look at who's accompanying me on the first day of senior year tomorrow :)
16 years and 8 months of eating dinner with this lil guy lol (not since i was like five but i do keep him in my lunch bag as a little good luck charm :))
Thomas regressed from between an infant to a preteen. He had been regressing since highschool but never told anyone. Then he moved in with his housemates. He never let anyone in his room due to having a large amount of stuffed animals and toys. He was afraid that they would figure it out and then freak out on him. So he kept his door locked at all times. He was so paranoid about it he would double check that it was locked before leaving.
He would leave if he started feeling even a little small and gave weak excuses as to why he needed to go. He knew that his friends were going to think something was up with him. He could only hope that they didn’t find out.
After a few months he got too comfortable. It had been a long day and Patton was acting all parental like always and-
“Thanks dad.” He said after Patton gave him a cookie. Thomas immediately slapped a hand over his mouth. Everyone was looking at him. Oh shoot! What does he do? What-
“Yeah thanks dad!” Remus said louder, causing everyone to look away from Thomas.
“Best cookies ever Dad!” Roman added giving Thomas a wink. He felt relief wash over him as the twins helped cover up his mistake.
Virgil rolled his eyes. “Don’t be rude to Pat-”
“Awww! Kiddos!” Patton said almost bouncing at being called dad. Everyone moved on, Logan kept glancing at Thomas thoughtfully.
After that everyone except Janus and Logan took up calling Patton dad. (though Logan and Janus both slipped out once each and each time it left Patton beaming for the rest of the day.) So maybe the fact that Thomas took up looking at Patton as a dad didn’t help when he had a nightmare and regressed.
He took a polar bear stuffie and a fluffy blanket and went to the living room to watch t.v. He found Logan and Patton there talking. “Oh...sorry.” He muttered, turning around to go back to his room.
“You can stay.” Patton said, calling him back.
Thomas gave a shy grin before going over and sitting as far away from the other two on the couch as he could. Patton frowned at that. “You can sit closer if you want.”
“I’m ok.” Thomas said, tightening his grip on the polar bear.
“What are you doing up so late?” Logan asked. Thomas had to work in the morning, in less than two hours he normally got up to get ready.
“Had a nightmare.” Thomas said. Patton and Logan shared a look.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Patton asked.
Thomas teared up thinking about it and shook his head. Patton’s eyes widened at how vulnerable Thomas looked. “Oh Kiddo. It’s ok. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” He paused. “Would you like a hug?”
Thomas nodded rapidly and shifted over so Patton could wrap his arms around him. “It’s ok. You’re safe now.”
Thomas sniffed. “Thanks dad.”
Logan watched the whole thing play out. A theory forming in his head.
---
The next time Thomas had a nightmare he went to Patton who was more than happy to let him sleep with him. Promising he would keep the nightmares away. Thomas was a bit surprised at how Patton didn’t find it at all weird for Thomas to seek out his company instead of just dealing with it on his own. Then he found out that Virgil did the same thing.
Thomas was curled up in Patton’s bed when there was a knock on the door. Patton got up to answer it waking Thomas up. He rubbed his eyes and froze as he saw Virgil staring at him from the doorway.
“Did you have a nightmare too?” Patton asked Virgil.
Virgil nodded slowly, carefully stepping into the room. “There’s still plenty of room.” Patton said smiling as he gave Virgil a one armed hug. Thomas shifted over so there was more room.
Virgil looked uncomfortable. Thomas felt bad, “I can leave?” He offered.
Virgil shook his head. “No..I didn’t mean to..interrupt?”
Thomas didn’t get it, but Patton seemed to. “Oh no Kiddo. It’s not like that. Thomas had a nightmare.” Thomas nodded his head at that.
Virgil relaxed a little. “Oh…”
“Do you still wanna sleep?” Thomas asked, tired and ready to go back to sleep himself.
Virgil snorted at his tone and crawled into bed. Thomas was asleep before Patton got back in bed. It was a tight fit but they managed.
In the morning Virgil was more friendly towards Thomas than he had been the entire time he had been there. They had found their common ground. They never talked about it, but if one of them ran into the other on their way to Patton’s room they would hold each other’s hands until they got there. A silent, ‘I’m here you’re safe’.
When Patton mentioned off hand to Logan, the teacher paused before moving on. He added that to the list of behaviors that he found odd about Thomas.
---
Logan hadn’t planned on confronting Thomas but when he ran away in the middle of movie night again he needed to make sure that if it was what he thought it was, that Thomas didn’t feel they would hate him for it.
“Are you alright?” Logan asked as Thomas was unlocking his bedroom door.
Thomas jumped and spun around to stare at Logan terrified. “You age regress don’t you?” He asked, jumping straight to the point.
Thomas froze before slowly nodding. “Are you regressed now?” Another nod. Thomas looked away from Logan and crossed his arms protectively in front of himself.
Logan stepped closer, “No is going to judge you for this.” He said softly.
Thomas looked at him wide eyed. “You won’t?” He asked his voice higher than normal.
Logan smiled, “We won’t...do you want to tell the others?”
Thomas grabbed Logan’s hand, “Can you do it for me?” He asked hopefully.
Logan nodded and tugged Thomas along back to the Living room. Everyone looked up as they stepped back in the room. The movie was already paused at both of them abruptly leaving.
“Is everything ok?” Roman asked as Patton stood up.
“Ummm…” Thomas looked to Logan.
“Have any of you heard of age regression?”
----
It didn’t take long to explain it to everyone, and like Logan promised no one was mean about it. Roman and Remus had known someone who age regressed before and had a hunch that was what was going on with their friend.
“So how old are you right now kiddo?” Patton asked.
Thomas thought about it, “Seven? I think?”
“That’s fairly young. I don’t think you should be by yourself right now.” Janus said tugging Thomas so he sat down on the couch between him and Remus. Janus put an arm around Thomas’ shoulders. Thomas relaxed as Roman started the movie again. They didn’t hate him.
---
He started regressing around the others instead of running away. They even decided on cues to show that he was regressed. He would say blueberry or clap twice.
“So does anyone else know about this?” Virgil asked one day.
Thomas shook his head. “You guys are the first people I’ve ever told.”
Virgil paused before he spoke, “So I’ve done some researching and… there’s this thing called caregivers? Do you want a caregiver?”
“Well I mean..kinda? I never planned on telling anyone so I never really let myself think about it.” Thomas admitted.
Virgil nodded. He had an idea but he wanted to ask the others about it first.
---
Thomas walked in to everyone waiting for him. “Ummm….Hi?” They never hang out together outside family nights so all of them waiting for him in the middle of the afternoon? His anxiety spiked. Fear choked him. Did they decide the age thing was too weird and were kicking him out?
“So remember how I asked if you wanted a caregiver?” Virgil asked. That eased Thomas’ fear and replaced it with curiosity and a hint of hope.
“Yeah?”
“What if we took care of you?” Patton almost yelled way too excited to let Virgil build up to further.
Thomas looked around at all of them smiling at him. “R-really? You all want to?”
“We do.” Janus agreed.
“Yeah! I mean we’ve kinda been doing that already?” Remus said.
“Might as well.” Roman said.
“Only if you are comfortable with it.” Logan added.
Thomas half regressed at that. “Yes! I would love that!” He flapped his hands before clapping twice. There was laughter as Thomas ran around hugging all of them.
He never thought he would get one caregiver and now he had six!
---
They all started going out together on their days off. More often than not places that would cause Thomas to regress. He was a bit nervous about it but he had six people to take care of him and that eased his discomfort.
The zoo was crowded. Thomas tugged on Patton’s hand as he dragged his friend towards the marine life. The rest of their friend group followed at their own pace. Patton chuckled to himself as Thomas pointed excitedly to the seahorses. It was clear that he had regressed sometime after seeing the lemurs.
“How are you doing Kiddo?” Patton asked quietly so as to not draw attention from the other people around them.
Thomas held up four fingers. Patton nodded. When Thomas regressed under five he went non-verbal. Patton ruffled the little’s hair and grabbed his hand to make sure he didn’t run off and get lost.
When Roman and Remus caught up to them they took in how Patton was holding Thomas’ hand and looked at each other. Remus darted over and picked up Thomas before putting him on Roman’s back. Thomas giggled as Roman gave him a piggyback ride.
“Don’t drop him!” Patton warned as Roman and Remus walked off with Thomas.
They got a few looks but Thomas was having too much fun to notice and Roman and Remus didn’t care.
They got ice cream for all of them and sat on some benches in the shade. Thomas got ice cream all over his face and shirt. Patton laughed a bit as he wiped Thomas’ face off. “Messy.”
Thomas giggled and flapped his hands happily causing a couple close by to shoot them an odd look. This time Thomas picked up on it and put his hands down. He wanted to shift out of his headspace but he was stuck. He frowned before yawning.
“Looks like it’s time to head home.” Janus said grabbing out of Thomas’ hands, Roman grabbed the other. Thomas fell asleep on the ride home. A seahorse plushie Logan had got him from the gift shop tucked under his arm.
---
Thomas didn’t lock his door anymore. In fact most of the time he left it open so that the others could stick their heads in whenever they wanted, or come in and hang out. He liked the silent company of Virgil who would sit on the bean bag in the corner of the room. (Thomas may have gotten it just for him.) Or Remus laying across his bed spilling out random slightly disturbing facts. Roman sitting on the edge of the desk and helping Thomas spitball ideas for his writing. Janus who would find Thomas staying up too late and insist they both get some tea to help them relax for bed. Logan who would drop off random books that he thought Thomas would enjoy reading. Patton who gave him small gifts of sweets or toys.
To say he was spoiled was an understatement. Thomas never had to go without a caregiver if he was regressed. There was always someone free who was more than eager to take care of little him. There was a nagging thought that the others preferred him regressed to him normally began bugging him.
Patton and Logan would often ask multiple times a day if he needed to regress, giving him disappointed looks when he said no. Roman and Remus would just go ahead and baby him big or little and half the time that caused him to regress. Virgil spoke to him more when he was regressed and Janus…Janus seemed to just like taking care of people and when Thomas regressed whether he liked it or not, needed to be taken care of.
So Thomas tried to back off regressing. This however didn’t go as he planned as the next day Logan insisted they all go on a trip. A couple hours away was a huge museum that little Thomas had wanted to go to for forever. He was regressed before they even got in the building.
Logan pointed at the dinosaur fossils and listed off facts for Thomas as he hung on to Logan’s arm staring at him with wide eyes. Listening intently. Thomas loved learning when he was little which is why Logan suggested they all go to the science museum. Sure it was a drive but it was worth it for the look on Thomas’ face as he pointed at things he liked and demanded that Logan tell him about them.
He was around ten, on the other older side of his regression range. He still had to hold someone’s hand the whole time so he didn’t get lost and this time he chose Logan. Janus hung around close by while the others wandered. Thomas grabbed his hand too when he stepped over to get a look at a prehistoric flower drawing. Thomas beamed at him and Janus knew he wasn’t going to be getting his hand back anytime soon. (Not that he minded.)
It wasn’t until they were leaving that Thomas remembered that he was trying to not regress and managed to wrestle himself out of his headspace. The ride home he was silent which the others took as him being little. In fact he was thinking. He didn’t think having six caregivers would be a problem.
---
Thomas was small, the smallest he had been around them. Remus and Janus were the only ones home with him and they were both more than happy to take care of the baby. Remus held Thomas in his lap while Janus coo’d at him. Thomas giggled and clapped happily too young to speak. Janus took pictures.
When Thomas saw the pictures later they made him feel…small. Janus was quick to snatch up the printed out pictures before shooing Thomas from the room. Thomas was a little disappointed that he didn’t get to hang out with Janus but shook his head. It was fine. They clearly didn’t want him around if he wasn’t regressed anyway.
He started only seeking out their company when he was regressed and was bitter about how none of them complained about it. They really did only want to spend time with him when he was little. That hurt in a way Thomas didn’t expect.
---
One weekend they all went to the park. It was warm and not likely to rain. The only problem that Thomas could think of was that there would be other people. But his fears were eased when Logan assured him they would be going to a part of the park that no one normally visited.
Thomas played tag with Remus, Roman and Patton while Janus and Logan set up the picnic. Virgil had muttered something about the sun before he went to find some shade. Thomas stopped running and leaned against a tree. He looked confused.
“Are you ok?” Roman asked.
Thomas cleared his throat. “Yeah..just...forgot where I was for a second.” He said in his bigger voice.
Roman nodded. “You want to go get some food?”
Thomas smiled. “Yeah. Yeah ok.”
Roman grabbed Thomas’ hand even though he wasn’t regressed anymore. Thomas frowned but didn’t say anything about it. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t want them to start ignoring him because he wasn’t little anymore.
As they sat down to eat it was clear that he was annoyed but he didn’t talk so Roman assumed he regressed again until in the middle of eating Thomas stood up, “I’m going to go take a walk.”
Janus, Patton, and Logan all half stood to go with him. “Alone.” He said sharply. He felt back at the hurt and shock on their faces but he needed to be alone for a bit.
He walked off faster than necessary. It took him twenty minutes to get to the other side of the park, there he found a swing set that had a pair of adults sitting on it. One was wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket ( It’s the middle of summer? That’s way too hot?) And the other had pink dyed hair.
“Mind if I join you?” He asked the pair. The one with the sunglasses tensed but the pink haired one beamed.
“Sure!” He said before sticking out his hand. “I’m Emile! This is Remy!”
Remy sighed. “Emile we don’t talk to strangers.”
“He looks nice.” Emile protested and It clicked that Emile may be regressed.
“Are you...um..a little?” Thomas asked awkwardly.
Remy glared daggers at him. Emile didn’t seem to mind at all. “Yep!”
“You got a problem with that?” Remy asked threateningly.
“No! I mean..I regressed too so...I just never met anyone else that did...that.” Thomas said weakly.
Remy’s face softened. “Oh?”
Thomas nodded sitting on the swing seat next to Emile. “Yeah.”
“It’s good to meet you!” Emile said. “Maybe we can be friends!”
Thomas smiled at that dropping a little. “Sure!” Remy’s lips twitched a little in a small smile.
“So. How young do you get kid?” Remy asked as he gave Emile a small push on the swing.
“I’m normally around seven. But I can be older or younger though.” Thomas said.
“What’s your name?” Emile asked.
Oh. He hadn’t given his name yet had he. “Thomas.”
“Ok!” Emile said he looked at Remy. “Do you think we can have Thomas over sometime?”
Remy sighed. “Let’s see if you two can be friends first.”
Emile nodded.
“How young are you?” Thomas asked Emile.
“Four!” Emile said happily. Thomas smiled. He was feeling about eight.
“Do you have a caregiver?” Remy asked. Thomas got really quiet. Remy frowned. “It’s ok if you don’t.”
“No I..I do.. I have six.” Thomas muttered. Remy’s eyes widened. “They’re my housemates.” Thomas explained.
“Lucky you.” Remy teased.
Thomas shrugged. Remy frowned again. “Is there a problem?”
“I just...I don’t think they like big me.” Thomas confessed.
“Why not?” Emile asked.
“Cuz they like little me.” Thomas said.
“So? Remy likes me little and big.” Emile said stopping swinging so he could talk better.
Thomas kicked at the woodchips under the swing. “I dunno. I think...I dunno.”
Remy pulled out a piece of paper from a bag he had sitting nearby. He scribbled a number on it. “If you ever need to call me you can.”
“Thanks…” Thomas said shyly as he tucked the piece of paper in his pocket. He stood to walk back before freezing and realizing that he didn’t remember the way back. He patted his pocket for his phone and forgot he left it with Logan so it wouldn’t get damaged while he was playing.
“Something wrong?” Remy asked.
“I don’t remember how to get back.” He muttered.
Remy and Emile drove him back to the other side of the park and dropped him off with a reminder that he could always call if he needed anything and that Emile really wanted a playdate.
“There you are!” Patton said relieved. “Logan still has your phone and we couldn’t find you anywhere!”
“Sorry.” Thomas said.
“And you’re small? Oh Thomas what are we supposed to do with you?” Patton exclaimed, grabbing Thomas’ hand and dragging him back to where they had set up their picnic.
“You found him!” Remus said, giving Thomas a hug. “Where were you?”
“I met another little.” Thomas said.
“Really?” Remus said excited. “Do they want a playdate? Do they have a caregiver?” Remus asked quickly.
Thomas answered the questions in a subdued tone. Remus and Patton looked at each other concerned.
“What’s wrong kiddo?” Patton asked.
Thomas shrugged and looked away from them. He was silent as the others showed up each giving their own exclaimants of concern or worry. He teared up on the way home and sniffed a couple times. Thankfully no one commented on it.
He locked himself in his room as soon as he was home. He hugged a giant teddy bear the twins had gotten for him. He wanted to go be taken care of. He wanted to tell them how he felt but...what if they told him he was right? That they only like Regressed him?
A knock at the door. “Are you alright?” Virgil asked.
Thomas got up and opened the door. He crawled back in bed and let Virgil leave the door open. Virgil sat down on the bed next to him. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t want you to hate me.” Thomas said.
Virgil tilted his head confused. “Why would we hate you?”
Thomas hid his face in the teddy bear. “Cuz you only like me when I’m little.”
Virgil blinked, “What? Of course we don’t only like you when you’re little. You’re a great friend Thomas.”
“No I’m not! I’m always so weird...and you only have time for little me.” Thomas said.
Virgil paused thinking. When had he hung out with grown up Thomas? Virgil pulled him into a hug. “How about we make sure we hang out more when you aren’t regressed ok?”
Thomas agreed.
---
This was awkward. It was clear that Virgil and Thomas didn’t really have that much in common. It ended up Thomas regressed and Virgil was relieved that he knew how to handle that. Thomas felt worst than ever. He decided to call Remy.
“Who’s this?” Remy asked.
“It’s Thomas...from the park.” Thomas said.
“Thomas! How are you kid?” Remy said voice brightening.
“I’m..not great honestly. Can I talk to Emile?” Thomas asked.
“Sure. You want me to give you his number or do you want to meet up?” Remy offered.
Thomas was surprised. “Ummm both?”
Remy laughed. “Sure thing kid.” They agreed to meet up at a cafe close to Thomas’ work. They planned to be there just after Thomas got off work.
---
“Sorry I was late.” Emile said as Remy and Thomas were already there. “A session ran late.”
“Session?” Thomas asked.
“Emile is a therapist.” remy said. Emile nodded.
“Oh.” Thomas said. “That seems like a…”
“Strange choice?” Emile offered.
“No. Like a lot of work.” Thomas said.
“It is. But I know that’s not why you wanted to meet up.” Emile said getting the conversation back on topic.
“I wanted your advice.” Thomas said.
“Shoot!”
“I recently found that My caregivers prefer me little...In fact they don’t really like hanging out with me when I’m not regressed.” Thomas said. He noticed both Remy and Emile frown. “They even try and get me to regress when I’m not really in the mood and I’m not sure what to do.”
“Have you talked to them about this?” Remy asked concerned.
“They just brush me off.” Thomas said frustrated.
Emile hummed. “Maybe you need a third party to step in to help you communicate your issues.”
“Do you know someone?”Thomas asked hopefully.
“I do. Very well in fact.” Emile said smiling.
“Wh-..it’s you isn’t it?” Thomas asked.
To his surprise Emile shook his head and turned towards Remy. Remy smiled at the shocked look on Thomas’ face. “Don’t worry I’ll help you get it all worked out.”
They all agreed to meet up at the park where they met. This time Thomas was taking his caregivers with him.
---
Thomas was nervous and his caregivers could tell. “We can call this off if you don’t want to go.” Logan said for the fifth time.
“I do! This needs to happen!” Thomas said firmly.
They looked at each other confused. “I’m sure your friends won’t be that upset if you put it off.” Patton said.
Thomas shook his head and continued to lead them to the back of the park. Remy and Emile were sitting on the swings and Thomas visibly relaxed as soon as they were in sight. He took a deep breath. This was going to be ok.
It was going to be ok.
----
It took nearly two hours for the issue to be resolved. That Thomas felt smothered by them and that they didn’t care about him as a friend. They as soon as they really listened, were a bit ashamed that they made him feel like they only valued him for being little.
“I’m sorry Thomas. I just wanted to make you feel safe and validated as yourself. I never thought that I might have taken that too far,” Logan said.
“Thank you.”
“So what do we do now?” Remus asked.
“Do you want us to stop being your caregivers?” Janus asked.
“What? No! I just...maybe spend more time with me when I’m not regressed. We can go places and hang out without the expectation that I will Regress….if that’s ok.” Thomas said.
“Of course it is!” Patton said moving to hug Thomas before stopping. He wasn’t sure if hugging counted as babying. Thomas moved to hug him.
They ended in a group hug thanks to Roman and Remus tackling them.
“Now that that’s all finished.” Remy said as the hug broke apart. “Let’s-” He was cut off by Thomas hugging him.
“Thank you.”
Remy ruffled Thomas’ hair. “Anytime kid. Now Let’s all go get something to eat. I want to talk to all of you instead of yelling.”
Remy laughed as they all walked off. Thomas holding hands with Remus and Janus. Not because he was small but because he wanted to. He beamed the whole way to their cars. Maybe having six caregivers wasn’t a problem after all.
Okay, so if you haven't read To Build A Home or To Make A Home by the amazing @a-valorous-choice then you are missing out! Their stories are so incredibly good and they are awesome enough to let me write something set in their universe!
Summary: Smol Thomas after a bad dream
Warnings: Nightmares, mentions of a fire, lil bit of crying, nothing else? I think, tell me if I'm wrong!
- - -
Thomas sniffed as he padded cautiously down the hall, he rubbed at his face, which was completely pointless considering tears were still flowing down his flushed cheeks.
He took in a deep shuddery breath as he stared at his brother's door, he thought back to the dream and whimpered, he didn't really want to bother Virgil, after all, the dream hadn't been about him.
Thomas toddled further down the hall, he hated that it was so dark, it made him nervous, at least it wasn't glowing hot red like the flames...
Thomas sniffled and very slowly nudged the door to his dads' room open, "Daddy? Papa?"
He swallowed another whimper and inched closer, "Daddy?"
One of his dads shifted, rolling over to mumble something incoherent. Thomas let out an involuntary sob, he started crying louder, "Daddy! Papa!" He cried.
Logan sat up with a mumble, "hmmph? What?"
Thomas quivered, standing near their bed as the tears streamed down his face, Logan's eyes adjusted and even without his glasses, he understood what was happening.
"Oh Thomas," he murmured, he poked Patton, "Pat, wake up."
Patton hummed sleepily, "what?"
Thomas cried, "f-fire!" He choked out, "it was really b-bad."
Logan pushed the covers back and reached down to Thomas, "come here Busy Bee."
Thomas ran over and his dad scooped him up into his lap, "Papa!"
Patton cooed and reached over to stroke his son's cheek, "oh kiddo."
Thomas launched himself over to the small space in between his dads, Patton pulled him into his arms and peppered kisses all around his head, "you're safe here baby, we're safe. Nothing's going to hurt us, we're all okay."
"Can-can I stay with you and Papa, please and thank you?"
Logan put his arms around the pair of them, "of course you can stay with us tonight Thomas."
Thomas sniffed and cuddled further into his dads, Patton ran a hand through his kid's hair, shushing him gently, "it's alright baby, you're alright."
Logan kissed Thomas's cheek, "are you sleepy, Busy Bee?"
"No..." Thomas yawned.
Patton giggled, "then I guess we'll just have to talk until you fall asleep."
Thomas giggled and looked expectantly at his dad, waiting for him to start talking. Patton kept combing his fingers through Thomas's hair, speaking softly to coax the toddler to sleep.
"It's funny you should join us tonight, I was just thinking about tomorrow, it's Saturday and I thought we could all do something as a family."
"With the Prince?" Thomas asked.
"Of course! We could pack a picnic, go to the park or something, how does that sound?"
"Good," Thomas mumbled, his eyes slipping closed.
Logan smiled, "you could help Daddy in the kitchen, maybe make butterfly cookies with rainbow sprinkles like last time."
Thomas smiled, Patton leaned over to kiss his husband quickly, "goodnight kiddo, sweet dreams."
I just found this on a ramdom Thomas Arclight roleplayer in Ask/fm. many years ago, and was like "I NEED to take a screenshot of it it's soooo cuuuute!"
Wonder what happened to the dog ;-;
I am still curious tho... is it a fan art? Because it's dope!
Thomas ran down the hallway away from Janus. "Get back here!" Janus yelled at the little.
Thomas giggle screamed as he jumped down the stairs. He ducked behind the couch before Janus could see him. It was bath time and Thomas was NOT looking forward to it.
"Thomas you need a bath!" Janus said as he walked down the stairs looking for him. Remus appeared behind the couch with Thomas. He put his finger to his lips and winked. Thomas covered his mouth to muffle his giggles.
"Hey Janjan!" Remus said popping up.
"Thomas is behind the couch isn't he?" Janus asked drily.
Remus blinked,"...maybe." Janus took a step towards the couch. "Run!" Remus yelled grabbing Thomas' hand and pulling him out from behind the couch and darted past Janus and up the stairs.
"Remus he needs to get clean!" Janus yelled after them.
Thomas was so focused on not getting caught that he didn't notice that Remus had lead him right into the bathroom. Thomas gasped as Janus walked in behind them and closed the door.
"Trayal!" Thomas muttered as he started at Remus shocked. Remus laughed.
"It's bath time stinker." Remus ruffled Thomas' hair.
Thomas huffed and reaigned himself to his fate.
---
Janus tucked Thomas into bed freshly cleaned and dressed in PJs. It had been a long day for Thomas and Janus was pleased with how Thomas had asked if Janus would watch him while he regressed. He was proud of him for taking time for himself.
"Sleep well, Thomas." Janus said brushing hair out of Thomas' face as the little drifted off to sleep.
"Sing?" Thomas asked.
Janus sighed before he smiled a little. "Of course."
Janus barely finished the first verse before Thomas was out.
---
Thomas was nervous as he approached Janus. "Yes?" Janus asked without turning around.
Thomas cleared his throat. "Um
..can I… I mean if it isn't a bother could you watch me for again?"
Janus turned to look at Thomas. That wasn't what Thomas had wanted to ask. At least he shouldn't be that nervous to ask. They had been doing this for months now. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Is that all?"
"Yes….ok no. I…" Thomas cleared his throat. "Couldyoubemycaregiver?"
Janus blinked. "I... wasn't already?" Janus asked a bit confused.
Thomas stared at him. "You are? Were? Ummm."
"I mean that's my job." Janus said. Thomas slumped.
"Oh...right." Thomas muttered.
Janus put a hand on his shoulder. "That doesn't mean I don't like caring for you. Or that I don't care about you."
"Because it's your job." Thomas said.
"Because I care about you." Janus said firmly. He put a hand on Thomas' cheek. "Even if it wasn't my job I would still want to be your caregiver."
Thomas smiled. "Really?" Clearly regressed.
"Really." Janus said pressing a kiss to Thomas' forehead.
Logan was surprisingly the best at Watching Thomas while he was regressed. He had a schedule that Thomas would follow, a reward system for when he was good. He didn’t really need to ever put Thomas in time out as he knew the boundaries and stayed within them.
Virgil was tied with Janus, both equally good at keeping Thomas out of trouble. Virgil was more of a helicopter babysitter while Janus just had a good sense of when Thomas was about to do something dangerous.
Roman was next, he had a tedious to do everything as a grand gesture and was a bit louder than little Thomas would like. He was great at storytelling and creating things for Thomas to play with. They weren’t always safe though.
Patton was next to last. He had a bad habit of getting distracted or overly excited. He also never said no to Thomas which led to several stomach aches from too many sweets and staying up way to late.
Remus was the worst as he was not suitable for children at all. He scared Thomas more than once while the others were watching him and he popped up. They refuse to let him watch Thomas even with someone else there.
