TWs: Not-alive animal, some crude humor, we love daddy issues here (sarcasm), and drinking.
The group soon arrived at the complex, with the trio taking the elevator and Tord taking the stairs.
"Why do you take the stairs? The elevator is faster." Tom pointed out.
Tord froze, thinking of an excuse, "It's good exercise, Jehovah. You should try it sometime."
Tom looked offended and bleak at the comment, only facing the others to say, "I have to go meet a friend at the bar. Talk to you later."
"Don't overdo it," Edd spoke softly, watching Tom re-enter the elevator.
"And I have to get ready for a date. See you guys later!" Matt rushed quickly into his flat.
Edd turned to Tord, "Let's go to my flat."
Tord only nodded, following the taller into his apartment. He was already feeling his anxiety creeping into his body, making him shiver.
Right as they entered, Ringo came sprinting to greet her owner, meowing excitedly. Edd smiled fondly as he picked her up, cradling her in his arms.
"I haven't seen you all morning- where have you been, girl?" Edd said as he went to check if she had food.
Tord was about to sit on the couch when he noticed something interesting there.
'Aha, that's where Ringo's been...' Tord thought as he stared at the couch cushions, "Hey, Edd?"
"Yeah?" The taller peeked his head out from the kitchen.
"Ringo left food for you on the sofa." The Norsk smirked.
"What?" Edd frowned as he returned from the kitchen, Ringo sitting on the kitchen table having a good view of the living room.
Tord moved away as Edd saw what was plopped on the couch.
"You've gotta be kidding me..." Edd muttered, then turned to look at his precious cat, "Ringo, we've been over this- stop returning with dead animals. I don't want them."
The shorter looked at the dead rat on the sofa. Freshly killed with a bite to the neck, it looked like Ringo had the upper hand on this one. This surprised Tord, seeing as rats tend to avoid cats, and generally, cats are bad at catching rats, but it wasn't impossible.
"Sorry about that; you know how Ringo likes to 'gift' me things that aren't... alive," Edd spoke as he glared over at Ringo, who looked quite proud of herself as she licked her paw.
Tord chuckled, "I've received stranger gifts."
"What's stranger than a dead rat?" Edd quirked an eyebrow.
"Pau gave me the worst alphabet book ever when I was three and offensive crayons when I was seven."
"Offensive... crayons?"
"Yeah, like white was 'privilege,' green was 'baby shit green,' brown was 'travel ban brown'-"
"Okay, I think that's enough." Edd smiled awkwardly as Ringo made her way to hop up on the sofa, "Uh, since the sofa is... in use, does my room sound good?"
"Your room?" Tord's eyes widened as his heartbeat ran faster, and his face felt like it was set ablaze, 'Ah, calm down idiot, you're trying to fix your relationship with Edd, not ruin it further...'
"Yeah, my room. Is there a problem-?"
"No," Tord cut him off, "No, of course not; your room sounds good."
"Okaaayyy? Follow me then." Edd took a turn down the hall, Tord following after.
Entering the room, Tord noticed the chaotic look of it. The unmade bed, a small pile of clothes on the floor, crumpled-up pieces of paper around a trash can filled to the brim, and multiple empty Cola cans on the desk.
Before the Norsk could speak on it, Edd spoke up, "Sorry for the mess; I've just been- busy."
'And he says I need to tell the truth.' Tord deadpanned.
"Anyway, feel free to sit." The taller sat in his swivel chair.
Tord looked around for a place to sit before sitting on the bed. There was a moment of silence as the duo stared at everything except each other.
The light brunette decided to speak, "Y'know, a lot of my soldiers and people I've worked with in the past have said that I wasn't capable of asking for their hand in battle. I've always left it to Pat and Pau to handle it for me."
Edd stayed quiet, letting Tord say what was on his mind.
"My father said to only care about myself and called it 'survival of the fittest' if anyone died under my command on a battlefield. I was swayed by my father's teachings that everything deemed as good was weak. Crying was considered a weakness, smiling showed feebleness, and laughing was a sign of frailty. He decided to up his tactics right after my mom died when I was ten."
Tord paused after he mentioned his mom, deciding to take a breather for himself and Edd, whose eyes widened at the last sentence, yet he still didn't speak.
"Uh- since that was a vulnerable time for me, he found it to be the perfect opportunity to start training me to be the new general of the Red Army." Tord explained, "So yeah, I would say I'm prideful, only because I was taught that I could handle things on my own, and if I didn't... I wouldn't survive in a world like this since I would be 'too soft.'"
Edd looked at the shorter with an unreadable expression. He was frowning and looked to be in a world of his own. Tord started to bite his lip in anticipation of what Edd was thinking.
"Bullshit." The taller spoke with a frown, "Those aren't signs of weakness."
"I know that-"
"Did you? Did you really?" Edd spoke, "In high school, you never cried over something. You stopped smiling whenever someone saw it, and if you laughed, you cut it off, which sounded like you were choking sometimes."
Tord flushed, not thinking anyone noticed he did those things. He thought he was pretty smooth with it.
"You got better at showing emotions when we moved in together." The brunette mentioned.
"Ah, I guess I felt safe and comfortable with you guys." Tord shrugged.
"Even Tom?" Edd quirked an eyebrow.
The Norsk rolled his eyes, "Jehovah only gets in my way, but he's not as bad as my father."
Edd nodded, then smiled as he looked at Tord, "You can't do everything by yourself, no matter how many times you claim you can. It's okay to ask for help."
Tord hummed, then glanced at the state of Edd's room again, "Is there a reason you haven't?"
"What?" Edd stared at Tord, eyes wide.
"This mess isn't because you're busy, Edd." The light brunette said, "The last time your room was messy, something was bothering you, so what is it?"
The taller was silent, slowly looking around his room before turning to Tord and sighing, "This is the result of after you left."
Tord let out a small 'oh.' He didn't know what else Edd was going to say, he should've expected an answer like that. He just wished his heart didn't feel like it was stabbed and his breath cut short.
He awkwardly averted his gaze from Edd, his sight landing on the digital clock on the nightstand.
'Is that the time?' Tord's eyes widened as he stood up from the bed, alerting Edd, "I have to go back to my flat now. Pat's gonna kill me if I'm later than he said."
"Oh, sure." Edd nodded as they both headed to the front door of the flat, "And Tord?"
Tord hummed, turning around to look at Edd.
The taller hesitated before saying, "Don't be a stranger."
With a soft nod and a small smile, the Norsk left.
"Isn't it a little early for you to be here, Tom?" A voice called from behind the bar as Tom sat on a stool.
"Shut up, Todd," Tom grumbled as he put his head on the bar surface.
"The usual?" The light brunette asked, Tom nodding shortly after.
Despite looking similar to Tord and having a similar haircut to Jason Dean from Heathers, Tom found Todd decent. Todd used to live with Eduardo, Mark, and Jon but decided to go his own way. He also worked a multitude of jobs, bartender being one of them.
"I assume this has to do with your little 'crush' on a certain someone?" Todd asked as he mixed Tom's drink.
During a rough night, Tom decided it would be 'fun' to have more than eight drinks, and he practically spilled his life story to Todd that night.
It was rough on both of them. Todd had to clean everything up and drive him home that night.
"I hate you," Tom uttered.
"Love you too, now here's your drink." Todd plopped down a glass in front of Tom, who practically inhaled it, "Woah, slow down! You're going to have a heart attack if you gulp it down like that."
The shorter plunked the glass down, "I would be okay with that."
"That bad, huh?"
"What do you think?"
Todd sighed, tired of the drunk's behavior but still getting another glass for him.
Matt huffed, tired from his date. It only lasted a couple of minutes before Matt wasn't interested in her. She seemed nice, don't get him wrong, but she wasn't enticing enough for him.
He needed someone mesmerizing, non-controlling, and more laid-back.
'Oh, that's a pretty color...' Matt noticed a planter with flowers growing in an array of colors, 'They look like lobelia flowers.'
The ginger glanced at all the colors. Red, pink, white, violet-blue, and blue.
'That's a lovely shade of blue.' He thought as he inspected it further. Seeing blue flowers was uncommon; they made up less than ten percent of the plant kingdom. Matt was surprised he remembered that fact, seeing as he caught it once in one of the books his mother owned.
"May I help you?" A voice asked, startling Matt.
"Huh? Oh no, I'm just looking." The ginger blushed, realizing he'd been standing at the flower shop's storefront for a few minutes.
The woman nodded, carrying her plant pots inside the shop.
Matt continued walking, his mind wandering back to the relaxing shade of blue. It almost reminded him of someone.
'I wonder if I need more sugar... I bet Tord will show up when he needs more.' His mind wandered to a new subject, pressing the shade of blue in the back of his mind.