Chapter Text
"Tom, you can't keep doing this," Edd said as he glanced in the rearview mirror. Tom just flipped him off and continued to drink whatever was in his flask now. Matt looked at Edd and frowned.
"Tom, do you realize how worried we get when we go to check on you, only to find you long gone?" Matt asked as he looked over at his friend.
"D-don't ffffucking care," Tom slurred as he curled up into a ball. His friends sighed. "D-don't know why y-you care," he slurred before he started gagging. Matt carefully lifted Tom up and placed him in his lap before lying out a towel. Tom gagged again and Matt sat him upright on the towels.
"Please don't puke on the car," Edd said as Matt grabbed one of the many garbage bags and held it in front of his drunk friend. He managed to get it in position just in time, as Tom started heaving seconds later.
"Did it get on the car?" Edd asked once Tom was done. Matt grimaced as the tied the bag up and dropped it out the window. Looking around, Matt shook his head.
"Nope. Car's clean," Matt said as he looked back at Tom and groaned. Tom had gone back to curling up in a ball and drinking. "Tom, please stop drinking..."
"Ffffuck no," Tom spat as he went back to nursing his drink. Edd glanced in the rearview mirror and frowned sympathetically. He could see his eyeless friend's shoulders shaking with barely repressed sobs.
"Tom, he can't hurt you anymore," Matt said as he started rubbing Tom's back. Tom just flinched and curled up into a tighter ball as he continued to drink. Quiet sniffling sounds were all that Edd needed to hear to know that Tom was crying.
The rest of the car ride passed quickly as Tom eventually grew silent, signaling that he was out cold. Pulling into the parking lot of their apartment complex, Edd sighed.
"It'll get better once we can get the house rebuilt," Matt said quietly. Parking, Edd nodded.
"That seems to be a big part of his current state," he said as he got out of the car and helped Matt move their friend out of the car. He frowned as he realized that Tom seemed lighter than yesterday.
"I don't think he's eating any of the stuff we give him," Edd commented as he locked the car and started towards their apartment complex. Matt nodded sadly as he cradled Tom in his arms.
"Has he told you why he's doing this to himself?" Matt asked as they walked into the building. Edd shook his head as they got in the elevator.
"All I know is that it has something to do with... you know," he said as Matt adjusted his grip on Tom. Matt sighed.
"By this point, I'm just mad at what he's done to Tom," he said as the elevator opened. The two stepped out and Edd started digging through his pocket.
"You think he can be on his own tonight?" He asked as he pulled out his keys and started looking for the key to Tom's apartment. Matt looked down at Tom and shrugged.
"I mean, he's out cold, so it's not like he's gonna leave again...." Matt said as Edd unlocked Tom's apartment.
"True..." Edd agreed as he opened the door and flicked the lights on. "And it's not like he's gonna get up before us anyways," he said as he walked over and opened the door to Tom's room.
"True, true," Matt agreed as he laid Tom down on his bed. "I'm pretty sure he'd sleep forever if he could," he commented as he pulled out the bottle of Advil that Tom always kept in his dresser drawer.
"What do you mean?" Edd asked nervously as he placed a water glass on Tom's nightstand. Matt blinked in confusion.
"Um, well, I meant that he really likes to sleep?" Matt said in confusion. Edd sighed in relief.
"Oh thank god, you meant literally..." he said. "I thought you meant that he wanted to.... never mind." He shook his head.
"Um, okay?" Matt said before shrugging. "Anyways, I'm off to bed. I do need my beauty sleep after all!" He said as he turned and walked out. Edd smiled and nodded before he looked over at Tom.
"Please get better.... I don't know how much more of this I can take," he said as he frowned. Shaking his head, he sighed. "None of it was your fault." Standing up, Edd walked over to the door and turned the lights off.
"Please.... we need you to get better."
Tom groaned as he woke up. His head was pounding and his mouth felt dry and fuzzy. Throwing the covers over his head, Tom slowly opened his eyes.
"Ugh.... I hate hangovers...." he groaned as he looked over at his nightstand. Grabbing the Advil, he threw a few pills in his mouth before downing them with water. With that done, he curled up in a tighter ball.
"Tom?" Came Edd's voice as the door to Tom's room opened. Tom groaned.
"Fuck off..." he demanded weakly, his head pounding. Edd sighed and sat down on the edge of Tom's bed.
"It's your own fault you know," he said softly as he started rubbing Tom's back gently. Tom just flipped him off and curled into a tighter ball. Edd sighed. "What do you want this time?"
"Toast..." Tom grumbled as he closed his eyes again. "And coffee..." Edd rubbed Tom's back one last time before standing up.
"No prairie oyster?" He asked in a teasing tone. Tom flipped him off again. Edd laughed before walking out of the room, leaving Tom to his misery.
"This is why I hate being sober..." he grumbled as he snuggled deeper into his sheets. His head hurt, his mouth was dry, and his eyes stung. Groaning, Tom realized that he was in the same clothes he was wearing yesterday.
"Fuck my life," he grumbled as he slowly rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the dresser. Squinting in the low light, Tom threw open a drawer and started digging around for another hoodie.
Pulling one out, he kicked his jeans off and peeled off his current hoodie. He tossed it to the side and pulled the other one over his head. With that done, he shuffled back over to his bed and crawled in it, closing his eyes instantly.
"Tom, I've got your coffee and toast," Edd said quietly as he opened the door seconds after Tom had laid back down. Tom just groaned in response. He did not want to interact with people today. "I'll set it on your nightstand, okay?" Tom just nodded.
"Oh yeah, Matt and I have to run out and do something, okay Tom?" Edd said as he put the stuff down on the nightstand. Tom grunted in response. Edd pat Tom's back gently before he started to walk away.
"If you need anything, just call us. We should be back in six hours," he said. Nodding, Tom gave him a thumbs up. Once Edd was gone, Tom slowly sat upright and grabbed his food.
"He cares about me too much," he muttered as he grabbed a slice of toast and took a bite. He could feel the painkillers start to kick in as the headache slowly faded from his head. Shaking his head slightly, Tom finished his meal in silence.
"Wonder what they had to do today," he said as he grabbed his coffee and wandered over to his living room. Homesickness hit him as he looked around at his new apartment, the whole area feeling unfamiliar.
"It's been a month," Tom said as he shook his head and continued towards the couch. "I don't know why I haven't gotten accustomed to this place yet," he said as he sat down and grabbed the remote.
"Maybe they'll have something on to kill time," he mumbled as he turned the tv on and started flipping through channels. "No, no, hell no..." he muttered as he flipped through the channels. Eventually, he just gave up and left it on some random news channel and pulled out his phone.
"Annoyed Avians, let's see how fast I get bored of you this time," Tom said to himself as he pulled the app up. The painkillers had fully kicked in by this point, so looking at a tiny, bright screen wasn't painful.
"Aaaaaaand you're dead," he said as he watched one of the bright red pigs poof out of existence. The game was horrible, and Tom knew it, but it was a great way to kill time.
"Wonder what Matt and Edd are up to..." he mused as he stared at the tiny screen in front of him. The woman on TV was currently talking about hamsters or something, so Tom just alłowed to fade into background noise.
Tom stayed in the same position for about five hours before he realized how long he'd been in that spot. Pausing the game, the eyeless man went and grabbed a pack of beef jerky from his snack drawer and sat back down.
"God, when are Edd and Matt gonna get back?" Tom asked as he flipped onto his back and continued to fling birds at pigs while munching on beef jerky. He was beyond bored at this point.
"I'm so fucking bored!" He complained as he turned his phone off and turned his attention to the TV. He went to grab the remote to see if there was anything actually interesting on when an alert appeared over the news anchor's head.
".... authorities have confirmed that this attack was committed by the Red Army," said the lady as Tom turned the sound up. Tom froze.
"R-Red Army?" He asked quietly as his ears started to ring. They weren't talking about His army, were they?
"They have confirmed that the robot was a Red Army vessel, and they believe that it was even piloted by the notorious Red Leader himself," she continued as the ringing in Tom's ears grew louder and louder. His headache returned full force as he stared at the TV, his heart racing in fear.
Then the wanted poster of Tord appeared on the screen.
"Fuck!" Tom cursed as he turned the TV off. His whole body was trembling as he felt the walls around him closing in. With tears streaming down his face, Tom ran to his room grabbed the comforter from his bed. He wrapped it around himself in an attempt to keep himself grounded, but it didn't work.
A heat started to creep up his back, and before Tom knew what was happening, he had been consumed by blind panic. Letting out a scream of fear, Tom bolted out of his room in an attempt to get away from the crushing weight and searing heat he was feeling.
As he ran, he tripped over his own feet and face planted, the sudden pain ripping him out of the flashback that had started to engulf him. Shivering violently, Tom pressed himself in a corner and wrapped both his tail and the blanket around him. He didn't know when he shifted, but he had.
"Tom, we- Tom?" Edd asked cautiously as he stepped into Tom's apartment, confusion decorating his face. Tom barely reacted to his friend.
"Edd, what's wrong?" Matt asked as Edd quickly put his bags down onto the counter and scurried over to Tom. "Oh," Matt said as he saw Tom in his pitiful state.
"Did you have another attack?" Edd asked as he carefully approached Tom, his brown eyes shining in worry. Tom attempted to respond verbally, but his just wasn't able to get his mouth to cooperate, so he just nodded.
"I'm sorry," Edd muttered as he gently hugged Tom. Tom winced at the contact before he melted into it, allowing his green clad friend to help calm him down. "I don't know what brought this on, but you're safe now," Edd whispered as Tom felt tears build in his eyes.
"I'm going to go grab some movies!" Matt exclaimed suddenly, causing Tom to jump. Despite the sudden burst of fear that Matt had unwilling caused, Tom couldn't help but smile and nod slightly.
"I guess we're having an emergency movie night," Edd said as he stood up. "Here, let's move you to the sofa. I doubt we'll be able to see the movie from here!" He said cheerfully as he offered Tom his hand.
Nodding gratefully, Tom took his friend's hand in his and pulled himself up, not noticing his tail receding back into his body. His legs shook as he slowly walked to the couch. Once there, he sat down in the middle and pulled the blanket even tighter around him.
"I'm back!" Matt exclaimed as he trotted back in, movies in his hoodie and bowls of popcorn in his arms. Tom smiled weakly.
"What movies did you get?" Edd asked as he grabbed one of the bowls of popcorn from Matt and handed it to Tom. Tom nodded gratefully as he maneuvered himself so that he could reach the bowl in his lap with ease.
"I got 'Queen Wife', 'Lunch at Jenny's', 'The Sketchpad', 'Hindenburg', 'East Area Book', 'Away With the Breeze', and 'Clean Singing'!" Matt exclaimed as he pulled out the multitude of romance movies from his hoodie. Edd groaned.
"You realize that you've shown us each of those about thirty times, right?" He asked as he ran a hand down his face. Matt shrugged.
"Have I?" He asked as he looked over at Tom. "Which one do you want to watch first?" He asked. Smiling weakly, Tom held up one finger. "'Queen Wife'?" Matt asked. Tom nodded.
"Well, that one isn't so bad..." Edd mumbled, pretending to be annoyed at the fact that they were going to watch stupid romance movies as Matt skipped over to the TV and stuck the movie in.
Tom held his breath as the ginger turned the TV on, afraid that the news station was still going to be talking about Him. Thankfully, they were talking about how scientists were trying to find aliens.
"You ready?" Matt asked as the TV suddenly changed to a menu screen. Nodding, Tom smiled weakly. Matt beamed and hit play before he grabbed a blanket and curled up next to Tom, pressing himself against the Brit.
With a sigh, Tom focused on the movie, blocking out everything besides his friends pressing against him. Panic slowly faded out of his system, and before the night was over, he was making fun of the movies with Edd.
The next morning, Tom woke up on the floor with a popcorn bowl on his head. Groaning, the eyeless man attempted to rub his eyes, but he soon realized that he couldn't move either of his arms, nor could he sit up. Looking down, Tom couldn't help but smile. Edd and Matt had fallen asleep on him again.
Matt had Tom's arm in a death grip, and his head was resting on Tom's shoulder. Edd had Tom's other arm in a death grip, holding it to his chest like a stuffed animal. He was also draped across both Matt and Tom, his head resting on Tom's chest while his feet rested on Matt's side.
Despite being at the bottom of the cuddle pile, Tom didn't want to move. He actually slept better than he had in months last night, so he was content on just staying there for now. Besides, it would be a crime to wake his friends up. Neither of them normally stayed up past midnight, and they were up to three last night.
"Mm, Tom?" Edd asked quietly about half a hour later. Chuckling softly, Tom freed his arm and looked at his friend.
"Morning," he said as he watched Edd slowly wake up. The brown-eyed man yawned and blinked his eyes open. At one point, Edd would've freaked out if he found himself cuddling Tom, but it had happened enough times by now to not even faze the man.
"Morning, Tom," Edd replied as he rolled off of Tom and sat up. "What time is it?" He asked as he stretched. Glancing over at his clock, Tom blinked in surprise.
"Two," he said as he attempted to free his other arm. Edd groaned.
"Ugh, I'm not going to be able to get to sleep tonight," he complained as he pushed himself to his feet and walked over to where Matt was. "Come on Matt, time to wake up," he said as he started shaking the ginger. Matt whined in protest as he snuggled closer to Tom.
"Matt, wake up," Edd said, his voice a bit louder than before as he shook Matt even harder. Matt responded by grumbling softly and squeezing Tom's arm even tighter as he swiped at Edd lazily. Tom groaned as he tried to yank his arm out of the ginger's death grip.
"You know what? Screw this," Tom said after a few minutes of trying to free his arm. "Hey Matt," he said with a smirk. Edd groaned as he realized what Tom was about to do.
"Tom, that's just mean," he said as he sat down and crossed his arms. Tom shrugged.
"Well, I'm not gonna sit here until he wakes up," he said before he turned his attention back to Matt. "Hey Matt, someone broke all your mirrors."
"WHAT?!" Matt screamed as he shot to his feet, letting go of Tom's arm in the process. Tom laughed as the ginger rocketed out of the apartment and into the hallway. The walls shook as Matt slammed his apartment door open, a loud crash and a scream following the noise.
Tom froze mid-laugh. His heart started racing, panic coursing through his veins as heat started to creep up his neck. His chest tightened as flames flickered before his eyes.
"No no no no no," he whispered as he started to scoot backwards. "I'm in m-my apartment!" He exclaimed as the flames started creeping towards him. "I'm- I'm s-safe!" He cried out before he ran into something. Tom screamed.
"N-NO! H-HELP ME!" He screamed as he the flames came closer. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to shove the sudden pressure on his chest off. Said pressure transferred to his shoulders, causing his to push harder.
"Now, why would I help you?" Tom's eyes flew open as pure terror seized him.
"T-Tord?" Tom whispered as he looked up. The second he saw what was above him, Tom started to gag.
What was above him was a twisted, horrendous mockery of his former friend. Tord's flesh was charred beyond recognition, and some spots were missing flesh all together, the only thing remaining being the charred bones. His normally grey eyes had burned out, two red pinpricks of light replacing them. He walked with a limp, his arms twitching with every step. The worst thing about him however, was the harpoon sticking through his chest.
"Why Tom?" Tord asked, snapping Tom out of the horrified daze he'd been in. "Why did you do this to me?" Tom shook his head wildly.
"N-no! I-I d-didn't mean t-to!" He cried out as Tord approached him. Throwing his hands in front of his face, Tom prayed for him to go away.
"Then why did you shoot me?" Tord asked as he put a hand on Tom's shoulder. Tom choked back a scream as the mockery of his friend stared at him.
"I-I-I D-DIDN'T WANT T-TO!" Tom yelled as he squeezed his eyes shut. As Tord's hand started to brush against his cheek, something slapped him.
Eyes flying open, Tom found himself curled up underneath his coffee table. There wasn't a flame in sight. As he came back to reality, Tom saw an extremely concerned Edd kneeling next to him, one hand on Tom's shoulder, and the other raised as if to slap someone
"E-Edd?" Tom asked weakly, as he finally recognized where he was. Edd sighed in relief.
"Oh thank god," he said as he sat up. "You're back." Matt shoved his head in next to Edd.
"Are you okay?" Matt asked, worry shining in his blue eyes. "You've been screaming for like, ten minutes!" He exclaimed. Gulping, Tom nodded shakily.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Edd asked softly as he gently grabbed Tom's hand and pulled him out from under the table. Tom shook his head. "Okay. Just know that we're here for you if you ever want to tell us." Tom nodded once again.
"Hey Tom, you up for going to lunch with us?" Matt said after a few minutes of silence. Looking up, Tom smiled weakly.
"S-sure," he said. The other two smiled as Matt stood up.
"Yay!" He exclaimed happily. "I'll see you guys in thirty minutes!" He exclaimed as he bounced up and down excitedly. Tom grinned as his excitable friend skipped out of the apartment and headed towards his own. He looked over at Edd and smiled weakly.
"Well, guess we should get ready," he said as he stood up and stretched. Edd nodded.
"Yeah," he said as he stood up. "Will you be okay if I leave you by yourself?" He asked, worry shining in his brown eyes. Tom bit back an annoyed sigh. He was pretty sick of the babying. He understood why Edd was babying him, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said, locking eyes with Edd. Edd stared back for a second, searching for some sign of dishonesty in his friend's face. Finding none, he sighed.
"Okay... please don't hesitate to come get me if you start having another attack," Edd said as he pulled Tom into a quick hug. Tom nodded.
"I'll be fine Edd," he said as he pulled away. "You better start getting dressed if you don't want Matt to take forever," he said with a smile. Edd nodded and smiled back.
"Yeah... see you in a few minutes," he said as he turned and walked out of Tom's apartment, closing the door behind him. The second the door closed, Tom let his smile drop.
"I don't deserve them," he muttered as he trudged over to his room. He absentmindedly grabbed a random hoodie from his dresser before he grabbed a pair of jeans and walked into his bathroom.
Pulling his hoodie off, Tom glanced down at his arm. Biting his bottom lip, the eyeless man ran his fingers over the large, jagged scar on his arm. It had finished healing about a week after he got it due to the whole monster thing, but unlike every other injury he had gotten that wasn't self-inflicted, this one scarred.
"A reminder of how I'm a monster..." he mumbled as he shook his head and pulled the new hoodie on. He fell into his normal routine after this, moving out into his living room once everything was done.
Filling his flask up with Smirnoff, Tom slipped his shoes on before he walked out into the hallway. He was only out there for a few minutes before Edd came out of his apartment and sighed in relief at the sight of Tom. Matt was out a few seconds later, smiling happily.
"You guys ready?!" He asked excitedly. The others nodded and they got into the elevator and went downstairs. Once downstairs, the three exited the complex and started down the sidewalk, barely noticing the alleyway they were passing.
Unbeknownst to the three friends, a figure was curled up next to a dumpster in the alleyway they had just passed. The figure was pressed up against the dumpster as he shivered, his one arm wrapped around himself in an attempt to warm himself.
The figure has his head buried into his knees in an attempt to stave off the cold. His ears were a bright red as he squeezed his eyes shut. His shoulders were trembling violently as he rubbed his arm up and down his side.
If one were to look closely, they would notice the tears dripping down his face. No one bothered to spare him a second glance however, they just walked past the figure like he didn't exist.
The figure didn't mind that no one stopped to spare him a second glance. In fact, he was pleased that no one stopped. In his mind, this is what he deserved. He deserved to be left alone to rot.
Hours passed as the figure replayed what happened no more than a month ago in his head. As the moon began to rise, the figure laid down and curled into a ball.
And so, unnoticed by the world, the man in the red hoodie slept.