TWs: Phantom pains, hidden insecurities everywhere, crying, Tord has problems asking for help.
"Where should we do game night tonight, guys?" Edd asked as he handed Tom and Matt their plates of breakfast.
"Not my place; there's a sprung leak coming from the floor above that made its way to my flat," Tom grumbled.
They both looked to Matt, who hesitated. His place was available, but they could go somewhere else...
"Give me a moment." Matt excused himself to the bathroom, taking out his phone and texting Tord.
Matt: doing anything tonight?
Tord: uh, no
Tord: why?
Matt: game night is happening, and we need a place for it
Tord: can't you do it at edd's flat?
Matt: we like to change scenery once and a while tord
Matt: we're not hooligans y'know
Tord: right
Tord: I guess you guys can have it here
Matt: YAY
Tord: DO NOT TOUCH MY THINGS
Matt: aye-aye
The ginger returned to the table with a smile, "My place isn't available, but I know someone who'll let us use his flat..."
They both looked confused before Tom realized who he was talking about.
"Oh no, fuck no, not that fortitude of communists." He snarled.
"Come on, Tom! It'll be fun-"
"If you call playing with knives while walking on charcoal 'fun.'" Tom rolled his void eyes as he crossed his arms.
"Please, Tom, he already said yes to it- you know how much I hate disappointing my friends," Matt whined.
Edd spoke up, "And we can finally see his flat."
Now that caught Tom's ear, a chance to look at Tord's flat; who knows what secrets he's hidden there?
The bassist huffed, "Fine."
Matt clapped his hands, grinning. Edd sat down, glancing between his friends, then at the ginger, "Matt, have you seen Tord's flat already?"
"I had a glance at it. There are a few portraits around, but that's about it. His room is also pretty organized, and he mostly has blueprints on his desk, except-" Matt stopped himself suddenly.
"Except...?" Edd gestured with his hand for Matt to go on.
The ginger shook his head, "Oh, it's nothing, just a picture on the corner of his desk."
Edd questioned to himself why Matt hesitated to say something like that.
'Maybe it's something in the picture itself...' The brunette thought.
Then Matt stood up, "Anyway, I have to go; I have some things I need- to attend to."
He left it at that as he quickly left the flat.
"He barely ate his food..." Edd noticed, staring at the plate.
"He probably wasn't hungry." Tom shrugged as he bit off a bit of toast.
"But I'm worried; that's the fifth plate of food I've seen him barely eat."
Tom sighed, "I can check on him if you're so worried."
Edd looked at him as if he had grown two heads, "You, check on Matt? Are you feeling okay, Tom?"
"As okay as I can be." He stated.
"How do you feel about Christmas?"
"Burn it to the ground and let it rot."
"Okay, good; I thought you suddenly had a change of heart."
"Edd," Tom stared, "I will never have a change of heart for Christmas. If I ever start liking Christmas, I want you to shoot me with my harpoon gun."
"As I said before- I will not give you money for your production." Matt exasperated into the phone to his uncle, "Why do you even need the money?"
He walked over to a picture of himself, moving it to his liking, which had to be perfect. He paused at his uncle's response.
"Why on Earth do you need monkeys?" The ginger asked. His phone let out a beep in his ear just as his uncle was about to respond, "Ah, hold on- my friend is ringing me; I'll call you later."
After hanging up on his uncle, he picked up Tord's call.
"Bonjour?"
"Can you come over?" Tord stated.
Matt frowned, "Why?"
There was a moment of Tord sighing before stuttering over his words, "Uh- I n-need..."
"Are you alright, Tord?" Matt questioned.
Another sigh, "Yeah, I'm fine- it's nothing, don't worry about it."
The ginger paused, before responding, "I'll be right over."
"Please." The Norsk almost sounded desperate.
When Matt arrived, all the curtains were draped over the windows, limiting any possible lighting. He quirked an eyebrow as he slowly opened the door to Tord's room.
"Tord?" The taller whispered as he peered into the darkness of the room. There was a grunt coming from the carpet. Matt looked down, seeing Tord covered in a large red blanket, "What are you doing on the floor?"
"Comfy." The shorter replied, "Close the door, please."
Matt softly closed the door, then sat down near his head. Matt noticed that Tord didn't have his eyepatch or bandages covering his eye. This was the first, and probably only, time that Matt got to see his eye without a covering after the "Incident."
Tord's eyes were closed, a somewhat peaceful look on his face. His face would sometimes contort as if he was in pain.
After watching his body tense up again, Matt spoke, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"This happens sometimes." Tord breathed in and out as he felt the right side of his body flare up with pain.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
Tord's eyes opened at the sentence, glancing at Matt, "Help?"
"I'm not leaving you in a state like this, Tord. Of course, I'm going to help you." Matt affirmed.
The Norsk thought about what Edd said- that asking for help wasn't weak. He bit his lip in thought, cringing when he felt his side ache.
"Can you..." Tord hesitated, opening and closing his mouth.
"Can I...?" Matt leaned forward a bit, encouraging Tord to speak what was on his mind.
Tord grunted out, "Get Edd, please."
Edd was playing with Ringo while Tom was sprawled out on the couch on his phone, looking for chords he could play on his bass.
Ringo followed the laser pointer, jumping up on the couch, then on top of Tom, making him yelp as he dropped his phone.
Edd laughed as Tom glared at him, "Seriously, Edd?"
The taller grinned as he gave an unapologetic look, "I'm sorry, you know I had to."
Tom huffed, swiping his phone off the floor, "Lame."
Edd sat down on the ground, scooping Ringo up into his arms.
The apartment door opened, making their heads turn toward it.
"Edd, do you have a moment?" Matt spoke as soon as he entered. He appeared to be out of breath for some reason.
"Yessss?" Edd looked at him.
"Great, 'cause Tord needs your help."
The taller's eyes widened, "My help?"
"That's what he said." Matt nodded.
Edd quickly got off the floor, much to Ringo's dismay by her trill, "Where's he now?"
"His flat."
"Alright, watch Ringo for me." The cola lover swiftly walked past Matt, him humming in response.
The ginger glanced at Tom, seeing his face lit up by his phone. He decided to sit next to the couch since Tom was sprawled across it.
Matt took out his handheld mirror, making sure he looked perfect as he ran his fingers through his hair.
Tom subtly glanced at him from where he sat, looking at the taller's facial expressions that were reflected in the mirror.
He seemed to be in a world of his own; his eyes were glossed over, and he was mouthing something to himself.
Then Matt's eyebrows furrowed as he set the mirror down and muttered, "Still not right..."
This piqued Tom's curiosity as he tilted his head, "What's not right?"
Matt perked up, forgetting that Tom was in the room with him, "Oh, it's just-"
He stopped himself by biting his lip. Was he really willing to spill all of his insecurities to the person he didn't realize he had a crush on until recently? To tell him that he, himself, is insecure? That his whole personality is based upon a big facade? He couldn't let that slip; he had to be perfect. He was perfect.
"Nothing." The ginger bitterly continued his sentence.
Tom quirked his eyebrow, not believing him for a second, "It's not nothing. I can tell something is going on with you, and so can Edd."
Matt tensed, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh? Then why haven't you been eating much lately?"
"I'm not hungry." Matt shrugged.
Tom sighed, "I know you're a vampire and everything, but I've seen you eat more than a few bites."
Matt seemed uncomfortable with the topic, opting to look at himself in the mirror.
The bassist was annoyed by that point, "And why do you look at yourself in the mirror- you already look perfect."
The taller suddenly dropped the mirror, looking at Tom in shock, "Do you mean that?"
Tom didn't mean to say that last bit, but looking into Matt's hopeful and shimmering eyes made him nod.
Tears started pouring out of Matt's eyes as he looked away and put his mirror back. He stood up as Tom scrambled off the couch.
"Hey, wait," The shorter gently grabbed Matt's wrist, "Did I do something wrong?"
Matt shook his head, sniffling, "No, of course not, I just need to be alone right now."
Before he left, he turned toward Tom, smiling a bit.
"See you tonight."
As soon as the door closed, Tom sighed as he sat on the couch again, Ringo joining him this time.
First, it was Tord. Now, it was Matt.
He scratched his skin as he thought about who would be next to have problems, him or Edd. He didn't like this feeling of something dire going to happen.
"Tord?" Edd walked into a dimly lit room that was painted red, with a bookcase on the right, a desk to the upper left, and a bed crammed in the upper right.
A muffled voice replied to Edd under a weighted blanket.
"What happened?" The taller whispered as he approached the scene.
"Phantom pains." Tord grunted, "Everything hurts."
"Can I do anything to help?" Edd asked softly.
"Not really- just needed company."
The brunette sat next to Tord, chuckling, "And Matt wasn't enough?"
Tord let out a small laugh, "As much as I love Matt, he can be a bit much at times."
It was a small lie since Tord wanted Edd near him; he figured Matt wouldn't mind.
"Are you sure you want to host game night?" Edd spoke, "I can always have it at my place."
"Eh, it's fine. The pains only last for an hour or two." The Norsk seemed to shrug, only nuzzling further into his blanket as his shoulder seemed to strain itself.
"If you're so sure," Edd uttered.
Tord could barely hear what the taller said after that, only hearing muffles as his hearing deteriorated.
"I'm sorry- what did you say?" Tord glanced at Edd, straining his hearing.
"I asked how bad the pains were?" Edd said, concerned at Tord's shift in volume.
The ex-leader still looked confused and slightly frustrated that his hearing was failing him in front of the one person he didn't want to be pushed away from.
'Where are my hearing aids?' Tord looked around the room, his eyes scanning everywhere until they reached his bedside table, 'I think I might've put them there...'
Edd followed Tord's line of vision to the nightstand. He got up, walking over to it. He stopped once he saw two small devices.
'Aren't these...?' Edd didn't finish that thought, only picking them up, about to walk over to Tord when something caught his eye. He looked at the desk in the other corner, seeing a picture in the corner of it. He could barely make out the outline of two people side-hugging and wearing red and green, 'That picture looks familiar...'
He decided to ignore it, instead kneeling beside Tord and holding the hearing aids out to him. The shorter hesitantly grabbed the aids, slowly setting them on his ears.
"Is that better?" The taller asked.
The Norsk was quiet before he spoke, "Yes, thank you."
Edd smiled, "You know you can always ask for help."
Tord hummed as he looked up at Edd, "I know..."