Chapter Text
It had been about two weeks since Alternates were brought to the public's knowledge.
Dissappearances, unsolved murders, and other unsettling occurances had been piling up over the last year, and the people of Yoylecity had already been on high alert. When the Broadcast started, it only confirmed everyone's suspicions. Something was very, very wrong. Even more unsettling, no news stations or media coverage of the topic was ever shown afterwards. The world was drowning the truth out, trying to pretend that nothing was going on.
When the other Algebraliens heard about what was happening, Ten and Eight (the more responsible of the group) decided they should stick together as closely as possible and keep eachother safe. Eight convinced Four to let them move in, and after X agreed, Two, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten moved in within a week. Despite Fours uncertainty, they did understand that it was the safest option and that they should keep their friends safe. That didn't mean they had to enjoy the presence of so many people in their home. over the past four days after the Algebraliens had all comfortably moved in, multiple arguments between Four and the other guests had occured.
Currently, Four was sulking on the couch beside X, watching Battle for Dream Island once again. It was his favorite show, and almost always calmed him down.
"Turn the volume down." Eight says, setting a cup down onto the kitchen counter. "Why?" Four mutters, not loud enough for them to hear. "Did you hear me, Four? Turn the volume down, or I'm going to." X nervously peeks up above the back of the couch and looks at Eight.
"he asked why..." they clarify. Eight sighs and walks towards the couch. "Four. You need to turn the volume down, because it is loud enough to be heard outside. You know why that is bad." He grabs the remote out of Four's hand, and turns the volume from 23 down to 10. Four looks like he's about to start shouting, but Eight glares at him and drops the remote back onto the couch. "Don't start." They mutter, and then go back into the kitchen.
Footsteps are heard coming down the stairs, and a voice calls out. "Fouu-..." Two stops talking, noticing the angry look Four has. "uh, X," He starts again, trying to avoid more shouting. "Hm?" X asks, getting up and walking over to Two. "Ah, I don't have any wifi. Could you tell me the password?" X nods. "Mhm, its written on my computer." X leads Two back up the stairs, into his room. As they go up, Four sinks lower into the couch. he really didn't like this. Not just the people invading his space, but the situation in general too. he didn't pay much attention to the public announcement the first day, but the more he thought about it, the more unsettled he got. They weren't often one to be scared of things, so this was a very... unpleasant experience. X had instantly started crying and asking questions that day, and they had no idea what to do. I still don't have any idea what to do, he thinks to himself bitterly.
"We need to get more food." Ten says from the kitchen. When had Ten come down? What time even was it? Where was X? Four shuts off the TV, getting up quickly and walking towards the stairs. Recently, he seemed to get quite anxious when X wasn't around. With so many people, it was hard to keep track of whereabouts alot of the time.
"X?" he calls, walking up the stairs. "Yeah?" X asks from their room. Four sighs, walking into the room. "What are you doing, i thought we were watching the show?" Four asks, looking a little disappointed. "Oh, they were helping me!" Two says, making Four jump. "Ah. I hadn't noticed you." He mutters annoyedly. Privacy seemed to not be an option currently. Backtracking, he looks back to X and asks, "What time is it?" before sitting down beside them on the bed. "its 8 pm!" Two says. "I wasn't asking you." Four stares at Two, trying to get the point across. "Okay, okay, I'll leave. See ya' later, X!" he says, walking out and into the guest room.
"How are you doing, X?" Four asks after a few minutes. "Uhm, okay, i guess. I'm still scared, but... nothing's happened yet, so we'll be fine. Right?" They look up, trying to get reassurance from Four. "Probably." He shrugs. Four wasn't one to make a situation lighter, he saw it how it was. not good, right now. "Well, 'probably' is better than 'no', i guess." X mumbles, sounding less sure than before.
A knock is heard on the door frame, and they both look up. "Four, Eight told me to tell you need you to go to the store tomorrow. there isn't much food left, apparently." Nine says, nervously looking at the two of them. "Why can't Eight go themself?" Four asks, getting up and walking towards the door. "uh.." Nine starts, but moves out of the way as Four keeps walking down to the kitchen. "Why can't you or Ten go yourselves?" Four asks loudly at the bottom of the stairs.
"Four, why does everything have to be an argument? it's your house-" "that YOU decided to barge into!" he shouts, walking into the kitchen. "it's safer for all of us if-" "HOW WOULD YOU KNOW??"
The walls aren't very thin in this house. That had never been a problem before, X and Four didn't often fight. Not loudly, at least. X sighs, putting on their headphones and trying to forget about the whole predicament for a few minutes. They were extremely overwhelmed, both from the current state of the world, and the amount of people around at all times. X wouldn't admit it, they were too welcoming, but they didn't like everyone being here either. It was too loud, too cramped, and too scary. They all hated this. Four seemed to be the only one unable to contain themselves.
A few hours later, everyone was back up in the bedrooms. Due to the amount of residents, each bedroom had to house three people at once. In X's room, Eight and Six also slept. Since they were all relatively small and X had a large bed, they all shared with no problems. despite Four's annoyance, Ten and Nine ended up sharing his room. Nine shares the bed with Four, but Ten is too large and ended up sleeping on the floor. In the guest room, Seven, Five, and Two sleep peacefully, having no problems.
The night was calm, nothing had gone wrong, and everyone was sleeping soundly. If you tried really hard, you could even forget that anything was even wrong.
Sleep was nice like that.