"Of course you're real." First Aid gently frees his arm so he can put it around Chris's shoulders instead, tucking them up against his side and giving them a gentle squeeze. "You have mass and volume, your mind has interiority. You're my friend. A bunch of silly comics can't change that. There might even be some universe out there where I'm just a character in a book, but that doesn't make this version of me standing here talking to you any less real, right?"

It'd probably be a pretty boring book, though, unless it was written for people who really like medical dramas. Like that General Hospital show on TV, only without all the relationship drama.

"I won't tell you," he assures them. "I was just thinking out loud. I didn't mean to worry you."