug again and shakes his hand out - he’s gotten used to the texture, yeah, but it still makes his skin crawl if he keeps contact for too long. He’s really not sure if it is the texture, or something about their almost eldritch nature, that makes him restless.

Speaking of which. “I think it’s time for you to head home, little dude. This is Ethan and this is Niki, they’re my friends - and I’ll spend time with you later, but I haven’t seen them in a long time, so if you could, y’know…”

The distinct idea of luck settles in his brain, and he squints at the door as if it'll give him more information. It doesn't.

"Those things are.... weird. It's interesting! I'm not eating my words here! But they're.... Charlie, they're weird."

He tears his gaze away from the door and looks at Charlie with an expression more puzzled than he intends.

"I am sorry about that, seriously," he says. "I'm not gonna pretend they're not weird, I know they are, but they're mostly just - lonely, I think? They like meeting people, and being around people. We, uh... I've had a couple conversations with them about boundaries, and accepting that not everyone's gonna be okay with them hanging around, but we're not totally there yet. I'll try to make sure they don't try to visit either of you again."

"I don't- what? I don't chew through doors!"

He pauses, considering what he just said.

"Also, why am I defensive about that, it- that wasn't a real accusation-"

He sighs at himself and shakes his head, though he is smiling again by the end of the sentence. When Niki turns her attention to Charlie's nails, he shifts how he's sitting and- does not put his hands down on the blanket. His nail polish remains intact.

He cuts himself off before he can spiral too far into talking in placating circles, rolling the pink bottle between his hands. He hadn't actually realized he was getting nervous until he was overwhelmed by a grand total of... Two yes or no questions, one of which was probably hypothetical.

Great. Okay.

He almost makes it through the sentence without giggling. It's a truly valiant effort.

@bulletproof-slimeboy

Ethan is on his feet so fast he nearly loses his balance. He's at the door in seconds, and by the time he opens it, he's already beaming.

"Charlie! Niki!"

It looks like he wants to hug them. It also looks like he's frozen in indecision as to which one to hug first.

And then there's tears in his eyes, which widen as he realizes he's about to start crying.

"Shit, it's so good to see you guys."

His voice breaks over the last word as the tears threaten to spill over.

The door is open wide, and the room behind him is... as messy as it can be when one has so few possessions. There's a laptop and mouse sitting on a desk, across the room from an entirely unmade bed. There's at least four pairs of socks scattered around, and on the floor in the middle of the room is a pile of plastic Easter eggs.

It's been a long time, after all. And they didn't exactly give him a choice, just a warning, it wasn't like Ethan could have said no without sounding like an asshole when they were both so excited to see him... Yeah, Niki turned out to actually want to spend time together but they're different people and all and he really should have given more warning like a couple days at least or at least included Ethan in the original planning, it's been actual months since they made up that hypothetical future hangout and then never brought it up again-

Aaaand he's doing it again. Charlie grimaces, then realises, hey, that's not a normal expression to have on his face right now, and makes a concerted effort to stop doing that.

He should. Probably be speaking. Like a normal person, yes. Indeed.

"I missed you too, Niki."

The smile on his face falters as emotions slam into him one after another; overwhelm, joy, excitement, and overarchingly, relief at seeing his people again.

He lets Niki hold his face for a few seconds before leaning in and pulling her into a tight hug. Tremors run through his limbs at the odd angle, but he doesn't pull away.

They're so, so happy to see each other. To be near each other. It looks like they're home.

It's. It also feels like he's intruding on a private moment, sort of. Like he's wandered down the wrong hallway and he's about to get caught seeing something he wasn't meant to.

They smell different. Which is- fucking weird, probably, to notice, but he notices it at this proximity. The last time he saw them, when they were all in the hospital, everything had a clinical air to it, an almost sanitized undertone. The soap they had been provided definitely did.

Now, they smell more like actual people. One of them has a vaguely floral undertone, he's not sure which. Either way, this... makes it all the more real. They're free. Their own people.

Briefly, a faintly bitter feeling crosses his mind at the fact that he isn't yet free of facilities and treatments.

He shakes it off quickly, though. Focus on what's in front of you.

Emotions make his chest feel tight, and the breath he takes in to respond stutters on its way in.

"I love you guys. I didn't-"

His voice breaks, and he takes another breath to steady himself before trying again.

Nothing bad is going to happen here.

And as long as he can’t see much of anything, he doesn’t have to see that unrestrained love in his friends’ eyes directed at him.

Or.

Ethan echoes the sentiment immediately. The tears falling down his face are getting in Niki's hair with the way he's leaning against her, but he doesn't move or wipe them away, instead opting to let them fall.

"We're all alive, and we're safe."

It sounds like he doesn't quite believe it. But at the same time, it sounds like he's putting everything he has into it.

"Did you guys think..."

He pauses. Word this carefully.

“I think- yeah. Not, uh, not for a long time, before… Y’know. But I did once. After, uhm.” His voice is shaking. He hasn’t thought about it in- shit, years, probably. A decade? It can’t be much longer than that, he’s sure of it, but honestly has no idea exactly how long it’s been.

He forces a yawn and keeps talking.

“After uh, a show I was in as a kid, I mean my first one, when I was little. I thought I- I’d find my brother, and we’d go get our- my, uh- fuc- sorry. We, we’d go get the Puzzler, and we’d get out somehow, and live… Out there, I mean here. I never really- I don’t think I decided where, exactly. I didn’t know enough about the outside to imagine it.

“Nothing like this, basically. I never thought to picture myself grown up, or living- anything close to on my own. This is… This is new.”

Charlie’s eyes wander over the unmade bed, the slightly concerning eggs. His hand unclenches. It’s hard to make his fingers relax. He’s going to damage the chair if he keeps picking at it. The heel of his hand brushes over his chest instead, and stays there.

"Sorry for- uh. For bringing it up."

A beat. A realization.

"You two were.... in there for longer than I was. I didn't get a chance to get-"

Nope. No. He cuts off the train of thought and shakes his head.

"I'm glad we're all out. Safe. Hap-"

Hm.

"Happy."

He finds himself picking at his thumb, an idle fidgety motion that he doesn't entirely realize he's doing. Guilt twists in his gut and he frowns, then forces his face back into what he intends to be a smile, but comes out as more of a grimace.

“It’s okay to need that.”

For lack of anything else to look at, he ends up sort of watching Ethan fidget. That looks like it might start to hurt, in a minute, if he keeps messing with his skin...

Charlie moves a little closer and holds out his own hands, finally properly meeting his friend’s eyes. For about two seconds.

"Okay. Warning next time. Got it."

He's still picking at his hand, and a bead of blood smudges onto his fingertips. Another wince, and he wipes it away before reaching out and taking Charlie's hands. He squeezes, a little more tightly than he means to.

"So, uh..."

A hesitation. Searching for something to say, a topic to change to. Then his gaze lands on the floor.

After a moment, he stands and steps forward to crouch down. He picks out five random eggs, and hands two each to Niki and Charlie. Niki gets a red one and a yellow one, and Charlie gets green and blue. For himself, he keeps one purple one.

After handing out the eggs, he sits back down on the edge of his bed and pulls his legs up to sit cris cross.

And so is the chocolate, as he discovers by unwrapping the green one and biting it in half.

"I haven't tried any of them yet," he hums, picking at the wrapper of his own egg.

It rips under his nails. Then it rips again. He's not unwrapping it so much as picking small pieces of the foil off. A frustrated huff, then he finally manages to unwrap it properly.

He takes a small, experimental bite, and even though he's pretty sure they're allergen free, anxiety twinges in his chest regardless at the potential that the anons weren't as powerful as he thought. It's an absurd worry, he's seen firsthand how stupidly powerful the anons could be if they wanted to be, but...

As he chews, nothing happens, and his shoulders relax slightly.

There’s something else he was supposed to be remembering, isn’t there?

Damn it, now that’s going to bug him until he figures it out. What’s he forgetting that was important for specifically right now? Something about the eggs-? No, that’s just eggs, maybe their hair, he was wondering whether he should ask… But that’s a different thing! That’s not the thing.

Maybe someone else will know.

“There’s a thing I’m supposed to be remembering, I think,” he tries, not particularly expecting results. “Like, for right now. For us? Maybe, or it could be about us, or, uh… Niki! Niki you went to CVS!”

"You can move the egg plate if you want," he gestures vaguely in the direction of the plate of burnt eggs. "If it's in the way."

When he sees what colours Niki is holding out, his expression falters. For the barest moment, his face entirely falls, and then he pulls it back into a shaky rendition of a smile as he tries to mask his reaction.

"Oh!"

His heart leaps into his throat, then drops to hammer in his stomach.

"Black and white are- are nice."

What do you remember?

"They remind me of.. ."

He trails off. What was it called?

The name doesn't come to mind.

Ethan looks… Shaken. Pretty badly, at that, this is not a good response, this is supposed to be a positive thing for all of them- Charlie has no idea what black and white could mean to his friend, but he doesn’t have to know why it’s upsetting to see that it is, does he?

Figure out the details later. Right now they fix the immediate problem. He can do that much.

Charlie reaches over and picks up the white, turning it over in his hands. He’s not sure what the plan was for doing that, but he’s holding a bottle of nail polish now, so he’s gonna roll with it.

"Ye- yeah, uh. Can we both do pink?" he asks hesitantly.

Act normal, man, come on. Stop being weird about nail polish.

Vaguely -- and belatedly -- he does pick up on the gentled tone in Charlie's voice, but it doesn't bother him. The softened tone is kind of like a balm to his frayed nerves.

Don't apologize. Don't apologize. Don't-

"Sorry," he adds.

“…And, uh. Don’t worry about it, man, seriously. We sort of sprung this meeting, and the nail thing on you with like no warning, right? We’re not gonna get annoyed at you for how you respond to it.”

It takes him a second to realize Niki is reaching out for his hand. After she opens the bottle -- the strong smell shocks him back into the moment -- he extends his left hand and puts it into hers.

With the closer look at his hand, it's clear that he spends a decent amount of time picking and biting at his fingers. Tiny tears and injuries line the edges of his nails, and the nails themselves are bitten down and uneven.

"I.... kinda like the smell of it. Is that weird? That might be weird."

"I like the glitter," he hums. "And, yeah, they've been.... quiet for me, too. Sometimes if I post I'll get an influx, but it's...."

He hesitates, glances warily up at the corners of the room, the silent motion of the TV screen.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

He retracts his newly painted hand and extends the other one. The glitter shimmers in the lighting as he holds up his hand to examine the new polish.

"Glitter-?" He starts, and then, "Oh. Huh."

Clearly he missed a visit from one of the anons while he was...

Distracted is technically the right word, probably, but it feels wrong to think of Mia as a distraction in any situation. As if he wasn't supposed to be focusing on her. Shit, he still does feel kind of bad for not really listening to what's going on here, though. What were they talking about?

He, too, is trying to keep his hands from shaking -- and failing. There's a slight tremor to them, more noticeable in his left hand but definitely present in both.

He wonders if Mia would like a scarf. Maybe he could learn to knit. Does he already know how to knit? He's done a lot of things out of boredom in the last two years, but he doesn't remember learning to knit. Hmmm. He'll have to find out. Later.

Right, shit, the conversation. Charlie, come on, focus.

"That's.... really interesting, actually." He means it as he says it. "If you're happy with it, I'm happy with it."

He looks back at his nails when Niki comments on the color, and the smile turns less forced, more real.

Just as he’s starting to wonder what Niki’s gotten distracted by, an unexpected weight lands in his lap, and he looks down to see one of the eyes. Surprised, he picks it up and turns it around, looking - oh! Hello.

After a moment's pause, he drags his attention back to the matter at hand(s). He holds up his hands to admire the new nail polish.

"They look great, thank you Niki!" he says brightly, wiggling his fingers slightly to watch the glitter shift in the light.

A beat passes before he processed what Charlie said.

He pats Pillbug again and shakes his hand out - he’s gotten used to the texture, yeah, but it still makes his skin crawl if he keeps contact for too long. He’s really not sure if it is the texture, or something about their almost eldritch nature, that makes him restless.

Speaking of which. “I think it’s time for you to head home, little dude. This is Ethan and this is Niki, they’re my friends - and I’ll spend time with you later, but I haven’t seen them in a long time, so if you could, y’know…”

The distinct idea of luck settles in his brain, and he squints at the door as if it'll give him more information. It doesn't.

"Those things are.... weird. It's interesting! I'm not eating my words here! But they're.... Charlie, they're weird."

He tears his gaze away from the door and looks at Charlie with an expression more puzzled than he intends.

"I am sorry about that, seriously," he says. "I'm not gonna pretend they're not weird, I know they are, but they're mostly just - lonely, I think? They like meeting people, and being around people. We, uh... I've had a couple conversations with them about boundaries, and accepting that not everyone's gonna be okay with them hanging around, but we're not totally there yet. I'll try to make sure they don't try to visit either of you again."

He almost makes it through the sentence without giggling. It's a truly valiant effort.

@bulletproof-slimeboy

Ethan is on his feet so fast he nearly loses his balance. He's at the door in seconds, and by the time he opens it, he's already beaming.

"Charlie! Niki!"

It looks like he wants to hug them. It also looks like he's frozen in indecision as to which one to hug first.

And then there's tears in his eyes, which widen as he realizes he's about to start crying.

"Shit, it's so good to see you guys."

His voice breaks over the last word as the tears threaten to spill over.

The door is open wide, and the room behind him is... as messy as it can be when one has so few possessions. There's a laptop and mouse sitting on a desk, across the room from an entirely unmade bed. There's at least four pairs of socks scattered around, and on the floor in the middle of the room is a pile of plastic Easter eggs.

It's been a long time, after all. And they didn't exactly give him a choice, just a warning, it wasn't like Ethan could have said no without sounding like an asshole when they were both so excited to see him... Yeah, Niki turned out to actually want to spend time together but they're different people and all and he really should have given more warning like a couple days at least or at least included Ethan in the original planning, it's been actual months since they made up that hypothetical future hangout and then never brought it up again-

Aaaand he's doing it again. Charlie grimaces, then realises, hey, that's not a normal expression to have on his face right now, and makes a concerted effort to stop doing that.

He should. Probably be speaking. Like a normal person, yes. Indeed.

"I missed you too, Niki."

The smile on his face falters as emotions slam into him one after another; overwhelm, joy, excitement, and overarchingly, relief at seeing his people again.

He lets Niki hold his face for a few seconds before leaning in and pulling her into a tight hug. Tremors run through his limbs at the odd angle, but he doesn't pull away.

They're so, so happy to see each other. To be near each other. It looks like they're home.

It's. It also feels like he's intruding on a private moment, sort of. Like he's wandered down the wrong hallway and he's about to get caught seeing something he wasn't meant to.

They smell different. Which is- fucking weird, probably, to notice, but he notices it at this proximity. The last time he saw them, when they were all in the hospital, everything had a clinical air to it, an almost sanitized undertone. The soap they had been provided definitely did.

Now, they smell more like actual people. One of them has a vaguely floral undertone, he's not sure which. Either way, this... makes it all the more real. They're free. Their own people.

Briefly, a faintly bitter feeling crosses his mind at the fact that he isn't yet free of facilities and treatments.

He shakes it off quickly, though. Focus on what's in front of you.

Emotions make his chest feel tight, and the breath he takes in to respond stutters on its way in.

"I love you guys. I didn't-"

His voice breaks, and he takes another breath to steady himself before trying again.

Nothing bad is going to happen here.

And as long as he can’t see much of anything, he doesn’t have to see that unrestrained love in his friends’ eyes directed at him.

Or.

Ethan echoes the sentiment immediately. The tears falling down his face are getting in Niki's hair with the way he's leaning against her, but he doesn't move or wipe them away, instead opting to let them fall.

"We're all alive, and we're safe."

It sounds like he doesn't quite believe it. But at the same time, it sounds like he's putting everything he has into it.

"Did you guys think..."

He pauses. Word this carefully.

“I think- yeah. Not, uh, not for a long time, before… Y’know. But I did once. After, uhm.” His voice is shaking. He hasn’t thought about it in- shit, years, probably. A decade? It can’t be much longer than that, he’s sure of it, but honestly has no idea exactly how long it’s been.

He forces a yawn and keeps talking.

“After uh, a show I was in as a kid, I mean my first one, when I was little. I thought I- I’d find my brother, and we’d go get our- my, uh- fuc- sorry. We, we’d go get the Puzzler, and we’d get out somehow, and live… Out there, I mean here. I never really- I don’t think I decided where, exactly. I didn’t know enough about the outside to imagine it.

“Nothing like this, basically. I never thought to picture myself grown up, or living- anything close to on my own. This is… This is new.”

Charlie’s eyes wander over the unmade bed, the slightly concerning eggs. His hand unclenches. It’s hard to make his fingers relax. He’s going to damage the chair if he keeps picking at it. The heel of his hand brushes over his chest instead, and stays there.

"Sorry for- uh. For bringing it up."

A beat. A realization.

"You two were.... in there for longer than I was. I didn't get a chance to get-"

Nope. No. He cuts off the train of thought and shakes his head.

"I'm glad we're all out. Safe. Hap-"

Hm.

"Happy."

He finds himself picking at his thumb, an idle fidgety motion that he doesn't entirely realize he's doing. Guilt twists in his gut and he frowns, then forces his face back into what he intends to be a smile, but comes out as more of a grimace.

“It’s okay to need that.”

For lack of anything else to look at, he ends up sort of watching Ethan fidget. That looks like it might start to hurt, in a minute, if he keeps messing with his skin...

Charlie moves a little closer and holds out his own hands, finally properly meeting his friend’s eyes. For about two seconds.

"Okay. Warning next time. Got it."

He's still picking at his hand, and a bead of blood smudges onto his fingertips. Another wince, and he wipes it away before reaching out and taking Charlie's hands. He squeezes, a little more tightly than he means to.

"So, uh..."

A hesitation. Searching for something to say, a topic to change to. Then his gaze lands on the floor.

After a moment, he stands and steps forward to crouch down. He picks out five random eggs, and hands two each to Niki and Charlie. Niki gets a red one and a yellow one, and Charlie gets green and blue. For himself, he keeps one purple one.

After handing out the eggs, he sits back down on the edge of his bed and pulls his legs up to sit cris cross.

And so is the chocolate, as he discovers by unwrapping the green one and biting it in half.

"I haven't tried any of them yet," he hums, picking at the wrapper of his own egg.

It rips under his nails. Then it rips again. He's not unwrapping it so much as picking small pieces of the foil off. A frustrated huff, then he finally manages to unwrap it properly.

He takes a small, experimental bite, and even though he's pretty sure they're allergen free, anxiety twinges in his chest regardless at the potential that the anons weren't as powerful as he thought. It's an absurd worry, he's seen firsthand how stupidly powerful the anons could be if they wanted to be, but...

As he chews, nothing happens, and his shoulders relax slightly.

There’s something else he was supposed to be remembering, isn’t there?

Damn it, now that’s going to bug him until he figures it out. What’s he forgetting that was important for specifically right now? Something about the eggs-? No, that’s just eggs, maybe their hair, he was wondering whether he should ask… But that’s a different thing! That’s not the thing.

Maybe someone else will know.

“There’s a thing I’m supposed to be remembering, I think,” he tries, not particularly expecting results. “Like, for right now. For us? Maybe, or it could be about us, or, uh… Niki! Niki you went to CVS!”

"You can move the egg plate if you want," he gestures vaguely in the direction of the plate of burnt eggs. "If it's in the way."

When he sees what colours Niki is holding out, his expression falters. For the barest moment, his face entirely falls, and then he pulls it back into a shaky rendition of a smile as he tries to mask his reaction.

"Oh!"

His heart leaps into his throat, then drops to hammer in his stomach.

"Black and white are- are nice."

What do you remember?

"They remind me of.. ."

He trails off. What was it called?

The name doesn't come to mind.

Ethan looks… Shaken. Pretty badly, at that, this is not a good response, this is supposed to be a positive thing for all of them- Charlie has no idea what black and white could mean to his friend, but he doesn’t have to know why it’s upsetting to see that it is, does he?

Figure out the details later. Right now they fix the immediate problem. He can do that much.

Charlie reaches over and picks up the white, turning it over in his hands. He’s not sure what the plan was for doing that, but he’s holding a bottle of nail polish now, so he’s gonna roll with it.

"Ye- yeah, uh. Can we both do pink?" he asks hesitantly.

Act normal, man, come on. Stop being weird about nail polish.

Vaguely -- and belatedly -- he does pick up on the gentled tone in Charlie's voice, but it doesn't bother him. The softened tone is kind of like a balm to his frayed nerves.

Don't apologize. Don't apologize. Don't-

"Sorry," he adds.

“…And, uh. Don’t worry about it, man, seriously. We sort of sprung this meeting, and the nail thing on you with like no warning, right? We’re not gonna get annoyed at you for how you respond to it.”

It takes him a second to realize Niki is reaching out for his hand. After she opens the bottle -- the strong smell shocks him back into the moment -- he extends his left hand and puts it into hers.

With the closer look at his hand, it's clear that he spends a decent amount of time picking and biting at his fingers. Tiny tears and injuries line the edges of his nails, and the nails themselves are bitten down and uneven.

"I.... kinda like the smell of it. Is that weird? That might be weird."

"I like the glitter," he hums. "And, yeah, they've been.... quiet for me, too. Sometimes if I post I'll get an influx, but it's...."

He hesitates, glances warily up at the corners of the room, the silent motion of the TV screen.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

He retracts his newly painted hand and extends the other one. The glitter shimmers in the lighting as he holds up his hand to examine the new polish.

"Glitter-?" He starts, and then, "Oh. Huh."

Clearly he missed a visit from one of the anons while he was...

Distracted is technically the right word, probably, but it feels wrong to think of Mia as a distraction in any situation. As if he wasn't supposed to be focusing on her. Shit, he still does feel kind of bad for not really listening to what's going on here, though. What were they talking about?

He, too, is trying to keep his hands from shaking -- and failing. There's a slight tremor to them, more noticeable in his left hand but definitely present in both.

He wonders if Mia would like a scarf. Maybe he could learn to knit. Does he already know how to knit? He's done a lot of things out of boredom in the last two years, but he doesn't remember learning to knit. Hmmm. He'll have to find out. Later.

Right, shit, the conversation. Charlie, come on, focus.

"That's.... really interesting, actually." He means it as he says it. "If you're happy with it, I'm happy with it."

He looks back at his nails when Niki comments on the color, and the smile turns less forced, more real.

Just as he’s starting to wonder what Niki’s gotten distracted by, an unexpected weight lands in his lap, and he looks down to see one of the eyes. Surprised, he picks it up and turns it around, looking - oh! Hello.

After a moment's pause, he drags his attention back to the matter at hand(s). He holds up his hands to admire the new nail polish.

"They look great, thank you Niki!" he says brightly, wiggling his fingers slightly to watch the glitter shift in the light.

A beat passes before he processed what Charlie said.

He pats Pillbug again and shakes his hand out - he’s gotten used to the texture, yeah, but it still makes his skin crawl if he keeps contact for too long. He’s really not sure if it is the texture, or something about their almost eldritch nature, that makes him restless.

Speaking of which. “I think it’s time for you to head home, little dude. This is Ethan and this is Niki, they’re my friends - and I’ll spend time with you later, but I haven’t seen them in a long time, so if you could, y’know…”

He almost makes it through the sentence without giggling. It's a truly valiant effort.

@bulletproof-slimeboy

Ethan is on his feet so fast he nearly loses his balance. He's at the door in seconds, and by the time he opens it, he's already beaming.

"Charlie! Niki!"

It looks like he wants to hug them. It also looks like he's frozen in indecision as to which one to hug first.

And then there's tears in his eyes, which widen as he realizes he's about to start crying.

"Shit, it's so good to see you guys."

His voice breaks over the last word as the tears threaten to spill over.

The door is open wide, and the room behind him is... as messy as it can be when one has so few possessions. There's a laptop and mouse sitting on a desk, across the room from an entirely unmade bed. There's at least four pairs of socks scattered around, and on the floor in the middle of the room is a pile of plastic Easter eggs.

It's been a long time, after all. And they didn't exactly give him a choice, just a warning, it wasn't like Ethan could have said no without sounding like an asshole when they were both so excited to see him... Yeah, Niki turned out to actually want to spend time together but they're different people and all and he really should have given more warning like a couple days at least or at least included Ethan in the original planning, it's been actual months since they made up that hypothetical future hangout and then never brought it up again-

Aaaand he's doing it again. Charlie grimaces, then realises, hey, that's not a normal expression to have on his face right now, and makes a concerted effort to stop doing that.

He should. Probably be speaking. Like a normal person, yes. Indeed.

"I missed you too, Niki."

The smile on his face falters as emotions slam into him one after another; overwhelm, joy, excitement, and overarchingly, relief at seeing his people again.

He lets Niki hold his face for a few seconds before leaning in and pulling her into a tight hug. Tremors run through his limbs at the odd angle, but he doesn't pull away.

They're so, so happy to see each other. To be near each other. It looks like they're home.

It's. It also feels like he's intruding on a private moment, sort of. Like he's wandered down the wrong hallway and he's about to get caught seeing something he wasn't meant to.

They smell different. Which is- fucking weird, probably, to notice, but he notices it at this proximity. The last time he saw them, when they were all in the hospital, everything had a clinical air to it, an almost sanitized undertone. The soap they had been provided definitely did.

Now, they smell more like actual people. One of them has a vaguely floral undertone, he's not sure which. Either way, this... makes it all the more real. They're free. Their own people.

Briefly, a faintly bitter feeling crosses his mind at the fact that he isn't yet free of facilities and treatments.

He shakes it off quickly, though. Focus on what's in front of you.

Emotions make his chest feel tight, and the breath he takes in to respond stutters on its way in.

"I love you guys. I didn't-"

His voice breaks, and he takes another breath to steady himself before trying again.

Nothing bad is going to happen here.

And as long as he can’t see much of anything, he doesn’t have to see that unrestrained love in his friends’ eyes directed at him.

Or.

Ethan echoes the sentiment immediately. The tears falling down his face are getting in Niki's hair with the way he's leaning against her, but he doesn't move or wipe them away, instead opting to let them fall.

"We're all alive, and we're safe."

It sounds like he doesn't quite believe it. But at the same time, it sounds like he's putting everything he has into it.

"Did you guys think..."

He pauses. Word this carefully.

“I think- yeah. Not, uh, not for a long time, before… Y’know. But I did once. After, uhm.” His voice is shaking. He hasn’t thought about it in- shit, years, probably. A decade? It can’t be much longer than that, he’s sure of it, but honestly has no idea exactly how long it’s been.

He forces a yawn and keeps talking.

“After uh, a show I was in as a kid, I mean my first one, when I was little. I thought I- I’d find my brother, and we’d go get our- my, uh- fuc- sorry. We, we’d go get the Puzzler, and we’d get out somehow, and live… Out there, I mean here. I never really- I don’t think I decided where, exactly. I didn’t know enough about the outside to imagine it.

“Nothing like this, basically. I never thought to picture myself grown up, or living- anything close to on my own. This is… This is new.”

Charlie’s eyes wander over the unmade bed, the slightly concerning eggs. His hand unclenches. It’s hard to make his fingers relax. He’s going to damage the chair if he keeps picking at it. The heel of his hand brushes over his chest instead, and stays there.

"Sorry for- uh. For bringing it up."

A beat. A realization.

"You two were.... in there for longer than I was. I didn't get a chance to get-"

Nope. No. He cuts off the train of thought and shakes his head.

"I'm glad we're all out. Safe. Hap-"

Hm.

"Happy."

He finds himself picking at his thumb, an idle fidgety motion that he doesn't entirely realize he's doing. Guilt twists in his gut and he frowns, then forces his face back into what he intends to be a smile, but comes out as more of a grimace.

“It’s okay to need that.”

For lack of anything else to look at, he ends up sort of watching Ethan fidget. That looks like it might start to hurt, in a minute, if he keeps messing with his skin...

Charlie moves a little closer and holds out his own hands, finally properly meeting his friend’s eyes. For about two seconds.

"Okay. Warning next time. Got it."

He's still picking at his hand, and a bead of blood smudges onto his fingertips. Another wince, and he wipes it away before reaching out and taking Charlie's hands. He squeezes, a little more tightly than he means to.

"So, uh..."

A hesitation. Searching for something to say, a topic to change to. Then his gaze lands on the floor.

After a moment, he stands and steps forward to crouch down. He picks out five random eggs, and hands two each to Niki and Charlie. Niki gets a red one and a yellow one, and Charlie gets green and blue. For himself, he keeps one purple one.

After handing out the eggs, he sits back down on the edge of his bed and pulls his legs up to sit cris cross.

And so is the chocolate, as he discovers by unwrapping the green one and biting it in half.

"I haven't tried any of them yet," he hums, picking at the wrapper of his own egg.

It rips under his nails. Then it rips again. He's not unwrapping it so much as picking small pieces of the foil off. A frustrated huff, then he finally manages to unwrap it properly.

He takes a small, experimental bite, and even though he's pretty sure they're allergen free, anxiety twinges in his chest regardless at the potential that the anons weren't as powerful as he thought. It's an absurd worry, he's seen firsthand how stupidly powerful the anons could be if they wanted to be, but...

As he chews, nothing happens, and his shoulders relax slightly.

There’s something else he was supposed to be remembering, isn’t there?

Damn it, now that’s going to bug him until he figures it out. What’s he forgetting that was important for specifically right now? Something about the eggs-? No, that’s just eggs, maybe their hair, he was wondering whether he should ask… But that’s a different thing! That’s not the thing.

Maybe someone else will know.

“There’s a thing I’m supposed to be remembering, I think,” he tries, not particularly expecting results. “Like, for right now. For us? Maybe, or it could be about us, or, uh… Niki! Niki you went to CVS!”

"You can move the egg plate if you want," he gestures vaguely in the direction of the plate of burnt eggs. "If it's in the way."

When he sees what colours Niki is holding out, his expression falters. For the barest moment, his face entirely falls, and then he pulls it back into a shaky rendition of a smile as he tries to mask his reaction.

"Oh!"

His heart leaps into his throat, then drops to hammer in his stomach.

"Black and white are- are nice."

What do you remember?

"They remind me of.. ."

He trails off. What was it called?

The name doesn't come to mind.

Ethan looks… Shaken. Pretty badly, at that, this is not a good response, this is supposed to be a positive thing for all of them- Charlie has no idea what black and white could mean to his friend, but he doesn’t have to know why it’s upsetting to see that it is, does he?

Figure out the details later. Right now they fix the immediate problem. He can do that much.

Charlie reaches over and picks up the white, turning it over in his hands. He’s not sure what the plan was for doing that, but he’s holding a bottle of nail polish now, so he’s gonna roll with it.

"Ye- yeah, uh. Can we both do pink?" he asks hesitantly.

Act normal, man, come on. Stop being weird about nail polish.

Vaguely -- and belatedly -- he does pick up on the gentled tone in Charlie's voice, but it doesn't bother him. The softened tone is kind of like a balm to his frayed nerves.

Don't apologize. Don't apologize. Don't-

"Sorry," he adds.

“…And, uh. Don’t worry about it, man, seriously. We sort of sprung this meeting, and the nail thing on you with like no warning, right? We’re not gonna get annoyed at you for how you respond to it.”

It takes him a second to realize Niki is reaching out for his hand. After she opens the bottle -- the strong smell shocks him back into the moment -- he extends his left hand and puts it into hers.

With the closer look at his hand, it's clear that he spends a decent amount of time picking and biting at his fingers. Tiny tears and injuries line the edges of his nails, and the nails themselves are bitten down and uneven.

"I.... kinda like the smell of it. Is that weird? That might be weird."

"I like the glitter," he hums. "And, yeah, they've been.... quiet for me, too. Sometimes if I post I'll get an influx, but it's...."

He hesitates, glances warily up at the corners of the room, the silent motion of the TV screen.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

He retracts his newly painted hand and extends the other one. The glitter shimmers in the lighting as he holds up his hand to examine the new polish.

"Glitter-?" He starts, and then, "Oh. Huh."

Clearly he missed a visit from one of the anons while he was...

Distracted is technically the right word, probably, but it feels wrong to think of Mia as a distraction in any situation. As if he wasn't supposed to be focusing on her. Shit, he still does feel kind of bad for not really listening to what's going on here, though. What were they talking about?

He, too, is trying to keep his hands from shaking -- and failing. There's a slight tremor to them, more noticeable in his left hand but definitely present in both.

He wonders if Mia would like a scarf. Maybe he could learn to knit. Does he already know how to knit? He's done a lot of things out of boredom in the last two years, but he doesn't remember learning to knit. Hmmm. He'll have to find out. Later.

Right, shit, the conversation. Charlie, come on, focus.

"That's.... really interesting, actually." He means it as he says it. "If you're happy with it, I'm happy with it."

He looks back at his nails when Niki comments on the color, and the smile turns less forced, more real.

Just as he’s starting to wonder what Niki’s gotten distracted by, an unexpected weight lands in his lap, and he looks down to see one of the eyes. Surprised, he picks it up and turns it around, looking - oh! Hello.

He almost makes it through the sentence without giggling. It's a truly valiant effort.

@bulletproof-slimeboy

Ethan is on his feet so fast he nearly loses his balance. He's at the door in seconds, and by the time he opens it, he's already beaming.

"Charlie! Niki!"

It looks like he wants to hug them. It also looks like he's frozen in indecision as to which one to hug first.

And then there's tears in his eyes, which widen as he realizes he's about to start crying.

"Shit, it's so good to see you guys."

His voice breaks over the last word as the tears threaten to spill over.

The door is open wide, and the room behind him is... as messy as it can be when one has so few possessions. There's a laptop and mouse sitting on a desk, across the room from an entirely unmade bed. There's at least four pairs of socks scattered around, and on the floor in the middle of the room is a pile of plastic Easter eggs.

It's been a long time, after all. And they didn't exactly give him a choice, just a warning, it wasn't like Ethan could have said no without sounding like an asshole when they were both so excited to see him... Yeah, Niki turned out to actually want to spend time together but they're different people and all and he really should have given more warning like a couple days at least or at least included Ethan in the original planning, it's been actual months since they made up that hypothetical future hangout and then never brought it up again-

Aaaand he's doing it again. Charlie grimaces, then realises, hey, that's not a normal expression to have on his face right now, and makes a concerted effort to stop doing that.

He should. Probably be speaking. Like a normal person, yes. Indeed.

"I missed you too, Niki."

The smile on his face falters as emotions slam into him one after another; overwhelm, joy, excitement, and overarchingly, relief at seeing his people again.

He lets Niki hold his face for a few seconds before leaning in and pulling her into a tight hug. Tremors run through his limbs at the odd angle, but he doesn't pull away.

They're so, so happy to see each other. To be near each other. It looks like they're home.

It's. It also feels like he's intruding on a private moment, sort of. Like he's wandered down the wrong hallway and he's about to get caught seeing something he wasn't meant to.

They smell different. Which is- fucking weird, probably, to notice, but he notices it at this proximity. The last time he saw them, when they were all in the hospital, everything had a clinical air to it, an almost sanitized undertone. The soap they had been provided definitely did.

Now, they smell more like actual people. One of them has a vaguely floral undertone, he's not sure which. Either way, this... makes it all the more real. They're free. Their own people.

Briefly, a faintly bitter feeling crosses his mind at the fact that he isn't yet free of facilities and treatments.

He shakes it off quickly, though. Focus on what's in front of you.

Emotions make his chest feel tight, and the breath he takes in to respond stutters on its way in.

"I love you guys. I didn't-"

His voice breaks, and he takes another breath to steady himself before trying again.

Nothing bad is going to happen here.

And as long as he can’t see much of anything, he doesn’t have to see that unrestrained love in his friends’ eyes directed at him.

Or.

Ethan echoes the sentiment immediately. The tears falling down his face are getting in Niki's hair with the way he's leaning against her, but he doesn't move or wipe them away, instead opting to let them fall.

"We're all alive, and we're safe."

It sounds like he doesn't quite believe it. But at the same time, it sounds like he's putting everything he has into it.

"Did you guys think..."

He pauses. Word this carefully.

“I think- yeah. Not, uh, not for a long time, before… Y’know. But I did once. After, uhm.” His voice is shaking. He hasn’t thought about it in- shit, years, probably. A decade? It can’t be much longer than that, he’s sure of it, but honestly has no idea exactly how long it’s been.

He forces a yawn and keeps talking.

“After uh, a show I was in as a kid, I mean my first one, when I was little. I thought I- I’d find my brother, and we’d go get our- my, uh- fuc- sorry. We, we’d go get the Puzzler, and we’d get out somehow, and live… Out there, I mean here. I never really- I don’t think I decided where, exactly. I didn’t know enough about the outside to imagine it.

“Nothing like this, basically. I never thought to picture myself grown up, or living- anything close to on my own. This is… This is new.”

Charlie’s eyes wander over the unmade bed, the slightly concerning eggs. His hand unclenches. It’s hard to make his fingers relax. He’s going to damage the chair if he keeps picking at it. The heel of his hand brushes over his chest instead, and stays there.

"Sorry for- uh. For bringing it up."

A beat. A realization.

"You two were.... in there for longer than I was. I didn't get a chance to get-"

Nope. No. He cuts off the train of thought and shakes his head.

"I'm glad we're all out. Safe. Hap-"

Hm.

"Happy."

He finds himself picking at his thumb, an idle fidgety motion that he doesn't entirely realize he's doing. Guilt twists in his gut and he frowns, then forces his face back into what he intends to be a smile, but comes out as more of a grimace.

“It’s okay to need that.”

For lack of anything else to look at, he ends up sort of watching Ethan fidget. That looks like it might start to hurt, in a minute, if he keeps messing with his skin...

Charlie moves a little closer and holds out his own hands, finally properly meeting his friend’s eyes. For about two seconds.

"Okay. Warning next time. Got it."

He's still picking at his hand, and a bead of blood smudges onto his fingertips. Another wince, and he wipes it away before reaching out and taking Charlie's hands. He squeezes, a little more tightly than he means to.

"So, uh..."

A hesitation. Searching for something to say, a topic to change to. Then his gaze lands on the floor.

After a moment, he stands and steps forward to crouch down. He picks out five random eggs, and hands two each to Niki and Charlie. Niki gets a red one and a yellow one, and Charlie gets green and blue. For himself, he keeps one purple one.

After handing out the eggs, he sits back down on the edge of his bed and pulls his legs up to sit cris cross.

And so is the chocolate, as he discovers by unwrapping the green one and biting it in half.

"I haven't tried any of them yet," he hums, picking at the wrapper of his own egg.

It rips under his nails. Then it rips again. He's not unwrapping it so much as picking small pieces of the foil off. A frustrated huff, then he finally manages to unwrap it properly.

He takes a small, experimental bite, and even though he's pretty sure they're allergen free, anxiety twinges in his chest regardless at the potential that the anons weren't as powerful as he thought. It's an absurd worry, he's seen firsthand how stupidly powerful the anons could be if they wanted to be, but...

As he chews, nothing happens, and his shoulders relax slightly.

There’s something else he was supposed to be remembering, isn’t there?

Damn it, now that’s going to bug him until he figures it out. What’s he forgetting that was important for specifically right now? Something about the eggs-? No, that’s just eggs, maybe their hair, he was wondering whether he should ask… But that’s a different thing! That’s not the thing.

Maybe someone else will know.

“There’s a thing I’m supposed to be remembering, I think,” he tries, not particularly expecting results. “Like, for right now. For us? Maybe, or it could be about us, or, uh… Niki! Niki you went to CVS!”

"You can move the egg plate if you want," he gestures vaguely in the direction of the plate of burnt eggs. "If it's in the way."

When he sees what colours Niki is holding out, his expression falters. For the barest moment, his face entirely falls, and then he pulls it back into a shaky rendition of a smile as he tries to mask his reaction.

"Oh!"

His heart leaps into his throat, then drops to hammer in his stomach.

"Black and white are- are nice."

What do you remember?

"They remind me of.. ."

He trails off. What was it called?

The name doesn't come to mind.

Ethan looks… Shaken. Pretty badly, at that, this is not a good response, this is supposed to be a positive thing for all of them- Charlie has no idea what black and white could mean to his friend, but he doesn’t have to know why it’s upsetting to see that it is, does he?

Figure out the details later. Right now they fix the immediate problem. He can do that much.

Charlie reaches over and picks up the white, turning it over in his hands. He’s not sure what the plan was for doing that, but he’s holding a bottle of nail polish now, so he’s gonna roll with it.

"Ye- yeah, uh. Can we both do pink?" he asks hesitantly.

Act normal, man, come on. Stop being weird about nail polish.

Vaguely -- and belatedly -- he does pick up on the gentled tone in Charlie's voice, but it doesn't bother him. The softened tone is kind of like a balm to his frayed nerves.

Don't apologize. Don't apologize. Don't-

"Sorry," he adds.

“…And, uh. Don’t worry about it, man, seriously. We sort of sprung this meeting, and the nail thing on you with like no warning, right? We’re not gonna get annoyed at you for how you respond to it.”

It takes him a second to realize Niki is reaching out for his hand. After she opens the bottle -- the strong smell shocks him back into the moment -- he extends his left hand and puts it into hers.

With the closer look at his hand, it's clear that he spends a decent amount of time picking and biting at his fingers. Tiny tears and injuries line the edges of his nails, and the nails themselves are bitten down and uneven.

"I.... kinda like the smell of it. Is that weird? That might be weird."

"I like the glitter," he hums. "And, yeah, they've been.... quiet for me, too. Sometimes if I post I'll get an influx, but it's...."

He hesitates, glances warily up at the corners of the room, the silent motion of the TV screen.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

He retracts his newly painted hand and extends the other one. The glitter shimmers in the lighting as he holds up his hand to examine the new polish.