The Group Chat Fic

21

The next night after the convention closed, everyone met up back in Sean's hotel room. The conversation was light and happy, until Thomas knocked on the door. Anti got up to open it, and Thomas walked in with a frown on his face.

"What the fuck is up everybody?" He asked everyone.

Patton smiled at him. "Oh, come on now! You don't mean that!"

"Yes I do." Thomas huffed, sitting in the seat between Patton and Roman. He took off his suit jacket and held his face in his hands.

"I'm guessing the wedding didn't go as planned?" Bob asked.

"Not at all." Thomas took a deep breath. "Let's review."

"Review?" Patton asked.

"Let's do." Roman said.

"Thank you!" Thomas exclaimed.

"I hope we rhyme like this the whole way through!" Wilford said.

"I hope so, too!" Sean said, clapping his hands.

"Yoo-hoo!" Logan exclaimed, getting everyone's attention.

"So," Thomas started. "Let's start with the fact that the wedding was a total bust."

"It was?" Virgil asked.

"It was. It's just that going didn't pay off quite like we discussed."

"Discussed?" Dark muttered.

"You mustn't think that going to a wedding to support your brother would have any sort of ehh... self-serving ends!" Patton exclaimed.

"I don't." Thomas huffed. "But how 'bout more than just 'hello'?"

Anti thought for a moment. "Yeah, something's iffy."

"Glad you're with me that the state of things is icky."

"Is there something here we're missing?" Wade asked.

"No!" Patton exclaimed, to which everyone turned to him. "I mean, you know that we've gone through all of this before!"

"Before?" Dark repeated, becoming confused.

"We four," Patton gestured to himself, Roman, Virgil, and Logan, "had helped you make the proper choice of wedding over-"

Thomas rubbed his nose. "Spare me the rest." He sighed. "Yes, the callback for a film that could have been my break."

"Yeah, you could say." Logan whispered to himself.

"And no one wanted you to go more than that slimy snake." Virgil glared at Deceit.

Deceit rolled his eyes. "Who pushed to do the more egocentric thing: auditioning."

Patton looked down at the floor. "A part of you so hard to chew it left me lost at sea."

"If our goals aligned with this, what would that say?" Logan asked Thomas.

Thomas took a deep breath. "I felt forsaken." He looked over at Patton. "You were saying that we both had lost our way."

Patton put a hand on his shoulder. "But in your face I saw this pain, and so-"

Thomas pushed his hand off. "And so I made this choice. And now I have a restless head. In my bed, I'll just feel this way."

"What way?" Sean asked.

"The way a groom might feel if he just watched as his bride ran away."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "But you're gay." Chase perked up at this comment, but kept to himself.

Thomas put his head in his hands again. "I'm saying if I made the right choice, why don't I feel right?"

"You may not tonight." Mark said reassuringly. "But in time, you might?"

Thomas shrugged. "I don't know, I think this feeling's here to stay."

Deceit smirked to himself. "It is a pity to admit he could have done more that just sitting at that wedding feeling shi-"

"Quit reviewing!" Thomas exclaimed, glaring at him.

Dark glanced between Thomas and his siblings. "I'm still confused. What?"

Logan adjusted his glasses. "A month ago, Thomas had a decision to make. He could either go to his brother's wedding here in Seattle, or to New York for a callback to an Alfred Hitchcopolucas movie where, if Thomas were to win the callback, he would get his big Hollywood debut. Both events were on the same day- today. Deceit had fought for Thomas to go to the callback to admit that he was an egoist, but Thomas eventually decided to go to the wedding instead."

Deceit huffed. "And where did that lead? An unhappy night that left Thomas feeling this way."

"And the callback would've had the same result." Logan shot at him. "There was a very slim chance of Thomas winning that callback, which would have left him feeling depressed, like he is now."

Thomas groaned. "I'm right here."

Sean put a hand on Thomas's shoulder. "It's okay, dude. You may not feel all that great right now, and you may regret not going to that callback, but soon you'll realize that going to the wedding would've been better."

"What do you mean?" Thomas asked him.

"Well, you live in Florida, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't see why-"

"Well, it was either spend three days in New York at a boring hotel with your siblings constantly arguing and a small break to go to the callback."

Mark smiled, ruffling Thomas's hair. "Or the same thing here, except you get another two days as a break, and you meet a bunch of new people that you get to call friends."

Thomas looked up at Mark. "Really?" He looked at everyone in the room. "You guys... don't even know me."

"We know that." Wilford smiled at him. "But that doesn't mean we don't welcome you and your brothers."

"You're already in the group chat." Anti shrugged. "We're all friends now."

Thomas began to tear up. "...thank you. What can I do to repay you all?"

Chase grinned at him. "Hang out with us tomorrow at the con?"

Thomas nodded. "Okay. I will."

Deceit rolled his eyes again. "Whatever. Remus, let's go." The two left the room.

Virgil shook his head. "Ignore them. They hate it when people prove them wrong."

Dark scoffed. "Don't we all."

Anti smacked him. "Don't be rude." Dark pulled out his phone and tapped it. Suddenly, Anti clawed at the shock collar that was back on his neck. "God fucking damn it, I hate you."

Chase laughed. "See? If you went to New York, you'd be missing out on stuff like that!"

Thomas smiled. "Yeah. I guess you're right."