TWs: Nervousness/anxiety, lying, taking a risk, panicking, vampire Matt doesn't have a pulse.
"It's honestly not fair how good they are at every game we play!" Matt whined as he whisked dry and wet ingredients together.
"Even VSIV?" Tord quirked an eyebrow.
"Oh, no." Matt smirked, "Nobody can beat me at Vampire Slayer IV."
"I did." Tord grinned.
"What!?" Matt exclaimed.
Tord laughed, "Relax, it was only one time. I doubt I can do it again."
The ginger just glared at him, deciding to finalize preparing the cookie swirls he was baking.
"Besides, I only won because I distracted you." The Norsk said, leaning against the counter.
Matt frowned as he finished placing the tray in the oven, "I'm not an easy person to distract."
Tord raised an eyebrow, "Hey, look, a spider."
The taller shrieked as he got behind Tord, "Oh my Aphrodite- where!?"
Once Matt saw Tord's mischievous grin, he huffed and swatted the shorter's shoulder.
"Tord! Don't scare me like that!" Matt complained.
The Norwegian shrugged, "Sorry, sorry, couldn't help myself."
After setting the kitchen timer, Matt looked to his friend, "Tord, when you lived with us, did you join our game nights?"
Tord hummed, picking at his nails, "Sometimes... usually when I wasn't busy with my inventions."
"Can you join our next one?" Matt asked.
The shorter scoffed; the idea of a game night after what happened seemed horrible. Tord was about to make it clear to Matt that it was a bad idea until he saw the look on the ginger's face. He was messing with his hoodie strings, biting his lip, and couldn't quite meet Tord's gaze. Tord sighed, deciding to word it more nicely.
"I don't think the others will agree to it," Tord spoke.
Matt stopped his fidgeting, glancing back and forth at who knows what, "Maybe I can convince them."
Tord rolled his eye, "Good luck with that."
As they were waiting for the oven, Tord decided to get his new and hopefully improved memory gun from his flat.
When he reached the hallway, he noticed the door to Edd's flat shut close. He shrugged it off, opting to retrieve his memory gun.
Once he obtained it, he heard a faint scratching sound outside his flat. Opening the door and peering across the hall, he saw a grey tabby cat with darker stripes.
"Ringo...?" Tord voiced. Ringo recognized the sound of her name, turning towards Tord curiously.
Tord kneeled, holding out a hand towards the grey tabby cat, "Come here, lille en."
Ringo hesitated for a moment before bringing herself forward. She sniffed his left hand cautiously. After a few seconds, she let out a lengthy meow as she rubbed against Tord's hand.
"It's nice to know you forgive me..." Tord muttered as he petted Ringo.
The light brunette didn't notice the door across the hall opening. He did hear the shaking of a container, though.
"Ringo, come!" Edd spoke, shaking a cat treat container.
Ringo perked around at the sound of her owner's voice and the contents of the container, trotting over to Edd's flat to get some treats.
Tord frowned as he glanced at Edd.
Edd barely spared him a glance as he closed the door.
The Norsk stood up, staring at the door that closed for a few seconds more before going back over to Matt's flat.
"Finally, you're back; the cookies finished baking. They're almost ready to decorate." Matt grinned.
Tord hardly heard any of it, thinking about the look on Edd's face. The frown on his face, his furrowed eyebrows, the haze passing between his eyes. He was either pissed off or distressed. Whichever it was, the Norsk didn't like it.
"Tord? You okay?" Matt asked, looking at his friend with concern.
"Ah, uh, yes. I'm fine." Tord tried his best to shrug it off with a smile.
Matt knew it was a strained smile: but let it go. Instead, he decided to change the topic, "If you say so... what's that?"
The ginger gestured to the gun in Tord's hands. It was mostly silver, with the grip and the barrel being an off-red color. Tord had messed up on the paint job, but it wasn't that important at the moment.
"Hopefully, a way for you to get your memories back," Tord spoke as he let Matt see it.
Matt quirked an eyebrow, "How? I thought it was broken beyond repair."
"It was." Tord fiddled with the gun, "I decided to make another one."
"You didn't have to do that, Tord." Matt rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Why not?" Tord tilted his head, "I thought you wanted your memories back."
"I do! It's just- you went out of your way to build a new one; this seems like... a lot." Matt waved his hands a bit.
"Oh no, it wasn't that long." Tord shook his head, "Only 16 and a half hours for me to blueprint and build it. That's a record for me."
Matt still looked unsure, eyeing the gun in Tord's hands warily, "How exactly does it work?"
"First, clear your mind of any distracting thoughts." Tord stated, "Second is to stand completely still, or else you might get a migraine."
"Okay, I'll try..." The ginger took a deep breath. Then he stopped as he thought of something, "Um, what's the success rate of this working?"
"99.98 percent." Tord voiced.
"What about the other .02 percent?"
"There's a possibility it might fry your brain." The shorter shrugged.
"What!?" Matt exclaimed, "O-On second thought, I don't think this is a good idea..."
"It's only .02 percent." Tord quirked his eyebrow.
"Too much of a possibility." The taller quivered.
"Don't worry, Matt. That kind of percentage is barely effective in any experiment." Tord dismissed. That was a lie. He knew there was a slight possibility of it happening, but he had confidence it wouldn't. He just needed Matt to trust him.
"If you're so sure..." Matt muttered.
"I am sure." Tord grinned.
The ginger sighed, "Fine, let's get this over with."
After relaxing his muscles, Matt stared at Tord blankly.
'Wow, he's good at seeming as if he knows nothing...' Tord thought as he adjusted the memory gun in his grip. He made sure it was on 'Reset' before aiming the gun at Matt.
"3, 2, 1..."
A white blast of light came out of the gun, shocking Tord at how powerful the recoil was.
Once the blast of light ended, the Norsk heard a thump, turning his silver gaze upon Matt, who was sprawled on the floor.
"Matt?" Tord walked over, gently prodding Matt with his foot. He kneeled to check for a pulse, beginning to panic once he didn't find it. The light brunette felt his hands shaking as he bit his lip, 'Please wake up, don't be dead, Matt...'
There was a groan, prompting Tord to perk up. Matt shifted around as he slowly pried his eyes open. He let out another whine as he gradually looked over at Tord.
"You didn't mention the blast would send me across the country," Matt said, sitting up. Then he looked at the state of Tord, "Are you crying?"
Tord froze, realizing his sight had been watering the whole time. He quickly swiped at his eye, flashing Matt a smirk, "Ah, of course not!"
Matt knew he was lying, and still, let it go. He wasn't going to pry into what was bothering Tord. He now knew that Tord would eventually tell him.
"So, how do you feel?" Tord eventually asked.
"I... don't know exactly." Matt spoke, making his friend frown, "I mean, the memory gun worked, don't get me wrong! It's just- so much, all at once."
"Do you want to be left alone?" Tord asked.
The ginger nodded, "If you don't mind."
"Of course not." The Norsk stood up from the floor, "I'll talk to you later, Matt."
Matt just bobbed his head again as Tord left his flat.
When going across the hall, Tord's silver gaze stopped on a particular door. His stare dropped down to the cat dish on the floor with the name 'Ringo' written on it.
He was genuinely blind for not noticing that when moving in.
Tord sighed as he walked into his flat, making sure the door was locked behind him. He decided to plan out what his next invention was going to be for the rest of the evening until Pau and Pat came back.
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Norwegian =
Lille en - Little one
(Translations brought to you by Google Translate)