Finding

(37) Sixteen

It was entertaining.

Seeing the teenage versions of his friends mucking about was just as fun as it had been before. Matt's quirky comments, Edd's all to bright personality and Tom's own personal brand of nihilistic attitude and morbid humor was something he definitely missed.

That said, Tord couldn't keep a certain sadness away from him when he found out that Asher still died when Tom was nine-years-old. From Tom and Matt's own personal testimonies, they had told him that the pineapple had died during a fishing trip that they had.

A bear with a shot gun killed him.

A stupid bear with a fucking shot gun had placed a bullet hole on the tropical fruit and somehow the still raven-haired teen couldn't stop himself being angry and mournful at the same time.

He was angry and mournful because he had lost someone again.

He had lost someone and this time it was his own son.

To think that he had now lost both his lover (and possibly fiancé) and his adoptive son, Tord couldn't stop himself from feeling as if fate was toying with him. With all the changes that he done he still had lost someone so dear to him.

Now, the whole underage drinking was now once again making sense. Thomas started drinking when they were fourteen and it looked like Tom also did that too. Both of them were using alcohol as a coping mechanism of sorts for the trauma they felt and what had happened.

As far as Tord remembers, Thomas told him how his father died in front of his eyes and he was angry with himself that he couldn't do anything about it. It was one of the reasons why he chose to drink. The other reason was that Thomas told him he was depressed. That instead of taking anti-depressant medications he decided that he'd rather have the bottle than the pills.

It was all now making sense and somehow, as much as Tord was glad to have that similar aspect of Tom again, he was still bothered to know what kind of pain the eyeless brunet was going through. It was why, as much as he tried to make sure things were right on tract as it were in his original life, the raven-haired teen was now gentler and caring towards the brunet.

Whenever Tom looked like he was in his depressive mood, Tord would easily enough reach out and allow the Brit to hold his hand or drape himself over him. When Tom was having difficulty with his classes, he'd let him borrow his notes and tutor the teen if it was necessary.

Nonetheless, it wasn't like any of their disagreements lessened. He'd still argue with Tom from time to time and whenever Tom made the first punch Tord would do his best to fight back. He would fight in a manner that he'd still always win but ensure the Brit would have minimal injuries. That way, the raven wouldn't be that guilty after their arguments.

Now back to the present, Tord smiled at how Edd, Matt and Tom were talking about some kind of band. Everybody at school was talking about it but the raven found no real reason to be so interested in them like the others did.

The band that was coming to their school wasn't even that famous; they were more of the B grade side of the limelight and only stood out here in local waters. Tord didn't find it in himself to even be delighted at their performance since he'd seen and heard better.

Even before he became the world's Emperor, the wealth that he had at his disposal was enough to get him VIP seats in whatever concert he would want to attend. He would watch whatever group or performer he liked and would sometimes even end up sleeping with them.

Celebrities weren't that new to him so this kind of event only had him yawning and focus on the music sheets in front of him instead. He was currently memorizing a new piano piece that he'd have to practice for since he'd already stepped into grade 6 piano level and the boys in front of him weren't doing any help to him as their voices were only getting louder in intensity.