Lie Detector (2/?)

After Eugene glad the room, the other men were left in stunned and sad silence. John left and the three disassembled the studio quietly, no one knowing what to say. After around a half hour, they'd finished, and walked back to their desks. They immediately noticed Eugene was absent, though his stuff was still present on his desk.

"We should find him" Zach stated, but Keith shook his head.

"Let's give him an hour, then we'll go looking for him."

When their boss was walking around and noticed Eugene was gone, the three covered for him quickly. However, their coworkers were more insistent. Quinta most of all.

"Where'd he run off to? I need his help." Frustrated she ended up calling him, though she didn't receive an answer. Once an hour had past, Ned led Keith and Zach around the office, looking in the usual places Eugene hid when he was working on a project and needed to be undisturbed. When they couldn't find him, they walked outside.

"His car is here… but he's not anywhere to be seen" Ned reflected. "Do you think he'd walk home for some reason?" Zach and Keith both shrugged, they wouldn't think it rational but Eugene might've thrown rationality out the window.

"We haven't ever really seen Eugene this way, we've never gotten this much out of him, he might've just imploded. Let's try and contact him and if he doesn't answer we'll go to his apartment after work and see if he's there." Zach said and Keith and Ned agreed. The next few hours were filled with them trying to work while simultaneously trying to contact Eugene. Texting, calling, emailing, and they weren't getting any response at all. At the end of the day Keith put Eugene's stuff in his bag to take to him and the three piled in Ned's car to drive to Eugene's apartment.

When Eugene woke up a few hours later he ignored his phone that seemed to be having a seizure. He walked to the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. Unhappy with what he saw, he continued looking anyways. Soon he'd stripped down and was staring at his fat body. His mother claimed he needed to eat more (and his friends mentioned it sometimes too) but he knew they were just joking around with him.

He had restricted himself for a long time, really only eating one meal a day, lunch, because his friends questioned him when he didn't. The day prior he'd had a chicken salad, which was too much and he'd been mad at himself for eating that. He hadn't eaten all day but he decided he didn't deserve to in order to lose some of the pounds he'd been stacking on.

He walked to his kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. This would have to suffice for now. His pups were following him around the apartment, noticing his distress. Eugene bent down to pet them sadly and accepted the love Pesto and Emma were offering. He went back to his place on the couch and thought back to the test. They'd need to edit a lot of his stuff out, he wasn't about to let the whole world see him exposed in such a manner.

Upset, Eugene put his head in his hands. This was ridiculous, he needed to stop thinking about this or else he may burst. He felt so broken, the walls he'd built were a crumbled pile of rubble and he felt as though anything could cause him to have another breakdown.

Then, all the sudden, Eugene heard the sound he'd been dreading. There was a knocking on the front door.

They still couldn't reach Eugene. They'd all called and texted multiple times and now they were starting to worry. Hopefully nothing bad had happened to him. As they reached his apartment they sighed, wondering what was going to happen once they walked inside that apartment. The intervention they'd known was coming for a long time was the most likely, hopefully Eugene was there. The three Try Guys walked up the stairs to his door and knocked. After a minute, they tried again with no luck. Ned, frustrated grabbed the handle and twisted but it wouldn't budge. They tried knocking again and they watched as he door swung open to a disheveled Eugene.

The man's hair was a mess, his skin pail, his dark circles that were always present were more prominent. It looked as though he may have had an emotional breakdown not to long ago. He was wearing baggy pants and a sweatshirt that seemed to swallow him, making him look very small and thin.

Eugene sighed and stepped to the side, his arm beckoning them to come in. The three filed in and walked to his couch, sitting down next to each other as Eugene sat in a chair farther away from them. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed, here we go.

"Eugene, you can't keep us locked out like this anymore, it's not healthy" Ned started cautiously. This earned him a grunt from Eugene. It felt like them three were all parents lecturing their rebellious teenage son.

"We want you to know you can talk to us about anything," Keith claimed next, "really Eugene. You've been there for all of us multiple times and we want to be able to return the favor."

"We're all worried," Zach stated, "you've been acting… different lately. And I'm sorry we cornered you but really Eugene how else can we get you to talk to us?!" Zach was red in the face now with frustration and anguish and Eugene averted his eyes. Crossing his arms, he wasn't sure how to respond, so he just shrugged. Ned spoke up now.

"What happened that made you feel like you can't have emotions 'Gene? We don't know what's going on inside your head so we can't help you and we feel useless. How would you feel?"

Eugene considered this for a moment before he replied.

"I wouldn't be friends with me, so I wouldn't deal with it." He muttered. Once again his friends were in a stunned silence. It took a moment for Zach to compose his thoughts correctly.

"What if one of us were having problems 'Gene, what if one of us had depression? Would you want to help us?" Eugene flinched at the word 'depression', he was NOT depressed, he was FINE.

Before he could protest, Zach spoke up again.

"Eugene, I suffered from depression when I was a kid, I know the signs, I know what it's like because I've been there. So please don't deny it." Eugene shut his mouth and once again kept his eyes glued to the floor.

"Can you please just let us ask some questions at least? We won't put the lie detector equipment on you or anything but please be truthful" Ned asked. Eugene nodded, not moving his eyes. Maybe this was for the best, maybe they would help him, they would stay this time.

"Do you think that we don't like you?" Keith asked. Eugene thought before he spoke.

"I thought you all hated me at first, but now I know you guys are neutral about me. I know I'm not as close friends as you guys are and I try to respect that and keep my distance"

"Is that why you don't hang out with us outside of the Try Guys very much?"

Eugene gulped "Yes".

"When you said you wanted to replace a Try Guy, who were you referring to?"

There was quite a long pause before the answer to that one.

"…myself"

"Why?"

"…my whole life I haven't been good enough… so why would anyone disagree with that. I just thought because of my family and what happened in school…" Eugene trailed off lost in memory before he returned to the real world, "I just didn't think anyone would think I'm funny enough to do these episodes with you guys, so I was trying to find someone to replace myself so you wouldn't have to."

Eugene kept his eyes glued to the floor, but he felt how uncomfortable the others were. They would probably want to replace him now that he explained his reasoning, after all it was pretty understandable. But then, something surprising happened.

"Eugene, we'd never replace you." Keith pleaded. For a brief second Eugene looked into Keith's eyes before returning them to the floor. He seemed sincere, but he was still weary. Zach and Ned murmured in agreement.

Eugene disengaged from the floor and looked up at his friends once more. The three were had a look in their eyes that said "please believe us", and Eugene found that he was beginning to. That didn't mean he still didn't like himself, but his friends were working pretty hard to get him to understand that. No one in his life had worked this hard for him before. He felt tears well up in his eyes as they had earlier in the shower. He hadn't cried in front of anyone since he was a little kid. He stood up to leave and began to rush out of the room before the tears poured over. Before he made it to the doorway, a blurry Keith appeared in front of him.

A tear slipped down his cheek and he felt the already crumbled walls begin to be knocked down again. He brought his head to his hands and silently began to sob into his hands. Long arms wrapped around his thin body and pulled him into a tight hug. Usually he'd protest the hug, but for the first time in a long time, Eugene leaned into the hug. Keith grabbed his head softly and brought it to his chest, and Eugene brought his hands away from his face and wrapped them around Keith's body.

Keith looked up startled at the other Try Guys when Eugene's arms wrapped around him. Ned and Zach shared a look, confused as well. Eugene was shaking in Keith's arms as he was silently sobbing, breaking slowly in front of their eyes.

"Hey hey lets sit okay?" Keith whispered to Eugene. He nodded into his chest and continued his crying. He maneuvered Eugene to the couch, the man keeping his head against his chest the whole time. Eugene immediately began to curl up in a ball against Keith. He pulled him into his lap and wrapped his arms around him again. Zach and Ned decided to leave and give them some space, they were sure Eugene wouldn't want the two of them staring at him while he collapsed into Keith's arms.

Eugene and Keith stayed like that for a while, him allowing Eugene to cry, the first time any of them had seen him cry. He was so quiet, like he'd trained himself to be this way. When he began to slow down, Keith loosened his grip and let Eugene off his lap.

"Thanks" Eugene muttered, "sorry".

"It's okay 'Gene, you're allowed to cry"

"I've never been diagnosed, but I think I've been depressed for a long time. I just, I'm never good enough for myself or others, and until you guys… I never had friends."

"Well we're here for you now okay? We're your best friends. We don't have some special bond without you, you're as much part of this as the rest of us. We love you Eugene."

"I love you guys too" Eugene said sincerely, so thankful. For the first time in a long time, he knew they were telling the truth, and he trusted his friends. Ned and Zach had been listening from the side and came in to hug Eugene reciprocated the hugs and smiled at them. A genuine smile, he hadn't had one of those in a long time. Eugene could see the light now, he'd been in the darkness for far too long, but the sun was shining on him once again, and his friends were going to be there for him no matter what. The three of them gathered Eugene into a group hug and he felt love radiate from his friends. He felt warm again.