Thomas Sangster Imagines/Oneshots

Breakdown~(Casey x Reader)

*Some Dogs Bite*

(A/N): hIGHLY EMOTIONAL WARNING AHHH!!!! Seriously in this movie he plays a special kid and it's probably one of the most innocently abused things I have genuinely seen in my entire adolescent life.

Brief summary: Casey, a 14-year-old in foster care, kidnaps his infant brother and forces his older brother to join him on the road to search for their father. (This is a direct summary of the movie these aren't my words)

*Based mostly off of the scene above*

Warnings: Emotional?, parental loss, mental breakdowns, autism struggles(I'm sorry if I offend anyone who might have autism I have three cousins who are autistic so I don't mean any offense), and Thomas voice cracking? I think that's it.

*Fluff/aNGST*

~

The empty roads seemed to stretch on forever.

Casey was trailed far ahead of you and H, and Casey had kept his head down all the while you four were trying to catch a ride off a trucker. Even from the few yards he was ahead of you, you could tell he had his sleeves pulled over his hands, them buried in the smooth material of his jacket.

Severino, Casey's and H's baby brother, was straddled in a soft white baby carrier on H's back as the older male kept a solemn look, gazing out onto the empty plains of tall, uncut grass, seeming to think empty of something. Maybe his brother.

Casey had been a boy in your foster section, no older than the age of fourteen. He had told you his story in a fit of joyous and childlike excitement as soon as he met you, telling you all about his dead mother, his uncaring father, and his distant older brother, H, who was not in the same section as you two.

The fields caught your eye.

The grass was overgrown and freakishly yellow, looking like large wheat stocks towering over the dirt below it. You bet if night time had fallen then and there, the shadows would've looking like looming fingers dragging your group across the fields to be enveloped in the night, swallowed whole and to never be seen again.

He even told you all about his infant brother, prattling on and on about how much he adored him and wanted to keep him safe. You thought he was very sweet.

In contrast, you had only been in foster care for (imma let y'all insert your stories here, please talk to someone if something is bothering you whether that'd be a parent or guardian or best friend or even a help line or therapist nobody as amazing as you guys should suffer anything bad y'all are amazing!)

Your mind had been brought back as the sounds of Severino's cries emitted through the muggy air. H's voice cut through the weather like a knife through butter.

"Damn. Baby needs changin'." He complained, his gruff voice showing signs of annoyance. He quickly, almost too quickly, slid the straps of the baby carrier off his shoulders as Severino carefully hit the asphalt. He started crying.

You reached to help him, but H was quick to shush you. "You're fine, I got this. Check up on the other baby over there." H rolled his eyes as his head gestured to the direction of his younger brother. H craned his neck to face his brother still walking slowly a few yards away.

"Casey! Come on! We're takin' a break!" H shouted over his shoulder. Casey suddenly stopped in his tracks, the road sounding so deserted you could hear the sound of his boots scraping the asphalt, echoing off of the mountains. A lone crow flew by.

Oddly, Casey plopped down then and there, stopping suddenly on the side of the road, looking like just a sitting jacket with a little bit of blonde hair growing back on his head. You remembered how the two boys shaved their heads to avoid being recognized, and you almost followed through with them too, but decided against it since nobody really knew your face anyway.

You turned to H as he looked up to you as the same time, his eyebrows knitted. "Hey, go check up on him. He's actin' funny." H shrugged off. It was hard to tell if he truly cared for his brother, but you knew deep down he had too.

He at least seemed to care enough to carry Severino.

Your heavy boots cocked against the loose rocks that made up the ground beside the road. You knew you couldn't approach Casey quietly even if you tried. A pit of concern grew in your stomach as you closed the distance between you and the sitting boy.

The soft sounds of Casey's cries filled your ears as you walked close enough to see the side of his face.

Soft tears trickled down his pale cheeks as his bottom lip trembled, pink strips of silk quivering with distraught emotion. Your eyebrows knitted together in sheer worry.

The truth was, over the weeks you all have been spending together, you had grown a strange sense of protectiveness over the boy. You knelt down to his level, your knees popping in the process as you put a light hand to his back.

He flinched before he realized it was you, then he seemed to lean in to you touch.

His legs were crossed in an X over his chest as his arms rest on top of them. His head was turned foreword, his chocolate eyes staring at the open road.

You made the decision to speak. "Hey, Casey. What's wrong? Why are you upset?" Concern laced your voice, and you didn't even make any sort of attempt to hide it. You rubbed small circles on his back with your hand, his back warm despite the little breeze hanging in the air.

A little, painful whimper tore from the depths of Casey's throat as a long sob followed, he lowered his head in his arms as he started full-on crying now. You felt his back lurch under your hand with every cry that emitted from him; and you felt your heart shatter.

Your ears perked up at the sound of fast footsteps approaching you and Casey from behind. It was H, no doubt, as you heard the soft, yet rare sound of Severino cooing as H audibly adjusted the straps of the baby carrier on his back.

The weeks suddenly out of foster care seemed to be getting to him. Your heart ached for him, you wished that you could see into his mind to read exactly what he was thinking. His brain thought too fast for words to speak most of the time, but you still understood him nonetheless.

Casey suddenly turned to you, a fearful look in his innocent eyes.

"We're not good, but...we ain't bad? We're just...not anything special..."

You approached Casey with caution, timidly deciding whether your physical touch was welcome as you reached out to hug him. You enveloped the blond boy in your arms as he buried his face in your neck. You blushed as you felt him nuzzle you cutely, warm breath fanning your neck.

You pat his head in reassurance. "Don't say things like that Casey, you know we love you." You pulled him back by the shoulders, making him look at you. "I love you. Okay?"

Casey wiped a stray tear from his eye. "Okay." He nodded with you, making sure his words were heard.

You gave him a chaste kiss on the forehead and joined his brother on the walking trail, embracing the hornet ahead.

~

(A/N): Trying to clean out drafts! Sorry if the end to the story is fragmented.