Chances

-14-

Over the last few days, Matt and Edd had been treating Tom like he was a glass doll that would break any moment. Tord, however, wasn't treating him as if he were fragile, but he was being far kinder than before. Tom and Tord had little 'hang out' sessions where they'd just do something fun together for about an hour or so.

Right now, they were out getting ice cream. In the rain. In the cold. Tom and Tord were both bundled up. Tom was wearing his blue hoodie, a black pea coat over it, and a pair of earmuffs. Tord was wearing his red hoodie, a coat with fur on the hood, and a red beanie. They were one of the only people in the small store, but they were laughing and having fun. Tom had a small scoop of chocolate ice cream, while Tord had just plain vanilla. The quaint store didn't have much ice cream, because they weren't expecting anybody until at least early Spring. 

Tom and Tord exited the store, holding their ice cream in gloved hands. The wind blew in their faces, making them slightly red at their noses, and on their cheeks. Tom pulled up his scarf, but while his attention wasn't on his ice cream, he tilted it slightly. The wind came in a strong gust, and blew the ice cream onto the ground. Tom looked at the sad puddle of chocolate in disappointment.

"shoot." He whispered. Tord looked at Tom.

"You can have mine." He offered, giving Tom his ice cream. Tom shook his head, putting his hand up.

"I don't like vanilla." Tom said, shrugging. Tord gasped.

"How can you not like vanilla?" Tom and Tord started walking again. Tom was now just carrying an empty cone. It's not good to litter. 

"I don't know. Just tastes too plain for me." Tom felt a small blot of water hit his face. He closed his eyes instinctively. Tom wiped the small bit of water off of his face, and looked up.

"It's about to either start raining, or snowing. Which do you think it is?" Tom said, looking at Tord. Tord looked up at the sky.

"I think it's going to rain, because it's not cold enough to snow yet." He said, smiling.

"Okay, I'll go for snowing, because it was the only option left." Tord laughed.

"That's the spirit!" He joked. Tom smiled, and continued walking with him. They walked in silence for a bit, just taking in the scenery of passing by parks, and cars. London was a very pretty place, but the skies always seemed so dreary, and gray. Tord suddenly stopped, looking at the sky again. Tom stopped as well, a few feet ahead. Tom looked at Tord in confusion.

"I think it's raining?" Tord said, as if it were a question, not a statement. Just then, the rain started pouring down in large amounts. Tord started laughing, as he abandoned his ice cream, and grabbed Tom's gloved hand. They started jogging, to make it home without getting completely soaked. Tom could barely keep up, and he was mostly being dragged by Tord.

"Tord! Slow down! My legs are small and I can't keep up!" Tom shouted over the violent rainfall hitting the concrete. Tord slowed down slightly, but not by a lot. The house was in view. Tord sped up again, Tom tripping, and stumbling at every footstep. Just then, Tom hit the ground face first. Tord stopped, and gasped. He bent down, helping Tom up.

"Tom I'm so sorry! I should've listened, and slowed down!" Tord said, sincerely. Tom looked at him smiling. He had a bloody nose, but that didn't effect him. He grabbed Tord's hand, and continued the rest of the run to the house. 

Tom and Tord went into the house, immediately embracing the warmth. Tord rushed to the bathroom, grabbing a long strip of toilet paper. He started rubbing it on Tom's face, trying to get all of the blood off. Tom was laughing, and trying to get the paper out of his face.

"Tord! Stop! I can do it myself!" He laughed. Tord stopped, and handed it to Tom. While Tom was cleaning the blood off of his face, Tord started taking off his Winter clothes. The loud commotion caused Edd to come into the room.

"Hey, are you guys back already- Tom! What happened to your face?" Edd said. He was immediately drawn to Tom, cleaning the blood off of him.

"Well, it started raining, so Tord and I started running home, but Tord was too fast, so I fell." Tom explained. He was slightly hard to hear, due to him holding toilet paper up to his nose. 

"Yeah, we went to get ice cream, but it rained sooner than we thought." Tord said. He took off Tom's earmuffs, and put them in the pile with all of his things. Edd looked at them in confusion, as Tom and Tord laughed together.

What a neat bonding experience.