Second hated his newfound paranoia.

He absolutely hated it with a burning passion.

He didn't know when it had started, but he knew when it did.

Whenever Yellow handled any of his machinery, whether it was handling Purple or helping Dark, a part of him awoke that knew something horrible was about to happen.

Whenever any of them weren't in his vicinity, his anxiety went crazy.

...Okay, sure, he was a little paranoid that his friends were going to vanish off the face of the earth, but they wouldn't do that!

They cared about him!

...At least, he hoped they did.

Either way, he was becoming very paranoid.

And he hated it.

Second quietly stepped down the stairway, hoping Alan was at least sort of awake, or still awake entirely. It was maybe 9 PM, but he never knew.

It was Alan. Alan would either stay up into the late hours of the night or retire early.

He could never tell with Alan.

Stepping into the living room, he sighed in relief at King and Purple asleep on the couch, where King had moved himself for the time being. Sure, Purple had his own room(he could thank Green for that), but he'd always felt safer with King. Meaning Purple would either sleep on the couch with him, or King would camp out in Purple's room.

The way it had been for the past week or so.

It felt so oddly similar to the first bit of time after their first battle, and that thought carried him as he went through Alan's Dropbox and climbed onto his phone. Sure enough, Alan was awake, setting a bottle of water on his nightstand. Second had no idea where his wife and daughter were, but he decided it was a good thing.

A one-on-one talk with Alan.

Perfect.

Alan noticed him as soon as he opened his phone, and a small bit of typing and clicking later, Second was in Alan's note app.

Hey, Second. Everything ok?

Second thought for a moment, mentally noting that Alan already knew that something was wrong.

Typical Alan. He knew when something was up.

"No. I'm paranoid, and I hate it."

Why?

"I don't know. It's like every time Yellow puts you in the city to do things, or anyone leaves the room or the house, a part of me thinks they're going to leave forever."

You sound like King. He talked to me about this earlier as well. And Dark. It seems all three of you are scared of losing the people closest to you, and I don't get why. You all got out of those battles alive...in some sense or another, right?

"Well, yes...but there were multiple where we almost didn't."

Like when?

"The most recent one," Second started, glancing at Alan through the screen. "We'd been captured by Navy, and when Orchid came into the room, she told Navy, and us...that everyone was dead."

But they got out...right?

"Yes, but...they almost didn't. Orchid had been murdered right afterwards, and when it happened...it didn't look like she had gotten anyone back. I...I was terrified. I didn't wanna return home and it was just me and Chosen and Dark. It so scary. I don't get it."

You seem to be going through what Dark is going through, minus the paranoia.

"what?"

when Dark came to me, he told me about having a lot of nightmares about losing Chosen, and those nightmares would then seep through into his waking moments. Earlier today, he was keeping watch while I was in the city helping your friends repair everything, and he suddenly caught a glance of what looked like a nightmare from last night. He was weirded out by it, and decided to talk to me about it once we were done.

"wow..."

I am glad you came to me, though. It's never a good idea to bottle everything up like this.

"I figured you'd know something. you have a wife and a child, and you have to listen to all of us ramble about these fantastical adventures that make almost no sense, and all you do at the end of the day is just accept them."

Well, it's a bad idea to do something like that. Especially since it's affecting all of you, not just Purple. It's affecting all of you, physically and mentally. It doesn't matter how out-of-pocket it sounds to me, as long as you all come back safe and sound and alive, I'm happy.

Second smiled up at the human animator typing away at the phone screen.

"thanks Alan :)"

Alan smiled back.

:) and maybe make sure you talk to Chosen and Dark about dealing with everything. Maybe stay with them tonight. I'm sure they'd be happy to help you.

Second returned the smile, placing his hand against the screen. Alan's finger reached the hand.

thanks dad :)

"Huh. So Dark and Purple aren't the only ones suffering."

Second had taken Alan's advice, going to Chosen and Dark for advice. He was grateful Alan had made up with them, and given them a giant loft on the top of their building.

"Yeah, we're all suffering from Navy's after-effects. Remember, we are children."

"Right. You take on some adult problems during these, and act more mature than even King does, so I forget your younger than us." Chosen wrapped another arm around Dark, pulling Second into the side hug.

"King's justifiable! His kid keeps dying on us!"

"Fair."

Second snuggled deeper into the hug.

"Don't worry, Second. Your older siblings got your back. And so does Alan, and the others. We'll camp out in your room if need be."

"I can walk up the stairs to your giant ass loft, Cho." Second whined, already tired.

"With how often you fall asleep on us? I'd love to see that."

"I did it tonight!"

"Sure you did. Sure you did."

Two pairs of hands ruffle Second's hair, and Second pulls himself deeper into Chosen's embrace. Dark's on the other side, rubbing a thumb against his cheek as Chosen cards fingers through his hair.

It feels nice.

And it lulls Second to sleep after a while.

King almost forgets he's asleep on a couch for a while, before realizing there's an armrest underneath him, a blanket covering him, and Purple fast asleep in his lap.

Okay, why is this kid so fucking adorable-

King sighed, pulling the blanket over Purple's shoulders, and taking a brief glance at his phone.

2:12 am

Jesus Christ.

Had Purple actually slept for that long?

That's...that's actually a good thing, why are we freaking out about that.

Calm down, King.

Purple's fine.

Well...Purple is fine...until he starts shaking.

Bad.

King jolts for a second, thinking it's just cold for a second, before realizing he'd just covered Purple up with a blanket a minute or so ago.

Why would he be shaking from the cold if he had a blanket over him?

Unless...

King pulls the kid closer, already running a hand through his hair. "Purple? Hey, love, wake up. It's just a dream, wake up."

Purple immediately wraps his arms around King's stomach, tightening his grip and whimpering.

"Baby, it's alright. I'm here, wake up."

Come on, kid, it's gonna be fine.

I promised you that everything would be fine.

Why is that going wrong right now?!

God damn it, King, you do this to yourself!

Purple's grip tightens again, and King is shocked back into reality.

"King...help."

King panics, already lifting Purple up to check for an injury that he knows isn't there.

God fuck, he's done this too much.

Wiping tears off of Purple's cheeks, King gives him a brief check over before pulling him back into an embrace.

"You're okay, you're okay, flower. It's okay."

Purple visibly relaxes at the nickname, again laying his head back on King's chest, but his arms don't move from the embrace they were in earlier.

King doesn't really mind that. He just runs another hand through Purple's hair, holding him close.

We're gonna be okay, kiddo. I promise.