hi so this is a one shot i wrote way back in september. its kinda similar to some other tomtord stuff i've read, but idk i wrote it after hearing this song cause it gave me the creeps. play it when specified for maximum spooky vibes.

also this is not at all related to the world war III memes. that was a total coincidence lmao

-

Tom wasn't sure how long it had been since the attack. Days, weeks, perhaps even a month? Everything seemed to have blurred together

The eyeless male was instead sitting in front of the fire place, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he stared down at the notebook clasped tightly in his hands. Around him was distant chatter, mostly from murmured voices in the kitchen. He didn't bother to pay much attention, though. He was too busy drawing up plans, like he always did. Plans to get the hell out of this place.

You see, World War III (or the Red War, as it was famously called) sucked.

At first government had treated it as some type of sick joke. They figured they could obliterate this new army, the Red Army, in seconds. It was just some sort of glorified gang of teenagers who seemed threatening at the moment, but were probably nothing to worry about. Until they were.

The first bombing had proved they were serious. Then the takeover of Norway. And then the takeover of the rest of Scandinavia. Currently, only a handful of countries had managed to escape the control of the cruel and unjust Red Army. England, where Tom currently lived, had not been spared from this reign of terror.

A little over two weeks ago, the Red Army had arrived. Bombs weren't necessary. But sending national threats and murdering the Queen, along with massacring millions of civilians, was enough to gain control.

So how exactly had Tom survived?

In short, a series of coincidences. A few months ago, when this whole mess had started, Tom's boyfriend disappeared. Not disappeared in the traditional sense, but left a note that simply read:

'I love you, but I have to go. I'll be back soon.'

But he hadn't come back. And with the recent war, Tom didn't think he would. Damn it, it was right after they'd been thinking about marriage, too. Maybe he'd found someone else. Maybe he'd died to the hands of war. Maybe Tom would never know. But back to the story.

After a few long months of grieving painfully and a lot of comfort from his best friends, Tom decided to move away from the city. Not entirely, as he couldn't help but want to be in the area just in case he did come back. So he'd moved to a house in the forest, his only neighbor being about a half an hour drive away.

But to Tom, it was peaceful. He worked from home, so his job wasn't a problem. And in his opinion it was a lot better. His life was peaceful and his friends from the city visited often. Everything had been fine, until it wasn't.

Tom had remembered the call he'd gotten, rushed voices filled with pure desperation as audible gunfire could be heard around them. It was a call from his best friends, Edd and Matt, on the day of the attack.

"THOMAS! Shit...fuck, Matt- no I can't! MOTHER OF-! LOOK WE'RE COMING OKAY- YES ITS A FEW PEOPLE AND WE FUCKING NEED YOUR HELP-"

Tom shuttered at the thought, trying to snap out of this thoughts. They'd all arrived here fine. And by they, he meant six people. Edd, Matt, Eduardo, Jon, Mark, and Ell.

His best friends had been living together for the longest time, especially after they'd gotten together. Tom and his boyfriend had lived with them too, until they'd decided to get an apartment of their own. That was before he disappeared.

Their neighbors had been Eduardo, Jon, and Mark. Like many other people, they'd been terrified and had come across Edd and Matt in their panic. Thinking it was wisest, they decided to stick together and immediately go to Tom's house, which was a safe enough distance away to the point where he'd been sleeping as most of this went down.

On the way there, they'd encountered a girl. She was young and terrified, so Edd of course had to take her with them. Her name was Ell. She'd been out at the time of the attack, and didn't know where her friends were or what was going on.

And on top of all of this, Jon had managed to get shot and was bleeding out horrifically by the time they'd arrived.

Good thing Tom had taken that first aid course.

The little house he lived in could barely hold the 7 of them, but they managed. And thankfully no one had found them here, but Tom didn't count on that for long. Hence why he was making plans to get out of this place.

At the moment, Ell was sitting behind him on the couch. She was reading one of the books he'd offered her, which was honestly a comforting sight. She'd been so freaked out, like most people in her position would be. But he figured she was doing better.

Edd and Matt were in the kitchen. They were making dinner, as it was late evening by that point. Jon was resting in the spare room that Tom had. He was still deeply injured, but alive.

Mark and Eduardo had left the house to go on a food run. The streets of London were covered in soldiers who either attacked on sight or forced those who seemed useful into their army.

Tom could only hope that the two wouldn't do anything stupid, but to be honest he couldn't be completely confident in that. Either way, he still hoped they were safe. He didn't want to lose anyone else. He couldn't.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door swinging open. Tom raised his head, alert as always. He glanced in the direction of the doorway, noticing that Eduardo and Mark were back. He stood up and tucked his notebook securely in his pocket, walking over to them.

"Afternoon." Tom greeted with a wave of his hand.

Eduardo simply nodded to Tom. The two didn't exactly like each other, rather tolerated the others presence. It wasn't like they had much of a choice. Tom reached over to take one of the bags that he was holding. He turned on his heel, walking towards the kitchen as the two followed behind him.

Edd, who was stirring something in a pot, lifted his head and glanced over at them, "Any incidents today, you guys?" The male asked with a tilt of his head.

Eduardo and Mark looked at each other, as if silently communicating.

"Well, not exactly." The blonde spoke nervously. "But, uhm, there was this soldier guy. All I remember about him was that he had brown hair and an upside-down name tag." He recounted.

Tom raised an eyebrow at him, "And?"

"He kept staring at us. Like, in our direction. I don't think he actually saw us because he probably would've attacked. He kept talking into this radio, too."

"Like a walkie-talkie?" Matt chimed in.

Mark nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

Everyone turned to look Tom. They had some sort of unspoken agreement that he was the leader of their little group. Usually it would be Edd, but Tom seemed to be the most knowledgable about this kind of stuff. He was the one who kept them all in order, and the owner of the house they stayed in. So it happened naturally.

He thought for a moment, biting the inside of his cheek. "That's pretty suspicious. But we can assume that he didn't see you or he would've done much worse. We should be on the lookout for people like him, but I doubt it's something worth getting scared over."

At that moment Ell wandered in, clearly confused. "Did I miss something?"

Tom offered her a small smile. He didn't want to explain everything, knowing that would freak her out more. He'd only tell her if the situation became worse. "Not much. We were just talking about some guy."

(you can start playing the song here, if you'd like)

The discussion seemed to have ended there. Eduardo and Mark wandered off together, and Ell went back to her book. Tom began to pack away the food they'd gotten.

Edd glanced at him. "Do you really think it's nothing?" He asked in a whisper, clearly nervous.

"I mean, I hope so. We'll just have to be extra careful for now on." He answered with a shrug.

"If you say so. But I can't help but feel there's something more going on here."

-

Tom had moved back to his position on the floor by now, scribbling out more plans. He was soon interrupted by a voice behind him.

"Hey, Tom?" It was Eduardo, who had moved to the couch behind him. He turned around, looking at him.

"Yeah?"

Only now did he notice what he was looking at. It was a picture of two people, their arms around each other. Each had goofy smiles and big, innocent eyes. One of them was Tom. Another was a man with caramel brown hair that stuck up in two sort of horn shapes. He wore a red hoodie, the arm that wasn't wrapped around Tom held up in a peace sign. His boyfriend.

Eduardo shifted nervously, his gaze moving to Tom. "Do... do you miss him?" He asked softly. He'd never seen the male act like this before. So hesitant, his demeanor similar to a scared child.

He nodded his head. "I do. I miss him everyday, but it doesn't change anything." He whispered, a sad sigh following his words.

"I, uhm... if you don't mind me asking, what was it like to lose him?"

"I guess you could say it was like losing a piece of me. Like I haven't been fully complete since he left. I kept thinking he was going to come back, but he never did. It was difficult." Tom briefly contemplated why he would even be asking these questions, but then it hit him.

Jon.

They all knew it, but no one could bring themselves to say it out loud. He was dying. Chances are, he only had a few days left. Tom had done everything he could to save him. But sometimes, everything wasn't enough.

Eduardo went to open his mouth again, but stopped himself as he was soon interrupted.

"Dinners ready!" Edd's cheery voice rang out, not an ounce of his previous worries evident.

Dinners were always tense. There was talk about the future, the past, the present. Some occasional insults from conflicts that had yet to be resolved. Not everybody in here liked everyone else, but that was to be expected. It was the only meal where they all really had to be stuck together.

Tom stood up, Eduardo following behind him not long after.

He walked to the kitchen, going over grab a seat at the table. Everyone else was already there. Well, besides Jon of course. Eduardo usually took food in for him later.

Before Tom could even sit down, they were interrupted. All of their eyes moved to the direction of the door as it slammed open, hitting the wall with an ear piercing thud.

Everyone stood. Silence filled the room for a few seconds, to the point where you could here a pin drop.

And then the shooting started. Tom grabbed whoever was closet to him, which happened to be Edd, and pulled him to the ground. The two hid under the table as screams echoed through the room.

Tom saw blood on the floor. But he had no idea whose it was.

Edd was crying, Tom holding him close as he trembled in his arms. Until he felt himself being pulled up. He immediately went to attack the person, but they shushed him, hugging his waist tightly.

"Shh, dearest. It'll be okay. Everything will be over soon." A voice purred in his ear.

The familiar feeling of weight on his shoulder came back, hair horns brushing up gently against his neck and causing him to shutter. A hand was placed in his hair. Strands of it were twirled around bony fingers, making him choke out a sob.

Tom turned around, met with the very person who'd left him only months prior. It was his boyfriend, Tord. Dressed in a Red Army uniform and covered in blood, but Tord.

Tord smiled at him. Fucking smiled. Tom was absolutely horrified. This didn't look like his boyfriend. His kind, gentle boyfriend who was scared of spiders and the dark. The kind of person who couldn't bring himself to hurt a fly.

Guess he was wrong.

But Tom couldn't bring himself to look anywhere else. He didn't want to see the destruction this man had caused. He was certainly next. A warm welcome meant nothing in times of war.

He buried his face in his chest, tears streaming down his cheeks. He was paralyzed in fear, unable to move a muscle.

A scream louder than any other caused him to flinch. It sounded familiar, way too familiar. He attempted to look up, but Tord wouldn't let him. He gently guided his head back down, kissing his cheek.

"You're okay. I'm right here." He soothed, his hands moving to cover Tom's ears.

Shortly after, everything went quiet again. A voice began to converse with Tord in another language. Tom once again attempted to look up. Tord pushed him down again.

Tord wrapped his arms back around him, still seeming as calm as ever. "Gi meg en bind.  Han trenger ikke se dette."

He then felt something being tied around his head, blocking his sight. "W-Why..." He attempted to whisper.

Tord was quiet for awhile, lifting Tom up into his arms. "Don't worry about that, kattunge. I'm going to take you somewhere safe."

"I've missed you so much. Now you'll never have to leave my side." He hummed, walking out of the house with Tom in his arms. He had to step over a few bodies in order to do so, but that was nothing out of the ordinary.

After what felt like centuries, Tord finally had the person he loved so dearly. That meant he wasn't ever going to let him go.

-

the end! :0

got kinda shitty cause im really running out of motivation atm. ill try to be better in the future and hopefully finish some of your requests. 🥰

word count : 2498