Chapter Text
Today was a great day for Thomas and his sides. Thomas has just gotten back from a date with Nico, and whether through the skip every second step he took or through the blush that lightened up his face, it wasn’t hard to see how well it went. Logan had started to plan out future date ideas alongside Roman (as tricky as it may have been to reel the dreamer in), while Patton and Virgil were having a chat about safety and never putting your all into a person—reminiscent of a father having a pep talk with his kid about their first relationship. It was safe to say they were all coming down from the excitement of the outing. There was a calm breeze in the air—coming just after the rush of excitement they’d all been feeling—and a hope for what was around the bend. Of course there was a tinge of fear, anxiety, and an attempt to use self-preservation via expecting the worst, but they had been spoken away with the help of Logan’s teachings. Logan made sure to remind Virgil that he wasn’t the villain, but rather a passionate hero (anti-hero was the specific word Logan had used, as the word “hero” being used on Virgil might've—and has—resulted in injury). Virgil was exceptionally good at his job, and that may have been nothing to be ashamed of, but it was good to remind him that his contributions were not needed until more likely odds of danger came upon them. Virgil’s overthinking was put away for another day—at least that’s how it seemed, Something was still wrong. There was a tinge of doubt in the air and it seeped into each side, twisting their mannerisms. The changes were so small that, if you hadn’t known the group well, you’d never know what was off. Remus and Janus had joined the party a few moments after the commotion got to their side of the mindspace. As open and (for lack of a better word), “themselves” as the two may be, it seemed the bad air reached them as well. This fact was heavily noticeable on them in comparison to everyone else. The two were abnormally quiet. Instead of announcing their appearances like usual, Janus and Remus came in silently and sat on opposite sides of the room—not once looking towards each other. When the two eventually were noticed, it only amplified the uncanny behaviour they had. Janus kept up his ruse of entertainment, having small talk with everyone and lining each word with sarcasm, but he put less effort into it than usual. He seemed as if his mind was somewhere else. Remus stayed quiet. Remus didn't interact with anyone or even try to gain attention. Instead, Remus continued to stare at Janus while the ladder continued to avoid and discourage the staring. Remus seemed frustrated—which wasn’t abnormal for him, but the way he expressed it was. He was silent. Remus was gone just as quickly and quietly as he appeared, seeming to have only appeared with the intention of following Janus. Once Janus became aware of Remus’ departure, he too left. Attempting to divert suspicion of their behaviour, he tried—and failed—to make a quip at Remus on the topic of needing to babysit him. This ultimately came out as a broken, half expressed joke, which seemed more like an on-the-spot excuse for needing to leave, somewhere along the lines of: “Remus is having a tantrum over something that doesn't matter which I’m also trying to get him to shut up about, bye.” As well as the day may have started, it seemed as though clouds were rolling in just over the horizon. Their surroundings became darker with every second that passed; every little thing seemed to creep under their skin. Tighter and tighter did the fear in their chest twist. Every train of thought regarding Thomas and Nico’s date seemed to become derailed by this deep, bad feeling that something was going to go wrong, and trying to acknowledge the feeling as well as its lack of requirement didn’t seem to remedy it. Questions flowed through their mind—questions that seemed to be encoded in a language they couldn’t understand, questions that attempted stealth through silence but were still inevitably felt as they passed by. It got to a point where there was no way of recalling how the date went as everytime they tried, Virgil freaked out. Luckily they still had some coping mechanisms left to try from the last time there was interpersonal relationship issues in Thomas’ life—namely, the Frozen fanfic. It was like a lifeboat in this sinking feeling of dread. They were still in the water of course, but no longer drowning in it. They were far enough to spectate the dread without falling into it. This lifeboat lasted only a few minutes before being shot down by the “ping” of a notification on Thomas’ phone. “We need to talk” ”About your behaviour today” Seen one minute ago Two minutes ago Three minutes ago Four minutes ago … Cue intro music, record scratch noise.