𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 - TMR AU, Thomas

𝟢𝟥𝟣，𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

༺ THIRTY - ONE ༻

I don't know what to say to Thomas once we're driving to work.

He stole.

He stole and Janson said it's not his first time.

Now obviously that doesn't just completely ruin my trust in him because I don't know the context and I don't even know if it's true, but the ideas make me shudder.

I don't like stealers, I'll say that.

"Tell me what happened."

Of course he notices something is wrong.

And I'm still not sure what to say. It won't completely ruin our relationship to say what I heard, right?

"Rose," he says after a few seconds. "Did Janson do anything? Did you get hurt? Or—"

"I overheard him," I eventually say.

Thomas pauses. He looks at me, then back at the road. "Did you hear more about the company? The truth behind—"

"They said someone stole files," I say.

He's silent now. Then, he hums. But there's no words.

My heart pounds in my chest as I ask him. "Was it you?"

He hesitates, and that says enough.

"Yes," he confirms. "That was me."

He's not saying anything else. He should be, but he's not. So I keep asking.

"Why?"

"To save people."

"You stole," I say.

"Yeah. I'm aware of that," he replies. "That happens sometimes, alright? I do bad things with good intentions."

"You could get arrested! Even with good intentions, it's not good to steal and—"

It's both worry and something else bubbling up my throat. I don't want Thomas to get arrested. But this is messing with my thoughts. Of course I'll still like him, but it's doing something with the trust. Breaking a piece away. He must've felt that too, when he found out I'm on a secret diet.

"I know," he says.

There's a long silence. I bloody hate it already.

"So you're not going to give an explanation? Also, apparently you've contacted this Gally while no one is supposed to be able to contact him so I don't know how you did that—"

"I'm making sure he doesn't end up in a fucking asylum!" His voice cracks. "If I wouldn't have started stealing those files, I'd be as good as dead and Teresa would be cheerfully sharing a room in that asylum with Gally, and before you know it, you're in there, too!"

And straight after he said those words, I can see he regrets them. That he wasn't supposed to say this much.

I don't know what to say. I want to comfort him but I also need to know more and obviously I'll believe Thomas over Janson but I can't just give ballet up.

"Sorry," I say. "I'm just... upset to find out there's even more behind all of this, and it kinda shocks me that you stole things. That you have stolen things this week. But I didn't mean to..." I search for the right words. "...to hurt you or anything like that. I just— I need answers."

"I can't tell you," he says. "Not everything. I can't bring you into that kind of danger."

It's too confusing. "But what danger, Thomas? At least tell me something. What's in those files and what did Janson mean with jackpot?"

His hands tighten around the wheel. "I can't tell you that."

"Thomas—"

"No. I can't. Not now, not this week, not until after the play."

"You can tell me," I say, my voice a little softer. Maybe the accident is making him hesitant, or something like that. "Please don't feel like you can't—"

"I know I can tell you right now but I won't," he says, his jaw clenching.

"Why not?" I glare at him. "Why will you only tell me after the play? Why do keep saying that after the play, I can't become his next star? That after the play, you'll explain everything? Why after the play? If I'm in danger right now, why not bloody tell me right now?"

"Because I'll ruin everything!" His voice cracks again, and the words come out so fast that I have trouble understanding it. "I'll ruin every single thing you've worked for and I don't want that."

"What do you m—"

"Do you remember how happy you were when you heard you got to dance for Clara?" He asks. Before I can reply, he continues. "Because I do. And if I tell you everything right now, you won't find it fun anymore and I don't want that. After the play, I'll tell you. So that you can have your moment to dance like a freaking angel before I ruin it."

A lump forms in my throat. I swallow it away. "But you can't keep bringing yourself into danger in the meanwhile."

"Someone has to save Gally before it's too late."

"But what will—"

"Some people only care for money and unhealthy serums. And how's a good, but unnatural serum made? From a healthy body. And how do you get the chance to create a serum? With money. But how do you get money? By making someone work until they end up drained."

My heart skips a beat, and my stomach does flips that make me want to throw up.

"What do you do about a drained person? You give them a serum that makes them get energy again. The serum they created."

I think he did just say what kind of danger I'm in.