Tom didnt want to wake up
but he did.
Tom didnt want to get dressed in a low gray turtleneck with jeans and his glasses.
But he did.
Tom didnt want to leave the house
but he did.
Tom didnt want Tord to find him.
But he did.

Tord couldn't sleep. Tom's eyes and smile remained in his head.

His Dads were concerned, as Tord seemed distracted during the call.

Tord sat in his bed. Tired, but not able to think. He wanted to talk to tom. To see him. to see his eyes again.

He reached for something on the floor, his hand rustled around on it, and when he found the lever, he began to turn it, soon enough, a small warm fuzz. Tord kept turning it at a slow pace to keep the low light. He liked it because he could never describe the feeling he felt around Tom. But he didnt need to anymore. The lamp he made on that day where Tom showed he cared for him showed it. A warm comforting fuzz.

He kept turning it until he fell asleep, the lamp safely to his left, luckily, it didnt break overnight.

when he woke up, he couldn't wait to see Tom.

And for Tom to see him.

Without.
those pesky glasses.

But those pesky glasses were there.

Tord ran up to him.

"Thomas! " Tord called, he seemed happy.

Tom waited, dreadfully, until Tord caught up and turned the right corner onto Toms street.

"Your eyes!" Tord was a bit out of breath.

" Their hideous? " tom blurted out, if someone was gonna say it he wanted it to be himself, the anxiety levels were high.

"Ugly? Weird? Gross? Disgusting? Scary? Freaky -"

" Beautiful. "

'what?'

tom had a mental break down

Tord had one ten times worse.

did he really just blurt that out?

'No going back' tord thought, as he swallowed all his fear.

'say it.'

"their beautiful."

he said it.

And he meant every bit of it. tom was insulting himself.That alone was bad enough. In Tords world, he was the only one who should hate himself. Tord had loved Toms eyes, he didnt know what about them, but Tord had wanted to say this ever since he saw them, and now, it just came out. Tord hated his own eyes, But Toms were something else.

Toms heart was shaking. He never heard someone call his eyes beautiful. Namki never said anything, she just seemed used to them, same with Asha and Soke. they didnt call out Tom on his eyes, they didn't hate them, but they never said anything good about them either.

There was a loud silence between the two.
the silence was violent
stabbing each of them with their own thoughts.

'he regrets what he said'
'I went too far.'
'He didnt mean it.'
'Hes creeped out. '
'he doesnt like my eyes.'
'I love his eyes'

'and I dont know why'
'he says my eyes are beautiful '

Tord sighed. Both had their heads slightly down, but tom was clutching into his breakfast bag.

"Glasses." Tord opened his right hand.

Tom slowly took them off, keeping his eyes closed. He felt for Tords hand with the glasses and set them down once he felt it

"Open."

'dammit' he thought. he slowly opened them.

Tord blushed a little.

There they were.
Those eyes.

The way Tom slowly and hesitantly opened them was adorable, the only thing keeping him from the full blush was how serious the situation was.

Tord closed his grip on the glasses.

And Tom screeched as Tord got in position to launch them into someones backyard.

"No!" Tom jumped onto his raised arm. clutching it like his life depended on it.

"Why do you still want these Thomas?" Tord sighed tiredly. The boy had a grip on his arm harshly. It hurt .

"Edd and Matt cant know." Tom whined desperately .

Tords eyes widened in confusion.

"yet."

"But their your friends."

and now the fighting began

" I couldn't even bring myself to show you so easily! "

And now the yelling began

"You showed me on the 2nd day you came here!"

and now the truth began.

" I needed to know what happened to you! "

the denial.

"No you didnt!"

the begging.

" Tord please. "

"Tom they have to know."

The tears.

" please. "

Tord went silent.

"Not today. Not now. Please dont put me through this again." Tom already dropped a few tears.he clutched his arms, each hand squeezing harshly on the other, they would leave marks on his arm, might even bleed a bit.

just like Tords heart right now.

Did tom have to go through this?
All so Tord could see?
Did
Did Tord make him go through this?
Did Tord make Tom suffer?

Tord felt short of breath.
He needed to grab onto something.
Someone.
Anyone.

so he grabbed onto Toms shoulder, he felt ready to faint.

"im sorry."

Tom looked up.
he sniffed.

"its okay-"

"No."

"Im sorry for pushing you to show me."

Tom got even more upset.

" No. I chose to do that for myself. "

"But if I-"

"No." Tom wouldn't let Tord blame himself. It was no ones fault but his own.

'this is too much for just my second day here.' he thought.

Tom realized how drained and pale Tord was. He did a repeat of yesterday.

"Eat." Tom forced a small chuckle. He needed Tord to be happy. He needed him to be stable.

He needed to see Tord smile the same way Tord needed to see his eyes.

and so he did

Tord smiled.
he handed Tom his glasses.
Right when tom was about to grab them he changed his mind.
he took them and put them on Tom.

"You have to be the one to take them off."

" Not me. "

Tord tossed a strawberry Toms way.
Tom caught it, flustered from Tords act.

"Just maybe..."

----

Edd and Matt asked them why they were late. Tom just said he forgot his glasses. As Edd and Matt started to walk off, Tom looked back at tord and stuck his tounge out. Tord responded by flipping the bird and using the finger to pull on his eye lid. which led to a giggling fit from tom and Tord acting clueless as Edd starred at both of them in suspicion.

eventually, They arrived to school, and then to class.
Tom was excited, Today was Friends Friday! When would he get his hoodie?

He looked to Tord.

Who he saw looking at a blue bird picture.

Tord took the picture off the wall in a confused fit

"how the FUCK did Edd get it right!" he yelled as he paced his room.

A new corkboard had been set on the floor, a pack of thumbtacks layed out in a small jar.

he took the paper to school because 14 minutes at home before the alarm clock isnt enough time to analyze how someone you see as a potential partner has black eyes and is surprisingly similar to a drawing of a bird.

"Nice drawing." Tom said

Tord panicked to find tom hovering over him. which calmed him down seeing it was just Tom.

and then it didnt.

'wait.'

it clicked to him tom isnt an idiot and might have already connected himself to the bird.

Tord tried distraction.
"Well, Edd is the artist in the group. This took me a whole class mod."

Tom shrugged and walked over to his desk. "Still good though."

'Did it work? ' Tord thought.

~lunch~

"when do I get my hoodie." tom said, he was placing bits of his food in a cleaned out fruit cup. he handed it to Tord.

" After school. its tradition for your first time to wear it is at whatever event we're doing. " Tord sighed

"Im not eating that."

" Tord. I wont do it. " Tom threatened.

Tord knew what he ment, he wouldn't show edd and matt his eyes.

this was a big no-no.

"Only a little?"

" As much as you can. " Tom smiled.

"fine." Tord pouted . He put one nacho in his mouth.

"thats as much as I can take. " He smirked. He thought it was cute that Tom thought he had the better half of the deal.

"You tricked me." Tom accused him. Tord was guilty as charged. "I take back my offer."

Edd and Matt looked at the two as they went back and forth, 'a rivalry?' they thought.

"Oh! Tom!" Edd started , trying to make tord shut up about the time Edd ate school lunch as a child and threw up.

"After class Tord can hand you your sweater, you can change in the bathroom."

" Okay. "

"After that, we'll leave our stuff in our houses, and meet up by the stop sign, got it?"

" got it. "

Rinnnnggggggg

Tom left for AVID, Matt left soon after, Tord and Edd left for Art.

"any worksheet you have to go run after?" Edd joked.

" Nope. "

~Art~

'alright ' Tord thought.

'Whats going on today.'

He thought of his neck wound. A white patch now covered the cut, making it seem less dramatic.

He thought of somber.
no.
he didnt like to think of him.
he wasnt sure what he could draw him as.

Than it hit him.
An idea, not a blade.
he reached for a black chalk crayon.

'sidney'

when he thought of Sidney, he thought of a crow.

annoying
loud
obnoxious

he continued the sketch

scary sometimes.
weak.
stupid.

his drawing improved with each word

problem.

he finished.
He looked at the finished product.

A crow.

"Man you like birds." Edd chuckled.

Tord rolled his eyes.

~Dismissal ~

Tom had all of his belongings, Tord couldn't contain his excitement.

tord handed him a bag with a blue hoodie in it and held Toms stuff as he went in the bathroom to change.

Tord was impatient.
did he get the right size?
right design?

Tord tugged on the strings of his sweater. than it hit him, for old times sake, he would let his hair out.

Just as he turned around back to the entrance of the bathroom, he saw him.

Tord froze, his face began to turn red

what had he done?

the size he got for Tom was perfect, a bit baggy, but it showed how tiny Tom appeared. It was almost humorous. the neck hole was a bit bigger, and the sleeves long, they slightly covered his hands. Tom looked adorable in it. Tord could see some of Toms shoulders.

Tom was just as frozen as him. Tord had his hair out! Toms weakness. He wouldn't admit to it, but he was so happy Tord let it out. He had caught Tord in such an unexpected moment, Tord hadnt had the time to put on his calm and collected, 'i dont really care' face. Nonononono. Tord had the most innocent open eyed look.

Both of them starred at eachother until they realized one was thinking about the other.

Tord was the first to break.

"You look great!" he chimed. tom had never seen him so happy. He was smiling , Tom swore he could see stars in his eyes.

What Tom would give up for Tord to be like this every day, and not the self starving boy who blamed himself for everything.

"Your hair is out!" Tom squealed.

Tord began to blush harder. he seemed flustered as hell.

"I-Its just because somber isnt around anymore..." he muttered , awkwardly, tom could always change Tord from his sour moods.

"You shouldn't care even if he was around!" Tom felt a baby flame light up in protection of Tords self esteem. "You should leave it out more!" Toms cheeks were slightly red from the slight yelling.

Tord wanted to do two things.

1. curl up and die drowning in Toms cuteness

2. Hug him.

He did neither.

Tom began to realize what he said.
"Im sorryyyy" he whined.

"Nonono its okay" Tord laughed

"I should let my hair out more. "

"come on, lets go show Edd and Matt your hoodie." Tord handed him his backpack and waved him to follow him down the hall.

Then Tom realized what he could do to make Tord happy.

Almost as happy as he just was.
every
single
day.

'if you think their beautiful.' he thought.

=====================================
Notes
Hey! do you get the reference to the 3rd chapter I uploaded? what about to "just maybe" do you get it? do you know which other tomtord fanfic I reference with what tom says about Tords eyes? I hope you dooooo~

this chapter is long! So is the next one! (its gonna be about Friends Friday and the North Oak festival, thats why im trying to get all of the school day done in this chapter.)

I really love this chapter! Now I know why!

its because of the TomTord-

Gosh I love it when my notifications say one thing and the book itself doesnt update-

I had my own kind of notifications blow up actually - 25 or 29, im not sure.

Yup so uh
That Happened

Thank you zomb-ie voting and CoClarisa for adding this to your TomTord reading list!

i just now realized this could be considered embarrassing.

uh opps.

we're almost to 200 of those eye things! yaaaaaaaayyyy!

So I guess I should draw something.
Here you goooo:

Oh! Cant forget about Fallen! Thanks for that comment you left on the last chapter and the action followed by it! It made me laugh by the way you worded it.

Heres a random thing:

its a teabag in a coffee cup.
I promised my mother i wouldn't do drugs so instead of coffee I drink green tea to stay up and write these chapters since my job kinda stops me from doing it when the suns out.

im not an adult with a job lmao I just do it to help them
also they have popsicles

Also! Pride Month!

oh my god i just now realized it looks like it says "pride month! its poison."

its not i obviously support lgbtq rep oh my god I'm sorry.

I did that in 3 hours and Thats not my account.
my name isnt Shea
anyways
dont comment on that lol
i just asked her to upload that for me.
Shes a friend
Please dont bother her lmao

i wanna apologize for the banners, as they are all pencil sketches, digital art takes a while, so I think ill just resort to sketches, but im gonna start trying to lineart and color them. sorry about that, maybe I'll digitalize them later or lineart and color them.

anyways

Thank you for reading and following the development of this story!
see you next chapter!
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