Finding

(33) Issues

It was tiring.

Living the past two years slowly trying to make his father warm up to him again. Tord was worried that the man would throw him away at the revelation he gave but instead it looked like Claude tried to understand. Claude did his best to understand him and give him a chance that Tord only ended up further regretting on why he never truly gave the man a chance in his first life.

That said, as much as the man was now hellbent in spoiling him, Tord could still sense how Claude would stop to assess him from time to time. The blond would sometimes have that calculative look on his face and stare at him for a few seconds before hiding it again.

And yet, Tord was choosing to believe him.

Tord wanted to believe that his father cared for him just as he did back then. So, he was willing to let such things slide and try to focus on his present and the plans he was making.

With him now near entering kindergarten or Year 1 in British school standards, Tord was doing his best to convince his father to allow him to study in England. And by convince, the now purely silver haired Norwegian was somewhat forced to divulge a number of things just to make Claude understand that his presence in England was necessary.

He ended up begrudgingly telling the man on how England was an important step since that's where he would end up meeting his friends. That, and that's also where he would meet him. That it was where he would end up meeting Tom.

Tord smiled slightly as he recalled how his father reacted to know that he had been in a relationship with a boy. That instead of being disgusted or angry like what other normal fathers usually would do Claude was instead happy yet concerned for him.

His father was happy for him since he found someone for him. But the blond was concerned for him since he wanted to know everything about Tom. Claude wanted to know if Tom was nice to him. He wanted to know if Tom had ever hurt him and abused him.

Claude wanted to know if Tom was good for him.

The whole idea of his father being like that was just endearing. Far too endearing.

Smiling more at the memory, Tord now focused on his father who was pacing on the floor and watched as Claude was debating with himself on the merits of meeting the aforementioned 'Tom.' Which now brought Tord out of his quiet observing shell to protest, "Papa, he's basically the same age as me right now! You can't expect him to know about what happened during my time since he wasn't the one to get a second chance. He's just a kid!"

Cerulean blue gems then turned to look at his own green gem like orbs to say, "He might be a kid right now, Athy. But that doesn't put out the fact that I want to meet the person who made my daughter fall so hard for him!"

Blinking at the sudden 'daughter' comment, the silvernette tilted his head a bit in curiosity as he remarked, "You know, Papa, just because I now find myself liking to wear dresses more and sometimes acting like a girl that doesn't mean you have to refer to me as your daughter."

"I know. That said, I just thought about what the psychologist said and thought it better to go on with that term. I mean, as much as you still prefer to be referred as a he, I and the others have noticed how the terms 'son' and 'daughter' are affecting you.

Just like how the psychologist have pointed out that you ended up being the way you are right now since you're to trying make a distinction of your original timeline from the current one. That, and you like being referred to as a 'daughter' since as a 'son' you felt that you have failed me. The female term was a reminder for you to be better.

Then, there's the term of 'princess.' You have mentioned it to one of our visits to the psychologist that your Tom and your other friends had called you as princess in the past. Ms. Luka thinks that the term had become something that you positively associate with since it involved the happiness that you felt during the people you cared for. So, I think that having you referred as such wouldn't be that bad," Claude explained as he watched his son, no, daughter looked at him in bewilderment.

Tord took a deep breath at such an explanation and shoved down the surprise which he felt. It was quite rather thoughtful of his father to even think about his problems. Heck, being reminded that he was now even seeking professional help, a recommendation of his creation, Sebastian, had him understand that Claude was taking his offspring's fucked up mental issues seriously.

Tord laughed at the absurdity of it all and yet the relief that he felt for his father's acceptance of him and all the baggage he carried made him want to reach out to Claude. He wanted to thank the older blond for accepting him for who he was and caring about him for all of his faults.

He wanted to...

Swallowing back the weird emotions that he was feeling with in his chest, Tord took another deep breath to calm himself and redirected the topic as they've gone far off from what they were discussing. "Papa, I think we've been off topic for sometime now," the silvernette stated as he watched Claude give a tired sigh.

"You and your notion of supposedly not needing emotions. You do realize that all of your mental health issues are related to that?" The elder said in exasperation as he grimaced at how his daughter was now being difficult.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Papa," Tord smiled brightly as he ignored all the feelings that he was feeling and opted to go for a bright mask to hide his messed-up complications.

"Fine," Claude groaned as he conceded, "I don't want us to go back and forth with about your issues. That said, I'll agree to moving with you to England and allowing you to meet with your friends in the condition that you'd allow me to meet them too at some point later on."

"Okay."

"That, and you should continue seeing miss Luka for your sessions," Claude immediately held up his hand to stop whatever it was his daughter was about to say and continued, "I know that you don't want to go to her since you feel that you don't need to see a psychologist. But seriously, Athy, I think you need it. Maybe it's not in the way you think but seeing her is a great help in letting you deal with your issues."

"Fine," Tord begrudgingly replied and finally decided that their discussion was enough.

He was finally able to convince his father to allow him to attend his schooling in England. Letting the blond meet his friends in the future and continuing to see a psychologist wouldn't be that bad of a compromise.

So, Tord stood up and excused himself from Claude presence before he would have any further weird thoughts.