Intrusive Parenting

30

I would love to say that everything got better after that. That Remus woke up good as new. That Patton apologized and everything went back to normal. That Remus was happy and that Deceit even turned back into an adult. I would love to say that Remus and Roman finally had that took that they've both been avoiding. That Logan helped Remus to handle Thomas's toxic thoughts better... That everything really was completely fine. I would love to say that...

But I would be lying.

Remus did not wake up. He hasn't woken up for two whole days. He's just been laying there back in the temporary room that Roman MADE SURE was now a permanent thing. Roman and Virgil both spent the whole two days clearing out the dark side of the palace. Now, all that sits there where the old main door used to be is a solid wall. There was no divider any more. Neither one of them ever wanted that to ever happen again. 

Deceit hasn't left Remus's side once. He just sat there on his bed looking over at the older one trying hard not to break down in tear for the 100th time that day. It was hard. Remus was clearly in pain. The man was whimpering out in his sleeping fussing every once in a while only to tense up. He had fever making his face flushed and clammy.

Emile and Sleep kept trying to get Deceit to come out or rest. Sleep even offered to knock him out if he couldn't fall asleep on his own but Deceit refused. He just sat there watching making sure nothing worse happened to his best friend. Logan was the one that would bring him food since Deceit absolutely refused to even look at Patton. It wasn't that he hated the man or anything and Patton was punishing himself plenty enough so that Deceit didn't think he needed to do that to him. He couldn't look at Patton because every time he did he broke down in tears thinking about the pain his friend was forced to go through and that he couldn't make better. The fact that Remus has been in a coma-like sleep for two whole days now has put everyone on edge. Even Sleep who has never actually met the guy before. All Dee knows is that Sleep would come in every once in awhile and check on Remus. His eyes would start to glow gold and next thing Dee knew Remus would stop fussing, if only for a short time... He would almost look at peace.

The worst part of all of this, however, had to be its effects on Thomas. Do you remember when Remus was saying that even though his thoughts were driving him crazy, they weren't as bad as they could have been because they weren't hurting Thomas? Well, that was because Remus had been actively filtering them out so Thomas never dealt with the shitty things he thought of. As with every single one of Thomas's sides Remus was like a filter. He took all the shit, in his case Thomas's intrusive thoughts, and only gave out ones that he believed Thomas could handle thus taking the rest onto himself. 

However, with Remus being in a coma state after losing control of the intrusive thoughts there was no one around that could filter them and Thomas was struggling. Of course, the host didn't have a clue as to what happened. So that's how Logan and Patton found themselves in front of a pissed off and stressing host.

"I have been dealing with all this for three days now and I can't do it anymore!" Thomas yelled out as his body shook. "Someone PLEASE... Just get him to stop!"

"Get who to stop, kiddo?" Thomas groaned rubbing his temple with the base of his palm as his headache got worse.

"The Duke..." He hissed out completely oblivious to the shocked and guilty looks his two sides were giving him. "I don't care what you have to do just get him to..."

"We can't do that, Kiddo." Thomas froze up glancing over to see Patton's guilty and heartbroken expression. "It isn't his fault."

"That is accurate, Thomas. Besides... yelling at Remus for your thoughts right now would do nothing at this juncture." Logan chimed in only making Thomas's confusion grow. "Yelling or doing anything to him right now would not change anything."

"It's not his fault Thomas, really it isn't." Patton sniffled a big rubbing his arm as the guilt tore through him. "It's mine."

"Patton?" Thomas froze up as Morality took his hand sinking out with him only to arrive in a room he had never seen before. He glanced around to see Deceit sitting on this small bed and... a tiny pained whimper drew his attention over to the other side only for him tense up in shock at the state Remus was in, the very same side he thought was causing him problems. "Remus?!" The host couldn't even move. He was drowning in his emotions. Guilt over blaming Remus without even bothering to talk to the guy... worry over one of his side being so sick and pained... and confusion over Patton's clear admission of guilt before bringing him here. "What happened?"

"I did." Patton whispered as Remus cried out again fussing a bit. "I didn't know... It doesn't really matter now. The point is I made a decision to keep Remus away from us."

"Remus is mentally dependent on Deceit." Logan called drawing in Thomas's attention as Patton faded back behind his husband. "Even as a child, Deceit was able to keep Remus grounded and stable. Being forced to separate himself from his constant cause Remus to slip. He ended up losing control and... Well, we got to him a little to late."

"I, uh... I think I'm gonna stay here for a bit." Logan narrowed his eyes as Thomas sat beside Deceit taking his tiny hand in his to not only give support but to also receive it. The two other adults only nod as they left the child and host to watch over Remus. 

As time went on Deceit slowly fell asleep in Thomas lap. The host however just sat there watching his sickly side. He didn't want to fall asleep just yet and he was glad he didn't, because not that long after did Remus's breathing hitch bad. The Dark side was practically panting with painfully erratic and shallow breaths as his cries filled the room. Thomas could hear his usual dark thoughts coming back but this time they weren't 'in his head'. He could hear them clear as day as if they were in the room talking to him... talking to Remus. Saying things like 'Don't wake up.' 'You failed them.' 'You can't possibly protect anyone.' It broke Thomas's heart and he wouldn't stand for it.

The host carefully moved the child so that he could get up. He made his way over to the fussing side clearly having a nightmare and frowned as he laid beside him pulling his side in as close as he could trying to shield him from all the nasty things those mean voices were trying to tell him. He found himself playing with the man's hair like he did so many times with Virgil hoping it calmed Remus like it did Anxiety. It was long thought that he felt the bed shift. He looked over to see Deceit curling up on top of him and Remus, gripping the two's shirts tightly as if afraid something was going to take either one away. Thomas just smiled as he moved, wrapping his arms around his two dark sides, shifting in a way that allowed all three to lay there comfortably as the voiced died into silence. He couldn't help but notice the smile on both his sides faces as they slept.