Tom is probably having way too much fun surprising everyone. And it’s not as if he hasn’t kept in touch with them all over the years - no matter where he’s gone or how far away he is, Tom’s made sure to keep tabs on everyone he cares for so at least he knows they’re okay, or can visit and be there for them when they’re not. But no one knew he was coming here, no one expected him at Paragon - never mind to have him here for good.
As he wanders into the car shop he can’t the smile already on his face. Despite the rocky moments between them over the years, Tom is excited to see Ava again, to see how she’s doing, to spend some time with her again. He glances around as he wanders through the shop, his smile growing as he catches sight of Ava working on something, and he makes a beeline for her right away. “You think you could help me out? I’m looking for a scrappy mechanic with enough attitude to shut down just about anyone.” He says with a chuckle as he approaches.
The trip to Tom’s grave was interesting to say the least. At first, Todd was reclusive, sort of curled in on himself in the passenger seat. Tord caught him looking at his spotty hands and rawboned skin in passing street lights.
Edd was the one that tried to break the silence, randomly spouting a story of him and Tord getting chased across someone’s lawn in the middle of the night. Todd looked at him in the rear-view mirror as Tord laughed, surprised Edd remembered such a small moment. It seemed just the right thing to say, a mutual icebreaker with cloth tied around his fingers as he drove, and before Tord knew it, Edd and Todd were swapping stories about times Tord did something stupid or cute.
It turned into a bit of a double teamed teasing, where Edd accused Tord of acting like a moron on purpose, and Todd laughing aloud, declaring that Tord was terrible at lying and thus he must naturally be a complete idiot. Tord let out a scoff, throwing a somewhat offended look towards Todd, but he was surprised out of his mock scolding by Todd actually reaching out to brush some of Tord’s hair from his eyes.
While Tord’s heart fluttered, Todd and Edd delved into a conversation about the number of times they tried to get Tord to cut his hair. Tord’s eyes stayed on the road, but he could still feel the brush of Todd’s fingers against his skin. Even without the warmth and the skin, it was a touch that Tord found himself relieved to have again.
By the time they arrived, there was a possibility in the air of dragging Tord into a salon after they were done grave robbing. Tord declared that they could hold a vote for it once they got everyone else, but that just made Edd laugh under his bandanna and lightly nudge Todd with his shoulder.
“It is not going to be hard to get them on our side,” Edd announced cheerfully, leading the way to the gate and pushing it open with a skeletal hand. Todd snickered, and even Tord found himself smiling as he led them into yet another familiar graveyard that he knew from many visits.
Tord ended up taking more breaks when digging, his hand cramping and sliced finger tips still stinging. Edd was casual when he took the shovel from Tord, though he commented that he wasn’t wearing the correct kind of clothes to be grave digging. Todd stood beside Tord, though his attention drifted from asking about Edd’s exposed legs and molted green flesh to the headstone. He asked about Tom.
The sound of the spade stabbing into the ground was kept company with stories of Tom and Matt. Tord mentioned the times he had gotten distracted from his curse by the two of them, always seemingly without a word. They were understanding, and fun. Tom, although cynical, was kind deep down and incredibly sweet, though he never liked to talk about it much. He would off offhandedly mention things that he thought Tord would love, such as sales of a certain book or that he would be bringing Tord lunch. Tom used to give him drinks, and slip jackets on Tord’s shoulders without saying a word. He used to know the exact words to say that Tord couldn’t, and he seemed to say them without speaking.
“Tom always seemed to notice every little detail about me. Even if I was trying to hide things from him and Matt. He would see right through me, and just give me this stare- He had such dark eyes. It was like looking into space.” Tord let out a deep sigh, wiping sweat from his chin. With a huff, he heaved another spadeful of dirt out of the hole. It landed next to Todd’s foot.
Todd stared down at him under his hood, before commenting, “He sounds… different.”
“Your tastes are all over the board,” Edd added with a huff of a chuckle, and Todd threw a look at him. Edd was busy digging through Tord’s bag, pulling out jars and bottles and staring at them in the lantern light. He shook one or two before putting them back down.
“They sure are,” Todd agreed idly. Just then, a solid thud rang in the air and Tord laughed.
Todd helped Tord clear the last of the dirt, but flinched back behind Tord when he wretched open the coffin lid.
Tom’s body was thin and rotten inside his sagging suit. He seemed to mainly still have skin, though it was spotty, like specific parts of him decided to rot faster. Along his chin and his neck, leading up the back of his head, which was lolled to the side, the skin had split away to show nearly black muscle decomposing and dripping into the bed of his coffin like sweat. The shade of his skin was a slugged gray, and he still had lips although they were incredibly thin. His eyes, the ones that used to look like space, still had lids over them. Tord stared at him for a long moment, not moving.
“Hey, Tord, you gonna bring him back or just keep staring? We can leave you alone with the corpse if you want a minute.” Edd called, both making Todd jump and Tord snap out of his daze.
“Oh. Right. Sorry. Can you hand me the jar? The ones with the roots?”
Edd tossed the jar to Todd, who was determined not to look back at the coffin as he handed the jar to Tord. As Tord uncapped the jar and set about spreading the herbs around Tom’s body, Todd backed up against the edge of the hole, rotting hands worrying over themselves. Once Tord was done, and Edd threw him a water bottle of pink, Edd tapped Todd’s shoulder and offered his bone exposed hand. With a grateful sigh, Todd took Edd’s hand and let him help him out of the grave.
When Tord slit open a third finger tip, and let drops of dark red dot Tom’s cheek and head, Todd made a sharp noise.
“Do you have to do that?”
Tord wrapped up his newly injured finger with another cloth, making a thoughtful hum that was only slightly pitched with pain.
“Yes. The ritual requires blood from the summoner.”
“Okay, that makes sense, but why can’t you just use the other cuts you have,” Edd asked, as Todd reached down to help Tord out of the grave.
“Because it has to be fresh, dark blood. And the other cuts have been open too long and it’s technically tainted. So, it wouldn’t work,” Tord explained, a grunt to his words as he climbed from the hole.
Tord set up the last of the ritual, pulling out the candles and book. Edd sat down atop a headstone just behind Tord, his bare rotting legs surreal against the stone, just a bit too green to match in paleness. Todd stood next to Edd, watching Tord with a sort of fixed concerned stare, looking like he might want to step in at any second. But he didn’t.
Tord lit his candles, and sat between them. With his hands hovering just above the flames, Tord started the chant. Like before, the words itched his mouth and stung his tongue. His hands burned, his fingers ached and throbbed in time with his heart. With a vision flickering in and out, Tord didn’t really notice himself faltering slightly, but he didn’t stop the chant.
Todd was by his side the second Tord dropped his hands into his lap with a heaving breath, but was unable to say anything before a sudden loud shuddering gasp entered the air along with a tearing sound. Tord rushed over to the grave, stumbling a bit before he fell to his knees at the edge.
“Careful!” Todd warned, but Tord only had eyes on the grave, on the person sitting up in the coffin.
“Thomas!”
Unlike Todd and Edd, Tom did not jerk upright when Tord called to him. Instead, he slowly raised his head until black gaping sockets locked on him. The skin around his eyes seemed to be torn back slightly, even his eyelids seemingly ripped like tissue paper above where his eyes used to be. His hair was drooped, thin spikes hanging into his eyes like it used to only when it was wet. Black leaked down his neck where his suit jacket fell back.
For a long moment, Tom stared at him, the sickly skin around his eyes tensed making him look unsure.
“What hit me?” Tom spoke with a dry, graveled voice like he had gargled rocks.
A bit taken aback, Tord hesitated a moment before answering, “An air-conditioner. It fell from the sixth floor of an apartment downtown. Did- do you remember it?”
Tom’s hand, thinner than Tord ever seen, reached up and touched along the molting skin on his neck. The muscle he touched oozed under his fingers, but the hand roamed further up to the nape of his neck and the back of his head, where it stayed for a long minute. Tom’s thin lips fell into a sharp frown, just the tension in his jaw causing more of the skin to split along his chin.
“Yeah, I remember it.” Tom looked down at his hand, and noted the black oily liquid coating his fingers and staining the spotty skin their with dark ink like smears. The hand curled into a fist, and he looked back up at Tord. “You brought me back? Pulled some witch shit?”
Tord nodded and gestured for Tom to come towards him. Tom slowly pushed into standing as Tord spoke. He moved a bit sloppily, his feet tripping on the case, and a slight slouch to his posture.
“Yes. I hate to say that it took me a few years to decide to do it. But I’m finally bringing back all those taken from me. Matt’s next,” Tord stated, reaching out his hands to Tom. Tom’s hands were icy cold and surprisingly stiff under Tord’s fingers, though the skin felt unnervingly taunt.
The second Tom was before him, Tord made to put his arms around Tom’s neck. But he didn’t even get close.
Tom’s bones creaked when his fist connected with Tord’s cheek, knocking Tord onto his back with a yelp of pain. Tord held onto his burning, stinging cheek and felt the same black liquid smearing his skin as the kind on Tom’s open flesh. Before Tord or the startled Todd or Edd could do anything, Tom pointed an accusing finger at Tord, skin around his eye sockets furrowed into a glare.
“You’ve done something really fucked, Tord. I didn’t think you would stoop this low.” Tom nearly spat, but his voice was so dry. Tord blinked tears.
“I. Wha- What?”
“Waking up the dead. Reviving people who were planted in the fucking ground. Fucking with the natural cycle of life. Spitting in the face of death. Any of this ringing a fucked bell for you?! Apparently not, considering that I’m fucking asking you that question, huh?!”
“Wait, you don’t understand-” Tord tried, but Tom interrupted him, shoving to his feet with odd dry scraping noises.
“I understand that you just dug up and desecrated a fucking grave. You brought me back to life, something that someone who’s fucking died should never do! There’s tons of horror movies about this very scenario! You know, ones where karma comes right back around and ruins whoever decided to fuck with mortality? I know you’ve seen them, Tord, we watched them together. So you have no fucking excuse to think this was even remotely okay,” Tom’s voice got sharper with each shout, his voice raw and breaking like glass. Tord started to push himself up, expression concerned.
“Tom, you need to drink this before-” Tord was knocked down again, Tom’s tissue paper like flesh tearing at the knuckles when it collided with Tord’s jaw. Tord’s head was spinning as he groaned.
“Don’t pretend like this isn’t a big deal!”
“Wow, for a dead guy, he sure has a good punch.”
Tom stopped, glaring up from where Tord sat on the floor to Edd and Todd. Edd was still sitting on a headstone, but his hands were out of his pockets and he was sitting up straight. Todd had actually taken several steps forward, looking like he was about to break into a sprint for Tord. Tom’s expression slackened in surprise, but then he was back to snarling at Tord.
“Oh, good. I’m not the first Frankenstein monster you’ve dragged to life tonight. That’s really fucking great. It’s not as bad if it all happens at the same time, right? I can’t fucking believe you,” Tom said with a tone almost as cold as the flesh clinging to his rotten muscles and creaking bones.
“Hey, hey, look this is weird and all, I agree, but you need to calm down. Tord doesn’t need this right now,” Todd started. Tord was quietly panting, still holding his cheek.
“Tord doesn’t need this?” Tom repeated dryly. “Really? You want to defend him after what he’s fucking done? Look at yourself! I can tell from here that your throat is practically hamburger meat. You honestly think that’s alright?! This is against the laws of nature, laws of life!”
“You have a point, but don’t take it out on Tord. He was just lonely. His curse-”
Tom broke him off, “I know all about his fucking curse! It’s awful that he has to deal with killing everyone he loves, but guess what? That doesn’t excuse what he’s done now! The curse is on his family, and everyone who dies from it is not his fucking fault. It never was. He couldn’t control that shit anymore than he could control wanting to love someone in the first place! But he can fucking control this, and look what he’s done!”
“I had no other option!” Tord cried, both angry and upset.
“Bullshit!”
“I tried for years, Tom! Years! Before I knew you or Matt. I was trying to fix this stupid curse for so long, I’ve tried so many different paths, but I couldn’t find anything! There is no cure, there’s no way to fix it. I’m going to forever get everyone I love killed!”
“So you suddenly get to play God?!” Tom snapped, but Tord ignored him.
“It was unfair, Tom! The only other choices I had were to make myself hate instead of care, or to lock myself away somewhere all alone, or to kill myself as my family has done.”
Tom took two shambling steps forward and glowered down at Tord in his flat suit. Tord flinched back.
“Do not try to guilt trip the dead guy! I’m the one that was killed by a goddamn falling AC. My head was crushed, Tord. I fucking remember that feeling. And then it was over. I was resting or whatever you want to call it. And suddenly I’m being woken up in a grave, feeling wind against my skull! I don’t want to hear a stupid pity party excuse when I’m a fucking zombie!”
Furious desperate tears slipped down Tord’s cheeks. “What other choice did I have, Tom?! The only ones my curse can’t touch is you all! You’re the only ones that can’t be taken from me!”
“That’s because your curse already got us, Tord! That doesn’t mean that you-”
Tom broke off mid-sentence with a curse, and a very dry sounding snap noise caught Tord’s attention just a split second before Tom fell on the floor next to him, barely cushioning his fall with tearing skinned hands.
Startled, Tord reached out to help him but stopped when he saw the back of Tom’s head. A large portion of the skin there was gone, just rotten away along with any sort of muscle or nerves, to show Tom’s bare skull. Large obvious cracks lined down the bone, stained in black oily smears leaking from the edges of dark molted flesh higher up on his head. His neck was absolutely purified black rot that parted to show a cracked and chip streaked spine.
“Tom, are you okay?”
Tord stared wide eyed when Tom threw a glare at him, still collapsed at Tord’s side. Tom didn’t respond for a moment, just groaning sharply as he shifted, and only one of his legs followed. The other slipped further out of Tom’s pant leg, showing the paled dead flesh of his ankle.
Todd stepped up to Tord’s side before Tord could say anything, actually grabbing hold of Tord’s shoulder and pulling him up off the floor. Tord instinctively allowed Todd to pull him, though his feet stumbled and his eyes remained on Tom. Still, Tord didn’t let Todd lead him any further.
“What happened,” Todd asked, and Tom sneered.
With a sharp tone, Tom responded bitterly, “I think my leg snapped off- You know, because I’m a walking fucking corpse that’s not supposed to be walking!”
“Hey. You got out a few hits, made him cry, and yelled yourself hoarse. I think that’s quite enough, alright.” Todd spoke with a note of finality, hardly asking. His hands, mainly bone and thin flesh, were obvious on Tord’s arms, keeping him stable. Tom glared for a moment longer, before he let out a rough noise.
With a shake of his head, Tom shoved himself over onto his back to hide his exposed spine and skull. Then he slapped his rotten hands over his eye sockets in a sign of frustration. His leg slipped almost completely out of his pant leg, limp and dead with spots of grayed flesh peeling away to show rancid muscle and peeks of stained bone. It made a heavy dragging noise when Tom rolled from it.
Todd winced, trying to inch Tord away more. After a few steps of Tord letting himself be led, Tord pulled back to a stop, grabbing Todd’s hand and squeezing reassuringly.
“It’s okay,” Tord promised in a low voice, “Tom’s calmed down now. Let me talk with him. You and Edd can gather everything up so you’ll be right here in case you get nervous for me.”
Todd hesitated, his gritted teeth visible through the holes in his cheek. “I don’t know, Tord. He hit you pretty hard.”
“He’s not going to do it again now that he’s had a moment to breathe… Please. I know Tom, with time he’s going to be fine. He won’t even be angry once he sees Matt again.”
“Oh let him get punched again.” Edd announced as he stepped up to them, voice casual. Todd threw a dirty look at him, but I was impossible to tell Edd’s expression under his bandanna, though Todd was pretty sure Edd was grinning.
“What kind of a boyfriend are you? You’re not even trying to stop him from getting hurt,” Todd accused, more annoyed than actually angry.
“Tord’s a full grown dark magician, or witch or whatever. If he’s going around reviving his dead boyfriends then I think it goes without saying that he deserves to get a punch or two. Besides, we should probably let Tord talk to him before we try hauling an angry zombie dude around. I doubt Tord will let us leave him here anyway,” Edd nodded his head towards Tom, who was still laying on the ground with his hands on his face. Tord agreed, but Todd scowled for a moment before actually letting go of Tord.
As Tord walked back over to Tom, Todd muttered almost to himself, “Okay, now I really get why Tord fell in love with you.”
“Ditto.” Edd’s tone was friendly, and he nudged Todd as he went to collect the bags.
Tom made no move or sound when Tord stepped up to him, his footsteps solid and slow. Staring down at Tom, Tord scanned his dirty suit and loose leg and the way how Tom’s dead fingers touched his hairline just how he used to when he used to get headaches. With a deep breath, Tord spoke up.
“Tom. You should drink this,” Tord offered, holding the water bottle out, but Tom didn’t even drop his hands from his face.
“I’m not drinking anything you give me, witch. I’m just going to lay here until I rot into the ground like I was intended.” Tom’s tone wasn’t as sharp as before, but it was bitter. Tord probed the sore spot of the inside of his cheek with his tongue, not sure what to say.
“It will stop your body from falling apart any further. I was trying to give it to you the second you woke up so that this sort of thing wouldn’t happen…”
“Oh, wow, you’re so considerate,” Tom responded sarcastically, and Tord sighed. Despite the coldness, Tord couldn’t help but find that this was a familiar stab. In a bittersweet way, Tord had missed Tom’s edges even if they were digging into him with each word now.
“Tom, I’m serious. You’ll stay on the edge of death until you actually drink this. Please, it will help you feel better.”
“You want to know what would make me feel better?”
“… What?”
“Being dead again.”
“Tom.”
“Just bury me with my severed leg.”
“Okay, now you’re just pouting. I don’t know how to reverse bringing you to life, so you might as well just listen to me. Besides, we’re getting Matt next anyway, and I know you don’t want to fall apart before you see him again.”
Tom’s hands slid down from his eye sockets, dragging on his thin skin and causing tiny tears along his cheeks.
“So, you’re still going through with this? Even after what I just told you,” Tom’s tone was flat, and he spoke behind limp hands, his pit eyes tired.
Tord offered a tear-streaked half smile.
“I have to, Tom. I just can’t stand letting this curse ruin my life any further. I know it’s not the right thing to do, but I don’t really care about that anymore.”
Tom stared at him for a long minute. His hands dropped down to his rotting neck as he sighed into the air.
“Fine, but I’m not apologizing for hitting you. And you are going to pamper the shit out of me and Matt.”
“I planned on it!” Tord’s smile spread wide, and Tom’s hand came up.
“Give me the juice.”
Tom scowled at the liquid in the bottle, but unscrewed the top without much care and drank it all down in one long swig. Pink and black seeped at his rotten throat. Once he finished, he crushed the bottle in his hand and tossed it into his grave.
“I feel like that is really disrespectful. But it’s your grave so I’m not really sure,” Edd commented, tossing Tord the backpack once Tord looked up at him.
“I’m pretty sure littering in a graveyard is disrespectful regardless of if your grave’s here. It’s the symbolism,” Todd called from where he was zipping up the duffle bag.
“It’s the symbolism,” Tom mocked in a much stronger voice than before, sounding more bored than actually annoyed, “Tord, who are these two anyway? You didn’t just wake up random people did you?”
“Of course not. You actually know them, or, at least, I told you about them. This is Edd and Todd. My previous loves before you and Matt came.” Tord busied himself by digging through the bag for clothing. Tom hummed in understanding.
“Right,” He drew out the word as he glanced at the two in question.
Tom didn’t exactly change, but he did accept the dark blue coat from Tord. He slipped it over his stained rotting dress shirt, and abandoned the suit jacket as well as the now loose dress shoes.
Tom’s detached leg was picked up by Edd, the only one not that uncomfortable about it. It was heavy and swollen and rotting with molded pale skin, and Edd casually picked it up by the spotted thigh. Tom snapped at him to give it back, but Tord calmed him when he told Tom that Edd would be sewing the leg back on once they reached Matt’s grave, down the hill. Edd was not helping the situation by making puns and tucking the limb under his arm like a newspaper.
Tord helped Tom onto Todd’s back, who brushed off Tom’s hesitation. Before they started their trek, Tord paused a moment.
“Tom,” Tom turned his head on Todd’s shoulder, and was surprised by Tord giving him a peck on the lips, “I missed you.”
Tord also pressed a quick kiss to Todd’s cheek, which earned a slightly uneasy hum. Tom made a disgusted noise.
“That’s nasty, Tord! My skin is falling off!”
“I know, right. I want to admire his bravery, but I’m also incredibly worried that kissing corpses isn’t healthy,” Todd agreed, the same sort of startled, grossed tone as Tom.
Tord laughed, taking no offense as he snatched up the shovel and took the lead down the path.
can we pleasekdjjdkeg just take a fucking moment like tom pls wear leather jacket and a dad hat on a regular basis -fluffholland™ (sorry for not posting an imagine today im celebrating my day of birth)
Tom Ford and Jonathan is such a good combination, and I loved ASingle Man too. I can see it working out so well in their director/actor pairing
I KNAURRRRRRRR
a single man is my favourite too, like you have no idea i have like written analysis based on the cinematography of that film and all
ME TOO like the vision is so clear in my head and they already know each other bc jonny wore tom ford to the met so it’s literally all working out well in my head jsjsjsk
i can see the aesthetics and EVERYTHING and my GAWD i cannot wait for this imaginary for now but a reality in the future film
