BULLY ME INTO ARTING

Google sat there. He had half-finished tasks laid out on the screen in front of him and he just sat there. He was broken. At least, that's his best guess as to what's wrong with him.

It was subtle at first, his battery draining at decimal higher rates for a reason he didn't know, but in contrast to now it was at the for-front of his performance. It wasn't like he was near dead or even half-drained, but it felt like it. Somehow he had no energy to finish his errands, chores, or diagnostics and still sat there spinning around in his office chair nowhere near needing to recharge. The frustration in of itself was exhausting.

He was a machine. He was made for the convenience of society, to take orders, to complete tasks diligently, and he just couldn't. Of course he could but he just couldn't. He'd move to stand and sit still or go to fill out an email and stare at the wall.

His usefulness had been in question ever since the manor became his home. The others never really utilizing the term "Hey, Google" because they didn't feel as though they needed him. And now here he sat not even being able to complete the short list of tasks that was asked of him. It made him useless. He couldn't do the one thing that he was primarily designed to do.

He couldn't do the one thing that made him worth anything.

---

Unus: Is a chipmunk microscopic?

--

Remus: I'm the ketchup queen!

--

Iplier: We learned about the Holocaust freshman year I think.

King: But, did you learn about slavery?

Iplier: Well, slavery's an American thing.

King: The Holocaust was an American thing..

--

Patton: Roman, *points at Remus* what's his name?

Roman: ..Remus?

Patton: Logan told me you said you didn't know his name.

Roman: He was yelling at me! Like, "WHATS HIS NAME" and I was like "I-I don't know!"

Janus: Why was Logan yelling at Remus?

Virgil: He was snorting crackers.

Patton: 😦

Janus: 😦

Remus: ..They were Pringles..

--

Dark: Don't pack up, you would have to wait there for ten minutes and the only person that stands at the door for ten minutes is Jesus.

--

Mike: I wish I was homeless.

--

Bim: *To Heapass* You're gonna die how a hamster dies; get stuck in the microwave somehow.

--

King: Stop throwing sandwiches at me!

--

Dark: *Leaves meeting to grab something*

Green: *Moves to Darks chair*

Oliver: What are you doing?

Green: Shhhhh *slowly holds up crock threateningly*

Oliver: *Holds up both his shoes* Shhh

Green: *Holds up other shoe* Shhhh

Bing: *Gives Oliver his shoe*

Oliver: *Now threateningly holding up three shoes*

Green: Crap! Wilford, gimme your-

Dark: What in the name of-

Green: *Shreaks and drops shoes*

--

Remus: I'm an attack helicopter tchwtchw.

--

---

The car was filled with voices and laughter the music was loud, windows were down, and all the friends were laughing, except one. It was after they had finished filming the lie detector vlog and everyone was ecstatic about it, except Ranboo, he was behind Jack who was driving, and next to Wilbur who had gotten smooshed in the middle by Tubbo, who was currently 'trying to strangle' Tommy, who was in the passenger seat yelling 'angerly' at Tubbo about smacking him at the end of the video and weather or not to keep it in.

While everyone else was goofing around Ranboo was quietly staring out the window paying no attention to what was happening. So many thoughts were zipping in and out of his head, 'Do I really look that bad without the mask on?' 'Why did he react like that?' 'It was probably just a bit' 'But it said he was lying' 'He kept denying it though, maybe the thing was just not on right' 'That’s what a friend would say'. He was able to distract himself for the rest of the vlog telling himself he would take of the mask and show himself how Tommy really felt, but Tommy reacted so strangely. Was he just afraid about his face being on camera? After all he was laughing, 'what if he was laughing at my face?' 'no, that’s stupid'.

Ranboo was well known by most to be 'in control' his feelings, more like hide them. But now the built up anxiety had pooled in his stomach, he felt like he was being constricted. The air felt thin, his heart was beating irregularly, and there was a suffocating weight on his chest. To make matters worse he was in a car with some of his closest friends so he couldn't let down the façade and let the overwhelming feelings escape him.

Luckily, he had his window down so he was able to keep the mask on without looking foolish. he was snapped out of his thoughts by hearing his name "what?!" he whipped his head around to see everyone looking at him before all breaking out into laughter, he mentally recoiled a bit "see! He wahsn't even listening!" Tubbo claimed through laughter "wasn't listening to what?" Ranboo replied "we were trying to ask to you if you think Tommy actually has the hots for you!" Jack said looking at his masked friend in the rear view mirror "o-oh umm" he replied awkwardly not really sure how to respond. "n-n-no" he said looking back out the window as the rest laughed, "Rahanboo  you are a really handsome man!" Tommy said still wrestling with Tubbo. 'Yeah sure, then why'd it say you were lying?" is what he opened his mouth to say, but instead it came out as "u-huh"Wilbur placed a hand on the youngers shoulder, he flinched, "you okay Ran?" the Wilbur asked "you've seemed pretty out of it since we left" "oh yeah-no m'just.. a bit tired s'all" he said nodding to himself "m'kay" Wilbur replied squeezing his shoulder reassuringly, 'he's so tense' he thought before going back to the conversation. 

Jack had dropped them all off at Tubbos' house and drove off. When they all got inside and made their way to the living room Tommy and Wilbur had started wrestling next to the couch while Tubbo stood to the side hyping them up. Ranboo ,however, was just barely keeping himself together, he was overwhelmed with anxiety and felt as though he would break down any second. He stared at the floor with his arms crossed, both of his hands gripping his sleeves and unknowingly digging his nails into his skin to try and bare the agonizing feeling in his upper-body. "Ran, are you okay?" it was Tommy this time, was it that obvious? He had the mask on after all, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.. I'm just gonna go, t-take a shower"

he practically ran out of the room to grab his clothes and got to the bathroom placing them on the counter and turning on the shower faucets, his skin stung as it made contact with the water, he let out the tears that so desperately needed to be let out which quickly changed from silent tears to sobs. The anxiety was quickly getting worse, it was getting hard to breath which led to him gasping for breath between sobs. He was losing strength in his knees by all the coughing, sobbing, and water he kept inhaling, he had to get out of the shower, with shaking hands he opened the shower door and stepped out onto the bath rug drying himself off and throwing on his pajamas trying to distract himself from the death stinging pain in his whole upper body and knees, everything started to spin. Suddenly his legs gave out leaving the teen on his hands and knees shaking, he fell onto his side now a sobbing mess. He was getting lightheaded when everything suddenly went black, then the only sound was of the empty showers faucet running. 

He opened his eyes, it took a moment of blinking but he finally remembered what had happened, slowly he got himself onto his knees and took a couple of deep breaths. He was only slightly anxious, he was fully dressed, he had left the shower running. Using the toilet he hoisted himself up to stand, turned of the shower, he checked the time on his phone; 8:49. he put on his mask before running a comb through his hair, he usually hid the mask in his clothes before showering so when he came out he wouldn't have to look at himself to avoid his facial dysmorphia. This was the third time now he had had a panic attack and passed out in the bathroom, and he wasn't proud of it. He was having panic attacks more often now that he was in the UK, this really wasn't good.

He came out of the bathroom to find his three friends taking the couch cushions and extra pillows and were building a pillow fort, he couldn't help but smile to himself, anxiety forgotten. He quickly dropped off his clothes in his room and reluctantly put his mask on the nightstand before walking back out to see Tubbo and Tommy arguing about the placement of a certain cushion and watched them from afar, until Tubbo looked passed Tommy and smiled at Ranboo quickly causing Tommy to turn and do the same. "What?" Ranboo asked creasing his eyebrows, when suddenly he was being lifted up from behind and held bridal style causing him to yelp in alarm, he had almost forgotten about Wilbur, "Why if it isn't our favorite Oreo boy!" he declared loudly "My god you almost gave me a heart attack!" Ranboo said clutching his chest "Oh stop being dramatic!" Wilbur said in mock annoyance as he walked over to the now finished pillow fort and dropped the American on a pile of pillows. 

It was now 9:36, the four friends had made their spots in the pillow fort that was somehow still standing strong despite all the roughhousing instigated by a certain gremlin child, and had ordered pizza that Wilbur, who had made it clear he was the oldest therefor the most responsible, obliged himself to pay for when it got here. They had decided to watch a movie which was The Conjuring suggested(ironically)by Wilbur who thought it would be fun to see how scared everyone would get. Him and Ranboo weren’t affected that much besides the jump scares, Tubbo was yelling at the people in the movie, and Tommy was clinging onto Ranboo's arm for dear life. At some point in the movie there was a silent pause prepping for a jump scare, all the boys were holding their breaths in anticipation when the doorbell rang, Tubbo had a physical reaction which was flailing his arms and almost took out a wall while Tommy screamed and latched onto Ranboo's side, Ranboo was more scared by the others reactions rather than the scare itself. Wilbur laughed at the three teenagers "you should have sehehen your fahaces!" he teased through laughter, Tommy was having none of it. He leapt across Ranboo's lap and tackled Wilbur, "Hey! Take it outside!" Ranboo said pushing both boys out of the pillow fort as the fighting ensued, "Can you grab the pizza Ran?" Wilbur said pushing at Tommy's face. Ranboo glanced at Tubbo who was still recovering and back at the wrestling boys on the floor "U-uh yeah sure" "Thanks! My wallets on the counter".

Ranboo made his way to the kitchen, grabbed Wilburs wallet, took out twenty pounds, and made his way to the door. He was about to grab the handle when anxiety filled his system again, he quickly with making as little noise as possible ran to his room and grabbed the mask putting it on while running back and opened the door confidently. "Hi! Order for Wilbey!" "Yep!" Ranboo took the boxes and gave the man the money "Have a nice night!" "You too". Ranboo walked to the counter putting down the pizza and taking off the mask, "Ranboo? Why did you have the mask on?" apparently Tubbo had recovered from the scare "U-um didn't want anyone to see me y'know?" "Oh, okay!". 

Wilbur POV

 'Ranboo's been worrying me, he's been acting off since we left. He took quite a while in the shower as well, maybe I'm just over thinking this.. but what if he isn't fine.'Suddenly the doorbell rang and the teens looked like they had seen a literal ghost, I couldn't help but laugh at their reactions  "you should have sehehen your fahaces!" Tommy looked about ready to murder and jumped across Ranboo's lap tackling me. "Take it outside!" Ranboo pushed at my back, I got out of the fort and Tommy wasted no time tackling me again to the ground, he got on-top of me and I pushed at his cheek trying my best not to hurt him. "Can you grab the pizza Ran?" I asked looking at my tall friend, immediately I could tell something was wrong with the way he glanced at Tubbo "U-uh yeah sure" "Thanks! My wallet's on the counter". When he left I rolled over switching positions with Tommy as he screeched, he was about to fight back but I got off of him and stood up him doing the same, he ran at me and I bent down hoisting him over my shoulder as he yelled in protest punching my back, though it felt more like taps because he didn't really want to hurt me, and I threw him down onto the couch causing him to let out bubbly giggles as I smiled down at him. At that point we herd the door open and Tubbo went into the kitchen, I held out my hand to Tommy "truce?" he took it saying "Only for the pizza" before we both got up and headed into the kitchen.

Tubbo was already scarfing down a slice of cheese when we came in, me and Tommy didn't waste much time copying him we hadn't eaten since 11:00 AM so we were pretty hungry. We were so distracted in fact, we hadn't noticed the tall American in the doorway recording us.. Until Tubbo did. "Hey!" he yelled startling everyone and ran around the island chasing Ranboo who was doing his best mad man cackle while running out of the doorway, I'm not sure when the chase stopped but when me and Tommy were making our way back to the living room we heard Ranboo laughing while Tubbo was yelling at him. We shared an amused smile with each other and went into the living room to find Ranboo curled up on his knees hugging his phone to his chest laughing really hard while Tubbo was yelling at him to delete the video and squeezing his sides from behind. Tommy couldn't have been more excited (probably from all that coke he drank) he squeezed my hips and I quickly pushed him away, he looked back at me beaming and I couldn't help but smile back getting into a fighting stance, he yelled loudly "Tickle fight!" before pouncing at me. 

Narrator POV

 The four boys were laying tuckered out on their pile of pillows which used to be their fort, the play-fighting had lasted at least an hour and a half with them going back and forth, forming and breaking alliances. The movie had ended by then and the pizza leftovers were in the fridge, Tubbo and Tommy had purposely destroyed the fort for some reason but no one really cared cuz now they had a whole pile of pillows and blankets to curl up on. Tommy was having a sugar crash while his sleep deprived friends were goofing around laughing at everything, at some point Tommy couldn't keep his eyes open and leaned slightly on Ranboo who froze for a second before putting his arm around his blonde friend and scooting them closer to each other. Tommy leaned into the touch and curled up on his side, Wilbur and Tubbo were doing their bests not to lose their composure at the soft scene in front of them. Ranboo looked up from the boy who had passed out under his arm to see the two older boys with wide smiles on their faces, Wil mouthed "That's so cute!" Ranboo flushed looking away. They stayed like that for a moment before Tubbo took out his phone to take a picture 

Narrator POV 

Wilbur woke up suddenly, it was still dark. He checked the time on his phone; 3:34. He realized Ranboo wasn't there and stood up to look for him, he walked down the hall to see the bathroom light was on and the door was slightly open, but the first thing he noticed was sobs coming from inside.

 Ranboo POV

---

"Is it standard procedure for patients to put their heads in your lap?" 

"Only my patien-" 

"Hold up", The two Men turned to Amy, "Camera cut off", Ethan threw up his arms in mock frustration, 

"Amyyy! Why would you break the camera?!" 

"It just turned off!" 

"Yeah, Amy, we were in the middle of a bit!" Amy just rolled her eyesand turned back to the camera, 

"This might take a sec, sit tight" Ethan let out a faux exasperated sigh before looking down at Mark, who's eyes were half closed. He smiled goofily, 

"You think I'm a good therapist Mark?" the man blinked a coupletimes, 

"Yeah, man, very Zen voice.", he looked up at nothing, attempting tothink up a joke, "You're more of a hypnotist though, lulling me into a trance or something" Ethan huffed a laugh, and brought his hand an inch from the others face moving it in circles and making witchy movements with his fingers, 

"You are getting very sleepy~", Mark played along, following his friends movements while slowly drooping his eyes, "and when I snap my fingers, you will fall into a deep sleep~" the 'hypnotist' snapped, and Mark shut his eyes, relaxing his muscles, pretending to be asleep. 

"Woahh" Ethan looked up at Amy, who had the camera back in place,"you made him fall asleep!" Ethan rested his hand on the 'patients' forehead, 

"A very deep sleep," he stated, running his hand through Marks hair, looking down at him unsettlingly "one that he will dream of floating on the ocean, warm, comfortable, safe.." he lowered his voice, still keeping it 'Zen'

"his breathing will start to slow," Mark slowed his breathes "he will start to sink, quietly, calmly. Until he is just barely above the surface, he takes a deep breathe, in, and out" Mark takes a deep breathe, letting himself relax farther, "he sinks under," Ethan's voice is just above a whisper

"so warm, so safe.. He doesn't want to leave, so the ocean hugs him close," he grabs a blanket off the couch and drapes it over the 'patient', tucking him in, before resuming his hand in his hair and laying his arm across Marks chest, gently running his thumb over his shoulder, "and promises," his voice drops to a whisper "to never let go.." 

He makes eye contact with the camera for too long, then Amy clicks the stop button and grins, 

"Guess the camera cutting was a good thing, clear path to ominous end" she proclaimed, packing away the equipment.

Ethan sighed, head falling on the back of the couch. Then noticed that Mark hadn't moved. He looked down at him, and realization crossed his mind. Amy sat down next to him and he giggled, 

"I think Mark's asleep", she looked down at her boyfriend and scoffed lovingly, resting her head on Ethan's shoulder 

"We've been half asleep all day", Ethan raised an eyebrow 

"We've?" he looked over when she didn't answer, only to see her dozing off. He giggled again wrapping an arm around her, she half opened her eyes and grabbed the other blanket, wrapped it around them and promptly fell asleep. Ethan smiled, resting his head on hers. He drifted contently not long after. 

"Hey, kiddo, is something bothering you?"

Thomas exhaled sharply through his nose, he was used to the sides randomly popping up, but, right now?! He turned to Patton, and immediately softened at the worried look on his face.

"Yeah, I just.." he took a quick, deep breath "Anxiety attack." He moved to sit on the couch.

"Why? You just woke up." The Side tried to keep his voice soft, knowing irritability comes hand-in-hand with anxiety. Thomas shrugged,

"I don't know, I was fine and now I'm not." Patton sat next to him and wrapped his arm around his shoulders, Thomas leaned into the embrace without much thought. He felt the couch dip next to him,

"Perhaps, my assistance could be of use?"

"Hey, Logan." Patton whisper-shouted,

Thomas sighed,

"Sure."

The former teacher character seemed pleased with that answer,

"Well, than, were you you worrying about anything in particular this morning?" Thomas couldn't help but let out an irratated huff,

"Already said 'it just happened'" despite the mans tone Logan simply nodded,

"Was anything out of place last night?"

"Why would that matter?" a third voice butted in, "if he's anxious right now, how could what happened hours ago be effecting him?" Logan glared,

"For representing Thomas's creativity you are not very-"

"Guys," Patton hissed, "not the best time." their faces heated up,

"Right."

"To answer your question, Roman, Thomas could be experiencing residual anxiety from last night. He may not be able to recall specific thoughts, but his body is still reacting to the stress." The prince hummed in thought,

"Where's Virgil?"

"Yo."

They turned- immune to his sudden appearing- to find the side sitting in the corner of the couch, an eye poking out from behind the black leather that sat taller that him,

"Ah, perfect! Virgil, why is Thomas anxious?" Roman leaned forward expectantly. The winged Side answered in a hushed voice, barely above a whisper,

"Well, unfortunately, I don't know." The creative Side looked exasperated,

"What do you mean you don't know?!" The other pulled his hood up, almost completely engulfed by his wings, "you are literally Thomas's anxiety!"

"Yeah, but I don't make him feel anxious, I just say what I'm thinking. I can't tell, out of what I say, makes him anxious." He trailed of shrunk against the couch, now fully hidden from view, "If I knew why I would say so. This isn't exactly fun for me."

Logan cleared his throat, unsure on how to adhere to the state the anxious Side

"What have you been thinking lately?"

"H-hard to tell." Logan cringed at the others tone. Hesitant practically spitting out his words, "I-I mean there's s-s-so many things I need to worry about; it's- I can't even tell what's coming out of my mouth half the time."

He flinched when Patton gently rested his hand on his shoulder and peeked over his wing. The moral Side gestured to the spot next to him, and, after a moment of consideration, Virgil tucked in the wing closest to the others and shifted into Pattons open arm, other wing still covering him. He took a deep breath before continuing,

"It's a lot of stuff pertaining to his friends and how he views himself." Patton hummed understandingly,

"You have been really hard on yourself kiddo. You look down on yourself for the smallest and/or normal-est things."

"At the end or in the middle of any interaction, you seem to over-analyze every detail and turn it into something negative." Logan jumped in,

"So much so that you seem to have convinced yourself that you burden everyone around you, that you're.. cursed." Roman winced at the last word, "You have so much guilt for "making your friends put up with you" when the way you act is completely normal, but..."

"The way I feel isn't."

They fell into a numb silence. Thomas and Virgil hadn't moved from Patton's embrace, the Side in question only moved to rest his chin on Thomas's head. Logan stared ahead, jaw clenched. Roman's eyes never stayed in one spot, he was constantly shifting, switching between tightly gripping his sleeves and fidgeting with his hands.

Thomas sighed, running a hand down his face. He had just come down for a late night snack only to be greeted by Logan scolding him, that he needs to focus on sleep and eating right now could make him feel sick in the morning.

Patton butted in saying how Thomas was hungry right now, and that was the beginning of a rabbit hole argument that resulted in both Roman and Janus to show up to join the debate on whether or not Thomas should start his day now or sleep in tomorrow.

Said man, whom had already had a slice of leftover pizza while the others were caught up in "should running shoes be pretty or practical", strode past the group headed to bed.

And then, he heard someone sprinting at him.

Before he could react, he was tackled to the ground,

"What the hell?!" He whipped around to see Virgil, with bloodshot, sleep deprived eyes,

"I'm gonna annoy you for the rest of the night" they both stood,

"Why-" the side put Thomas into a headlock and dragged the struggling man to his bedroom and full on through him into his bed,

---

Joan let out an exasperated 'ugh'.

They had left Thomas's house hours ago, and just realized that they had left their water on the counter.

They snatched their phone off the nightstand and dialed Thomas's number.

By the forth ring they figured their friend was in bed, but, it picked up.

"Hey, Joan."

"Hey, man, I think I left my cup there. Is it alright if I drop by tomorrow and grab it?"

"Yeah s-ure." They noticed the strain in Thomas's voice. Worry washed over them,

"Are you okay? You sound like you're stuck." Thomas (most likely subconsciously) grunted,

"No no no, I just uhh." He grunted again, and it sounded like he was attempting to move,

"Really, if your, like, stuck under your fridge or something I can just drive over quickly. Use it as an excuse to grab my water." He let out a strained laugh,

"No, if I were stuck I'd be the one calling you. I just.. thoughts and feelings are piling up on me."

"Oh," they paused, debating whether or not to ask how that was a good explanation, ultimately deciding to 'yes and', "you wanna talk about it?"

"Nah, I'll live." Joan sighed, exhaustion catching up to them,

"Okay, well, if you need anything I'm here. I'll drop by 'round twelve. G'night."

"Alright, g'night."Joan fell back onto their bed, and was out like a light.

MEANWHILE

Thomas grumbled,"You sure you guys can't go to your rooms?" A chorus of 'yeahs'. He sighed, "Alright."