Tord is tossed in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
A reunion with his friends shouldn't drudge up anything, right?
AKA Clone Tord Theory is good. Let's expand on it and make it really gay.
Crossposted from Ao3. Will be posting the chapters up sl...
Tom has mixed feelings. Drink them away. Edd has mixed feelings. Sleep them away. What's so weird about sharing beds anyway?
Notes:
CW - Tom is a fucking alcoholic. There's a lot of drinking. Vomit mentioned/implied. Shorter, transitional chapter where we go back in time a tad. The middle of this one gave me some trouble. But here it is!
He's worried about Edd. Not going to admit that to anyone, of course.
He's also angry. At Edd. And in general.
Tom takes Matt inside his flat for good reason. While he doesn't want to leave Edd alone with the Commie, it's going to teach him a lesson. Tom can tell that the brunet's resolve is already starting to crack, the initial excitement wearing off.
So, he just has to let it spiral down naturally.
He would've rather that Tord never show his sorry face ever again, and let Edd move on, but circumstances leave that out of their hands.
When everything inevitably comes crashing down, Tom'll be there for his best friend. That's what matters.
"So what do you need me for?" Matt asks with a huge grin. He sure loves to be helpful. It's cute, but Tom doesn't have the energy to lie. He'll have to let him down.
"Nothing."
"Wh—"
"I just wanted to leave Edd and Tord by themselves."
"Why?"
Tom pulls out his flask, realises he's in need of a refill, and heads to his cabinets. He can feel Matt's gaze burning into the back of his neck. "So they can hash out whatever the hell is going on."
"You know, I thought they seemed sort of awkward."
"Exactly."
It's nice that Matt is more coherent now. It makes Tom nervous at times to be sure, but otherwise it's a marked improvement. It was convenient before that Matt wasn't able to blab about any embarrassing gossip from before he lost his memory. Now that risk is back. Tom will keep on his toes about mentioning anything. He doesn't know what he used to say to Matt when blacked out. It sure did happen quite a few times.
Especially that one incident...
Anyway.
Matt's gone to sit down while he was lost in thought. "Tom?"
"Huh? Yeah?"
"You think they'll end up hating each other?"
"Iunno. Might be better that way." He screws the top back onto his Smirnoff bottle. When Tom makes his way back over to Matt, and notices how worried he looks. "Relax. It won't be the end of the world if Tord is gone again. We lived eight years without him."
"I didn't even remember he existed..." Matt hangs his head. Tom... feels bad. And envious.
"Hey, that wasn't... completely your fault?"
"I just hate conflict between us, Tom!" The ginger grabs him by the shoulders and shakes. "Why can't we all just get on like we used to?!?"
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