For the made up fic title: Reverse
Cannon AU, Platonic DLAMR + P, ThomasNico
Okay so, AU where Remus is the dominant side of Creativity instead of Roman. Thomas still ended up being an ~online personality~ but his shows are much ‘edgier’, not family friendly and rely a lot on horror, sex jokes and shock humour. He gets criticised for running the same joke into the ground, taking things too far and for having made a load of vines featuring ‘mean’ pranks back in the day. Nevertheless, he still has a cult following with his fans insisting that a lot of his horror stories are really innovative, that he’s actually a very sweet and that he deserves props for having built up an inclusive little community of weirdos. its kind’ve a ‘we’re all freaks here so everyone’s welcome’ vibe.
Remus is still prone to disturbingly violent thoughts, but its less common and easier for Thomas and co to manage since he’s always expressing/working through them safely through his videos. Unlike cannon!Roman he’s not at all bothered about being original or what his audience thinks of him - he just hits Thomas with whatever idea occurs to him, no refining needed. Sometimes genius, sometimes really, really not - fan opinion is divided on whether the inconsistency makes Thomas’ work spicy and exciting or just a mess
Since Roman doesn't have a seat at the table and Remus is more ‘immediate gratification’ guy, this version of Thomas doesn't really have ~Dreams~. He very much living in the moment
To counterpoint that, Logan is even more obsessed with routine and structure than he is in cannon. He (and Janus) are basically driving whatever's left of Thomas’ ambition so he’s the one pushing editing schedules, video quality assurance, trying not to let them get demonetised etc etc Him and Remus argue a lot (similar to how him and Roman do in cannon) and sometimes that can get a bit violent and unpleasant (he can’t fully just ignore Remus in this universe since Ree is a more core part of Thomas) and since Remus doesn't take anything seriously he always moves on quickly whereas Logan is left to sulk
Janus would probably have been introduced to Thomas a lot earlier and has a similar level of influence to Patton (if not more). Janus is the one who rationalises away and doubts about the ~problematic~ nature of some videos as people not understanding their ~vision~. He’s also in charge of preventing Thomas from just blurting out any Remus inspired thought to random people which is e x h a u s t i n g
Patton is more inclined towards his inner child ‘eat an entire plate of candy for dinner’ thoughts than his team dad ‘you need to learn to cook and take care of yourself for the future’ thoughts. Since he has less influence on Thomas than he does in cannon ,Thomas is a much less trusting person and doesn’t have many friends, but the ones he does have Patton is fiercely loyal to.
Virgil is most similar to his cannon version, just a bit spikier. (We know Thomas dealt with cannon Virgil when he was a teenager by having Roman come up with fantasy stories to distract him, in this version it was horror and gore filled stories and Vigil developed a darker presence as a result)
ANYWAY that’s all set up - the plot kicks off when Thomas meets Nico. Thomas doesn’t really do romance or relationships, just casual hook ups and such. So he sees the cute boy, easily heads over to flirt (no anxiety cus there’s no real stakes), Remus gives his a list of extremely explicit pick up lines, Janus wrestles that down saying hey and then.
butterflies in his stomach. And Nico’s not just cute he’s smart and interesting and funny and maybe this could be more then a casual hookup and what the heck he never thinks like this and WHY IS THERE A NEW SIDE DRESSED UP LIKE A DISNEY PRINCE SQUEEING AT HIM ABOUT WHAT FLOWERS HE SHOULD BUY??
So Thomas meets Roman, and suddenly he’s got a head full of fanciful, dreamy romantic thoughts totally distracting him from the sexy zombie sketch he was meant to be writing (which Roman thinks is totally gross anyway)
The others, to put it lightly, are concerned.
Logan and Janus are stressing out about Thomas' career - Roman’s got some ideas which are very much NOT on brand and could end up loosing them followers and therefore income and god he’s almost as loud as Remus but with MORE singing
Remus is NOT happy about suddenly having a big rival for Thomas' attention
Virgil hasn’t had to deal with anxiety relating to romance, what other people think of them, how much people like his ideas ANY OF THIS SHIT THAT THAT PRINCY GUY IS BRINGING for YEARS he is FREAKING OUT
Patton....Patton is pretty happy to see him actually
CHAOS. Shenanigans. Rivalries. Eventual coming together to help Thomas Get His Man. reconciliation. Roman finally getting attention for this first time in a long long time. Family feels. etc.