I'm lucky Anti doesn't hear my confused thoughts. Hopefully, he's too angry to notice them. But back to the cause of my internal befuddlement: Why the hell would Anti write my name on the wall of some random person's house in their blood? My mind scrambles for a logical answer.

Maybe it wasn't actually my name. I didn't get to see the screen for that long before he appeared and took it away. It's possible that I misread it. But I could've sworn I saw my name. It was kinda drippy, since it was written in blood. I must have misread it. That's the only reasonable conclusion.

After finally convincing myself that I hadn't really seen my name, I continue with my day. A small voice in the back of my head won't allow me to drop the inkling of an idea that it was, in fact, my name. However, I'm able to ignore it fairly well.

Anti appears shortly, less angry but still irritable. I look over at him from my seat on the couch, my cheek resting in my right hand.

"I'm not apologizing, but I'll try not to go through your stuff, anymore," I say. He shoots me a glare. Seeing that I don't really care that he's mad at the moment, he calms down.

"Did you see anything?" he asks.

"No," I lie. "What– did you have porn on it, or something? Maybe a nude you were gonna send to someone?"

Anti rolls his eyes, but is visibly relieved. I continue joking, hoping to forget what I actually saw on his phone.

"You didn't say no. I'm going to assume it's both." I begin laughing to myself. "Jesus, what'd that be like?"

He's turned toward me, now. I can see the ghost of a smile on his lips. I sit up and turn to him, holding my hands up to create a frame around the top half of his body. "I'm thinking the title would be something like..."

" 'Stab Me, Daddy'," he suggests.

At this, I begin cracking up. Not only was that the best title he could've possibly come up with, but Anti just said "daddy".

"Holy shit, that's perfect," I wheeze.

By the time my laughing dies down a bit, Anti's sat beside me on the couch. His anger seems to have disappeared completely, and he's in a much better mood. I relax again, playing a game on my phone. Because I've become so accustomed to the gesture, I don't notice Anti's arm wrapped around my waist until he pulls me to his chest. Even then, I don't really react.

It's so quiet for the couple minutes that pass that I jump when my phone begins ringing. Ryna's name lights up the screen, along with her picture – perfect, as always. I fumble with my phone and answer it.

"'Sup, Ryna?"

"Hey, [Y/N]! How're you doing?" she responds.

"Pretty well. You?"

"Good, good. So here's the thing: I need more help with my paper."

"How'd I guess?" I roll my eyes.

"Would you be a dear and help a girl out?" she asks. I can practically see her leaning forward and giving me her most dazzling humble smile. It's evident in her voice, and it's hella effective.

My mind tries to protest, but the only thing that comes out of my mouth is "Okay." Damn. I hate it when she does that.

"You're the best! Love you!"

"Yeah, sure."

Suddenly, the phone hangs up and the phone is taken from my hand. I blink, then turn to Anti. His eyes are dark, his jaw is clenched, and he grips the phone tightly in his hand.

"The fuck did she just say?" he seethes.

"The whole 'love you' thing?" I ask. "It's not a big deal. She doesn't actually love me."

I gingerly place one hand on his and gently pry my phone out of his clenched fist, afraid he'd break it if he held it any longer. He seems to calm down at the gesture, but his eyes still glow with anger.

"Okay, Anti. Chill. What, are you scared she'll steal me?"

Anti's grip on my waist tightens to near-painful. "...No."

"Calm down. It's not like we're even actually dating."

He, in turn smirks and gives me a kiss. "You sure?"

"Pretty sure," I reply, unfazed.

Anti grabs my chin between his index finger and thumb, looking me over. "That'll change."

I push his hand away and turn back to my phone. Then, I text Ryna:

Me: sorry. my phone's being weird. when do you want to meet up?

Ryna: oh right! what about tomorrow at noon? same place?

Me: sure

Ryna: are you gonna bring your boyfriend again?

I begin to respond and explaining that Anti isn't my boyfriend, but my phone screen glitches and the words disappear before I finish. Groaning, I give up and instead respond with:

Me: anthony does whatever the hell he wants. i have zero control over where he goes.

Ryna: lol ok. well, cya then. tell him hi for me.

Me: sure

I go back to playing a game on my phone. "I'm sure it's only redundant to relay Ryna's message, seeing as how you were clearly reading everything over my shoulder to make sure she wasn't flirting with me, but she says 'hi'."

Anti leans back on the couch, and I notice his lack of energy.

"You tired?"

"You have more horror games?"

I sigh and get up, Anti following me up to my room. After turning on the laptop and choosing to continue The Joy of Creation, the scares begin. This time, I'm a bit better. Still, I fail multiple times in the living room because it took me a while to get the timing right. Most of the time, it's Bonnie who catches me off guard. Hours of gameplay and countless heart attacks later, I complete all but the last level of the game.

Turning off my laptop and taking a deep breath, I slide off of my chair and lie on the floor, facing the ceiling. I raise my hands above me and laugh at what I see.

"My hands are shaking and I'm even more paranoid about animatronics. What a great game."

I drop my arms and close my eyes, resting for a moment. Though I've learned to ignore it pretty well, I can still feel Anti staring at me. I open one eye.

"You need something, or is this just general staring?" He rolls his eyes and stops staring.

Anti seems much more... nourished, I guess?... but something's obviously bothering him. I bite the inside of my cheek and open my other eye to look at him. I'm confused, however, because there wasn't anything that should've caused this. Why is he–

"You saw something, didn't you," he says, turning back to me. I blink. "On my phone," he clarifies."

"Oh," I reply, forcing myself to not think too hard about it. "I already told you I didn't get to see anything. All I can guess is that there was a dead body in the picture."

He still seems discontent with my answer, continuing to stare at me skeptically. Still, he drops the subject. I use all my energy to drop it, too, instead thinking about how the hell I'm gonna beat the next level of The Joy of Creation.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter of "Plaything" as much as I enjoyed writing it. Comments and votes are super appreciated. Thanks for reading! ~Blue