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Ever since Remus first appeared, Thomas really started growing used to just letting him be. It wasn’t like his own thoughts could hurt him and Remus was a lot like a toddler, it was easy to let him wear himself out. Still, without Patton and Virgil policing his thoughts, most of what was left was Thomas’s sense of curiosity. So, when he woke up for a glass of water in the middle of the night and none of his sides were around to stop him, he thought he might take the moment of quiet to admire one of the things that Remus really seemed to focus on: fire.
It wasn’t like he was starting a campfire in the middle of his kitchen, Thomas merely grabbed a lighter and seated himself on one of the counters in the dark of the kitchen, the only light coming from the tiny flame as he switched it on and off. There was something just so mesmerizing about it, something about the way he could control such a dangerous element with just his hands and a tiny tool, something about the way the fire’s warmth came and went, something about how still and tall the flame stood while it remained, yet how easily he just snuffed it out.
Within a matter of seconds, Thomas was completely enchanted by what he was seeing and stopped paying attention to his own actions as he slowly started to go back to sleep. There was just something so calming about sitting there in the silence of the night and something so simple about the pleasure that Thomas felt from watching the lighter’s flame that he couldn’t help it. His entire body just relaxed and he was only seconds away from falling asleep.
Then the lighter slipped.
It was a perfectly timed split second of a mistake. Thomas’s eyes were just falling shut and he managed to flick the fire on one last time before his grip loosened. It had happened more than a few times with his cellphone, where he’d be laying in bed and scrolling when his actions became just absentminded enough to let his phone fall onto his chest, but this wasn’t his phone. This was a lighter with a lit flame. Before he could react, the lighter landed on his chest and his shirt caught fire almost impossibly fast, the heat drawing out a sickening scream from Thomas’s throat. He stumbled off of the countertop and tried to put it out, but the flame hardly reacted to his attempts, merely spreading further over his chest, then the rest of his torso and his arms until his body forced him to submit to the pain and he fell to his hands and knees, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Remus let out a fairly similar scream as he shot up out of bed, looking around and fighting to catch his breath. Was it all just a stupid dream? It all felt so... Real. Thomas had the luxury of being able of telling imagination from reality, but imagination was Remus’s reality. It was so difficult to tell what was real and what wasn’t for him, but it usually didn’t bother him. After all, he was Remus, he was the bringer of Thomas’s bad dreams and his icky thoughts, the Duke of Dark Creativity. This was the kind of thing that he made Thomas think all the time.
The difference between then and now was control. Remus controlled Thomas’s icky thoughts, he knew what he was making, so when it wasn’t his doing and it was something so... So possible, even he couldn’t help but to be bothered.
Still, the fact that he was awake and that he was okay was proof that it was all fake, right? So, it should’ve been easy to get back to sleep. Remus should’ve been able to laugh it off as a funny thought and slept like a stillborn.
The next hour of tossing and turning in his bed proved that that theory was wrong, there was no way Remus could just ignore that stupid dream and go back to sleep. He had to see for himself that Thomas was okay. Remus got out of bed and began walking out, stopping as he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror. Yeah, Thomas probably wouldn’t have been too happy to be woken up by a fully nude figment of his imagination. Ordinarily, that would’ve been part of the fun of sleeping in the buff, but this wasn’t the time for that. He went into his wardrobe and put on a dragon onesie before heading out of the imagination.
Remus popped up exactly where he’d expected, right at the foot of Thomas’s bed. The creative side sighed in relief as he saw that Thomas was, in fact, there, but he still wasn’t satisfied. For one, Thomas looked incredibly still in his sleep, almost too still. Remus looked over at the clock. It was only six in the morning, but it wouldn’t hurt to just wake him up for a little bit, right? Remus shrugged and went over, checking to make sure Thomas was breathing before carefully waking him up.
“Thomas,” he whispered. “Thomas, wake up.”
Thomas groaned and turned away from Remus’s voice.
Remus pouted and went to the other side of the bed, poking Thomas’s cheeks. “Wake up.. Please?”
Thomas swatted at Remus’s hand and started waking up, essentially looking himself in the eye. “Wha...? Remus?”
“Hi.”
Thomas turned and looked at the time before looking back at Remus. “What are you doing here? Isn’t it too early for me to have some kind of ethical dilemma?”
“I’m not here to mess with you this time,” Remus clarified, crossing his arms on the bed.
“Okay... That doesn’t answer my question, why are you here?”
Remus practically gritted his teeth. This wasn’t something he was okay with just admitting to anyone, only Virgil and Janus knew.
Thomas noticed how uncomfortable he looked and almost felt concerned. Remus wasn’t one to just get uncomfortable, especially not when he was getting the attention that he oh-so craved, so something had to be wrong. “What’s up, Remus?”
Remus sighed and rested his chin on his crossed arms. This was Thomas. If there was anybody he could talk to, it was probably Thomas. “I had a nightmare about you and I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
Thomas tried his best not to look shocked, but it was six in the morning and Roman was still asleep. His acting skills weren’t exactly there.
“You don’t have to look at me like I just told you I was straight.”
“Uh- Sorry...” Thomas shook off the surprise. “I just... You’re the one who makes my nightmares. I didn’t think there was anything that could scare you.”
Remus shrugged. “It’s... Complicated.”
“Complicated how?”
Remus groaned and buried his face in the bedsheets, not wanting to talk about it. “Okay... When I scare you, it’s funny because your fears are so unthinkable. I mean, you’re scared of the idea of killing your best friend, do you honestly think you’d ever be capable of something that crazy?”
Thomas shook his head. “Never. I mean... Maybe before, but now I know how stupid that is.”
“Right, but the idea still freaks you out. When I think something’s scary, it’s stuff that’s really... Possible. Improbable, but possible. Tonight, it happened to be you getting hurt and I needed to check up on you because I couldn’t sleep.” Not to mention, he actually felt like it would be safe to ask for some support.
“Okay... Well, I’m alright.”
Remus nodded. “Can I stay here?”
Now... It wasn’t that Thomas didn’t like Remus. Quite the opposite, he had gotten more than used to his presence and actually found him to be pretty entertaining.
“I’ll keep my hands in safe places and I don’t even have my dick or my ass out. I’m all covered up for you.” Remus smiled and batted his eyelashes at Thomas. The last thing he wanted was to get kicked out.
Thomas giggled at that and thought it over for a second. As long as he kept his hands to himself, it was fine, right? Plus, Remus was imaginary, it wasn’t like he could cause any kind of damage. “Alright... Sure, you can stay.”
“Yay!” Remus hopped up and crawled under the covers with Thomas, sighing contently as he got comfortable. “See? Isn’t this nice?”
“Surprisingly enough, yes,” Thomas hesitantly admitted. “I didn’t think you’d be able to keep your hands to yourself even this long.”
Remus cackled. “I do have some semblance of self control. Plus, I’m the one who wants to be here, I’m not going to ruin my chances just because your ass is too nice for my hands to resist.”
“That’s... Good?”
Remus nodded. “An ass like yours is hard for me to resist.”
Thomas almost wondered what that meant for the other sides, who all looked exactly like him. “How about we go to sleep?”
“Uh- Yes please. I’ve been trying to sleep for the past hour. Now I know how you feel when I’m at work, but you know.” He shrugged. “No regrets.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure anything could stop you from doing your job,” Thomas chuckled. “It’s not like I can be mad at you, you’re not hurting me and it’s what you’re meant to do. As long as I know how to ease Virgil’s worries and Patton’s lecturing, I’ll be alright.”
Boy, was Remus glad he decided to put that onesie on before leaving. It didn’t hide much without underwear, but it hid enough. “You’re just trying to make me feel better. I mean, it’s definitely working, but I’d stop if you want this moment to stay PG 13.”
“... You mean PG?”
“It’s a little too late for that.”
Thomas seemed mildly disgusted, but he wasn’t kicking Remus out, which was the important part. “Maybe we should just get to sleep, then.”
Remus nodded and turned around before shifting until he felt his back touching Thomas’s chest. “Cuddle me?”
“Are you going to make this weird?”
Remus shrugged. “As fun as that sounds, you’re already doing my a favor by letting me stay here. I’m not stupid.”
“Okay...” Thomas hesitated before wrapping his arms around Remus, finding that he was surprisingly warm for a figment of his imagination.
“See? Isn’t this nice?”
“It... Kind of is,” Thomas said, the surprise evident in his tone.
Remus grinned and shut his eyes, almost immediately falling asleep.
Thomas thought it was kind of adorable. Remus was just trying to get some sleep, it was like a kid finding their parent after a nightmare. Not to mention, the soft dragon onesie he was in definitely added to the appeal. Thomas couldn’t help but smile as he shut his eyes and went back to sleep.
In the morning, Logan was the first side awake, as usual. He popped up inside of Thomas’s room, notebook in hand, and looked over the plans for the day, making a few last minute changes. He had a fairly empty schedule, Thomas would appreciate having some free time once everything was done. Logan made a note to talk to Janus about that later.
“Alright, Thomas, it’s time to wake up. Today should be a fairly simple day, there should be plenty of free time later if you get started-” Logan cut himself off as he finally looked up and noticed that Thomas had a guest. What was Remus doing there?
Logan looked a little closer at the two and noticed just how peaceful they seemed. Thomas’s chin was resting above Remus’s head and his arms were around the dark side, resting comfortably around Remus’s stomach with Remus’s own hands over them, as if, even in his peaceful slumber, he was afraid of Thomas letting him go. And they both had tiny smiles on their faces that Patton would most definitely characterize as “adorable.”
It was an undoubtedly heartwarming scene and Logan wasn’t sure even he had the heart to wake them up. He sighed and looked down at his schedule for the day. Logan hated most schedule changes and Thomas was struggling to live a well organized life as it was, but it was so rare that Thomas was so calm and Remus was so quiet. Logan smiled softly and shut his notebook before sinking back out. One late morning couldn’t hurt.