Knowing right from wrong
Summery: Remus isn’t always the best 12 year old. He acts and speaks on impulse and during a fight he bites Roman. Patton won’t let let that happen again.
Unsympathetic Patton, Questionable Logan, Sympathetic Remus, Sympathetic Roman, kid!sides, gore, claustrophobia, whump, collar, spikes, child abuse (seriously a Lot of the language is from experience so be careful.), manipulation, Hurt no comfort, please ask to tag
Patton paced the living room, “I still can’t believe he did that-” his hands were still shaking from anxiety and adrenaline. He turned to Logan, “We have to do something about him.“
Logan nodded, “We’ll let him settle down and have a nice talk-“
”He bit Roman!” Patton said, ”And those horrible things he talks about all the time-” he shuddered than sighed, “Listen Logan, I love Remus as much as I love every other side. But we can’t do nothing about his behavior.”
Logan raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t say we should do nothing. I said we should talk to him about the situation.”
Patton shook his head, “It won’t work, we can talk and talk but he won’t listen.“ He moved to sit next to Logan on the couch, “I know you think we can work with him, that he must have something good to offer or else he wouldn’t be a part of Thomas but... I think he might just be rotten. And if we let the rot fester inside Thomas...”
”I heavily disagree with your view of the situation. This isn’t a pattern of behavior, Remus got mad at Roman and bit him once. You can’t look at one mistake and some of his more... Disturbing moments and decide that he’s bad.”
There was a loud howling wail from across the hall as if Remus wanted to throw his own opinion on his existence onto the table. Though it was just as likely that he was pissed at being grounded for the moment. They decided to ignore it.
”We need to look at the risk vs rewards aspect of this Logan. Let’s say Remus never hurts anyone again after your talk. He‘ll still say those... Awful things and won’t contribute anything meaningful to Thomas’s life. And if I’m right and your conversation does nothing?” Patton bit his lip, “Logan we don’t know who he’s going to hurt next.”
Logan sighed, there was really no arguing with Patton sometimes, and he did have a point... ”What do you suggest we do then?”
Patton took Logan’s hands in his, “Give me a week to work things out with him. I think I know how to fix him.”
Logan took a deep breath, “Okay.“
————-——————————————
Remus banged on the door of the closet, every second it felt like the walls were growing closer together. He could feel it boxing him in, trapping him there. He was losing air. If he stayed in much longer the walls would squish around him and his bones would snap underneath him and he’d run out of air and he couldn’t breathe- he couldn’t breathe so he shouted and screamed.
“Let me out! I’ll tear out your throat with my teeth! I’ll tear off your skin until you’re just muscles and bones and blood on my fingers! I’ll-“
The door to the closet finally opened the slight light of the hallway streaming through. His eyes lit up and he tried to run out; only to be picked up. He kicked and thrashed against the person holding him, the person chuckled and he stopped, looking up curiously.
“Are you done?” Patton asked, “I want you to let it all out now, because I’m not going to let you keep hurting people kiddo.”
Remus gave a small nod, not because he was ‘done’ fighting back. He was just kind of stuck at the moment.
Patton smiled, “You’re doing better already. Alright, I’m going to put something on your neck quickly, than put you down okay?”
Remus squinted, but apparently his actual consent wasn’t required for Patton to reach around his neck and put on a loose green collar. Then Patton dropped him on the ground.
He immediately summoned his tentacles to try to unclasp it. The minute a sucker touched the material though, he felt the sudden sharp jolt of a metal spike piercing through the soft flesh of his tentacle. He tried to pull it off but only felt the spike move, tearing further down his tentacle. He could feel his own blood start to travel down his neck.
”Get-Get it off!” He shouted at Patton, he tugged more, only tearing further into himself and let out a small cry.
Patton held onto his tentacle, “Don’t move. You’ll only hurt yourself more.”
“YOU LITTLE BITCH, I’ll kill you! Get this thing off me, get it off! I’ll kill you I’ll-“ He felt another spike form on the collar near his throat. He held his breath. One wrong move and it’d would cut into him.
Patton hummed, “All of that was extremely impolite. Death threats? Remus is that any way to treat anyone?“ His face softened as he knelt down and took Remus’s head in his hand, “I don’t want to hurt you. Not really. I just want you to know that you can’t behave the way you do and not face any consequences.”
Remus was very aware of how close the spike was to his throat, how close it was to cutting off his larynx or his airway or-
“Now, if you just say you’re sorry, I’ll call off the spikes and we can talk about how this will work for us, okay?”
Go to hell! He wished he could shout it and spit in Patton’s face, but the metal near his throat and on his tentacle were a good enough deterrent.
Patton tapped his foot, “I don’t have all day. Apologize. Now. I’m going to count down from 3 to 1.”
”3.”
No! Fuck that and fuck him! He wasn’t going to cave to threats
”2.”
He was Morality. He wouldn’t really do that to him, even if he was shitty. (Would he?)
”1” He heard a disappointed tut. Than a burst of pain as the spike dug itself into his throat. He fell to the ground, he wanted to cry out but the only noise he could make was a strangled gurgle. Black spots danced around his vision and he stared at the blood, a lake with smaller rivers of crimson slowly moving away. It was the kind of thing that would have made him smile if he wasn’t in agony. He decided that’s what he would decide to focus on instead of Patton’s drones or the numbness that was slowly making its way through his body.
He didn’t know how long he paid attention to that before feeling a swift kick to his stomach That made him curl in on himself. He wanted to vomit.
Patton’s voice hasn’t changed from the stern, caring tone he’d had since the beginning. “Remus, how are you supposed to learn anything when you won’t pay attention? Look at me.”
Remus managed to move his body to look at him. He watched as the spikes moved out of his neck and tentacle, which fell limp to the floor. With a snap, Remus’s body began to repair itself, but the pain remained.
”Good.” Patton said, his smile mocked him. “I still want that apology and you owe Roman one too for how you behaved earlier.
Remus stared at him in disbelief. He was still thinking about that apology? That felt like decades ago... “’m sorry.” He mumbled. He really wasn’t in fact he wished his threats would actually come true and he could kill Patton.
Patton put his hand to his ear, “What was that? I couldn’t understand you.”
He had to be fucking with Remus. He wasn’t going to repeat himself, Patton got his apology! What more did he want?!
”I could make it worse you know. All of our damage is temporary so it’s not like anyone would know-“
“I’m sorry, okay?” He practically shouted, he hated this, but he didn’t want to make it worse.
Patron sighed and pat his head, “It’s a start kiddo. I hope you know now that violent and hurtful behavior will not be tolerated.” He kissed Remus’s forehead, “I love you, and I want you to start doing better for me. Okay?”
It wasn’t a question. It was a threat. One that they both knew he wouldn’t hesitate to act on. Morality meant knowing the difference between right and wrong and acting on it. Remus was wrong and there was no hesitation to Patton’s actions.
”Okay.“ Remus took a breath, “Can I take this thing off now?”
Patton shook his head, “No, I want you to keep it on, to remind you of what you learned today. Now, let’s take you to your room.”
Remus nodded and followed him, his head was starting to fuzz over. He felt like he was in a daze. The next thing he remembered was being tucked into bed.
“Hey Ro-boat?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry for biting you earlier.”
“‘s okay, it didn’t even hurt that much! And Logan gave me this super cool dragon bandaid! Hang on let me get the light so I can show it to you.”
He heard Roman fiddling around, trying to get the switch and shook his head. “Show me in the morning. I just want to sleep right now.”
Roman swung his body so he was peering down at him from the top bunk, “You never want to sleep at night, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t feel too great.”
“Should I get Logan?”
”No-“
”Should I get Patton?”
Remus’s eyes shot open, “No!“ He took a deep breath, “Just... Just go to bed. I’ll be better in the morning I promise.“
“Okay...“ He pulled himself back into his bed, “Good night, Duke of Scarington.“
”Good night.”
