Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It has been three days since the Addisons had found Spamton struggling to survive in a dumpster near their apartment; they had taken him in and cared for him despite how insistent he was about not being alone and independent. Now that Spamton had recovered a bit from his initial exhaustion and hunger, he was more and more willing to receive the care they were providing, but still as stubborn as ever when it came to doing certain tasks by himself, such as cleaning himself or reaching for objects on counters. It took some convincing to get him to take a shower, the rushing hot water reminded him of the “incident” before he was evicted. They had to make sure the water temperature wasn’t too hot before he could clean himself up, or else he wouldn’t go near the bathroom. Once they had that figured out, he was no longer afraid of the shower, and could keep hygienic, his original hair color was even beginning to return. Meals weren’t particularly difficult to get him to eat as he wasn’t very picky, and after the initial fight he had with his first meal with them, he no longer stayed resistant to eating. In fact, they did have to keep an eye on his snacking as he had the potential to eat their entire cabinet’s food storage, even the condiments or uncooked rice, as they unfortunately had to handle one night when they didn’t lock his bedroom door. Nevertheless, he was slowly coming outside of his shell, interacting with them, and beginning to apologize about his behavior during his big shot days. The Addisons were very patient with him and allowed him to share his side of the story, and surprisingly, he was open to listen to their side of the story… except Click, his pink Addison coworker. Click was always a bit stubborn about working with Spamton, it was never clear the true reason why he hated him. Perhaps it was their society’s stereotypes about albino Addisons; if you’re friends with one, you’ll be a magnet for trouble. Or perhaps it was the fact that Click’s sales in their group were once surpassed by Spamton’s sales while he was a big shot, which made him very jealous. He did return as the top salesman in their group once Spamton fell from the top, but the initial drop from the top still hurt him, even if it wasn’t such a big deal. Afterall, it never affected the number of his own sales. Despite both of these reasons being completely ludicrous and possibly not the main reason why he despised him so much, Click made sure to always find a way to get either the last word in, or belittle Spamton in one form or another. Each insult or backtalk his coworker’s overheard, especially Banner, who was on top of calling out Click’s back-stabbery everytime something negative came out of his mouth. After about a dozen call-outs, Banner was becoming increasingly irritated with Click, and decided the next time something negative came out of Click’s mouth, they would do something about it… But what?

- - -

It was early in the morning, everyone was waking up from a long night of rest, Click and Banner in one room, Survey and Vid in another, and Spamton in the guest room. Banner no longer felt the need to lock Spamton’s door and window at night as he no longer kept trying to run away every hour or so, so they left his door unlocked in case he needed a drink of water at night, or needed to use the bathroom. Now that Spamton was being fed on a regular basis, he was also no longer keeping Click up at night with his noisy belly, which was a relief because Banner was tired of telling Click to go back to bed whenever he would try to get up and go try to stop the noise. Banner was the first to wake up as usual, and they put on their favorite periwinkle robe to go prepare everyone some coffee and cinnamon toast. Vid and Survey were next to get up for the day, Survey decided to take a shower first thing and Vid jumped out of his pajamas to get into his day clothes. Click and Spamton woke up at the same time, the last ones to get up, and both slugged out from under the covers. Click slipped on his day clothes while Spamton kept his pajamas on, which was just a concert tee and boxers the group had provided for him since he didn’t have any other clothing, holding his blanket around himself and over his head like a hooded cloak. Both shuffled into the living room simultaneously, where they were greeted with a coffee cup.

“Morning sleepyheads!” Banner smiled, bending down to Spamton’s level. “What would you like for breakfast, dear?”

“Can I have [$3.99 CINNABONS] please?” Spamton requested.

“Sure, I think there should still be a tube of cinnamon rolls left in the fridge!” Banner obliged, heading towards the kitchen.

“Uhh, you’re not gonna ask ME what I wanted for breakfast, Banner?” Click confronted with passive aggression in his voice.

Banner turned back to Click. “O-Oh, sorry Click! I’m just so used to everyone making their own meals except for Spamton that I forget to ask others. What did you want?”

“Just some lox CD bagels would be nice, I need a bit of protein today.” Click ordered, stepping into the living room to turn the TV on.

“...Fine.” Banner grumbled, realizing that Click forgot his manners, but went to make his breakfast anyway.

Soon Vid was done freshening up and came into the kitchen, sitting up on the counter and grabbing a slice of cinnamon toast. He kicked his feet as he chewed, watching Banner preparing the cinnamon rolls. He turned to Spamton and grinned, his teeth covered in crumbs.

“Hey buddy! Sleep well?” Vid asked, giving Spamton’s hair a playful scratch.

“Yes, no [NIGHT TERRORS] last night, I slept the whole [TIME FLIES] and my [HEAD ON: APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD] didn’t hurt from the new [PILLOW PET] you guys [FREE GIFT]ed me.” Spamton answered, taking a sip of his coffee.

“That’s good to hear, I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to a full night sleep in a long time!” Vid cheered, climbing down from the counter to join Click in the living room.

“Spammy, why don’t you go sit down and watch some tv? It’ll be about 10 minutes before your cinnamon rolls are done baking.” Banner suggested, giving Spamton a hug at his level.

“[T MINUS 10 MINUTES]? But that’s [SO LONG SUCKER!], what if [CLICK CLACK MOO] gets mad at me?” Spamton said worryingly, knowing that his hunger tends to make more of a racket when he has to wait.

“Don’t worry, I'll see to it that he doesn’t make fun of you. Now go watch some tv, I’ll call you when your breakfast is ready.” Banner reassured, giving Click a bit of a glare.

“Morning everyone…” Survey announced, still a bit sleepy even after a shower and change of clothes.

“Good morning Survey, would you mind bringing the mail in?” Banner asked.

“Sure, I can do that.” Survey answered, and headed out the door to retrieve the mail.

Spamton huffed and joined the two of them on the couch to watch tv, they had the morning news on. There was a story about a recent influx of black market products flooding the food and beverage industry, so far the source of the products were unknown, but it was reported that the products were stirring political conflicts about whether or not the products should be encouraged or banned. Spamton stared hungrily at the products they were revealing on the news, they were all foods he really liked in the academy. It was at that moment that Spamton realized the food he saw on tv was about to make his stomach growl, he suddenly got worried that Click would get mad at him if he heard it, so he quickly hugged the blanket he had wrapped around himself hard around his belly. Vid glanced over at Spamton, curious what he was doing, but eventually just turned back to the tv. Click hadn’t noticed what was going on next to him, so Spamton believed he was able to get away with it. He felt the sensation go away, and he unfurled the tightened blanket, which unfortunately was a mistake.

*Grrroowwrrllrrll*

Click immediately turned to Spamton to see his face beet red with embarrassment and worry. He snarled his teeth and got up from the couch, pushing Spamton over in the process.

“Argh, can’t an Addison enjoy a bit of peace and quiet for once with you around!? God you’ve been so annoying since we took you in, shut your stomach up before I shove my dress shoes down your gullet!” Click roared at Spamton, all his pent up irritation from the week coming out all in one go.

Spamton hid his face deeper in his blanket robe and appeared like he was about to cry. Vid wanted to say something to Click for making Spamton feel like shit, but was too intimidated by Click to speak up. Banner overheard Click’s rant and stormed over to the three of them, grabbing Click by the ponytail.

“Hey! Cut the attitude, Click!” Banner snarled, giving Click’s ponytail a good tug.

“ARGHH!” Click yelped, jolting backwards towards Banner.

“That’s your one and only warning, don’t test me again, or I’ll make you regret ever looking at Spamton wrongly…” Banner warned, letting the ponytail go and returned to finish making breakfast for the two of them.

Click rubbed the back of his head and adjusted his hair. Letting out a defeated huff, he sat back down next to Spamton and continued to watch the morning news. As much as he wanted to make a comment about Spamton’s bedhead, he knew he’d probably get another ponytail yank, even if it was just a harmless joke. Slowly he got comfortable again on the couch, and Spamton regained control of his hunger, keeping it quiet enough as to not get on Click’s nerves. On the news now was a story about a recent scuffle between two Addisons who lived in the housing district and a group of tasques that got loose from the Queen’s mansion, only half of them were caught. A caution was posted on the news to keep an eye out for tasques when approaching any garbage receptacle as they may be still lurking in them.

“Boys, breakfast is ready~!” Banner called, placing their food in the middle of the table.

“About time…” Click sighed, getting up from the couch and headed for the table.

Spamton followed him, his blanket still wrapped around his head and body. Click sat down in the chair facing the wall and Spamton sat in the chair facing the kitchen, he had to climb up on a pile of books the Addisons had placed for him to be able to sit at elbow level to the table. Click dragged the plate of lox bagels towards himself, a bit curious as to why there were so many prepared. He looked over to see a copious amount of cinnamon rolls on Spamton’s plate, more than he could probably eat for breakfast. There was already one cinnamon roll in his mouth, sticky frosting all over his cheeks. Click turned to see Banner standing next to him with a spatula and their kitchen apron on, holding out two empty plates.

“I made enough for you two to share in case you wanted more than one type of food for breakfast.” Banner clarified. “Put the food plates back in the middle.”

“Ohh, I see what’s going on here…” Click mumbled under his breath, annoyed that Banner was forcing them to confront each other more than he wanted to this morning.

Banner decided to leave the spatula there for them to use to serve themselves a bit cleaner and returned to the kitchen to make another pot of coffee. The two of them took their empty plates and pushed the food plates back in the middle, Spamton grabbing a couple cinnamon rolls with his hands and putting one of them on his plate, and the other into his mouth. Click cringed at how much of a mess was being made with the frosting, but ultimately kept his focus on his breakfast of lox bagels. He finished one and used the spatula Banner provided to retrieve one without needing to touch the others or get his hand messy. He watched as Spamton stuffed the rest of the cinnamon rolls down his throat, gulping them down loudly and licking his fingers clean of frosting. Guess he won’t be having one of the cinnamon rolls with his bagels. Click noticed Spamton was hesitating to grab a fourth roll, hungrily eyeing the lox bagel plate. Eventually Spamton decided that he wanted one, and began to reach for one of them. Since the lox bagel plate was closer to Click, he had to reach pretty extensively over the table, to the point where he had one knee up on the table. Click’s eye twitched as he eventually realized that Spamton was about to grab one of the bagels with his gross saliva and frosting covered fingers, which intern might accidentally touch one that Click wanted to eat. Without even thinking, he grabbed the spatula that was on the table and gave Spamton’s hand a hard smack with it.

“OWWWW!” Spamton cried, pulling his hand back and holding it tight from the sudden pain. “T-That [STING LIKE A BEE]!”

“Quit touching the food with your grubby hands, use the goddamn spatula like a NORMAL Addison!” Click barked, threatening another smack by waving the spatula.

“But I didn’t [ELF SHOT THE FOOD]!” Spamton countered.

Banner overheard the commotion and decided that they had enough of listening to Click’s attitude towards Spamton, especially after hearing Click use the words ‘normal addison’. They quickly got behind Click, grabbing the spatula out of his hands and smacking him over the head with it.

“Oww, HEY!” Click rebutted, turning to face Banner. “He’s the one being gross!”

“That’s it, you’re coming with me!” Banner shouted, grabbing Click’s ponytail again, pulling the handful of hair taut and dragging him toward the door, passing by Survey who returned with the mail.

“OWWW OWWW OWWWW! You’re pulling my hair off!” Click screeched, clumsily stepping alongside them.

“Oh my god, are you okay, Spammy?” Vid asked, concerned for Spamton. “Lemme see your hand.”

“Sheesh, he gave you a decent bruise… Don’t worry, Banner will take care of him for you.” Survey reassured.

“I’m sorry I’m such a [LOW-LIFE] burden...” Spamton whimpered, rubbing his hand.

“No Spam, you’re no burden, Click just needs… some time to forgive you is all… Banner will handle him, you just focus on finishing breakfast, okay?” Survey replied, giving Spamton a shoulder rub.

“Go on Spammy, you still got two cinnamon rolls left!” Vid encouraged, shuffling the plate towards Spamton.

“Well… [A-OK]...” Spamton nodded, pulling the plate closer to himself and grabbing another cinnamon roll to eat.

- - -

“AAAGGHHH! OWW OWW OWWW! Quit pulling so much! Lemme go!” Click wailed, stumbling backwards to keep up with Banner.

“I warned you not to hurt Spamton, now you leave me no choice, you’re gonna find out what it’s like to be him!” Banner informed, opening the apartment entrance and letting Click’s hair go. “Starting now, you’ll be living like Spamton this whole week! No bed, no food, and no help. You can come back here and I’ll let you back in next Monday when you learn your lesson.”

“Hahaha, what!? You really think I’m just gonna pretend to be homeless for a week!? You’re out of your mind!” Click cackled. “You’re not serious, you wouldn’t do that to me! I’m our top salesman, I don’t just become a deadbeat like that!”

“Ohh I’m serious, you’re not allowed to be back here until I see you crawling on your belly for forgiveness next week. Get used to the warmer temperature while you can, you’re not gonna have it all the time.” Banner smirked, crossing their arms.

“Hahaha! Well jokes on you, because I’ll just go to my-” Pink was about to counter, but felt his front pockets were empty. “Wh- What the- Where’s my-”

He looked over at Banner and saw them waving their missing keys at him. He growled and stomped over to Banner to take them back, but was ultimately pushed back into a nearby puddle. He fell into it with a small splash and cringed at the now wet feeling he had on the bottom of his pants.

“Ah-Ah-Ahhhh~ Not so fast, Click!” Banner mocked. “You didn’t think I would make it easy for you to get away with this, now did you? No cheating by using your apartment!”

“Ughh, fine! But you didn’t manage to get my-” Click started again, but felt his back pockets were empty too. “Wh- How did you-”

“Ohh, you mean ‘How did you get my wallet?’?” Banner smiled, holding Click’s wallet in their other hand. “Sorry, this is cheating too, you’re just gonna have to find money and shelter on your own! Afterall, this experience is JUST what you wanted so badly, right? You wouldn’t leave Spamton alone, so I take that as a sign you’re just DYING to understand what he went through.”

“Banner, you can’t do this to me! It’s- It’s” Click hesitated, trying to come up with a good excuse to get out of this situation. “Th-There’s, werewires in the alleyways!”

“Ohhh, there’s a lot more than werewires out there, Click. You better make friends with them soon, or you might end up being their next meal…” Banner warned, stepping back into the apartment entrance, the door slowly closing behind them. “Oh, and don’t worry about heading into work today, I’ll tell them you can’t come in this week!”

“HEY, WAIT!” Click yelled, running to the door and banging on it as it closed just as they got up to it. “Lemme back in, this isn’t funny anymore! OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR BANNER, I MEAN IT! DON’T MAKE ME COME IN THERE AND KICK YOUR ASS!”

“Hey, you there!” A nearby Swatchling called to Click.

It was a Swatchling that guarded the streets around the Queen’s mansion and nearby roads. They stepped over to Click with a baton at the ready, giving him quite the glare of disapproval.

“What are you banging on this apartment building for?” The Swatchling questioned.

“I LIVE here, I’m trying to get back IN, duh!” Click answered with anger.

“Hrmm, do you have any proof or ID?” The Swatchling requested.

“I-I u-uhhh…” Click stuttered, realizing that all of his proof of residency was taken by Banner. “I uhh, left my keys and wallet inside…”

“Mmhmm, a likely story… You’re just gonna have to call someone to let you back in, until then, I can’t allow you back inside. “The Swatchling ordered, now taking the responsibility of guarding the door.

“WHAT!? This is bullshit, just lemme in and I can get you the proof!” Click yelled, stepping toward the Swatchling, but was knocked down to the ground.

“Step back! You’re not getting back in anytime soon, come back when you’ve made the call and they alert me to let you in!” The Swatchling ordered, swinging their baton in their hand.

Click got the message and stood back up, dusted his pants off, growling under his breath, and stormed away. It looked like he was going to be on the streets for some time until Banner lets him back in next week, whether he likes it or not…

- - -

Two hours into his ordeal, Click stomped his way down the road towards the center of Cyber City, still in complete awe that Banner kicked him out of the apartment with no money or a way to get back inside. Any jpeg stone that he saw on the sidewalk, he gave a good kick in anger and frustration, unable to really let out all of his steam since he was in public.

“Who the fuck does Banner think they are!? How dare they do this to me, I don’t deserve to be treated like some fucking peasant!” Click rambled, gripping the roots of their hair to relieve the headache that was beginning to form from his venting. “Like look at me now, I’m walking around! What Addison walks anywhere in Cyber City nowadays!? I should be taking a taxi to the nearest hotel suite with a chauffeur, and a reservation to a five star restaurant, eating whatever fancy meal I want, and sleeping it off in the finest cashmere bed covers!”

Click walked for another 20 minutes and sat down on a park bench, exhausted from all this walking. He felt like he’d been walking for dozens of miles, but really he only walked about a couple of miles. It was most likely just because he was wearing dress shoes and not ones for walking. In fact, his whole outfit wasn’t exactly survival worthy, dress shoes, dress pants, his lucky watch, and a V-neck button down shirt was what he wore that day as he was expecting to head to work at the tea boutique like normal, not fighting for his life out in the streets. Getting around in this outfit wasn’t easy, typically he’d just be standing still for his shift, but having to get around town to try and find a place to stay was certainly wearing down on his feet. He was also working up a bit of an appetite from the walking, Click didn’t realize until he took a break that it was past noon, which meant lunchtime for most Darkners. He watched several Darkners walk by him eating bagel sandwiches for lunch, the smell from a local food cart nearby tickling his nose. His stomach growled in response, and he gave it a pat, the reality of his situation now beginning to kick in…

What was he going to do for food this week? It’s not like he could just go up to the cart and buy something, Banner had taken his wallet, which meant no credit card or Dark Dollars to his name. Pink crossed his arms and grumbled, his mind ruminating with irritation. How could Banner do this to him? Click’s never skipped meals due to money issues, he’s never had money issues before!... He’s never had money issues before…

Click started to think a bit about his dilemma, he’s never faced rock bottom before, where is he meant to start building from the ground up? Perhaps he could earn some cash with something to sell! But… What could he sell, tea? Not possible, he didn’t have any of his own tea to sell, it was the company’s products, all sales would go to them, and he’d receive some of it via a paycheck. Payday wasn’t for another five days, shit. What could he do till then? His mind was blank, completely overwhelmed with anxiety, he’d never had to think outside the box before. It was wearing him down, so he took a break from thinking and got up to continue walking. So far the only solution to his situation he could think of was to head to his workplace and see if he could request his pay via a paper check instead of direct deposit, that way, he’d have some money to spend for the other half of the week. His work was about a dozen miles from where he was now, and with no cash to pay for a taxi or bus, it meant he would have to trek there on foot. Exercising wasn’t an Addison’s strong suit unless you count the ones who sell sports equipment, and the amount of walking Click was doing was certainly a lot for his body. He had only walked a couple miles, and yet it felt like a marathon to him. His dress shoes dug into his heels, making them ache even more than they already did from the walking. It definitely wasn’t doing him any favors on his hunger either. Another loud growl from his stomach was enough to get Click to stop and rethink his strategy a bit. If he was going to walk to his work, he wouldn’t be able to do it like this. Walking took a lot of energy, and so far he hadn’t replenished anything he had just burned off.

‘If I was Spamton, where would I look for food?’ he brainstormed, looking around and taking in his surroundings.

In his field of vision, he could see several coffee shops and fast food buildings; he was walking through the food and beverages district of Cyber City. The smells coming from all the food trucks and exhaust fans were quite overwhelming, and was clouding his thoughts. Suddenly out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed a purple maroon Addison standing outside a rather kitschy and rustic looking furniture store with a silver tray in his hand. On the tray were some rather unusual looking finger sandwiches. Click curiously approached the Addison, and they turned to them with the typical Addison business smile.

“Afternoon sir! Would you like a free sample?” they offered Click, holding the tray towards him.

Wait, free? Click never knew any Addison to give away products for free, even if it was something small like these finger sandwiches. He was unsure if this meant the product wasn’t good enough to sell if it was being given away without a price, but in his current situation, Click had a problem that needed fixing, and a solution was right in front of him. Even though no swindling was needed to get the free sample, Click couldn’t help himself and just had to bargain with this Addison.

“Free you say? Would it still be free if I were to take more than one?” Click asked, pointing at two of the samples.

“Of course, they’re all free! Don’t hesitate to take as many as you wish!” they replied, holding the tray closer to his face.

“What about… The whole tray of them? Is it still free?” Click ‘bargained’.

“Well, you may have trouble carrying them, but sure! I have plenty more I can grab for others in the kitchen!” They smiled.

“Well then, you’ve got yourself a deal!” Click smiled back, holding out his hand.

Instead of the Addison’s hand, a finger sandwich was placed in Click’s.

“Enjoy!” They laughed, stacking the rest of the samples on top in a very unbalanced manner.

“Whoa- uhh, thanks…” Click muttered, carefully carrying the finger sandwich tower that was now in his hands.

Click wobbled over to a nearby bench and sat down with his ‘bargained’ prize, placing the stack on a couple napkins he had in his pocket. He smirked, thinking that he had won some kind of jackpot despite the food being free to take. With the thought that he had smooth-talked his way to lunch from that Addison, he prepped a napkin around his neck and picked up a finger sandwich, taking in the sweet aromas. He brings the food up to his mouth and sticks the whole piece in, slowly chewing and tasting it…

But something about the taste made him stop dead in his tracks. What… Was this taste? There were hints of sulfur and mustard, and the texture was all over the place. Click checked the inside of one of the other sandwiches, and realized what the main ingredient was…

EGGS!?

Click was immediately revolted and coughed up the initial bite he had taken, and started to gag. He stood up and bent over the side, a massive wave of nausea coming over him. He grabs the arm rest and lurches over, vomiting up anything he may have swallowed, along with any residual bagel chunks from his breakfast that morning. His throat burned from the acidic vomit that had coated his tract, and he had no drink on hand to wash it away. He slowly sat back down on the bench and leaned back, taking some deep breaths. He was in complete shock that he was just handed sandwiches that practically promoted cannibalism! He had no idea where the eggs inside came from, so it could’ve easily been from-

. . .

Oof, better not think about it further.

Click eventually sat back up and looked over at the sandwiches, the wave of nausea slowly lingering. There was no way he was going to subject himself to more sickness, so he decided to just leave them there. Afterall, there were Addisons with jobs to clean all that up for him, right? As Click was starting to walk away, he looked back at the tray. It was starting to sink in what he was about to abandon; food that would not only stave off hunger for the week, but nourish him as well. At the same time, it was food that would be seen as taboo to those who watch him eat it, and flavors he’s never tasted before. Once his nausea faded away, the familiar empty feeling in his stomach returned, and it reminded him that he would be back to square one if he left the tray he had just acquired. He slowly walked back over to it and decided to take one finger sandwich with him, mainly as a precaution if he didn’t find anything to eat for a long time, but also because he felt a bit bad wasting so much, he had earned it fairly in his eyes after all. Even though the thought of attempting to eat the sandwich again made him cringe, it was slightly better than going without. He took a piece and wrapped it up in the remaining napkins he had on hand, placed it in his inventory, and turned back around a second time. Click kept his chin up and walked away in false confidence, trying not to look embarrassed or at fault for leaving the tray of food behind. Once he was far away enough to not be associated with the mess, he let his physical guard down and lowered his expression. Just in time for his hunger to resurface full force, and it continued the ensemble of rumbling.

“Ugh, shut the fuck up…” Click mumbled to himself, rubbing his belly. “Well, if I managed to get that whole tray of food for free with little effort, It can’t be that hard to find something else to eat, can it?”

Snaking his way through the rest of the food and beverages district, the only other samples he had managed to scrounge up were a couple fried sweet and sour chicken bites on a toothpick and an energy drink cup. The other Addisons were not as generous as the first one, and he wasn’t able to get more than what he did. The samples certainly weren’t enough to fill his belly, but managed to keep his hunger down for the time being. Now with one problem out of the way for now, Click started to think about what other items he would need to find while he was making his way to his work office; more food, a place to sleep, some cash, and a way to get there faster. If worse comes to worse, he could return for more samples in the food and beverage district just to get something to eat that day. So long as there were free samples given out every day, he wouldn’t starve to death, right?... Okay, a place to sleep next. A hotel would be nice, or even a motel would do… But, those cost money… How do you get money without a job or things to sell? Click scratched his head in confusion, it was something he never had to consider either…

‘If I were Spamton, how would I get money?’ Click thought to himself. “He’d probably sniff for dark dollars on the floor with his big schnoz like some kind of maus…”

The only kind of money making tactic Click knew how to do was to sell things, he was the top tea and cotton candy seller in his office… Perhaps he could find something else to sell? Surely he could use his tea selling tactics on other items, as long as they weren’t that different. Click at first thought he could check the Trash Zone for something to sell, but Addisons and Darkners only want flashy shiny new things, besides, most items found there were glitchy, broken, or too gross to touch. Suddenly he looked at his hand at the watch that was on his wrist to check the time; 4:36... Hrmm… Surely his watch could be worth some cash, it was 500 Dark Dollars when he bought it. Despite how much he loved the watch, it was certainly a sacrifice he was willing to make, at least it wasn’t clothing that would warm or protect him that he had to give up. He could go without the convenience of knowing the time instantly, there were clocks everywhere in Cyber City, and he only needed to know what day it was. Plus, the cheapest hotels only cost 100 Dark Dollars per night, which meant he could have a hotel stay for most of the week if he only spent the money on a room. Slipping the watch off his wrist, he put on his best business face and stood with bravado, waiting for a potential customer to approach him. His smile is as wide and fake as ever, his heels touching together, and his posture as straight as can be.

“New Hot And Stylish Golden Watch! Only One In Stock, Get It While Supplies Last!” Click advertised with his best voice.

It took an hour for an Addison to approach him with any real interest, he was quite the tall fellow, he towered over Click, and he was 6ft 3in himself. They gleamed a nice shiny teal color, not a typically common pigment you see in Addisons, which meant he was most likely someone others looked up to or had high expectations for. Despite them both being tertiary colors and Click was a top salesman in his district, he couldn’t help but feel a little humbled being in their presence, especially when he’s trying to sell them a used watch.

“Good day to you, Pink Addison. You’re selling this watch here?” they inquired.

“U-Uh yeah, just the one, this is your one and only lifetime opportunity, so don’t miss out!” Click responded, handing them the watch to look at.

Click felt humiliated having to perform to such a high degree towards this Addison, Addisons typically don’t respond well to each of their advertising tactics, almost like they’re immune to them, so despite an Addison showing genuine interest in another’s products, they can appear blunt or judgemental, even sometimes uninterested in the end. Perhaps it was the fact that most Addisons hated putting on a fake friendly face everytime they work, acting overly happy tends to drain their emotions. Even knowing this fact, Click still had a looming sense of lost pride hanging over his shoulder.

“Hrmm, it is a nice looking watch… But I can tell it has been used…” they muttered as they inspected it. “Young man, I’m willing to offer you 100 Dark Dollars for the watch you have there, do we have a deal?” they offered, holding out their hand to shake.

“W-What!? B-But I paid 500 for it, and-” Click started, but was cut off.

“Trust me boy, no one around here is going to offer you more than 20% of what you paid for it, that’s just how the economy works, don’t you know that?” they clapped back, shaking the watch in his face.

Click didn’t want to admit it, but he wasn’t very confident that the watch could sell for the full price he paid, he knew in the back of his mind that anything you purchase then try to sell loses most of its value, which is why most Addisons preferred to simply throw things away instead of putting time into recycling or selling them. He had been trying to sell the watch for over an hour, and he was exhausted. He decided that this was probably going to be the best offer that he could get for it. Click felt his head lowering in slight shame and nodded, taking the Addisons hand and shaking it.

“Okay, you got a deal…” he said, accepting the offer.

“Great, then here’s your money young man, have a good day.” The teal Addison bowed, placing the money in Click’s hand and walking away with the purchased watch around his wrist.

Click lifted his head back up when the Addison was gone, then was filled with excitement. He finally had some money again! What was he going to spend it on? It would definitely have to be something off of his survival list; food, sleep, and/or transportation. He could easily buy himself any meal he wanted with the money, most cheap food was under 50 Dark Dollars. But that meant he couldn’t afford a hotel to stay at, meaning he would have to find himself some place outside to sleep, which also meant having to worry about the monsters that lurk in the night like werewires or tasques. Taxis were out of the question at the moment, they tended to be pretty expensive rides, and the buses near him didn’t head toward his business district. Click decided that it would be best to pick a nice place to sleep tonight, he technically had something to eat today, even if it was just a few bites of chicken. Although tiring to his system, he could go hungry for one night. Plus, he was exhausted from walking all day. Some sleep would help his body recover from the exertion.

With the cash in hand, Click began to make his way toward the housing district, which was a decent two mile walk away, another pretty heavy walk for the Addison. It would be a much labor intensive walk for him since he had been sick earlier and didn’t have much of a meal for lunch, but he pressed on with the anticipation of a fluffy bed to sleep in for the night instead of the street. Unfortunately it also meant adding on an extra mile to his initial walk towards his work, so he would have to make sure he was keeping up the pace so he could make it before his check went into direct deposit.

After about an hour's walk, he had made it to the housing district, the place was divided into two sections; one side was all the real estate where richer Addisons could buy their own private house instead of an apartment, the other side was the renters and hotels,the area Click was heading. It wasn’t as well maintained as the real estate side, but it would do for now. Click walked up to the cheapest hotel in the area he could find and stepped inside, the place reeked of cigarette smoke and alcohol. The lights flickered a low iridescent yellow, partially stained from the years of smoke and usage. The lobby was poorly kept, random chairs stood about with no real pattern, and old magazines from a decade ago strewn all over the tables. He approached the counter, the Addison running the front desk was a bit disturbing to look at. She was red in color, a bit on the shorter side, had an eyepatch on, a cigarette in her mouth, an extra large t-shirt with a college sports team name on it, and was filing her long crusty nails that were clearly fake. Click went to speak to her, but she interrupted him.

“Need a room, babe?” She barked, her voice raspy from years of smoking.

“U-Uhh, y-yeah, just for a night. You accept cash, right?” Click responded.

“Sure do, here, sign this waiver and take room 204.” she harshly coughed, placing a paper and a key next to him on the counter.

Click shrugged and quickly signed the paper, he didn’t even bother reading through it, he was too exhausted to care what liabilities he was being put under. He left all of his cash and paper he signed on the counter and took the key, heading towards the stairs. She whistled to him and he turned around.

“Oh, a head’s up dear, the TV and mini bar aren’t free in case you weren’t aware.” she called from the desk.

“O-Oh, thanks for… telling me…” Click replied, heading up the stairs to his room.

When he unlocked the room, he didn’t expect to be hit with such a powerful stench of mold and smoke. He didn’t clarify a non-smoking room, and the Addison at the desk gave him a room on the smoking allowed floor. It was also not very kempt, the sheets looked barely laundered or fitted, and the lights faintly flickered a deep iridescent yellow as well. The bathroom was a bit unsightly, there were questionable bits of fur in the shower drain and small spots of mold in the corner of the bathroom, it made him shiver seeing such filth. Click slowly pulled the covers back and flopped his whole body onto the bed like a plank of wood, a layer of dust flying into the air. He took a bit of time to let his feet rest from the day of walking before he sat back up, realizing he probably should’ve checked the bed first for bugs. Without his cell phone, there wouldn’t be much to entertain himself with until late night arrived. He couldn’t exactly watch any TV either, it would cost him money he currently doesn’t have. The mini bar would be off limits too which was unfortunate, he had hoped to be able to eat something for dinner from there before bed if it was included in the room. There wouldn’t be much for him to do but plan for what to do tomorrow. At the moment he had sleep covered, but was still lacking food to eat, cash, and transportation towards his work. He doubted he would be able to get lucky again with the sale he made from his watch today, so he would have to search for other things to sell that didn’t look crappy. All this thinking was giving Click a bit of a headache, he pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes to try and quell the pain.

“Urgh, can’t focus…” he groaned, looking over at the mini bar again. “...Wonder what’s in that damn thing anyway…”

Even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to eat anything from the fridge, curiosity got the best of him and he got up and walked over to the mini bar, crouching down and opening up the fridge. Inside were a couple candy bars, a few cans of cheap beer and water, a couple bags of chips, and a cup of instant ramen. He didn’t expect to find anything fancy inside, but he was disgusted that the hotel owner would charge real money for cheap snacks like this. He’s not one to ever eat instant prepped foods, but the cup of ramen was becoming tempting, especially since he hadn’t eaten much all day. His stomach growled much louder than earlier, and he quickly shut the fridge door before he got too tempted to grab it and eat it.

“Shut the fuck up, God… I gotta be subjected to this? Is this your idea of a joke Banner, letting me starve in some shitty hotel?” Click complained, sitting back down on the bed. “...What I wouldn’t give for your home cooked spaghetti code right now…”

The light in the room was fading from the window, which meant it was just hitting night time. He checked the room’s bedside clock; 8:39. The other hotel guests could now be heard on the other side of his room’s walls. They sounded quite aggressive in their conversations, and he swore he could hear someone fighting in the room below. Click decided it would probably be safest to stay inside his room tonight. He quickly skipped over to his door and locked it, although he was confident no one would try to bust down his door, it helped him feel better applying the extra protection. The exhaustion from the day began to catch up with him, and he yawned wide. Perhaps going to bed early would be his best bet. He stepped into the bathroom, and stared into the mirror, slowly realizing he didn’t have anything to brush his teeth or hair before bed. The only thing he could do to get ready was just to undress down to his boxers and fold his day clothes neatly to keep them crisp and free of wrinkles. Once that was done, he got into bed and pulled the covers up, shutting the light off. Click was a bit of a light sleeper, and was worried with the arguments he could hear in the other rooms, he might take some time getting to sleep. It also didn’t help that he was still very hungry from skipping two meals, and his stomach continued to growl for most of the night. He grabbed the pillow his head was lying on and pressed it against his ears, trying to muffle all the noises around him.

“Urgh, shut up, all of you…” Clicked groaned, rolling to his side.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes soon turned into hours, it was now 10:42, and Click was still trying to get to sleep. Even though the neighbors beside and below him finally finished their conversations, he still felt like he was being listened in on. Back in his apartment, Click would’ve been surrounded by silk covered pillows all arranged in a semi circle to accommodate anytime he rolled over in his sleep, his blanket a warm cashmere with the thread count in the thousands, and his trusty childhood plush on his bureau near his bedside. Here in the motel, he had two cotton lined feathery filled lumps of fabric, and a questionably stained dark purple duvet, with no plush to keep him company, only the anxious thoughts that lurked in his head, the ticking motel clock, and the neighbors that lingered in the rooms beyond his own…

Click slowly shut his eyes, envisioning what life used to be like before Banner had thrown him into the real world. Perhaps if he pretended he was back in his paradise apartment, he could get some sleep. But soon that vision began to manifest into dreadful theories about what types of places Spamton must’ve slept in during his time of homelessness. All Click could do was reassure himself that most of his nights were probably like this, and not curled up cold and starving on an unforgiving dumpster floor. With this false hopeful thought, he soon drifted off to sleep, prepping his energy for what tomorrow will bring. Without a plan in place, Click will simply have to improvise how he approaches the problems of tomorrow, something he rarely ever has to do, but was Spamton’s trusty survival skill. What was he going to try and cover first, something to eat for the day, new shelter, or perhaps a quicker way to get to his workplace? He would have to decide when the time comes, for now, it was time to rest, and with all the stress he had and walking he did today, rest was welcomed with a flop. One day down, six to go. Click had to prove that he could handle walking in Spamton’s shoes, whether he liked it or not.

Chapter Text

*knock knock knock*

“Urghh… Wh-What? W-Who’s that?...” Click mumbled, suddenly being woken up from his slumber.

*knock knock knock*

“Okay okay, i’m coming…” Click mumbled louder, pulling the covers off of himself and shuffling towards the door.

Without looking through the peephole, he undoes the locks on his door and opens it slowly, peeking out of the opening. Standing at the door was a rather shady looking Addison, dark green in color, his hair slicked into a spiky fashion, wearing a black hoodie with some torn up jeans, a gold chain around his neck, and a collectible pair of sports shoes. Click rubbed his eyes and stared at the individual in front of him, unsure of what he wanted from him.

“Ummm… Can I… help you?” Click asked.

The Addison quickly looked down each end of the hallway before answering.

“Y-Yeah, you uhh, you’re the guy who called me, right?” they replied, nervously rubbing their arms. “Y-You ready to do this?”

“What? Do what? What are you talking about?” Click wondered with confusion.

“Y-You’re ‘LikeItLikeThat_69’, aren’t you, huh?” they questioned, their eyes moving frantically.

“Who? N-No, I’m not. Look, what do you want from me?” Click questioned sternly, now growing irritated.

“So you mean to tell me that I just strolled up to this motel in the middle of the night just to be told you DON’T want my ‘services’?” they complained to him angrily.

“Hey man, I’m not the one who you’re looking for, okay? I’m not… whatever that username is, now please leave me be, I’ve had a long day…” Click told him straight up.

“FINE! They must be on the third floor then…” the Addison muttered, stumbling towards the stairway, leaving Click by himself once again.

“What an idiot…” Click sighed, shutting and locking the door back up.

He looked over at the motel bedside clock, it was only 2:56. Dammit, it hadn’t even been half the night yet. Click sat on the bedside and rubbed his face in frustration, it was going to take ages to get back to sleep after that creepy encounter, especially since the whole conversation left him with more questions than answers. With the rest of the night ahead of him, Click soon laid back down and pulled the covers up, slowly shutting his eyes in the hopes of being able to just drift right back to sleep. Unfortunately for him, the night was just beginning, as he soon overheard the Addison who had knocked on his door, knocking on the door above his room. He could hear him ask the same questions to the others and grow more and more irritated with each wrong door. Eventually after about four doors, it sounded like he had found his destination as the upstairs went quiet. Click was about to sigh in relief that it was over, but all of a sudden, a loud conversation broke out from one of the rooms above him. He could tell the discussion was getting aggressive as he heard sounds of scuffling and punching, until eventually he heard one of them yell “GET OUT!”, along with someone stomping away presumably the guest Addison.

Then, it was finally silent.

Click grew nervous that the Addison who stormed away might be the one who knocked on his door and might return to his room, so he decided it would be best to not answer the door if he came knocking and pretend he was asleep. He pulled the covers higher up onto his face, so that his nose and eyes were the only parts of his face sticking out. It wasn’t exactly going to protect him if they suddenly broke into his room, but it helped reassure him, especially since his heart was now racing from overhearing that argument. It was clear he would need to take the time to calm down before he could even think about falling asleep, so he took some deep breaths, and tried to count maice. After around forty minutes, he managed to relax enough to shut his eyes and drift back to sleep.

- - -

8:27.

Click rolled over to see the lights of the city peering through the curtains, morning finally arrived for him. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, kicking the covers off of him and taking the elastic out of his ponytail to fix the knot. Since he didn’t have a hairbrush with him, he had to make do with running his hands through his hair like a comb, untangling any snarls he could undo, and tied his hair back into his signature ponytail. It wasn’t as smoothly tied as he typically has it, but it was up and out of his face. He reached over to grab his clothes that were folded on the bedside drawer and was about to put them on. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that in the open closet was an ironing board staged against the wall. The Addison at the counter didn’t tell him using it cost anything, so he decided to give the iron a try and make his clothes more presentable. Afterall, if he was going to try to make some money for the week, he would need to look his best. He got up from the bed and walked over to the closet, opening the ironing board and placing his dress pants and shirt flat on it. He grabbed the iron that hung on the wall and turned it on, waiting for it to get hot. He noticed the iron looked a bit rusted, so before it got too hot to touch, he took a piece of paper towel from the bathroom and wiped the iron down to remove some of the residue. Once he was satisfied he removed what he could from the iron, he began to use it on his pants, taking care not to leave the iron in one spot for too long. He didn’t exactly have any water to spray to keep the iron from burning through his clothes, so he needed to be careful. Once he was done ironing his pants, he placed the iron on the board and put his pants on. As he was buttoning them, he noticed an unusual burning smell. When he looked over at where he placed the iron, he realized that he had placed it directly on the back of his dress shirt, and it was starting to burn.

“Ohh shit!” Click yelled, pulling the iron off his shirt and assessing the damage. “Argh dammit, it left a huge mark on the back of my shirt… I don’t have time to wash it off, I gotta be out of this room by 9:00…”

Reluctantly, he placed his shirt back onto the board and finished ironing out the rest of it. Once it was back to its crisp form, he turned the iron off and placed it back in the closet, along with the board. He slipped his shirt on and buttoned it to the top, then looked at the mark in the mirror on the wall.

“Ugh, that looks like shit. Stupid iron…” Click muttered.

Once he was dressed, he freshened himself up in the bathroom, and washed his face with the motel soap and towel. The smell of the soap was surprisingly pleasant, lavender with a hint of honey. The scent alone was enough to wake the rest of his system up, as his stomach chimed in with a long and loud grumble.

“Really, already?... *sigh* Guess I’m looking for breakfast first…” Click complained, slipping his socks and shoes on.

Soon he was finally ready to check out of his room. He unlocked his door and peeked out from the opening, making sure that the weirdo from last night was nowhere to be found before he slipped out and made his way down the stairs. The Addison who set him up with the room last night was still at the desk in the morning, she looked over at him and put her cigarette out.

“Checkin out, babe?” she asked with a cough.

“Y-Yeah, here’s the room key back.” Click answered, placing the key on the desk in front of her.

“How was your sleep?” She questioned him, taking out what looked to be a survey, but before he could answer, she checked off some of the boxes and threw the paper behind her. “Actually, I don’t wanna know, nor do I care…”

“Uhh, okay.” Click mumbled. “...Hey, do you know where I can get a map of the city? I have to make my way to Fourth Street in the Office Business district.”

“Yup, we got maps. Here, take this one.” She nodded, pulling out a paper map of Cyber City. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Here, take one of these too, it comes with your room stay.”

From behind her counter, she pulled out a small box full of cereal-in-a-cups of various flavors. Without even hesitating, Click quickly grabbed one of them with voraciousness and ripped it open, stuffing a handful of the cereal into his mouth. He sighed in relief as his hunger began to fade away, he didn’t even care if he looked like some kind of wild animal in front of the desk worker, it was his first real meal since yesterday, even if it was just a cup of cereal.

“Alright slow down there hon, you’re gonna choke and throw up on my floors, for Queen’s sake…” she warned.

“Do you have any milk to go with this?” Click requested.

“Sorry, we don’t.” she replied, shaking her head. “We just carry cereal, there are drinks in the vending machines outside the building or at the coffee shop down the road.”

“Damn, I don’t have any cash for that...” Click uttered, scarfing the rest of the cereal down and tossing the cup out. “But thanks for the map and breakfast, miss…”

“Pepper, Ms Pepper to you, babe.” Pepper butted in. “What made you eat in such a rush like that?”

“...I haven’t eaten since yesterday morning, I only made enough cash for a night here… I’m trying to make my way to where I work so I can get my payday money in a check before it gets sent to direct deposit. I'm… currently locked out of my apartment for a week, and I need all the help I can get.” Click explained, checking the map for his work building.

“Heh, gotta find some cash for a locksmith, huh?” Pepper chuckled at her interpretation of the predicament she believed Click to be in.

“...Sure, let’s go with that.” Click shrugged, too embarrassed to explain that he was kicked out of his apartment on purpose. “How much does a taxi around here cost to travel to the office business district?”

“Probably somewhere between two hundred fifty to four hundred dark dollars depending on the day, some days they charge more like Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays as it’s more busy.” Pepper told him.

“Four hundred dark dollars!? Argh man… I was barely able to make one hundred dark dollars yesterday with my watch, how am I gonna make that much before Friday!?” Click worried.

“Guess you’re just gonna have to walk until then, babe!” Pepper snickered. “Not sure what else to tell ya.”

“Well… I suppose I should start… walking then… Thanks for your help, Ms Pepper.” Click thanked, heading out the door with his new map.

“Take care, sweetie. Call me~” Pepper flirted as she waved him goodbye.

Click shuddered at her flirt and walked away from the motel's parking lot. He sat down at a nearby bus bench and studied the pathways on the map. According to his current location, he was around thirteen miles away from his work since he had to travel a bit off course to get to the housing district. Yesterday Click was able to walk about three miles on foot before becoming too exhausted, which meant if he were to travel only on foot to his work, he’d be off by a mile or two depending on if he could travel the same three miles everyday, which meant he would miss the deadline on getting his pay via check.

It looked like Click would have to make enough money for a taxi ride if he wanted to make it to his work on time, which meant he had some serious planning to do. Although the Trash Zone is along the quickest path towards his work, he knows there most likely won’t be anything there for him to sell without the Addisons noticing that he’d be trying to sell them garbage, so that option was out. The next best option he could think of was to purchase something really cheap and sell it back to someone for double the price, the products would at least be shiny and new, and overtime he could make enough for his taxi ride. But in order to obtain those cheap products to sell, first he had to find some money on the streets, which is often difficult as the maice in the street were always on the prowl for loose change and are very territorial about food. He didn’t want to ask any of the Addisons for some change, it was a frowned upon behavior, and money gifting was only ever seen as a holiday or charity act. He felt like his appearance alone, being a tertiary colored Addison, would instantly have any type of begging he make fall on deaf ears; simply put, no one would believe he was in need. Instead of asking for money from others, he decided to simply look around for loose money, it would be less embarrassing for him in his eyes. Click got up from the bus bench and began to make his way on the path towards his work, making sure to keep his focus on the sidewalk too for any stray cash. It was a bit challenging to keep his eyes on both the map and the sidewalk as he began to bump into other Addisons, who scoffed at his ‘rude behavior’. All he could do was to walk near the edge of the street to avoid bumping into anyone if he wanted to keep this strategy going. It would probably help in this case, most money tended to be found on street edges.

After a couple hours of slow walking he realized that he basically had been going in a big circle. Anytime he got to an intersection, he turned right, so after four intersections, he was back to where he started. So far he had only managed to find twenty dark dollars, not enough to buy himself a hotel stay or the taxi ride, but it was enough to either begin his reselling mission or purchase something to eat. Since he had breakfast not too long ago, he decided to go ahead and check a nearby store to purchase items he could easily resell. It would have to be something that any random Addison on the street would need at a moment’s notice, it currently wasn’t raining so the cheap umbrellas he found weren’t an option yet. He had considered purchasing bags of snacks to resell, but they would be too bulky in his inventory to carry, and he would be tempted to eat the merchandise. Plus, Addisons tended to prefer fresher snacks from food trucks or kiosks like cotton candy, cookies, or bagels, so that was also not an option. Eventually Click settled upon trying to resell some car fresheners, the main road wasn’t too far away, they were easy to carry in his inventory since they could stack, and Addisons tended to buy things they needed without first realizing it.

Click gathered as many as he could afford and brought them up to the counter, they were one dark dollar each, so he grabbed twenty of them. The Addison at the counter started to ring them up, they gave Click a bit of a confused look, but overall shrugged it off and kept on scanning them. He handed the Addison the money he found outside and placed the bag of fresheners in his inventory, then headed out the door. The main road was about a ten minute walk, so he made his way there, organizing them by color and scent for better visual appeal as he walked. Once he got to the main road, he stood between the stop signs where there was a middle street gap and got ready, standing in his iconic pose, held his hand out with one freshener in his grasp, and gave his best advertising fake smile he could muster.

“Brighten Up Your Vehicle’s Scent With A Brand-Spankin New Car Freshener! Comes In Five Different Flavors; Only Two Dark Dollars!” Click announced, his voice projecting over the humdrum of car motors and horns.

It didn’t take long for a couple cars that stood still by him when the red light came on to roll down their windows and ask him for a car freshener, which he sold to them gladly, the Addisons didn’t really mind the price as it was definitely a convenient way to improve their commute to work. Since he was a nice pink color as well, the people purchasing the car fresheners from him were quite friendly and thanked him for the convenience. After about an hour and a half, he had sold most of the car fresheners he bought, four left in his inventory, providing him with thirty two dark dollars.

“Wow, I’ll be on my way to a taxi ride before it’s even Friday if I can keep this up!” Click laughed. “This is almost easier than my actual job! I should think about reselling more often, this stuff sells like hotcakes!”

Click took a quick break from selling and stepped over to the sidewalks again, peeking into one of the nearby stores and checking the clock on the wall. It was 12:46, he still had about 7 hours left of daytime before it would get dark. He sat down on a nearby bus bench and counted his money, other Addisons walked by him carrying various pastries and sandwiches, the smells tickling his nose, and piquing his appetite.

“Speaking of hotcakes, I should probably get some lunch before I sell the rest of these car fresheners.” Click pointed out. “Afterall, I deserve a bit of a reward for doubling my money so quickly!”

Standing up from the bench, Click made his way toward a nearby food truck with newfound confidence, standing in line with the others waiting for their food. Many of them were wearing the typical Addison uniform, while the rest had on more casual wear, you could tell who was working that day and who had the day off. Soon someone got behind Click in line and noticed the massive iron stain on the back of his shirt, but decided not to tell him about it, figuring he probably already knew about it. Soon it was Click’s turn in line.

“Welcome Sir! We Sell Greek Style Meals At Theodore’s Gyro Food Truck! What Can I Getcha?” the pale yellow Addison asked Click.

“Yeah uhh, I’ll get the Gyro Special, with all the fixings!” Click ordered with a smile.

“Coming Right Up, Sir!” they shouted, turning around to make the order.

“Cool thanks. Uhh, how much is it gonna be?” Click asked them.

“Oh, It’s Twenty Dark Dollars For The Special!” they replied, handing him a bag full of his lunch.

“Alright, no problem!” Click chuckled, counting out twenty dark dollars and handing him the bills.

“Enjoy, Sir!” the Addison announced. “Next In Line Please!”

Click carried the bag in hand and walked over to a nearby park bench, opening it up to reveal the goodness inside. The smell was practically intoxicating, he couldn’t wait to get a mouthful. He opened the container up and grabbed one half of the gyro and took a large bite. The juices from the meat and sauce soaked his taste buds and filled his cheeks, it was one of the best meals he’s ever had in a long time! After the first bite, he took some of the veggies that were on the side and stuffed them into the gyro, then took another bite, the flavors melded together so vibrantly, it almost helped him forget the predicament he was in. Click took his time savoring his food, it was the only full meal he’s had since he was kicked out yesterday, so no bite went uneaten. Soon enough, the food he bought was gone, and he was quite full and happy once more.

“Ahh, that’s much better. That was almost a meal fit for the Queen!” Click sighed in relief, giving his belly a pat. “...Okay, 4 car fresheners left, once I sell those, I’ll go pick up some more and double my money again!”

He cleaned up his face and crushed the container up to throw it away. Now that lunch was taken care of, he got back to work selling the remaining car fresheners, which surprisingly took only half an hour since one Addison bought the rest he had for eight dark dollars. Now with the remaining money in hand, Click headed back to the convenient store he originally purchased them at to grab more stock. This time he grabbed forty of them, and placed them on the checkout counter. It was the same Addison that was running the counter before, and immediately recognized that Click was here before buying car fresheners.

“Hey uh, weren’t you just here a few hours ago?” they asked Click, scanning his items.

“Oh yeah, I uh, had to come back for more supplies. I sold all the ones I bought here earlier, so I came back for more.” Click explained.

“Wait a minute, you’re reselling my product?” they interrogated.

“Y-Yeah, is… that a problem?” Click wondered.

“Uh it is, this is my territory man, I’m trying to make a living, and you’re driving away all my customers who might want to buy these too!” they ranted.

“Ohh…” ‘Didn’t think of it that way…’ Click thought to himself.

“L-Look, I’ll still sell you these ones, but please take your reselling business somewhere else. I got kids to feed at home, and every dark dollar counts.” they ordered Click.

“Alright alright, fine.” Click mumbled, reaching into his pocket to grab the money to pay for them.

“By the way, how much did you make selling them? Maybe I could raise my prices if others are willing to pay whatever you’re charging.” they asked.

“Just a dollar more, that way each time I buy these things, I make double my money, that’s why I’m buying forty of them this time.” Click responded, holding out the money for the Addison.

“Umm… Buddy, that's not forty dark dollars.” they informed Click.

“-What?” Click looked down at the cash in his hand, it was only twenty dark dollars. “Wait, I thought I doubled my money today!”

“Did you spend it on anything?” they queried him.

“...O-Oh… Oh yeah… I bought lunch with what I made today…” Click muttered, remembering that he purchased lunch for himself without even thinking about the price he paid for it. “...I guess just twenty of these then…”

“Alright, twenty for twenty it is.” they shrugged, ringing Click up.

“Sorry about that, I forgot that I’m… on a budget.” Click sighed, picking up his new bag of car fresheners.

“Make sure you stay clear of my territory, remember I’m trying to make a living here too, you know.” they stated.

“Yeah yeah got it… Thanks…” Click nodded, heading out the door, a bit of guilt looming over his head.

Click was back to square one; his current situation had left his mind, and it unfortunately cost him all of the money he earned from reselling products. Now he was back to where he started, and on top of that, he began to feel bad for taking away the convenient store Addison’s potential customers. He never had to consider stepping into another's territory before, he worked for a company that had set-in-stone land that he sold tea and cotton candy from, it was a thought that had never crossed his mind, now it was something he had to look out for. Click decided that it was probably best not to visit that convenient store anymore and restock somewhere else, he didn’t want to trouble them any further than he already did. He took the car fresheners he had bought and headed back to the main road and got back to the middle sidewalk gap when traffic stopped to let him cross. He resumed his best advertising pose, starting the cycle of reselling again. However this time, he found it more difficult putting on his fake smiling face, the thought of having to budget what he spent his money loomed over his head. He knows that now he has to be careful where his profits go, most should be put towards the taxi ride he needs, but he would need to also make enough to feed himself that day and possibly afford a place to stay for the night. If he wanted to put enough money aside to have enough for the taxi ride by Friday morning, be able to eat for every meal if he purchased more cheaper meals, and stay in a motel each night, he would need to be making around two hundred and fifty dark dollars a day, which seemed to be a far off task since he was only able to double his money each round of resales he made, which was discouraging. Over the next half hour, he managed to sell about half of his merchandise, making him another ten dark dollars.

“Man, I’m never gonna save enough for that taxi ride at this rate… maybe I need to sell these at a higher price, or change what I’m reselling…” Click sighed, sitting down to give his feet a rest.

While he took a break to rest on the sidewalk gap, a car approached him when the red light turned on, and the window rolled down. Inside the car was a neon pink Addison with a white scarf around their neck, and they had on a light blue frilly dress. They stared Click down with disgust and took out five dark dollars, tossing them by Click’s feet.

“Take that and get a job, you bum!” they yelled, hocking up some saliva and spitting it at the floor near him before taking off.

“H-Hey! I’m no bum!... What an asshole…” Click grumbled, picking up the money they threw at him. “At least I got some more money…”

He figured sitting at this intersection was probably not the brightest idea, it began to look like he was begging instead of working. He got back up and resumed his work position and smile, taking another half an hour to sell the rest of the car fresheners. He stepped back to the other side of the sidewalk and checked the time in one of the nearby shops; 3:17. He had about four hours left in the day, and forty five dark dollars in hand. At the moment he had enough to eat for now since he had quite a large lunch, which leaves saving up for a place to stay for the night, and money towards the taxi ride. Both of those would require him to make another one hundred fifty five dark dollars before nightfall, which at the pace he was reselling seemed a bit unrealistic, it took him an hour just to make another twenty, and if he sold the same product again for another hour, he’d be halfway though his time, and only eighty dark dollars in.

It was time to change products.

Click made his way to another convenient store nearby and checked what items they had in there to sell. As usual there were your typical cheap umbrellas, snacks, and car fresheners, but a rack of cute animal keychains caught his eye. They were more expensive than the car fresheners, which meant he could sell them at a higher price, and they seemed exclusive to this convenience store as he didn’t see them in the other store he restocked up at. Addisons loved little trinkets, especially ones that brightened up their keys or backpacks, so they were the perfect item to resell next. They were three dark dollars each, which meant Click could afford to purchase 15 of them, and he could probably sell them for triple the price this time, hell maybe even round them up to ten dark dollars each. He grabbed the keychains and brought them up to the counter, the Addison scanning his items definitely gave him a suspicious look. Nevertheless, he finished scanning and took Click’s money, handing him the bag full of his next merchandise. Click strolled outside and walked over to a busy section of sidewalk where many Addisons typically crossed the street. Since these were more like a personal accessory rather than a functional item, it made more sense to try and sell them to those walking around instead of those in cars. Click put on a confident advertising smile and got into position, holding one keychain in his hand.

“Need Something To Bedazzle Your Bag? Come Get A Super Cute Puppy Or Kitty Keychain, Only Ten Dark Dollars!” he announced to the crowd.

It took no time at all for several Addisons to line up by his side, squealing and ‘awwing’ at the cute keychains. The keychains were selling fast, one even offered to pay double what he was selling them for, they were making quite the racket on the sidewalk. Unfortunately this caught the attention of the nearby convenience store owner, who stormed over to where Click was reselling their products, absolutely fuming at what they were seeing.

“HEY! Are you reselling my keychains!?” they confronted Click, putting their foot down.

“U-Uhh… maybe?” Click responded, a bit embarrassed from the confrontation.

“Everyone, Come To MY STORE! I Have Those Keychains On Sale For Much Cheaper!” they advertised in front of Click.

The crowd surrounding Click now surrounded the convenience store owner, and they followed them back to their place.

“Don’t you EVER show your face in my store again, YOU HEAR ME!?” they warned Click before returning back to work, selling their products to their patrons.

Click stepped away, his face burning red with embarrassment that he got called out for reselling. Although he had managed to sell most of the keychains he had purchased, he was still about a hundred dark dollars behind his daily goal, and the keychains he had left wouldn’t help him make it to his goal on their own, which meant he had to find something else to sell. But now with the crowds around this area being aware that he was scamming them, he would have to travel somewhere else. There weren’t any more convenient stores he could go to at this point, the one that caught him would probably alert the others around the area and not let him go in to purchase more items. Click had to stop and brainstorm for a bit, he had to find a way to make another fifty dark dollars in three hours without the use of reselling products. Searching for change on the streets was tiring and didn’t yield much, and who knows if he’d find the same amount a second time around, so that wasn’t an option. The last thing he would want to do would be to beg for money, he already got treated horribly by that one Addison who spit at him when they thought he was begging. Click rubbed his temples, all this thinking was giving him another headache. Placing the keychains down on a bus bench, he sat down and took a breather, even though he had a meal a few hours ago, the stress and labor the day before was beginning to catch up to him the next day. His dress shoes began to dig into his heels, so now any distance he walked was a bit more painful than it already was. Since he was at a bus bench, no one was giving him dirty looks like he was some bum on the street, but rather saw him as an Addison waiting for their home commute. Since that was the case, he took more time to rest and let his feet relax. He had already walked a couple miles today, not completely towards his work since it was obvious he wouldn’t be able to walk that whole way there on foot, but it was starting to strain his body nonetheless.

‘Man, Spamton probably walked a dozen miles everyday to get what he needs if I’m only just walking a few…’ Click thought to himself. ‘Poor guy, it must’ve been exhausting for his little legs…’

While he was sitting at the bench, he decided to attempt to sell the remaining keychains to anyone who walked by. It took about an hour, but he managed to sell the rest of them, leaving him with one hundred fifty dark dollars. After another few minutes of resting on the bench, a bus that rides by this stop begins to slow down, approaching Click and opening its doors. A camo green Addison was driving the bus, and looked down at Click.

“Which way are you heading?” they asked him.

“What? O-Oh, I’m not waiting for a bus ride, I…can’t afford it right now, I’m just resting my feet here.” Click answered, getting up to stretch.

“Well, try not to rest at a bus bench, I thought you were waiting for a ride.” They suggested it to him. “Alright, have a good one.”

“-Wait, hold on. Before you go, do you know of any places around here that’s cheaper to sleep at than a motel?” Click implored, hoping for an answer.

“Hrmm… Well, I do know of this hostel that’s not too far from here that’s open to Addisons in need of supplies if their sales have been recently rough. They do offer a place to stay and sometimes hot meals for cheap, but they’re pretty strict about who qualifies to get help. I can take you there for about twenty five dark dollars if you’re up to try.” they offered him.

At this point, Click knew that it was getting late, most Addisons were heading home right about now, and he’d have less of a chance making anymore resales, so he decided it was about time to call it a night. Although he had enough money to stay at another motel tonight, he was unsure if he wanted to spend two thirds of his earnings today on a room. Plus, the place the bus driver Addison told him about could be worth checking out if it’s way cheaper. But this was also a risk, Click wasn’t short of sales at all this month, which most likely meant he wouldn’t be close to qualifying for benefits, but it was a risk he was willing to take to save any amount of dark dollars.

“Okay, it’s a deal.” Click nodded, stepping up onto the bus and handing the Addison the money.

“Very well, take a seat. It should only take about ten minutes to get there.” they smiled, shutting the bus door and getting back on the road. “...What’s your name, by the way?”

“Oh, it’s Click, and you?” Click asked.

“Name’s Monty, so what else brings you on my bus tonight, Click?” Monty wondered.

“Well, right now I’m… currently without a place to stay or any real money on hand. I uh… got in a fight with a friend of mine, and I can’t go back until next week, I… forgot my wallet and keys there…” Click explained, adding a few lies to embarrass himself less.

“Really? That’s a shame, I hope you can come up with a good apology by the time you return.” Monty advised.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Click confronted.

“Well, clearly you’re in the wrong if you’re out here on the streets after that fight. Whoever your friend is wants you to learn some kind of lesson, I’d suggest you think about that while you’re away from home this week. It might save your ass from getting an earful.” Monty suggested.

“...I guess you’re right.” Click huffed, his head hanging down with exhaustion and shame.

“Welp, anyway, we’re pulling up to the hostel. Good luck on getting in, and coming up with a lesson learnt from all this.” Monty alerted, stopping the bus and opening the door to let Click out.

“Thanks…” Click nodded, stepping down onto the streets.

The bus closed its door and drove away, leaving Click by himself once more. He stared up at the hostel building, it looked a bit rundown, there was trash scattered all over the streets here, and several other Addisons were leaning against the building, waiting to catch a taxi ride or smoke.

“Yeesh, this is where it is?...” Click cringed. “Well, I guess it’s better than sleeping outside…”

Stepping up to the entrance, two Addisons in pale white uniforms stood before him. Both were a dark shade of blue, their hands behind their back, and they gave him quite the staredown. Their strong demeanor made him hesitant to approach them.

“Uhh, this is the hostel, right?” Click questioned them.

“Sure is, are you lookin for some help?” the one on the left affirmed.

“Y-Yeah, I need a place to stay and some dinner.” Click informed them.

“Hold up, Addisons seeking help here can only be provided with one benefit, so which you choose, food or shelter?” the one on the right explained.

“Oh, only one?...” Click pondered. “What’s it cost to stay here?”

“Twenty five.” the one on the left answered.

“And dinner?” Click asked.

“Ten.” the one on the right answered.

Click sighed, knowing that a place this cheap to stay at couldn’t be passed by. However, it would also mean that he would have to either go somewhere else for dinner, or go without it to save some money for tomorrow. He weighed the pros and cons of each decision; getting dinner before staying the night here meant he’d have a better chance of resting well, but he’d be going to bed later which meant waking up later and would be farther from his taxi ride money goal. Going without dinner and going to bed early ran the risk of not getting better sleep, but would ultimately give him a head start tomorrow as he’d be up earlier and closer to his taxi ride money goal. Since he had breakfast and lunch today, Click decided it would be better to invest the money spent today and save it for tomorrow. He wasn’t that hungry since his lunch was quite filling, and he could avoid any hunger pangs by retiring early for the night.

“Okay, I'd like to stay here tonight.” Click requested.

“Very well, please hold still while we scan your sales numbers.” the one on the left instructed, taking out a barcode reader. “Open your mouth.”

Click opened his mouth so that they could scan his ID barcode located in the back of his throat. He had almost forgotten that Addisons had their ID’s coded onto themselves like a tattoo, and could be scanned to check their sales numbers, health grade, and maintenance checks for program updates or new spam blockers. Once they scanned his barcode, the two workers glared at the sales numbers that popped up on the reader.

“Sir, it says here you’ve made over fourteen thousand seven hundred and ninety three sales in the past month…” the right one disclosed.

“So… What does that mean?” Click wondered.

“We help Addisons here who don’t make more than five hundred sales each month. I’m sorry, but you don’t qualify for help.” the left one revealed. “You’ll have to find somewhere else to stay tonight.”

“Are you serious?” Click responded. “You’re not gonna help me? I’ve got nowhere to go tonight, I can’t get back into my apartment! What am I supposed to do, sleep on a sidewalk!?”

“Look, we’re just doing our job sir. We don’t take into account what your living situation is, only by what your sales numbers are. This is a non-profit program and our bosses don’t like the system being taken advantage of by richer Addisons who demean the help we provide to those struggling with poverty and outdated programming. I’d like to help if it were up to me.” the right one explained.

“Listen you two… I… Have had a very rough two days… I’ve been without my wallet and keys, and have had to scrape dark dollars off the floor just to survive… I’m stuck out here for another five days, and I need to save as much as I can to be able to get to work, please… I need somewhere to sleep… can’t you just make an exception for this one night? I promise not to return and take advantage of your cause, but right now… I’m… desperate.” Click begged them.

The two workers at each other, then back at Click, then back at each other.

“One moment.” the left one states, as they turn their backs to him.

Click could overhear them mumbling to each other, apparently discussing whether or not to help him. One sounded apprehensive as they were worried they could get in trouble for letting an unqualified Addison in, while the other was trying to reassure them that most likely no one would question him if he kept low-key. After a minute of discussion, the two faced Click again and sighed.

“Okay, we’ll make an exception for you tonight, only because you have nowhere else to go… But do not talk to anyone in there, you stick out like a sore thumb here being a tertiary color, don’t draw attention to yourself. We don’t want you to get kicked out by our boss or get your ass kicked by the others.” the one on the right warned, stepping aside to let him in.

“Thank you so much, I won’t forget to repay you for this.” Click thanked, handing them the money to get in.

The two workers handed him a card that said fifty five with a picture of a bed on it. He assumed it meant what room he was assigned to. Click stepped into the building and took a look around. The walls were incredibly filthy, they were covered in mystery handprints and shoe marks presumably from fights, scuffles, or from those leaning against the wall. The building was mainly one giant room with several cots lined up in rows, each with an assigned number. The cafeteria area in the back was just a few tables and chairs that were quite worn and run down, graffiti etched into each of them, and the food serving area looked like a prison cafeteria with sneeze guards and creepy looking Addisons serving patrons. The lights were very dim in some spots or too bright in other spots. Click understood why the two workers at the door warned him about sticking out like a sore thumb, almost every single Addison that was staying in the hostel was a primary color, with one or two secondary colors in the corner bunks. When he took another step forward, many of the Addisons suddenly turned to him, some with neutral expressions, others with aggressive glares, and one rocking in another corner. The silence in the room was so loud, you could hear a fork drop. Click gulped and stepped forward more, keeping his eye contact away from them and slowly made his way to his numbered cot, it unfortunately was in the middle of the whole room. He tried not to look too nervous, it was clear some of them were eyeing him up for something, hopefully not a fight. He sat down on his bed and began to remove his shoes, which triggered everyone around him to resume what they were all doing, some talking about their day or situations they were in, others got ready for bed, a few were playing Five Finger Fillet, and that one rocking Addison in the corner began to scream and bang the back of his head on the wall. Click wanted to ask someone why they were doing that to themselves, but remembered that he needed to keep a low profile while he was staying here, so he kept his mouth shut. He looked up at the clock on the wall, it was 9:52, probably best to call it a night, the less attention he got, the better. He quickly got undressed down to his boxers and folded them neatly by his bedside, which caused some to glare at him, perhaps many of them simply didn’t put that much care into keeping their clothes neat. He got under the covers and waited for the lights in the building to go out at 10:00, signaling everyone else to turn in for the night.

For the next twenty minutes, he listened to the chorus of Addisons all prepping for bed, some undressing and climbing right in, others kept their clothes on and flopped on top without moving the covers, and the rest sat on their beds and took out something to do like a newspaper crossword or trimming their nails. Eventually everyone had settled down for the night, and it was finally quiet enough for Click to attempt to sleep. With so many people in his vicinity, he found it difficult to relax, so he shut his eyes and started to count maice.

10…

20…

30…

He felt breathing on his face.

Click quickly opened his eyes to see the Addison that was rocking in the corner inches away from his face.

“AAAAHHHH!!!” Click shouted, jumping back and falling out of bed and against another’s bedframe.

“AAAAHHHH!!!” the Addison screeched louder, falling over and hitting their head on the floor.

The screaming alerted everyone in the room to the jumpscare, one Addison stood up on their bed and whistled to the one on the floor.

“LOUIE! GET BACK IN BED!” they shouted, which caused the one who scared Click to run back to the corner and curled up, whimpering before eventually settling down to sleep.

“I see you’ve met Crazy Louie. Don’t worry, he does that to every new guy that comes in.” The Addison next to Click’s bed explained.

“Y-Y-You d-don’t s-say…” Click stuttered, slowly returning to his feet and getting back into bed.

He noticed that all eyes were on him again, so he quickly got back under the covers and shut his eyes tight. Eventually everyone returned back to their bunks as well. Click reopened his eyes, which were now wide with fear, he was so scared of being jumpscared again or getting kicked out, that it made it almost impossible to relax. He pulled the covers tight around his face, and tried to take some deep breaths. Although he was hungry since he didn’t eat dinner, the adrenaline coursing through his body after being spooked kept the hunger pangs down as well as any noise his stomach would’ve made, which was probably a blessing in disguise, he didn’t want any more Addisons staring at him for just existing. After about twenty minutes he managed to calm himself down enough to try and sleep again. He slowly shut his eyes, hoping that it would be smooth sailing to slumber…

*SNOOOOORE*

Crap, he was in a building with about a hundred other Addisons, many tend to snore or breathe loudly in their sleep. Click started to softly whimper, he was so exhausted from the day, tired of being away from home already, tired of being without his friend’s home cooked food, and tired of being treated like an outcast. Soon the choir of snoring and the darkness of the room embraced him as he fell asleep. Two days down, five to go. All he would need is his paycheck, and he could return to a life before this whole mess. For now, he needed his rest.

Chapter Text

“I hate it here… I don’t wanna live…”

“Don’t talk like that, you’re gonna be okay-”

“NO! Don’t you get it!? Once a washed up Addison, always a washed up Addison-”

“Keep your voice down, you’re gonna wake the others…”

“...I just wanna go home…”

Click awoke in the middle of the night to several Addisons talking in their sleep, whimpering, crying, or hugging each other for comfort. He sat up a bit and looked up at the clock on the wall, it was 4:26; still a bit of time before the lights were going to turn on for the day. He turned to his left to see someone three rows down in the fetal position sobbing their eyes out while two other Addisons rubbed their back. To his right he watched as one Addison was experiencing night terrors, twitching in their cot, and pawing at the air. Behind him he could hear someone frantically searching through their belongings.

“Where is it? Where is it!? WHERE IS IT!?” they aggressively whispered. “I NEED THAT MEDICATION, I’LL GO INSANE WITHOUT IT, WHERE IS IT!?”

Click didn’t want to disturb anyone, nor did he feel it was his place to do so, and so he kept to himself as he tried to tune out everyone’s struggles. He didn’t want to admit it, but something about this hostel made him straight up feel unwelcomed. Not only was he taking advantage of the non profit’s kindness by being there when he didn’t qualify for the help, but he was now considered a minority here. Back at work, he’d be just like everyone else, your typical ‘Tertiary Class Joe’ among the other tertiary Addisons, but here, he was like a pink maus in a room full of primary tasques, all being held back from attacking him because he was surrounded by a glass box of privilege, yet he didn’t realize it completely. Any sudden or wrong move he’d make, and he’d surely be asking for a world of hurt. He had to be on his best behavior here, he was an unwanted guest, and trying to guide anyone here like he was in charge of them was going to result in a fight. Even any “best interest” assistance he could offer anyone in need here might be seen as tertiary saviorism, and would make him look like the bad guy no matter what his intentions were. Afterall, it wasn’t his job or his place to be offering any of his advice to others without knowing their circumstances or choices that they're facing, their problems aren’t his to fix. Click shuffled back under his covers and shut his eyes, trying to drown out the sorrows and tears that flooded the room. Eventually after a few minutes, many of the crying Addisons calmed down and returned to sleep, so it was quiet enough again for him to drift back into slumber.

- - -

“LIGHTS ON!” a chartreuse colored Addison in the balconies yelled to the dark blue workers.

As expected, the lights turned on and shined down on every sleepy Addison’s face. The majority of them groaned as they slugged out of bed and got ready for the day, others remained asleep as the light wasn’t enough to wake them. Click however was woken by the light and was part of the chorus of groans that followed. He looked up at the time again, it was now 6:30, guess he managed to get another hour and a half of sleep. Slipping out of his covers, he grabbed his clothes he had neatly folded on his bed and began to put them on. It was a shame that he wouldn’t be able to freshen them up today, the place didn’t look like they provided any ironing tools or washing machines. He looked around to see what others were wearing, and most had on bulky clothing like hoodies and jeans, others had on very wrinkly work clothes, they were also the ones to run out of the building first, most likely heading out to work. And the one Addison in the corner, he was wearing a red flannel with a concert tee, and dress pants that were stained mainly on the knees from the wear and tear of crawling around. Despite him being the most mentally ill Addison here, he was surprisingly one of the better dressed, even if it was covered in dust and mud stains. Click tied his dress shoe laces and took out his hair elastic to begin combing out his hair for the day. Again, he had no hairbrush, so all he could do was untangle any knots he found with his hands, and tie his hair back up. He could feel his hair was starting to get greasy from not showering for two days, and would also mean he’d probably start to stink soon without any deodorant to apply. Once he was finishing removing as many knots as he could, he tied his hair back up into a ponytail and took a breath. He looked over at the entrance to see a few Addisons in aprons and hairnets arrive and walked over to the cafeteria area; guess they were going to be serving breakfast to the Addisons who choose to have a meal instead of sleeping here. Suddenly Click felt an immediate empty feeling in his stomach appear, along with quite a long and loud growl, which he tried to cover up as to not draw attention to himself.

“Hungry mate?” a voice behind him asked.

“Huh?... U-Uhh…” Click stuttered before turning around to see who it was.

It was a dark purple Addison, one of the secondary colored individuals he saw last night. They were sitting on the bedside next to Click’s, and were holding out a granola bar towards him. Click hesitated, not wanting to take some random stranger’s offering, as well as the fact that it was the first time since he’d been there that someone had been nice to him.

“I uh, don’t think I can accept this. I haven’t done anything for you in return.” Click explained.

“C’mon man, we’re all in this together, no matter what color you are. Besides, you can’t expect to get any work done today on an empty stomach, right?” they countered, motioning the granola bar at him again.

“I… suppose…” Click responded.

He gave in to his hunger and took the bar from their hands, and opened it up, taking a bite. It was your standard peanut butter and chocolate chunk snack, not very exciting, but did the job of filling Click up for now.

“Thanks… Uhh, what’s your name?” Click wondered.

“Andrew, what about you?” Andrew asked.

“It’s Click.” Click answered.

“Nice to meet you, Click… So, a tertiary color huh? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of you before here, this is a rare treat, even though I'm not a typical color around here either. Mainly all you see here are reds, yellows, and blues. Well, except for the boss, she’s a bit on the short tempered side, but you’d probably know all about that given you’re her type.” Andrew presumed.

“My type? Just because we’re both tertiary colors doesn’t mean she ain’t my type!” Click countered.

“Easy tiger, I’m just playin’ with you, don’t get your ponytail in a twist.” Andrew chuckled.

“AAAAHHHHHH!” Crazy Louie screeched in the corner, which made Click practically jump out of his seat.

“Fuckin’ hell! That Addison’s screaming is gonna give me a heart attack!” Click yelled.

“Yeah, Crazy Louie’s just hungry. Don’t worry, someone will feed him.” Andrew reassured him. “Once he eats, he’ll calm down again.”

“Why is he here anyway? Don’t Addisons have to pay to be here? He doesn’t seem like he could make any kind of sale in his… condition.” Click pondered, but cautious about how he described Crazy Louie.

“Well… He wasn’t always like this.” Andrew explained.

The two of them watched as several Addisons threw Crazy Louie a packet of cashews, raisins, and beef jerky. Within two seconds, Crazy Louie pounced on the food thrown to him, and began to tear them open with his teeth. Cashews spilled out all over the floor and he scooped them up, shoving them into his mouth, not even bothering to clean the dust off of them. He chewed ferociously like some kind of wild animal, pieces of cashews flying in various directions. He moved onto the beef jerky and chomped on one of the bites, saliva dripping from his mouth. He began to relax and after a few bites, he chose to suckle on one of them before curling back up in his corner.

“Yeesh, THAT’S how he eats?” Click shuddered.

“Haha yup, that’s how he eats. He prefers to save any fruit snacks for later, like a dessert for dinner.” Andrew confirmed.

“So… what did you mean he wasn’t ‘always like this’?... What happened to him?” Click asked.

“Ohhh, it was such a tragic fate for him. Two years ago, he was just like everyone else living here; an Addison down on his luck, evicted from his home, nowhere to turn to but to us here in the hostel. Everyone knew him around these parts, he would sometimes go out of his way to help others in need, giving them his food for the day, or providing them his bed while he slept on the floor. But then, he had gone down the wrong alleyway one day in the Trash Zone when looking for supplies, and he bumped into a pack of Werewires.” Andrew explained to him.

“W-Werewires?” Click gulped.

“Yup, it was mating season for those Werewires, so they were extra pissed off at him for being there. They tore his coding to shreds, the Ambyu-lances told us he was almost beyond repair, and all we could do was wait for him to reboot. But once he did, he was never the same guy. According to them, his coding had been rewritten to identify as a Werewire, but his Addison body can’t overwrite the glitch, so now he thinks he’s one of them. Even though he’ll now never amount to anything besides just existing, we didn’t want to just kick him to the streets where he’ll probably starve or be killed by those Werewires if he were to attempt to find them again, so he just lives here now. Luckily his code was corrupted to mimic a more submissive Werewire, so he doesn’t really bother anyone besides introducing himself to newbies.” Andrew revealed.

“And he just eats whatever he’s given here?” Click wanted to know.

“Yeah, not like he can earn money to pay for his own food. It’s not exactly healthy for him, but any food is better than nothing. He does tend to get whiny if any of the food gives him a stomachache, so we try to make sure we give him at least a fruit or veggie of some kind everyday, even if it’s just some dried fruit in a bag. He also suffers from severe headaches due to his body constantly trying to overwrite the glitch, which is why there’s a Louie shaped hole in the wall over there. But he can be a sweetheart, he’ll let those he trusts more pet him or he might bring you some change he finds on the curbs outside.” Andrew sighed.

“So he can leave this place if he wants?” Click wondered.

“Well… not exactly. To keep him safe, we did have to implant a firewall into his code, so he can’t travel farther than 500 yards… We didn’t want to do it since we were worried he’d harm himself from touching it, but we were more worried he’d be killed if he left this place completely… He’s essentially a prisoner here and trapped in his own mind until his code is too outdated to be updated, when all of us typically pass.”

“That’s awful…” Click mumbled. “...He only still exists because you guys helped him…”

“Yes, even though we’re not much better off than him, we still make it our responsibility to help others around us… Even you.” Andrew divulged. “Don’t forget that even though this place let you stay the night and I gave you some breakfast, you’re not exactly in a position of need. I know they let you in here despite the fact that you didn’t qualify to be here, you’re not deserving of this amount of privilege.”

“Hey, I had all my privileges ripped away from me-” Click started, but was cut off.

“No you have not. Don’t you dare tell me that you’re not without privilege right now… Lemme ask you this, when was the last time you slept in a dumpster when you couldn’t afford a place to stay?” Andrew confronted.

“Uhh, never?” Click answered. “What does that have-”

“When was the last time you went three to four days without anything to eat?” Andrew confronted again.

“What?” Click stated, confused. "Who just does-”

“When was the last time you risked frostbite to your fingers and toes? When was the last time you had an infection you couldn’t cure for months? When was the last time you curled up and whimpered the names of your friends from the past, all alone with nothing but the darkness to keep you company, huh!? HUH!?” Andrew yelled.

“NEVER! Okay never! Are you happy now!? YES! Yes, I have privilege! Big whoop!” Click yelled back, standing up.

“Shhhh! Will you shut the fuck up!?... You’re going to get yourself killed yelling about that shit here… I’m just trying to get you to wake up and smell the truth; you’re damn lucky to be here right now, don’t forget that…” Andrew warned.

Click turned around to see the Addisons that remained in the building staring right at him with death glares. The room was completely silent again, only a cough here or there could be heard. Click’s heart raced as he suddenly realized he might’ve overstepped the line.

“...S-Sorry everyone, I-” Click started, but was cut off.

“Don’t even bother trying to apologize here, they’re just empty words to us all. You want to apologize? Then show it, don’t say it.” Andrew instructed. “Look… Maybe you should just go, okay? I think you’ve overstayed your welcome…”

“Now now Andrew, is that any way to talk to our guest?” said a voice from behind Click, who also placed a hand on his shoulder.

Click turned around to see the chartreuse colored Addison from earlier, they were a tad taller than him, wearing a moody indigo colored suit and a monocle. They appeared to be the best dressed out of anyone here, clearly had access to a nice house away from work.

“Ohh, hello mister-” Click went to introduce himself, but was cut off.

“It’s ‘Miss’ Abigail to you, sir.” Abigail corrected. “How about I escort you out, myself?”

“Okay, thanks…” Click responded, fixing the sheets on his bed. “But, just a minute.”

Click walked over to where Crazy Louie was resting, and knelt down to his level. Louie perked up and saw Click was next to him, he tilted his head in confusion, but then noticed the other half of Click’s granola bar was placed next to his makeshift pile of pillows and blankets that was his bed.

“I’m sorry for what happened to you, it’s not much, but-” Click started.

Louie suddenly smiled and nuzzled his face into Click’s chest, purring softly.

“Heh, okay okay… I have to go, alright?” Click told him, scratching Louie’s head.

“AAAAHHHHHH!” Louie screeched into Click’s face.

“Owww…” Click cringed, standing back up. “Okay, I’m ready.”

“Then follow me.” Abigail waved, stepping towards the door.

Click checked to make sure he didn’t leave anything behind and followed Abigail towards the door. Louie rested his head against Andrew’s lap and whimpered, sad to see Click go. The blue workers at the door moved aside to let the two of them outside. Abigail motions Click to follow her to the side of the building, and he does so, only to be immediately grabbed by the collar and pushed hard against the wall.

“Where do you get off trespassing in a place like this!? I know you’re not in real need, I found out your sales numbers from our database. I’ve built this non-profit from the ground up to help Addisons in need, and you come in here with your rich privileged tertiary attitude and take advantage of my cause!? That bed could’ve gone to someone who needed it way more than you, ya turd!” Abigail snarled, leaving Click almost white in the face with fear.

“Hey, I needed help, okay!? I don’t have my apartment to go back to until Monday, and I can’t afford to stay in a hotel every night!” Click argued.

“You listen to me you son of a bitch, if I see your fruity Addison ass back at my hostel again, I’ll make sure you end up in pieces that Ambyu-lances can’t put back together again, capiche? And don’t think I’m just bluffing, I know where Louie got attacked by those Werewires, and you’ll be worse off than he is…'' she threatened.

“Okay okay, I get the message! I’m sorry I trespassed, I won’t come back here again.” Click told her. “Now I'd appreciate you taking your hands off my collar…”

“...Don’t come back.” she huffed, letting his shirt go and returning to the inside of the hostel.

Click sighed in relief that he had escaped that place without being pummeled, but now he had to begin making enough money to save for the taxi ride, something else to eat, and a place to sleep tonight. He double checked how much money he had at the moment, which was a hundred dark dollars. He knew that he couldn’t return to the convenient stores he went to yesterday, they had practically banned him from shopping there. He also didn’t want to spend most of his time searching, he only had about ten hours left in the day, and every minute would count. Suddenly a thought brewed in Click’s head: did taxi ride fare’s change if you were closer to a destination, or were they all the same no matter the distance? Only one way to find out. He stepped out to the edge of the street and held his hand out to call for a taxi. After a couple of minutes, one pulled up to him and opened their door to let them in. Inside was a brightly yellow colored Addison with a grey newsboy cap on and a black button down shirt with a funky colored tie.

“Hey, I don’t need a ride, but I have a-” Click started, but was cut off.

“Then why did you hail me over to you if you don’t need a ride!?” the taxi driver yelled at him.

“-Wait, I didn’t finish. I need to know-” Click started again, but was cut off again.

“What is it!? I’m busy!” the taxi driver yelled back.

“...Is the price for any length of taxi ride the same, or is it cheaper if you’re closer?” Click sighed and asked.

“Yeah it’s cheaper if you’re closer, but good luck finding an Addison who drives a taxi with cheap prices! Most of us start at two hundred fifty for three miles since you’re paying for the service AND the electricity it takes to power it!” the taxi driver explained loudly.

“Oh great, thanks for telling me.” Click smiled.

“Yeah whatever, now beat it you bum, I’m workin!” the taxi driver shouted, waving Click away and peeling out of the street.

“Hrmm… It’s cheaper the closer I am, huh?” Click said to himself. “If I can make another one hundred fifty dark dollars by tomorrow AND get within three miles, I should be able to get the ride to work and get my money! I’ll be able to live normally again Friday morning! YES!”

Click wanted to celebrate early, but reality had hit him again. That was the case IF he didn’t spend anything today, which was going to be a problem right off the back. He currently had no place to stay now that he had been banned from that hostel, and a hotel stay would cost him all the money he had at the moment. Not to mention the fact that all he had to eat today was half a granola given to him by that purple Addison in the hostel, which he was quickly reminded of as his appetite kicked in.

“Urgh I swear, it’s like I’m in some kind of torture matrix, there’s no way I’m already hungry, I just ate…” Click complained. “Can you go an hour without telling me for once!?”

. . .

There was no answer.

“Heh, that’s what I thought.” Click smirked as he pulled out the map in his inventory.

At the moment he was currently about eleven miles away from where his work was since he walked one mile towards his destination, which meant he needed to walk about four miles today and four miles tomorrow if he was going to make it to work. Since his office closed in the evening, he would have to spend the night in a nearby shelter on Thursday and walk in to grab his check Friday morning. If three miles of walking on Monday was a massive toll on his body, four miles was going to be a whole other ballgame, which he still felt was something he could do if he devoted most of the day to it. He memorized the street names he would need to take for the quickest route to his work, and placed the map back in his inventory.

Okay, I can do this. Just take it one step at a time!’ Click thought to himself, taking a deep breath and making his first step.

- - -

“I… can’t… do this…” Click huffed, his breath strained from the exertion.

It had been only one mile of walking, and Click was already struggling to keep up the pace. It took him about three hours to walk just that one mile, and he still had three more miles to go in under six hours.

“I need… to sit down…” Click groaned, slowly stumbling to a nearby park bench.

He flopped like a ragdoll onto the bench, breathing quick and heavy. His forehead, back, and armpits were drenched in sweat. His feet were already swollen and searing with pain in his dress shoes, once he caught enough wind, he slipped them off to let his socks breathe.

“How… Do sports Addisons… work out!?” Click muttered through each breath. “Just walking’s impossible for me…”

He looked over at the street post clock near the bench, it read 11:42. He could tell the position he was sitting on the bench was starting to hurt as his back was screaming at him to sit up or lie down.

“Just… Need to rest until noon… Then I can keep going…” Click sighed, lying down to get in a comfier position on the bench.

He stared up at the bright neon sky, watching the pixelated birds fly through the spaces between the buildings that lined the park. The clouds above morphed and shaped into various abstract silhouettes that he tried to identify as something recognizable. One cloud he believed looked like Spamton’s face, which even though he knew it wasn’t his real face, he couldn’t bear to look at it for long.

“Stop looking at me, Spamton…” Click grumbled, turning his head away, but was still looking at the cloud. “...You’re still staring at me… Can’t see me if I can’t see you, heh heh…”

‘Hrmm… Having my eyes closed feels nice…’

- - -

*Grroooowwwrrllrl*

“AAHHH-!” Click yelped, jumpscared out of his nap.

He quickly sat up and held the headrest of the bench with his arms, his eyes darting around to see where that noise came from. Several Addisons that were walking by him were startled by his sudden awakening and stared at him like he was some kind of crazy person. Click immediately felt self conscious and nervously smiled.

“Heh heh heh sorry, just… thought I saw a virovirokun…” he lied, regaining some of his composure.

The Addisons shrugged and kept on with their business. Click sighed in relief once he was no longer the center of attention, but he drew his attention to the street post clock again. To his surprise, it was now 4:38.

“What the- Did I just take a five hour nap!? I don’t ever nap that long!” Click uttered in complete denial. “...I must’ve been so exhausted from the nights before that I didn’t realize…”

*Grrrggrrrlrll*

Click jolted in his seat and looked down at his stomach, jumpscared again. He wrapped his hands around it and gave himself a hug.

“Shit, I slept through lunch… I can’t walk another three miles empty… gotta eat something…” Click whimpered as his sides ached.

He stood up from the bench, his back cracking from sleeping on a hard surface. Stumbling towards the other side of the park, he saw there were still some food trucks parked and serving patrons. Most of them were pretty pricey, he didn’t want to spend a lot, but needed something larger and filling since he hasn’t had a meal today. Checking his options, one truck was selling Mexican food, another was selling Colombian food, and the other was selling churros. He compared the prices of their cheapest options; the Mexican food truck’s cheapest item was fifteen dark dollars, the Colombian food truck’s cheapest item was thirteen dark dollars, and the churro food truck was selling churros for ten dark dollars each. Click knew he would need something very filling since all he had today was half a granola bar, so the item for thirteen dark dollars seemed like the best bet.

“Hot And Fresh Churros! Now They’re On Sale; Buy One Get One Free For One Hour Only!” the Addison running the churro food truck announced.

“Free!?” Click gasped, suddenly running into the churro food truck line.

Despite his real decision of wanting to go with the Colombian food truck, his Addison programming was prone to fall for any kind of deal, much like the ones who ran to the convenience store after they found out he was reselling their items for a higher price. He got up to the front of the line and placed ten dark dollars on the counter.

“Two churros please!” Click smiled.

“Coming Right Up!” the Addison nodded and wrapped up two churros in some parchment paper and handed it to him. “There you go, enjoy!”

“Thanks!” Click chuckled, and walked away with a churro in each hand.

As he got about a hundred feet from the food trucks, the reality of what he had just done hit him like a brick. His smile slowly faded and he stared at the treats, a small fire of rage began to burn in his soul. It grew with each second that passed by, until he couldn’t hold it back.

“What the fuck!? I just spent my money on THESE!? Stupid, stupid, STUPID ADDISON PROGRAMMING!” Click hollered, stomping his foot on the ground. “I’m not even gonna dignify eating these churros, this is fucking bullshit!”

He stomped over to the trash can and held out his hand to drop the churros in, but he stopped and hesitated. Despite how angry he was at his decision, he knew he couldn’t just throw away good food when he hadn’t eaten all day. His hands shook, his grip on the churros tightening. Small tears began to well up in his eyes as he felt his stomach ache with starvation, and eventually he lowered his hands and sat down at a bench with his head down low.

“...N-No… I need to take what I can get, even if it’s just some dessert… You know it wasn’t your fault, your body can’t resist a good deal…” Click mumbled, wiping the tears from his eyes.

He took a bite of one of the churros and sighed in relief, they were sugary sweet, a touch of cinnamon, and even had a channel of chocolate syrup running through the middle. They were quickly eaten and filled the empty void, they weren’t exactly a meal, but at least he felt better. Standing up to dust the sugar crystals off his clothes, he dumped the parchment paper in the trash and stretched a bit.

“Guess I’d better keep walking…” Click huffed, double checking the path on his map, and heading in that direction.

He counted the money he had left, about ninety dark dollars. It was at this point that Click knew there was no way he was going to be able to sell anything today, he was too exhausted even after that nap, and wanted to primarily focus on getting closer to the three mile mark. After an hour of more exhausting walking, Click suddenly came upon the walkway to the Queen’s mansion, being part of the quickest route to his work. It had been a year since he last visited this place, he was invited to a fancy dinner party by the Queen through his work’s monthly raffle. He remembered the feast he had that night, gourmet darkburgers, freshly made giga salads, sweet spaghetti code, and butler juice to wash it all down. They even had dessert of heart donuts to take home once the event was over, it was one of the best donuts he had ever tasted in his life. Click knew that anything at the Queen’s cafe was going to be too expensive for him to purchase for dinner, even when he did have his wallet the prices were outrageous. However he wondered if he could manage to get inside and find some free samples to eat or check the occupied rooms for snacks, as long as he didn’t cause any property damage to the Queen’s fragile vases that were for some reason displayed on the walkways, the Swatchlings wouldn’t notice him slinking around in the hallways. After that, he would then go find a place to rest, at this point he didn’t care where it was so long as it only cost less than ninety dark dollars. He stepped up to the double doors, two blue Swatchlings guarding the entrance.

“Hey there, I’m here for the cafe?” Click declared.

“Very well, it’ll be on your left, sir.” the one on the left replied.

"Please keep downstairs unless you’d like to reserve a room for the night, then ask one of the Swatchlings to assist you with checking in.” the one on the right informed him.

“Thanks, will do.” Click smiled with his best advertisement face.

The Swatchlings shuffled to the side and opened the door, letting Click inside. The first thing he saw was the massive statue of the Queen, it was so tall, all you could really see were her shoes. Next to the statues were the double stairs that led to the guest rooms, along with the Queen’s vases that lined the walkways. Below the left staircase was the entrance to the Color Cafe, usually there was a sign to invite customers in to enjoy some free samples, but that sign wasn’t out tonight. If Click wanted to get something free to eat here, he’d have to sneak his way in every empty reserved room without knocking over one of the vases, which was going to be a challenge, those faces practically broke if you breathed on them funny. Click waited for the Swatchling guards to be distracted and turned away from the staircase before he made his way up, sidling behind the wall at the top of the stairs. Once the coast was clear, he began to walk down the hallway, searching for any door that wasn’t locked. Open doors meant it was either vacant or the guest was out, locked doors meant they were occupied.

He approached the first door that he walked up to and turned the handle gently, it was locked. Onto the next door, but first, he had to step by three vases. Click took care with each footstep not to get too close to the vases or step down too hard, and with time and patience, he eventually passed them. He got to the second door and turned the handle, it was unlocked. He peeked inside to see if it was being occupied by someone, which it was. He stepped in and began to look around the room for any kind of wrapped up snack he could take with him or eat right then and there. On the desk was a few packs of revive mints and a choco diamond, which he swiped up and placed in his inventory. Unfortunately they were the only food in this room, these were samples that every guest room contained courtesy of the Queen, so it seemed like the one staying in this room hadn’t eaten them yet. Click stepped out of the room and made his way to the next room, which was also unlocked. He looked around inside to find another couple packs of revive mints and a dark candy, which he swiped as well. He was about to make his way to the fourth room, but found his path blocked by about a dozen of Queen’s vases. It was like they were laid out on the floor like landmines, spread perfectly even between each other. Click would have to tread lightly through all of them if he wanted to swipe more items, which would be very hard for him to do given the fact that he had been stumbling today from the lack of food.

He had to determine if it was worth the risk of trying to get through; choosing to pass them meant he would have to pass through them twice to head for the exit, so he would have to be extra careful. On the other hand, he already had a couple snacks that he could easily walk out with and be on his way, but they weren’t going to last him very long. A sudden sharp and painful growl from his stomach had made the decision for him; he was going to attempt to get through. Click approached as close to the first one as he dared and began to slowly place his foot past it, shifting his body to curve around it. He had to make sure he was keeping an eye on how close his rear was to the vases behind him as he shuffled further. He held his arms out to his sides to keep his balance, but had to hold them high enough to not touch the vases. As he took another step, he unfortunately didn’t notice that one of his dress shoe’s laces had come undone, and a lace got caught under his other foot, making him lose his balance.

“SHIT!-” Click yelled as he crashed into half of the vases.

From behind the hallway’s left corner, two Swatchlings appeared with brooms in their hands and noticed Click sprawled out in a pile of broken porcelain vases. They approached him, glowing a bright red, screeching a siren signal, and waving their brooms.

“INTRUDER ALERT INTRUDER ALERT! YOU ARE TRESPASSING! INTRUDER ALERT INTRUDER ALERT! YOU ARE TRESPASSING!” they screeched, getting closer and closer.

“Ahh fuck!-” Click shouted, scrambling to get up and run in the opposite direction.

He ran through the other vases without any care, shattering them all to bits. He got to the stairs and began to run down them, only to make the mistake of tripping on his laces again, which caused him to tumble down all of the steps. At the last step, he tumbled with his head forward and hit the floor face first, which knocked him out cold. The last thing Click heard before blacking out were the high pitched squeals of the Swatchlings who witnessed his fall. He felt feathers slide underneath his arms, then it was black.

- - -

Click groaned and awoke to find himself being dragged down a hallway by his arms, his legs scraping the carpet behind him. He looked to find the two Swatchlings from before held him on either side, they hadn’t even noticed he had woken up yet, or were just too focused on dragging him to their unknown destination. Click recognized the hallway, he was being dragged to the Queen’s chamber. This could only mean one thing; he was going to have to stand trial against her for breaking those vases. Click began to sweat with worry, he knew the worst punishment you could receive from the Queen was to be tossed in the vat of acid, which he heard felt like your bones were being crunched to dust then reformed over and over again. Would she have him thrown in the acid? Or maybe thrown in a dungeon? He didn’t know how serious a crime breaking her vases or trespassing was, only one way to find out. The three of them soon arrived at the Queen’s chamber, she was sitting on her throne with a martini glass of battery acid in one hand, and the other leaning on the armrest. She turned to look at Click, five question marks appearing on her face.

“Who is this” the Queen asked the Swatchlings.

“My Queen, this Addison was caught trespassing in your hallways and has broken several of your vases.” the one on the left answered her.

“Hrmm, okay” she shrugged. “How do you plead”

“U-Uhh…” Click gulped. “G-Guilty?”

“Ehh whatever, I’m rich, we have more vases in the back” she laughed. “Just bring him to Swatch, he’ll handle his punishment”

“What?” the three of them asked.

“Yeah, I’m too busy to handle punishing you” she told them, standing up to leave. “Go on, take him to Swatch, I’ll let him know you’ll be showing up, Click”

“You know my name?” Click wondered, completely baffled.

“Of course darling” she affirmed as she stepped out of the room. “I know all the names of each Addison I program”

“Well, you heard the Queen. Let’s take him to Swatch.” the one on the right instructed the one on the left.

The two Swatchlings turned around and walked through the hallway, still dragging Click by his arms. Even though it felt a bit degrading to have the two of them drag him to their destination, he knew he was still a bit groggy from being knocked out, so he didn’t complain. Once they got to the end of the hall, they picked Click up like a serving tray and walked down the steps, taking care not to jostle him too much. They turned to the right and waltzed into the Color Cafe, where they were greeted by Swatch at the counter.

“Good evening you two, I see you brought Master Click down to see me. You can set him down, I’ll take it from here.” Swatch told them.

“Yes sir. Goodnight sir.” the two Swatchlings nodded, placing Click down on one of the bar stools and stepped out of the cafe.

Click looked up to see Swatch facing away from him, presumably for either dramatic effect, or he was cleaning the counter behind him. His vision was still a bit fuzzy from his fall, so he laid his arms down on the counter and rested his head on top of them.

“You’re lucky the Queen has dozens more of those vases, I’m not sure why she has us place them in the middle of the floor like that, but they do make for a good alarm for thieves like yourself.” Swatch commented, turning to look at Click while holding all of the items he had in his pocket. “Of all the precious jewelry and expensive merchandise you could’ve stolen from us, you chose to steal the samples of sweets we give to patrons who stay at the mansion?”

“I was hoping for more food to take than that…” Click confessed, slumping his face as his stomach growled with comedic timing. “I haven’t eaten much today…”

“So, the Queen has put me in charge of your punishment for vandalism and trespassing. I already have an idea on what I shall have in store for you.” Swatch professed, turning around to the other side of his bar.

Click braced himself for whatever was going to some this way. Would he have his face burnt with a creme brulee torch? Or maybe have all of his hair cut off? He heard the clinks of a plate and cup next to him, and he mustered the courage to look up from his arms, where he found a plate of about half a dozen scones and a cup of tea.

“Your punishment will be to polish off our scone inventory for the night.” Swatch chuckled.

Click gasped and wasted no time grabbing two of the scones off the plate and stuffing them into his mouth. They were sweetened with icing on top and filled with delicious lemon curd. It was one of the best desserts he had tasted in a very long time. Swatch watches Click have his fill as he picked up a washcloth and began to dry some of the glassware that had been recently washed.

“I know why you’re here Click, you were foolish to have not come to me at the cafe first to ask for something to eat.” Swatch informed him.

“Wait, how do you know why I’m here?” Click asked him, his mouth full of lemon curd.

“Your coworker Banner had given me a call two days ago, they were worried that you might’ve been struggling to find enough food or shelter for the week, so they asked me to help you in any way I could if you stopped by.” Swatch explained, finishing wiping down the glass in his hand.

“Banner called you?... But, I thought Banner wanted nothing to do with me this week…” Click pondered, taking a sip of his tea.

“I think you underestimate how much your coworker cares about you.” Swatch advised. “Afterall, why would they go out of their way to put you through such a tough life lesson?”

“...I guess I never thought of it that way…” Click mumbled, finishing up the last scone. “I just thought they were mad at me for hurting Spamton so much…”

“Well, that’s probably part one of your life lessons. The second lesson will probably hit you when you least expect it, I can’t exactly divulge what the lesson is, but I think you’ll come face to face with it in the upcoming days.” he claimed, reaching into his pocket.

“I’m worried I might not be strong enough to face Banner when the week is up, Swatch…” Click expressed his concern. “What if I don’t give them the right answer they’re looking for?”

“That I can’t answer for you Click, but I can provide you with this.” Swatch replied, placing a hotel card on the counter. “This card will provide you a one night stay in the hotel down the road. Please don’t trade this for cash.”

“Where did you get this!?” Click asked him.

“They’re for guests that the Queen randomly decides she doesn’t like, I’m allowed to give out a few of these a day, and I have one left for today.” Swatch explained. “You were lucky the Queen was in a good mood today around the guests, or I would’ve only had pastries and tea to give you tonight. Did you enjoy the scones?”

“Yes, they were amazing… Thank you Swatch, this really means a lot to me, the last two days have been really tough…” Click sighed, placing the card in his pocket.

“No problem… I do need to get back to work and finish cleaning the place before I clock out, you’re welcome to stay here and finish your tea until I have to leave.” Swatch mentioned before heading into the kitchen to finish work.

“Okay, I won’t be long…” Click nodded, taking another sip of his tea.

After about five minutes the tea was polished off, leaving Click nice and satisfied. Scones by themselves weren’t exactly a meal, but they were filling enough to keep his hunger away for now. He stepped down from the counter seat and made sure to leave the plate and cup in a tidy fashion and scooped the crumbs off the counter and back onto the plate to make Swatch’s job a bit easier. With a refreshed sigh, Click made his way out the door and towards the exit of the Queen’s castle, the Swatchings at the door shuffled to let him out, then resumed their previous position. Walking down the road, he spotted the hotel that Swatch gave him the card to and stepped up to the entrance. It was definitely a nicer place than the first hotel he stayed at two nights ago, the lobby was neater and the Addison at the counter appeared friendlier. They were a baby blue color, their hair in buns with flower ties, and wore a bright white blouse. He shuffled over to the counter and placed the card Swatch gave him next to the receptionist.

“One night please.” Click requested.

“Ahh, another guest the Queen hated. Alright sir, just sign your name here on this form and you may take this room card to room 305.” the receptionist smiled, placing a waiver on the desk along with a keycard.

Click signed the form and took the card with him to the elevator, pressing floor three and stepping out when he arrived on his floor. He walked up to room 305 and scanned himself in. The room looked recently cleaned by the maids, and the bathroom smelled of a nice lavender. The bed’s cover and sheets were fluffy and neatly folded in even rectangles, no dust in sight. He immediately slipped off his dress shoes and flopped into bed, groaning with exhaustion. His head tilted up to look at the hotel clock, it was 10:48. He must’ve been knocked out at the Queen’s mansion longer than he expected, they probably kept him in a room until the Queen was ready to meet with him.

After about five minutes, Click got up and shuffled into the bathroom to find a grooming kit on the sink, along with a toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste. It just occurred to him that he hadn’t brushed his teeth since Monday morning, he licked his teeth and found they were covered in a thin layer of plaque. The first thing he did was brush his teeth since it was one of the more immediate hygiene tasks he needed to do. The minty taste of the toothpaste was a refreshing change compared to the lingering stickiness of the food he’s had the past few days. Once that was done, he moved onto brushing his hair, now that he had a proper brush he could use, he got out any larger knots he couldn’t untangle with his hands. He noticed quite a bit more hair than usual was in the hairbrush, he had to brush more roughly to remove the knots after all, so more hair was pulled out. He also found a bar of soap, and enough shampoo, conditioner, and body wash for one shower. Although he certainly needed a shower since he hadn’t had one in days and he had sweat a lot from walking a few miles, he decided it would be more beneficial to save the shower in the morning, he preferred to shower in the morning anyway. Now that he was a bit cleaner, Click removed his clothes down to his boxers, folded them up neatly, and climbed into bed. The sheets were super soft and cooling to the touch. He shut the light off and set the alarm clock for 7:30, then slowly let the comfort of the bed and the silence of the room swallow him whole. Three days down, four to go. Knowing that Banner was looking out for his safety despite kicking him out in the first place was reassuring to Click, if a little ironic.

Chapter Text

*Beep beep beep beep click*

7:30 at last.

Click turned off the alarm he set on the hotel clock and rubbed his eyes. He pulled the covers off of himself and yawned wide, stretching his arms and legs. Getting some proper sleep in this hotel was a blessing, he had been quite sleep deprived in the past few days, and it shows as he had slept through the whole night without interruption. As he was stretching, a foul stench smacked his nose, causing it to wrinkle up.

“Ughh, what’s that smell?” Click mumbled.

He thought about where the smell could be coming from, and to no surprise, it was coming from him. Afterall, it had been days since his last shower.

“Oh yeah… It’s me.” he concluded.

Slipping off his boxers and removing his hair tie, he shuffled into the bathroom and got the shower ready, turning it to the right temperature, and opening up the pack of soap provided to him by the hotel. He stepped in and began to soak his hair, letting it get heavy with water before applying the shampoo. As he scrubbed his scalp, he noticed a few specks of dirt drip down from his hair to his feet and toward the drain. Guess being outside for most of the day caused him to pick up some stray dust and debris. Once the shampoo was done, he applied the conditioner and massaged it into his roots. While the conditioner did its thing, he grabbed the soap and began to clean the fur on his body, making sure to scrub his armpits and inner thigh area well. More and more dirt accumulated by his feet and flowed down the drain, it had taken him aback a bit as he was never the type to ever get dirty, even for events purposely designed for that like sports, so to see so much of it wash off of him was unexpected.

Once he was done cleaning his fur, he took a breath and leaned his head on the front shower wall, letting the water continuously pour onto his head and body. He didn’t realize just how much he had missed taking a shower, the comforting feeling of warmth from the water and the fresh clean feeling afterwards felt so long ago, but it had only been about four days. His eyes drooped and he relaxed, taking in the experience. He knew he had some work to do today, but it had been so long since he felt so safe and vulnerable, he didn’t want to leave it quite yet. He stood that way in the shower for a good ten minutes before deciding to finish, turning off the water, and grabbing the provided towels. He started with his face and worked his way down, squeezing the water out of his fur and rubbing the more hard to reach places dry. Once he was dry enough, he wrapped his hair with the towel and stepped out, the humidity in the bathroom keeping his face soft and warm. He then got to work on the rest of the hygiene routine and began to brush his teeth. Click often suffered from morning breath, and today was no expedition. Having only desserts to eat yesterday certainly did a number on his mouth, even the brushing he did last night didn’t remove all of the residue, so he had quite the punch to his breath. The minty taste of the toothpaste removed any remaining sugary residue, leaving his mouth fresh and clean once again. He grabbed the tube of deodorant that was also in the grooming kit and applied it under his armpits, it would certainly help him keep the sweat and stench away while he walked around the city. There were small spray bottles of cologne as well in the grooming kit, but Click decided to wait to use those until after he got dressed; he could apply them to his clothes and get a better result. Finally he took his hair out of the towel and used the blow dryer hanging on the wall to dry his hair. Once it was dry enough, he moved onto drying some of his fur that he missed with the towel, the hair on his head dangling in his face, blocking some of his vision. Luckily he didn’t need all of his vision to determine when he was all dry, and didn’t fix it up with the brush until he was finished drying.

He stepped out of the bathroom clean and ready for the day, and moved onto prepping his clothes. They were wrinkled from the day before, so he decided to iron them out again. Luckily the iron in this hotel was much nicer and had a water spray feature, so he could better smooth out the ripples without risking burning the fabric again. The previous iron mark still mocked him, unable to try and wash it away as he knew hotels didn’t have a laundromat he could use. All he could do was crisp them up and spray them with the cologne, which was better than nothing. Once his clothes were done ironing, he put the board away and slipped his clothes back on. Since they weren’t really cleaned up, the dry dust that was invisibly caked to them released onto his body, which gave him a bit of an itch. He decided to shrug it off and continue getting ready, putting on his shoes and tying the laces tighter this time as he didn’t want them to come undone again at the wrong place at the wrong time. He grabbed the cologne from the bathroom and used it on various parts of his clothes, mainly the spots he would most likely sweat from, and a bit on his neck. The cologne smelt of a sweet and tart citrus, which complimented his pink hue, but also woke his system up for the day, which quickly alarmed him to eat breakfast.

“Yeah yeah yeah, I’m getting to that…” Click sighed, rolling his eyes.

The remaining cologne he decided to take with him in case he couldn’t get another shower within the next few days, so he placed the bottles in his inventory. Once he was done stripping the sheets off his bed, he grabbed his keycard and walked out of the hotel room. He took the elevator to the lobby and stepped out, where he was greeted with the lovely scent of freshly cooked waffles and bacon. Intoxicated by the smell, Click wandered over to the hotel’s breakfast buffet nook, which practically begged him to grab a plate and dig in. There was also a sign that stood at the entrance, it read ‘Breakfast 6:30-9:30’. He was about to grab a plate, when he remembered something. He didn’t know if breakfast was included with his room, so he had to ask the receptionist first. He walked over to the counter and looked for a receptionist, but to his surprise, no one was there. Instead, there was a note that simply read ‘Back in thirty minutes!’. Click huffed and decided to wait for them to return so that he could ask them if breakfast was included. With nothing besides some magazines on the table nearby to entertain them, he chose instead to watch the clock on the wall tick down. It was already 8:47, which meant he had about over half an hour to find out if he could get something to eat here.

8:54…

8:59…

9:05…

Many minutes passed and there was still no sign of the receptionist returning. Click softly groaned and rubbed his face, he was getting impatient having to wait like some dog waiting for their owner to wake up and serve their food to them. His stomach was tired of waiting too, and it let him know with a loud growl.

“Urgh, shut up, we can’t until I know first…” Click complained, rubbing his belly.

But this did little to stop it, as it continued to pester and growl at him for another five minutes. Eventually he couldn’t wait any longer, and he got up from his seat.

“Stupid receptionist, what are they doing, taking a nap at home?” Click grumbled, walking towards the breakfast buffet nook. “Fuck it, I’m not waiting for their answer. If this place has a partnership with the Queen to provide rooms to her guests, then it’s gonna be free.”

Click grabbed a plate and began to fill it up with all kinds of breakfast goodies; bacon, sausage, a waffle, some fruit, a packaged blueberry muffin, and an orange juice. He did notice the buffet included scrambled chicken eggs, which he made sure to avoid. Just thinking back to that sandwich he ate on Monday made him shudder. He didn’t hold back on the portions, but made sure it was an amount he could finish before the time was up. If he didn’t finish everything on time, he could at least take the muffin with him since it was the only thing wrapped up. He sat down and started to eat, filling his cheeks with fluffy, crisp, syrupy waffle goodness first. He smiled and hummed a relaxed tune as he chewed, overwhelmed with excitement to be eating a real filling breakfast for once since Monday. He moved onto the breakfast meats, savoring the bacon with each crunch, and took his time really understanding the smoky flavors of the breakfast sausage. As he continued to eat, he overheard some guests that were checking out at the front desk, guessing that meant the receptionist had returned.

“Checking out?” the receptionist asked cheerfully.

“Yes, thank you.” the guests responded.

“Okay, one moment… So your three night stay, plus the use of the pool, plus the three times you had breakfast here, your total today is going to be one thousand, three hundred, and seventy two dark dollars!” the receptionist explained.

Click’s body ran cold. He looked down at the plate of food before him and realized that the food was not going to be free, it was a separate charge to your hotel stay. He gulped the remaining food in his mouth and silently looked around, checking to see if anyone had noticed him in here. Luckily he was the only one currently in the breakfast buffet nook, which meant no one but the receptionist would recognize him, which meant no one could snitch on him for trying to walk out without paying. He slowly went back to finishing his plate, trying not to act conspicuous. He kept his head down to avoid anyone who might suddenly walk in to see his face and report him if they caught him. Once he finished the food on his plate and the clock struck 9:30, he carefully stuffed the blueberry muffin in the back of his inventory, hoping they wouldn’t notice him walking out with it. He slowly made his way to the front desk and placed his key card down in front of the receptionist.

“Checking out?” they smiled with glee.

“Y-Yeah…” Click nervously responded.

“Okay, you’re one of the Queen’s guests… Did you have breakfast with us, sir?” they asked, tilting their head.

“No-!” Click quickly responded, his voice cracking a bit.

“Okay… Are you sure? Because according to the security footage, you had just grabbed a plate for breakfast over there twenty five minutes ago.” they explained, showing Click the screen they were looking at.

Oh shit, he forgot to look for cameras. Click’s face couldn’t help but look guilty, he bit his lip and his eyes darted around for the nearest exit.

“U-Umm… Oh jeez look at the time, I better be going!” Click shouted, suddenly making a run for it out the door.

“HEY! Come back here!” the receptionist yelled to him, jumping over their desk to chase after him.

Once outside, Click looked around to see which path to take to get away as quickly as he could. The receptionist ran outside too and noticed a Swatch that was patrolling nearby a police station.

“HEY! STOP THAT ADDISON! A THIEF!” they called to the Swatch, pointing at Click.

“Oh fuck-!” Click yelped and ran in the opposite direction to the Swatchling.

“STOP THIEF, YOU’RE UNDER ARREST! STOP THIEF, YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!” the Swatchling screeched as it ran after him.

Click darted through the city streets, knocking over trash cans to try and slow down the Swatchling chasing him. Unfortunately the Swatching was like a ninja with feathers, acrobating over the obstacles, and getting closer to Click. He had to make a quick decision, he was already running out of steam, and was being weighed down by what he ate earlier. The Swatchling suddenly lunged for Click, but missed as Click dashed down an alleyway on his left at the last second, giving him a bit more distance. Coming out of the alleyway, he recognized he was now in the jewelry and art district of Cyber City, somewhere he frequented and had bought his watch in. He had only seconds to find a place to hide, and decided on the nearby earrings store, opening the glass door and dashing over to the counter.

“Hey, who the fuck are- Hey, what the hell you doing!?” The Lightner running the shop screamed as Click hopped over the counter and hid underneath the office desk leg space.

“Sorry sorry, I’m being chased by a Swatchling! He’s trying to arrest me!” Click harshly whispered.

“What!? What the hell is going on!? Tell me who you are right now!” she demanded.

Suddenly the Swatchling walks into the door, and looks around for Click. Soon it catches the eye of the Lightner running the shop and began to approach.

“Ixnay…” Click whimpered, motioning his hand around his neck to tell her not to sell him out.

“Good morning miss, I’m on the hunt for a thief who stiffed out on a hotel bill. Have you seen a Pink Addison wearing a button down shirt with a dark triangular mark on it?” The Swatchling asked her.

“Umm…” she paused, and smiled deviously. “...Yeah, he ran in here trying to hide from you! He’s under that desk over there!”

“WHAT!? YOU SON OF A BITCH-!” Click shouted, but quickly covered his mouth.

“Alright, hands where I can see them, thief!” The Swatchling ordered, pulling out a fancy black whip with a small mace on the end of it and giving it a crack.

“Okay okay okay, j-just don’t hit me!” Click stuttered, following the Swatchling’s orders and held his hands in the air as he approached the counter.

“You’re coming with me, sticky fingers…” The Swatchling told him, picking him up by his arms and placing handcuffs on him. “I apologize for the inconvenience, Miss. Has he caused any property damage that you’d like to press charges for?”

“Nah, we’re good. Thank you.” she replied.

“Great, by the way, I didn’t catch your name.” The Swatchling informed her.

“It’s Guinevere.” Guinevere stated.

“Mark my words Guinevere, if I see your Lightner ass in my office for some tea, I will personally scald your face with it!” Click threatened.

“Whatevs.” Guinevere shrugged.

“Very well, have a good day, Miss Guinevere.” The Swatchling bowed and walked out the door with Click under his wing.

“Fuckin’ idiot…” she mumbled as she got back to work.

“Now then, let’s get your ass down to the station.” The Swatchling told Click, heading for the police station. “You’ll be staying in a holding cell until we get your papers ready and determine your punishment.”

Click groaned and went limp in the Swatchling’s grip, there would be no point in struggling or escaping with handcuffs on or without the key to take them off. He was also a bit nauseous from running around so much with his belly full, so he didn’t mind being carried. He stared at the looming police station building and grew worried about how long it was going to take for him to be released. His paycheck was going to be sent to direct deposit tomorrow, so he had to have enough time left in the day to make about one hundred forty dark dollars, which now might be jeopardized because he didn’t want to pay for this morning’s breakfast. The Swatchling brought him inside the building, where the other Swatchlings at the office greeted the one with Click and patted them on the back.

“Hey, nice job catching him, mate.” one of the Swatchlings at the front desk chuckled.

“It wasn’t easy, he put up quite the chase.” the one holding Click replied.

“Guess we can book him for more than just theft then, huh?” the one by the entrance smirked.

The two of them walked further into the building to where the holding cells were, and the door to one of them was opened up.

“Alright, I’m going to need you to hold still while I search your inventory for any weapons or illegal substances, okay?” The Swatchling instructed him.

“Fine, just get it over with…” Click sighed, making sure not to move.

The Swatchling searched Click’s inventory where he found ninety dark dollars, a map of the city, two small bottles of cologne, a packed blueberry muffin, and a four day old egg sandwich. He decided to confiscate all of it as he didn’t know if any of it was stolen from the hotel.

“Get comfortable, you’ll be staying with us for a few hours while we’re filing your paperwork. You’ll get your belongings back when we release you then” The Swatchling informed Click.

“Hours!? But-but-but I have to make enough money today to get a taxi ride to work, I don’t have time to waste here!”

“Sorry, but that’s the rules. Now please stay quiet.” they told him, locking the metal door up.

“W-Wait, what about my handcuffs? Aren’t you going to take them off me?” Click asked, holding his hands out the bars.

“I’m afraid not, it’s protocol that you keep them on until we release you. I have to get back to work.” they sighed and left the room, leaving Click by himself.

“P-Please! Y-You can’t just leave me here!... Alone…In the dark…” Click pleaded, slowly receding towards the concrete bed in the corner.

He sat down on the bed and softly whimpered, worried with what kind of punishment he was going to face this time. He was certain he wasn’t going to be able to get away with his crimes like he did yesterday since Swatch was already aware he was going to show up, but now he was in real trouble. All he could do was rest and wait for one of the Swatchlings to return and release him, so he took their advice and tried to get comfortable. The concrete bed was much less comfortable than the bench he slept on yesterday, he had to shift around a bit to find a spot he could tolerate. It was also freezing cold to sit on, he wouldn’t be surprised if he could see his breath if it wasn’t so dark where he was.

‘Man, I’m never going to make enough money to get to work… What am I gonna do without my paycheck? I’m almost out of places to sleep…’ Click thought to himself, trying not to let tears stream down his face. ‘...I hope Spamton didn’t have to go through this himself while he lived on the streets…’

After about an hour of staring at the ceiling, Click suddenly felt a tickle on his back, and he went to reach back to scratch it, but the cuffs prevented him from reaching behind himself.

“Shit, can’t get it… Argh, c’mon!... Stupid handcuffs…” Click mumbled to himself, trying every angle in an attempt to scratch his back, but to no avail.

Suddenly he realized that there was something in the cell that could reach his back; the bars. He got up and pressed his back against one of them, and scratched himself like a bear on a pine tree.

“Ooo, ahhh- yeah, right there~” Click sighed, relieved of at least one nuisance for now.

He turned around and looked over at the other holding cell across from him, no one was in there, and it sounded like he was the only one as there weren't any other sounds but his own. Any noise he made echoed in the room, so the volume was also amplified. Even his dress shoes stepping on the cold concrete floor sounded like he was walking through some kind of art museum. He lied back down on the concrete bed and yawned, all that running he did trying to escape that Swatchling was catching up to him. If he was going to be here a while, a little sleep wouldn’t hurt. That is, IF he could get comfy enough to sleep with the cold room and handcuffs on. He removed his shoes and kicked them over to the corner of the holding cell, figuring he’d give his feet a break and some time to breathe. He rolled over to his side and placed his hands underneath his head to create a makeshift pillow, he shuddered at how cold the concrete was on his bare hands, even with his fur insulating him. To preserve more heat, he curled up in the fetal position and tried to keep still. Eventually enough concrete underneath him absorbed his body heat and became warm enough for him to relax, his eyes slowly closing and he drifted off to sleep.

- - -

Click awoke to a sharp pain in his neck, probably from the lack of a real pillow, so he sat up to crack it. He couldn’t tell how long he was out cold, or if he even was out cold, there was no clock in the room to go off of. The only way he could possibly predict the time was when he were to get hungry. Typically he’d burn through a meal in just four hours, but since he had done a lot of running after his breakfast today, he was certain he could burn through it in less time. He could tell at least three hours had passed as he was starting to feel an empty sensation in his stomach, which was not exactly comforting to finally know. He wondered if he was going to be given a meal while being held here, surely they wouldn’t let him starve the whole day if he was going to be kept here later than a few hours. He looked outside his bars to see if he could spot anyone outside the room door’s window, but only the light of the building shined through, barely reaching the edge of his holding cell.

‘I hope they didn’t forget about me here…’ Click thought to himself as he stared at the door window. ‘How am I going to let them know if I need something?’

“H-Hey!... Hello?... Anyone?... Hello!?...” Click shouted, his voice echoing against the walls and back in his ears louder than he spoke.

. . .

But no answer.

“Guess they can’t hear me here…” Click mumbled, backing up to his concrete bed.

He shuffled his way to the bed corner, pulled his knees up to his chest, and miserably sighed; he was incredibly bored just sitting there. The empty feeling in his stomach worsened as he was now hungry for his next meal, but he couldn’t do anything to satisfy it. The only food he had with him was confiscated, so now any mercy on his hunger was in the wings of the Swatchlings. Since there was nothing in the room for him to distract his attention with, all his attention was drawn to his stomach, which was now beginning to churn and ache. He lowered his legs a bit to let his hands rub his belly.

‘Please… Don’t start growling, it’s gonna be so loud in here…” Click begged in his thoughts, holding his stomach tight with his cuffed hands, but it was inevitable.

*GRROOOWWRLLLL*

Click flinched hard and quickly covered his ears from the loud noise echoing through the room. Somehow the noise reverberated loud enough to be painful to listen to, which he didn’t manage to avoid in time.

“-Aghh! Shit, that hurt…” Click said to himself.

He removed his hand from his ears and went back to rubbing his stomach to hopefully calm it down and prevent any more harsh noises. He softly groaned as the aching progressively got worse, he slowly slid down to lie down on the concrete bed. He could feel another growl coming, so he quickly covered his ears in time.

*GRRRGGLLLRLL*

Click uncovered his ears when the noise stopped, he sat up and whined, tears now beginning to stream down his face. The hunger was becoming too overwhelming, with nothing to distract his mind or body from it, the pain was now up ten fold. Click sat up and wiped the tears, staring at the floor, observing some water dripping from the ceiling in one of the corners. Out of the corner of his eye where the water pooled onto the floor, he noticed a tiny shade of green glistening through the darkness. He got up from his seat and got closer to the green object, and he found there was a patch of moss that was growing in the holding cell, presumably thriving from the moist environment. Click remembered he had taken a herbology class in the Addison Academy and learned about edible plants, including moss. He knew that it wasn’t entirely edible without some preparation first, but he was in no position to do so. He had no idea when the Swatchlings would return to release, much less come in to check on him, and he was starving. He knelt down next to the moss.

‘I can’t believe I’m about to do this…’ Click thought, sniffling.

He slowly reached down and with shaky hands, picked the moss up. He cringed at the hand feel, but it was going to be worse in a moment. He brought the moss up to his mouth and slowly opened his jaws, his tongue retreated to the back of his throat involuntarily. His hands shook with hesitation, his eyes squinted with anticipation, but he quickly lowered his hands and sucked in a tearful breath.

“I can’t do this… I just can’t…” Click whined.

*GRROOWWRRLLL*

Click flinched harshly from the echoing noise that bellowed from his stomach and he let out a scared yelp.

“Okay okay!... I’ll do it…” he whimpered, slowly bringing his hands back up to his mouth.

Click shut his eyes tight and opened his mouth wide, his teeth bared and tongue hiding away. With one quick move, he shoved the moss pile into his awaiting maw, quickly shutting his teeth before he changed his mind. The taste was very bitter and gritty, like if you took a bite out of a rotten kale salad served from a dirty sandbox. His eyes watered with disgust, and a soft scream escaped his throat as he slowly began to chew the moss. He tilted his head back to maneuver the smaller parts of the mouthful towards the back of his throat, making sure not to touch it with the front part of his tongue. With great effort, he strained the muscles in his throat to open up and swallow the first bits with a loud gulp. He broke the remaining mouthful with his teeth into two parts, slowly chewing one of the pieces in more manageable bites, and maneuvering to the back of his throat. He strained again, and with tears streaming down his face, the second bite was swallowed. Suddenly he heard the sound of a door opening and he quickly turned around to see the Swatchling from before entering the holding cell room.

“Hello sir, I’ve come to-” The Swatchling started, but stopped when they saw Click with moss trickling out of his mouth. “Umm…”

“...Hey there.” Click responded, the rest of the moss dropping to the floor.

“...Okay, gonna pretend I didn’t see that. Listen, despite the fact that you’re being charged for food theft and resisting arrest, we are under legal obligation to provide a meal to those detained for longer than six hours.” The Swatchling explained, scratching the back of their head.

“I’ve been in here… for six hours, and none of you checked on me until now!? What time is it!?” Click argued, running up to the bars and gripping them.

“Calm down sir, it’s currently 2:45. It hasn’t been six hours quite yet, but you will be here for at least that allotted time.” they reassured him. “Here, you must be quite hungry, I apologize for bringing it to you so late, the office has been quite busy wrangling the stray tasques that escaped from the Queen’s manor days ago...”

Click wasted no time taking the tray of food through the cell’s rectangular opening. On the tray was a simple bologna and cheese sandwich with a mustard packet next to it, a banana, and a plastic cup of water. He stared at it for quite a bit, unable to take his eyes off the food.

“...Oh, you don’t have any dietary restrictions, do you? I suppose I forgot to ask before-” The Swatchling started, but was cut off.

“N-No no, I’m just… in a stare. Th-Thanks…” Click answered, taking the tray and sitting down on the concrete bed.

“We’re almost done with your paperwork, you’ll only be charged with a fine of thirty dark dollars for the meal you didn’t pay for, and sixty dark dollars for resisting arrest.” they disclosed.

“Ninety dark dollars? But… that’s all I have…” Click muttered, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

“I’m sorry, but that’s how it’s gotta be. I’ll come back to release you from the holding cell in an hour.” they affirmed, heading for the door.

“Okay…” Click sighed, continuing to eat his lunch.

The meal was nothing special, the mustard packet offered little support for how bland and dry the sandwich was, bologna and cheese barely had any taste to Click. It was also harder to chew it without cringing as there were still grains of dirt left in his teeth from the moss, which made his sandwich a bit crunchy. The banana was just a boring piece of fruit, and the water, although decently refreshing, was lukewarm at best. But so long as it kept his belly quiet, he didn’t care what he was eating, it was a million times better than that moss. Once he was done with his meal, he placed the tray on the edge of the concrete bed and sighed, leaning against the wall. With his current problem dealt with, all he could do was wait to be released. His eyes began to droop from the exhaustion, and his head drifted down to his right shoulder into the corner of the wall.

‘What am I gonna do without my money? Where am I gonna sleep tonight?’ Click thought to himself. ‘If I wasn't so stupid and just paid the bill for breakfast, I wouldn’t be in jail right now…’

He crossed his arms and grumbled, his mind ruminating on his own recklessness and hubris. He still had several more miles to reach his work, and with no money saved to be able to afford the taxi ride, he was essentially back to square one, except more malnourished and tired than he was on Monday. Click looked down at his dress shoes that were lying in the corner.

. . .

‘Am I really going to need those to get around?’ Click pondered, his eyes focusing on his shoes. ‘I can still walk around without them, and they’ve been digging into my heels anyway… Dunno how much they’d be worth on the street since they’re clearly used…’

Click got up from his seat after some time and slipped his shoes back on, just in time for the Swatchling who caught him earlier to walk into the room.

“Hey, your paperwork is all set, we just need you to sign it, and you’ll be free to leave with your possessions” The Swatchling explained as they opened up Click’s cell door.

“About time, these cuffs are starting to chafe…” Click huffed, stepping out of the cell.

He followed the Swatchling into the next room over, the bright light slightly blinding him, and walked up to the front desk. One of them slid the release papers to Click and he signed them, to which they removed his handcuffs right as he was done. He rubbed his wrists as they were a bit sore from the tight metal, and was handed back whatever possessions he had that weren’t claimed by the police, i.e. his map, the cologne, and the egg sandwich. Click sighed as he noticed his money and the blueberry muffin were claimed, presumably due to the receptionist’s help of identifying what items from them were stolen and the charge he had to pay for his crime.

“Alright Mr. Click, you’re free to leave. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” The Swatchling at the front desk told him.

“Great, thanks…” Click mumbled, rolling his eyes and heading out the door.

Now back outside, Click had some work to do; he had to make some more money to try and afford a place to stay tonight or towards the taxi ride. It was 2:45 when he was given lunch, and an hour more probably passed while he was waiting for the Swatchling to return, so it was most likely 4:00 now. Since he had two meals today and one of them just an hour ago, he figured he could probably go without dinner and just have a snack before bed to keep the hunger pangs from bothering him as he slept and save the money towards the more important goals. The first thought he had was to look around on the edges of the sidewalks and street first for any stray dark dollars before he would give himself the green light to sell his shoes. Afterall, it was one of his favorite pairs of shoes he paid good money for, and he’d be damned if he sold them without the need to, like if he somehow found all the money he needed on the street out of the blue.

So with that plan in place, Click began to walk on the edge of the sidewalk, looking for any loose money, and after about an hour of searching, he found himself out of luck this time. Click sighed as the reality of needing to sell his shoes was creeping in closer, the sky’s hue was beginning to darken already, and a cold front was beginning to descend in the streets. So far the weather had been pleasant and comforting, but Click suspected that this was a sign that rain would be coming soon; he would need to speed up his game plan if he was going to make enough money for a warm place to stay tonight. With a heavy heart, he walked towards a busier area of the sidewalk and slipped his shoes off, giving them a good few taps together to remove any dirt or sand that might be inside them or stuck in between the grooves underneath. He gave the leather exterior a good shine with his sleeve just to enhance their appearance, and tied the laces to a fancy bow. He suddenly got the bright idea of masking whatever odor may be lingering inside them with some of the cologne he still had on hand, that way, almost no one would be able to tell they were recently worn. With a few well placed sprays, the shoes were as ready as they’ll ever be to be sold to some sucker who was none the wiser. Click got into prime position, standing heel to heel, holding his hand out with the shoes resting on his palm, and gave his best advertising smile.

“Looking For A Way To Get Stronger? Up Your Armors With This Pair Of… ‘Dating Shoes’! Only One Left In Stock, Buy Now!” he shouted with false charisma.

As expected, it took longer this time, about an hour and a half, for someone interested in purchasing from him to approach, the watch he sold on Monday was practically brand new compared to his dress shoes. It was a pale red colored Addison wearing a black turtleneck and dark tan khakis, they seemed to be on the older side. To Click’s perspective, they seemed like a well mannered and friendly looking fellow.

“Excuse me good sir, are you selling these loafers here?” they queried.

“Yes I am, did you want to try them on first?” Click asked them.

“Oh nooo… I’d like to keep mine out of them… May I inspect them?” they wondered.

“Uhh, go right ahead.” Click shrugged, handing the shoes over to the Addison.

He took a step back and let the old geezer take a look at his merch, observing them as they checked the underside, the sole on the inside, and even stuck his nose into it, which took Click by surprise.

“Ohhh yeah… These’ll do nicely~” they mumbled. “Would you take thirty dark dollars for them?” they finally offered.

“Uhhh…” Click stammered, still a bit confused by the Addison’s odd way of inspecting his merch.

“Not enough? Okay, forty dark dollars then! C’mon sonny, help an old man out…” they counter offered, holding out two twenty dark dollar bills. “I’ll even pay you in big bills, c’mon… You’re at least in your twenties, right?”

“Yeah- Wait, what?... O-Okay fine, deal whatever, just take ‘em.” Click accepted, snapping out of his confusion long enough to confirm the purchase and take the Addison’s money.

“Greeeaaat… Pleasure doing business with you, lad~” the Addison whispered, creepily smiling as they walked away with the newly purchased dress shoes.

‘Hrmm, that guy was a little weird…’ Click thought to himself. ‘But forty dark dollars is forty dark dollars…’

Now that Click had money to his name again, he needed to make his way towards work as far as he could and find a place to stay along his way that he could afford. Double checking his map, Click started to head down the streets towards the northern side of the City, the street corners were quite far apart from each other, and there weren't many streets that were directly heading in the direction of his work. However he noticed that some of the buildings parted to create alleyways that lead to the next street he needed to walk on, but they were blocked with either trash bins or fences. Eventually he came across an alleyway that cut to the next street he needed to get to that only had a small group of Addisons leaning against the walls of the buildings, so he turned down the alleyway and was making his way through it. Suddenly the Addisons in the alleyway noticed him, and got off the wall to face him. Click stopped when they blocked his path and stared menacingly at him.

“U-Umm… Can I help you?” Click asked.

“Well well well, look what the tasque dragged in, boys~” An Addison wearing a dark green hoodie over his head mocked.

“Someone who made their way into the wrong part of Cyber City~” Another Addison wearing a kitsune mask commented.

“And he’s probably got something purple and valuable in those pockets that he is just DYING to give to us~” The third Addison sang, flapping their wrists like a butterfly.

“Look, I don’t have time to be horsing around, I have to get to my work by tomorrow!” Click told them. “Please move out of my way.”

“Now now, don’t make this any harder than it needs to be, pal… Just hand over the money…” The hooded Addison warned, pulling out a small sword. “-And no one gets hurt…”

“Oh shit-!” Click yelled, taking a few steps back.

“Nice and slow…” The masked Addison whispered as they approached Click.

“Don’t go runnin’ away from us now~” The third Addison giggled, stepping closer the fastest.

“G-Get away from me!” Click yelled, quickly stepping further back.

“After him boys!” The hooded Addison roared, pointing their sword towards Click like a captain of an army.

The three alleyway Addisons suddenly charged forward, making Click have to turn around and take off in the other direction. He attempted to zigzag past the pedestrians walking by, and tipped over several trash cans to try and give himself some distance to them. He did manage to slow down one of them, the third one taking a nose dive to the sidewalk after tripping over one of the knocked down trash cans. The other two were still on his trail, the one with the sword getting closer and closer. Click made his way through the jewelry and art district, dashing through any stores with doors on opposite ends of the buildings, and around any crowds of Addisons, which he luckily managed to lose the one with the kitsune mask in the chaos. The hooded Addison was still hot on his trail, determined to catch him.

“I’m gonna cut you up into tiny pixels, man! You’re dead!” they shouted at Click, getting closer and closer, trying to swipe at him with the sword.

Click was running out of steam, obstacles, and places to change direction, the hooded Addison was not letting up. He had to make another move before his legs gave out from underneath him. Suddenly in the distance, Click swore he heard the sound of a train whistle.

“Oh my god, the train lines!” he shouted, remembering there was a train line near him.

He quickly changed direction and made his way toward the nearby train tracks, a train was just starting to leave the area. He and the hooded Addison ran up to the side of it, Click reaching for one of the cart’s ladders. He managed to grab onto it and used the last of his adrenaline powered strength to pull himself up onto the cart. The hooded Addison was finally losing momentum, and had to slow down and give up the chase.

“Haha! Try to keep up with the train, sucker!” Click mocked, waving goodbye to the hooded Addison.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH, I’LL GEt you someday when you least expect it!...” they yelled, their voice growing fainter as they stopped and became farther away.

“Heh heh… I got… away…” Click heavily huffed, his adrenaline beginning to fade already. “Can’t… breathe…”

Click slowly slipped into the train cart’s interior and trailed down its wall to the floor, his breathing was very erratic from the exertion. His heart raced in his chest, palpating rapidly to try and keep up with his breaths. Click shut his eyes to try to relax and calm down, now that he was out of harm’s way, he could take a moment to rest for a bit.

It was clear that wherever the train was taking him was much faster than walking, but at the moment he had no idea which direction he was traveling. He stood back up and pulled out his map from his inventory and checked for any recognizable buildings or landmarks. After a couple of minutes, he caught a glimpse of a building he did recognize; a freakishly tall perfume department that’s located about a couple miles from his work, and he was traveling west from it. He checked for which train he was currently riding based on his location from the building, knowing the side he was viewing was the south side as he could see the back of the billboard that was built on the top. Based on this information, Click concluded he was currently riding the red rail, which meant he was a bit off course. However, the red line was quite the popular track, it crossed paths with three other rails; the green line, the orange line, and the purple line. He suddenly remembered that the blue rail does make a stop about half a mile from his work, and the only rail the blue line crossed was the orange line. If he wanted to make it to work before his paycheck was direct deposited, he would have to freight hop his way to the blue line.

For now, Click was in no position to be freight hopping, he had exerted all his energy for the day during that chase, and it was late at night, most of the trains only trekked during the day, only one or two of the cargo trains traveled at night regularly. The red line that he was on was one of those, and with the conductors constantly inspecting the cargo for anything suspicious meant he couldn’t stay on the cart for long. The other two rails that were cargo lines were the orange line and the green line as they cut through the industrial parts of the city, the blue line and the purple line were more for the public to use as they cut through the business parts of the city. Click knew that in order to get to the blue line, he would have to wait for the red line to be heading back east, which it most likely do tonight, but he wouldn’t be able to go anywhere else, the orange line only ran during the day, and he would need to freight hop that line to get to the blue line. It was probably best to find a place to rest near the red line train tracks, but that was going to be difficult. There weren’t any motels in the industrial part of Cyber City, Addisons would only go there to work, so there wouldn’t be any beds for him to sleep in. On top of that, wild creatures like werewires, virovirokuns, and Poppups frequented the area, so it would be dangerous to sleep in the open. Click had to think outside the box on where would be the best place to stay close to the red line, and be protected from the creatures at night.

The train wheels began to screech, and the cart jerked forward as the train’s engine was slowing down. He must’ve been close to the train’s next stop, which meant he had to make a choice soon. Click stands up and takes a look around the cart for any kind of supplies he could take with him. He was in a train stocked with wooden boxes full of canned goods. Unfortunately they were cans without tabs to open them, requiring the use of a can opener, but he decided to take a few cans with him in case of an emergency. Eventually the train came to a complete stop, and the conductor stepped out of the engine and began their inspection. Click stepped down from the other side of the train cart and made his way to where the green line’s track was, just a few hundred yards from the two track’s intersection. Since the red line was the main active track for cargo, he suspected that the green line was going to be out of commission until the morning. Behind the red line’s pit stop was an inactive train on the green line’s track, its cart doors were all closed. Click noticed there was quite a bit of room underneath the train carts, but not enough where a werewire, virovirokun, or poppup could get under, so he concluded it would be safe to camp under one for the night. It would be best to stay out of sight while he rested, the worker Addisons would notice him if he was near the pit stop. He managed to crawl underneath the inactive train and used his hands like a makeshift pillow. It certainly wasn’t the most comfortable place to try and sleep, but the weather was nice enough to be able to camp outside, plus not only did the train provide him protection, but the metal still radiated a bit of heat from the previous treks. He wasn’t a complete stranger to camping, but it took some time for him to get into a comfy position, but after listening to the ambience of nature around him, he managed to shut his eyes and drift off to slumber. Four days down, three to go. Little did Click know the week still had some tricks up its sleeve for him, and he’d be seeing them real soon.

Chapter Text

RUMBLE RUMBLE

FFFSHHHHHH

CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA

Click slowly awoke to the sound of the train above him becoming active again, and was beginning to move towards the intersection. He didn’t want to get out from underneath the train while it was moving as he could easily get snagged on something and run over, so he decided to wait for the train to move completely over him before getting up. He wasn’t sure what time it was as he no longer had his watch, but could tell it was still late in the night based on how dark outside it was. Perhaps once he got up, he could check to see if there was a wall clock at the train stop he was nearby. After a couple of minutes, Click heard the railroad crossing siren activate, which he was surprised it hadn’t activated earlier when the train above him was moving. Eventually the train had finally passed over him to the other railroad tracks, and he sat up to stretch and crack his neck from sleeping so stiff.

“Urghh, too many rocks in that spot…” Click groaned, managing to crack his back too. “...What time is it?...”

RUMBLE RUMBLE

Click could feel the tracks vibrating underneath him, but the train he was sleeping under was no longer moving. It had made its way over to another track before it came to a complete halt, much to Click’s confusion.

“What the…” Click mumbled before noticing there were very bright lights approaching him rapidly. “Wait- OOHHH SHIT!!!”

CHHOOOOOO CHHOOOOOO

Click quickly laid back down on the track as fast and as flat as he could, narrowly missing being decapitated, the unexpected train shaking the ground violently as it began to pass by above him. His pupils shrunk as adrenaline coursed through his veins, causing him to hug the ground tightly to keep as far away from the bottom of the train as possible. He held his breath as he felt dust and debris hit his face, tons of it was tossed into the air from the train wheel’s collision on the ground where the dirt and metal met. Suddenly Click felt a few hairs on the side of his head sharply tear off, but then…

RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPP!

‘AAAAHHHOOOWWW!- AAAAHHHHHH!!!” Click screamed in pain and terror.

The train kicked up more dust and rocks, showering Click’s eyes, nose, and mouth with debris. It shook the ground with such force, he could feel his nose just grazing the bottom pipes of some of the train’s carts as he was being practically levitated off the ground from the vibration. After just a few short seconds but what felt like forever, the passing train was gone, disappearing into the darkness, leaving Click covered up by its wake. He slowly sat back up, his body shivering from the adrenaline and fear. He coughed up the dust and debris, pounding one side of his head to get the dust out of one ear, then the other ear.

“I-I’m… a-alive… wh-what h-happened t-t-to-” He stuttered.

A theory about what the pain on top of his head popped into his thoughts, and he hoped that he was wrong about it. Hesitant to find out, one of his hands shakily reached up to where the spot on his head throbbed with pain to find part of his ponytail missing. His pupils dilated as panic flooded his mind, he looked to his left to find clumps of his hair stuck to the tracks a few feet away.

“N-No… No, No! NO NO NO, MY HAIR!!! IT FUCKING RIPPED MY PONYTAIL OFF!!!” Click cried, holding the clumps of hair in his fists, trying to put them back in the elastic. “MY BEAUTY, IT'S GOOOONE!!!”

But it was too late…

The wind picked up and blew away the ripped hairs, leaving him with a wolf tail haircut, courtesy of the passing train. But there was no time to mourn about his hair, he had to get up, dust himself off, and make his way to work, he only had until noon to get his paycheck before it went into direct deposit. He shuffled his way off of the green line tracks and made his way to the train stop where the red line train would make its rounds and eventually arrive where he was. Since he didn’t want to be caught by the conductor, he stayed below the concrete platform, and simply bided his time. He still had a bit of time before the digital sun was to rise and for the red line to reactivate, so all he could do was rest and fix what was left of his ponytail. There wasn’t too much long hair left to be able to tie it securely, but he did manage to keep most of it out of his face. After that jumpscare of a train, there was no way he was going to be able to take a nap, his heart was still racing in his chest. After some deep breaths, his anxiety soon calmed down, which caused the rest of his body to wake up for the day, including his appetite. His stomach wasted no time telling him it was time for breakfast with a loud growl.

“Shhhh, shut the fuck up, I swear I’m gonna get caught by the conductor cause of you…” Click shushed, giving his belly a pat.

He checked to make sure the coast was clear before he reached into his inventory and pulled out two of the three canned goods he picked up yesterday, and went to open them. But then he remembered the issue he was about to have with the cans; they had no pull tabs, and required a can opener or a church key to retrieve the contents inside.

“Oh… Dammit, how am I supposed to open this?” Pink complained, double checking both sides of each can.

He picked up a rock from the train tracks and tried to smack the lids open with it, but the cans resisted being busted, the rocks simply weren’t strong enough to even put a dent into them. He took one of the cans and smacked it into the other can, hoping the material they were made of was strong enough to dent each other, but to no avail. After a few more swings with no luck of getting them open, Click grew so frustrated that he placed one of the cans into his jaws and tried to gnaw it open, which only made his teeth hurt. There wasn’t anything else he could think to do with the tools he had in front of him, all he could do was wait for the train and stare at the cans with hunger fueled envy, wishing that he could reap the filling rewards inside. He had no idea what was even inside the cans, probably some kind of salted vegetables or soup as they were the most common canned food. At least whatever was inside is assumed to be fully cooked, although the taste would be stranger since the food would be at room temperature. His mouth watered at the predictions of what was inside the cans his mind was conjuring, surely the wait to get them open to eat would be worth it, right? So far every food he had eaten in his ordeal had tasted better than the last, hunger really was a spice maker.

RUMBLE RUMBLE

The ground underneath him began to shake as he felt another train approaching, it was the one he had been waiting all morning for. Click sighed and picked up the cans, about to put them back in his inventory, when an idea popped into his head... If the train’s wheels were strong enough to crush an Addison to death, they should be strong enough to crush open a can too! He chuckled deviously and quickly placed the two canned goods he had on the tracks and waited for the train to arrive. He rubbed his hands together, excited for breakfast to finally be granted to him for his genius problem solving.

CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA

The train got closer and closer, Click having to reposition the can since it kept vibrating off of the center of the tracks. Once the train got about twenty feet from the train stop, Click had to move his hands away to avoid them getting run over. Unfortunately the cans didn’t stay directly in the middle of the tracks, and when they were run over, the can end opposite of Click busted open, and the contents practically exploded all over the gravel floor.

“ARGHH, DAMMIT-!” Click rage yelled, but quickly covered his mouth as he might’ve accidentally alerted the conductor.

The train came to a complete stop, the wheel just stopping after crushing the can, leaving the metal trapped underneath. Click watched as the conductor got out of the train and made their rounds by each train cart. When they was getting close, he hid underneath the cart to avoid being seen. While he was underneath, he shuffled over to the pile of the mystery food that exploded from the can, and scooped the top layers of what he could and into his mouth, trying to avoid getting any of the gravel, which ended up only being a mouthful. He still had no idea what food was even in that can, even after it had opened; the taste was definitely a bit gritty, cold, and metallic, but it was better than nothing for now. Click heard the conductor call to the driver that the train was clear and they were ready to begin moving, so he crawled out from under the train and climbed onto the open train cart like he was on yesterday night. The food cargo from before was missing and replaced with new cargo, presumably it had made it to its final destination in the late part of the night. He walked toward the back of the train cart and sat down, waiting for his ride to begin moving again.

Click pulled out his map to double check what train lines he would need to take in order to get to his work, and noticed that while the red line he was currently on does cross the orange line’s path, the train that he needed to take next, but it doesn’t stop at the station where the two rails cross, so he would have to hop off the red line while it was still moving to be able to change paths onto the orange line. Click was concerned about having to get off the train while it was moving, typically stunts like that lead to injury, and he wasn’t trained in any way on how to prevent himself from getting hurt. The safest way he could think to get off the train would be to simply get off when it reaches the closest stop and walk from there to the next train line, but checking the red line’s closest destination, that wasn’t going to bode well on his time limit. With the speed he’s able to walk or even run, he would be risking not making it to work on time, so he had no choice but to take the risk of trying a quick tuck and roll when he arrives at the track cross, despite not knowing how to execute it properly.

Suddenly he felt himself jerk from his seat sideways and the train horn blew, which meant his ride was finally moving towards its next stop. Click got back into a seated position and scooted over to the cart’s open door, watching the environment around him slowly pass by, then quickly accelerating in seconds. He held onto the cart’s door rail and took his hair elastic out, letting the wind blow through his cut ponytail, a few more stray hairs he hadn’t brushed out blew into the open air. He watched as the city’s bright neon lights grew brighter for the day, businesses were starting up, and the Addison residents were getting ready for work. One building he immediately recognized in the far distance stood tallest through the electric concrete jungle; it was the perfume department with a large billboard on top that was just a couple miles from his work. Since he knew which direction he could walk from that building to his destination, he decided once he got off the blue rail, he could use it as a compass to make his way to work. It was still quite a long distance from him, another twenty miles he had to ride until then.

The red line would take him about nine miles of the distance he needed, the orange line would take off another seven, and the blue line would finish the remaining four, and at the speed he was currently going, each mile would take about fifteen minutes, so if each train is on time for him to hop onto and kept this same speed, he should be about half a mile from his work in about five and a half hours. Since it was just about sunrise when he hopped on, it was most likely around 6:00, which meant if he wanted to make it to work on time, he would need each train to be perfectly timed, AND walk half a mile to his work building, scan himself in, find his manager, and request his physical paycheck in under twenty minutes, which was a tall order for not only his body to endure, but he needed some major luck timing each train line transfer correctly. For now, he was going to be on the red line for a couple hours, so all he could do was watch the city’s buildings and attractions whiz by him.

“...I wonder what Banner and the others are doing…” Click mumbled. “...Are they thinking about me?... Spamton’s never gonna forgive me for what I said to him.”

Click took the moment to evaluate what was left of his hair. There was still enough to make a wolf tail knot, but it was quite choppy and uneven. More strands were falling out now that they were free from the elastic and the wind was blowing… He sighed at the sight. Click took a lot of pride in his hair, it was something that made him stand out from most Addisons, typically hair styles of his kind trended towards wearing their hair down and cut short, longer hair was seen as a higher status symbol, especially since it was harder to maintain and keep it healthy. Now that it was gone, he looked just like any other Addison, or rather more like he had just rolled out of bed, mangled and ragged. He brushed the remaining hair with his hands as best he could, then tied it back into the wolf knot; it would probably be best to keep it tied up when he had to train hop, he didn’t want to lose the rest of it in another freak accident.

Click scooted over to the door of the train cart, letting his feet dangle out into the open air. He took in his surroundings, the hills that lined Cyber City were beautiful and remained barely touched by land development. Windflowers bloomed as far as his eyes could see, adding a splash of color to the environment which would just be green if they weren’t there. It wasn’t a sight he got to see often, he preferred to stay in the city, which was starting to look bleak compared to a life out here. But looks can be deceiving, it may look pretty, but where would Click even stay, or eat, or sleep? Poppups and Virovirokuns probably roamed the area, they’d surely try to FIGHT with him and take whatever dark dollars he had left on him at the end of the day. Perhaps beauty outside of Cyber City was only skin deep too, just like how the inside had been treating him for the past four days.

“...Did you ever… Sleep out here, Spamton?” Click asked himself. “...Werewires don’t live out here… Do they?...”

He shook that scary thought out of his head when he felt the train begin to slow down. He guessed they were close to their first stop after an hour had passed, which meant he was going to need to hide while the train conductor helped unload the first round of cargo to its destination. Click brought his legs back into the train and made his way over to the far corner where the boxes stacked higher and created a small hidey hole underneath them. If the first round of cargo were the crates in the front, he would have no problem hiding himself long enough to make it to his next train hop. It was a bit cramped, but he managed to squeeze himself into the small space and sit comfortably enough to be able to remain there for a while if needed. He could hear the steps of the conductor approaching, so he kept his breathing low.

“Alright Porky, get them crates outta here!” The conductor yelled at a supposed loading dock worker.

“Don’t get your hat twisted in a knot, we’re on it!” The worker replied, presumably the one being called ‘Porky’, stepping up into the train cart where Click was hiding.

He could hear another worker approach with some kind of truck, probably an easier way for them to load everything they ordered into the building. The one who climbed into the train cart began to push crates towards the truck’s edge and they worked together to transport them from the train cart one at a time. Luckily none of the crates that kept Click hidden were taken, just a couple dozen in the front. He was just within earshot of the two loading dock workers to pick up on what they were discussing with each other.

“So, how’s life treatin’ ya?”

“Can’t complain, I made some decent money doin’ some overtime' last week, I’m thinkin’ of makin’ that a routine so I can buy myself some new digs.”

“Sweet, hell maybe I should do the same!”

“Wouldn’t be opposed to workin’ alongside you, so long as you don’t eat the cargo like the last rookie!”

‘Are there… others on this train like me, eating the cargo?’ Click pondered.

. . .

Eventually, the two workers finished both their conversation and loading the cargo the company had ordered and got off the train cart and into their truck, hauling it off into the building.

“All yours conductor, nice doin’ business with ya!” one worker shouted.

“About fucking time you two, you’re gonna make me late with the rest of the delivery!” the conductor scolded.

‘Late!? N-No, if this train arrives late to the crossing tracks, I won’t make it into work on time!’ Click thought to himself in a panic.

Once he felt the train begin to move again, he climbed out of his hiding spot and checked his surroundings. It seemed like a good amount of time had passed while the train was parked, the digital sun had appeared in the sky and illuminated the interior of the train cart, as well as Click’s unprepared eyes. He kept his vision shaded enough to where he could still see where he was located, and predicted that they had about two miles left until the train reached the crossing tracks. He knew he would have to be absolutely ready to make the stunt of jumping off of the red train safely and climbing aboard the orange train, or risk injuring himself badly enough to miss his chance of getting to work, or getting caught by the Swatchling police force again. With this in mind, Click began to practice some tuck and rolls in the train cart open space, using the train’s momentum to better simulate what he might go through attempting this maneuver. With much of the cargo removed, he had enough room to really practice multiple versions of the tuck and roll technique, it was probably best to try and get used to different kind of distances and landings as he had no idea what the actual jump was going to feel like, or what kind of ground he was going to land on. Plus, the failed tuck and rolls were giving him some unwanted bruises, and he dreaded what might happen to him if he didn’t manage to get it right when the time came.

After fifty minutes of practice, he managed to safely pull off some decent tuck and rolls without causing more bruises to himself. It was nowhere near perfect, but it would have to do as he was running out of time on this train and his next train was approaching. He decided to take the rest of the time on this train to double check the cargo for any useful items he could take with him, he had enough room in his inventory for a couple smaller items. The crates were much more secure in this shipment, but he did locate a couple with loose tops, and inside the first crate were packages of lighters. He wasn’t sure what he could possibly need with them, he didn’t smoke, nor could that small amount of flame provide any kind of warmth, but still, a tool was a tool, so he pocketed a few of them. The second crate he checked contained several small blankets movers use to keep furniture from damage when being transported. With the possibility of Click making it to work and getting his paycheck fresh in his mind, he was hesitant about taking one of the mover blankets, would he really need it if that was the case?

CHHOOOOOO CHHOOOOOO!

The orange train was approaching, it was time. Click looked out the train car door to see how close it was to the crossing tracks…

It was about to pass them!? He had no time to spare, he needed to leave the red train now!

His mind made the decision for him, and he quickly packed one of the mover blankets in his inventory without thinking. He took a couple quick breaths before leaning out of the train cart, and prepping for his dismount.

“Okay okay okay, one… two… three!” Click shouted to himself and began the tuck and roll. “Ohhh SHIII-”

BOOM BAM CRUNCH SPLAT!

Unfortunately Click’s feet jolted from the sudden pain of gravel since he no longer had shoes, and had tucked and rolled incorrectly, causing him to trip and fall face first into the gravel road. His inventory had glitched in his fall and his items spilled out in front of him, taking some damage in the process. He felt his health bar tick down a couple notches when he came to a stop.

“...Ooowww…” Click groaned into the gravel, slowly lifting himself back up. “So much for the practice…”

He looked over to see his inventory on the ground in pieces.

“N-No no no, my stuff!” he cried, shuffling over to assess what had broken. “Dammit, I just got that, and it’s already ripped?...”

The mover blanket had gotten cut up from the sharp gravel, his last food can dented, the cologne bottle shattered, all but one lighter smashed, the sandwich was unharmed, but his forty Dark Dollars were in tatters.

‘Great, I sold my shoes for nothing…’ Click complained in his head, holding the pieces of Dark Dollar paper.

Knowing that the orange train was about to pass him, he scrambled to pick up what was left of his inventory and began to run towards the other side of the tracks. The front of the train had already passed the crossing tracks, so he had to hurry to reach one of the open cargo train carts. There were only two open, so he had to time his arrival right or be left behind. The sharp gravel dug into his toes with each step, slowing him down enough to keep him just shy of lining up with the two open train carts once he got close enough. He reached his arms as far as he could to try and reach the guardrail of the open door, but couldn’t quite grab it. The train was starting to pick up the pace.

“HEY YOU! HEY STOP RUNNING!” The conductor of the red train shouted at Click when he caught sight of him trying to train hop. “STOWAWAYS ARE FORBIDDEN ON THE TRAINS!”

Click looked back to see the conductor had begun to chase after him, carrying a wooden bat, presumably to beat him if he managed to catch him. He reached out for the guardrail again, inching away ever so closer from it.

‘I’ve come too far to lose!’ Click motivated himself. ‘Do it now, for Spamton!’

With a sudden rush of second wind adrenaline, he pushed himself to run faster, completely ignoring the searing pain in his feet from running on gravel, and managed to grab the train cart guardrail. The train whistle blew, and the engine roared from the front cart as it grew faster and faster, completely unexpected by him since he thought all the trains traveled at the same speed.

“-WHOA WHOA WHOA, SHIT!” he panicked, now at a sudden new pace with the sped up train, his feet barely touching the ground as the momentum carried him forward.

Fighting against the force pulling him back, he slowly pulled himself up into the train cart, and rolled to the back where the cargo lay. His back smacked against one of the crates, and the wind in his lungs was knocked out, causing him to gasp harshly. It took him a moment to collect his breath again, and he struggled a bit to stand up in the train cart, not used to the speed it was travelling. It seemed like he wouldn’t be on the train for as long as he first predicted, he estimated the original time would be cut in half if this speed was maintained. Probably for the best, the red train took longer than he predicted, so the orange train would make up for the lost time, maybe even surpass the time he had left to make it to work. For now, he had some time to kill before his next train hop, so he checked the cargo to see if any of the crates were broken open…

‘...Damn, nothing…’ Click rolled his eyes in his mind. ‘Just my luck…’

With nothing else to add to his inventory, he took the time to sit down and relax, the exhaustion of running after the orange train catching up to him. He assumed if the train was going this fast, it wouldn’t make any stops before it crosses paths with the blue train, so he decided he would take advantage of this moment and take a quick nap so he would be more rested for the next stunt. It wouldn’t be a very comfortable nap since all he had to lie down on was the floor of the train cart and a torn up mover blanket, but any amount of sleep he could get in would help. He took the blanket out of his inventory and placed it down in the corner between the cargo and the train cart wall, not wanting to nap on top of the crates and risk rolling off from a high distance. This way, he would be protected from most sight with the train cart wall on one side of him, and the crates on the other. He laid down and faced his head towards the open end side of the corner, listening to the sounds of the train chugging along, which weren’t lulling him to sleep at all. He just kept his eyes shut, hoping his body would just get the message and go down for a rest. After a couple tosses and turns, he eventually fell asleep…

- - -

“OOOUUGHH!” Click belted, jolting out of his rest.

The cargo had shifted from the train suddenly slowing down and pinned Click to the wall, with no way of moving his arms or legs. His eyes darted around, trying to find some way to wiggle out of being pinned, but the weight of the crate pile greatly outmatched any chance he would’ve had to push them away one by one. His lungs were also put under pressure, he couldn’t take in a deep breath from the force, so he struggled to breathe. He was trapped, and the orange train was about to reach its stop at the crossing tracks.

‘Fuck fuck, what do I do!? He panicked. ‘I’m gonna get caught like this if I don’t suffocate first!’

. . .

“Alright unload the cargo, Mac!” The orange train conductor shouted to a loading dock worker.

“You got it, boss!” the worker replied back, backing a truck up to take the crates.

About a half dozen workers soon climbed up into the train cart where Click was located and began to push the crates in the front to the train cart door, passing them to each other in order to load the crates in an orderly and brisk paced fashion. They were only feet away from Click, and it seemed like they were planning on removing all or most of the cargo at this location, which meant they were guaranteed to find him. He tried to think of how he was going to get away from them, it would be pointless to try and outrun them, he was already out of breath from being crushed, and the blue train wasn’t there yet for him to train hop. The only way he could think to get out of this situation was to play dead, surely they wouldn’t try to detain an Addison who looked hurt or dead, right?. Maybe if they found him while he pretended to be unconscious or dead, they would put him outside the train cart in the open, and he could gain his breath back in time to make a run for it when the blue train did come! With that plan in mind, he kept his head down and went limp, awaiting for them to discover him.

. . .

“...The fuck?... Hey boss, there’s someone in the cargo!” one worker shouted.

“Not another stowaway… A-Are they dead?” Another asked, kneeling down to take a closer look.

“I don’t know…” The third worker mumbled, poking Click with a pencil. “Looks like it, the crates are crushing them…”

“Ugh, this stowaway issue just keeps getting worse and worse…” The supposed boss sighed. “L-Let’s just get them off the train and call an Ambyu-Lance, they can take it from there for us so we can finish. I’ll grab ‘em.”

“Y-Yes boss!” the workers answered back, moving the crates around Click away.

The immense pressure from the crates was lifted from Click’s lungs, and his body desperately tried to take in a deep breath. But if he inhaled too quickly, it might give away his facade, so he repressed his breath to a snail’s pace as hard as he could. The boss of the loading dock workers then lifted Click up and over their shoulders, picking up the mover blanket and kept him wrapped up in it. They stepped down from the train cart and walked over to a nearby deck chair that they typically sat in while they waited for the trains to arrive and placed Click down to seat him in place. Click made sure to keep limp to be convincing to everyone around him.

“Poor fucker, must’ve had some kind of major fall in his career to end up a stowaway as a tertiary…” The boss of the loading dock told the conductor who joined them in watching over Click.

“It’s a damn shame, you called for that Ambyu-Lance yet?” The conductor asked the loading dock boss.

“Yeah, they’re on their way.” The boss updated them. “We’ll know if we have to send them to the ER to scrap them, either answer is gonna look like shit on our performance reviews…”

“True… Alright, let’s finish the job while we wait.” The conductor suggested, stepping back over to the train cart where they were halfway done loading the crates onto their truck.

After a couple minutes, Click let his breathing slow down to a regular pace, and peeked one eye open to see if the coast was clear. Looks like they left him alone for now, he could make his escape once he hears blue train-

CHHOOOOOOO CHHOOOOOOO!

-Arriving!

There it was, right on time! Click quickly sat up and stuffed the torn mover blanket back into his inventory and got onto his feet. The familiar sharp pain in his toes from the gravelled floor came back as he stood, but he had no time to tend to them now. Once he was certain no one was looking at him, he began to make a break for the blue train, which unfortunately caused a lot of noise, and immediately drew the attention of the workers to him.

“H-HEY! THEY’RE AWAKE!” the conductor angrily announced. “THEY WERE FAKING IT, GET THEM!”

Once again, Click was in a chase from the train workers to escape onto his next ride, but there was an immediate issue… The blue train was moving too slowly, they would easily catch him if he boarded now, there might not be any cargo on the train to hide behind. And even if there were, they’d surely find him within seconds. He had to make another decision, and quickly, they were gaining on his tail since they were faster running on the gravel floor. He hastily looked around for any kind of place to bide his time and wait out their search, and his eyes met with the sight of a small pond nearby. The outskirts of Cyber City were lined with various bodies of water and acid, and bridges allowed vehicles like cars and trains to pass over them safely. The only issue was that there was no way to tell if the pond was water or acid based, they always looked the same color. Click had about a fifty-fifty chance that the pond was safe or dangerous, and decided to take that risk; he had enough health points to take any damage he might take if the pond turned out to be acid.

He prepared himself to jump in, just as they were about to reach him…

‘One more leap of faith…’ Click thought to himself, plugging his nose. ‘One… two… three!’

. . .

SPLAAAAASSSHHH!

The workers came to a screeching halt just before they all tripped into the pond. They gasped in horror as they witnessed Click completely emerge in the liquid and disappear out of sight.

“-Holy shit, they jumped in!” The conductor screamed. “Now they’re really gonna be dead!”

“You mean that’s an acid pond!?” One worker hesitantly asked, praying their answer was wrong.

“W-What have we done?...” The loading dock boss stuttered. “...A-Are we… responsible for this?...”

“...I-I’m not sure…” The conductor responded, sounding quite nauseous. “...W-We should report this to the Swatchling police… I don’t wanna see them recover their body from the pond…”

“C’mon, let’s get you inside…” The boss suggested. “You look like you’re about to faint…”

. . .

“GAAAASSSSP!” Click choked from having to hold his breath under the intense burning to his body. “FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK OWWW OWWW OWWW OWWW OWWW!!!”

Pulling himself out of the acid by grabbing the vegetation that lined the pond’s edge, Click managed to traverse back onto land and quickly removed most of his clothes off of his body to get the acid away from his skin. For the sake of his dignity, he left his boxers on despite the fact they were soaked in acid and continued to slightly burn him. They weren’t disintegrating and disappearing from his inventory, but both his shirt and pants took some damage from the acid, they had quite a few small holes in them now. He checked his health bar and saw his health points were cut in half from being underacid for so long. He winced and whimpered from the pain coursing through his body, especially his groin since he kept his boxers on.

CHHOOOOO CHHOOOOOO!

-Fuck, the train! He had to pull himself together to make it aboard, or risk not making it to work! Shoving his acid soaked clothes into his inventory for now, Click shook off as much acid as he could from his body fur and began to make his way up the small hill to the train tracks. Luckily the train hadn’t picked up any more speed since leaving the loading dock, so he was able to reach it easily. Once aboard, His legs gave out and he collapsed on the train cart floor, writhing in pain from all the burns inflicted on his skin.

“O-Ooowwww… oww oww…” Click whined, trying to lie still. “Oh god, w-why did I do t-that?... It hurts, it hurts… Is… Is this what you went through, Spamton?...”

. . .

“I… miss you, Spamton… B-Banner… I’m s-so sorry…”

The pain from the acid slowly began to subside, leaving Click with several minor burns on his extremities and more sensitive areas. The fur on his body was singed, now at a much shorter length, even some bare spots where his clothes clung to him the hardest. The wind that blew through the train cart was now much sharper as the temperature pierced through his coat, causing him to shiver. He would have to put his clothes back on if he wanted to stay warm, so he took them out of his inventory and began to wring the remaining acid out of them. It stung the palms of his hands a bit to do so, but it was the only way he could dry them out effectively, the train wasn’t moving fast enough to use the wind as a dryer. Once he couldn’t wring out any more drips of acid, he slowly put his clothes back on, taking his time to avoid rubbing the fabric against his more sensitive burns. They felt stiff and uncomfortable on his body, it made his skin crawl having to get used to the damp feeling, but they blocked the wind from creeping under his blunted fur. For now, all he could do was wait and hope the pain would completely go away while the blue train made its way into Cyber City and towards the stop he needed to get off. He checked his health bar again to see if it was going back up at all, but it remained stagnant. He was too weak to regenerate health on his own and would need to eat something for it to rise back up, which he was reminded to do once again via a low growl from his stomach.

“...No, not again…” Click groaned, covering his face with his arm. “...How much more do I have to feed you to get you to shut up?...”

He slowly sat back up and took out the remaining food can from his inventory. No tab, dammit. There was no way a lighter was going to get the can open, it would only burn the contents inside or cause the can to explode. It was slightly dented however, which meant probably just a few good blows to something hard enough might crack it open. But he was in no condition to be smashing it open, his strength was sapped from swimming in the acid for so long, he could only stare hungrily at the can until he arrived at his last stop, which wasn’t that long since he spent most of the time tending to his burn pain.

CHHOOOOOO CHHOOOOOO!

He felt the train shift in speed after a few minutes of staring, and he sat up to look out the train cart window. There it was, his work’s blue train stop, he had made it back! A relieved smile creeped onto Click’s face as tears of joy streamed down his cheeks, he was going to make it. Once the train slowed down enough for him to step down safely, he got down from the cart and suddenly fell to his knees when his burnt feet hit the gravel floor.

“AAAAHHHHOOWWW!” Click howled, falling over onto his rear end and holding his feet tightly.

The pain was so much worse than he expected, every move he made hurt, like he had just finished cooking off of a rotisserie spit and tried to run away from the chef. His breath sharpened through his teeth as he grit his jaw to distract from the stinging, he tried to sit still to let the pain go down. But it wasn’t fading fast enough, Click had no idea how much time he had left to make it into work, and he still had half a mile to walk in order to get there, he had no choice but to bear it. Pushing himself back onto his feet, he began his trudge from the train yard to the streets of Cyber City’s business center.

Every step was like fire to his heels, every shift his body made feel like it was going to fall apart, he wanted to stop moving so badly.

Two blocks away…

His mind screamed at him to stop, begged for him to stop, tried to stop him with more pain signals, but onward he shuffled.

One block away…

He was starting to get stares from those he passed, they looked at him like he was some kind of freakshow, but he didn’t care, his appearance wasn’t important to him right now…

. . .

There were the steps to his office building…

- - -

Weakly shuffling his way in, he approached the front desk to speak with someone who could let him into his department. Mikey was the Addison who worked the front desk the most, it would probably be him that would be there today. To say Click looked like a mess was putting it lightly, to them, he looked almost unrecognizable, completely disheveled.

“Hey Click- Holy shit, what happened to you mate?” The Addison at the front desk asked him with concern. “Did someone mug you?”

“N-No time… for chitchat, Mikey...I need… my paycheck…” Click huffed, flopping his head on the front desk, trying to catch his breath from all of the running.

“W-What? Your paycheck? Don’t you normally get that sent to your account?” Mikey mumbled as they typed Click’s information into their computer.

“Different… Circumstances this week… I need my pay in check form…” Click explained, slowly standing back up. “Please tell me… I made it on time to pick it up…”

. . .

Mikey paused.

“Click…” He eventually spoke up, looking at him with worry.

“What Mikey?...” Click asked, awaiting to be answered.

. . .

“Paychecks in your office are dispensed at 11:30 on Fridays, it’s about noon now. Sorry but… it’s not gonna be here anymore.” Mikey regretfully informed him. “I-I can still let you into your department if you needed something in the-”

“-W-What?...” Click stuttered.

. . .

His eyes widened with realization that he was just too late to get his money…

. . .

He was out of time… There was no escaping the rest of his punishment.

. . .

“...Y-You mean… to tell me… that I just spent… five days in the fucking streets… struggling to make any kind of money to survive… just to be told… that I’m TOO LATE TO GET MY MONEY!?” Click barked, his tone aggressively rising.

“Click, calm down-” Mikey started, but Click interrupted him.

“Calm down!? CALM DOWN!?” Click shouted, grabbing Mikey by the shirt collar. “I’VE BEEN SLEEPING IN THE DIRT, STARVED OF ANY REAL FOOD, AND TREATED LIKE SOME KIND OF VIROVIROKUN! I’M STUCK OUTSIDE MY APARTMENT WITH NO MONEY AND NO PHONE, AND YOU WANT ME TO ‘CALM DOWN’!?”

“S-Stop, you’re scaring me! There’s nothing I can do right now!” Mikey whimpered, holding Click’s arms back to try and restrain the amount of grip he had on him.

“WELL DO SOMETHING!” Click screamed, foam practically coming out of his mouth as he shook Mikey. “I DID NOT COME HERE TO LOSE MY ONE CHANCE TO ESCAPE THIS HELL!!!”

“AAAHHHH!!! SECURITY!” Mikey yelled, tears streaming down his face. “LET GO, CLICK!”

“NOT UNTIL YOU GET ME OUT OF THIS-” Click threatened, but was stopped by security running over to the two of them from the front door.

“Alright pal, that’s enough!” one massive Swatchling guard informed him, grabbing Click under his arms and lifting him up.

“LET ME GO!” Click grunted, letting Mikey go and flailing his arms and legs around, trying to get out of the Swatchling’s grip.

“Are you alright, sir?” The chief Swatchling guard consoled Mikey.

“Y-Yeah, t-thank you…” he responded, his voice still a bit shaken.

Click’s massive hissy fit was attracting a lot of attention from his coworkers and other associates in the building, many that were walking by stopped to stare, others were in the middle of a smoke break and walked back inside to watch the chaos, and several heads peeked up from the lounge corner. The silence in the room was so loud besides Click, you could hear a fountain pen drop onto the tiled flooring. From the other side of the lobby, a manager who was on break made their way through the crowd and up to where Click was.

“Alright, what’s going on-” they began, and paused when they saw who was causing a commotion. “C-Click? What are you doing here? I thought you called out sick this week.”

Click paused his struggling long enough to notice that was HIS manager’s voice. This wasn’t good, he looked like a damn fool in front of them…

“O-Oh, h-hey boss… Uhh, this isn’t what it looks like…” he stuttered, his nervousness rising now that he was in full view of his manager.

“Well, you look like shit, I can see that much.” his boss confirmed, taking in Click's appearance fully. “Alright, here’s the deal, you can’t be in here like this, you’re going to stir up social media trouble for the company if the wrong Addison catches wind of your anger and decides to record it for views. I’m sorry, but you gotta go, we’ll… see you on Monday, clean yourself up before you return, we’ll discuss your disciplinary task when you come back.”

“W-WHAT!? Y-YOU AREN’T GOING TO HELP ME!? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’VE BEEN THROUGH!” Click stirred up again, flailing like a Werewire. “I’M NOT LEAVING HERE WITHOUT MY MONEY!”

“Yes you are, take him out the building please.” His manager instructed the chief Swatchling guard. “And don’t let him back in until Monday morning.”

“Yes ma’am.” The Chief Swatchling guard nodded before they started to head for the door, carrying Click under their wing. “Now you stay out or you’ll be trespassed forever!”

The Swatchling gave a quick heave and tossed Click down the office building steps and he landed on his side on the concrete sidewalk. He sharply groaned from the returning pains of his burns scraping against the ground, curling up into a ball. He didn’t want to move anymore, what would be the point? No more escaping the hell he was in, no money to his name, and now he was further back from square one. Addisons walking by him on the street kept their gazes away, not wanting to make eye contact with him. He was thrown back into the public, yet he was alone…

. . .

Was this how Spamton felt?...

. . .

Drip… drip… drip drip drip drip

. . .

It started to rain.

Addisons around him noticed the weather change and hurried to their destinations, leaving Click by himself on the street. He didn’t want to move anymore, but his clothes began to grow soaked again, bringing his body temperature down enough to shiver. He didn’t want to move anymore, but the rain soon penetrated his fur, chilling him to the bone. He didn’t want to move anymore…

But he had to…

Click eventually got ahold of himself and shakily stood up, holding his arms close to his body to try and preserve any body heat he had. One foot forward, he walked away from his office, not really looking which direction he was going, it didn’t matter anyway at this point. He didn’t have any money for shelter, food, or a way to stay dry, he just needed to keep moving, so he followed the sidewalk’s path. With the way he appeared, no business would let him take shelter until the rain cleared, and who knows how long that would be? The only thing he knew right now was that it was past noon, and the rain started just now. Wet. Cold. Hungry. Alone. Click’s needs boiled and broken down to such simple necessities, he never had to experience them all at once for so long…

. . .

He bumped into a dumpster in an alleyway during his unguided walk…

. . .

His stomach churned at the thought of what kind of diseases and mold could be lurking in the dumpster, but fate had brought him here for a reason…

. . .

It was the dumpster, or nothing.

. . .

Click lifted the lid of the dumpster, a bit relieved that there wasn’t much inside, and it wasn’t as grimy as he expected. He hesitated to climb in, every ounce of his being fighting against the choice he was about to make. To him before this week, it was a place for garbage to be thrown away, never to be seen again, never to be used again, never to return, and he was now seeing it in a new light.

It was a shelter from the rain.

And so, Click stepped one leg at a time into the dumpster. His body violently shuddered at the texture his feet were now feeling from stepping on one of the trash bags. He forced himself further in, a soft whimper escaping his mouth as the reality of what he was doing hit him over and over again like a brick. Soon, he was far enough inside to close the lid, and he slowly settled into the nestle of garbage bags that surrounded him. He was so scared to move in there, he didn’t want to touch anything, but the choice was being made for him this time. His body had gone through so much exercise with no real food to fuel it and sustained numerous injuries today, it was beginning to shut him down. Click let himself lean backwards until his head and back rested against the garbage bag pile, and his eyelids began to close. He fought as hard as he could to stay awake, but it was a battle he wasn’t going to win. His body slumped into the pile and his eyelids closed.

Five days down…

Chapter Text

CRRAACKK KOOWWWW!

“Aaagghhh!” Click screamed, jolting out of his sleep and bumping his head on the lid of the dumpster. “Ahhh- fuck!...”

He moaned in pain as the hit spot on his head pulsed, giving it a quick rub to try and dull the pain. It was dark, really dark where he was. But where was he? What time was it? And why did it reek of old cheese and tasque litter? He shuffled around where he had been laying down, and the familiar texture of the wet plastic quickly alerted him to the answer.

He had SLEPT… IN A DUMPSTER!

“N-No! W-Why am I here!?” Click panicked, trying to feel his way out of there. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME!?”

He finally managed to lift the lid of the dumpster open and stood up, only to be showered by intense downpour of rain. It was almost pitch black outside, presumably still in the early morning of the next day. He figured he must’ve passed out for the whole day after his ordeal, but woke up halfway through the night from some loud noise. The street lights were so dim in the fog, he couldn’t make out any landmarks around him, which meant it would be impossible for him to navigate around town. But no way in hell was he going to stay in that dumpster anymore! He climbed out from the top and stepped into a puddle, his socks immediately getting soaked.

“-Fuck staying in that filth, I’m going to find an open diner and stay the night there-”

CRRAAAACK BOOOOOOM!

The lightning struck a nearby pole to him, causing it to spark and spray exhaust into the air.

“AAAAHHHHH! NOPE!” Click shouted, and proceeded to climb back quickly into the dumpster.

It was too dangerous to walk around outside, he would be an easy target for lightning to attract towards him and strike the ground where he stood since he would be conductible enough after being soaked from the rain. He had no choice but to stay inside until the storm ceased, or atleast the thunder passed him. He shivered in the pile of trash bags, both from fear and the sudden drop in his temperature from being exposed to the rain. Click reached down and slipped his socks off, keeping them on might cause his feet to be vulnerable to an infection from whatever diseases lurked in this metal prison. He kept the rest of his clothes on, trying his best to adjust to the uncomfortable feeling they inflicted upon him. He crossed his arms, shaking violently, it was difficult for his body to produce any warmth.

He was going to need some help.

Opening up his inventory, he took out the torn up mover blanket and started to wrap himself in it. There were quite a few holes in it, but it was something dry, and something that could hold in enough heat for him to feel a little better. He pulled the edges tight in the front, keeping his head down to seal up the hole in the front of the blanket, and continued to shake. The movement eventually began to produce a bit of heat, and the water in his clothes soon adjusted to his body temperature. It wasn’t a perfect system, he could still feel some of the plastic from the trash bags poking in through the holes of the blanket, and the plastic was a terrible heat holding material. He lifted his head up and took some breaths, noticing he could just about see his breath in front of him. It must’ve been cold enough tonight to chill the air that came out of him quick enough to see it happen, which usually only occurred in the winter time.

‘H-H-How i-is it t-this c-c-cold t-tonight?...’ Click worried, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness. ‘I-I can’t f-freeze i-in this t-temperature, r-right?...”

He managed to produce enough heat to bring his shaking down to a shiver, still quite cold from the downpour. There was still a lot of time left in the night, but after such a long sleep, there was no way he was going to get back to sleep easily. Plus, there were a lot of other issues hindering him from resting; the fact that he was in a literal dumpster, the rain hitting the lid of the dumpster was too loud, lightning kept striking randomly nearby, the cold, and of course…

He was starving…

Click held some tears back when the empty and painful feeling returned, he felt like he was cursed, the victim of a sick prank. He hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning, and had exerted most of his energy from train hopping and running. The only items he had to eat were the contents inside the dented can from the train, and the egg sandwich he had gotten for free five days ago. Not wanting to face the idea of trying to eat eggs, let alone eggs THAT old, he took out the dented can from his inventory and inspected the outside of it. There weren’t any severe creases in the metal, meaning it would take a lot of force to get the can to open. But what could he even use this time? No train wheels to run over the can, no can opener to remove the lid, he couldn’t even go outside to try and find something stronger to use than what he currently had; he was out of ideas. Frustrated with the never-ending struggle of hunger of his situation, he angrily slammed the can against the floor of the dumpster as hard as he could, which wasn’t really that hard to begin with, desperate to open it.

“-C’mon, dammit!... Break!… Open!” Click wailed, his voice beginning to crack. “Break, you stupid can!... Do it!... Please!... Please…”

. . .

He had barely made a scratch to it…
“P-Please…”

. . .

“...I… I just wanna go home…” he whimpered, letting the can drop from his hand.

. . .

A single tear rolled down his cheek.

. . .

He leaned back against the trash bags, pulling his legs and arms up close to his body and rolled onto his side, his emotions suddenly letting go. His eyes began to drain a stream of tears, his breath hitched as his throat clenched and spasmed. Each exhale he let out a small whine, he couldn’t stop. Everything hurts. The burns, the exhaustion, the starvation, his mental health, his physical health, all deteriorated.

How often did Spamton feel this way?

Was it worse for him?

Did he experience this nonstop?

. . .

Twenty years, outside and alone, and if Click was going through this much in just five days…

. . .

‘O-Oh god…’ Click shuddered in his mind. ‘...This is NOTHING compared to what Spamton had gone through…’

. . .

Grroooorrwwrrlll…

Click snapped out of his existential thought. Fuck. His ordeal tonight wasn’t over yet. He slowly sat back up and reached back over to the dented can. He had to find a way to get it open, he couldn’t take the discomfort coming from his stomach any more. Either that, or…

. . .

Consume the five day old egg sandwich…

‘...Do I dare?’ Click questioned what he was thinking of doing. ‘I’ve carried it around for five days… T-There’s no way it’s still safe to eat… But…’

Hesitatingly, Click removed the egg sandwich from his inventory and slowly inspected the outside. There wasn’t any visible mold on it as far as he could tell, and the bread hadn’t disintegrated from the moisture. The real evaluation to see if it was unsafe to eat would be to open it from its plastic wrapping and check for any mold on the inside. His hands had a slight tremor to them, probably his mind’s way of screaming at him to not do it. He grabbed the tip of the plastic wrapping and ever so slowly pulled it away from the sandwich, which released a sudden burst of stench into his nostrils. The fur on the back of his neck stood straight out and his face crumpled up, jerking his head violently as far away from the smell as possible.

“H-Holy shit! I-It reeks!” Click wailed, shaking his head back and forth. “N-No, I can’t do this, I can’t do this!”

It was at this moment that more sudden signals coming from his stomach began to counter his mind’s signals of self-preservation, the empty feeling grew more intense, and he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. Doubling over onto his knees, he kept his arm with the egg sandwich raised so it wouldn’t touch the dumpster floor. It felt like an invisible force was twisting his insides into knots, unknotting them, then knotting them harder over and over again. A harsh whimper escaped through his teeth as he fought through the pain, but after about a minute of this severe feeling, it eventually subsided for now. He only had a bit of time left before his body would likely trigger another hunger pang attack like that, so his decision about whether or not he could eat it had to happen now.

“...I-I have to do this…” Click gulped, not looking forward to the taste if he concluded it was okay enough to eat.

Once he was able to sit back up again, he lifted the slices of bread and checked the inside; no mold or rot to be seen, it just smelled incredibly questionable. Eggs no matter what to him reeked, fresh or old; he had never gotten used to the sulfur scent. It just wasn’t a food Addisons ate regularly, or even at all, especially him. He dry-heaved a bit when he lifted each piece of bread from the eggs and the smell wafted towards his nose, taking a moment to wait for the scent to subside long enough for him to finish the inspection. He hated to admit it, but despite how badly the sandwich smelled, it was most likely safe enough to eat IF he could heat it up and kill any bacteria that may have been festering on it. The only heat hot enough to achieve that kind of preparation would be the lighter he managed to find yesterday. It would take a while since it could only make a small flame, but he knew this was his best bet on getting his mind to accept eating something he deemed incredibly horrendous and rotten.

He held the sandwich with one hand and snapped the lighter on with the other, carefully keeping the flame close enough to reheat it, but not too close to where it might catch on fire. Moments in, the section he was heating up began to emit a much more pleasant smell of eggs, it was still a vile smell to him. But his body begged to differ, now completely impatient waiting for its next warm meal.

GRRRGRGLLL…

“Shhhhh, enough -ough… please…” Click shushed, taking a moment to stop reheating the sandwich to tend to stopping his dry-heaving. “Just calm down… Gimme -urgh… a minute…”

As he continued to try and reheat what he could of the rest of the sandwich, drool began to pool in his mouth, much to his dismay. He REALLY didn’t want to admit this, but now that the food was sort of cooked, it began to look appetizing again. His eyes gleamed a bit when he gazed at the now completely reheated egg sandwich, his mouth hung slightly open with a bead of drool leaking from each corner. He couldn’t wait any longer, he wanted to- no, he NEEDED to eat it now. Closing his eyes and plugging his nose to prevent his mind from intervening with the ludicrous decision he was about to make, He hesitatingly opened his mouth and prepared to shove the sandwich in.

‘Don’t overthink it, don’t overthink it, don’t overthink it…’ Click reminded himself. ‘Just bite, chew, swallow, and get it over with… three, two-’’

CHOMP!

The texture immediately caused his tongue to press the food up into his palate, trying to prevent this abomination from entering or going near his throat. The taste was dulled since he plugged his nose, but he could still taste the sulfur, it was slightly nauseating. His cheeks swelled as his tongue split the sandwich in half and shoved them away from the middle of his mouth. His teeth shut tightly, locking the contents in place, he dared not to open them until he could manage to swallow the contents quickly enough. Once he gathered his bearings, he squished the sandwich halves into smaller globs of food using the muscles in his cheeks. Luckily the eggs and the bread softened significantly from being wrapped up at room temperature for days, so he didn’t need his teeth to break the mouthful down into swallowable size bites. Now that the mouthful he had was broken down enough, he prepared himself mentally for the moment his body was waiting for. He rapidly opened his teeth and squished the contents back into the middle of his mouth, and his tongue slicked backwards as fast as he could to push the food towards his throat. One final move with the back of his throat, and-

“Gulp! -OOMPH!”

Click unexpectedly felt his throat try to eject the sandwich back out of his mouth and ended up dry-heaving again, his breath hitched a bit in the process. His eyes shot open and he quickly covered the front of his mouth with his hands to prevent himself from coughing it up, which also caused the stench to rise up into his nasal cavity. All of his senses swamped with the overwhelming sulfur, his pupils shrunk from enduring the smell. He kept one hand over his mouth and went back to plugging his nose, which prevented another dry heave. And finally after taking a few moments to prepare himself…

”...Guuulllp guuuullllp… orffgghhh…”

He managed to do it.

“Hoo, man…” he sighed in relief, leaning back against the trash bags in the dumpster. “...I did it…”

He felt the empty aching feeling in his stomach slowly fade away, shutting his eyes to relax a bit. It wouldn’t be long before it returned, but he was content to enjoy the moment while it lasted. For now, he focused on reassessing what he was going to have to do to make it till the end of tomorrow. It was only very early in the morning of day six, so there were still over forty hours left to go until he could return home. He hoped Banner was serious about letting him back in tomorrow, he didn’t know if he could manage another couple days out here, he was already beyond exhausted. When he scooted himself back up to a seated position, he noticed his pants were a tad bit looser on his waist. His eyebrows raised, when did that happen? Were they snagged on something and got stretched out? He felt the hem to check for any sign of damage, but there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

“...W-Wait…” Click mumbled, slightly confused. “...T-They weren’t like this the other day… D-Did I… lose weight!?...”

The realization hit him right then and there; he had dropped a pants size from his ordeal! He could wrap both his hands around his legs and touch his fingers together, which meant he had lost an inch or two on each leg. Slight fear began to creep up on his face as he began to check the rest of his body for anything else that felt different. It was then that he also realized his shirt also felt a tad loose on his chest and shoulders, and he could feel his cheekbones easier. The bones in his hands and feet were slightly more prominent than they were before, and he could just about feel a couple of his ribs through his tummy without putting any pressure in. Click’s breath quickened as the panic about his body shape flooded his mind; he really WAS starving to death!

“I-I-I’m… I-I’M HIDEOUS!” Click wailed as tears started to well up in his eyes. “All my good looks are GONE! My clothes, my hair, and now MY BODY!?... Are you HAPPY, Banner!? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED!?”

…No answer.

“Of course THIS is what Banner WANTS…” Click growled under his breath. “It’s always been what they’ve WANTED, for ME to be taken down a peg… They were ALL jealous of MY success, just piggybacking off of MY hard work and accomplishments, and THIS is how they repay ME!? They took Spamton BACK in, and SENT ME TO STARVE TO DEATH!?”

A tiny red hot flame of anger began to burn inside of Click, and he started to punch the walls of the dumpster, not even caring about the blunt pain that shot through his bare knuckles. The flame of anger kept growing bigger and bigger until it was a furious blaze of no rational thought, and he took out his immense frustrations on the trash bags in the dumpster, ripping open half of them and chucking the other half out through the lid. He climbed out into the pouring rain when he threw enough bags outside, and began to stomp through the alleyway, kicking over any trash can that got in his way. Click kept going, turning down another alleyway and destroying every bag he could find in the dark. He looked up where the rain was coming from and laughed maniacally.

“YOU LIKE THIS, HUH!? HUH!?” Click shouted in the air. “YOU LIKE WATCHING ME SUFFER!? WELL HERE I AM, TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT ME!”

CRASH! CLANG! BAM! CRAACK KOOOWWW!

Click’s violent outrage timed with a lightning strike nearby perfectly, causing a loud eruption of noise. The soundwaves backhanded his eardrums harshly, and he snapped out of his episode. The torrential wildfire within him slowly simmered down to a small ember as the pouring rain snuck under his fur and iced his skin. He then stood still, staring into the foggy darkness, trying to take in any kind of shape in his environment. He couldn’t see a thing, and had no idea where he even ended up. How long were his eyes blinded by the fire?...

“...U-Umm… here I am… Wh-Where am I?...” He whispered in the pitch black night.

This wasn’t good, nothing around him looked familiar, he couldn’t see any of the trash cans he had knocked over to retrace his steps back to the dumpster he was staying in. The cold from the rain set in further, trailing down his spine and saturated his clothes. He pulled his arms close and slightly bent over, the shivers settling back in.

He couldn’t let himself freeze now, he didn’t want to die, he wanted to go home, back to Banner, back to the gang, back to Spamton…

. . .

And apologize to them all…

. . .

Turning around to where he felt like he was going backwards from where he traveled, he started to walk blindly into the night, taking his time to navigate around any trash he felt on the floor. Tripping now might cause him to lose his bearings and become even further lost, so he made sure not to move as quickly. The motivation to be back inside the dry dumpster fueled his fire this time, and he tried really hard to adjust to the darkness. Eventually, he felt the metal of a large trash can knock against his feet. Was this one of the trash cans he knocked over? He stepped over it and kept feeling around with his feet for another. To his surprise, there was another a couple feet away, he WAS on the right path back to the dumpster! He kept checking the floor for more trash cans, zigzagging his way through the next alleyway over, and could see in the distance the faint light of the electric pole that lit up the street. That was near the dumpster he was staying in! His face beamed with joyous relief as he picked up his speed and ran straight for the dumpster-

WHAAAAAAMMM!

A deep and heavy pain pounded into Click’s stomach as he had collided with a parking barrier pole that was hidden in the dark. He completely lost his balance and tumbled forward, his body scraping against the concrete and left him with more cuts. He quickly brought himself onto his hands and knees as he struggled to inhale the wind back in that was knocked out of him. A massive cylindrical bruise had begun to develop on Click’s stomach where he was hit the hardest, it pulsed with blunt pain and heat from all of the traumatized blood in that area.

“...Owww… Orrghhh, fuck…” Click groaned, catching his breath. “The fuck was that?...”

. . .

Severe nausea suddenly engulfed his whole body…

GRROOOWWRLLRLLL…

‘Noo!’ Click’s eyes shot open. ‘Not now!!!’

He bent over and held his stomach tight, keeping his head down to try and reduce the sensory input of everything around him and concentrate instead on keeping the nausea down. It felt like a nasty chemical reaction was brewing inside his guts, the contents inside churning and roiling around unpredictably. The muscles in his abdomen contracted slowly as his body was deciding if everything inside needed to come out. He could feel his stomach tensing and shriveling as the liquid inside bubbled with a sickening gurgling noise.

GRRGGGLLGRLL…

The contractions became faster, and his throat tightened, it was inevitable…

‘I don’t wanna do this, I just got it in there!’ Click begged in his mind, whimpering in agony. ‘I’ll do anything just don’t make me-’

His abdomen clenched and his throat opened wide.

BLLUUURRUUUURGHHH!!!

. . .

As quick as it came, it was all over. Click’s hopes of any amount of relief today were now splattered all over the concrete in various size chunks of dark green and yellow vomit. Saliva dripped from his gaping mouth as he stared at the disappointing and grim pile in front of him. The pouring rain mixed with his expelled stomach contents in a small puddle and slowly drained down the alleyway towards the sewer drain, effectively erasing most of his failure from the view of anyone who might pass by in the morning. It wouldn’t matter anyway; anyone seeing it if it stayed wouldn’t know the tragedy of what happened to Click tonight. Would they even care? Why would they care? They didn’t know him, and he didn’t know them…

. . .

His eyes grew heavy as his body began to shut down again…

“...I want to sleep…” Click rasped, and he shakily brought himself back onto his feet.

Wiping his mouth of the remaining vomit on his face, he turned to the dumpster’s silhouette illuminated in the distance, and began to step towards it. He wanted to be warm again, full again, loved again, praised again. He would get all those things after tomorrow, right? So long as Banner kept to their word, that is. He closed his eyes and began to imagine what feast awaited him when he returned, maybe a lovely surf and turf, or a bottomless mimosa brunch? He could phantom sense the silk sheets that lined his bed back in his apartment, they kept him nice and comfortable at any season of the year, cool in the summer, snuggly in the winter. What outfit would he wear once he got back? Maybe something comfy, like the pink puffy pajamas he would wear during movie night! Or perhaps some kind of-

BOOOONNNKk!

His thoughts were cut off when his face had collided with the ladder of the fire escape that hung close by the dumpster. His head vibrated from the suspended metal frame and he lost his equilibrium, falling backwards and hitting his head against a knocked over trash can. His consciousness slowly slipped away, but not before sensing some kind of creature approach him from the other end of the alleyway. It stepped up to him and gave him a few sniffs before it grabbed his shirt collar with its teeth, and began to drag him away to wherever it came from…

Six days down…

Chapter Text

Sniff sniff sniff sniff…

“Mmmmrggghhh…” Click groaned, trying to open his eyes. “...Uuurghhh…”

His head throbbed from the double impact he had happened to him last night in the darkness. He could barely even remember what occurred after his bout of steam blowing; it was such a blur. And now having a bit of a head injury didn’t make the remembering any easier to do. All he could recall was trying to get back to the dumpster he was staying in during the thunderstorm, and then it all went to black. So if that was the case, where was he now? Was he still in the alleyway? It certainly didn’t sound like the streets, in fact, it was pretty quiet, only the sound of the occasional fly buzzing around the room. As well as-

Sniff sniff sniff…

“...Huh?” Click mumbled, his eyes finally fluttering open. “What the-”

“-Aaaghhh!” Click yelped, his body jolting up upon seeing an unusual creature staring at him in the darkness.

“Wrrorrf!” The creature woofed, jumping back and raising its behind in a playful bow.

He crawled backwards until he hit a wall, shaking from the sudden rush of adrenaline. His breath quickened as his mind flooded into a fight or flight mode, unsure of what this creature was or how to handle getting away from it. Was it going to attack him? Eat him!? He could only see its silhouette from a ceiling light in the darkness, it had long pointed ears and a lot of shaggy fur… Was it a Werewire? If it was, it was definitely on the shorter side. He didn’t have anything in his inventory besides his lighter to use as a weapon, and without hair spray, the flame wouldn’t exactly reach far enough to do any damage to them if need be. Maybe this creature wasn’t going to attack since it hasn’t so far, it could just be a pushover and be scared of the fire in his hand. He quickly grabbed the lighter from the floor and flicked it on, holding it out towards the creature. It immediately took notice of the new light and tilted its head in curiosity, slowly lumbering towards him.

“S-Stay back!” Click shouted. “D-Don’t touch me!”

It grew closer, sniffing the smoke in the air that was coming from the lighter. Click squinted his eyes and tried his best to see what this creature was before he would try to slip away from it if it got too close. He could now see the creature had quite the long nose like an Addison, and it appeared to be…

Wearing a red flannel?

. . .

“Wait… W-Who are you?” Click confusingly asked, completely taken aback by the unusual detail.

The creature approached, finally lit up by the light from Click’s lighter.

“Wrrorrf!” The creature barked, happily panting in Click’s face.

. . .

LOUIE!?

. . .

“L-Louie!?” Click gasped. “Wh-What? H-How? How are you here!?”

“Rrruuufff!” Louie bellowed, jumping around in excitement upon hearing his name.

Click was baffled, Louie had somehow found him outside in the rain and brought him to safety! He looked down to see most of his inventory had been brought along with him, which included his mover blanket, and the dented can of food. At first, he was quite happy to see some sort of a familiar face again, but then the information from what he remembered about Louie came rushing back. He shouldn’t have been able to get out of that hostel, he had a firewall installed into his code. Did he manage to break through the code? But where would they have placed it? It was then that Click noticed a small trail of blood on the floor where the ceiling light beamed down, and it led towards where the two of them were sitting. Click got up and stepped over to the beam of light, and Louie followed behind him. Once Louie was visible in the light, the problem showed itself. His left paw had a deep hole on his backhand, and it was leaking quite severely. They must’ve put his firewall code in a physical chip so they didn’t have to interfere with his corrupted data, and he managed to figure out where it was located.

“Oh shit Louie, y-you’re really bleeding…” Click inhaled sharply. “L-Let’s get that wrapped up, okay?”

Louie didn’t answer, he just carried on following behind him, pausing every now and then to lick the open wound.

“H-Hey, don’t lick that.” Click ordered, picking up his mover blanket and removing some of the inner lining. “You’re going to make it worse. Here, let me handle it.”

Click bent down and held out his hand for Louie to take. At first, Louie didn’t seem to understand what Click wanted, but eventually got the message, and presented his wounded paw. Click proceeded to use the inner lining of his mover blanket as gauze and wrapping, making sure to keep it tight enough that it wouldn’t unfurl, but not too tight to where it would be uncomfortable for him. Immediately Louie expressed his dislike for the itchy material wrapped around his paw, and he tried to shake it off.

“Leave it on, that’s what’s stopping the bleeding.” Click warned him, then bent down to his level. “...I don’t understand why you’re here, why did you leave your home to find me? Did something bad happen at your home?”

“Grrooowrrff…” Louie grunted, scratching the back of his ear with his leg.

“Well, that’s not an answer…” Click sighed, forgetting that he was trying to ask questions to a literal Werewire Addison hybrid. “...Whatever, I’m sure we’ll figure out the reason once we walk out of…”

It occurred to Click that he still had absolutely no idea where the two of them were, only that the room they were in was dark with one beam of light from the ceiling, and what appeared to be a knocked over bedside table hidden in the shadows. He was curious about why that beam of light was the only light working, and how it didn’t light up the rest of the room at all, so he picked up everything he owned and stepped closer. Louie seemed to be eyeing something next to the table, bearing his teeth at whatever the object was.

“What is it?” Click wondered, stepping in front of him to see what he was staring at.

He bent down and picked up a black cord that was connected to a broken off rotary phone, the base shattered into pieces, presumably by Louie. It was difficult to hear, but there was a very faint hum of a busy phone signal coming through the receiver piece. Click assumed it was probably just a noise Louie wasn’t too fond of, he did have much larger ears than he did, and left the questioning at that. He dropped the cord and continued to step forward into the darkness, eventually discovering another room with more light in it. Louie hopped alongside Click, now content with his company. Click frowned when he looked back at Louie; it was a little weird to see something that was once an Addison reduced to such an animal-like state, sad, yet a bit endearing. At least his old self wasn’t completely gone, he maintained enough of an Addison look to probably not scare anyone away, especially if he was affectionate towards them. It was a puzzling situation for sure, but Louie seemed to be happy where he currently was. Part of him wanted to help Louie return to his former self when his homeless ordeal was over, but something else was troubled with that thought. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a good idea for his coding to be reworked on by an Ambyu-lance; he might lose more than what he still had left.

Click dropped that deep thought and entered the next room with Louie. A brick wall with an opening on the right side lined the connections between the two rooms, they were painted a nice light blue. A desk was parallel to the brick wall, and inside the drawers seemed to be a few glitching artifacts with no real use to Click. He let the inventory inside the desk remain, continuing to observe the details of the room. There appeared to be some kind of yellow flower and piles of flying circles painted on the sky blue brick wall, much to Click’s confusion. He wasn’t sure who would draw flying flowers and circles, perhaps it was metaphorical? Louie didn’t seem amused by it either, he was busy sniffing Click’s back end.

“Would you stop that?” Click scolded him, swatting him away. “I forgot how little you remember about what personal space is…”

Click noticed the desk had a knocked over stool underneath it, and he fixed it back up so he could sit down. He took out his inventory and placed them in a line on the desk; the mover blanket, the lighter, the dented can, and…

Oh, his socks were left back in the dumpster, Louie must’ve assumed that they weren’t worth going back for, and only brought him what they thought would be needed most; warmth and food. But the ‘food’ wouldn’t be of use to him if he couldn’t get it open, which he had already attempted multiple times and failed at. Click sighed, putting away his inventory except for the can. But the moment he took his hands away from the can, Louie leaned over and snatched it off the table.

“H-Hey, that’s mine!” Click yelled. “Gimme that-”

Crick! Crack! POP!

With one swift clamped bite, Louie managed to finally break the can open, and he laid down, beginning to lick the juices that were pouring out of it.

“-The fuck, you got it open!?” Click was gobsmacked. “Holy shit! O-Okay, gimme the can-”

“Rrrrrrrrr…” Louie growled, the hairs on his neck stiffened as he cradled the can between his paws.

“Wh-hey! Don’t growl at me!” Click confronted him. “Drop it, now!”

He was about to reach for the can, but-

SNAP!

Louie quickly stopped him in his tracks with a snap of his teeth in his direction. Click retracted his hand, not expecting such a violent reaction from Louie over a can. Despite how starving he felt, it wasn’t worth losing his hand to a Werewire hybrid’s bite, so he scooted back and let Louie have the mystery contents of the can. Click’s stomach disapproved with his decision and let out a long, empty, and hollow rumble that echoed throughout the room. He miserably sighed and rubbed his belly, trying not to watch Louie eating the rest of his food. It was then that Louie’s ears flickered, he looked over at Click for a couple moments, and then began to gnaw at the can, slowly prying it into roughly two equal parts, the mystery contents settling inside both of them slightly equally. He nudged one half away from the desk and laid down facing away from him, continuing to lick the juices that spilled out onto his paws. Click didn’t know what to make of this random unusual behavior, did Louie just like to gnaw on objects, or was he… offering to share? He didn’t want to just a minute ago, what’s to say this wasn’t a trap?…

Guurrruurgglll…

But Click couldn’t take the hunger any longer; at this point, if it was a trap and his arm was going to be bitten, then he was going to risk it for at least one sip. He hesitantly reached for the can half closer to him, keeping watch to make sure Louie didn’t turn around. Once his hand made contact with the metal, he swiped the can half up to the desk, and he flinched, expecting Louie to turn and bite. But to his surprise, he was left to his own devices, and allowed to eat along with him! He wasted no time slurping down the mystery canned food that Louie had left for him, making sure to lick the inside rim of the can to get all the little bits out. God, It tasted like heavenly sweetness, starch, and butter, so silky and luscious. He was a bit heartbroken when he had finished it all, but was so grateful that Louie was there to lend him a hand and keep him somewhat safe from the dangers of wherever the two were.

That was a good question to answer next, where were they anyway?

With his hunger taken care of and Louie content with entertaining himself with his can half, Click stood up and scanned the room for some kind of exit. As far as he could tell, wherever they were inside only consisted of those two rooms, almost like this was someone’s temporary dwelling, long enough to give at least one of the walls a paint job. Were they in some kind of abandoned small apartment? It certainly didn’t smell like it, or perhaps the stench was just emanating from Click’s trash stained clothes or Louie’s body odor…

…Nope, definitely all three stunk.

The smell was beginning to overwhelm him, so once he located the exit of the painted desk room, he opened the door and peeked outside, cautious about barging right through it in case there was someone unwanted nearby. But to his surprise, they weren’t in an abandoned apartment complex. In fact, something felt slightly familiar out here, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Once he determined the coast was clear, he pushed the door all the way open and stepped outside, Louie nudging his way past Click and strolling into the open to play with his can half.

Upon first glance, he noticed the door he had just exited from had a path that led to another area, and the path was lined with several broken down vehicles. They weren’t the typical cars with legs that roamed the city’s highways and most Addisons rode, they seemed to be a completely manual stick shift, the one inside would control by themselves where the vehicle would go. It wasn’t a common way to drive, let alone learn how to actually drive it, only very rich Addisons really got to drive around their own vehicles and compete on the streets with the cars with legs. It was almost a little disappointing that such an expensive and complicated line of cars would end up trashed in a place like this. Click would’ve loved to learn how to drive one and take it for a joy ride. He walked right up to one of them and ran his hand across the hood, the trash dust that had settled on top long ago now clung to the fuzz on his hand. They had been there for so long, they were beginning to become buried and forgotten, just like Spamton was before they found him…

Another detail about the area Click noticed was that the boxes of deleted files were lined up like a makeshift fence, separating the small building from the walls of the maze of latticed wooden beams that held up some kind of road or structure about them. The discarded litter in the area was compacted to surround the small building in a way it looked like it created a protective layer from the elements. Dozens of caution signs and circle-backslash symbols detailed the outside, giving the appearance of artificial decorations one would see on a fancy bird’s nest near an unkempt park. Whoever lived here sure knew how to keep themselves entertained with the upkeep, or at minimum maintained it to prevent further insanity, the area was insane enough on its own. He concluded with the amount of spam emails, deleted files, and miscellaneous junk scattered everywhere, they were in some part of the Trash Zone, not too far from the edge of Cyber City. His apartment complex that he shared with his Addison coworkers when they needed to travel together was decently close by, so he figured the walk back to retrieve his wallet and keys from Banner wouldn’t be too strenuous.

That is, if he could remember the path to take back home, there were quite a few highways the two of them would have to pass to get away from the Trash Zone, and hopefully not take the wrong turn, the area was a bit of a maze if you didn’t know where you were heading, and stray dogs in cars were reported to be driving haphazardly down dead ends last week. He didn’t exactly have a map anymore to confirm they would be heading in the correct direction, it had disintegrated from the acid pond he swam through two days ago. Louie seemed to have finished playing with his can half and trotted back to Click, eyeing him with curiosity like he was waiting for Click to make the next call on what the two would do next.

“...Why are you looking at me like that?” Click questioned him. “I have no idea where to go with you from here… Well, besides home I suppose… But, I have no idea where YOUR home even is, or MY home for that matter… Welp, any start is better than standing here, let’s go.”

Making his way down the path lined by the broken cars, the pair came across an opening in the latticed wooden beams, which lead to the main area of the Trash Zone. It seemed the little building Louie had dragged him to was secluded in a secret area of the Trash Zone where most wouldn’t be able to find whoever used to live there. Click stepped through the beams and covered his face from the incoming sunrise, it must’ve been early in the morning right after the storm ended, the streets were covered in several puddles, trash bags and a dense fog that hung low to the ground. The path turned to their left, with no other option of direction, they decided to follow it, observing the glitched pop up windows that lined the air around them. Click could just about see his reflection in one they passed by, he barely recognized himself. Louie didn’t seem bothered by his appearance, not even noticing his own reflection and instead sniffed the path they walked along.

. . .

GRRRRR…

The two of them froze in place when a sudden spark of electricity in the fog tickled their faces.

“Tell me that was your stomach…” Click nervously asked Louie for reassurance, but got no answer from him.

GRRRRRRRRR…

The deleted file boxes on either side of them began to shuffle and spread apart.

‘I-It couldn’t be… N-No!’ Click’s mind raced as he tried to find any way to deny what was approaching them.

But then, he slowly realized the surrounding air began to reek of ozone, which meant only one thing...

. . .

WEREWIRES!? HERE!?!?

Through the spaces between the deleted file boxes emerged an aggravated pack of Werewires, half on Click’s side, and half on Louie’s side. There were several of them- no, worse; a dozen of them lined up! There was even an alpha Werewerewire among them, it not only towered Click and Louie, but the other Werewires as well. The plugs on their faces pulsed with various neon colors with each snarl that came out of their hidden mouths. All of them were sharpening their claws, stepping ever so slowly towards the pair, the ones on the ends of the lineup moving quicker to the sides to enclose them inside their pack circle. Click and Louie got closer to each other to be back to back, not wanting to take their eyes off of any of them in case one decided to hide and ambush them during a brawl. They were outnumbered twelve to two, even if Louie could FIGHT more than one at a time, there was no way either of them were going to survive one encounter after another after another without healing items or an energy drink deterrent to get away from them all. Werewires had incredible range thanks to their freakishly long arms and could easily shoot down enemies with their bullet and laser attacks from far away, the two of them were trapped.

. . .

‘I-Is this how I die!?...’ Click thought while whimpering.

. . .

“RRRrrrrr…” Louie growled, the fur on the back of his neck standing up straight.

Click turned to him in shock.

“Y-You seriously can’t believe we can take ALL of them on! Are you mad!?” he shouted, trying to keep an eye on every single one of them.

“RRRAAAWWWRRR!”

It was then that Louie suddenly chose to make the first move and lunged for the neck of one of the Werewires, and the FIGHT between them all began. The Werewire pack wasted no time and quickly focused on Louie, pushing Click out of the way and baring their claws, going in for the attack. They worked like cogs, taking turns to slash and swipe him without mercy, the Werewerewire keeping watch to make sure things were going well with the attack. Click was horrified that Louie was making such a sacrifice to defend them, he didn’t deserve to be beaten senseless for trying to save Click. Despite being completely bombarded and outnumbered, Louie kept up the fight, returning slashes with bites to some of their fluffy necks, and managing to dodge a couple of laser attacks. He kept a few from advancing further into their attack, but wasn’t able to escape unscathed, their claws were ruthless. He was bleeding quite heavily from the slash wounds to his sides and received a black eye from a stray bullet striking his face, but the pain wasn’t stopping him.

After a few minutes of the FIGHT, half of the Werewires grew tired and scampered back a bit, giving Louie a chance to get ahead of the assault and drive more of them away. However, the alpha Werewerewire’s attention was suddenly drawn from keeping Louie in check, to Click cowering in the corner, and began to float towards him.

“-Oh shit!” Click screamed, stumbling to get up and take off. “ No no no no no no no!”

RRROOOOAAARRR!

Click had only made it a few steps before unfortunately tripping on an error message sticking out from the ground, and tumbled forward, rolling a few times before coming to a stop. He flipped himself onto his back just as the Werewerewire caught up to him, he raised a fist to try and strike the beast. The Werewerewire quickly saw Click’s attempt to attack, and pinned his arm down, and then pinned the other when he tried to throw a second punch. Click couldn’t fight the sheer strength of the alpha, he couldn’t even manage to kick their behind since they were too tall to reach. He watched in horror as a teeth filled mandible appeared from underneath its pointed plug, dripping hot and slimy saliva as it slowly descended towards his neck.

It was about to BITE him! AND CORRUPT HIM INTO A WEREWIRE!!!

“NOOOOO!” Click cried out, legs desperately trying to kick the beast off of him.

He felt their teeth just about graze his neck…

. . .

“RRRAAAWWWRRRR!”

Louie ran up from behind the Werewerewire and tackled it from behind, managing to pull them off of Click. He clamped his teeth down hard into the beast’s neck and tightened his arms and legs to try and restrict the Werewerewire’s movements long enough for Click to crawl away. He was weakened from the fight with the main pack, so it wasn’t long before the Werewerewire broke free of his grip. It was one on one now, but it was still an unfair advantage as Louie was injured and exhausted from the first fight and the beast was still at full health. The FIGHT began again as the two of them lunged at each other, exchanging slashes and swipes.

But this FIGHT wasn’t as long as before…

The Werewerewire easily evaded most of Louie’s attacks and took advantage of his previous wounds, slashing specifically at those areas again to slow him down. Once Louie was reduced to only being able to crawl, it soon performed the same restriction of movement as it did to Click, pinning his arms and body down to hold him still. It didn’t take its time and immediately went in for the bite, sinking its teeth straight into Louie’s throat.

“AAAAAAHHHWWOOOOO!!!” Louie screamed in agony as his legs flailed from the extreme pain.

“LOUIE NOOOOO!!!” Click shouted, pulling the error message that tripped him from the ground and chucked it at the Werewerewire’s head. “GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!”

Click managed to nail the Werewerewire with the error message right in the head, knocking their face away from Louie’s neck and causing it to stumble backwards. In the distance, there were sounds of approaching sirens of Ambyu-lances, did someone nearby call for an emergency? The Werewerewire shook its head to stave off the sudden dizziness it felt from the blow. It turned to the direction of the siren noises and slowly decided that the FIGHT was finished. It softly floated off the ground and confidently turned away from the two of them and followed the trail that the Werewires left behind, effectively choosing not to run nor spare them, but ending the FIGHT on its own terms. Once the Werewerewire disappeared into the Trash Zone darkness, Click shuffled over to Louie in a panic, unsure of whether or not he had even survived the FIGHT.

“Louie, are you okay!?” Click shouted, giving Louie a shake. “Say something- or, do something!”

. . .

“RRRrrrrr…” Louie softly growled under his hitched breath.

“Oh thank god you’re not dead…” Click sighed in relief. “...W-We need to get you to where that Amybu-lance siren is coming from, they’ll fix you up and-”

SNAP!

“-Whoa!” Click yelped, pulling his hand back when Louie tried to bite him. “L-Louie?...”

. . .

“GRRRRRR…” Louie snarled and began twitching violently.

“Louie, w-what’s happening to you!?” Click stuttered, shuffling back.

It was then that Louie started to foam at the mouth, his fingers contorting and sharpening into points. His limbs cracked and bent in many different directions, lengthening with each jerking motion that he forcefully had to endure. His body violently glitched and spasmed, he screamed in agony as his body was going through a new corruption. The colors on his ears darkened from pink and yellow to purple and light blue, along with his hands and feet. The teeth in his mouth doubled and sharpened, the foam turning from an opaque white to a slimy green. Eventually, Louie stopped glitching and collapsed motionless onto the floor. Everything changing about him looked like…

“...L-Louie?” Click whispered, slowly leaning toward him. “...A-Are you-”

GGRRRAAWWWRRRRLLL!!!

“AAAAAGGHHHHHH!” Click screamed, pulling himself backwards. “LOUIE!”

Louie rose up from the ground, now double the height of what he used to be. He bared his teeth at Click, saliva dripping onto the floor, it looked like a dark green fleshy meat grinder ready to tear him apart. He sharpened his claws, taking a few steps towards his ‘friend’. Click trembled in fear, in shock from his horrific appearance.

…It’s like Louie was completely gone after that attack, he was no longer there, and instead stood a monster in his place…

Louie lunged for Click, running on all fours to reach him quickly. He didn’t even have a chance to get away from him, being pinned down again immediately. Hot, dark green, and slimy drool dripped down onto Click’s face as he stared at his neck, Louie’s eyes were lifeless, cold, empty, and hungering for a bite. Click shut his eyes, not wanting to witness his inevitable demise…

.

.

.

BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG BANG!!!

.

.

.

Click suddenly felt the weight of Louie collapse onto his chest, he peeked one eye open, only to find Louie was bleeding heavily from his head. He quickly sat up and looked around to see what had caused him to bleed…

“...H-Hello!?” Click stuttered. “L-Louie… W-Who are you!?”

It was then from around the corner, a familiar face appeared… Abigail, the Addison who ran the hostel that Louie had stayed in… She was holding a shotgun in her hands…

“...I’m… so sorry Louie…” she sniffly apologized, stepping up to the two of them and kneeling down to pet Louie’s fur. “...I wish we could have protected you better…”

“M-Miss Abigail?” Click confusingly asked. “L-Louie, he’s-”

“...Gone...He ran away from the hostel two days ago, we found the firewall chip we installed in his hand on his bed…” Abigail answered, holding back some tears. “...We knew those Werewires who changed him would find him again, infect him more, and take him… away from us… It’s… not your fault, this was something we knew would happen one day if we didn’t do more to protect him… but… We didn’t know he had planned to protect you from them…”

. . .

Louie, he sacrificed himself for Click to live…

. . .

Others began to arrive where the two of them were, a group of Ambyu-lances who’s sirens warded away the Werewires, Swatch with a team of Swatchling police, Click’s Addison coworkers, and…

Spamton…

“Click, is that you!?” Banner yelled from across the way. “Oh my god, you’re alive!”

Click jolted from the sudden hug Banner gave them when they ran up to him, along with a few back pats from Vid and Survey.

“Holy shit Click, we thought you were going to get eaten up by those Werewires!” Vid told Click. “You didn’t get bit, did you!?”

“N-No, I-I’m okay…” Click reassured them. “Louie- uhh, this guy, saved my life… I uhh, met him a few days ago in a hostel run by her… But, he got… infected…”

“...And I had no choice but to put him down... Left to roam, Louie would’ve gone on to infect more innocent Darkners and Addisons like yourself…” Abigail explained, sniffling and holding Louie’s paw. “...But, at least he got to help one more person again…”

The four of them knelt down to be silent with Abigail, if for just a moment…

“I’m… So sorry for your loss, ma’am…” Survey comforted her. “If there’s anything we can do to help you-”

“No, that’s alright...” she answered, cutting Survey off and lifting Louie’s arm up into her own arms. “...I will take it from here, and prepare him a proper funeral at the hostel…”

“...If you’re sure…” Survey nodded. “...We’ll be sure to come by and pay our respects this week when we can…”

. . .

Spamton stepped forward to face Click, despite wearing his DEALMAKER glasses, Click could tell that even Spamton was worried about their safety. They both paused for a few seconds before slowly embracing each other in a hug. It was then that Spamton began to silently cry, Click realized and they held each other close.

“...I’m so sorry Spamton… I was such an asshole to you in your most vulnerable time of need…” Click apologized. “...What I did was selfish and cruel, you… didn’t deserve that garbage from me…”

. . .

“... I [FORGIVE AND FORGET] you, [CLICK HERE!]... I’m just [HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY] that you’re [ALIVE AND KICKING] and [WELL DONE]...” Spamton sobbed in Click’s arms.

Click was so relieved that Spamton actually cared about him…

. . .

“Will you four be alright taking Click home?” Swatch asked the group. “My colleagues and I can arrange a ride back home for you all if you wish.”

“Y-Yeah, that would be great, Swatch, thank you.” Banner accepted. “It’ll be the safest way home for all of us, especially Click.”

“Very well, it’ll just be a moment.” Swatch bowed, then ordered the Swatchlings to hail a cab with legs for them.

The four of them all helped Click to stand up then escorted him into the cab once it arrived. Swatch closed the door after everyone settled in and buckled up, waving goodbye for now to them, and then walking over to Abigail to assist her in transporting Louie back to the hostel. Click immediately felt so warm inside the cab, something he hasn’t felt in days, he lowered his head, exhausted. His mind began to disassociate from his environment now that he didn’t have to remain in fight or flight mode, which caused the voices around him to muffle.

“Click, you gotta tell us what happened to you out there!” Vid pointed out. “You almost died, man!”

“Vid, give Click some space.” Banner warned him, tears in their eyes. “He’s been through too much, and… It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have done that, this could’ve turned out so much worse…”

“No, don’t blame yourself, Banner.” Survey comforted them. “This isn’t anybody’s fault, but… I don’t think it’s our place to be putting blame on what happened. It’s between Click and Spamton afterall…”

“...You’re right, Survey.” Banner sniffled, wiping away their tears. “Spamton… You and Click should have the main talk when we get back home.”

“Very well, [BLUEBIRD].” Spamton nodded, turning to Click. “I’ll prepare the [VERDICT] while we’re [GO HOMETEAM]. [CLICK HERE!], clean up [FIRST AND FOREMOST], then we’ll [WALKIE TALKIE $16.99] in the [ALIVE AND WELL] room.”

. . .

“Click, you there?” Banner nudged Click’s shoulder.

“-Huh, what?...” Click responded, snapping out of his disassociation. “...Oh, y-yeah, sure…”

“Hrmm, he must still be in shock…” Vid mumbled to Survey.

“Not now, Vid…” Survey rolled their eyes. “Let’s just get him comfortable again, that’s the first step.”

- - -

Their cab ride finally arrived at their apartment complex, and the five of them stepped out, two of them supporting Click by his arms to help him back inside. Banner opened the door to let them all in, using Click’s keys to do so. They gripped the keys tightly, the guilt of what they did a week ago still looming over their head. They hoped Click wasn’t too furious at them for kicking him out of his apartment, especially since it almost cost him his life. They followed at the end of the group line and closed the door behind them all. Survey opened their shared apartment door and they stepped in one at a time, Click and those holding him first, then Spamton, and finally Banner.

“Alright bud, you need to get out of your clothes and get in the shower.” Survey instructed Click, letting him go once he had his balance. “I don’t think those clothes are going to be salvageable, so just put on some pajamas for now.”

“Y’know, I expected you to be a bit more muddy than you are...” Vid teased, tugging on Click’s sleeve.

“Vid, shut it, not now…” Survey growled under their breath. “We’ll prepare something for you to eat when you finish cleaning up.”

Click nodded, shuffling towards the bathroom and unbuttoning whatever buttons hadn’t fallen off of his shirt. Slipping off his pants and boxers, it was then he realized just how little remained on him after just one week; just three parts of an outfit, he lost his watch, his shoes, his socks… How much did Spamton lose over the years? When they first found him in the dumpster, he only had on a dusty sweater, a torn up overcoat, muddy slacks, and a pair of aged sneakers. None of them remembered Spamton having an outfit like that before or after his time in the spotlight, must’ve been an outfit he salvaged overtime. As he turned on the hot water and stepped in, he couldn’t help but imagine awful scenarios Spamton might’ve gone through in the past twenty years. If Click ran into a Werewire pack once during his time, how many times did Spamton run into them? How many Poppups? Virovirokuns? God, how many Ambyu-lances tried to delete him!?...

. . .

Click barely even went through a fraction of monster attacks than what Spamton went through…

. . .

Once he finished cleaning off all of the dirt and debris out of his fur, he took out all of the knots in his hair, the last of the hairs pulled out from his near-death experience with the train flowing down the drain. How much hair did Spamton lose over two decades? It’s certainly thinner than what they all remembered when they used to style each other’s hair at Banner’s friend’s hair salon. Click used to style Banner’s, Survey did Vid’s, vice versa, and Banner’s friend did Spamton’s since he had sensitivity issues and didn’t trust many to touch his hair. He probably hadn’t had his hair styled at all the entire time he was homeless, Click felt his heart drop at that thought. It was then that he realized that he had been standing in the shower with his thoughts for almost half an hour. He didn’t want to leave the soothing warmth, he had only just gotten it back, but his feet were killing him and he wanted to sit down. He turned the water off and dried himself off once he stepped out. He noticed a pair of his pajamas were laid out for him on his bed, probably by Survey, and he slipped into them once he was dry enough. He missed the silky feeling of those pajamas so much, he felt a tear beginning to develop in his eye. He sat on the bed for a moment, his head facing the floor. He felt his heart sink to his feet, because now that he was clean, it was time to talk with the group. How could he possibly face Spamton after everything he had said to him? After everything he had done to him? There was no way he was really serious about accepting his earlier apology.

. . .

“Hey Click, are you decent in there?” Survey asked, knocking on their door and peeking in. “We’ve made you some spaghetti code, you should eat some before it gets cold.”

“-Wha?... Oh, sure just, gimme a moment…” Click nodded, keeping his head down.

“Alright, we’ll be out here when you’re ready.” Survey told him, slowly shutting the door.

Spaghetti code, that was Spamton’s favorite at the Cyber Grill. He loved their recipe so much that Banner managed to replicate it enough for him at home to stop him from going there every time he wanted it. After everything Click had gone through today, he was in no mood to eat, but the nauseous and empty feeling building in his stomach said otherwise. Man, how much sickness did Spamton go through while he lived out there?... Click knew dwelling on it anymore was going to make it impossible for him to talk about it, so he shook the thought out of his mind and left the bedroom.

He entered the living room where the gang was sitting on their usual spots on the couches, all with their own bowl of spaghetti code. Spamton was still stuffing it down his gullet like he hadn’t eaten in days, except the reality was almost the complete opposite for the two of them. Click sat down between Spamton and Banner, a plate of his own spaghetti code was placed in his lap by Survey before they also sat down to join them all. The smell made Click want to throw up, it was so savory yet overpowering. His body craved the energy, yet revolted against eating until his guilty feeling was gone. If he was going to earn his freedom from this awful emotion, he was going to have to talk to all of them…

“...Click, who do you want to talk to first?” Banner piped up. “It’s up to you, take your time…”

“...I think… I should start with you, Banner…” Click decided. “...I’m… relieved to be home, but… it feels like I don’t deserve to be back here after everything I did… I thought you guys didn’t want anything to do with me this week…”

“Oh Click, I wanted you back home the minute you left…” Banner confessed. “I was so scared that something terrible was going to happen to you, I tried to keep at least one eye on your whereabouts everyday, but then, we hadn’t heard from you after you left the Color Cafe, we thought… we thought you were…”

It was then that Banner broke down into tears, crying into Survey’s shoulders. Fuck, he didn’t want them to feel responsible for his punishment, he got what he deserved, it was just they were the one to enforce it.

“Banner please, don’t do this to yourself…” Click reassured them. “I think… you did the right thing, because it’s true… I don’t know what Spamton had gone through…”

Click gave Banner a pat on their leg.

“I’m not dead, I’m still here, and I’m not mad, in fact… I agree with what you did… It… opened my eyes to my own hubris…”

Click then turned to Vid after taking a bite of his spaghetti code.

“What happened to you after you left the Queen's mansion?” Vid wondered. “Swatch told us you snuck in there and he set you up in a hotel, we hadn’t heard any other updates about you since then.”

“...Well, I uhh…” Click hesitated. “...I ended up in jail-”

“YOU [SAY WHAT!?]” Spamton shouted. “The [TWEETS] locked you [UPSIDE DOWN]!?”

“Y-Yeah, I was arrested for resisting arrest and theft, so they took all the money I had earned at the time…” Click explained. “And then, I had to train hop in order to escape some thugs and get myself over to where my work was…”

“You train hopped to work? Why were you trying to go there?” Survey questioned. “Banner made it so you didn’t have to work that week.”

“Well, I tried to see if I could get my paycheck from last week’s work in check form so I could use it for the last couple days…” Click mentioned. “But… I was too late, and I had nowhere else to go but to take shelter from the rain in…”

He shuddered.

“...A dumpster.”

“HAAHAEHEEHAEHAHAE!” Spamton chuckled. “Just like [YE OLDEN TIMES]! Did you [LIKE SHARE SUBSCRIBE] it in there!?”

“Spamton…” Banner mumbled peeking out from Survey’s shoulders. “Don’t laugh at his… N-Nevermind, you did that a lot yourself…”

“N-No, it just made me realize more and more just how horrible you must’ve felt out there, cold, hungry, and alone…” Click admitted. “And then when I saw that my body changed, I got so furious at you all that I took it out on anything around me, which led to karma knocking me out…”

“And that’s when those Werewires came in?” Vid pointed out.

“Not exactly… I ran into someone else first.” Click clarified.

“That [DOG MAN] Were-[MR. HYDE] thing?” Spamton asked.

“Y-Yeah, that was Louie…” Click recounted. “He was, a nice guy before his first run-in with those Werewires… But then he changed, and that Abigail and everyone in that hostel were taking care of him… He left his home to make sure I was safe… and then…”

Click sniffled a bit.

“It happened…”

. . .

“And then Swatch told us his police team got a call about a FIGHT that broke out between something and those Werewires.” Banner recalled. “The Ambyu-lances were dispatched there to take care of the problem, but I guess she took care of the problem before we could all get there…”

. . .

“...I don’t even know where to begin making it up to Abigail for her loss.” Click shook his head. “It was my fault he knew about me in the first place and felt like he needed to protect me… He’d still be alive if I hadn’t entered that hostel…”

. . .

“...Well, we did tell her we’d visit another day to pay our respects at his memorial.” Survey proposed. “You can start there, I guess…”

“And you can [READY SET GO] by letting us [KNOWLEDGE] if you’ve learned your [LESSON LEARNED]!” Spamton butted in. “Do you [NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL MUSIC] know how [DIFFICULTY LEVEL SELECT] it was for [ME ME ME] to [LIVE ON TV] out there!?”

“I suppose that’s a good question, Spamton.” Survey confirmed. “...Did you learn your lesson, Click?”

He thought about it for a moment…

.

.

.

“...No…”

“...W-What? N-No!? What do you mean!?” Vid asked in disbelief. “B-But you must’ve, you just went through a week of hell!”

“...That’s the point, Vid…” Click sighed. “...I only went through a WEEK of homelessness… Spamton went through twenty YEARS of it…”

. . .

“From the very get-go, I knew that I was only going to be going through this punishment for a short amount of time… Spamton never knew where the end to his torment was every single day…

Right at the start, I managed to make enough money to stay at a motel with the sale of my watch… Spamton wouldn’t have had anything nice enough out there to make that many Dark Dollars for that kind of luxury…

I was given permission to stay at that hostel even though I shouldn’t have since I made too many sales, but they let me in anyway… Spamton probably never got privilege like that, maybe even worse since he’s considered a higher class of color than I am…

I managed not to get kicked out of the Queen’s mansion, and Swatch gave me a hand with something to eat and a night at another hotel… Spamton would’ve been deleted had he stepped anywhere close to that mansion…

I only stayed in jail for a few hours… Spamton must’ve been arrested so many times out there for who knows how long…

I managed to ride the trains without getting killed by some monster or the train itself… I have no idea how many close calls Spamton must’ve had if he also rode the trains to get around different places…

I don’t think I ever went a day without food, sure I was starving, but… Not like Spamton did, I have no idea how many days he went without a single bite to eat over and over again for decades…

I didn’t lose that many clothes, I didn’t have to sleep in the garbage every night, I didn’t receive any marks on my criminal record, so much I didn’t experience… Because I was privileged… and Spamton wasn’t… I’ll never really know what Spamton truly went through… I don’t think I can say that I really learned my lesson because of that… Our experiences were not the same, and I don’t deserve to claim that I went through the same thing…”

. . .

“Click…” Banner hung their head down. “...I…You’re… You’re right… You didn’t exactly go through what Spamton went through-”

“But you certainly [ENTERTAINMENT] me with your [BEDTIME STORIES], Click! You may haven’t [GONE WITH THE WIND] through [EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING] I had to [ENDURE], but you sure did [FIGHT] your way [INSIDE AND OUTSIDE] of it!” Spamton encouraged, giving him a pat on the back. “I [FORGIVE] what you said to [MOI] a [WEEKND] ago!”

…So he really was forgiving him.

“Spamton, are you sure you’re forgiving Click just like that?” Vid confronted him. “He just said that he-”

“Yes, I [ACCEPT] his [TURMOIL], under one [TERMS AND CONDITIONS]!” Spamton proposed, holding out his hand towards Click.

“...Y-You would?” Click confusingly replied. “...What’s the condition?”

“You take your [PINKY TOE] keister down to that [ANIMAL SHELTER] tomorrow and [SIGN HERE] to [GENEROSITY] some of your [KROMER] to that [HOCHI MAMA] every month! Make sure those [LITTLE SPONGES] don’t go [FAMINE] in honor of that [BARK BARK BARK]!” Spamton relayed out to Click. “Once that’s [DONE AND DUSTED], you [COME BACK] to me and [LET ME GO] slap you [IN YOUR FACE] really hard once! Then we’ll call it [EVEN AND ODD], okay?”

“...You just want me to donate to that hostel monthly?” Click repeated back to him. “...Well sure but- wait, what was that last-”

“Then you’ve got yourself [A DEAL’S A DEAL]!” Spamton shouted, taking Click’s hand and shook it. “Now let’s enjoy some [FAMILY FRIENDLY PROGRAMMING] on the [TEL AVIV], shall we!?”

“W-What? But I...If you say so…” Click huffed, taking another bite of his spaghetti code.

“Well, if you’re done talking to Click, Spamton… I guess we can take a break to let Click settle back home.” Banner nodded, picking up the TV remote. “But… I’m happy you two are going to work things out between each other…”

“Happy as a [HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS], Banner!” Spamton chuckled, leaning his head against Click.

And with that, the five of them turned their attention to the screen and watched the news together, eating their TV dinners like they used to many years ago. On the news was a story of the Werewire attack, with one dead and one injured reported on the scene. Down below the story title was a small phone number anyone could call to give a donation or sign up for a monthly donation to the hostel Click stayed at.

“You know [WHAT IN TARNATION] you can also do [CLICK CLACK MOO] to better [AYUDAME] at that hostel?” Spamton told Click, looking up at him.

“...What’s that, Spamton?” Click tilted his head, wondering what Spamton had on his mind.

. . .

“You can [UTILIZE] your [POWERPUFF] privilege to [SPREAD THE WORD] about that [NO TELL MOTEL], Addisons will listen to a [TERTIARY] like you, which means [MORE DESSERT] for that [ABBY HAYES]!” Spamton suggested. “It’s a [FIRST STEP] to get her to [LET GO] of the [FACTS] that you-”

. . .

Spamton’s glasses faded into static…

. . .

[killed her dog]...”

. . .

Click slowly backed away from him.

“I’ll uhh… Make sure to do that too…” Click mumbled, a bit unnerved about Spamton’s sudden guilt trip. “P-Please just, go back to watching the TV… I’ll sort everything out tomorrow…”

“...Very well, [CLICK HERE].” Spamton yawned, placing his plate down and cuddling closer to Click.

…Y’know, maybe just this once… he’ll let Spamton cuddle… It was… nice.

.

.

.

YOU GOT 237 EMAILS!

“W-What?” Abigail stuttered as she checked her work email at the hostel’s office a week later. “Who would… Oh my god…”

. . .

Every. Single. Email, was a notification of a donation in honor of Louie’s memory and sacrifice, and each letter was signed by an anonymous organizer… The only signature provided on every donation was just the letter ‘C’. And when Abigail clicked on the link provided in each email, it led her to a website she had never seen before; A gateway to dozens of links that allowed those who wished to donate to any cause they chose, especially her business. She couldn’t help but silently break down in tears…

“...Thank you, Click…”