That night

Tord's Perspective

I had decided to stay in Tom's room for the remainder of the day after getting lots of goodbye kisses from my papa. He was so sweet and understanding.. I didn't understand such an amazing man. Now I was comfortably settled in Tom's bed, watching television and eating dinner. I knew that soon, he would be back. I was nervous, but I was also overjoyed to know that I had a mate. Mostly nervous because of all the possibilities, good and bad. It made me feel antsy the entire evening. At around the late hour of 10:30 PM, he finally slinked into his bedroom with a tired expression. "How are you feeling? You look tired." I asked and he slinked into bed next to me. "I'm fine.. I just need a good night of sleep." He told me and turned off the TV. "Can we uh.. Do a different position than spooning this time?" He requested and I raised a brow. "Like what?" I asked and he gently kissed my cheek. "Like laying together.. Like this." He said before laying on his side, facing me. I repeated his action and smiled when he ran his hand through my hair.

"This is nice." I commented and leaned into his touch. He purred quietly and pulled my head closer. "I have wanted a mate for so long, I'm so happy." He purred out with a lovely smile. I stared at him in the darkness of the room, barely able to make out his figure. "... Do you uh... Do you... Ah- nevermind." I quickly retracted my question and sat up, turning on the lamp behind me. He playfully pulled me back down and wrapped his arms around me. "What was the question?" He insisted and I sighed. "It's embarrassing honestly, it's just a stupid preference." I mumbled with an ashamed expression. He cooed softly snd kissed my cheek. "You don't need to hide anything Tord.. I won't judge you, I promise." He reassured me and rubbed my cheek. "I.. I can't trust you that much yet." I admitted and his expression softened with sympathy. "I understand Tord. Just remember that I'm always here for you, okay? And were you asking about a nightlight? I saw one in your room when I stayed there." He guessed and I turned a light shade of pink.

"Well- yes- but it's alright- I just enjoy the light because it makes me feel safer." I admitted shyly and blushed more when he gently kissed my cheek. "How about I go fetch your nightlight, hm? It's not a hassle, and I want you to feel at home here." He offered and I smiled warmly. "You're too sweet.. Thank you." I said and kissed him. He pulled me closer and deepened the kiss, rubbing my cheek gently. I hesitantly reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to relax as he kissed me. He pulled away from me slightly and stroked my cheek. "I'll be right back Tord, just to relax." He reminded me and forced himself out of bed, leaving me alone in a warm and comfortable bed. I pulled the sheets up over my body more and tried to get settled for the night. I waited patiently for Thomas, not wanting to be rude by complaining that he took so long. My room was rather far away compared to his, I don't blame him.

He later returned with a nightlight in hand, plugging it into a nearby socket and smiling at me. "Thank you Thomas." I politely said and watched as he began peeling off his layers of clothing. "I can't sleep in my uniform even if I'm very tired-." He explained and dropped his clothing into a clothing bin. Now that he was comfortably stripped down to just his boxers, he climbed in next to me once more and placed his hands on my waist. "Is that better?" He asked, referring to the nightlight. "I dunno, let's see." I responded and turned off the lamp, shifting in his grip. The only light in the room was a soft orange glow from my nightlight on the wall. "Yeah, that's better." I told him and smiled, resting my head on his neck. My body relaxed fully as Thomas slowly massaged my hip and purred softly in my ear. "Goodnight then Tord, sleep well." He purred in my ear, giving my cheek a gentle kiss. I closed my eyes and slowly shifted my arms into a comfortable position, which ended up as lightly resting my hands on Tom's chest.

I still felt overwhelmed by how fast our relationship had exceeded friendship. "Tom.." "Yes Tord?" "... Are you my mate..?" I asked barely above a whisper. I listened for a reply and felt his hand slowly run through my hair. "What do you want me to say?" He asked and breathed down my neck. I shuddered and blushed more as he purred in a deep tone, sounding somewhat like a growl. "I don't.. I don't know." I responded honestly. I really wished that I could have a mate, that mate being Tom, but I don't think I'm worth all of that. I don't think that I can maintain a relationship. "Well I'm sure that we can figure it out eventually." He assured me and continued to slowly rub my hips. "Just relax." He hummed and pressed his lips on my neck. I breathed slowly and let myself melt in Tom's arms. I felt his hot breath rhythmically sweep across my shoulder and down my back as I let my mind drift from consciousness.

I awoke in the morning to an empty bed, which was disappointing until I noticed the sticky-note on my forehead. I gently peeled it off and read the somewhat sloppy handwriting from Tom. "I had to get up early today, because I have an early meeting. Make yourself comfortable and feel free to roam around, but I'd like it if you stayed in my room. I'm not exactly trusting you Tord, you're a very sneaky, slippery little snake." He wrote. I chuckled at his fair mistrust of me, crumpling up the note and tossing it in the nearby trash. I slinked out of bed towards his closet and rummaged through many of the outfits, picking out a simple T-shirt and some jeans. The T-shirt had the sassy phrase "Beat it or eat it". It was so low-effort that it was obviously Tom's. I cringed as I undressed and put on the shirt. It's such a stupid shirt that's not even clever. It sounds painfully American. Once I stole a pair of his boxers and got fully dressed, I noticed a familiar hoodie in the corner of the spacious closet.

I moved closer to inspect it, seeing small slash marks where the debris had injured his arm. I slid it on and hugged the material, feeling somehow wrong by wearing it. I felt like I was violating Tom's being just by wearing his famous blue hoodie. However, the comforting scent of Thomas on the heavily worn hoodie persuaded me to continue wearing it. With that out of the way, I strolled towards the cafeteria and skipped my hygienic routine. I'm very lazy today, and I haven't had any coffee yet. I walked into the kitchen where many people were working, and one of the chefs' assistants came up to me. "What's on the menu today?" I asked curiously and the young man nervously rubbed the back of his head. "A-ah- I'll- get the paper- I'm terrible with memorizing-." He stuttered awkwardly and came back with a small paper with the menu. Because of my slightly impaired vision due to having one eye, moving the paper closer so that I could read it.

There was two types of stew, a bunch of different sandwich types, a buttered noodle dish, some salads, and a bunch of sides with drinks. I genuinely believed in supplying my soldiers with the best of everything as long as they were loyal, and it seemed that Tom had expanded the food aspect of that a lot. It kept moral high and soldiers happy, so it made sense. "Uhh.. Is this all? Is there a breakfast menu?" I asked and he quickly apologized, fetching a different slip of paper. There were the usual breakfast foods, like waffles and pancakes or eggs in different forms. There were some uber-healthy options too, like smoothies and a fruit salad. "I'll take some chocolate chip pancakes and some scrambled eggs, along with some turkey sausage." I requested and he quickly nodded, smiling politely and saluting me. "Of course sir, I'll deliver your meal personally. Where will you be?" He asked and I shrugged before stuffing my hands in the worn blue pockets.

"Just in the cafeteria with my soldiers, and don't rush yourself. I can wait." I told him and he nodded with a smile. "We'll get it out to you soon sir, feel free to ask for a drink as well." He added as I began to walk away. "Thanks." I dismissed the conversation and walked out into the packed cafeteria. Most soldiers were clustered together at tables, chatting happily and giving playful nudges. Others were sitting at a sort of collective introverted table, all sitting together without a word being spoken. A few were scattered about, sitting at random tables but not contributing. "Oh hello Tord! How's it going?" A familiar Brit practically shouted and hugged me from behind. I turned around to face the boy and saw that both him and Matt were standing together, looking rather refreshed for being up so early. "Come on, we get to go sit at Tom's special reserved table." He said with more energy than a nuclear power plant.

He dragged both me and Matt to a cleared table with a small sign on it. I sat down first, followed by Edd across from me and Matt on my right. "You never answered my question, Tord." He reminded me and I got comfortable in my seat. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Um... How are you guys?" I asked and looked at the two of them. Matt seemed much less energetic than Edd, acting like a wallflower almost. "Oh I'm great! Tom got me this really nice futuristic stuff for drawing, and it's so awesome! You can draw with a VR headset and then a hologram of it just shows up in front of you in real life! It's soooo cool! And also..." I started to tune out his excited blabbering and glanced at Matt once more. He was so quiet. I knew how he felt, because I was basically always considered a "quiet kid" when I wasn't hanging out with Edd and his friends. I didn't feel the want or need to socialize with anybody else, unless it was an act of kindness like helping an elder or giving up my seat for a pregnant lady. All decent people, even me a homocidal maniac, do that stuff by default.

I slowly reached over to his fidgeting hand and gently caressed it. Matt stared at me, no words needed. We both knew that he was hurt, and that's all we needed to know. Edd was just too oblivious to care, and Tom was too busy leading my army. "So anyways, I've been having a lot of fun with that. What have you been up to for uhhhh... Well, just what have you been up to recently?" Edd asked and stared at me with his big brown eyes full of hope and adventure. He was such a lovable extrovert most of the time. "Not much really.. You know me, I think everything except hentai and violence is overrated." I joked with a small smile. "Right! Well, Matt's not been very talkative recently. He's been learning to chillax and cook, which is pretty awesome." Edd informed me and practically bounced in his seat as both him and Matt were given food. Edd seemed to quiet down as soon as he was given food, digging in like a starving animal.

Matt on the other hand took slow and small bites, trying not to draw attention to himself. If I could help him love his body again, maybe he'd feel better? I'm strongly guessing that it's only the robotic parts that hurt his self-esteem, so all I had to do was help him by covering the robotic addition on his chin with artificial skin. As for the robotic eye, there are many simple solutions and models that could make him look normal. "Hey Matt, would you like to come to my lab with me after breakfast? I've got a cool suggestion to make your eye better." I offered as a half-truth. Matt seemed intrigued by my offer and pulled the fork out of his mouth. "Sure." He simply replied before continuing to eat. I can't wait to see how happy he'll be, knowing that he can look more human and be confident again.