CHAPTER SIX
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i. a lot of problems !

— THE ROOM WAS QUIET WHEN BETTY COOPER SPOKE UP. A deafening silence, born from an awkward greeting.

Kevin realized he'd been holding his breath, waiting for something to happen. Good or bad.

He took a breath of air, trying to calm himself down.

And when Jonathan lifted his head, the sun from one of the open windows washed over him, warming his skin and lighting up his eyes, making them brighter. Sparkling pools of chocolate.

That's what Kevin thought anyway, and for a second he lost his breath again.

"Betty!" Jonathan exclaimed, sitting up excitedly and ignoring the pain flaring through his chest as he grinned excitedly.

The woman still sitting in the bed grabbed his arm tightly, sitting up to tuck herself closer to his back. She was hiding from them, terrified, a childlike look of fear on her face.

Johnny put a hand over hers, eyes widening in almost realization.

"Hey, it's okay, they're friends." Jonathan assured, soothingly rubbing her wrist.

"I- I don't want... I don't want-" She shakily started, still only peeking behind Jonathan's shoulder. Her voice had become pitchier, higher. Completely different from a few minutes prior, when her voice was laid back and teasing.

"Rosie, right?" Johnny asked, still giving her his full attention. She nodded. "Okay- Rosie, I'm right here, nothing will hurt you. Meredith won't let you get hurt either, you know that."

Rosie nodded again, moving her hand from his arm to wrap around his chest carefully in a half hug.

They whispered a few more words before she finally let go, and he stood up.

Johnny offered his hand to her, and she took it quickly, letting him lead her towards the trio still standing at the door.

Betty was beside herself in awkward excitement, a little curious but mostly just relieved that he was back.

When they came close enough, Jonathan let go of Rosie's hand and chuckled when Betty threw her arms around his neck, making him lean slightly to hug her.

From all the times Betty had imagined hugging him again, it wasn't even close to the real thing. He was warm and comforting, like hot chocolate on a cold day, enveloping her in a cozy feeling.

She missed it. She missed him.

"God- Betty, it's been so long." Jonathan grinned, squeezing her a little tighter and ignoring the pain in his chest. He was always great at hugs.

He pulled away from the hug, turning to Kevin.

"Hey Skittles." Johnny grinned, hesitating before also hugging him.

"Hey Johnny." Kevin sighed, leaning into his chest and pressing his cheek into the boy's shoulder, his breathing now slow and shallow.

When Jonathan stepped away, Rosie immediately grabbed his hand again and hugged herself close to his back, still hiding.

"You," Johnny pointed at Veronica, "I don't recognize you, but hugs are free." He shrugged with a small laugh.

Veronica chuckled, stepping forward and opening her arms, which Jonathan carefully leaned into, being sure of Rosie who still clung to him.

"You're a lot cuter than your missing posters." Veronica commented in amusement.

The look of horror present of Kevin's face was almost laughable, but Johnny only laughed, "Thank you."

"I'm Veronica Lodge." The dark haired woman introduced, pulling back and holding out her hand, which he took.

"Jonathan King. But, you obviously already knew that." He grinned, his teeth flashing white.

"How have you been?" Betty asked, still smiling all giddily.

Jonathan used his free hand to scratch the back of his head awkwardly, "Well, I- uh... I could be better." He chuckled, glancing wistfully at one of the empty beds, before hardening the look into a glare and shaking his head.

"I've got a lotta problems." He chuckled, turning on his heel as Rosie lead him back to his bed, a slight limp in his step that was almost unnoticeable before in all the excitement.

"We both have a lot of problems." Rosie spoke up, smiling up at the boy.

"Yes, we do." Johnny poked teasingly at her side. "Feel free to welcome yourselves into our humble home." He told the rest of the group, gesturing to the other empty beds in the room.

Veronica confidently stepped forward and perched herself on the bed in front of them, crossing her legs and looking clean.

"This is..." Johnny turned to introduce the woman beside him, who seemed tocurl into his side a bit more with the attention.

"Still Rosie." She said with a small giggle.

"Still Rosie?" Betty asked curiously, dragging Kevin to join Veronica on the bed.

"Rosie shares a body with a few other people. They have dissociative identity disorder." Johnny explained, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulder. "If you stick around for a while, someone else will probably step in and you'll meet them, but for the mean time it's Rosie." He finished.

Veronica seemed unbothered, and smiled kindly at Rosie, who noticeably came out of her shell a little bit more. It was microscopic, but it was something.

Kevin still sat in silence, listening to Betty shoot questions out of her mouth like a loaded gun, for both Rosie and Jonathan. There was mild conversation, nothing too deep or philosophical, but just enough to keep up the chit chat.

The whole time, Kevin just watched Jonathan as he existed so simplistically.

It was like some sort of dream, him sitting there, laughing that perfectly melodic laugh, his eyes the brightest shade of brown and his smile seemed unbroken by all the pain of his experience.

But even after so long, Kevin has always known Jonathan King better than he knew himself.

He saw the estranged looks he sent to some of the other empty beds, he saw the tilt of his head when it looked like he was listening to someone or the glare he sent when it looked like he was quietly scolding someone.

Jonathan King seemed happy. Carefree, even. Most likely because of the pain medication the hospital almost definitely gave him. Or maybe it was Rosie, the one person he could see as a friend in all this.

Whatever it was, he just wasn't the same.

author's note

I have a really bad headache please call me out of none of this chapter makes sense
♥️♥️

So Andie has dissociative personality disorder, and Rosie is one of her three alters- it maybe be a little confusing to read but basically it's like- they all share a body, but they're all different people- I'll use their names when they switch but I don't want the dialogue to be too unnatural

I've been wanting to do a character with DID for a while, I know quite a few people have this condition and as anyone who follows me will know- I'm all inclusive- I try to write for the people that don't normally get to relate to someone and I guess Andie was my chance for DID

I might not be the best at explaining- I'm better at just writing it I think- but there's a channel on YouTube called 'DissociaDID' and they're much more equipped to explain so if you wanna learn more i suggest checking them out