Chapter Text
thursday. the exact date and year was irrelevant. the only thing that was of any importance was the fact that it was likely the most humiliating day of thorfinn's life. not only because he came in second place instead of first at the annual maths and physics competition that he had kind of wanted to win at, but because he had accidentally done what was possibly the gayest thing he could have ever done.
thursday. thorfinn usually liked thursdays. his timetable was quite considerate of his sanity on those days, and he only had his favourite teachers and subjects. maybe he should have stayed at school instead of coming here. or he could have stayed at home.
there had been a lot of people from different schools that day, although not many of them were of any importance to him. hild had been there. his arch nemesis since primary school. thorfinn didn't even need to be in first place, as long as he was better than hild. which he hadn't been, by the way, although the fact that she had been first and he had come afterwards hadn't even been the most humiliating part.
god, he didn't even want to recall the details. the horrors.
-
"back in the days, we used to listen to real music, thorfinn!", askeladd said as he turned up the volume of the radio, focusing way too much on the music and too little on the road ahead of them. thorfinn came to regret getting into his car every time they drove anywhere together, which happened more often than he wished it would. he had to hurry up and finally get his licence, so he no longer had to suffer under the horrors that were being in the same space as askeladd for too long.
"yeah, yeah, you say that every time. I know it by now", thorfinn replied without actually caring all that much, head leaned against the window of the car as he looked outside. the weather was quite nice today, although the mere presence of a certain someone was bringing down his mood quite a lot. oh how he yearned to be able to drive on his own.
"you know, thorfinn, I'm quite glad you find maths and physics this… entertaining, but wouldn't you maybe at least try signing up for a competition that is more.. athletic? you could—"
not again. urgh.
"—step into your father's footsteps! askeladd! I know where this is going, just shut up", thorfinn groaned, bumping his head against the window to stop himself from taking the wheel of the car and driving them into the nearest wall. it wasn't a suggestion the man made out of the kindness of his heart, but rather because askeladd knew how much it upset him whenever his father was brought up and with that the memories of his failed career.
failed because askeladd had decided to ruin everything, although none of that is at all plot relevant right now and will be talked about again in the future. today was a day for a different kind of miserable.
thorfinn managed to barely survive the car ride, trying to get out as quickly as possible, as askeladd yelled after him to have fun and a good time. like an embarrassing father. he did not have the right to act that way when he was nowhere close to that, but thorfinn assumed that the other did not care much about what he could or could not do. there was enough history in thorfinn's favour to prove his point of all the decisions askeladd had ever made being done for the purpose of making others mad.
closing the door as loudly and aggressively as possible, thorfinn stomped towards the building, a sour look on his face that dissolved as he spotted einar, who was currently the only positive thing about his day. the light at the end of the tunnel. the chirping of birds, the smell of flowers on a sunny day. whatever other positive words there were to describe how big of a relief it was to see someone who wasn't out to get him and ruin his life.
"hey dude", einar greeted him with a smile, holding his fist out for thorfinn to bump his against. thorfinn had found it a bit awkward to do that at first, mainly because it seemed unnecessary and, frankly, he just had little experience when it came to having friends, so most things seemed weird to him. not to make himself look like too much of a loser, but his reputation at school (which sucked absolute ass) made most people not want to interact with him unless they had to.
he kind of got it, but he didn't care enough about it to try and change the way others viewed him. thorfinn was quite content with his life, aside from all the things that awoke the unhealthy amount of rage that was stored in his body. there were a lot of situations in which this happened, and most could somehow be traced back to askeladd.
thorfinn just nodded in response. he wasn't one for many words in general, but the decision to not speak up had been made out of a nervousness he tried to hide and not his usual refusal to participate in social interactions. no matter how many competitions he went to and how often he succeeded, there was still always a chance of failure. one could never be too prepared.
pulling out his headphones (he still used wired ones because fuck bluetooth.) he put them on as he turned on the last song he had played this morning, trying to drown out some of the noise around him. he kept the music quiet enough to still be able to hear einar if he decided to speak, but loud enough that any unnecessary sounds could not reach his ears to torture him.
they stood like that for another ten minutes, which thorfinn spent by tapping his feet to the ground. a habit forged in the ovens of his never ending impatience. his father had always laughed about it when he had been younger, and nowadays askeladd just tried his best to make sure that he would make thorfinn wait for things as long as possible, simply because he could.
he checked his watch for the second time in the past minute, huffing as the seconds ticked by and there was still no sign of their physics teacher. what an unreliable bunch everyone around him was. at least with askeladd he knew that it was on purpose—anyone else had no excuse for their behaviour.
thorkell finally rushed into the building after what felt like hours, taking big steps as he hurried towards them. he tried to make it seem casual and not like he was terribly late, which he was failing at quite miserably. maybe he should rethink his choice of career if he could not complete a task as basic as not coming late to an important event. he was supposed to be an authority and a good example.
removing his headphones from one of his ears, thorfinn at least attempted to listen to what the teacher had to say, although most of the time it tended to be something so utterly ridiculous it was almost embarrassing.
"well, well, well, students!", he started, and thorfinn rolled his eyes at the theatrics. "as you know, today is quite a big day for all of you! you've studied for so long and have come so far, and I'm sure you will lead us to our much deserved victory! so fight as if your life depends on it!"
yeah… no. this was a maths and physics competition, not a war. there was no need for taking this that seriously. his school—vinland boarding school for boys—had enough money anyway and was not necessarily in need for more. sure, there was never too much money, but thorfinn simply did not care enough about his school to feel the urge to financially support them and become nothing but a slave to money.
"—and with that being said, I want you all to make some connections before the competition starts and to—"
yeah, that was his sign that all the important things had been said and he could go. surely einar would tell him if he had missed anything relevant that his life depended on.
thorfinn quietly distanced himself from the group of boys, putting his headphones on again as he wandered around. he pushed past people that he had no actual interest in as he tried to find someone that seemed worthy of his attention. which, by the way, was a rare characteristic for others to possess. not because they actually sucked, but because thorfinn had a habit of being hateful for no reason.
he kept walking and walking, cursing someone out for stepping onto his shoe and staring others to death before it finally happened. the thing. the situation that had seemed like a blessing at that moment but, looking back, surely had to have been a humiliation ritual.
thorfinn was standing in front of who was probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. which wasn't that difficult, considering the fact that he went to a school full of boys and barely got the chance to even breathe into the same direction as a girl, but he was still sure that there was no one in the world who could match the amount of beauty he had just witnessed.
he was suddenly more nervous than he had ever been in his life. his hands were sweating, which was something he was usually glad didn't happen to him, because it was one of the most embarrassing things he could possibly think of. oh god. his face was probably red too.
taking out his phone, he checked his face in the camera.
it was, indeed, red. that would be quite funny, if only it had happened to someone else and not him. preferably someone he couldn't stand. like hild.
as thorfinn looked up, he noticed that the girl was staring at him, eyebrows furrowed and a puzzled look on her face. it was cute. her eyebrows were the same colour as her long blonde hair, which thorfinn noticed seemed rather soft. it was also quite shiny. he wondered what it would smell like. which was embarrassing to think of, but you didn't just meet the love of you life every day, so he wasn't too ashamed of it.
she was still staring at him, and thorfinn couldn't quite decipher what the look on her face meant, but surely if someone looked at him for that long it meant that he had a chance. that he should shoot his shot. that he should take his chance before he would regret it for the rest of his life! she was probably shyer than he was and that's why she wasn't approaching him. it all made so much sense.
he walked over as nonchalantly and calmly as possible, taking off his headphones as he moved to let them hang around his neck. hopefully it made him look cool and not ridiculous. may luck be on his side in those dire times.
now that they were closer, thorfinn kind of came to the conclusion that he did not actually have anything to say and that he had no idea how romance worked. he'd never had a girlfriend before and he also had never cared about girls much, so his only knowledge on the topic came from movies.
that should be enough, though.
"so, uh….. you come here often?", he asked, grinning awkwardly.
there was no response other than a raised eyebrow and a confused expression on the other's face. it was even cuter than before, and thorfinn couldn't help himself from fidgeting with his hands. he wasn't entirely sure if he just imagined it, but the other seemed nervous too.
thorfinn cleared his throat, laughing awkwardly as he tried again. "what I meant to say was, uhm", another laugh, "may I.. have your number?"
(if thorfinn had used his brain for a second on that particular thursday, he would have known that he was already in possession of said number and had been for quite a while now.)
the other's eyes widened at his words, her mouth opening before she closed it again, seemingly trying to regain her composure. she looked around for a few seconds, as if trying to see whether they were being watched right now or not. thorfinn didn't really care about those things as long as she was looking at him, though. he felt like a second of her attention could cure any disease in the world. everything bad was suddenly gone when he was granted even just the tiniest shortest glance.
". . . you may not"
okay what the fuck. this was genuinely fucked up and evil.
"okay. alright. that's fine", thorfinn forced out, before abruptly turning around and walking away as quickly as his legs managed to carry him. away from that stupidly pretty girl that he swore wasn't even that pretty and surely there were more interesting and prettier girls in the world than her.
it was a relief to see that he had arrived at einar's side just in time for the actual competition to start, pulling him towards the room they had already been instructed to go to on the information pamphlet they had received a week ago. away from that girl. far, far away so he would never see her again.
he did not talk about the girl yet, but the way einar eyed him from head to toe meant that he could tell that something had happened, even if he hadn't asked about it yet. thorfinn was grateful for not having to expose himself yet, but he knew that it was inevitable.
thorfinn didn't actually know what table they had to sit at, so einar took over giving directions and led them to their destination. maybe he should have stayed to listen to their team number, instead of getting his heart broken.
okay, no. enough of that. he had a competition he wanted to desperately win now. he would become a slave to money if it meant forgetting about what would from now on be referred to as the incident, even if only for an hour.
they sat down across from two people thorfinn hadn't seen in the lobby earlier, although that was probably because he had been too busy making heart eyes at [redacted]. he didn't even know her name. what a shame.
there was a lot of talking about rules and fairness and whatnot that thorfinn drowned out, and then they got to work as soon as they had been given the go. it was always quite enjoyable to participate in the competitions, but the budget of the fic is not high enough for any details to be provided. how unfortunate. they really had done a good job.
einar did most of the talking when it came to having to interact with the others. the competition tended to pair two students from one school with two from another, which meant thorfinn didn't know them. einar was more social than him anyway, so it was probably for the better if things were handled that way.
around 30 minutes into the competition, einar leaned towards him, trying to keep his voice down as he talked. he was such a considerate person, compared to most of the people in his life. thorfinn found it quite admirable.
"so… do you want to tell me what happened earlier?", he asked, trying to make it seem casual, "you seemed a bit out of it"
thorfinn let out a sigh as he took a few seconds to respond, considering whether it was worth it to have to remember what had happened earlier or not.
it was einar, though, so there was no reason for him to hold back any information about the situation.
so he began to talk about their girl he had met earlier, not without describing in detail why she was the most gorgeous being on earth.
"—and then I asked her for her number, and she just said no! can you believe it?", thorfinn said, trying to point at her without making it too obvious that the two of them were talking about her.
einar looked at him as if he was unsure whether all this was a joke or not, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"dude, thorfinn. are you serious?"
"yeah? why wouldn't I be?"
"bro… the girl you asked for her number is a guy. that's literally canute from our class"
the second most humiliating thing that had happened to him today was the yell thorfinn had let out at that.