Clay POV

I pulled the latex gloves off my hands, throwing them in the trash, as Anja walked out of the bathroom. She was pale and almost dead in the eyes. She was exhausted in more ways than one. "We're going to need to take him to the emergency room."

"What? Why?"

"The bleeding won't stop." Anja had taken Nick into the bathroom just after Adam ran away to clean up his hand while I cleaned the mess in the house. "The adrenaline has settled and now he is in serious pain. I'm pretty sure he broke at least one of his knuckles, but the really worrying part is the blood won't stop." He stepped out of the bathroom with toilet paper wrapped around his hand.

"You need to get a first aid kit." He grumbled, walking straight past me to the front door.

"Yeah, let's go." I mumbled.

We got him signed into the ER after a surprisingly short wait. They wouldn't let me go back with him, only allowing Anja because he lied about them being siblings which forced me to sit alone and wait. After a long 2 hours, a nurse came out. "Clay? Mr. Clay."

My head perked up at my name but I was unsure if it was meant for me. I raised my hand slightly. "Me?"

"Are you here for Nick?" I nodded. "Alright, follow me. He is allowed non-familial visitation now." I followed her through the big metal doors and down the hallway. She was a short girl. Five-foot at most. She gave me a painfully obvious fake smile and waved me into a room at the end of the gloomy hall.

Anja was laying in the hospital bed with Nick. His head rested on her chest. One arm around her waist and the other holding his phone on her stomach, hysterically laughing at it. "What's wrong with him?" I joking asked. Anja gave me a tired smile and Nick didn't hear me or decided to ignore my call. I walked over to the bed and sat in the chair placed next to it.

"But I love you." He whined. I heard to very distinguishable laugh of Alex Quackity through the phone.

"Love is a strong word." I teased. He glared at me but quickly turned his focus back to the phone and snuggled closer to Anja. She seemed happy there, being held by him. I wanted to hold her. I hadn't gotten the chance to comfort her or even ask her how she was. She looked so drained. "What did the doctor say?"

"He's gonna be fine. They had to give him something so they could do the stitches since he's scared of needles. Now he's on the phone with Quackity. Say's he is," she quoted with her fingers, "on a date."

"Are we good to leave now?"

"Mhm. He just doesn't want to."

"I'M HANGING UP NOW!" Quackity screamed.

"Noooo." He whined into the phone's speakers.

"Bye!" He was gone.

"No." He cried, throwing his phone to the end of the bed and shoving his face farther into Anja's chest.

"Ok, let's go now." She tried to push him off. He didn't move.

"No." He wrapped both arms around her waist to hold her. I could feel my jaw tick.

"Seriously Nick. Let's go. We need to leave." She lightly pushed him again, but he refused to move. That's when I almost snapped. I wasn't sure if it was because he was touching her like should have been or because he wouldn't listen to her. I got out of the chair and ripped his arms off of her, pulling her off the bed with me.

"We are leaving, Nick. Now."

He rolled to be flat on his back and rolled his eyes at me. "Fine. Buzzkill."

Anja pulled on my sleeve, looking up at me. "He was just playing around."

"You told him to stop."

"I'm fine."

"Whatever." He hopped off the bed. "Let's leave."

When we got home I honestly expected the police to be there. I thought Adam would have gone to the hospital by now and filed a report. Now, police would be swarming our front door looking for me and Nick. I was surprised to see it empty. I turned off the car and head over to the passenger's side to get Nick. I opened the door up to Nick staring at me. "Come on buddy let's go."

"No." I tugged on his arm and he shrugged. "Fine." He stepped out of the car, pushing me aside, and looked at Anja. "AJ! You should be my date since Alex left me!" He leaped forward and wrapped his arms around her.

"What are you doing?" She softly giggled. It immediately pissed me off seeing him do that, but I remembered he was just high. That was it. I think?

"I'm sleepy." He whined.

"I am too." She pulled him to her side, pulling his arm over her shoulder. "Now let's go inside and start you on your antibiotics and painkillers."

"I got him." I went to pull him onto my shoulder but he pushed me away making me almost lose my balance.

"She's got me." He side-eyed me and clenched his teeth together then walked off with Anja. It was clear he could walk on his own but for some reason he was trying to keep her close.

----

I slammed my hands on my desk. "Dang it. I hate ghasts." I laughed while clicking on the respawn button. "Whatever, dumb mistake. Seed wasn't that good anyway." I had been streaming speedrunning for last hour while I talked to chat a bit. I wasn't getting any good times.

"Clay. I'm stealing one of your shirts." Anja said, barging into my room.

"What?" I quickly muted and spun around in my chair to see her standing in front of my dresser in nothing but a little towel, barely covering her ass. I look her up and down, smiling at myself. "What you doing?"

"I said I'm stealing one of your shirts."

"Why?" I pulled my headphones off and walked over to my closet.

"Cause they're comfy and smell like you and they make me feel safe." I threw my green smile hoodie at her.

"Wear my merch." I laughed. "And come..." She let her towel fall leaving her bare body in front of me. Her wet hair clung to her figure and her nipples were hard from the cold hair of my room.

"I can come." She giggled. Her soft smile was forced.

"On my stream. I was going to say come on my stream."

She covered her mouth. "Clay."

"Not like that." I laughed while I took the hoodie from her hands and pulled it over her head. As she fixed her arms into the sleeves I pushed her against the dresser, caging her in my arms. "Unless you'd be into that."

"No no no. Am I interrupting you?"

"No. I died before you came in." I leaned forward and latched onto her neck, she was still hot from her shower.

"Ok. Good." She planted her hands on my chest and slightly pushed me. I pulled away from her, she looked sad despite her playful demeanor. I could see the fall in the corner of her mouth and the darkness under her eyes. I could tell she hadn't slept last night.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" I rubbed her cheek.

"I'm okay." She gave me a little smile and put a peck on my chin. "Thank you."

"Was Nick mad at me yesterday? He seemed mad when I tried to help him inside."

"He was. I talked to him though."

"Why was he mad?"

"He's upset you didn't tell him about Adam."

I scoffed. "That wasn't my thing to tell."

"I know. He knows that too. He just needed someone to be mad at and he was high so." She was now playing with the strings of my hoodie and keeping her eyes away from me.

"Are you sure you're okay? I can stop streaming. We can cuddle or grab dinner or something?"

"No." She laughed. "I'll just watch you."

"Ooo." I yelled in excitement. "I can show you the SMP!" She nodded, then there was a knock on the door. Nick was standing there glaring at me. He raised his bandaged hand up.

She nodded. "Let me put on real clothes first." She awkwardly giggled. "You can show me later. I need to help him."

"Yeah, that's fine."

----

I hopped off the bottom step, still drying my hair when I heard Anja laughing from Nick's room. I popped my head through the door crack. They were sitting criss-cross on the bed across from each other. She was still helping him change his bandages, joking about things from a show they watched together or something. I couldn't tell. There came that feeling again. That they had something more than they showed. It was something about how they looked at each other or maybe about how they knew each other. I shouldn't have done what I did, but Adam mixed with my seeded jealousy sent me over the edge.

He reached his hand to her cheek and caressed her. She leaned into his hand, closing her eyes to the touch. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and that's when I kicked the door open. They both jumped because of me. I stormed forward and flung his hand off her causing him to fall off the bed. "What that fuck?" He yelled.

"Don't touch her." I grabbed her arm and pulled her with me out of the room.

"Stop." I kept pulling. "Clay." I dragged her upstairs. "You're hurting me." I finally let go. I could see the red marks on her wrist from my grasp. "What's wrong?"

"I don't like him touching you!" I had a stern tone and towering over her. She didn't seem affected.

"Why?" Her cheeks flushed pink and eyes were cold, but her voice was soft the whole time.

"Because you're my girlfriend." I stormed into my room and sat down on my bed. She followed me like I wanted.

She gently closed the door and locked it. "Your point?"

"You're my girlfriend and I don't like people fucking touching you!" I yelled, throwing my towel off my shoulders at the door. She watched it fall to the ground then set her eyes back on me.

"Why are you yelling at me?"

"Because I'm fucking..." I turned to her completely. She was holding her own arms, leaning against the door looking down at me. Eyes were filled with simple disappointment. That is when the guilt hit me. "I'm upset."

"With me being around Nick?" She sat down next to me. She looked exhausted.

"I don't like how close you two are."

"Nick is like a brother to me Clay. He's not some competition for you. You're not normally like this."

"I know. I've just had a rough few days. I guess I'm taking it out on you two. After Adam-"

"Please don't say his name."

"Sorry. It was just a lot." I went to take her hand but she pulled it away from me.

"I don't think that's true." I cocked my head in confusion. "I think you've been holding that in for a while." I looked at her, finally meeting her eyes. She had dark eye bags, her skin was paler than usual, and her face was a frown. "Look. I know Maria fucked you up, but Nick isn't a threat. So don't do this again." She softly smacked my arm. "I'm going to take a nap."

But she didn't. She wasn't sleeping. I could tell she was mad, but she just didn't have the energy to argue. She didn't have the energy to do anything with me. That's where things started to get rough for us. When I fucked up and got jealous over nothing.