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Ze had noticed immediately when something was off. How could he not when his paranoid brain latched onto detail, hungry for a sign that they were fake. He sorted but out fairly quickly that they were indeed the real ReGect and Moe, what he hasn't sorted out, was why they were acting so weird. Not out of character weird, just...like something had them on edge.
ReGect had a habit of staring too long at nothing when he was thinking about something heavy. He had a habit of humming the same 80’s song on loop when he was nervous. And the sky had a habit of crying when he couldn't. These were all signs it was ReGect. Nothing too weird.
Moe had a habit of fiddling with the glass water bottles in her inventory when she was thinking. She had a habit of twisting her ruffles around when she was nervous. And she had a habit of honking her horn just a tad louder and strained when she was on edge. Nothing weird about that either.
What was weird was the fact they were constantly doing this since Ze came back. Which was admittedly only a few hours ago-but that's not the important part. He had heard about his pathetically bad dupe, but they laughed it off when they told the story. If another entity attacked, or the pirate guy came back, they didn't tell him. They didn't tell him about anything that happened while he was gone. When he had asked, ReGect said they had been looking for him, and he would have pushed more if he didn't then have to grapple with the fact that his friends were actually looking for him, and he probably spooked them a bit with how long he was gone. But it wasn't his fault!
He was brought temporarily out of his thoughts by Moe nervously asking him to cook, which he agreed to after some pleading eyes from Moe, and whiny begging from his roommate. ButBut it was fine, ReGect was the one banned from the kitchen after somehow bringing meat to life (seriously how did he think dumping all the seasonings on that poor flesh slab would end up?) However it didn't go unnoticed that the fridge and pantry were almost completely untouched. There was a slight bit of meat gone, and the fruit looks like it had been smacked on slightly, but other than that it was the exact same. And he was gone for two weeks. Even ReGect’s baking ingredients were stocked up completely. And that was the one hobby he outwardly encouraged (even if only a little) because ReGect’s baking tasted good (even if he wouldn't say that part out loud). ReGect had started baking twice a week and this hadn't been touched at all.
What the FUCK happened while he was gone!?
After finally finishing cooking, a simple well seasoned steak (that was NOT squirming on the ground), the three ate in silence. Not even Moe was honking about some exciting thing she recently discovered, or a place she wanted to go. There was no one at the door, and no endearingly weird build ReGect was gloating about. It was frankly uncomfortable, so Ze did what he does best! Run away from emotionally uncomfortable situations! Once his plate was empty he gave some half hearted excuse about heading to bed early before hurrying off to his room.
A part of it was the paranoia. The lurking feeling that this was all a lie, that these were just fakes of his friends. Mostly is was confusion and the creeping feeling he didn't want to name. However he regretted his decision to leave as soon as he made it. The moment he locked himself in his room, he could feel the hair on his neck stand up, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. Realistically, he knew he would be fine. He was armed and the eyes wouldn't rip him from his happiness only a few hours after he got it right? Besides, ReGect and Moe, the real ones, where in the rooms on either side of his! He'd be ok. Probably. Except for the fact that he swears something into the corner moved.
He's gripping the shotgun in his inventory tightly. The shotgun ReGect gave him. His gut twists as he looks down at the gun in his shaking hands, which one gave this to him? He wants so hard to believe it was the real ReGect, that he has something from the real entity, that the Christmas wasn't a lie. But he can't shake the creeping dress that it might not have been, so he tosses it across the room, scrambling to grab one he can trust his hands with. He settles on a pistol, the first pistol actually. The one he threatened the real ReGect with back when the entity had a car for some reason. He could trust this, he could trust the bullets it was loaded with, and the trigger, and the clean white shell. He could trust his eyes and hands and whatever other senses with this. What he couldn't trust was the room.
He had heard ReGect and Moe head to bed at some point during while he was scanning the dark room like it hid a body. He could assume they were probably asleep at this point, so he carefully walked padded over to his door, pistol heavy in his hands and back refusing to turn away from the door until he was safely out of the room. He could hear the slight squeak of Moe's horn as she slept, and he could feel a small smile form. The fake Moe didn't do that. He quietly made his way down stairs, and to the kitchen. He wasn't hungry but having something mindless to snack on would be nice. Or at least that was the plan until he saw a black figure coming from the stairs at an alarming pace. His hand shot to the gun he had set on the counter, but he paused upon seeing the gold chain around where a neck should be.
“ReGect?!? The fuck are you doing!?” he asked annoyed. He didn't know if he should be relived to see someone else right now, or cautious in case it's a fake.
“It's fine Moe I'm just looking...for...”
ReGect's sentence trailed off as the entity turned around and seemed to realize he was not, in fact, talking to a silly clown woman. And Ze was forced to take a moment, out of sheer curiosity and definitely not any kind of concern, to question what the fuck ReGect had to look for that required sneaking out at night. Only to look at the way ReGect seemed to focus back on reality, (Ze had seen ReGect get lost in his head during a storm enough times to realize when he wasn't fully conscious, and to see the signs of him snapping back to reality), and be hit with the awkward realization that ReGect had been looking for him. A very uncomfortable thought made his gut twist. If ReGect looking for him became a rainy night autopilot, then it means that he and Moe had probably been a lot more worried about him than he thought. And now that he was thinking about it, it was probably the reason that they were so on edge today, because they were still scared. Just like he was. They cared as much as he did. And while he admitting he cared about them, yes even ReGect, was a thought he didn't mind having (as long as he kept it to himself. ReGect doesn't need any kind of ego from that.), The thought that they cared too was uncomfortable. Not entirely unwelcome, but just enough to make him question what he did to deserve it.
“You...you spent so long looking for me it became a habit!?”
“What are you doing awake?”
“Oh-I couldn't sleep. So I came down here for a snack when your...surprisingly quiet dumbass decided to run off in the middle of the night.”
Ze bit down a sarcastic remark about avoiding the previous question, and although it WAS a rhetorical question, an acknowledgement would be appreciated. And he didn't really know where to go from here since they were kind just staring at each other awkwardly, luckily he didn't have to make a decision! As Moe, (he silently apologizes for waking her up), angrily honks at them from the top of the stairs. Well more accurately angrily honks at REGCT from the top of the stairs. (A little concerning that she was yelling at him for ‘trying to sneak out again' and ‘already being sleep deprived'...entities need sleep???)
“Calm down Moe I got him.” Ze yelled back up, gently grabbing ReGect’s hand to pull up the stairs and back to bed. “C'mon dumbfuck. Lets get your old ass to b-AGH”
Before Ze could finish, he was very rudely interrupted with ReGect clinging desperately to him in a hug.
“ReGect-” He honestly didn't know what was going on with ReGect but this was a just straight up concerning. The dude is literally willingly hugging him right now.
And then it got worse! Because his asshole roommate who he definitely did NOT miss ok, was crying. Like actual tears. “Fuck Ze-I- I was fucking scared ok!?” He held Ze tighter, and Ze could swear he felt something prick his side, “I thought I'd never fucking see you again”
Moe had come down stairs and was hugging ReGect as best she could. It would be really sweet if not for the fact that ReGect was sobbing into his shirt.
“You uh...cared that much hu-”
“OF COURSE I FUCKING CARED ZE. OF COURSE I DID. I DIDN'T SLEEP. I DIDN'T FUCKING EAT. I IGNORED THE FUCKING RAIN TO FIND YOU”
“oh. .” Ze couldn't help but feel really shitty now, for how much he was an asshole these two really cared about him. That being said, ReGect needs to stop soaking his damn shirt.
“Hey, ReGect?”
“yeah?” ReGect sounded exhausted now that Ze thought about it, and angry, but mainly exhausted.
“Can I sleep with you two tonight?”
That was the comment which resulted in him laying in ReGect’s bed, in ReGect’s room, in the house ReGect built, with ReGect and Moe clinging onto his respective sides like a lifeline. He let out a groan, not because of the weird thought that people cared about him, or because it was ReGect clinging like a new born kitten, or because Moe's horn was practically honking in his ear, but because he couldn't move to a more comfortable position to cuddle the only two people that kept him going right now sleep. To. Sleep. The eyes were a threat, and he should feel paranoid that they're watching right now, plotting to take what little he has left, but he couldn't help the consuming warmth and safety of being right next to people he cared about.