After All, I'm Your Secret Admirer~!!

Ch44 - Information SuperHighway

Paige and Leaf blink in unison, confused.

"What the h—" Leaf coughs. "Wh-what's that?" he tries again in his higher voice.

OJ looks off to the side again. "I will explain, but first I would like a favor from you, if it's quite alright."

"Um... okay...?" Leaf asks warily. "What?"

"Could you refrain from pretending to be Paige?" OJ asks point blank, causing both brothers to blanche.

"I—OJ, what're you talking about?" Leaf laughs tightly, ribbing him a bit rougher than strictly necessary. "I am Paige! St—Silly! Haha!"

"You might be overplaying it," Paige points out helpfully.

"I'm fighting for my fucking life here, Paiges. Give me a break."

But, when focusing back into reality, OJ has a dangerously serious look on his face. "Please," he asks. "It would make it easier on both of us, I think."

Leaf opens and closes his mouth, making noises but saying no words. "Paige. What. The fuck. Do we do."

"I-I..." Paige falters. "I... We... tell him, I guess."

"Are you sure about that?" Leaf asks, worried. "We could always just dip."

"And what, leave OJ hanging and walk home at 8 at night?" Paige huffs. "I trust OJ. If he knows something about us that we don't, then we should hear him out."

"If you're sure."

"I am."

With that settled, Leaf takes a deep breath and lets out a huge sigh. "Alright then, nerd," he says, abandoning his fake Paige voice again. "Hi," he waves lazily. "You got us. I'm not Paige." He furrows his eyebrows testily. "Now explain what that thing you said earlier was. What's it got to do with us?"

"O-oh... u-um..." OJ stutters, looking unprepared for the sudden change in demeanor. "I... hello...?"

"Hi," Leaf greets again, no wave this time. "I'm Leaf, since I'm guessing that's the question eating away at that brain of yours," he supplies.

"Leaf..." OJ echoes, then closes his eyes. "You're the one who came to help Paige with your father, correct?"

"Damn. You heard all of that, huh?" Leaf sighs, falling back on the bed. "Yeah, though. I am."

Leaf can see OJ nod in front of him. "That would make you an alter then," he mumbles.

"A what? Speak up."

"Oh, right." OJ turns and sits criss cross applesauce in his bed, looking down at Leaf. "I should explain in full, shouldn't I?"

"You should," Leaf says blandly, only to tack on a, "Please," when Paige clears his throat in their head.

"Alright. So here are the basics: Dissociative identity disorder, often shortened to simply DID, is a form of, well, dissociative disorder. Dissociation is essentially like... an intense form of zoning out." He frowns a bit. "It sounds like you suffer from extreme bouts of dissociation. Which, after reaching a certain threshold, is considered a dissociative disorder."

"Okay," Leaf nods, "But Paige does more than just zone out. He literally stops being himself. I.e. me."

"That's where the identity part emerges. If a person dissociates from reality so hard due to repeated trauma too often, they may develop a separate ego to help with the trauma. Someone who can handle what the original body's host cannot."

Leaf is quiet, and so is Paige. Neither really know what to say.

So, OJ continues. "Paige accordingly is the Yin Yang Cutter's biggest enemy right now. Because he fought them. But the Paige I know would never fight anybody." He looks down at Leaf. "So I assume now that the fight that happened was your doing, correct?"

Leaf looks away. "...Yeah."

"And I imagine you also know that Paige wouldn't have fought anyone, yes?"

"Yeah."

"Then we have our final arrival at DID. Two different egos sharing one mind due to the need of aid from trauma."

"...So what you're saying is Mack made me exist," Leaf asks.

"Yes."

"Yeah, we already knew that." Leaf rolls his eyes. "Did you just want to like, diagnose us or something?"

OJ's eyes widen significantly. "No! No, that wasn't my intention! Truly, I thought only about how I could help you manage after something made you resurface so suddenly."

"How do you know I only just got here again?" Leaf asks warily.

"Well, if you were here to help Paige with his father, that must mean you've been here for his younger years. And since Paige hadn't been suddenly fighting people all throughout highschool regardless of the fact he'd been bullied before, I think it's safe to say you went dormant at some point and something triggered you to awaken again."

OJ's explanation is a lot of words, but Leaf can just barely follow them. "Okay," he says. "Well, what now?"

"What now?"

"Yeah," Leaf says, sitting up. "You heard us talk about our shit childhood and the fact that I exist, tell us we have some sort of disorder, and now what?" They sneer a bit. "Where does this leave us? What was this all for?"

"Oh... um..." OJ's lips flatten. "I-I... thought I would be doing good by letting you know there were more than just you two who experience the same. And I thought knowing that and having some new sense of community would help you feel better and cope with things?" He looks away. "But... I also wanted to let the two of you know there's no need to be afraid around me. I wanted to understand for your sakes. I wanted to make up for accidentally eavesdropping and make sure I was being a good friend."

"OJ..." Paige breathes. "Leaf, let's switch. I think I can do it now."

"Yeah, alright." Paige can feel how uneasy the other is. This would be good for both of them.

Again, the swap is less than smooth, but after a moment, Paige shoots up. "OJ!" he gasps.

"Oh!" OJ gasps back. "P-Paige?"

Paige wraps OJ into a watery hug. "OJ... You're so kind! You didn't have to do any of that for us!"

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to help in any way I could?"

"OJ..." Paige cries, holding him tighter.

"Ah..." OJ chuckles, hugging Paige back. "Had I known it would've made you this emotional, I would have warned first..."

"It's okay," Paige sniffs. "You did all that just to help us. A-and you didn't even freak out like Brandon did when we told him!"

OJ frowns. "Brandon was less than accepting to you two?"

Paige shakes his head. "He was at first. But now he gets it! And we're all friends!"

Paige feels a stab of pain in his chest and coughs. What was that about?

"Oh, that's wonderful Paige." OJ pulls him back again and looks him in the eyes with a smile. "I'm glad to hear you've already got others who are here for you!"

Paige smiles back, going in for another hug. The two stay like that for just a moment before Paige mumbles, "So you... you don't mind?"

"Mind?" OJ blinks, pulling back again.

"That... that we're more than one person."

OJ chuckles lightly. "Paige, why would I ever mind about something that makes you you?"