TWs: Tord not understanding feelings, non-threatening threats (is that a thing?), and playful teasing.
The walk to the arcade seemed to go by quickly; Matt and the others chatted with each other further ahead while he lagged behind. It gave Tord time to think and re-evaluate.
Perhaps he was abit too honest with Edd for that comment at game night, and that was why the taller was avoiding him. He hasn't seen the trio for over eight years; many things change over time, even who you think are friends or enemies.
Tord sighed, having trouble deciphering why Edd was upset. Surely he'd be the most understanding. He always was.
The Norsk shook his head. He didn't understand feelings, just in general. He couldn't figure out what he was feeling most of the time, so why try to figure out what someone else was feeling? He couldn't comprehend his own.
It took him months to figure out he had feelings for his best friend, precisely nine months and eighteen days of perplexity over his emotions.
Tord looked up when he heard Edd laugh at something Matt said. He frowned when he felt his heart skip a beat.
The feeling never seemed to fade away, only growing more every day.
He bit his lip and looked away from the trio.
Tord never liked the feeling.
Seeing the bright lights of the arcade made Tord feel nostalgic. The overall dark room with bright LED lights lining the place could make someone go blind, and the sticky floor at the entrance that Tord missed so much.
As he shuffled his foot on the floor, Tord realized that maybe he didn't miss it as much.
He also didn't like the screaming from that one kid who was at a shooting game.
Tord decided to ignore it; for now; and instead go over to the prize corner, where Pau seemed to be on duty.
"Heeeeyyyyy, Paaauuuu... fancy seeing you here," Tord smirked as he leaned against the counter, resting his head in his hand.
Pau rolled his eye, "Please don't make me set ground rules for you, Tord."
"I know... play nice." Tord frowned.
Then he heard the same kid who screeched earlier throw a tantrum by screaming at the game more. Tord's eye twitched.
"Er du sikker på at jeg ikke kan sende ett barn på båre?" Tord questioned.
Pau gave him a look, furrowed eyebrows, and everything.
"Nei? Okay..." The Norsk grumbled as he glanced around to see what the others were doing.
He first went to Matt, who was at the claw machine. He chuckled as he watched the claw drop the item that missed the dispenser by a few centimeters.
Matt cried in dissatisfaction, "Pouah, allez!"
"Need help?" Tord asked.
The ginger sadly nodded, "I've tried five times already..."
Tord was about to ask how he attempted that many times when they just arrived a few minutes ago, but it was Matt.
The Norsk put a token in the machine, immediately focusing on the task in front of him. He bit his tongue as he slowly maneuvered the claw above the novelty toy. He looked over to Matt to see if it was the right one, to which the ginger nodded excitedly. Tord hit the button and watched as the claw descended.
The duo watched with bated breath as the claw wrapped around the toy and carried itself toward the dispenser, Matt jumping and waving his hands when the toy dropped through.
"Yay!" The ginger clapped as he retrieved his toy, "Another one for my novelty toy collection, second edition!"
Tord smiled, then quirked an eyebrow, "Second edition?"
The taller glanced away, then back again as he spoke softly, "Yeah, y'know... since my first one was blown up."
"Ah, right." The light brunette realized, "Of course."
Tord seemed to daze out of reality, making Matt quickly look around, trying to find something to distract him.
"Uhm, oh, Tord!" Matt smiled, "Remember that dancing game we used to play in high school?"
The Norsk blinked, then turned to Matt with his full attention, "Yeah, why?"
"They revamped it, made a whole new difficulty and everything! Wanna try?"
Tord grinned, "Sure!"
They decided to do three rounds of the dance game. The loser would do whatever the other person says for a week. Currently, they were tied.
A small crowd stared at them in awe at the scores they were getting. Tord would say he only had sharp reflexes from army training; he was never that musically inclined. On the other hand, Matt was coordinated since his mother signed him up for dance lessons, and he was much more attuned to music.
Tom appeared to detect the people at the dance machine from where he was at a shooting game in which he booted a child off it. He quirked an eyebrow as he grabbed his tickets and walked over to the people.
Edd also seemed to notice the tiny crowd surrounding the dance machine from where he was at the skeeball machine. He decided to take a break to investigate what was happening, nearly forgetting his tickets.
Once they got there, they caught each other's eye.
"You know what's happening?" Edd asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Tom shrugged.
"Å, kom igjen! Urettmessig!" They heard a familiar voice yell.
They glanced at each other again; before moving to the front of the crowd.
Tord was leaning against the bar of the dancing game in defeat while Matt was celebrating his victory.
"Um, care to explain?" Edd asked as he watched Matt jump for joy over a new high score.
"I beat Tord in a dance battle, and now I get to tell him what to do for a week!" Matt laughed.
"Like a personal servant? Nice." Tom smirked as he watched Tord slump on the ground.
"Hvor ydmykende..." Tord grumbled.
There was a rough chuckle behind them, "How the mighty have fallen."
The crowd had dispersed the moment Matt won, leaving a clear view of Pau walking up to them.
The Norsk immediately glared at Pau, "Shut up, traitor. Aren't you supposed to be working?"
"On break." He replied as he crossed his arms, "Still have fifteen more minutes if you wanted to annoy me."
"Tempting." Tord smiled as he stood.
Matt looked at the shorter, "Is he one of your roommates?"
As soon as Tord nodded, Matt held his hand out for Pau, "Hi, I'm Ma-"
"Matthew Hathaway, son of Cynthia Hathaway, the famous fashion mogul? I know." Pau finished as he shook Matt's hand.
Matt slowly took his hand back, a bit weirded out, "Uh, how did you know that?"
"Tord tells me about all his relationships." Pau turned to Tom, "You're Tom, who doesn't have a last name."
Then Pau turned to Edd. After a moment, he glanced at Tord and looked between the two while smirking a bit. The cola lover quirked an eyebrow at this.
"And you're Edd Golyard. Tord has told me so much about you that I feel as if I know you already." Pau exaggerated.
"Uh... huh." Edd didn't know how to reply to that.
A thud was heard next to the dance machine where Tord hit his head against the wall, "Drep meg..."
Pau just grinned teasingly as Tord glared at him from the wall. The other three were just confused.
Tom sighed, "I'm getting tired of this, can we go now?"
"We can go to the diner near here," Edd suggested.
Tord perked up, "That's where my other roommate works."
"Kid, you know Pat is always serious about his work." Pau frowned.
"And...?" The Norsk looked at him with feigning innocence in his eyes.
The ruffled brunette huffed, "Don't pester him too much, he might somehow find a way to blame me for whatever you do."
Tord grinned, "Ah, don't worry, pappa. I promise nothing will go wrong."
Pau grimaced, "The last time you said that, multiple buildings exploded."
A silence was swept across the group as Tord spoke through gritted teeth, "I promise nothing will go wrong this time."
"I'll believe it if Pat doesn't send me a paragraph text complaining about what you did this time." Pau raised an eyebrow.
Tord huffed, "I take your challenge."
"It wasn't a challenge, I'm just tired of receiving paragraph complaints about you from Pat."
The shorter frowned, "I'll try not to fuck anything up."
Pau hummed, not fully believing him, "Right, I'll see you later, Red."
"Ha det, Pau."
Tom watched as Pau walked away, analyzing him for a second, 'I swear I've seen this guy before...'
"Tom, you coming?" Edd called as the others waited by the entrance.
"Ah, yeah," Tom said, snapping out of his daze. He glanced back at Pau before leaving with the others, 'But where?'
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧Translations✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
Norwegian =
Er du sikker på at jeg ikke kan sende ett barn på båre? - Are you sure I can't send one child on a stretcher?
Nei - No
Å, kom igjen! Urettmessig! - Oh, come on! Unfair!
Hvor ydmykende - How humiliating
Drep meg - Kill me
Ha det - Bye
French =
Pouah, allez - Ugh, come on
(Translations brought to you by Google Translate)