#veggie writes

Today had been a lot. Not ‘people almost died’ a lot, but it was busy. There had always been something to do, and now that it was all finally done, Anti felt off. Was he tired? He might just be tired, but it was a weird kind of tired. Restless but exhausted. Was he overwhelmed? He wasn’t usually the kind to get like that. What was the phrase he’s heard used about Mad before? Overstimulated? Was he overstimulated? Is this what it felt like? Mad did say that sometimes it felt tight and panic-inducing, but at times it could just feel…bleh. Was this the bleh?

“Anti?” Dark’s voice was finally heard when his hand touched Anti’s shoulder. “Are you okay? That was the fifth time I called your name.”

“Huh?” Anti turned his head to see who was with him. “Oh, hey, Dark.”

“Dark?” Dark echoed. Anti had never called him ‘Dark’. Darky was the most common one. He’s also called him Edge Lord, or Mr. Dark and Mysterious, or some combination of swears, or even Darkiplier if he was in trouble, but never Dark. 

“You need something?” Anti asked, and Dark could see how heavy Anti’s eyes were. 

“Let’s go.” Dark didn’t even give Anti a chance to argue or question by picking him up and tossing him over his shoulder. 

“What?” Anti was not expecting Dark to do this. Yes, he’s been picked up before by him, and that was usually when he was about to do something Dark would call ‘dangerously chaotic’ or was drunk. But he wasn’t doing anything that warranted this. Right? “I wasn’t doing anything.”

“That’s the problem,” Dark stated, using his foot to close the front door.

“Again. What?” Anti scrubbed at one of his eyes with a closed hand. “Isn’t me not doing anything a good thing?”

“It can be.” Dark used his hip to open the bedroom door, hearing the soft sound of clicking and clinking coming up behind him. “But I can tell you’re tired.” He waited for DC to casually walk into the bedroom first, jumping up on the bed and looking at the two. Only waiting a second before letting out an impatient bark. “Even DC can tell.”

“I mean, yeah, but it’s not that serious.” Anti’s scoff turned into a huff when he was dropped down on the bed, and DC flopped herself on his stomach, a sign that he wasn’t going to be allowed to move for a good while. 

“Serious enough,” Dark stated, kicking off his shoes before pulling off Anti’s. 

“Can we move the elbows off the gut?” Anti grunted as he adjusted DC’s arms. “I swear she has sharper elbows than you.” He added as Dark crawled into the bed. 

“I do not have sharp elbows,” Dark stated, reaching over Anti to pat the bed next to him, signaling DC to move. DC got off Anti in favor of pressing her fluffy body against his side, head up and panting as she waited. 

“You absolutely have sharp elbows. Wilford has permanent bruises on his sides from you jabbing him with those things.” Anti laughed as Dark pushed his body so he was on his side. “Your elbows should be classified as a deadly weapon.”

“Alright. Alright.” Dark mumbled, lying down behind Anti and wrapping an arm around his waist, pulling him in close so his back pressed to his chest. DC, satisfied, laid her head down on her paws and closed her eyes. 

“I can’t believe I got tag-teamed into a cuddle pile.” Anti chuckled, turning his head and seeing a bit of a smug grin on Dark's lips. “You’re a shit, you know that?”

“Not at all.” Dark’s grin grew as Anti playfully nipped at his jaw. “Get some rest, Dove.” He tilted his head and nosed at Anti’s cheek. “And maybe I’ll let you bite me more later.”

“Make it a promise, and I’ll do whatever you want,” Anti said with his own grin.

“I guess I can handle that.” Dark chuckled.

“Then I guess I can rest.” Anti pressed a kiss to the spot he had bitten before breaking into a soft laugh at DC’s heavy sigh. “Okay, okay, I’m resting, I’m resting.” He draped his arm across DC to add to his point, letting out his own deep breath as he let his body finally relax and, well, apparently Dark had a point because it felt so good to finally just…rest. Dark watched as Anti's breathing got deeper and deeper, and it wasn't long before he was asleep.

“I must have been cursed,” Stephen grunted to himself, reaching for his tissues and pausing when he found the box empty. He could have sworn he just opened that box this morning, and it wasn’t even noon yet. “Now I really think I got cursed.”

“Stephen!” Tony’s voice yelled.

“And it’s getting worse.” Stephen sighed as the door was thrown open and Tony strolled in. “Please make whatever it is that you need quick.” He said as he stood and made his way to his closet, opening it and pulling out a new box of tissues. 

“You sound like hell,” Tony commented.

“Thanks. Now, what do you need?” Stephen sniffed again as he tried to tear open the tissue box, cursing under his breath when he ended up ripping the whole top off instead of just the part that made it easy to pull out individual tissues. Apparently, this headache was ruining his usual grace. 

“Are you sick?” Tony asked, stepping closer to Stephen.

“I don’t get sick.” Stephen scoffed.

“I’m pretty sure you are, doc.” Tony clicked his tongue. “Remember last week when I was basically a walking zombie?”

“Yes. You had the flu, and we practically had to tie you down to your bed to get you to rest.” Stephen went back to his desk, setting the box of tissues down, and fought with it until he finally got one out. “I swear you are more stubborn than me, and I am surprised that is possible.” He added before blowing his nose.

“And I think you’re going to need to be tied down as well,” Tony said. 

“Firstly, you can’t tie me down. Secondly, I am fine. I do not get sick.” Stephen tossed the tissue away before applying sanitizer to his hands. 

“Firstly, don’t underestimate me. Secondly, you’re not fine. You are sick.” Tony counted off with his fingers, adding a bit more sass to his echoing of Stephen’s phrasing. “Come on. Let’s give you some classic ‘Stark home remedies’.” He went over to Stephen and placed his hands on his shoulders, turning him toward the door. “Ever bit into raw ginger before? That will clear you right up.” 

“I am not doing that.” Stephen planted his feet on the ground, but an extra nudge from Tony made him take a few steps, and he had to keep walking to make sure he didn’t fall over. 

“There’s more than the ginger. There’s also garlic. We can steam your face. Stuff like that.” Tony used the advantage he managed to get and kept pushing, getting Stephen out of his office before nearly fumbling over himself when Stephen stepped to the side and faced him. 

“No to all of that,” Stephen said. “I am fine. I do not get sick. I only need to-” He suddenly stopped and made a face Tony knew all too well. 

“Bathroom, bathroom, bathroom!” Tony shouted, pushing Stephen and this time not getting any resistance. “And there it is.” He grimaced as Stephen threw up into the toilet. “There, there, just let it out.” Tony patted Stephen’s back. “At least your hair isn’t long enough for me to have to hold back. And your phone was still on your desk so you won’t be tempted to text an ex.” 

“What?” Stephen said after a spit. 

“I’m used to helping people who get sick from drinking; new territory for me.” Tony chuckled, pulling his hand back to let the cloak remove itself from Stephen’s back. “Think you can get some water?” He asked the magical fabric, watching it fly off right after. “So, what was that about not being sick?”

“You did this to me. You cursed me.” Stephen groaned. 

“I told you to leave me be, but no, you insisted on making sure I was fine. So I guess it’s my turn to babysit.” Tony rubbed at Stephen’s back this time while his other hand grabbed some toilet paper and handed it to him. “Although, I feel like magical sick is different than what I had going on.”

“I don’t know.” Stephen sighed, wiping his mouth before dropping the toilet paper into the toilet and flushing it. “Maybe some proper rest would do me some good.” He added, seeing his cloak return with a glass of water wrapped up in it. “Thank you.” Stephen stood up and took the water, rinsing his mouth out a few times before downing the rest of the drink. 

“Alright, let’s tuck you in with a bedtime story.” Tony clapped his hands as he straightened up.

“I don’t need that.” Stephen rested the glass on the edge of the sink. 

“Well, too bad; you’re getting it. You’re getting taken care of by the Tony Stark.” Tony worked with the cloak, pushing Stephen from behind while the cloak wrapped around his wrists and pulled him from the front. “I’ll even put on a maid's dress like on that SpongeBob episode.”

“No.” 

“You must really be sick if you’re denying that experience.” 

“I’m going to throw up again.”

“What?” Marvin had to stop and scrub his eyes to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating or something. “Pumpkins?” He looked around the kitchen, seeing the vast collection of pumpkins. Some really small and painted, some large and carved out, and there were sheets of pumpkin seeds laid out on the counter. What had happened while he was gone? “Maybe I really need to go to bed.” Marvin still wasn’t sure this was real until he went to one of the larger pumpkins and slapped his hand against it, listening to the thud echo. “Still need to go to bed.” He added with a sigh. 

“Marv!” A voice suddenly yelled, and something orange popped out in front of Marvin, scaring him and making him lash out. Marvin’s hands went green, and he sent a magical blast toward what had surprised him.

“Shit!” Marvin cursed when he saw that the orange thing was now a destroyed pumpkin and Jackie was lying on the floor, bits of pumpkin on his face. “What the hell, Jackie!?” He added, grabbing some napkins and kneeling. “You scared the life out of me.” Marvin started cleaning Jackie’s face, wiping away the pumpkin to see if he had done any damage. 

“I wanted to shock you, and I guess I did too well of a job,” Jackie said with his usual large grin. 

“Asshole.” Marvin thumped the side of Jackie’s head with his hand, thankful to see that he was okay. 

“Lesson learned, no jumpscares for you.” Jackie still had his grin even as he rubbed the spot on his head that Marvin had hit. 

“You’re lucky that the only part that got hurt was the pumpkin.” Marvin huffed, plucking out bits of pumpkin from Jackie’s hair.

“Saves me a few steps in chopping it up for the cooking and baking.” Jackie chuckled. 

“Why do you even have this many pumpkins?” Marvin asked.

“Pumpkin farm was having a last-day sale and desperately needed to unload a lot of inventory and, well, I did the unloading to help them out,” Jackie answered with a shrug. “Figured I’d play around with different ideas and stuff with them. A couple of the others are coming over to take some to play with.”

“Next time, warn me if you’re going to bring a pumpkin patch into the kitchen; I thought I was seeing things.” Marvin sighed. 

“Noted.” Jackie scratched his head, feeling some bits of pumpkin deeper in his hair. “I think I need a shower.”

“I got some pumpkin on myself too. How about-” Marvin held out the word, eyes sparking with a fun idea. “-we save some time and water and share a shower?”

“I don’t see any pumpkin on-oh!” It took a second, but Jackie caught on to what Marvin was actually asking. “Oh! Yeah! Yeah! We can do that!” He started to scramble to get to his feet, slipping a little on some pumpkin chunks, but eventually got his footing. Marvin couldn’t help but break out into a laugh at Jackie’s excitement and laughed even more when he was scooped up off the floor and carried away. 

-----------

“Maybe it’d be easier if you were using origami paper?” Mad suggested, thumbing through the pages. 

“Probably.” Mare agreed, putting his elbow on his desk and resting his cheek on his closed hand, watching Mad shuffle through the colored paper, picking out a purple one. “But I figured it was easier to get a thousand pieces of regular paper instead of a thousand pieces of origami paper.”

“Why a thousand?” Mad asked, peeking at the craft’s instructions and beginning to follow it, wondering if he could do it himself. 

“Because there’s a belief that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, you can get a wish,” Mare answered, softly smiling as Mad let his curiosity take over. 

“That’s a lot of paper cranes.” Mad hummed. “What wish are you planning on making? If it’s something we can do ourselves, I’m sure most of us won’t mind helping you.” 

“Well, there’s really only one person that can make sure the wish comes true.” Mare straightened up. 

“Who’s that?” Mad stuck the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his lips, concentrating some more.

“You.” Mare reached into his pocket. “There’s something I want to ask you, and I was going to use my wish to make sure you’d say yes.”

“If this is about lessening my coffee intake, you’ll be wasting a wish.” Mad chuckled, perking up at the finished paper crane in his hand. “Look! I did it!” He had a proud smile as he turned and held out the crane, pausing when he saw Mare holding a small square box. 

“Lucky for you, my wish isn’t about coffee.” Mare used his other hand to open the box and show off a ring: a silver band with amethysts inside. “I want to ask you to marry me.”

“I-” Mad’s eyes went wide with shock, the paper crane falling from his hand. “You want…holy shit, yes!” He broke into a laugh and lunged at Mare, wrapping his arms around his neck in a tight hug. “Yes, yes, yes!” Mad pulled back just enough to dive into a kiss. Mare wasn’t expecting the kiss but was far from complaining as he pulled Mad in closer by his waist. He also wasn’t expecting Mad to pull away again. “I have to tell Anti!” Mad scrambled away, opening the door and running out. There was a brief pause before Mad ran back in, plucked the ring out of the box, and slipped it on. After one more quick kiss, Mad took off again. “Anti! Anti, guess what!” His voice echoed back into the room. 

Mare stayed in his seat and started softly laughing to himself, setting the empty box aside. He picked up the paper crane and set it on the desk as well. 

“I wanted to take more samples while it was alive, but that didn’t happen,” Mad muttered to himself, pacing the lab with his mallet in hand, one of the faces coated with blood. 

“At least you still have the body.” Anti shrugged, looking at the crushed creature on the floor. “A pancake of a body, but still a body.” He took his phone out when it started ringing and ignored the call. 

“You gathered some living samples by the sounds of it.” Host commented. “We’ll need to be careful with our testing, but it is at least a start.”

“I should have added that extra layer of metal to the cage. I knew it. I knew it. And now Google’s hurt because of me.” Mad mumbled to himself, following a tight, circular path. 

“I don’t like how he’s acting,” Marvin muttered to Jackie, turning away and getting his phone, sending a quick text. He was becoming too used to being a tattler and hated it. 

“The skin will seal up by tomorrow, but I think we should call it a day. Get some extra rest.” Bing said, throwing away the cotton ball. 

“It’s barely a scratch,” Google said. 

“We need to get some extra rest.” Bing gave Google a look. 

“Right, yes, some-uh-some extra rest.” Google cleared his throat. 

“Why the hell am I the last one to learn you have been studying one of those things alive?” Mare demanded as he stormed into the lab with Dark and Chase following close behind. Anti’s phone rang again, and he cursed under his breath as he turned it off.  “And why am I the last to know you fought one of those things without me?” 

“No one got hurt, we didn’t need to worry you,” Chase said before looking at Google. “No one got hurt…yet.” He awkwardly corrected himself. Mare opened his mouth to say something to Chase, but saw the blood on Mad’s mallet and rushed over to him. 

“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” Mare held Mad’s upper arms, trying to look him over. 

“I’m fine.” Mad tried to pull away. “I killed the creature when I should have just knocked it out instead.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? It didn’t get you at all? No scratches or bites or-”

“I’m not made of glass, Mare!” Mad suddenly snapped, eyes flashing red. 

There was a long, almost painful pause. 

“Mad?” Mare said softly, watching as Mad's eyes slowly turned into different shades of blue. 

“I’m sorry,” Mad whispered. 

“Maybe you need to call it a day, too,” Jackie suggested.

“No, no, I need to-”

“We’re going home.” Mare cut off Mad’s protest and fully prevented him from protesting even more by sending both of them away in the next blink. 

“And on that note, we’ll be heading out.” Bing grabbed Google’s arm and pulled him out of the room.

“Maybe a rest would be ideal. Let us look at this with a clear mind tomorrow.” Host sighed. “I need something to eat, preferably something sweet.” He muttered to himself as he left the space as well, Night following him in a way that caused Marvin to make a face. Thinking back to Jackie’s comment about them resembling Anti and Dark. 

“Henrik’s calling me?” Marvin forgot his thought and answered the phone. “Yeah? Um…okay?” he turned to Anti and held his phone toward him. “It’s for you.” 

“Fuckin-” Anti took the phone and walked off. “I’m fine, Henrik. I’ll take it later, we’re doing stuff. I feel fine, nothing’s wrong. Later. I promise. Later. Dark wants to-I’m fine!” 

“What do you want to do?” Marvin asked Dark. 

“I want to try something. One of the first steps to help Jackie with his…worries.” 

“Worries?” Chase said. 

“Wait, what are we doing?” Jackie instinctively grabbed Marvin’s hand. 

“That worry.” Dark gestured to the hands. “We’ve worked a bit with this worry, and I think it’s time to try our first step into exposure therapy.” 

“I don’t like this already.” Jackie sank into himself. 

“It’s not going to be anything too excessive. Unlike some of us, I don’t jump into the chaotic side of things first. I think things through.” 

“I feel like there’s a long list of us that fit that ‘some’ criteria.” Chase rolled his eyes. 

“Yes,” Dark stated bluntly. “And my plan is also fairly simple. Jackie, you are going to go to the store. You’ll shop for a few things, be it either a list I’ll make for you or simply things you Septiceyes need or want, and then you’ll return home.”

“How is that supposed to be exposure therapy?” Marvin asked.

“Because you will be staying at the House, Marvin,” Dark answered, and Jackie tensed up a little. “Jackie will go to the store with Chase, and you will remain at the House. You will not be going anywhere else but the House the entire time they are gone.” 

“That’s it?” Marvin hummed. 

“Yes. We’re starting simple. Putting you in the least amount of risk possible while giving him a task that isn’t stress-inducing.” Dark turned to Chase. “Try to keep him out for a while, maybe a few hours, at least one to get this started.”

“We get distracted easily. Doesn’t sound hard.” Chase shrugged. “Let’s head off now, Jackie.”

“Now?” Jackie went stiff.

“Yeah. There’s going to be a Pokémon card restock soon, and I need you to look scary so I can get Robbie and me a few packs before the assholes take them all.”

“I said for it not to be stress-inducing.” Dark pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Jackie just needs to stand there with an angry face, and I’ll do the hard stuff.” Chase waved a hand. “I’ll even let you drive.” He took out a set of keys from his pocket and tossed them to Jackie. 

“I don’t know.” Jackie stared at the keys.

“I promise I won’t leave the House,” Marvin said, putting his hand on Jackie’s shoulder. “I have some reading to do, so I probably won’t even be leaving my room till you two are home.”

“You won’t go anywhere else?” Jackie asked.

“Probably the kitchen for some tea.” Marvin had a playful smile. “You can also text me as much as you want, even call to check in, right, Dark?”

“Yes. The main goal is temporary physical separation. We’ll work our way up to more.” Dark answered. 

“I…guess.” Jackie chewed the inside of his cheek. “We can try.”

x~x~x

Marvin was surprised that Jackie had only called during the first fifteen minutes they were gone, texted a few times after that, and then hadn’t heard from him for a good while. Chase was likely right that they got distracted. Probably messing with some of the toys or eating or something like that. Marvin had seen the pure anxiety in Jackie’s eyes before he and Chase left the House, but he hoped not hearing from him was a good thing. Marvin didn’t like admitting when Dark was right, but he was right. This would be good for Jackie. 

Even if Marvin was finding himself missing him. 

He had gotten used to always having Jackie by his side, and it felt oddly…lonely without him. Marvin went to Jackie’s room and to his closet. Opening the door and seeing the classic red hoodie hanging. He’s caught on to the fact that Jackie owned two identical hoodies. One to wear while the other was being washed. Marvin knew this was silly, but who didn’t love the good old boyfriend hoodie? Maybe it’d make him feel less lonely. 

Marvin grabbed the hoodie and slipped it on, wearing it around the room as he continued his readings. Eventually, he craved some tea, so he went to the kitchen. Chase said he would text when they were on their way home, so Marvin wasn’t worried about being caught. 

“Some extra honey sounds nice,” Marvin said to himself, pausing when he heard the footsteps nearing.

“We’ll bring in the stuff in the morning. Not like anyone lives close by to take it.” Chase said as he and Jackie walked into the room. “Oh, hey, Marvin.” 

“You were supposed to text me,” Marvin said between his teeth. 

“Forgot. We were having fun. Isn’t that right, Jackie?” Chase turned his head and raised a brow. “Jackie?” He saw Jackie standing perfectly still, mouth open and eyes glued to Marvin. “Dude, why are you-oh.” Chase held out the word when he actually saw what Marvin was wearing. “Well, that’s my cue to leave before I get scarred. Have fun.” He gave a salute before walking past the two. 

“Hi, bug. How was the trip?” Marvin asked, trying to sound casual. “You okay?” Jackie responded by suddenly rushing over to Marvin and pulling him into a kiss. 

-----------

“It’s been several days already with no incident. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.” Chase waved a hand at Anti as a way to silently tell him to ‘save it for later’. “Between Bing, Google, and Mad in that lab at almost all hours, I’m sure everything is going to be fine.” Chase was sitting on one of the couches with Jackie. 

“Would you be saying the same if that creature were inside the Septiceye House?” Dark raised a brow. 

“Our homes are built differently. It’s not comparable.” 

“You could have at least told me the day it happened.” 

“I tried plenty of times these past few days. Every time I called, you hung up before I could get it out. Even Hen called you a few times.” 

“That you have.” Dark pinched the bridge of his nose. “I guess there isn’t much fault to place regarding that anymore. It’s just been a lot here at the Manor lately.” 

“‘A lot’ how?” Marvin asked, leaning against the frame of the living room’s entrance. 

“Some…disagreements.” Dark’s face tightened for a second. 

“Disagreements?” Marvin didn’t like how vague Dark was being. “Are you having issues with Actor?”

“Oddly enough, I’ve barely seen him in the past few days. He spends all his time with Benjamin. I’m hoping that means they’ve settled well and won’t be causing any trouble.” 

“Or they’re making out.” Anti clicked his tongue. 

“Please don’t put the image in my head.” Dark groaned, rubbing his face with his hand. 

“So if it’s not Actor, is it still Night?” Marvin asked, seeing Jackie tense up out of the corner of his eye. 

“Somewhat.” Dark lowered his hand. “I think-”

“Would you just shut up and listen!” A voice yelled from deeper inside the Manor.

“Was that Night?” Jackie stood up. 

“It would be a blessing to never speak to you again in this lifetime!” Another voice shouted.

“Host?” Marvin said with a surprised laugh. “Oh, we should-.” He didn’t even finish his sentence before he was taking off, Jackie scrambling to catch up with him. 

“Like I’m missing the fun.” Anti bounced off the chair, going after the two.

“As I said…a lot.” Dark sighed. 

Marvin followed the voices until he reached the meeting room, stopping at the door and going down to his knees as he peered in. He heard Jackie approaching and wasn't surprised when Jackie leaned on him to look in as well. Marvin paused and looked up when he heard a soft sound from Jackie and saw Anti on his back. He simply shrugged at that and returned his attention to the meeting room. 

Host was sitting at the head of the table, arms crossed, and lips pressed tight. Night sat beside him, a hand to his head and nose scrunched. Marvin was surprised to see that they were sitting, given the shouting they had done. 

“How is it that you still haven’t found it?” Night asked. “You’re able to track all of us easily.”

“It is vastly different from what is being asked of me. Finding a fellow Ego is second nature since I know who we are. Finding the source of the rift is not something I do every day.” 

“I guess when you said you have powers beyond understanding, you also meant that you don’t understand how to use them.” Night scoffed, leaning back in his chair. 

“I guess when you said that you would be able to help us, you were talking straight out of your ass.” Host shot back. 

“I said that I was willing to help. If you’re going to attempt to quote me to insult me, at least do it correctly.” 

“And I said, you talk out of your ass, so there’s a lot of shit I have to dig through to figure out what’s going on.” 

“Their arguing reminds me of something,” Jackie said in a whisper. “Or, well, someones.”

“Who?” Marvin whispered as well. 

“Reminds me of how Anti and Dark used to fight.” 

“Gross. Don’t compare me to Night.” Anti scoffed.

“I was more thinking Night is like the Dark of this fight.” Jackie corrected.

“Oh.” Anti held the word for a second. “Gross. Don’t compare Dark to Night.” 

“At least there’s some interesting one-liners in this fight. Might steal a few for myself.” Marvin joked. “And at least Host isn’t throwing knives at Night.”

“Just admit you can’t take the pressure.” Night scoffed.

“Can’t take it?” Host rose to his feet, waved a hand in the air, and his bat materialized in his palm. He swung the bat forward and pointed the end of it at Night’s face. “How about we test to see what I can take and what I can give.”

“Holy shit, Host is me in this fight,” Anti said. 

“As long as he doesn’t throw up in my toilet.” Marvin clicked his tongue.

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

“Nope.” 

“How about you stop threatening-” Night stood up, grabbed the bat, and tugged, forcing Host to move closer to him. “-and actually do something?” 

“They are definitely about to make out,” Anti emphasized the last two words.  

“Now you’re putting bad images in my head.” Marvin grimaced. 

“Maybe we should go.” Jackie started to move away, but froze when a phone rang. The three watched as Host let his bat go; it vanished while he pulled a phone from his pocket and held it to his ear. 

“Yes?” Host turned away from Night. “Is anyone hurt?” He paused as he listened. “Okay. We’ll come down and discuss what to do next.” Host hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket. “Would you three like to join us?” He asked toward the door. 

“Either we’re not that subtle, or Host just knew the whole time,” Anti said.

“Probably both.” Marvin sighed while Jackie awkwardly waved.  

-----------

“What?” Chase rubbed his eyes one more time and saw the tray of food at the foot of his bed. A small tray with a plate of pancakes, a bowl of fruit, and a mug of coffee. “You made me breakfast?”

“Of course, I made you breakfast,” Marvin said with a playful huff, taking the plate of pancakes and sitting on the side of the bed while Chase sat up and leaned his back against the bedframe. 

“Why?” Chase asked, watching Marvin cut a bite of pancake with a fork.

“It’s your birthday, duh.” Marvin loaded the fork and held it toward Chase. He pulled it away when Chase tried to take the fork for himself, and the look he made told him not to try that again. “You’re going to relax today,” Marvin stated as he fed Chase a bite. 

“But what about Anti-”

“I sent him off to annoy the Ipliers.” Marvin fed Chase another bite to cut his sentence off.

“But what if he-”

“I sent Jackie with him so he wouldn’t get into too much trouble.” Another bite was given. 

“Robbie-”

“Is at an amusement park with Henrik and JJ. They’re all going to end up falling asleep as soon as they’re home.” 

“Hm-” Chase tried to say something else, but had to wait until he finished chewing the half of a pancake in his mouth. “The House-”

“Would you stop trying to find something to worry about?” Marvin said with a teasing tone, grabbing the mug of coffee and handing it to Chase. “I have everything done or figured out.”

“Everything?” Chase asked, taking a sip.

“Everything,” Marvin confirmed, picking up the bowl of fruit. “The House is clean, the Septiceyes are all off having fun, I told Dark to shove it and that we’re not working today.”

“I really hope you worded it a bit more…nicely to him.” Chase sighed.

“Nope.” Marvin popped a grape into his mouth before taking a strawberry and holding it toward Chase. 

“This is why you two don’t get along.” Chase hummed, leaning forward enough to bite into the strawberry. 

“We get along well enough.” Marvin chuckled, getting another strawberry for Chase to eat. 

“So, am I just staying in bed all day?” Chase asked.

“Not all day, but for a good chunk of it.” Marvin stood up, taking the tray with him and setting it on the dresser. “We’ll catch up on some shows, watch some movies, I’ll make you your favorite grilled cheese for lunch-” He took the half-drank coffee from Chase and placed it on the dresser as well. “-and I’ve made some reservations at a nice restaurant for dinner.” 

“You have everything planned out, don’t you?” Chase asked. 

“Yes, I do. Including being sure that the House is nice and empty for several hours.” Marvin tossed the blanket off of Chase before crawling up on the bed and sitting on his lap. “Meaning there’s zero chance of us getting interrupted~”

“I thought you said we were going to catch up on some shows?” Chase asked with a grin.