“So…” Connor was the first to ask, clearly the most eager to learn more about what had happened. Sara would have asked herself, as well, but her priority was still making sure that Josh was okay. “Do you remember—”

“No.” Josh cut him off coldly. “I don’t remember what I looked like. Everything I saw through his eyes is a blur. It’s like I spoke his language for a little bit, and now that I’m not in his head anymore I only speak English. Not just with words, but all of my senses. Everything I saw, everything I heard, all of it; I only remember what it was, not what any of it was like.”

“What do you mean?” If Sara hadn’t thought of a way to ask that wasn’t about Josh’s well-being, she wouldn’t have asked at all. “You sound a little manic.”

After a deep breath, the final dregs of whatever chemical fear cocktail that had been running through Josh’s veins subsided. “It was… If I was going to compare it to technology, I felt like I was an mp3 player running an immersive video game… and then I was an mp3 player again. I shouldn’t have been able to comprehend that sort of data, but I did, and now I can’t anymore. It’s still there, but I can’t decipher any of it.”

“That actually makes sense.” Connor said with a gentle nod. He seemed intent to ask a follow up question as well, but he cut himself off with a yawn.

“Connor’s right. We should get some sleep.” Sara nodded, copying Connor’s yawn. “Real sleep.”

Despite Sara’s suggestion, neither of Josh’s roommates moved from their position around him on the couch. And that was fine. Nice even. In that moment, Josh felt as though they would stay by him no matter what he looked like or what he was. It was a feeling he had never experienced before, and a familiar impulse of possessiveness came over him. Though it was chilling and foreign at first, as he fell asleep, Josh began to understand it.

It was selfish, but selfless at the same time. These were his people. They had become his people. It was almost as if he was actually feeling the projected emotions people give to pets, to call their owners ‘their people’ when the animals themselves likely only thought of their owners as some other animal. The desire to hold them close and never let them escape, for fear of being far more lonely than he had ever been before, kept Josh awake longer than either Connor or Sara. Just a few minutes, but it was enough time to remember where the feeling felt familiar from. Josh had never felt this way himself, but the entity he had shared dreams with had expressed it towards Josh himself. And in a way, that made sense. Nothing else had probably ever made contact with it; and if they had, they weren’t capable of understanding it. But Josh was.

That thought lingered in his mind, even as he slept. And though no nightmares or invasive experiences came to him, Josh couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. He was wrong. Even among the marked, he was abnormal.But being abnormal wasn’t a bad thing. At least, that was the thought that was circulating in Josh’s mind when he woke up.

It seemed that many things had changed when Josh woke up. He was alone on the couch once again. He was still buried in blankets and pillows, but his roommates were off doing their own things. But that was just the physical change. The atmosphere in the apartment seemed to have shifted as well. It felt more casual, more comfortable, and more like home. At least, for Josh, it felt like more of a home than any other place he’d lived. And as he watched his roommates go about their morning, eating breakfast, coming and going from the other side of the apartment to wash up, he was happy. This was, really and truly, his apartment now.

There were pleasant and casual good mornings as Josh got up and made his way to his room. Half of his things were still in boxes after they’d been shipped in a rush, but that wasn’t a big deal. The room still looked like a guest room, but it felt more like his room. His clothes were strewn about, the desk was littered with his homework and study materials, and the bedding was pulled back just like he’d left it after the previous morning. And when Josh went to wash up for the day, he couldn’t help but smile when he looked on the bathroom counter and saw his own things sitting there with equal distribution to all of his roommates things. In the kitchen, there was food in the fridge that Josh had picked up for himself on the other side of the small divider that Connor had put up to section off his own specific corner of the fridge, but everything was all there and equal. Maybe it was because Josh had grown up in such a large family, or because he was in a living space where there wasn’t a divide between adults and kids, but feeling so equal was special and comforting.

“I have an announcement to make!” Sara called out from the center of the living space while Josh was working his way through a bowl of cereal. “Since we didn’t get to enjoy movie night last week, and since we’ve all just gotten wasted and traumatized, I hereby declare today movie day.”

“Here here.” Connor chanted absently, not looking up from the book he was reading in the study.

“Here here.” Josh copied slightly more eagerly through his mouth full of food.

“I also propose that we select the new movie picker and nitpicker in a different way.” Sara carried on after a quick bow at the approval of her announcement.

Josh averted his eyes as she bowed and let her tank top hang loosely around her torso. He knew it was a tongue in cheek test. Probably just to make sure there hadn’t been any misinterpreting the previous night of group cuddling. And to her credit, Josh agreed that the check was warranted. He had to assess how he felt himself still, but he was pretty sure he was still leaning mostly platonic towards both Connor and Sara. Platonic relationships seemed to be what he wanted and needed most anyway.

“Since we have three people in the apartment now, we can’t just back and forth, and it wouldn’t be fair if we let both non-pickers be nitpickers. So we should settle thing, I think, by sparring.”

“Aw, no fair.” Josh booed through his last bite of breakfast. “I’m gonna lose every time.”

“Maybe.” Sara countered, no cheer lost from her demeanor. “But since it’s just about who starts the rotation and who gets to be the first nitpicker, it’s not a huge deal, right?”

“Yeah. I don’t mind.” Connor said as he put his book down and reclined casually in the office chair. “But I don’t think it’s fair if the nitpicker rotates the same way the picker does. If it does then that means the same person nitpickers the same picker all the time.”

“Will we be able to track it if we have a swapping nitpicker every time someone becomes picker?” Josh offered. “That way, every time if my turn, for example, you two swap being nitpicker and neutral?”

“Eh… no” Sara frowned as she thought the problem through. “We’ll forget really fast.”

“How about a losers bracket for every pick?” Connor asked with a shrug. “The two who aren’t the picker have a spar and the winner get to be the nitpicker?”

“I’m never going to be nitpicker.” Josh said with a chuckle. “Not that I mind. I don’t care to nitpick too much anyway.”

Sara help her arms up over her head in victory as they all seemed to reach a silent agreement. “It’s decided! We all beat each other up, take a break with a movie, and then beat each other up again!”

“Can I make a request though?” Josh was a little surprised at Connor’s follow up question, he generally seemed to go along with anything pretty easily, but if he was making a caveat for something it was probably important. “Can we agree, no strikes above or below the chest?”

“Does a leg sweep count as a strike?” Josh asked.

“No.” Connor and Sara answered in unison.

Their confident and firm response was almost comical. Clearly they planned on using leg sweeps as much as Josh had planned on. It seemed his best chance to get either of them off their feet.

Connor went a step further with his response though. “I think a light tap to the back of the knee or a leg sweep is fine. Mostly I just want to avoid up having any sort of bruising in a sensitive area while we’re watching a movie. Like, a strike to the groin is going to make sitting down and enjoying a movie kind of impossible.”

Josh was nodding along as soon as Connor mentioned the possibility of taking a hit to the groin, but Sara was snickering to herself.

“Impossible for you, maybe.”

“Don’t joke like having a bruised thigh or pelvis isn’t bad too.” Connor snapped back, his expression calm but mildly threatening.

“I mean, I’m all for the rule too. But you guys have a lot more to lose than I do.” Sara said with her hands up in surrender. “Just remember, in a real fight, a knee to the groin is almost always a good move if you can make it.”

There was a moment of silent waiting as they all three paused to see who would step up to spar first, but when no one did, Josh leaned back at the kitchen island to dig through a nearby drawer that he knew had wooden skewers.

Holding them up he casually declared, “Okay. Lot drawing it is.”

Sara came over first, and was about to grab the skewers to break one when Josh pulled them back and reached for a pen on the other side of the island. He marked two skewers at the blunt end, blew on the ink quickly to dry it off, and then wrapped up the marked ends in his hand. Connor walked over as Josh held the skewers behind his back and scrambled them around so even he didn’t know which was which.

“Okay, the two marked skewers fight. Loser fights whoever didn’t and then the winner of the second match fights the winner of the first one.”

Sara’s face scrunched up in confusion. “But then doesn’t the person who draws the blank one have a disadvantage? They only get one chance to fight for the winning spot.”

“It’s not like we’re organizing a martial arts tournament.” Josh said through stifled laughter. “And the person who gets the unmarked skewer is basically just drawing the short straw.”

“And whoever loses the first match will be more tired than their second opponent.”

“Okay. Fair.” Sara grumbled with a mock slouch of defeat.

Everyone held their hands out and drew skewer at the same time. In the scramble to pick the skewer he wanted, Josh poked his palm on the sharp end and he regretted marking the blunt end for a moment. But as soon as he felt the pressure on the hand that was obscuring the blunt ends, he realized that one light poke was better than being stabbed by all three. In the end, Connor was the one with the unmarked skewer, which meant Josh and Sara would be up first.

“Aw yeah, rematch!” Sara cheered as she held a fist up triumphantly.

Josh didn’t bother mincing words, he’d had enough time to steel himself for fighting either of his roommates. It wasn’t as awkward as it had felt the first time and he was ready. He just walked out to the open space in the middle of the apartment and gave Sara a nod to come at him.

“Okay, no nonsense, lets do this. Faster I pin you, faster we get to watch Casino Royale.”

Sara came at him fast. Josh barely had time to get his feet in the right position before she was trying to grapple him. He had made sure his stance was wide enough that she couldn’t sweep his legs out from under him and his body was low enough that she couldn’t get him off balance. As she wrapped her arms around his stomach, Josh was focused. He didn’t know what she was trying to do, but it felt like she was trying a sumo sort of approach to knock him over. It wasn’t a bad idea, as Josh hadn’t braced himself against being pushed backwards fully. But he was able to push down against her arms before they could get all the way around him and sweep her grapple off, though she nearly pulled his shorts down as she tried to grip on.

Josh retaliated as Sara took a step back to try and move around him. He went for his own leg sweep before she could get in a defensive stance, but Sara was in the air in an instant. She seemed to linger, her body crouched midair, above him like she was floating. But just as quickly as she had leapt up, her legs shot out towards Josh’s chest. It was a terrifying fast dropkick, but she hadn’t been able to put any momentum behind it. Josh had been able to turn slightly and avoid taking the hit directly to his torso, but it still caught his right shoulder. Even without the potential momentum that the kick could have carried, it hurt immediately.

“Holy—” Josh hissed.

He was about to bring his hand around to cradle the shoulder that would undoubtedly bruise, but there was an opportunity. Sara was still falling, and her legs were still stretch out. She was going to try and curl her legs back in to help land safely, but Josh was narrowed in on her movements. In a moment of near complete tunnel vision, Josh wrapped his right arm around both of Sara’s legs—right below the knees—as she was trying to retract them. He brought his left hand around to clamp her legs together, took a step towards her, following the pull of her legs, and then let her downward momentum and gravity do the rest. When her back hit the floor, Josh pushed down with her legs and forced her into a ball.

With a grunt of pain, Sara tried to retaliate by grabbing on to Josh’s arms. She would have a harder time pushing up against his body weight directly, but if she could grab on to Josh’s arms or shoulder, she could try and roll him off her. Her grab was cut short as Josh sunk into a half kneeling position to get his knee over her right arm twist slightly to the side to avoid her left hand.

“Done yet?” Josh grunted.

His question was answered by a very forceful push against his torso as Sara attempted to straighten out her legs. She almost managed it too. But with the majority of Josh’s body weight pinning her down in two places, she was trapped.

“Fine.” Sara growled. “When did you get good?”

Josh laughed nervously as he let Sara go. “I guess I just decided to ignore everything else?”

As he said it, Josh began to feel the throbbing in his shoulder from the kick he’d taken. “Oh, blegh… you didn’t hold back at all, did you.”

“Not a chance.” Sara said with a mock scrunch of her face. “I wasn’t going to make things easy on you.”

“Not that it did you much good.” Connor snickered. “You just made both of you easier for me to beat.”

“Yeah, sure.” Josh huffed as he massaged his shoulder. “I’m getting some ice, and when one of you is done beating the other up I’ll do it all again.”

With his falsely confident statement, Josh made his way over to the freezer and fished out a handful of ice cubes from the tray and dropped them in a plastic sandwich bag. It was just a little too cold, so he wrapped up the bag of ice in a towel. That seemed to do the trick. And by the time he was feeling a little better, he tuned back into the sparring match that Sara and Connor had started.

Both roommates looked like they were completely in the zone. Sara was sticking to high jumps and evasive movements to stay out of Connor’s longer grabbing range. It seemed like Sara was using less energy and Connor was slowing down when he suddenly grabbed hold of Sara’s wrist as she was jumping to the side to dodge a punch. He pulled her back into range and, almost like he was leading in a formal dance, rolled her body into his longer arms so that her back was against his chest and her arms were wrapped underneath his. Sara took a step back into Connor’s mass to try and get him off balance, but he went with the shove and let himself fall onto his back. In an effortless move, Connor had his legs around Sara as well and she was fully immobilized again.

“Gah! No fair!” She roared. “Josh got me off my game.”

“Hey, don’t blame me.” Josh said with his hands up in defense, but the movement made his shoulder twinge as he lifted the makeshift ice pack from it. “You’re the one that didn’t keep your elbows in while dodging.”

Sara was about to object again, but Connor cut her off as he let her go. “He’s right, if you’re not punching or trying to grapple, your elbows should be in. I don’t know why he knows that, but it’s pretty basic form. If Margot was here she’d be chewing you out for it too.”

“I’m rusty, okay?” Sara said with a huff.

“And that’s why we do this.” Connor said with a shrug, his arms out wide to signify the area they had silently agreed was for sparring.

Sara sighed and made her way over to Josh, who handed her the ice pack. “At least now I get to see you two beat the tar out of each other.”

“Or Josh could forfeit.” Connor said with a waggle of his eyebrows. “No dice?”

“Nah. We haven’t actually sparred before.”

A surprised confusion washed over Connor’s face as he attempted to recall if that was true. “Oh. Heck. We haven’t, have we.”

“Nope.” Josh said with a deep breath as he refocused and walked up closer to his roommate. “Not yet.”

“Well, now’s the time.” Connor said with a smile as he grunted and let fly a quick flurry of jabs.

Every punch was aimed squarely at Josh’s torso. And each one was a hit. Josh felt four impacts, though it might have only been three, as he struggle to get his arms up to block. Connor’s combo reminded him of a boxer, though he seemed to have a steadier planted stance than he’d ever seen a boxer have. Connor’s longer arms gave him a distinct advantage, as he could punch from farther away and not have to worry so much about getting hit in return.

By the time Connor’s second flurry of punches came, Josh was fully prepared. His vision narrowed again as he locked in on his goal. Two more punches landed, one across Josh’s pectorals and the other on his right shoulder. Both hits hardly registered as Josh ducked under the third and sent out a punch of his own. His body twisted naturally to make up for the extra distance between them and pushed an extra pound or two of force behind the impact. Connor had been so intent on delivering fast barrages of punches he wasn’t ready to defend. Josh’s punch landed directly in Connor’s gut.

With a wheeze, the air left Connor’s lungs as his diaphragm was forced to contract. He stumbled back a step, but didn’t miss the opportunity to hook his right foot behind Josh’s left knee and pull him down to the floor too. But while Connor landed on his butt, Josh tumbled forward into a kneeling position—a counter-intuitively less than ideal position. Connor had his legs between him and his opponent, while Josh’s feet were in a mostly behind him and under him position. Connor reached out with his legs as he scooted back towards Josh and wrapped them around Josh’s torso. After a slight struggle, Josh managed to free himself and twist his body so that he could slide his legs out from under him in a kick. He stopped just short of hitting, as he realized that the kick would land squarely in Connor’s groin. His roommate, oblivious to the hesitation, sat up and pinned both of Josh’s legs under one of his own and promptly flatted his opponent in a full body pin.

“Okay.” Josh grunted from underneath Connor’s torso. “Okay, you win.”

As Josh tapped the floor to signal his forfeit, he let his focus fade. He could hear Sara laughing hysterically as Connor lifted himself slowly.

“He nearly kicked your nuts back into your stomach.” Sara wheezed as she clapped her hands together to accentuate her laughter. “You only won because he was paying attention. If he let that kick go through movie day would be over.”

“What?” Connor’s brow furrowed as he looked back down to where he’d landed and attempted to grapple Josh initially. “You… oh. Oooh. Thank you.”

Connor clapped his hands down on Josh’s shoulders, causing Josh to wince weakly at the contact, and stared him down face to face. His expression was completely serious, though what he said didn’t feel very serious.

“Thank you for not sterilizing me.”

Sara was still cackling, nearly falling off of the bar stool at the kitchen island in the process. Josh’s just nodded. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. It would have been a good move in a real fight, but this was just practice.

“Does this make me the nitpicker?” Josh asked as he pulled himself off the floor and dusted himself off.

“Sure?” Sara answered with a shrug, which Connor copied. “What’s you pick, by the way? Still aiming for Breakfast at Tiffany’s?”

“Not quite. I’m still in the mood for Hepburn, but I think it’s time for a slightly more… intense movie.”

“Oh?” Josh asked absently as he plucked the makeshift ice pack back out of Sara’s hands.

“We’re shutting all the blinds, drawing all the curtains, turning off the lights, and watching Wait Until Dark.”

“Yessss!” Sara hissed happily as she ran across the room and quickly plunged it into darkness.

“Isn’t that a horror film?”

“You haven’t seen it?! It’s a thriller!” Sara answered Josh’s question cheerfully. “And it’s a little scary… but I don’t think it’ll freak you out too much after all you’ve been through.”

“And it’s still best watched in the dark.” Connor hummed as the last source of light in the room was extinguished. the last expression he saw on his roommates face was an eerie grin that only made him more excited about what he was about to witness.