"We made it woooooorse." Edd groaned into his pillow and Tom grunted in agreement, sitting on Edd's bed and taking a swig from his flask.

Edward had long since locked himself up in his assigned room. They had been worried about bed distribution at first, but as evening approached and neither Matt showed any sign of leaving Matt's room, they decided to let it sort itself out, moving to Edd's room and leaving Thomas alone in the living room to whatever it was that he constantly did.

Edd sighed and grabbed a random pencil and sketchbook lying beside the bed, doodling. Tom contented himself with staring absently at the many many drawings pinned to the wall, not really focusing on any of them.

"...Tom?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think they'll able be able to..." Edd hesitated, pencil stilling over the paper.

Tom mulled the question over, knowing exactly what had been left unsaid, "...I don't know." he answered honestly.

Edd hummed, "What do you... what do you think about... all of this?" he asked, not daring to look up.

"That they're both idiots." Tom snapped, then sighed, "But I guess we also don't really have the whole story."

"Yeah... I wonder who this Red Leader guy is to them, that they'd just..." Leave, and not look back.

Tom frowned, "So do I." he chewed on his lip for a moment, "Edd look-"

"If you're going to apologize, don't bother." Edd crossed his arms.

Tom choked on his own spit, coughing. "But-"

Edd's expression softened, "I don't want an apology for something that hasn't affected me, that you haven't done and might never even do. If anything, that's entirely between those three."

Tom ran a hand down his face, sighing. "Alright." he stood up, "I'll be going to my room then."

"Okay."

Tom walked out and towards his own room before noticing that his flask was nearly empty. Welp, time for a refill. Approaching the living room instead, he started hearing low mutters, slowly escalating.

"-mit, dammit, dammit. No red sweaters, no vandalism, no suspicious weapons trade, no infuriating haircut, nothing! Did he just... dissolve into the atmosphere? Damn you, you sneaky little- ugh! I can't work like this. Time travel wasn't even in my job description. Why did I let him talk me into this? And then he can't even extend the basic courtesy of actually showing up on CCTV. Did he start recruiting in Turkey or something? Dammit, dammit." Tom saw Thomas hunch over, grasping at his hair as his voice grew weaker, "...dammit, Tord... I'm sorry, I can't-"

"What the fuck does the commie have to do with anything?"

Thomas' head shot up, probably giving himself whiplash, and stared at him halfway between panic and confusion. Tom hadn't meant to speak up like that, but Tord's name had come up so unexpectedly that he hadn't been able to stop himself in time. Well, what's done is done, and he did want to know.

It took a moment for Thomas to even process his presence, let alone his question, but when he did he growled deep in his throat, an almost inhuman sound.

"Fuck off."

"No, no, nononono, wait, we haven't heard form the bastard at all ever since he left and Edd's been pretty broken up about it. But it looks like he's still alive in the future and you apparently seem to know what he's been doing that he's been too busy to even send a text. So-"

"I don't know!" Thomas snapped, virtual eyes seemingly clouded with frustration and seemingly not quite there anymore, and Tom's mouth shut with an audible click, "I don't know where he is! He could be in fucking Thailand for all I know! It's not like he ever comprised a history of his fucking army! Does he even have an army right now? Who the fuck knows? I sure don't! For fuck's sake, he wears bright red all the time, it's part of his fucking image apparently, he refuses to consider any other color, no matter how terrible bright fucking red is for stealth missions, and even with that I still can't find him! I don't know how his stupid machine works and I don't know where he is, I've accomplished absolutely nothing and I won't even get scolded for it because I can't go back to my fucking leader!" he finished, panting from a lack of oxygen.

Throughout his rant, Tom's sockets had gradually widened more and more as realization dawned on him.

"...his army? Tord's army?"

Thomas' gaze snapped back to him, once again clear but slowly morphing with encroaching panic. He'd said too much, he'd said far too much.

"Do you mean to tell me," Tom growled, "that the fucking commie bastard is this megalomaniac of a Red Leader you betrayed Edd- Edward over?"

Thomas remained silent, unable to open his mouth, to say something, anything, to fix his mistake. He just stared back at Tom, mute and frozen.

Tom's sockets narrowed before he turned around to head back to his room. There was probably a bottle somewhere in there anyway.

"I hope it was worth it." he snapped over his shoulder. When he turned into the hallway, however, he almost tripped over something.

Or someone.

Sitting at the bend with his back to the wall and his knees pulled close, Edd stared ahead blankly.

"Shit, Edd-"

The green-clad man stood up calmly, dusted off his jeans and headed to his room without a word. Tom stood there for a moment before mutely heading to his own room. He was going to drink until he passed out tonight.

In the living room, Thomas was still frozen, unable to process what he'd just done.

Fuck.

He'd wanted-

he'd wanted-

it was a secret-

his leader's secret-

keep them ignorant and happy-

shit shit shit-

he didn't want to hurt them-

Tord was going to kill him-

they deserved a few peaceful years-

what if this changed everything-

-would that be so bad?

it would!

his Tord-

(-but his Edd, his Matt, his youth)

fuuuuuuuuuuuu-

The spell on his body was released all at once, forcing him to quickly grab at the sofa to keep from falling on his suddenly non-functional legs. He felt dizzy and there was darkness at the corners of his vision, slowly eating away at it.

His legs trembled and his arms shook and it was really, really hard to think.

Coffee. He had to stay awake. He had to find Tord. Find Red Leader. Fix time machine. What. How.

Coffee.

A solid command in his head.

The mug on the table was empty.

He heaved himself up, slowly ambling into the kitchen. Coffee coffee keep awake where was the damn coffee not this cupboard not this one where was it he couldn't remember

Ah.

That-

That wasn't coffee.

Standing innocently in the cupboard were five still unopened bottles of vodka.

Thomas couldn't tear his eyes away, couldn't even blink. The phantom burn in his throat, a long lost memory from years ago, was suddenly extremely prevalent. He swallowed audibly, fingers twitching as his hand moved forwards forwards-

The cupboard door closed with a loud bang as he leaned on the counter, one hand on his face trying to keep him grounded through his panting breaths.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a six-pack of energy drinks, seemingly forgotten in a corner.

That'd do.

AN:

short and snappy cause there was nothing else i felt I should add. man tho, theres so much yelling in this fic, i should tone it down

thomas me boi ya FUCKED UP BAD
(hey remember when i mentioned thomas had pulled an allnighter before he had to go chase after edward? me too. remeber when thomas slept that one time in this fic? me neither)

in other news, fluff should be coming either next chapter or the one after. be grateful for i have granted you mercy.