#ew polyworld

You're right, he doesn't and he deserves to be loved. Thanks for the request <3

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Say what you want about Tom, but he wasn’t stupid. Although he was slightly drunk often, or just buzzed, it didn’t mean he didn’t notice the changes around him. His boyfriends were weird, but they had never been this weird. At least, not recently. Sure there were times in high school that Tom could say they were lunatics but they had each chilled out after they graduated.

The changes went from subtle to flat out What Is Up With Them.

From what Tom could tell, it started when Edd insisted that someone sleep in his bed nearly every night. He didn’t actually mind that, so long as he got a night free to himself when he didn’t feel like having anyone hold onto him all night.

It escalated from there. Everyone had their own little thing, but Tom noticed, he really did and at this point, he wasn’t sure of what to think about it. He’d never had a relationship like this. What was normal and what was just his boyfriend’s being them?

Tord was more handsy in public, Matt was Matt, just escalating his compliments mostly towards Tom, and Edd seemed to love drawing Tom more than anything else and absolutely needed to know where Tom was at all times. Someone always had to be holding his hand when they left the house. Each of them was meaner when the neighbors aimed a comment towards Tom. It was. Tom didn’t know where to begin with his feelings about it.

He was flattered? Irritated? Worried? For sure a mixture of those and more. But any attempt at bringing it up was brushed off.

“Psh, you're imagining things,” Tord told him. “I’ve always loved holding each of you in public. Shows everyone who you all belong to.”

“Why wouldn’t I tell you how handsome and lovely you are?” Matt asked him.

“I like drawing you! Your eyes are easy to draw. And why wouldn't I want to know where you are? What if someone hurts you and leaves you stranded?” Edd said nothing else about it.

Matt was here. Matt. Was. Here.

Instant panic ensued in Tord's mind as he thought of everything that could potentially happen. He still didn't exactly have full proof of the whole multiverse idea thing, so he tried to figure out the following:

If by some miracle only Jon and his roommates/toxic-ass boyfriends didn't know about him- maybe they just forgot. And Jon just looked naturally young.

He would try to figure out another option but nothing came up. If Matt remembered him, he would have a second theory, but that was also shaky. Since, of course, he had to come across the second least reliable person in his state of panic. You know, the guy who forgets names of people he literally lives with.

'Can't I find someone with a brain cell?', he asked, not having a brain cell. Then again, he also wasn't sure if he wanted to meet someone like, let's say Tom in case he remembered him.

"So? What are you doing here? The park is cold. I'm only here because my neighbors are fighting again"

Ah, so it was his fault that Matt was here. Great. Without asking, Matt ended up sitting down right next to Tord on the bench- wait when did he sit down? I guess they were both sitting down now.

"Oh, yeah, I'm just… here. Stuff happened, and I'm basically homeless now, and so I came here"

He didn't feel like revealing the absolute shitshow that got him here. No, thanks!

"Oh! Really? You're lucky, our poolroom just lost all its water, if you dry it a bit you can live there! It'll be perfect!"

If mold was perfect, sure. If he remembered right, wouldn't that be Tom's old room then? But that wouldn't make sense since Tord was unknown to everyone, so he never moved in and therefore never moved out. But wait, was this a good idea?

He was so unsure. So he got lost in his brain all over again.

"Perfect…"

He repeated what Matt had said while thinking about those possibilities. The voice beside him gave a hum and just grabbed his arm.

"Perfect!"

Matt also repeated, seemingly taking the repetition as Tord agreeing.

"Wait no that's not-"

"Huh? Oh, right! Where are your things?"

"I don't really have anything with me"

"SHOPPING TIME! I mean- I'm so sorry for you?"

"... It's fine?"

"GREAT! Let's go!"

And just like that they were off to the mall, no more questions asked. They spent the day there, and while it seemed to have been Matt's original plan to buy things for Tord, most of the bags that ended up being carried home by him were Matt's things- did he really need that many clothes? They were all the same shade of purple anyway. It was pointless. But for him, he got a bag of stuff including clothes, and he felt more relaxed about meeting the others at the end. He ended up deciding that he would need a new name - he wasn't sure why, but the idea of being called his own name made him feel sick. Maybe it was because he related it to the past, maybe his dysphoria decided that he needed a name switch again, but whatever the case, he decided that he won't keep it.

That thought continued to run through his head repeatedly until they were home, so he was too distracted by it to notice that Jon, Eduardo, and Mark had stopped fighting. And he didn't pay attention to the fact that they were home now, but that was made obvious soon enough, when Matt opened the door and two voices came through.

"Took you long enough, if I cared I would have been worried."

"Any interesting junk you found?"

Tom and Edd questioned respectively, not bothering to wait their turn, so it ended up being more or less a mess of words.

Tord could understand them just fine though, despite the long times he spent away from them. He could never forget their habits. Speaking of Tord, he was just sort of standing in the doorway, the last bit of panic for the day rushing through him. They wouldn't recognize them, would they? He would just hope the name wasn't obvious enough. Maybe stealing the one from the news guy wasn't enough? Okay, no, that wasn't much of a common name. The only other person he knew who would have that name wasn't a person, but a fucking chipmunk. And not even the right color.

"Hey, clothes are NOT junk! I was at the mall and I got-"

"Huh, could've sworn you were at the yard sa-"

"Actually I just realized, why would he be at- why would Eduardo be doing a yard sale in the first place?"

"Right. There weren't any price tags. His lawn was probably just messy"

"His lawn was messy?"

Tord questioned out loud, turning the heads of everyone involved in the conversation.

"I mean- whose lawn?"

He corrected himself quickly.

Fin redde (Nice save) he thought.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

Tom's empty eyes piercing right through Tord's soul. If Edd looked more threatening, Tord was sure he would say the same thing about his eyes. Then again, he could say much about all of their-

"This is my friend! He didn't have a home! He's- what is your name?"

A classic Tom facepalm was heard.

"So let me get this straight-"

Well, that's gonna be hard.

"-you picked some one-armed hobo off of the street and decided to just take him here without asking us first, and you don't even know his name?"

A cola can was thrown at the one who spoke. Tord just felt stupid already.

Matt put a finger to his chin, almost looking like he was thinking. Then he nodded quickly.

"Pretty much, yes!!"

Tom rubbed his head from the cola can, his head turned in Edd's direction. There was a silent conversation between them, followed by Edd poking Tom before replying.

"This might as well happen, you can stay."

"If you say who the fuck you are"

Tom added.

Now, the moment of truth. Or the moment of- what was the opposite of truth in English again? Distruth? Untruth? He'll go with untruth. All he had to do was say the name. He gripped his sleeve, trying not to hesitate too much.

"What? Did you forget your-"

"I'm Theo. Theodore."

He managed to tell them, a smile crossing his face. A chorus of name introductions followed, including Matt who had forgotten that he already introduced himself like 5 times in the mall. He didn't listen, he already knew them. But… the anxiety faded away, slowly. He wasn't known. Now he was sure, he could start over as someone else entirely, someone completely free from his history. And so, eventually, a small smile found its way onto his face.

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everytime i redraw this image i get lazier and gayer

shoves it into your mouth

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Chapter warnings: suicide, writing in a way that seems like I'm making fun of the person who died

Living here, it was like he had never left. Or in that case, it felt like he had never moved in at all. Like he was there for the first time. It turned out that no matter what, the room nobody was in was destined to become a horrible attempt to make a pool. And it failed every time for sure.

Of course, the water was let out but… the smell was HORRIBLE. He could not stand it. Mold and fish- where did they even get fish? It was also a pain in the ass to get new furniture. Thankfully, him never being in there meant that there was no furniture that could have gotten wet. He bet that they would not have taken anything out before putting water in there. Still, the new (and shitty) furniture didn't excuse the rotten fish smell. Tord had probably used up all the air freshener that others would take a year to use up in the span of, what, a month?

Oh yeah, he has been there for a month now. Other than the fishy smell it was…okay. Food ran out easily, so bi-weekly shopping trips were a thing. Until now, they had apparently gone once a week with a shopping list and a second time to just refill on things that ran out. Now, twice a week, two of them would go, and then a refill trip on the weekend. Mondays it was always Matt and whoever he took, Thursdays it was Tom and occasionally whoever wanted to go, and Edd or Tord- Theo himself did the refill trips if needed.

Speaking of him and the others, their relationship was something for sure. He spent a week being cautious in case they were just PRETENDING to not know him, but when it seemed like they really didn't, he relaxed a bit around them. And they were already relaxed anyway. Edd and Matt especially. They were relaxed.

Tom was another story. Tom didn't trust him, and he didn't trust Tom in return. Maybe it was some multi-universe thing like he could sense it through universes that Tord wasn't there to trust.. He felt like he was being watched like, all the time. Whenever he was in the kitchen, Tom was already there as if he knew he'd be there, for example. On the refill trips, he would always go with Tord. Like he didn't trust him to go get cola alone. He searched for Norwegian captions on movies as if he was MOCKING him for his habit of messing up words in English. Classic Asshole Tom.

So yeah, him and Tom were a problem, and it was all Tom's fault for not liking him. But I guess it didn't seem like he hated him, so Tord not-hated him back because of that. They were like Tom (hah) and Jerry, not necessarily enemies all the time but destined to at least be rivals across universes.

Don't even get him started on universes. Tord was constantly trying to figure out what the deal with this one is. He only knew a few so far.

-his roommates and his neighbors had no clue who he was

-the room he was living in used to be a pool

-Jon was a nurse (he wasn't sure if that one was a difference or a realization, he didn't know enough but he assumed it's different)

He had come to the conclusion that his self from here must still be in Norway. As in the first time, not the "I'm going to the big city" lie time he was in Norway. He had never come here at all, that seemed to be the case. Which was good, he didn't want to come across himself. He had thought about cutting off his horn-hair to be less recognizable but…why would he do that? It looked good and there wasn't any danger to be caught.

Especially not when he already built up his fake identity in all ways that he could. He was experienced with name changes after all, but the problem was he didn't just change his name, he had to build up an entire identity from nothing.

He hated to admit it but Tom actually… helped him with that. The one time Tord being trans and his surgery scars being visible was helpful and not a cause for annoying questions was this time. Actually, it was the reason he DIDN'T get asked annoying questions.

Tom explained to him that you can get your name changed illegally on your own. Basically, back when it happened to Tom himself, he was afraid of getting asked invasive questions including what toys he played with as a child or who he was attracted to (as if that had something to do with it), so he just found a way. A friend of his knew a friend who had a way of changing those files.

And in Tord's case, to add new ones. It was surprisingly easy to make it so they thought that he moved here without his name change and wasn't registered here under any name, and Tom really couldn't care about that happening illegally or legally.

So that was his official story: He came here somehow, he doesn't want to get registered under his deadname just for the sake of changing it by having to see a therapist again for a year and then getting asked invasive questions in court, so he was under this one now.

He was Theodore Hansen.

After Tom helped him, Tord felt differently about him. He didn't hate him, or he wouldn't have helped. But then why was he always-

"You've been zoning out this entire time."

Edd pointed out from next to him.

"Was turning off the captions for once a bad idea? Yeah, probably. You messed up on infinitesimal last week"

Tom chuckled slightly at the memory.

"I don't even use that word!"

To- Theo defended himself, crossing his arms.

"I'm just teasing-"

Tom nudged him, making Theo shrink back and Tom roll his eyes before he continued speaking.

"-but yeah. Matt, turn them on"

A thumbs up from Matt and a button press later, and the words

"Mr. Benson ... representerer du alle verdens bier?" were on the screen. Which one of them decided it was a good idea to unironically watch that? No idea.

The movie continued, he was lost in his thoughts again, and before he knew it, it was over and everyone was off to sleep. Everyone started leaving the room. First was Edd, he had run out of cola 20 minutes ago and didn't feel like getting up back then, but he got one right before he went to sleep. Then was Matt, saying he needed his beauty sleep.

"You definitely do" Tom had piped up, which caused Matt to reply

"And what was THAT supposed to mean?"

And Theo laughed.

That little interaction felt so familiar and euphoric, it was like before he had ever thought about taking over the world, it was comfortable, and he wished for more like it. Even just watching it was enough, he doubted he would ever be a part of it, and that was fine. Sure, Tom clearly, undeniably, positively, unquestionably, and without any sort of doubt disliked him, but he could deal with that. At least they weren't trying to kill each other.

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I made an Eddsworld fic that'll be vaguely inspired by a few songs from the Podcast musical 36 Questions. You don't have to have listened to it, since it's just vague inspiration.

Summary under cut.

(Immediate suicide mention warning)

Looks like SOMEONE forgot to post Chapter 3 here (glares at myself