He doesn't know why he did it; maybe it was his instincts pulling him closer to his Sides. But before he could brace himself, Anxiety was being pulled into Remy and Missy's apartment. They had a nice place, a good size with plenty of windows. It had high ceilings and an open floor plan; a half-wall separates the livingroom and the kitchen.

Anxiety awkwardly toes off his shoes and lets himself be dragged to the couch. As Remy plops down beside him, Missy shoves a tray of fruits and cheeses in his face.

"Snacks?" She chirped.

"Um-"

Remy picked up a wine glass from the side table, "We have red or white?"

Anxiety immediately shook his head, the last thing he needed was to get wine drunk and start crying about how sad his life is. "No thank you. Um, I don't drink."

"No worries, more for us later." Remy said, setting the glass back down. Missy had put the cheese platter on the coffee table and sat on Anxiety's other side. He felt himself curl further into himself; they were surrounding him, and he could feel them slowly moving closer and closer - choking him until he could only see black.

"Shh, deep breaths." Missy said, quietly. "Are we overwhelming?"

Anxiety closed his eyes and did as instructed. He could feel the air moving through his body; filling his lungs. He glanced at Remy, then to Missy. Neither of them had moved; they weren't even touching him. He needed to calm down for Christ's sake. Why was he so panicked around them? Wasn't being near your Sides supposed to make you feel better?
"No, sorry." Anxiety said, clearing his throat. He sat back and tried to not look annoyed or terrified. "I was just, um, lost in thought."

"I'd love to share your thoughts." Remy said, pulling a leg up on the couch and turning towards him.

"You are a thot." Missy responded, throwing a grape at him.

Anxiety snickered at that, but he immediately regretted it when he saw how both of their faces lit up at the sound. They were so clearly trying desperately to get him to like them, and he (kind of) does! But something in his gut just felt so wrong about it.

Missy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "So, what do you do?"

"I'm a tattoo artist." Anxiety told them.

"Can we see your tattoos?" Remy asked, leaning closer. Silently, Virgil pulled up his sleeves to show off his arms. On his left, he had a series of webs around his shoulder and elbow, while spiders crawled up and down his arm. On the right arm, he had a big My Chemical Romance tattoo. He wanted to get more, but he wasn't sure what to get.

"Will those show through fusion?" Missy asked, her tone concerned.

Anxiety shrugged, "Depends on the fusion. I wouldn't know; haven't tried."

"Do you want to?"

It was Remy who asked it, but Anxiety wasn't able to look at him. He had been watching Missy, and the question made him freeze. Missy watched is reaction and calmly stood up.

She took Remy's hand and pulled him up as well. Anxiety glanced between the two of them, trying not to bite his lip out of nerves.

"We aren't going to make you fuse, if you don't want to." Missy said to him. She smiled, a little hopeful, a little nervous, and said, "But we wanted you to meet someone."

"Sorry in advance." Remy said with a snort.

Before Virgil could think of what to say next, the two before him were fusing. Awkwardly, Anxiety glanced away, not wanting to intrude on their moment. He only looked up again when he heard someone sigh.

The person standing before him was tall; almost seven feet. They had two pairs of arms; which they took their time stretching. They had four eyes as well; one pair sitting below the other. They sighed and put a pair of Remy's sunglasses on over two of their eyes. When they glanced at Anxiety, the biggest smile spread across their face.

"Hi!" They plopped down on the couch next to him, with a force so strong Anxiety felt himself bounce on the cushion. The fusion then grabbed both of Anxiety's hands, shaking them excitedly, "I'm just so darned Slap Happy to meet'cha!"

"Slap Happy?" Anxiety said, pulling his hands free.

Slap Happy then let out a cackle and smacked their knees with each hand; one-two, three-four. "That's me!" They suddenly lowered their voice, threw two arms around Anxiety's shoulder, and said, "Now, I gotta tell ya somethin' real serious-like."

"Uh-"

"Rem and Mis? It ain't their first rodeo, you know?" Slap said, jabbing a finger into Anxiety's chest, "But here's the thing, fella, they fell off the last time they stepped in the ring. And I'm not lettin' that happen again, see?"
Anxiety glanced away, shifting away from the fusion. "I'm sorry about that. I'm not trying to, um, hurt them."

"Hurt them?" Slap burst out into laughter again, their head thrown back, their feet kicking. "Honey, they have each other! Who's got you?"

Anxiety was pulled back close to the fusion's side. He didn't respond, partially because he had no one and partially because they didn't stop talking.

"That was the last fella's problem. I like him, whole lot. But when things didn't work out, he had no one." Slap got quiet after that. Then they yawned, and when they looked back at Anxiety, they squinted at him, "What was I talking about?"

"Uh-"

"OH YEAH!" They shouted, grabbing Anxiety's hand again, "I was gonna say how cute you are."
Anxiety's felt his cheeks start to burn under the fusion's intense stare. "I doubt that's what you were going to say."

Slap reached forward and poked one of Anxiety's cheeks. "Boop."

"I think it's time to go." Anxiety muttered under his breath, standing up.

Slap Happy stood up too, looking down at him with a pout. Two of their arms wrapped around them, "Are you sure? We can stay up all night." They yawned, "It'll be a sleepover."
"Sorry." Anxiety said, unable to look at them, "Maybe next time."
"Okay." Slap leaned down and pulled Anxiety into a tight hug. As they squeezed him, he felt his back pop in three spots. "Come back soon. Missy and Remy were super duper truper excited that you decided to come over."

"Oh, great." Anxiety said, breathless and muffled in the hug. "That's - great."

They opened the door to let him out, and he couldn't escape fast enough. He tried to keep his walking even, in case they were watching out the window.

It wasn't that he hated the two of them. But maybe he shouldn't try to interact with the both of them at the same time. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe he needed to get used to both Missy and Remy alone before they could try to become a Side trouple. And being with Slap Happy only made it feel weirder. When he stared at Slap, he felt nothing for them. Wouldn't being around one of his fusions mean something?

Instead, he just felt more awkward and alone.

While he was sitting in his car, he opened his phone. He had a text from Elliot and another from Spunk. He ended up calling Spunk, who answered immediately.
"Hey." Anxiety said, starting his car and backing out of the driveway.

"I went by the shop today and it was closed. Any idea why? Elliot says they did nothing."

"Yeah, it was me." Anxiety said. His voice was tired, and the last thing he wanted was to get in a debate with Spunk. "I had an attack and I had to shut everything down. My hands were shaking too bad to draw. Sorry."

Spunk paused, then there was another voice, deeper, asking, "What happened? Was it triggered?"

"Uh-" Anxiety could tell he was on speaker now. He was able to recognize Elliot's voice instantly. "Yeah, so I might have met two of my Sides."
"OHMYGOD!"
"DUDEWHAT?!"
Anxiety sighed, pulling his cell away from his ear. Then he said, "I'm leaving their place now. Um. I'll tell you later, I guess."
"Yeah, so you better come to work tomorrow." Spunk said into the phone, "I need all the tea, leave out no details."

Elliot made a humming noise of agreement, "When will we meet them?"
"I don't know. I don't even know if they are my real Sides or not." Anxiety said, stopping at a stoplight.

"Why wouldn't they be?" Elliot asked, "If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck-"

Anxiety sighed, repeating, "I don't know. Something just doesn't feel right." He suddenly didn't want to be on the phone anymore and told the others, "I have to go, it's not safe to talk and drive."

Spunk snorted, but Elliot agreed. "Okay, we'll see you at work tomorrow."
"Yeah." Anxiety said, hanging up the phone. He stared out the window, not really seeing anything. He didn't know why he couldn't just do what he was supposed to. Why couldn't he work a full shift through a panic attack? Why couldn't he sit quietly on Slap Happy's couch? Why couldn't he just have a conversation with his friends?

Even after the light turned green, Anxiety sat still, drowning as words and worries filled his lungs.


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