Tord was sitting in his office chair upside down, questioning most of his life choices. He had just assisted the medic in carrying Tom back to his cell, it was probably the safest place for him at this point. However, that wasn't what he was thinking about, he was thinking about what to do when Tom woke up. His first attempt had ended in Tom getting knocked out by an umbrella, and to think that there could be a worse scenario... Tord was mortified. There was a quiet knock on the door.
"Red leader? Are you alright? The girls seemed concerned about something," Patryck's voice came through the door, referring to the seamstress, the researcher, and the lead scientist.
"I am fine Patryck," Tord sighed.
"Are you sure sir? Can we come in?" Paul's voice chimed in.
"Ugh, fine, whatever," Tord groaned. Paul and Patryck walked in and saw Tord upside down in his chair. Paul tilted his head to the side, chuckling.
"Sir, need I remind you what happened last time you sat like that?" Paul grinned.
"No Paul, I remember when I got stuck and I had you and Patryck help me," Tord rolled his eyes.
"Sir... Is this sudden wave of sadness about Tom?" Patryck frowned. Tord tried to sit upright, failing and falling off of his chair and onto the floor.
"Ow... Ugh, I can assure you this has nothing to do with Thomas," Tord hissed.
"Thomas? That's new, maybe you have changed... I doubt it though," Paul chuckled.
"Shut up, do either of you have anything productive to say?" Tord mumbled. Patryck cleared his throat and stood up straight.
"Sir, there have been many different rumours circulating around the base, rumours normally lead to consequences, but we're having a hard time figuring out which ones are actually harmful," Patryck began.
"Okay, and?" Tord asked, urging Patryck to continue.
"We were wondering if perhaps you could help us out?" Patryck shrugged.
"How?" Tord asked.
"We were hoping we could tell you some of them and you could just tell us if they sound harmful or not," Paul clarified.
"Alright, go on," Tord sighed, sitting down in his chair.
"First we have the rumour about the seamstress, word has gotten out that she's killed three people once," Paul chuckled.
"That would not surprise me, however that one is harmful for someone with her profession, try to prevent that one from spreading anymore than it already has," Tord nodded.
"Yes sir, the next one we have here is... The rumour that the woman who used to handle the mess hall was killed in an accident regarding one of the lead scientist's experiments," Patryck replied.
"Oh, no, that was one is true, I had to help her clean that one up, don't tell anyone that though, we need testing subjects for her, so try getting rid of that one too," Tord sighed.
"Yes sir!" Patryck saluted.
"Come on, are these it? These could've waited," Tord whined.
"Okay, next, the researcher and the lead scientist are dating," Paul sighed.
"Ha! That one is ridiculous! That one is too stupid to be true, my soldiers should know better, don't worry about that one," Tord laughed.
"Next we have that the ripper has a crush on the medic? Even I think that one is stupid," Paul smirked.
"Gross, imagining the ripper with anyone is just horrifying, why would anyone be fascinated with that? Ew, that one isn't exactly harmful, just mildly scarring, nonetheless you should still try killing that one with fire," Tord nearly wanted to puke.
"Then we have uh... That me and Paul are dating?!" Patryck squeaked. Paul blushed and looked over at the list in Patryck's hand, verifying what he had said.
"Pfft Ha! Come on, you know that one is true, it's always been true, don't worry about that one, it hasn't harmed anyone so far," Tord teased.
"Red leader we're not dating," Patryck sighed.
"Yeah whatever you say mom," Tord rolled his eyes.
"Young man do not talk to your mother like that!" Paul laughed, joining in the teasing. Patryck blushed and hid his face in his hands.
"I hate both of you," Patryck mumbled. Tord smiled, all three of them had been great friends before the red army began, and it was nice to have these moments with them even now.
"Anyways, last one," Paul grinned, taking the list from Patryck.
"Finally! Let's get this over with," Tord sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"Oh, apparently there's a rumour that you kissed Tom," Paul shrugged. Tord got up from his chair faster than the speed of light.
"WHO STARTED THIS RUMOUR?!" Tord growled. This made both Paul and Patryck jump a little, not expecting such a harsh reaction from their leader who was happily messing around with them just a second ago.
"We have no idea Red leader, we've only written down the ones we've heard, we have no idea who started any of these," Patryck stuttered out.
"I don't get it... No one else was in the room... The medic was... Wait," Tord began whispering to himself.
"Tord? You alright man?" Paul asked, dropping the Red leader charade for a second since he was genuinely concerned for his friend. Tord ran out of the room faster than lightning, pushing Paul and Patryck out of the way as he ran past them.
"Ow," Patryck exclaimed as he hit the ground. Paul got up quickly and walked towards him, kneeling down and offering his hand.
"You need some help?" Paul winked. Patryck blushed but held his ground, glaring at Paul and helping himself up.
"You teased me, therefore I shall not acknowledge you," Patryck chuckled, sticking out his tongue and turning his back to Paul.
"Hey! Don't be like that Pat! It was only a joke! Unless you do have feelings for me," Paul smirked. Patryck rolled his eyes and began walking away.
"In your dreams," Patryck laughed.
"Pat!" Paul whined, quickly running after Patryck and wrapping his arms around him.
"Let me go you goof," Patryck grinned.
"Never!" Paul exclaimed, a wide smile on his face. They sat there in a comfortable silence, hugging and basking in each other's warmth. Patryck opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped himself when he saw the ripper suddenly round a corner and stare at them.
"Ripper! This isn't what it looks like!" Patryck panicked. The ripper held his hand up, silently telling them to shut it.
"I do not wish to ruin this army with petty gossip, however I will spread this around unless you promise to do something for me," The ripper sighed. Paul and Patryck quickly separated.
"What is it?" Paul asked.
"I would like you to terminate all gossip centered around David and I," The ripper nodded.

I am not happy with how this chapter turned out, like... At all. Not to mention it's shorter than the last one, although it probably won't feel like it. Anyways, I just figured it would be cool if Paul and Patryck were just like: "Hm... People are lookin' pretty gay around here lately" lol. Also, we have fanart of Jack and David (the ripper and the medic).

This fantastic piece of fanart was made by dearstarboy and I absolutely adore it! That reminds me, I don't do authors notes in the ask Jack and David series, so I might as well do it here. We've just reached one thousand reads on that series, so thank you to those who have been following that! I love every single one of you, thank you for reading!