Work Text:
Careful footsteps up creaky wooden stairs disrupted the early morning silence that blanketed the Septiceye home, the sun barely hovering above the horizon as dew slowly evaporated off the lawn and hung in the air in a dense fog. Henrik Schneeplestein was cooking breakfast in his plaid pajamas as Jackieboy set the table around Jameson who was asleep with his face mushed against the palm that propped him up. Robbie was staring sleepily into his mug of coffee, too tired to even attempt to lift it, while Marvin had been crested the unfortunate responsibility of waking the late sleepers, Chase and Anti, Jack having left a few moments before Henrik woke to go for his daily jog. Reaching the top stair, Marvin weighed his options and decided to wake Chase first, hoping to enlist him in helping raise Anti.
Chase was asleep in an oversized gray t-shirt and boxers, one leg hanging dangerously off the side of his bed, the entire rest of his body hidden under a small mountain of blanket and pillows. The pungent odor of weed burned Marvin's nose and he screwed up his face to the intrusive scent with an annoyed eye roll. A small whisp of green hair stuck out from under one pillow, Marvin figured that would be the best starting place for excavating his brother from his bed. Pulling away a thick comforter and sheet, followed by three pillows, Marvin finally found the slumbering body of Chase.
"Chase, wake up, breakfast," Marvin shook Chase's shoulder. A deep, heavy yawn came from the pile of beddings, Chase caught the wafting aroma of something frying downstairs and he sat up, "Schneep cooking?" He mumbled thickly, scrubbing his face with his hands. Marvin nodded, "Yeah, but I need your help first." Chase peeked between his fingers at Marvin, "If you're talking about Anti-" He began but Marvin cut him off with a desperate plea, "Come on, Chase! Jameson won't do it cause he says it's too early but we have to get ready for the convention and I don't want to do it alone!"
Marvin's puppy eyed-pout was more than Chase could argue against and he sighed, "Ugh, fine. Let me put pants on." Chase reached under his bed and found a clean looking pair of gray jeans and a basketball jersey before he pulled them on and let Marvin lead him to Anti's door. "Stay here, I'll go in." Chase moved Marvin to the side of the doorway by his shoulders, "If he gets up, bolt for the kitchen, okay?" He warned, Marvin nodded again, a nervous frown on his mouth. Chase slowly turned the doorknob and cracked the door slightly, using the light from the hall to spy on his manic sibling.
Anti was lying shirtless, face down in his bed, a black sheet pulled up only to his hips, arms under his pillow as he half-cuddled it. His slow and gentle snores resembled static white noise, Chase prayed his footfalls wouldn't startle him awake as he neared the bedside. Assuming it was safest not to be within arm swinging range, Chase stood a few feet back and called, "Anti, bro, it's time to get up." Anti responded with an incoherent but clearly irritated grumble. "C'mon man, breakfast is waiting," Chase's stomach gave a timely growl, "We gotta get ready for our flight, man." A pillow flew past Chase's face suddenly, "FUCK OFF." Anti shouted as Chase slipped in his socks as he fled the room, shutting the door behind him with a snap.
*
Thankfully the plane ride had been mostly bearable due to Anti napping the majority of the flight. The brothers all knew he'd behave well for Jack now that he was there to lead the pack, not to mention Anti LOVED conventions because while all the egos were highly anticipated visitors Anti was the one the crowds screamed the loudest for. "You bitches ready for this!?" He shouted as they filed into the back stage room, bouncing on his heels excitedly as his silhouette buzzed with excited static. Being the center of so much attention always gave Anti a good mood to coast on for many weeks. Mark and Jack had been carefully planning the introduction and continued appearances of their egos in public forums in order to have more off time for themselves. Dark couldn't have been happier to find out he'd be allowed to stand in for Mark more often, occasionally allowing the other Ipliers their time in the spotlight as well. Jack had been much more concerned about this, specifically because of Anti's wild nature, but he couldn't deny how closely Jack and Anti behaved when Anti wasn't feeling especially murdery. Anti was equally as loud and energetic, with similar senses of humor, Jack had to admit.
With this as the plan, Jack had scheduled very carefully separated segments for each of his egos to appear and manage the stage and crowd through different events, leaving him almost the entire weekend to do as he pleased. In this case, he'd be undercover in cosplay for the times his egos would be on stage. Standing in the center of a circle of his egos, dressed head to toe as Spider-Man, Jack addressed his boys, "Alright, so one more time over the basics. No one leaves this room while one of you is on stage, right?" There was a collective nod. "Okay, someone tell me why." Jack pressed. Jackie and Marvin's hands shot up, followed slowly by Robbie, Jameson was distracted with lint-rolling his vest, Schneep reading the program with Chase. Jack smiled at Robbie and nodded, "None of us can be seen at the same time, cause then the fans will know about us." Jack nodded again, "Exactly. This is the same agreement Mark made with his egos, so try and keep an eye on them too, for me please. I'm worried Wilford won't be able to control himself around the crowds."
Anti was paying no mind to the meeting, staring through a crack in the door to the stage to see the audience that was awaiting them. "Now that my introduction piece is done all you have to do is follow the program, if you have to leave just make sure to cover your faces, got it boys?" Jack picked up his backpack with his civilian clothes in them, Schneep looked up from his program, "Don't vorry, Jack, I'll keep an eye on everyzing." He winked from behind his glasses. The exit door shut behind Jack just as the crowd outside began chanting Anti's name, his form shimmered with excited green glitches, with mischievous grin back to his brothers, Anti stepped through the stage door and took the stairs up two at a time, bounding onto stage with his black eyes glistening as the crowd chanted for him. The brothers could hear him shouting greetings to the audience, Chase chuckled, "I know he's supposed to be the opposite of Jack, but he's so much like him it's almost scary."
After the panel, Anti had time to take a few dozen photos with the raving fans. Anti was chatting animatedly with a fan as they waited for the photographer to set up, loudly cackling as the fan offered him an edible toy knife. Things were going impeccably well until Anti was posing with a fan who was cosplaying as he himself, only to be interrupted by a passing convention goer. Seeing the fan in their cosplay, a foot shorter and much curvier than Anti's slim form, the spiteful attendee shouted at them, "Careful, mate, looks like that one might sneak a bite!" The heckler's laughter echoed in Anti's ears and he glanced at the young girl to see her smile replaced with a valiant effort to hold back tears. His blood burning like magma in his veins, Anti froze in his spot, arm half raised around the fan, his jaw clenched tight as his fists slowly balled. He forced his every free brain cell available to control his glitches so he didn't betray his identity. Before he could respond, the line for the Instant Chill Pack waiting to take pictures with Anti collectively booed the cruel con-goer, quickly sending them fleeing the area with their head hung. The line then turned their attention back to the front of the line, this time specifically on the young girl Anti now carefully placed an arm around. He smiled gently at her, the way he knew his maker would in this moment, the line before them cheering for her as she blinked back tears.
*
After the first part of the three day convention a few of the Septic egos and Ipliers had chosen to gather in a massive suite, in the hotel where many streamers had come to stay during the convention. Jack, Chase, Henrik and Anti joined Mark, Dark and the Host, who was in the midst of recounting the experience of delivering a horror narration to a group of fans as part of a horror themed event for a new zombie game announcement. The Host had found it most amusing to listen to Mark explain over the phone why the script needed to be in real braille, eventually falling back on "It's for continuity purposes, okay!?" As his closing argument. Scattered laughter from the room closed the story and a brief moment of silence fell between them all as the group collectively waited to see who would decide the new direction of conversation. Dark broke the silence after a glance around the room told him no one else was ready to speak.
"I hear congratulations are in order, Anti. The turn out for your panel was impressive." His dulcet tone cut into the silent room smoothly. All eyes turned to his spot on the couch between Mark and the Host. "Unusually kind of you, Dark." Anti replied, black eyes narrowing suspiciously at the compliment. "Hell yeah, he had the biggest turn out of all of us!" Jack agreed. Chase slapped Anti's back, "Not only that, but he cheered that fan up after that one asshole shouted at her. He's practically a hero." He grinned at Anti who returned the expression in appreciation. Dark scowled at the affection being directed at Anti, his narcissism souring his otherwise light mood. "That's great, Anti, we're proud of you." From Mark was the last thing Dark could endure before he snapped. "Thanks, guys, I was just trying to keep my composure for Jack's sake," Anti was laughing when Dark snorted derisively. The group turned their attention back to him collectively.
"How odd it is to see you now, Anti, so tame compared to the demon that challenged me not so long ago." Dark's cool tone was a blatant betrayal of his petty jealousy. Anti's form prickled with tiny static glitches but he composed himself and replied quietly, "You'd be surprised how easy it is to grow as a person when you take responsibility for your actions." The entire room was deathly silent following Anti's rebuttal. Dark wore a look of distaste, gripping his cane with a white knuckled grip, "As I said before, no tact." Anti's hands were resting on his knees, slowly curling into fists, his silhouette hummed with excitement despite the deep breathes he was taking to remain calm. Dark smirked at Anti's silence, as though assuming he'd won. Anti stood from the couch and strode over to Dark, dropping the smug look from his face instantly.
"Fuck him, Anti, don't let him do this to you." Jack said from behind them, Anti hesitated and clenched his jaw. He stared at Dark with a hungry look in his inky pools of eyes. Dark had recoiled in his seat ever so slightly, the pressure in the room was building around the egos. Anti took one more deep, clarifying, breath before he released his hands from the offensive position and unclenched his jaw, teeth aching from the tension. He dropped his previously predatory expression to one of mild contempt and spun on his heel to sit again next to Chase, who quickly threw an arm around him and squeezed. "Zat's right, Anti. He's not vorth ze effort." Henrik nodded at the slightly glitching ego, the outline of his form overlaying on itself several times over in piercing neon green and an alarming bright red.
Without another word, Dark disappeared from the room.
*
All piled onto a mountain of pillows and couch cushions, the Septic family was all settled in to watch a marathon of The Addams Family in celebration of it being Halloween Eve. Feeling especially in the spooky spirit, Anti chose not to join the people pile but to hover above, comfortably relaxing in mid air. Jackieboy kept shooting him dirty looks, not that that was unusual for Jackieboy, this time Anti assumed it was because he was jealous Anti was able to fly and he wasn't. When Jackieboy had first brought it up, Anti had shrugged it off; he was an ancient demon, of course he could fly. Jackieboy was a made up super hero, why would he have powers? But Jackieboy wasn't happy to hear this opinion and this unfortunate exchange set a climate for their relationship now.
Choosing to ignore the disapproving glares of his kin Anti stared at the tv, watching the show go by but not truly invested. Below him Jackie was complaining quietly to Marvin, "It's so stupid. Why can't he just sit down here like a normal person?" He was saying. "Because he's not a normal person, JB. You need to get over yourself, he's not that bad." Marvin shook his head. Jackieboy crossed his arms and turned back to the tv, "Yeah well he's still a fucking creep." He added under his breath, but loud enough for Anti's sensitive hearing to pick up, "Glitch bitch."
Anti focused is full attention to Robbie, who had chose the Marathon for tonight. "I just love that they seem like they should be this horribly dysfunctional family but somehow have better relationships than most normal people." He was saying in regards to the Adams family. "I think the girl what is her name?" Anti screwed his face up in thought, Robbie filled in the blank, "Wednesday." Anti nodded, "Her. She's like me, I think" Robbie laughed, "I can see what you mean. We're like our own Addams family, aren't we?" Jameson grinned and signed behind Robbie, "Anti, you're so dramatic I think you'd be Morticia." Anti cackled at this, Robbie giggling behind his hands as well as he accepted a bowl of popcorn from Chase who was reclining next to him on the floor.
Unwilling to let bygones be, Jackieboy added to Jameson's statement, "Guess that means Dark would be Gomez." The others all glanced amongst each other, then to Anti who was suspended upside-down in the air, staring at Jackie with his lip curled. His teeth were bared as he clench them tight in anger, swallowing his rage as his hands trembled. The palpable silence stretched quickly, sound of emptiness filling their ears as Anti spun slowly in the air before he gently touched down. Standing perfectly still as he faced Jackie, his eyes resembled empty holes that could swallow all light from a room. Marvin elbowed Jackieboy hard in the ribs with a stern look, Jackie glanced at Marvin's glower and back to Anti's gaze. He swallowed before sitting upright and dropping his eyes to the floor before saying, "I'm sorry, Anti." In a very small voice. Anti exhaled a deep breath he'd been holding and disappeared, presumably back to his room.
After a tense pause, Jackie got up and stalked back to his room as well, Jameson stood soon after and gestured to the others that he'd return shortly. Jameson stalked up to Anti's bedroom door and knocked his special knock before entering. Anti was sitting on the edge of his bed with a hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose as he took slow, shaky breathes. "Not now JJ," Anti signed. Jameson frowned, "Why are you signing? You know I can hear you just fine." He replied. Anti looked up at him with a look of misery, "I͞ ̕c͟a̵͝n̶͡'t͏̕ ̸c͟͏̶on̸t҉r̵̴͡ǫ̴l̨ ͢my͠͝͝ ̶͟͢v̴oi͞c̷̛ę ̸҉̧l̸̸̴i͠ke̴̡ t̶h̴i͏s͢͠," Anti's voice was split into many conflicting tones and pitches, overlapping and out of time, he echoed himself as he spoke. It sent a chill down Jameson's spine, but he stood his ground, "You don't have to control it, you're upset. Other people shout when they're angry, this is no different." Jameson signed to his brother, putting a hand on his shoulder and smiling. Anti swallowed hard before taking a steadying breath and speaking again, "Thank you, Jamie."