I ship the fictional characters of the story. I would like everyone to stay respectful and polite.
Tom took another swig of his alcohol, not bothering to put it in his flask. He just wanted to forget his memories. He didn't want to think of how he was a murderer. Although Tord has killed someone first, and tried to kill him. Tom never wanted to kill someone he was close to. They once had a good relationship and he felt as if he'd executed that part of their past. Although he hated Tord, he never wanted to wipe out Tord's life.
He lifted his bottle to drink more but it was already empty. Grumbling he got up and stumbled out of his room. He believed there was more in the fridge.
Edd stopped him from walking into the kitchen.
"Tom we should chat."
Tom tried ignoring him and walking into the kitchen.
"Tom we really need to talk." Edd said with a stern tone in his voice.
Tom stopped, then turned, "talk about what?"
"We should go and sit on the couch," Edd said leading Tom to the living room. He felt too sober for this conversation even though he had already had a bottle of Smirnoff.
Once they were sitting, Edd asked a question Tom had been asking himself for weeks.
"You didn't mean to kill Tord, right?"
"No!" Tom stood up hurried and worried, he couldn't let Edd think he was a killer.
Edd's face furrowed in confusion, "I didn't want to kill him, I didn't mean to. I would never on purpose. No. No. I'm not a killer, Edd. Even Tord, I wouldn't kill him."
Tom tried convincing him, but the words blended together in his head and he felt like he couldn't say what he wanted to say.
" I-I didn't mean to kill him," he let out the words in a sigh.
Edd placed a hand on Tom's shoulder and tried reassuring him. "Tom...what if you learned he wasn't dead?" Edd asked hesitantly.
Tom looked at him with an open mouth, and his eyes began to water.
"I would be...relieved," Tom said, wanting to leave the conversation and get another bottle.
"Could he stay here and heal?" Edd asked. Tom slowly nodded and attempted to get up. Edd helped him, he'd gotten the answers he needed.
Tom's body suddenly felt like a sack of potatoes, Edd had to half support, half carry him.
Edd opened the door to Tom's room, everything was so much worse then he'd imagined. Bottles, some broken laid across the floor like corpses. The random hills of laundry smelled like something had curled up and died. Trash was thrown across the floor and everything was either turned over on its side or messy beyond belief.
Edd rummaged through the closet and found a pair of clean clothes. Probably too small, but they were clean.
"I'm going to step out, you change. Leave your hoodie off I'm washing it," Edd said so sternly Tom didn't think to debate.
Edd got out and he changed, the clean clothes felt good. How long has it been since he's changed clothes? Instead of finding an answer he just opened the door letting Edd back in.
"We are cleaning your room tomorrow, for now, you should sleep. I'll stay here with you if you need it." Tom nodded his head and crawled into bed, "please turn off the lights on the way out." A calm caring smile formed on Edd's face as he turned the lights out and left the room. "Sleep well," were his final words to Tom.
Tom was going to go back to drinking once Edd had left but now that he was in bed, fresh clothes and all. Sleep sounded like a good idea. And without realizing it he had already fallen asleep before he could wonder if Edd far enough away to drink again.
Edd walked down to the figure standing in the kitchen, "I told you that's what he thought but now you can't doubt me." Edd said while going to the fridge and grabbing some cola.
"Want one?" He held out a red can of the drink.
A hand with a red sleeve took it and a Norwegian accent replied, "thank you."
An hour earlier
Edd walked down the hall and locked the door silently behind him as he left the house. He walked down the street, passing houses and shops. He kept walking and taking turns on autopilot, soon he arrived at his destination.
Walking into the bar he saw Tord sitting at the counter. He was on a stool and facing away from Edd. Edd silently creept upon him and placed his hands on Tord's shoulders.
"Hello, there stranger." Tord jumped and swung around. His face had turned to fight mode with his mouth drawn in a frown and eyes sharp. Seeing it was Edd his shoulders relaxed.
"Edd I was going to pull my knife out," Tord said warningly.
"But you didn't," Edd said, a smile growing on his face.
Tord sighed and asked the question Edd could finally answer, "will Tom kill me?"
"Tom never meant to try and kill you. If you come home you can hear him say it himself," Edd said reassuringly.
Tord still looked unconvinced but Edd just pulled him out of his seat.
"You didn't buy any drinks so grab your bag and come on," Edd wanted to get Tord a shower ASAP. He looked like he needed it as much as Tom did. Geez, what was he supposed to do with these 2 train wrecks? Help clean them up, he thought to himself.
"I couldn't afford anything anyway," Tord said dejectedly as he grabbed his bag. Tord could barely afford food at the moment, he wasn't going to waste his money on a drink. Although he probably needed one.
After the red army had disbanded due to his inability to lead. He was basically left with nothing but his name. He wished they would have taken that too. Edd had found him in the bar when he was picking Tom up from a drunk night out. He didn't approach either of them, but when Edd spotted him he came over immediately. Tord gave a brief recap of what happened and tried getting away. Edd wanted to take him back at that moment. He wanted Tord to come back and try after he tried to kill them. Edd was too nice sometimes if Tord was him he would have just kept walking. Never trusting the traitor again. Luckily Edd wasn't Tord.
Edd wanted him to come back again, but Tord needed to know if Tom would be ok with it. So here he was now walking out of this bar to a home he had destroyed once.
He kept his head down as Edd jabbered on about how they were going to start over and how great it was going to be. At some point, he tuned Edd out and soon they were standing in front of the house. Tord took a shaky breath as he followed Edd inside.
Edd told him to stay out of sight while he got Tom. Tord just kept quiet and in the shadows, and there came Tom trudging into the kitchen.
Tord took in every detail of his almost murderer. Honestly Tom looked like shit, he wasn't one to talk but, his face looked so tired. Eye bags and shaggy hair falling over his face. His clothes were horribly wrinkled and his hoodie was more of a rag then clothing. This was not how he imagined Tom would look.
He thought his rival would be happy and smiling, bragging about how he'd killed Tord. Well maybe not smiling, perhaps a smirk.
Tord refocused as he realized Edd had taken Tom into the living room and was talking to him.
"No!" Tord jumped a bit with Tom's exclamation.
He listened as Tom explained he didn't mean to kill Tord.
This surprised Tord, Edd had told him but to hear it from Tom himself. Wow.
~Return to present~
First fanfic ever, sorry if it's a bit confusing. If you have tips I'd love to hear them. Gonna try doing longer chapters in the future. Hope you enjoyed, take care gals, guys and non binary pies.
-peace lover