"I'm exhausted. The triplets run me up the wall twenty-four seven and being six and a half months pregnant with twins is helping nobody. Take the kids to work for one day please. All I'm asking for is one day to myself." Tord was tired beyond belief, he was home with three overactive three year olds everyday unless he was at an appointment or his fiances were off work. And the way it was all heading he wouldn't have a moment to himself until the set of twins he was still pregnant with reached preschool. Gaining three nods from the men who promised to marry both himself and each other, he sighed in relief.
The next morning was hectic. Tom had already left with a sleeping Jonas at four in the morning, the toddler still asleep in his father's had taken a change of clothes for the boy when he woke up finally. Around six Edd had left with his bag and Elijah who had his own backpack filled with toys and his own art supplies. Tord had been woken up by the bedroom door being shut and was there to say goodbye to the two. He was still sitting at the kitchen table an hour and a half later when Matt was rushing around the house. Giving Delilah two slices of honey toast to eat for breakfast, he rubbed his back before pouring a cup of coffee for the ginger. Matt was running late again and he was glad he could watch his fiance run around like this.
"Lilalynn why don't you help your daddy by putting his bag and your bag in the car and buckling in after you finish eating." Smiling at the little girl, he unlocked the car and watched her get in with the bags as Matt came back finished with what he could do before he would get in trouble. Handing the forgetful ginger the keys and the coffee, Tord gave him a kiss on the cheek before waving goodbye. Finally peace and quiet.
An hour late, that's what he was. He was supposed to be at the shoot by eight and he ran in at nine with Delilah behind him. Traffic was hard to get through. Running into the dressing room , he asked for one of the stylists to find somewhere Delilah can watch. The little ginger girl was sat in a director's style chair by the set, she guessed that this is what papa Tom's work looks like.
"Why hello! And who might you be little miss?" She looked up and saw a man who was older than her daddy looking at her. Her light blue eyes widened, before she glanced around looking for anyone who wasn't a stranger.
"Mister McFarland, Harrison is here. He's getting dressed currently." A brunette woman who was wearing a mic and holding a clipboard walked up to the man who had spoken to her.
"Cassandra do you know who's child this is?"
"I believe she came in with Mister Harrison, sir. Do you want me to take her to the daycare three floors down?" Watching the man shake his head, the woman looked at him oddly. Delilah didn't know what was going on but she watched as the man whispered something before kneeling down in front of her.
"How would you like to help your daddy today little one?" She looked up at him confused. Help her daddy? What did he need help with? Nodding shyly, she was helped down from her chair and led to another room like the one her daddy was in last she saw.
"Hey there cutie what's your name? I'm Aubrey." A blonde woman who was already in the room waved to her, pulling out a salon chair for her to sit in. Climbing into the black chair, Delilah told the woman her name, she was really nice and helped fix her hair before helping her get dressed. The shirt was really itchy and when she said that, Aubrey helped her put an undershirt on so it wasn't so bad. Having a sunhat be placed on her head after getting the sandals on, she was led out to where the chair was. Seeing her daddy talking to the other man, she ran over and grabbed his leg.
"So that's where you went. Did you tell Aubrey thank you?" Matt saw his little girl nod and smiled to himself. Shes so much like her mum was when they were all younger.
Waking up early wasn't hard to adapt to after cutting back on drinking. Hes nearly quit drinking entirely since they had all found out about the triplets, only accepting a few drinks now and then. If he hadn't he wouldn't have been able to keep his second job as long as he had. Putting Jonas down onto a couch behind the camera, he left for only a few moments to get a cup of coffee to find his son missing.
"Teddy? Where did you go kiddo." Thankful that there weren't many people there yet seeing as how it was only five thirty in the morning, he picked up the small backpack noting that the teddy bear that had been fixed up and cleaned up from his own childhood was missing. Jonas had found the bear when he was first starting to crawl when the trio were around seven months old. It was hard to keep track of the three of them and if you couldn't see even one of them you would know there was trouble. It seemed while cleaning out his old room that the ratty old bear fell from one of the boxes and the fist one to get his tiny hands on it was Jonas, who wouldn't let go of it even when offered his teething toys and puffs. Eventually they took the bear while he was asleep to assess the damage. When he woke up without the stuffed toy the next morning the whole house was woken. Tord had managed to figure out how to fix the bear and clean out any stains before handing it back over. Teddy now seemed to carry it around as if it was a security blanket.
An hour later when most of the rest of the crew had arrived he was still looking for his son. Asking each person who had come in for work to keep an eye out for the toddler. It was nearly two hours later that they found a little boy hiding in a part of the set, chalk in hand, and crude drawings of seven figures in white chalk on fake stone.
"Mister Rinwell? I think I found the kid. Hey there buddy come on out. You scared your dad a bunch when you ran off like that." Tom had practically run over when he was called, hoping that he wouldn't have to file a missing persons report for his three year old son. Tord would have him by the neck if he heard about this whole incident. Watching his heterochromatic son come out from the cave portion of the set, he caught the dark blonde as the boy ran into his arms. Hearing cheers from the surrounding room, he lifted Jonas into the air.
"That was probably one of the best things to happen during work. Thank god the camera was on." Guess there would be some bloopers for the extras of this film, and the family was going to be in the film with the cave drawing. Tord can't be too mad with him can he?
Making it into work earlier than he would usually need to, he got Elijah set up at his desk before getting each individual easel set up. His first class came in at eight, the second at ten fifteen followed by lunch and planning, two more classes after that which would keep him there normally till around five in the afternoon. But it seemed that he forgot there was a meeting after his classes. So there was a high chance he wouldn't get home until after dark. It wasn't too much of a bad thing, but by the time they got home Elijah would probably already be asleep.
Watching as his students took their seats, he only barely noticed the looks that were sent towards his son who was sitting at his desk. Giving directions on what to do and how long his students had to finish the project, he left them to their own devices to go and check on Elijah. Everything was fine till after his lunch break, having helped his son onto a stool by an easel after the small brunette had pestered him that he wanted to be like the 'big kids'. Having sent a few pictures of the boy in a smock obviously too big on him with paint brushes in his small hands to his fiances, he made sure to instruct his students for a few moments before being pulled away.
Elijah was fine with his dad being out of the room, he knew that the other people in the room wouldn't mind him. Or well that's what the three year old thought. See the easel he was using to paint on was an older one that had been at the school longer than his dad had been working there, and a few students believed it to be special. One such student was glaring at the toddler before putting down his canvas and paints to stomp over to the young child.
"Out of my work area you little brat. You don't belong here. Who let the diaper child in?" Laughing, he pushed the wet and colorful canvas onto the small boy, who was pushed onto the floor. Elijah who was only three inches short of three feet, picked himself off the floor with red blue green and yellow pant covering his face, hair and the apron. What neither knew was that there had been a camera recording since the young adult had stomped over. There was laughter from some of the other students, confusion and disgust from some others but nobody came over to help.
"I'm not a baby! An dat was mean!" Stomping his little shoe onto the tiled floor, Eli looked upset by both the actions and the speech.
"Oh yeah? Then prove it you little dumb fuck." The college student gave a wolfish grin thinking he won. Elijah covered his ears at the first syllable of the word dumb, knowing his parents wouldn't appreciate him learning any foul language at this age, despite already knowing some choice words via his mummy whenever he hit his hand with one of the tools and his papa Tom whenever he got annoyed or thought he couldn't be heard. Stamping his little foot on the ground, the little paint-covered toddler moved closer to the student before using all the strength in his little legs to try and crush the older boy's toes.
"You little brat!" Being kicked back roughly, Elijah's hazel eyes widened in fear at seeing a fist come towards him. The entire classroom went silent before there was shouting. The small brunette should have been crying, but he was silent as he stared at the increasing amount of red on his shirt and in his hand from his nose. There were a few students who kept taking pictures. A few moments later, Edd ran back into the room with a security guard behind himself.
"Landon Miller out of my classroom this instant. Your parents will be hearing about this. Elijah are you alright?!" Smiling happily, Elijah ran over to his father and showed all the color he was covered in. The security guard followed the nineteen year old out of the building and drove the previous college student back to his house to speak with his parents.
"Is anyone able to tell me what happened here? I leave the room for ten minutes to speak with another teacher only to come back and find my son being hurt by a student and nobody doing anything to stop it." He picked up his bloody son before leaving his classroom to go into the bathroom, asking another professor to watch his class while he was away. Grabbing paper towels, he sat Elijah onto the counter of the sink before turning on the water. Getting a paper towel wet, he began to carefully wash the paint and blood from Elijah's face, making sure he didn't get any into the boy's eyes and mouth. He couldn't do much of anything about the paint in the boy's hair, they'd have to wait till they got home. The thought of home made him physically flinch, the thought of facing Tord after this causing terror in the tall brunette. There were three ways Tord would react to this: yell at him for leaving Elijah alone with a group of strangers, cry and want to cuddle with everyone, or the worst case scenario, hunt down Landon with murderous intent. Yeah it's been years since any of them have committed murder, and in his right mind, Tord would be appalled or weep hearing about the Red Army or someone even mentioning his past title of 'Red Leader'. He wanted to forget about it all, wanted to make a clean slate. As far as the world knew he was a dead man, someone who died in the line of work tragically, who died either a hero or a villain depending on how a person saw him.
"Papa wat wong? I otay!" Elijah flung his paint and blood covered hands into the air. Chuckling softly, he continued to wipe his son off, removing his smock, and soiled tee along with the toddler's pants.
"Your mum is going to be mad at me for this happening. Now hold still for a few more minutes, I need to get the paint off your arms and neck." Motioning for the toddler to close his hazel eyes, he used another damp paper towel to carefully scrub the toddler's face, neck, and arms. The smock was overall fine, but the clothes would need to be scrubbed at some point. Thankfully the blood had stopped while he was cleaning up Elijah.
"Let's get back to my classroom. I don't think I have any spare clothes for you but I might be able to find an old coat you can wear till we get home or till I can get someone to drop off a change of clothes for you." Picking up his son along with the paint covered clothes, he left the bathroom to go back to his classroom carrying both in separate arms. Thanking his colleague, he set his son who was clothed only in a diaper, socks, and sneakers into his desk chair to take over the rest of instruction. Taking care of his students, he went back behind his desk to look into a cabinet for something old his son could wear. Pulling on a jade green long sleeve, he knew that it would have to do till he had the chance to question his partners on whether they could bring him any spare clothes for Eli. Tom should be getting off work soon…
"Professor Gold. I found this in the back trashcan and thought you would still want it." Turning to the direction the voice came from, he came face to face with a colorful canvas being held by a pair of ghost pale hands. Giving a small smile, he took the work from his student.
"Thank you, I don't know what I'd do if this had been thrown out, Evelyn." Watching the young woman give a small smile back, he kept facing the direction as the brunette walked back to her seat. Setting the artwork down beside his desk, he checked around the room to see if anyone needed help before going back to where his son was. Getting the large jacket onto his son was a task, but there wasn't much of a struggle from the boy. Sending a quick request to Tom asking if the other could bring clothes that Elijah could wear, he sent a picture of the toddler in his old hoodie for his reasoning with a 'I'll explain later' after. There were no further incidents after the fight, the rest of his classes that day were acting their ages. Elijah had taken a nap while he was in his meeting, the little boy sleeping keeping the other adults from starting anything. How Elijah's been all day makes him remember things from years ago. So spunky like his mum.
Tom had gotten home around five while he was relaxing. The twins were hyper as anything usually, but today it seemed like they respected their mum's want to rest. After Matt had left that morning, he had tried to get back to bed only for the twins to wake up and go after his bladder. He's six and a half months pregnant, not much of a surprise. He had decided to take a well needed bath, his sore muscles relaxing and the children staying calm with the warmth. They've stayed calm since the small semi-bonding moment, no actual kicks from the boys, only small grazes and movements.
So Tom had gotten home first, Jonas talking excitedly about his day at his father's work. He had been cooking dinner, perched on a tall stool. There was a sheepish look from Tom when he had asked about his fiancee's day, a mumbling of 'I'll tell you later' which Tord would definitely be pulling him through on. The next home was Matt who came in with a very dressed up Delilah in front of him. Giving a questioning look at his daughter's change in style, he put the pan in the oven and set a timer.
"Couldn't say no to her. She's going to be coming with me to work for a while." Smiling softly he rubbed Matt's arm.
"Well think of it as more father daughter bonding." Getting on his tiptoes for no more than ten seconds, he kissed the back of the ginger's jaw.
"You're just glad that you don't have to handle all the kids at once for a while. So cruel." Laughing it off, he went into the living room where the two kids were playing on Tom. The grown man was flat on his face on the living room floor while Jonas and Delilah, who changed into a play outfit, were climbing on him. Silently laughing, he saw Matt capture the moment in a picture before he kicked his fiancee in the hip lightly. The five of them continued with what they were doing for the next hour and a half, himself pausing to check on the food to make sure it didn't burn. They didn't need a repeat of that incident. They were going to have a late dinner so everyone could eat together, so eventually he turned the oven off, letting the food stay warm while the group of them waited for the other two members of the household to come home.
It was nearly twenty minutes later before he heard the front door open, letting the other four be so he could push himself up off the couch and go greet the other two. Making it to the front door, he found his dark brunette fiancee and his oldest son, the latter having paint dried in his hair but looking well rested. He also took note that the boy was in different clothes than he left in. Giving a questioning expression to the older, he was given a silent 'later'. Well that makes two partners to question, whether he abided by the request of them being questioned later was another thing entirely.
"So you both said you were going to tell me what happened 'later'. It's later and I haven't been told so speak now or I'm going to make sure you know who you're trying to fool." After the group of them had finished dinner and and gotten the kids to bed, giving all three baths since each were covered in something. Tom and Edd visibly fidgeted where they were standing, himself sitting on the side of the bed with Matt next to him.
"I'm just going to come out and say this. Jonas ran off when I went to get coffee this morning and it took almost four hours of everyone looking while also working to find him. The film crew recorded us finding him so that's a blooper now." Tom spoke quickly, trying to get it out and over with. He was slightly taken aback by what was said, but he didn't exactly mind how his son was recorded. The bloopers would only be with the disk release so there wasn't too much of an issue. Turning to the tallest of the four of them, he gestured for Edd to explain what happened at his workplace.
"So everything was fine till after lunch. The class after lunch I was pulled out after giving directions which left Elijah in the room. I was out for no more than ten minutes before I came back to find this smeg head of a student fighting Elijah. The arse is no longer a student of mine and Eli was coated in paint from a canvas that had been pushed on him, and blood from him being hit in the face. What got me was that Eli was just staring at the blood, wasn't crying or anything. He was just staring at it. So his clothes were covered in paint and blood which led me to asking Tom to bring some extra clothes. But other than that, I'd say that it was okay. Got out of my meeting early because he took a nap and everyone behaved so the toddler wouldn't wake up." During the entirety of his fiancee explaining his day at work, he could feel the tears prick at his eyes, his emotions not understanding if he was upset or angry or even bordering hysterics from the last bit of what the other said. Feeling the tears roll down his face, he could acknowledge that his right arm had locked up, a hand being placed against his back. His left arm was curled up around his womb, the twins trying to help him calm down. Getting his right arm back in motion, he moved further into bed, giving a pout and holding both up in the direction of the other three. All three moved to hold him, cuddling up to try to calm him down.
"I'm conflicted now… I want the triplets to join us but they're asleep and should keep asleep…" He rubbed his face into Tom's chest, both still a little upset and sleepy. He was placated by knowing he could cuddle his children in the morning. They stayed that way for a bit longer, the doorbell going off interrupting them. All four of them got up from the bed, walking to the other room. He sat between Edd and Matt on the couch while Tom answered the door, his heart almost leaping from his chest when he heard two familiar voices.
"Is Tord Larsin home?" The Polish accent had him flinching, especially with how cold it sounded. Rubbing his womb carefully in an attempt to soothe his nerves, he tried to get up from the couch to hide in another room. Feeling an arm wrap around his waist, he felt himself being helped up by Matt.
"You look like you're panicking, tell us where you want to go and we'll try to help you get there." Matt whispered the words, standing up beside him and holding his arm. Edd nodded, staying seated to relay the words to Tom.
"Can we go to the park with the triplets please. Get us as far away from them as we can. They aren't here to play nice." Getting two nods, himself and Matt walked down the hall to wake the toddlers up, getting the three dressed in play clothes and managing to get out the back door silently. He pulled the hood of the purple hoodie that he was borrowing over his head to hide who he was. He was trembling as he walked holding Jonas against his chest, his arms covered in goosebumps as his eyes were dilated. Getting to the park without drawing too much attention, he held a very sleepy Jonas as Matt played with the other two kids quietly on the equipment.
Back at home, Tom was confused why these people were asking about his partner, deciding it would be safer to keep as much information secret about the other.
"I'm sorry he probably went back to bed. It is almost two in the morning. I'll go check if you would wait here for a bit." Watching the shorter who had spoken nod, he closed the door before walking into the living room to find only Edd. Giving a questioning look at the now empty seats, he was glanced around before a nod was given. Watching the other mouth the words 'panic attack', he glanced back to the door.
"Tord dragged Matt out to the hardware store with him. Said that he needed to get a few things to finish what he was building." Nodding, he gave a small smile before walking back to the door. He knew it was a lie, but if Tord had started panicking by the voices alone it was bad. He only got that bad when the military or fighting was mentioned. When he went back to the door to let the two persons know when he saw them walking away.
"Hey I thought you wanted to know if he was home." The taller turned to face him, a scar over his eye finally coming into view. So that's how they knew Tord.
"We overheard that he was at the hardware store. Thought we'd meet him there." It was the shorter one who spoke, his strong accent ringing out.
"How do you even know Tord? He doesn't really go out much nowadays and I doubt that he met you both where he does go. Hasn't mentioned anything about you both." He wanted to get to the bottom of this, but he already had a feeling that he knew who these people were.
"How rude of him to not tell his partners about us. If it wasn't for us he'd have died years ago." The taller smirked as he spoke, lighting a cigarette. Tom nodded silently before closing the door and locking it. Walking into the living room, he moved over to the bookshelf and pulled the plastic cover of fake books out, grabbing the kisses handgun plus ammo from the spot before replacing the cover.
"Grab a blanket and your shovel. We're making sure those memories stay buried." Getting a nod, he went to pull on his old navy blue hoodie before the two left.
"I'm glad I brought this one home to get washed, grabbed Matt's overcoat and Tord's black hoodie. Might as well bring back good memories hm?" He saw the smirk on his lover's face as they walked out the back door silently, anticipating the worst and hoping for the best.
After playing a short game of dress-up, the group grinned at their handiwork. Matt had managed to calm him down quite a bit before Edd and Tom had gotten there, the dark blonde no longer as jumpy as he had been. He was also greatful that the two had brought his black coat instead of one of red ones. Sitting on the bench with the hood up and Jonas fast asleep on his chest, he watched as the other three spoke quietly so he couldn't hear. Watching Delilah and Elijah come back over to where he was sitting on the bench, he let the two sit on either side of himself before fixing the blanket to cover the four of them, himself and his three children.
"How are you feeling? I'm sorry this all happened." He gave Tom a small smile. He could feel the twins shift a little bit, but he could tell that all his children were asleep.
"All the kids are asleep and I'm feeling calmer. So I guess I'm doing alright despite the fact that I have two highly trained soldiers after me. They're probably armed too." Adjusting how Jonas was laying on him, he rubbed the toddler's back as his son almost woke from slumber.
"We figured that, which is why we came prepared. If things get bad just get out of here with the kids. We can handle it. Just go and stay with the neighbors if you need to calm down." Nodding, he felt a kiss being pressed to his temple. Everything was calm for a while longer, Jonas waking up and running off to play. Hearing grass crunch behind him, he could tell by the movement of the wind behind his head that there was a gun pointed at him. There was a strong scent of cigarette smoke as he heard the click of the gun.
"You thought you could hide from us?" That familiar Dutch accent had him flinching, waiting to hear any of his partners moving.
"Put the gun down. You don't want to do what you think you want to do." Hearing Edd speak, he tried to calm down. He was glad that they had thought ahead to wake the kids up, he didn't want to take too long to get away at his chance if he got it. Feeling the arm move down, he let out a small breath.
"You have nothing to do with this so I suggest you leave it be." The shorter with the polish accent spoke up, his gun in hand but lowered. Tom narrowed his eyes.
"This has everything to do with us, we're engaged to him."
"And what if you are? That doesn't mean much when we need to remove a deflector from this life." That set him off, it was a blatant lie. The two hadn't even gone to see if he had survived the crash. Scooting forward off the bench he turned to face his past life, pulling down the black hood.
"So I'm a deflector? The guy who nearly died of blood loss on the cliff he crashed on waiting for assistance he wouldn't get? You both probably counted on me dying. But I didn't. I did my best to get help, I practically crawled back to the people I had hurt just to survive. If anyone here is a bad guy it would be you." His emotions were working against him, trying to affect him in ways that wouldn't be any bit of helpful to the situation. His ears rang in the next second before a pain shot through his left shoulder. Gasping in pain, his right hand flew up to cover the bullet wound, his blood seeping through his fingers. His ears were ringing as he collapsed onto the ground, feeling someone keep him from hitting the ground fully.
"Tord!"
5192 words
How's this for a cliffhanger? :3c
Week 26 of 40+
~Mari