Chapter Text
"Phee," Ze tries, settling onto his couch and watching the oldest dart around his apartment—complaining about how dirty it was all the while—, "Phee," he tries again.
Ana throws herself over the back of the couch, "Phoebe is actually lost in the sauce. Sauce of your gross ass apartment."
Ze uses his left arm to gesture around the room which was almost entirely clean except for a few things thrown about and misplaced furniture, "What mess?" He huffs.
"The whole damn thing, duh, you're nose blind so you can't smell the stank."
"PHEE, ANA CALLED ME A WHORE," Ze turns his attention back to Phoebe, trying to get Ana in trouble who is actively climbing over the couch to sit on Ze, hands landing on his neck as his land on her shoulders.
"I did not!!! Fuck off! Phee! He's a dirty LIAR!"
Ze couldn't actually feel much pressure behind the hands around his throat. They push him down into the couch as he laughs, there is no fear. He digs his fingers into her collar bone and as her head twists one of her hands release—likely to whack him—he takes his other hand and stabs his fingers directly into her stomach. Ana flinches violently, hand still on his neck squeezing and the other punching him in the chest as she falls back and onto the floor. A shoe is flung at his face as he rolls also onto the floor.
He scrambles to stand before– Ana grabs him by the ankle, dragging him closer to her again and running her fingers up his sides. He screams, hiding away laughter, as he twists and throws her off. Ze lays all his body weight atop his sister, effectively pinning her there.
Ze glances up to see Phoebe, frowning and arms crossed. Ana squirms, putting up a show of trying to knock Ze off of her but not putting much effort into it.
"You are a whore," Ana mutters below him, giving up.
"Can you two, oh I don't know, act your grown ages?" Phoebe nearly growls, and before either can actually reply she pushes on, "Do you need us to stay tonight? I'll stay, but I'll need to make a run for clothes and my products."
"I'll steal yours!" Ana speaks up as Ze rolls off her, she sits up, smiling at her brother, "Or force Phee to buy me shit."
Phoebe leans over Ana's head to stare at at her, "No??? I am not buying you anything???"
Ana smiles like she knows Phoebe would buy her things, would fight Ana if she tried to pay too. Ze knows this too. He smiles up at her, sweetly and innocently. Something he hasn't done since he was a boy. Since… too long. She shifts, twisting and moving to crouch in front of him, clearly preparing to say something before he tackles her.
Phoebe yelps, shoving Ze off her. The butts of her palms dig into his shoulders as a weight appears at his back and suddenly it's two versus one. Ana's added weight makes it difficult for Phoebe to hold up Ze. Her arms shake as she scolds them. Telling them to get off her, to act their ages, to be more mature. Ze—who had been holding some of his and Ana's weight in his arms that pressed into the ground next to Phoebe's head—goes limp.
Phoebe punches and kicks, not really harming either one of them, not enough force. Ze twists and catches part of her arm near the elbow with his teeth.
"What is WRONG with you?" Phoebe laugh-screams, a hand shoving at his head before he lets go and rolls off. Ana collapsing atop Phoebe. Ana is shoved off with much more ease than the both of them, "God, fuck you, I miss when you two were tiny twerps I could push around. I need to beat both of you with bats."
Ana giggles as she shifts to sitting up, "Oh, c'mon, you know you love us! Wouldn't know what to do without us!"
"Seriously, ditched your beloved boyfriend to come help me and hang out," Ze mocks, pulling his knees to his chest.
Phoebe remains laying on the floor, only sighing. Ze pats her on the head, which she swats away, "It's okay!" Ana chimes in, kicking weakly at Phoebe, "We accept your humble defeat."
Phoebe swings and misses.
"You guys can go home. I'm gonna play Minecraft for a few hours before bed so…" Ze suddenly circles back the conversation.
Ana leans over Phoebe, "You could teach me? I won't kick your ass for making fun of me for being bad."
Ze rolls his eyes, "Nah, I got a solo world that–"
"Do you?" Phoebe asks, eyes narrowed, "A… solo world?"
"Yes, Phee, just me myself and I."
Ana grabs Ze by the shoulders, climbing over Phoebe—kneeing the oldest in the stomach when she moved to sit up—to get in Ze's face, "No way! Look at me in the eyes!" Ze does, "You're blushing!"
Ze feels the flush in his face darken. Technically it was true, it was a solo world. It just also… happened to have entities and other non-human things in it, "No, I'm not!" He lies, like a lying liar who lies.
"Ze," Phoebe gasps, leaning onto Ana so now both of them are too close to him, "Ze, is there a girl?"
Shame burns in his chest as he shoves the women out of his face and forces himself to stand as quickly as he can, "No. I said it's a solo world."
"A boy?" Ana jokes, grabbing at his pants, trying to hold him captive. He kicks her off.
"No," He hisses through his teeth. His sisters know when he lies. They always do, no matter what. Through text, voice, face, body, it doesn't matter they always know. He doesn't know. He is hiding Regect and Moe from them, and all the others, because how does he explain it. How does he explain an entity and whatever Moe is? He isn't sure if he wants them to assume there's some romantic interest he's hiding.
He doesn't want them to think he's… gay. He doesn't want them to think that. Because if he's gay then maybe their dad was right along, and if he's gay then it's… Well, there's really only one option for him, isn't there? If. He doesn't like the flush that works its way down his neck nor the images that flash in his mind.
Both of his sisters fell silent, glancing at each other. Ze waits for it. The judgment, the condemnation. He prepares in order to explain himself. Maybe he should have just said he wanted to play with friends. Explain the whole haunted world thing. That feels easier now, than whatever they're thinking.
Phoebe collects herself first, "If you have a boyfriend, or girlfriend, I would love to mee–"
"I'm gay," Ana confesses in a rush, shrugging immediately after, "You can shoot me if I judge you for liking men. Or no, I have to be the mean lesbian to your terrible taste in men gay. If you were gay. It's my duty as your darling beloved sister. Also to scare the shit out of your boy OR girlfriend. Humble duty."
Phoebe frowns and Ana flinches alongside Ze. Sure, Ana and Ze may be in the same boat but–
"I can't come out. That's not fair. I'm straight, I have a boyfriend."
Ana nods, "We are not on equal grounds."
Ze wheezes, a squeaky thing of laughing. He was uncomfortable, yeah, all of this was odd but… but, "It's not like that," he says.
"As innnn? Not gay or not a boy?" Ana asks, shimmying her shoulders.
He swallows, shrugging, "There isn't a, uh, a guy," Phoebe frowns, "Phee, Phee, there isn't a woman either."
"I know. I don't believe you though."
Ana flops back onto the ground, groaning, "I'll call Mason. He'd tell us."
"No, he won't," Phoebe and Ze say alike and in tune.
"Mason is my friend, loyal to me," Ze smiles, throwing himself onto the couch.
Phoebe joins him as Ana complains, leaning into his space and wrapping an arm around him, "Will you? Eventually. You don't have to tell us now," She says quietly into his shoulder.
Resting his head on hers, he hums, "Yeah, I… I will. It's just… complicated. And I need uh Mason here. For context and… vouching."
"Vouching?" Ana sits between Phoebe's and Ze's knees, "What? Is there like a ghost you're fucking dating?"
Ze wheezes, turning into a cough as he chokes. Phoebe knocks Ana over the head, scolding her for the language to which Ana defends herself saying they're all adults. The argument goes back and forth for a while. He lets the sound wash over him. It feels like home, it is home. It's his sisters. They don't all live in the same house anymore, haven't in a very long time. Phoebe has her own apartment, further from Ze than Ana, Ana too has her own place. They try to meet up often enough. Soon it'll be difficult with Phoebe wanting to move even further, several states over rather than just in the one right over.
It's peaceful, to have both of them here. It's nice– at least until Ana throws a punch after climbing over Phoebe and hits Ze dead in the nose. He yelps, hands covering his nose as Ana rushes over with apologies spilling from her lips. Phoebe twists, shoving Ana.
"Are you bleeding?" Phoebe asks, concern dripping in her voice.
Ze lowers his hands, checking his hands and licking his lips. There's no blood. Ana sighs, pleased and exhaling guilt.
"You're fine. Grow up," Phoebe mutters, waving him off as he holds his nose again.
"Fuck you???" Ze shouts.
"Are you okay? For real?" Ana pushes, still crowding him out, "I didn't like fuck up your nose, did I?"
"No, just hurts."
"See? You're fine," Phoebe says again.
"Fuck off!"
Ze logs onto Minecraft that night, Phoebe had several hours to travel and left first. Ana lived under an hour from his place so she could leave later and had more or less forced her way into staying. Ze wasn't sure if she had planned on trying to stay the night too when she began asking about his special friend(s) or if she just wanted to be sure he wouldn't truly and fully be alone. That or just nosy.
Probably both.
Honks bounce around his headphone speakers as soon as he loads in followed by a loud cheer of his name. Moe is already visible, leaping over the couch and crowding into Ze's camera. Ze feels what it would be like to have her in his face for real. What it would like to actually hang out with her. Then Regect's face joins hers and Ze sighs, punching the black figure.
"Alright, alright too close, back up," Ze snaps, minimum genuine anger. Well, it was almost entirely playful these days. Sure, Regect got under his skin sometimes but that was just how they were.
Regect groaned, "Asshole! That hurt!"
Ze rolls his eyes as Moe scolds him for punching Regect. He crouches once and apologizes, to her, not Regect. Which spirals into another fight. Not physical this time, just exchanging insults and mocking each other. Moe at one point picks up Regect to throw him over her shoulder and shoves Ze out of the house. Ze laughs as Regect begs Moe to drop him.
She does.
He lands in a crumpled ball of black and limbs. Ze laughs at him alongside Moe, her whole body shakes with it while his comes out wheezy and low. He leans closer to the computer screen, wishing he could lean forward over Regect to stare down at him and…
Ze sits back, laughter dying immediately as he swallows it. Pathetic, he should be okay with this. They're real enough. He… he has friends that he should go talk to. Classmates, coworkers. Not really friends but at least he can feel them. Ze punches the air next to Regect, calling attention back to the task at hand. They had things to do; fishing, fighting off the dwellers again, and handle whatever weird shit happens. He just really didn't want to think about the fact his closest friends, his only real friends, were digital—excluding Mason but he lived far away and didn't count in the moment. Something that he couldn't talk to about his closest friends to his sisters.
This wasn't an issue before. Sure sometimes he mourned the idea of playing games side by side or forcing them onto the couch to watch a movie but this wasn't… like that. His sisters got into his head, yeah, that's all it is.
Moe's avatar twists, turning to him, honking in rapid succession asking him how his day with his sisters went.
Ze wonders how she would move if she wasn't stuck in a game built of blocks and pixels. Would she move like Ana? Climbing over and touching people without much thought? Would she flop over his back like he did to Phoebe? Would Regect? Surely, surely, somewhere in the day if the three were hanging out a fight would break out. Not a genuine one. Not anymore. Something closer to him fighting with Mason or his sisters. Would Regect pinch and bite? Would he just stick to punches and slaps?
"Uh, it was nice. Ana forced us into an abandoned building," Ze says, wringing his hands before planting them back on the keyboard and mouse to punch the ground.
"Did you see a ghost?" Regect asks, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
Moe tells Regect to be nice and that she wants to hear the full story. Which Ze delves into, walking all the while. They prepare the boat for normal fishing, not magnet this time, and set off when Ze finishes the story. It wasn't often that he was able to talk about his sisters. At least not like this. Mason would listen but he knew them just as well as he knew Ze. He hadn't talked to Moe and Regect about his IRL stuff before—before the hole before trauma before before—but now it was just natural. Some days he felt guilt about not sharing that part of himself previously, guilt about excluding them even if he didn't outright choose to exclude them.
Moe suddenly pipes up asking why Ze went silent in the middle of his story, she needed to know if they had gotten away from the cop.
"Huh, oh yeah, Phoebe memorized the way in and we booked it. Ana ruined her pair of jeans though."
Oh, no! Moe asks if Ana had a back up pair.
"And then some. She has a fourth of her closet in her car. Some of my and Phee's shit somehow too? I don't know how she fucking got into my closet."
Regect laughs, "Don't you exclusively wear hoodies and sweats? She probably went to the closest store and bought them out."
"No. I wear other clothes!"
Moe laughs, the traitor. He tells her as much which only makes her laugh harder. She asks again why he went silent though.
"Oh. It's nothing," Ze says, sounding normal in his own ears.
"Liar," Regect accuses like he's pointing a finger at Ze's face, not that he has fingers and not just blocks for arms.
Moe agrees with Regect.
"Okay, am I just shit at lying or something? Which I'm not lying, it really is nothing!" Ze will try to defend himself until he's blue in the face, all the same to him.
Moe just says that he's easy to read. Something in his voice, really.
"Yeah, it's like it has this weird shaky ass quality to it," Regect adds, oh so helpfully.
"I'll beat you 'till you're shaky," Ze threatens like it's a breath, "I was just thinking. I think my sisters would like Moe."
Moe laughs as Regect speaks up, "JUST Moe? What the fuck about me?"
Ze hums, twisting his head behind the screen as he playfully looks up and down Regect's avatar, "Ana might find throwing tomatoes at you fun."
"What the fuck!!!"
Moe comes closer to Ze, honking that Ze should invite them onto the world! Wouldn't that be fun? Ze swallows, punching the ground in front of Moe and then Regect.
"It'd be difficult to explain… everything to them. Msak was hard enough and he has Ptolemy. Sure, Ana might sort of believe in ghosts but Phoebe doesn't," and she wouldn't. Phoebe would probably try to throw him into a psych ward if he told her that his Minecraft world was haunted.
"You can just show them???" Regect huffs, probably rolling his eyes, "You're over complicating it. Invite them."
Ze rolls his eyes, "Yeah sure, then they'll see Minecraft players. I want them to know. It's important to me they understand. I… you guys are important to me. I don't want Phee and Ana to have some half assed knowledge."
Moe teases Ze, she's been more open about that lately. Since Ze… first admitted it aloud. That he loved them. She teased him now, not quite making fun of how much he cared but enough that he flushed. Thank God for the screen between them. The flush may not show up as brightly on his skin as it could but the heat felt like it did enough tattling that it didn't need to show up.
"Shut up," he snarks.
"Awwww you love us!" Regect teases, punching Ze's avatar, "Gross."
"Shut up!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Regect, I swear to God!"
"Make me!"
Ze pulls out a gun, firing it once into the ground at Regect's feet and then again into the air above them all. Moe sighs somewhere behind him before shouting that they need to be nice and get along and some… other choice words. Ze laughs as Regect crowds out Moe. For protection, Regect would claim. Mostly because Regect knows that Ze would never ever shoot anywhere near Moe. Ze pockets the gun but continues the screaming fight. Well, "screaming" in reality their voices are hushed and low as to not scare the fish as well as just… it's play. They're fucking with one another. Ze moves in game to get into Regect's face even as he attempts to wiggle further behind Moe.
Watching him move in both a way that is natural and in a way limited by the rules of the game is… strange. Ze is used to it. He doesn't think about it much anymore.
He is a liar. He thinks about it a lot.