Work Text:
It had been a couple days since The Red Leader returned battered and bruised from that long mission. He'd finally come out of his office, half of his face still covered. He had exited specifically to find Paul and Patryck. He needed to discuss plans with them. They weren't hard to find, they never were, but before he turned the corner, he heard a bit of their conversation.
“Cmon, kid, you don't need the hat,”
“Woah, hey, don't aim that thing at me!”
“Okay, you want a lollipop? I'll trade ya. Hat for the lollipop.”
“What are you two doing?”
Tord rounded the corner just as they had stood up, shoulder to shoulder, obstructing something from their leader's view, guilty expressions barely hidden.
“Oh, uh, boss! Was there something you needed?” Paul said, plastering a smile on his face.
“Move.” The commanding tone made the two tense slightly, standing a little taller.
“What do you mean? There's nothing behind us! I don't see why-” Before Patryck could finish his sentence, a small figure poked his head out from behind him. A kid wearing a white cap from that amusement park they'd dealt with a week or so ago, holding a gun nearly the same size as him. His eyes were wide, as if observing the man that stood in front of the three.
“Paul, Patryck, what the fuck is this?” Tord took a step closer, trying to get a better view of the kid.
“Okay, it looks… bad. We were going to tell you, but we wanted to prepare him! He helped with the whole zombie apocalypse situation, and he's scary good with guns. He just won't talk to us or take off that damn hat.” Pat stepped away from the kid, shoving Paul to the side, earning a small grunt of annoyance from the man. The kid was also wearing a slightly oversized version of the army uniform.
Tord walked up to the kid, kneeling in front of him. “What's your name, soldier.” His tone was slightly softer than how he usually spoke.
The kid looked at him, his expression forming into a childlike glare. The boy lifted the gun in his hands, aiming it directly between Tord's eyes. The man gave a small smile, grabbing the barrel gently.
“Haha! You really do have good gunmanship, eh?”
Paul spoke up from the side of the room. “Can we keep him? We brought him here, so he can be our responsibility, and we’ll train him and all that shit.”
Tord moved the gun out of his face, aiming it towards the ground next to him. He sighed, looking towards the two men. “Fine. He's your responsibility. And if we get any angry parents at the door, you have to deal with them.” He then turned his attention back to the boy in front of him. “Welcome aboard soldier.” He gave a soft smile, tapping the brim of the cap gently before standing up.
“You two, meet me in my office in an hour, okay?” He saw the nods from the two men, walking off.
From that day onwards, the kid stayed with the army, quickly becoming a favourite. No one actually knew his name of course, even if they tried to guess, they all ended up just calling him kid. It became common for people to hear things like “Hey kid, you comin’ to do target practice?” or “Kid! Come eat!” echoing throughout the base. Even Tord, who was known to be less than friendly to his soldiers, always kept a drawer in his office full of lollipops, as much as he hated them.