Doll-sized (TomTord)

Aaaah, it burns!

Tom woke up surprisingly early the next morning. Early by his own standards at least. A quick glance at the clock revealed that it was just a quarter past ten. Ugh. It was pretty unusual for him to wake up this early on his own. At least unless he had actually remembered to turn on his alarm for special occasions which was a new habit he still had to get used to. Back when he had lived in a house with Edd and Matt, it was impossible not to get up early since there was always so much noise in the morning. Despite his constant complaining about the racket back then, he had actually found himself missing it now that he was kind of living alone. Found himself missing someone's company, even if they were annoying to be more precise. He was surprised how much he had begun to want a roommate. Tom had never been the most social type, that had always been more Edd's and Matt's thing. Surprisingly, they were all currently insisting not to buy a new house.

Everyone was had been getting on each other's nerves too much when they lived together, even they had seen that. With everyone having their own separate apartments, Edd could now draw in peace without having to deal with everyone's bullshit and Matt was able to fill his room with all the junk he could have possibly wanted. And Tom... Tom was supposed to be free of staying mostly sober around his friends. He would get to mind his own business for a change and get wasted as much as he wanted. It was supposed to be the most fun he had ever had. And sure, that whole fantasy had been pretty fun for a while, but somehow all the constant drinking had turned his life into a boring routine with no actual payoff to his antics. What was the point of getting drunk if you couldn't really enjoy it anymore? Nothing entertaining ever happened. He got drunk, lazed around the couch or hung around bars until he was kicked out for 'misbehaving' and 'disturbing the peace' (it was a bar fight, just call it that!). What was the point of total independence when you were starting to feel... ugh, lonely.

It wasn't like they weren't spending time with each other anymore and not going on crazy Eddventures at all. No, it just felt so weirdly different from their old life at the house. Now they usually only saw each other twice a day unless someone made an effort to reach out for movie nights or to go on an Eddventure. It had been ages since they had moved into the same house together, so he had gotten used to seeing them constantly. It was odd. How could he miss something that had annoyed him before? But Tom wasn't about to start asking to hang out. He was supposed to be the apathetic one of the group, he couldn't suddenly start behaving like he actually cared. He wasn't as clingy as someone like Matt. He wasn't a child anymore even if he still slept with Tomee Bear every once in a while.

While he was lying in his bed, Tom was getting more and more suspicious of the eery silence in his room, so he peeked over the side of his bed. To his relief, Tord was still inside the shoe box he had been put into. The little bastard had curled up on the pillow. His hair was messy to the point the horns were barely recognisable as the edgy characteristic he wanted everyone to see so badly. He was lying on his uninjured side, exposing his missing arm and scarred face a lot more than he probably would have wanted. His hoodie had slid down over his shoulder, probably due to a lot of turning in his sleep, and the stump was completely visible. It was somehow worse to see how natural it looked. Despite the time that had passed since the explosion, Tom had expected everything to seem more... raw. Yet it looked so bizarrely natural. No bone was sticking out that had been cut off abruptly and the skin looked normal in a way he couldn't even begin to comprehend. It was way worse than it being as scarred over as Tord's face.

He still didn't trust the tiny communist one bit. Even if what Tord had told him was true, which he still obviously doubted (only a naive idiot like Edd or Matt would trust his word after everything that happened), there was still his gut feeling that told him Tord might just be playing the long game. It was even more likely if Tord was really telling the truth. Then he would have even more of a reason to come back. How twisted would it be for this to be a revenge plan for his forced departure from the army? Tord would make it the ultimate betrayal. He'd try to become close to him, just so he could pull the rug out from under Tom and reveal he was able to return to his true size the whole time...