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Tord was in a closet, which to the unacquainted eye may have seemed a bit odd, but had a completely reasonable explanation to it. Not in the closet, mind you, that would present an entirely different set of issues. No, Tord was simply standing silently in the corner of Edd's apartment bedroom waiting for the all clear to come out of the closet. In a literal sense.
He'd lost track of exactly how long he'd been playing statue surrounded by a myriad of green sweaters, and the constant drone of muffled voices wasn't helping matters. He frowned to himself as he remembered Tom bursting in and ruining what would have been a nice, Tom free, Edd filled day. One might say that shutting oneself in a closet simply to avoid an old rival was childish, but one was also not Tord. In his eyes this had been the only logical thing to do when he had learned who was at the door. The flight response had kicked in and here he was, an unknown amount of time later, frozen in place as he heard the telltale sound of a door opening and closing, broken in the middle by what could only have been rain. A few seconds of silence and then,
"Ok you can come out now."
He was already pushing at the inside of the door. One shove wasn't enough so he tried again, and again there was nothing. Getting annoyed now he shoved harder, and then even harder until THUNK, he toppled forward onto the slightly dirty beige carpeting of Edd's bedroom.
"Is everything okay in there?" Called a cheery voice at the rather concerning commotion. Tord stood and straightened out his clothing, growling a little to himself before he called back,
"Yes, it is alright."
He wandered the short distance to the apartment's little kitchen and the sight that greeted him was, at least for Edd's place, rather unorthodox. The tiled counter was covered with everything from sugar to vegetable oil, with no small amount of cola. That was to be expected however, Tord thought to himself with a small smile. Look who he was with.
Making the journey around the counter into the kitchen itself Tord nearly tripped over the brown haired mass crouched in front of one of the lower cabinets that yelped at being rather unceremoniously knocked into.
"What in the-oh. It's just you Edd."
Edd, a little annoyed at being kicked in the foot and then kneed in the ribs stood up to glare at the other. He held a cake tin under one arm and a mixing bowl under the other, and wore a faded green apron with the exclamation, 'I'm not short, I'm concentrated awesome' emblazoned in a dull yellow in the center.
"Could you watch where you're going next time?" Grumbled Edd, setting the load in his arms down with a thud and closing the cabinet he had been rummaging in with his foot, gently rubbing his injured side.
"How was I supposed to know you were on the ground? It's not usual for you." Tord replied. The Brit stood silent for a moment before shrugging in defeat.
"What took you so long getting out here? Sounded like you hid yourself up in my closet."
The Norwegian chuckled awkwardly in response and rubbed the back of his neck, leaning back against the counter as Edd slid past him into the connected living room to grab his laptop off the coffee table.
"The door got stuck. You should really fix it up."
"So you were in my closet!"
"Yes. I wanted to be extra safe."
Edd threw his hands in the air, letting out an exasperated groan.
"There was no need for you to be in there in the first place! You don't have to hide from him you know." Tord's responsive eye-roll was accompanied by a distant clap of thunder. There was a split second pause as he glanced nervously out of the window above the sink. Shaking his head dismissively, he returned his attention to the man currently fiddling with his laptop.
"Don't play that game with me Edd, you know that I do. What are you making with all of this anyway?" The last part was hastily added in response to Edd turning on his heels and opening his mouth with a dangerous expression on his face.
"Tord, you really need to get-"
"Can we please not talk about my relations with Tom? I'm not here for that." Their eyes meet for a tense moment, but sensing the sincerity in the other man's voice, Edd decided to drop it and turned back to the counter.
"I'm making a cake." The playful tone was back in his voice and Tord let out a sigh of relief. He shifted to the right as he was told to move from in front of the drawer where Edd pulled out all manner of measuring cups and set them on the countertop before moving to wash his hands. The Norwegian raised an eyebrow.
"If you're making a cake then why do you have out five cans of cola?" Edd looked up from the sink, soapy hands pausing mid-motion to cock his head to the side and furrow his brow questioningly at Tord.
"Well... because it's a cola cake." To Edd it was a stupid question with an answer as plain to see as the rain now hammering at the window. And now, Tord supposed, it was to him as well, but his thoughts were now lost in Edd's adorable motion. The young man did the same thing every time he was confused but it never lost its value to Tord. There was a brief pause before he realized that Edd had spoke, and he hastened to reply.
"Er-uh wouldn't five cans make it soggy then?"
Tord stuttered, gesturing at the countertop.
"Just how big of a cake are you making?"
"Well the recipe only calls for one cup." Conceded the shorter man.
"But the rest are for us. Now are you going to sit there asking questions all afternoon or are you going to wash your hands and help me bake?"
Edd scooted away from the sink, drying off his hands and granting Tord room to wash his own.
"You know I only need one can, right?"
Commented Tord over his shoulder as he turned the faucet.
"That's why I only got you one." Edd replied, preheating the oven and measuring out the proper amount of butter to melt. Tord narrowed his eyes slightly and looked again at the five cans of soda on the counter. It just wasn't adding up.
"But, Edd, that leaves four extra cans."
"Yeah! That's three for me and one for you!" Again, a stupid simple question with a stupid simple answer. Tord chuckled and rolled his eyes at the shorter man. A bolt of lightning split the sky outside, followed in quick succession by a loud clap of thunder. Edd barely spared the storm a glance out the window while Tord jumped slightly and very casually slid a bit further away from the wall.
"So what can I do to help?"
"Um..." Hummed Edd as he grabbed two eggs from the carton on the counter, placing them down, and moving to return the rest to the fridge. "You can whip up those eggs in that bowl over there."
They continued this way for a while, Edd hopping from the recipe on his laptop to something Tord wasn't sure how to do right. The occasional whirring of the electric mixer coupled with the howling wind and occasional roar of thunder soon faded into the background. Time passed unnaturally quickly as the two laughed and talked over the task at hand, pausing now and then to take a sip of cola. It should have felt much longer than it did, but before the merry pair new what was happening, the batter had been poured into the tin and had been slid into the oven.
"Yay we did it!" Cheered Edd as Tord closed the oven.
"We sure did." He replied with a grin, raising his hand for a celebratory high five which was eagerly meet. What the taller man did not expect, however, was to be then be pulled into a tight hug. It was warm and comforting and Tord could not help but hug back with a smile. They stayed that way for what was probably far too long, but neither really cared, only splitting off so Edd could set a timer for their cake. Yet as fanciful as this scene was, Tord suddenly became grounded when the loudest crash of thunder yet shook the room, this time causing them both to jump. A quick glance out of the window showed little more than darkness, only outlines visible through the torrential downpour. Tord glanced at Edd, then at the rain trying to batter down the window, then back again before tentatively speaking up.
"Well I was planning on leaving after we were done here, but the storm is looking much more severe than I thought it would so if it's no trouble-"
"You can stay here for the night."
Edd interjected, his cheeks flushing slightly as he realized how enthusiastic he sounded.
"Or at least until the storm's over. I-If you want to that is."
Tord was taken aback by Edd's words, though heartened none the less. He could not truly believe that someone could care about him. That Edd could care about him.
"Of course. I love-I mean, I'd love to."
"Great!"
Face lighting up like the sun in the morning, Edd started toward the couch.
"So do you want to watch a movie?"
~~~
The two of then were roughly twenty minutes into The Bye Bye Man™ and Tord was beginning to question Edd's intentions. The movie was terrible, laughably so, but the shorter man would jump at every cheap scare. Every time he did this he would squeeze Tord's arm and lurch into his friend's shoulder. Now Tord was not complaining about this situation at all. Edd was warm and his presence comforting, not to mention his overdramatic reactions were nothing short of adorable and made the god awful movie much more bearable. That being so, Tord was becoming increasingly suspicious of the sincerity of Edd's reactions. He would always stay close just a bit longer than he probably should have. Was this just Tord imagining things or could it be something more?
There was another scare approaching, Tord could tell, and he was going to make use of it. The music spiked as a body fell and right on queue Edd practically jumped into the others arm. This time however, Tord grabbed him back. Clutching Edd's shoulder and as the scene ended snaking his hand down to hold his friend's waist. To his surprise, and relief, Edd stayed. He even rested his head on Tord's shoulder, bringing a smile to the Norwegian's face, and deeper a blush than he would have liked to admit. The next bad scare came and went with no reaction whatsoever from Edd. Tord chuckled softly and laid his head on top of the other man's greasy curls, closing his eyes for just a moment and sighing a contented sigh.
And then the timer went off.
Tord quickly removed his arm from around Edd's hips while the latter fumbled with the remote quickly before pausing the movie. They didn't make eye contact as the Brit rushed to silence the ceaseless beep beep beep of the oven's alarm.
"Grab my oven mitt." Was directed at Tord as he entered the kitchen, hands in pockets and doing his best to act casual.
"It's hanging up over by the window"
Nearing said window, Tord was meet with a full view of the sky outside and recoiled. Being distracted by the movie, neither of them had seen the sky progress from dark and stormy to pitch black with buckets of rain being thrown at the glass. Any lightning to be had would be swallowed up by the sheer void that had taken the outside world, but that would not stop the thunder. That horrible, house trembling crash could seep through anything. It was relentless. It was terrifying. It-
"Tord? Did you hear me? I said to grab the oven mitt."
Tord shook his head violently, clearing his thoughts as best he could, grabbing what he came for and rushing back to Edd.
"Here you are."
"Ah thanks." Replied Edd, slipping on the mitt. He opened the oven to a wave of tantalizing smell and a lovely looking cake.
"It looks good." Tord said, glancing out the window every couple seconds.
"Yeah! Here, you get down the plates and I'll get the drinks."
Tord completed his assigned task with no difficulty whatsoever, but had to bite back a laugh at his much shorter friend who had to climb on the counter to reach the cabinet holding the cups.
"Would you like some help there Edd?" Edd huffed at the Norwegian's tone. Choosing to remain silent, he grabbed the two glasses and hopped back down, setting them on the counter where he had been moments before. After opening the drawer in front of him to retrieve forks and a knife the green hooded man turned to his friend with a smug look.
"You underestimate my power." He said with a cheeky grin. Tord grinned back. Edd was just too damn cute.
"Apparently I-"
BOOM
bzzt
And the world went black. Tord couldn't see, the darkness mashed together with the pounding of rain into his skull, terrifying him to no end. Someone was screaming. It couldn't be him though. That pitiful voice had no place coming out of his mouth. He had fallen to his knees with a thunk, pain shooting up his legs as they connected with the tile but he barely even noticed. Surrounded on every side by roaring darkness all he could do was cry.
"Tord! Calm down, it's just a power outage!"
A voice called through the screams and the thunder. Tord knew that voice.
"Edd?" The screaming stopped with the question, although that also didn't sound like Tord. The noise was small, pathetically so. It was shaking too. His voice could never sound like that.
"Yeah. I'm right here. You're going to be all right."
Tord also knew those hands on his shoulders, and that sweet, cola-scented breath on his face. Edd was here. Of course he was. He always was.
"I'm scared." It still didn't sound like it should, but Tord knew now who that voice belonged to. He felt his friend move closer, felt a soft hand on his cheek, and heard the whisper even over all the other noises raging around him.
"You don't have to be. I'm right here with you."
Lips hit his own, probably rougher than they had intended to in the dark. His own hands rose to hold whatever part of Edd he could, so thankful for his presence. The kiss was far from perfect, their noses kept colliding and neither really knew what to do with their tongues, but to Tord it was life saving. He could just close his eyes and be lost in Edd's scent and taste and just feel him. It was bliss.
zzt bzzz
And there was light once again. A still shaking Tord lifted his eyelids, pulling his lips off Edd's with a soft smack but not quite willing to let him go. Looking at the shorter man's face, his upturned eyebrows and big, round eyes so full of concern and care were enough to blur his vision. He wrapped Edd up in a tight hug, crying silently into his shoulder.
"Thank you."
Edd laughed with quiet confusion, returning the hug and rubbing Tord's back with gentle strokes.
"For what?"
With eyes and nose nearly as red as his hoodie Tord moved his hands to the Brit's shoulders and touched their foreheads together.
"Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for everything Edd."
Laughing truly now, Edd pressed a quick kiss to Tord's lips before pushing himself up off the ground.
"Maybe a bit more than friends after today." He extended a hand, which Tord gratefully took, rising to his feet. After wiping his nose and eyes on his sleeve, he smiled genuinely at the person he most cared for and opened his mouth to finally express what he'd been wanting to for far to long.
"More than friends sounds good to me."