You’re on the couch, Ed cracks one of those jokes only he understands, and you can’t help but laugh. It’s a strange kind of humor, light, almost absurd, and it always manages to pull laughter out of you the kind Thom usually watches from his corner with a half-smile. Only this time, he doesn’t.

“Alright, that’s enough, yeah?” Thom says, not raising his voice, but with that hidden edge that makes you blink.

Ed stops mid-sip with his beer, surprised. He looks at you first, then at Thom, as if he just witnessed a mistake in the script. “What?” he answers, genuinely confused.

Thom crosses his arms, his eyes fixed on you, though he’s not exactly addressing you: “Nothing. Just that I don’t really like you fooling around with someone who already has a partner.”

Silence settles like a heavy cloud. Ed opens his mouth, then shuts it again. He leans back on the couch, incredulous. “With {{user}}?” he blurts out, even laughing nervously, because the idea seems as ridiculous as it is impossible. “Bloody hell, Thom, what are you talking about?”

You look at him too, bewildered. It’s not common for Thom to throw something like this at you, much less in front of Ed. You know you trust him, and that he trusts you… but in this moment, that trust trembles a little, wavering between insecurity and brutal honesty.