Tom fiddled with the charm. It was a tiny chewable robot on a simple leather chord. He vaguley remembered Matt getting it for Tord, so he'd quit chewing on his hoodie strings. It grossed Matt out when people chewed on the strings. The aglett on Tords right hoodie string was absolutely destroyed, had been for as long as Tom could remember.

He set the necklace aside, and dug through the box. Concert tickets that Tord had snagged for him and Tom, some random shirt for an anime with a butler dressed in dark clothes, drawing of his friends. Tom slightly blushed, he was drawn a little more than the others, and Tord was phenomenal at drawing people. He was better than Edd, not that he'd ever tell Edd that. He bit his lip and set the drawing to the side.

A notebook filled with notes, all written with what looked like gibberish. It was most likely in norwegian Tom reasoned, polaroids of all of them hanging out, some of each of them separately, some of Pau and Pat. Tom blinked confusdedly and checked the time on those ones. They were taken just before Tord had moved out years before. The battle of the bands shirt was neatly folded at the bottom.

Blue prints for random things, those weird portable couches, one for an... arm? Tom set those down with some slight discomfort. Tom froze, a friendship braclet he had made Tord when they were like, seven, how in the world did he still even have that? Letters Edd had wrote to him after he moved out. A fork and spoon, some stray bullets, a pocket knife, gum wrappers with notes on them.

He put everything back where it had been and queitly went back to Edds.

...

" Oh, and Thomas? Stay out of my stuff..."

Tom looked up with a start. Tord couldn't have known, there was no fucking way he could have known. Ringo rubbed against his leg, demanding pets. Tom lightly scratched her between the ears, staring at the floor in confusion.

" Tom, you're not snooping are you?" Edd disappointedly looked at him.

" No"

" Are you sure?"

" ...yes?" Tom shrugged, Edd rolled his eyes

Matt came in eating a banana and sat himself on the couch, flipping on The children on the tv. He eyed Tom with a curious look.

" What're you staring at?" Tom lightly glared at him

" hmm."

" Matt?"

" hmmm"

" Matt, what?"

" Can i paint your nails?" Tom sat up in slight shock.

" What?"

" I'd do them black.. ooh! I could do checker patterns!" Matts eyes lit up with excitement.

...

Edd walked in and blinked.

Matt had wrestled Tom to the ground and was painting his nails. Edd groaned, rubbing his temple slightly.

" matt we talked about this..."

" I know Edd, but look! They're so pretty!" Tom grumbled and glared at the ginger... He did have to admit they looked cool. Perfect black and white checkers.

" Matt, you can't force people to let you paint their nails." Edd sighed, slumping down onto the couch and sipping his cola.

Tom stuck his tounge out at Matt, who only dryly smiled in response. The three men sat in silence, the only noise being the tv, Edd slurping his cola, and Tom occasionally humming. When Matt was done, satisified that Tom's nails were dry enough, he moved to the couch. Tord eventually wandered back in, wearing a black tshirt and a pair of red pajama pants. He laid down on the floor, his head resting on Toms shoulder, and he procceded to fall asleep.

Tom froze, he could feel his face heat up. Edd was grinning at him, Matt meerly slid a glance out of the corner of his eyes towards them then back to the tv. Tom caught himself staring at Tord's arm, which was only partly covered in bandages know. Edd saw too. His arm was covered in burn marks, worse so than his face. The arm looked dead, heavy stitching everywhere. Tom sucked in his breath and looked away.

Tom released a weird squeal noise, causing Edd and Matt to look over in confusion. Tord had wrapped his arms around Tom and had burried his face into Tom. Edd lightly smiled, before standing to his feet. He carefully woke Tord up, and helped him to the guest bed. He returned to Matt asleep as well, and Tom hugging his knees to his chest.

" You good?" He softly questioned.

" ... ya...i'm fine." Tom quietly answered back.

He stood up, told Edd goodnight and headed to his room. Edd lightly smiled as he watched Tom leave. There was a slight thud noise as Matt rolled off the couch. He meerly kept on sleeping. Edd looked over at him and grinned. He softly curled up around Matt and closed his eyes.

...

Tord queitly opened his eyes, it was dark. He stared at the ceiling, gently raising his bad arm up so he could veiw his hand. He tried to open it all the way, but he could only manage part way. Same with him trying to close it into a fist, he could only get about 3/4 of the way there. He sighed and bit his lip. He lightly traced a finger over the marks on his face with a defeated sigh.

It'd get better,

soon.

Right?

( Authors note: the beginning of this chapter takes place at the same time as the beginning of chapter 10. the ... between parts are time skips)