Raising Anti

7

Chase carefully sat down on the floor and just waited. He watched as the other slowly started to relax understanding that Chase wasn't going to push. He watched as the younger glanced over just looking at his chest and doing whatever it took to avoid eye contact. Chase sighed sadly as he pulled his knees up and smiled more.

"We'll take this as slow as you need it to, ok kiddo?" Anti just pushed himself farther away before nodding a bit. "Can I sit on the couch with you? The floor is a bit hard." Anti's eyes went wide as his eyes darted over and Chase just kept smiling. "It's ok if it's to close. I won't..." Anti nodded again before curling up in the corner of the couch. "Are you sure? I don't want you to be uncomfortable." Anti just nodded again refusing to vocalize. "Ok... thank you."

"What are we watching?" Chase carefully sat himself down on the couch a good distance away as he looked at the tv to find a large red dog and he laughed. "Clifford huh? I haven't seen this in so long. Did Marvin manage to get it for you?" Anti tensed up on his side as Chase leaned again his side of the couch. "Clifford the big red dog. It's a good choice. A good show to watch..."

"D-Dog..." Chase's eyes went wide as he glanced over to see the boy pointing at the screen. "Color... Red." Anti smiled a bit as he watched the screen happily. "I l-like it."

"You like the color red?" Anti nodded as Chase let out a relieved breath. "I do too. It's my favorite actually."

"Chase?" Chase's eyes shined as he felt the couch shift slightly. His eyes glanced over to see the boy sitting a small bit closer and he smiled. "You like... dog?"

"Do I like Clifford?" Anti nodded making Chase laugh a small bit. "Yeah. I like Clifford. Like I said, it's a good show for kids." 

"Good show?" Anti just stared at the Tv with a small smile. "It... It's f-funny." Anti shifted a bit as he tried to look over at Chase. It was a bit hard but he managed to look up to see him smiling at him. "I like it."

"I'm glad." Anti giggled softly as he moved till he was sitting properly on the couch. He started kicking his feet slightly with a soft hum all while Chase just sat there watching. He didn't stare at him though. He turned his attention to the tv, only sneaking glances at the other to find him relaxing even more. "Do you happen to know where the others are? I'm sure they wouldn't leave you alone." Anti simply pointed off to the side.

"M-Mar... Not... He not happy. Room..." Chase frowned as Anti bit his lip slightly. "No... No Jack... Don't know where... where he is." Anti sighed as he hugged himself a bit still kicking his legs softly. "Others... other's shopping."

"Why isn't Marvin happy?" Something flashed in Anti's eyes making Chase tense up with concern. "Hey, it's ok. You don't have to worry. What happened?"

"Got scared... I lashed out. M-Mar... Mar no like me." Chase frowned as he placed a hand beside Anti. Anti's eyes instantly went to it before looking away. 

"It's ok, kiddo. Everything is going to be ok." Anti stood himself up on the couch much to Chase's concern only to shock the older as Anti walked over and curled up into him. "It's ok." Anti pulled Chase's arm in and hugged it as he cried softly. He only ever did this with Dark but Chase made him feel just as safe. He did everything right. He didn't push and he seemed to understand him. At that moment Anti just needed someone to understand him. That's all he needed. "I've got you. You're ok."

"Look Marv, I know things are hard but you can't just..." Jack groaned seeing Marvin starting to glow. "Marvin..."

"He's not safe. You saw what he did. You didn't do anything."

"I pushed him to look at me so that I could know he was listening. I did the very thing Dark said not to do. Obviously he told me not to for a reason." Marvin just shook his head as he let his magic surge around him. "Marvin I said no!"

"I don't care, Jack." Marvin took a deep breath forcing his magic to form a ball in his hand as he glared over at the host. "If he's here than he can't have him power. That little stunt in the kitchen is proof of that."

"You can't just take his power away from him, Marvin. He's a child."

"NO, HE'S AN..." The door opened causing Marvin to react and fire the spell only to freeze as Chase blocked the ball with his hat, the very hat Marvin spell to be a shield. "Chase?"

"Jesus, Marv. Watch where you're firing." The two went absolutely silent in shock seeing Chase shift to hold Anti better. Jack and Marvin shared a look before Chase just laughed. "You almost hit the kid with that. What were you even doing?"

"Nothing." Jack replied a bit too quickly making Chase concerned. Marvin just couldn't take his eyes off the boy sleeping in Chase's arms. "How..." Jack was in awe as Chase just shrugged. "How are you holding him?"

"He let me." Chase smiled as he sat down on the bed still holding Anti close. "When did you get a child, Jack?"

"He doesn't know?" Marvin whispered making Chase's eyes narrow. Jack just nodded as he looked away.

"I thought it best the others didn't know the whole story."

"But Anti..."

"What the fuck happened, Jack?" Chase's voice cut in making Marvin clam up. Jack just looked between Chase and Anti with a growing smile. 

"How you get him to let you do that?" Chase rolled his eyes as he hugged Anti closer.

"I just got him to trust me. Do you really not know? How long have you had this kid, Jack." Jack paled as he scratched his cheek anxiously.

"A few days?"

"You've been caring for an autistic child on your own for days now?" The room plummeted at that. Marvin's eyes went wide as Jack's eyes filled with tears.

"A what now?" Marvin's voice was shaky as Chase frowned in concern.

"An autistic kid... Sorry, it's just... Trey used to have a friend with autism. I recognized the ticks. You didn't know?" Jack just shook his head as he covered his mouth to hide the sobs that wanted to come out. "Hey now, Jack. It's nothing to get so worked up over. I'm here now so I can help and..."

"He's autistic and we didn't know. Marvin..." Marvin nodded with a grim look as Jack's hand dropped. "He's autistic... and I didn't know. What else didn't I know about? Marv..."

"I know Jack. I feel it too." Chase just looked between the two with growing confusion.

"Guy's it's not that bad. Just because he has this doesn't make him broken. We just have to work around it." Marvin just shook his head as Jack left the room to calm down and work through things. "Guys?"

"That's not why its so upsetting, Chase. We'll explain later it's just... We have something to work through."