Work Text:
Thomas met Logan in his room, walls covered in mathematical formulas and shelves filled with vocabulary cards. His battle had been difficult, and grueling (he had been relegated to the shed a couple times,) but Logan showed no sign of that fight. He happily gestured grandly at the graphs and numbers, explaining their significance in his theory of time.
"Patton and I have been working on this for longer than I remember!" Logan exclaimed. "Imagine if there were more than one timeline. And a single one could branch out into many with a single decision! It would only take, according to my calculations, a great willpower, with the right engine, of course, to change the course of linear time itself!"
Thomas smiled and gave a slight nod. He had no idea what Logan was talking about.
"And that's why I want to join the Royal Guard!" Logan concluded. "I want to improve... well, everything!" He had stars in his eyes and his scarf seemed to be buoyed by an invisible wind with this proclamation.
Thomas smiled. Logan clapped him on the shoulder. "Finally, someone who understands!"
A beat.
"Oh, I suppose we should start the-"
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"date!" Roman growled. "A date, of all things! First Logan doesn't catch the human, then he brings them to my house?! The indignity! He scowled at Thomas, standing in the doorway. "Well?! You're the guest, apparently, so take a good look around!"
Thomas stepped gingerly around the house, opening drawers quietly and staring at the broken window Logan had left behind. Classic skeleton. The only other person Roman knew that dramatic (other than himself, of course,) was Patton!
"Um, be careful not to break that!" Roman shouted. Thomas had picked up Virgil's prize lizard mug out of the sink. "That is a very important... mug. To me. And my friend. Friends!"
Thomas smiled and placed it back into the sink.
Roman didn't like thinking about it, but Thomas was just a kid. Joan mentioned that on the worst of days. Only the angel knew how they were able to keep six of them in their basement.
Thomas drank the tea and reacted at all the right times during Roman's speech about monster-kind and the nobility of their cause.
Roman found himself rapidly falling for this silent human. Cooking! his brain desperately supplied. Teach them cooking, it might get your mind off of things!
Roman cursed the sky of glowing rocks. How was a fish to be the ultimate friend AND capture that friend at the same time?!
Cooking was a mistake. Thomas was a natural: mashing tomatoes like no one's business and stirring the pasta like a pro. Roman decided to turn up the-
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"heat!" Virgil tripped over his words on the way to the dump. "It's not usually this hot so close to Waterfall!"
Thomas only nodded in silence. They looked rather uncomfortable, with a letter in Virgil's hand and his best dress on.
Good, that made two of them.
Virgil was just really doing this to make Thomas feel better: for one matter: he already had his heart torn one and a half ways. And also Thomas was eleven.
They worked their way to the dump and Virgil pulled the hem of his dress out of the sewage.
The date started. Dead silence. This was a mistake. Leaving his lab was a mistake, becoming Royal Scientist was a mistake...
"Uh. Do you like anime?"
Great one Virgil! One for the books!
Thomas affirmed his preference for anime. Phew, something to work with.
"Oh, you'd really love this one about these two warring vampire clans then..."
Virgil went on for too long and stuttered too much and by the end he was sure he'd scared Thomas off simply by the nature of his menace but at the end, they were both smiling like dorks. Maybe this date wouldn't be so bad after-
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"all you've done and how far you've traveled, you must be bone-tired!" Patton announced. Thomas giggled at the pun and Patton felt a little bit of satisfaction. Try telling Logan that skeleton puns don't work. "Come inside with me!" He had a shortcut into the restaurant, but didn't want to freak the human out.
"So how has your journey been since I last saw ya?" Patton asked the human when they'd been seated. Or, well, seated themselves. It was fine, Patton did a comedy routine here on Sundays.
Thomas, who was digging into a juicy Deceit face steak, took a moment to answer. They made signals of 'good, but difficult.'
"Well bud, I'm glad you've made it this far! We really appreciate having you around!"
They chat a little, keeping topics light and drinks low. Halfway through the dinner, Patton decided to get started.
"I'm pretty sure you're wondering why you're here. Um." Patton clasped his hands. "It's a little bit complicated.
"See, sometimes I talk to this person behind a big locked door. We exchange bad puns and memes and sometimes cooking recipes.
Thomas seemed familar with the story.
"And one day, they get all serious. They make me promise never to hurt a human. And I say okay.
"You know, people like, Logan, like that person, who believe in optimism, for real, are the best of people. And that person seems to think you're one of em.
"But the way you've endured and the way you've fought have shown who you are. And I'm happy to say," Patton said, "You proved them right."
Thomas grinned.