Bird Eyes || Tomtord

Leaving

Breath didn't come and didn't go. It stayed within him, becoming stale as milliseconds that felt like seconds passed. The only movement that appeared present was the beating of his heart, as heavy as it was.

Tom stumbled as Tordun wiggled in his grasp, yearning to meet the new people. The energy about the room didn't scare him. The brit felt a pang, a need for release, a yearn for everything to stop. To curl up in a ball and die. To implode into nothingness, where no one would bother him and everything was alright.

Regret. It churned inside of him, reminding him of how idiotic he was. How stupid and forgetful he was to not remember his best friend's allergy, not to mention the fact that it could cause death. And he had had quite enough of death already.

He forced his dry tongue around his mouth, feeling sandpaper against desert, buying time. He cursed lowly, but loud enough for his friends to hear. He smiled and squinted his eyes uneasily, trying to possibly gain pity. "I'm a fucking idiot aren't I?"

Edd sighed and looked away, "Yeah, Tom. You are."

Tom crinkled at that. The dog in his arms whined and Tom was grateful for the distraction. He gave the boy a pat. "He's so cute though, guys I-"

"Tom," Edd cut him off abruptly. "We can't keep him."

The blue clad man bit his lip. Few tears came to his eyes but he kept them in; he still had his dignity. It was among the few things he had, or at least thought he had. His knees felt a bit more than wobbly so he leaned on the doorway. Swallowing hard, he gathered up a sentence, "So what now?"

"Tom... Just give the dog back, where ever you got it."

"I can't do that," Tom said as stern as possible, acting as if he had any say in this matter. Edd just sighed, "What the hell do you mean, Tom?"

Tom looked to the corgi. It stared right back at him with its beautiful joyful eyes. Tom smiled, momentarily forgetting about everything that worried him. Then that shame came back. And Edd came back. And Matt came back. And Tord came back. "I can't do that."

"Well that dog isn't living here, Tom," Edd said.

Tom sucked in a breath. His posture grew and he puffed out his chest as if that would help him. "Well I'm not getting rid of him."

Edd was silent, fiddling with his sleeve. He looked away, "You know what this means, right?"

Tom fell quiet as well.

"It means you can't live here, Tom."

The strawberry blond boy shot up, "But!-"

"Just be quiet, honey. You're allergy is deadly, no matter what you say," Edd replied.

"But Edd-"

"Matt."

"Guys!" Tom yelled. "I'll go!"

Matt whined, "But Tom, we can't just do that to you."

He sighed. "It's fine, I can handle myself." An idea hit him then, making him smile reassuringly. "I can crash at Pat's place."

"Are you sure he'll take in all the lizards and accept a dog?" Edd wondered.

Tom was at a loss, but Matt was quick to say that he could care for the lizards. He had taken a liking to them all after all. Although reluctant to leave all of his possible Tords, Tom agreed. He would come back for them once he had a way to make them human.

He carried Tordun over to his room to pack up his stuff. He throws in the few amounts of clothes he had, toiletries, and other necessities into a suitcase he kept underneath his bed. His friends had left him alone to do so, both with a feeling of regret at forcing their friend out.

Tom himself felt better than before. He had a place in mind where he could stay, that was the big thing. He didn't want to be homeless, but he would be if that meant staying with his boy- his possible boy.

He wheeled the suitcase out and left the corgi in his room to say a goodbye to his friends. They hugged for a while and exchanged soft words of hopes and wishes.

Tom left shortly after with his dog. He was convincing himself that he didn't need Edd or Matt's charity anymore. Pat would let him crash at his place until he got a plan together to find Tord and a humanization ray. He would be fine.

Getting into his car and letting Tordun sit in the passenger seat, he made his way through London towards where he remembered Pat's place being near. He noticed the corgi curling up a yawning drowsily, slipping into slumber. He smiled warmly at him and then looked back at the road. He and his dog were going to be fine even if he didn't have the help of Tom's friends.