"What is he like?"

Thomas almost startled at the sudden question, "...what?"

"Your Red Leader. What is he like?"

Thomas frowned, noticing that Tord was refusing to look in his direction even as he asked, and with some trepidation questioned, "Why?"

Finally a glance in his direction, quick and evasive but something nonetheless.

"...I don't know. I guess...I want to know what I'll turn into."

"I already told you that."

"As a person."

That gave Thomas pause, and he took a moment to observe the younger man. He seemed tense, shoulders hunched together. The anger and haughty self-righteousness that seemed so prevalent yesterday seemed faded, making place for a disquieting thoughtfulness and a sense of confusion.

He took another moment to gather his thoughts, "...He's determined and unrelenting. Hard, full of sharp edges. Aggressive but charismatic, he's borderline weaponized it. And... he's a bit petty, but that's nothing new." he said, giving Tord a bemused sideways glance only to get an elbow between his ribs in return. The corner of his mouth tilted upwards with a huff, "A bit of a handful all around."

"You sound awfully fond of that handful."

Thomas huffed amusedly, "Do I?"

Tord arched a dubious eyebrow"...Thomas, what exactly is your relationship?"

"Um," Thomas hesitated, and that just made Tord's eyes widen slightly in reluctant interest.

"Tell me." he hardened his tone, but almost regretted when Thomas stiffened under his scrutiny, ramrod straight and coiled tightly, a certain aggression digging its way out and back under his skin.

Nothing happened as he held his breath, however, and with a sigh Thomas slowly and deliberately lowered his shoulders.

"...I'm not entirely sure."

Tord frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I guess..." Thomas took a deep breath, "In some regards you could call us superior and subordinates, or friends, or lovers, or handler and weapon. The lines blurred years ago."

Tord blinked once, twice, processing. That was a lot different parts in the relationship spectrum and- wait- "Lovers?" he sputtered disbelievingly.

Thomas released a tense chuckle, "Occasionally." And Tord stared at him, torn between cringing and looking dumbly into the air as he tried to puzzle out how the fuck that was supposed to work.

"You?"

Thomas raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"And m- him?"

A small snort, "Yes."

"...how?"

Another amused huff, "It just developed."

Tord blinked a few more times- "So what kind of leader is he?" And decisively changed the subject, much to Thomas' mirth, which he vaguely attempted to hide behind his hand.

"Decisive. Merciless. Strong." he went on to describe of Red Leader's more successful exploits.

Tord hummed in acknowledgment, looking down at his lap. It took a few minutes before he broke the silence. "See that's what I don't understand."

"Hm?" Thomas looked up questioningly, then in mild concern at the troubled frown that marred Tord's face, already weighed down with pain and exhaustion.

"Decisive. Merciless. Strong. That's what I want to become. A great leader of the world." he gritted his teeth and after a moment of hesitance Thomas lay a hand on his shoulder. "But... I don't think I want to be your Red Leader." The hand squeezed his shoulder reassuringly and Tord looked up from his lap and into Thomas' artificial gaze.

Thomas' lips formed a smallest smile, and it was sad, almost mourning, in a way that tugged at his soul, "I didn't think you would."

Tord needed a moment to tear his gaze away from that smile with a snort, "Obvious from the beginning, huh?"

Thomas' head titled to the side and his smile widened slightly into a small smirk, "Pretty much."

"Sorry if that disappoints you. Except no, I'm really not." Tord quipped.

A raised eyebrow, "You seem more disappointed than I am."

The younger man huffed, "Well, yeah. Purposefully not going down that specific path is probably gonna make my whole life harder!"

Thomas hummed, almost in sync with the almost inaudible electrical humming of his visor. "There's many ways to turn the world around."

"Yeah and most of them are an irritating process." Tord would deny he'd pouted in this specific instance to the day he died. They sank into a strange kind of silence, thoughtful yet vacant. A thought crossed Tord's mind. "Hey, the reason you came for me... was it because your time travel device is broken and you thought I might be able to fix it?"

Thomas nodded after a moment, "Partially, yeah."

Tord's interlocked fingers clenched, then loosened, "...I don't think I can fix it. I've barely dabbled in the area before. It would take me years just to get the theory down."

Thomas closed his sockets, the electric mimicry on his visor doing the same. He took a deep breath and released it. "It was a long shot anyway." he finally got out, voice rough.

"For what it's worth... I'm sorry you're stuck here."

Thomas' hand, still on Tord's shoulder, squeezed a little tighter before releasing it entirely and coming to lay on the stretch of mattress between them.

In the unnatural silence of the room, Tord clearly heard him mutter, "I'm not so sure I am."

AN:

short and sweet cause i forced this whole thing out and couldn think of anything else for this chapter

leave a comment on your way out and maybe talk to me on tumblr. also abit of advertising, ive got an Eddsworld Drag Queen AU ask blog going on if you wanna check it out! its on tumblr under the url ew-drag-queens