Chapter Text
The weather is cold, there's snow everywhere, not even close to how thick it was back in Iceland but still enough to do harm, Thorfinn is dizzy, he's half wet from stumbling into the snow covered ground, he's cold, he's tired, he's on the verge of crying.
Thorfinn just wants to go sleep in a warm bed just like in the old days again, but of course instead he has some old barn that barely looks like it could hold on another night, it's cold, he has a headache, he's cold, will this please just end already?
Thorfinn's walking towards the village they've pillaged last night, he didn't want to sleep too close to Askeladd's disgusting selfish lap dogs partying, drinking and laughing all night, so instead of the usual barn he wandered off into the cold woods, what a big mistake, he probably would've gotten a smaller headache than this if he just slept in the barn..
Thorfinn's too tired to walk anymore, he just gives up and falls on the snow covered ground a few steps away from the door from the big house Askeladd took for himself last night, imagine landing nearby the doorstep of the very man you despise, poor Thorfinn.
Thorfinn has woken up, he's still cold but something has changed, he struggles to open his eyes but this time instead of the white cloud covered skies, it's a roof, and instead of laying on the cold snow covered ground which definitely made an imprint of his body.. He's laying in a bed with multiple blankets covering his body, it feels nice, just for a second before he starts to panic and wonder where he was, there's a light on the other side of the room..
Thorfinn tries to speak up but it's like his voice was all crumpled up, all you could hear from him was a whine, his vision was slightly blurry but he could tell by the light there was another person in the room, he's rather uncomfortable of the thought of him being vulnerable, especially while traveling with this.. stupid group of harsh vikings, and of course, Baldie.
Who just, unfortunately, happened to be the person sitting beside him by the bed, on a wooden stool reading some sort of book with his reading glasses.
Askeladd was getting old so it wasn't surprising anyways if his vision got a bit blurry, just like Thorfinn right now, it was a bit harder to see but he could still recognize that dumb ugly stupid face...
Wanting to curse him out but his lack of voice restraining him, so he just laid there, staring at the old stupid man in silent anger until he finally noticed that Thorfinn woke up.
".. You're up? Well then go back to sleep, you have to rest, you stupid boy."
How dare that asshole still decide to order him around like some sort of obedient lapdog even when he's sick! Yes he's tired but not that tired to go back to sleep just after he's woken up! What's the bastard doing here anyways though?
Thorfinn couldn't speak so he just grit his teeth and angrily glared at him, in order to better position himself to glare at the old fart more comfortably, he turned to his side, y'know, he really could fall asleep if he waited even only half an hour, but why would he let his guard down infront of Askeladd.
That would be the biggest mistake ever.
Askeladd closes his book and puts it down on some desk behind him, along with his reading glasses but then Thorfinn notices the smell of something.. warm, as Askeladd grabs it.
It's tomato soup, warm and tasty, you could even say it was his favorite.
"Tomato soup, you're gonna have to drink it, wether you like it or not, or just die by the consequences of your own actions."
He forgets about Askeladd for a moment while gazing upon his favorite soup, what a shame it's Askeladd holding it and also probably made it as well.
Thorfinn refuses at first but then Askeladd sets down the soup, grabs Thorfinn from under his arms and force sits him up on the bed to make sure the hot soup won't spill directly on his face nor get in his eyes, Askeladd grabs the soup again and this time he's holding up the spoon as well, near Thorfinn's mouth.
Is he about to spoon feed him? Thorfinn tried to protest but.. 1. His inability to speak. 2. His illness and worst of all 3. Askeladd. The moment he opened his mouth, the old fart took his chance, grabbed his face and forcefed the soup to him.
Thorfinn choked a little at first, coughing up the drops that tried to get into his lungs, he didn't know where the bowl of soup went since Askeladd was supposed to be holding it, but instead he was holding the spoon and the right side of his face, along with a thumb prying his mouth open to prepare for the next spoon.
Askeladd was probably talking, he heard sounds but rather muffled ones, but he could still hear something weird.. Praise, such as "Good job", "Good boy" and "Perfect" when he started to drink the soup more acceptably, weird... Praise from Askeladd was so weird, but he couldn't do anything because he had a soup to finish.
Despite the praise, Askeladd forgot about being careful, his vision was getting blurry because he was starting to tear up from the rough treatment, this stupid sickness made him much more vulnerable, weak and sensitive than he wished for.
He hates this.
Once Askeladd finally (force)fed him the last spoon of tomato soup, he decided to finally let his tears go, having them stream down his cheeks, he sure was embarrassed but what more could he really do? This sickness was making him too sensitive, it wasn't his fault that Askeladd was also too rough with the feeding.
Even though he ate the warm tomato soup, Thorfinn was still cold and shivering, so he used it as an excuse- to sink back into the bed with multiple covers and blankets on top of him, if Thorfinn had not gotten this much treatment he would've surely died.
He buried himself into the bed while trying to cover up his tears, or atleast wipe them, Thorfinn wishes Askeladd would just go already instead of watching him cry, actually, why's he even here in the first place? Wouldn't the reasonable Askeladd not even dare to get close to a sick man? To not get himself sick aswell?
Askeladd is weird and annoying, he knows that, but he still can't figure most of him out, surprisingly right now Askeladd actually looks a bit confused by Thorfinn's silent crying, but he just said something Thorfinn wasn't listening to and shrugged it off, uncaring.
The old man returned to his wooden stool, put on his reading glasses and replaced the empty wooden soup bowl with the book he was reading earlier, just before Thorfinn woke up, Thorfinn was in a state worse than most colds, blurry vision, mostly deaf, nonverbal, cold and sensitive, practically hell for him.
But he still can hear certain things if he concentrated hard enough, Askeladd was yapping off about something like.. "..bout a bedtime sto..", he couldn't make out the rest but he was sure Askeladd was reading the book out loud, to him, of course it's for him, Askeladd doesn't usually read things out loud..
Why else would Baldie, the old fart read something out loud if not reading for an audience, that audience being Thorfinn, who could barely hear anyways so it was all just a waste, he wants Askeladd to get out already, he can get to sleep just fine without a bedtime story.
But he can't, here's the thing.. Even with all these blankets and pelts he's still cold and sick, shivering as well, he hates to admit it but with Askeladd feeding him soup and reading him some sort of book he doesn't even care about.. Really reminds him of his father, his father also fed him soup and read him a bedtime story, there's just one thing missing here... A hand running through his hair.
A thought came up, why not just fantasize about it? That it's really him? His father? Baldie wouldn't rat his actions out to the other men just to laugh at him.. Right? So it's okay, It's okay if he used most of his strength left to try and grab baldies hand, just to guide it to the back of his head, it's okay if he thinks it's his father doing all of it..
As Thorfinn weakly guided Askeladd's hand to his scalp, he wondered what expression he was wearing right now.. Probably confused, confused why the kid who has hated him for so many years wanted him to pet his head, run his own hand through the kids blonde hair, it was strange to Askeladd, really strange.
But he still went along with it after realizing what Thorfinn probably wanted, Askeladd gave a slow experimental swipe of his thumb on the boys scalp, to Thorfinn it felt nice.. Reminded him of his father, but his father was more straightforward, since he always used to do this, unlike Askeladd.
It felt so much like his father but also unlike his father at the same time, Thorfinn wanted to think about his father, pretend it was him, but right now at the moment he was thinking of Askeladd. The very same man who killed him.
Thorfinn leaned into his hand but also gave a small annoyed growl, as if telling Askeladd to keep going and make it fast.
Askeladd had noticed this, and decided to do slightly the opposite to piss Thorfinn off, he kept slowly rubbing the boys scalp which made the boy think of him, not his father, Askeladd probably knows this already because Thorfinn wasn't over his father's death yet, and so he thought he could use Askeladd to think of Thors, huh? Not happening Thorfinn.
A rather weird thought crosses Thorfinn's mind, amidst his annoyance of being unable to depict his father.. What would his life be like if Askeladd was his actual father, does Askeladd have any family at all? Like, a brother, maybe?
Thorfinn realizes that he is starting to think of Askeladd more than his own father, he feels sick.
How could he do such a thing?! He was practically betraying his father, his mother, his sister.. His whole family, and even himself, 6.. 7 maybe winters of suffering, training and duels for what? Just to succumb to a small fever and a really nice head pat? He's ashamed of himself.
He's so ashamed of himself, but. Askeladd's petting felt so good.. Even though his father was good at it, Askeladd was better, this was both horrifying and relaxing to Thorfinn, Askeladd kept rubbing the back of his head, having Thorfinn subconsciously lean into his hand more.
This kind of reminds him of a few years back then, when he still didn't have 2 digits in his age, Askeladd and him had shared a room together..
making a second chapter lol