~Chapter 4-Don't Cut~

Tord and Matt stared at each other, minutes passing by. It was as if time itself stopped. It seemed like forever until Tord spoke up.

"Matt.." he uttered, sounding a little too calm. "This isn't what it looks like.."

"This isn't what it looks like?!" Matt exclaimed in horror, gazing at Tord's scars and cuts. He felt like he was gonna throw up. "Tord, you're bleeding! Th-There's so much blood...oh my God..." he walked closer to the Norwegian.

"H-How long have you been doing this?" he questioned apprehensively.

Tord didn't answer, averting his gaze away from the ginger.

Matt shook slightly. "I-I have to go call Edd!" he choked and turned to sprint out of the room, but was roughly pulled back by the arm by Tord.

"No! Matt, you can't tell Edd! Or Tom! Or anyone!" Tord exclaimed sternly.

"I have to tell someone!" Matt insisted, yanking his arm away. "Tord, you're bleeding out! If Edd doesn't tend to your wounds soon, you'll die!"

"I don't care!" Tord growled. "You just can't okay?!"

"What, do you want me to keep it a secret?" Matt questioned him and without waiting for an answer, continued. "Tord, if I kept a secret like that it would break Edd! Actually no, scratch that! It'll break him if he found out you were keeping something this serious from him, and you know that!"

Tord groaned, looking away. He was beginning to feel lightheaded quickly.

"Todd," Matt whimpered, reaching out and touching his shoulder. "Please..."

"Tord," Tord corrected in a mumble, shrugging his hand off roughly causing Matt to flinch.

Not knowning what else to do, Matt began to turn on his heel to leave the room, but quickly remembered that he shouldn't leave Tord alone in his state.

Matt reached out and grabbed him, pulling him off the bed. Tord mutely allowed himself to be pulled into the kitchen as Matt pulled out the First Aid before going into the living room, gently pushing Tord onto the couch. Matt got out some gauze. This was Edd's specialty, not his but he had to try.

Matt pulled out his phone with his other hand and desparately dialed Edd's number, leaning his head down on his shoulder to keep his phone there whilst uneasily wrapping some gauze around one of Tord's arms.

In the store, Edd was steering the cart, Tom walking beside him. The green clad abruptly stopped with a frown. "I hope Matt's holding up with Tord okay."

"Both of them are fine," Tom assured gruffly. "You worry too much."

"I guess you're right." Edd sighed. His phone started ringing abruptly.

"Huh?" Edd mumbled in confusion and took it out of his pocket, gazing at the screen.

"It's Matt." he informed Tom.

"See? He's probably calling to tell you that the commie's feeling better." Tom stated with a smug grin, folding his arms across his chest.

"Y-Yeah. Maybe." Edd replied, managing a small smile.

He picked up. "Hey Matt! How're things going with To-"

Tom's grin fell when he saw the look of horror cross Edd's face. Edd gave him an uneasy glance and held onto his phone tightly, both hands shaking.

"O-Okay. Calm down, Matt. We'll be right there. Just don't let him out of your sight, okay? Okay. B-Bye."

When Edd hung up, he looked terribly pale.

Tom gave him a concerned look. "I'm guessing that wasn't a 'good news' call?"

Edd shook his head. He grabbed the cart with one hand and Tom's hand with the other, walking toward the cashier quickly.

"No, it wasn't. C'mon, we need to go home. Now."

Matt smiled at a laughing Tord. After Matt hung up with Edd, he had managed to drag Tord out of his quiet stage by turning on Insane Pirate Zombies from Hell five, the movie Tord didn't get to watch last night because of...reasons.

"Oh my God...hahaha..she was so stupid!" Tord laughed.

"She should have just run the other way." Matt agreed, causing Tord to snicker some more.

Matt abruptly frowned, reaching over to the remote and pausing the movie. "Todd?"

"Tord, Matt." Tord sighed with a frown of his own, already knowing what he was going to ask him.

"Why? Why did you do that?" Matt whimpered.

Tord swallowed thickly. "Why not?"

"What?" Matt choked. "A-Are you saying that you did it because you wanted to? Because you could!?"

"May-" Tord started to reply, but was cut off by the sound of the door opening. The duo turned to see Edd in the doorway, Tom beside him, grocceries in hand.

Tord flinched at Edd's gaze. He couldn't tell if he was angry or upset. Maybe both? Again, he could barely tell. The green clad's expression was basically unreadable.

Edd and Tom entered the living room where Tord and Matt were sitting.

Edd instantly went over to Tord and sat next to him. Tord expected yelling, but Edd merely mutely reached out for one of his arms.

Tord hesitantly held his right out. Edd held it and rolled up the sleeve of the red clad's hoodie. The arm was wrapped up thanks to Matt, but the cuts and re-opened wounds were so deep, they were already bleeding freely through the bandages quickly.

Edd let out a small gasp. Matt looked like he felt nauseated looking at them. Tom, who was standing by Matt, looked bewildered beyond comprehension. How long had the stupid commie been doing this? When did he start? How had any of them missed it?

Edd's slightly shaky voice broke him out of his thoughts. "T-Tom, can you go grab me some extra gauze from the other kit in the bathroom? This was the last of the gauze in the other kit, and I really have to change these bandages."

"Sure." Tom replied with an uneasy look before exiting the room to get the gauze.

Edd glanced at Matt. "Matt, go look for your mirror. I don't want you to see this." he ordered flatly, knowing Matt's sensitivity to these kinds of things.

"But..will he be okay?" Matt whimpered.

Tord flinched. He actually cared? Why? He shouldn't.

"He'll be fine, Matt. No worries." Edd said and gave him a fake reassuring smile.

"Okay." Matt mumbled and left the room just as Tom came back in with the fresh gauze.

"Thanks Tom." Edd said, taking the fresh gauze from him. "Hey, can you do me a favor and go help Matt find his mirror, and then stay with him for a while afterwards?"

"What?" Tom blinked. "But Edd-"

"Tom," Edd cut him off. He gave Tom a pleading look that Tord missed due to avoiding looking at any of them. "Please.."

Tom sighed, giving in. "Fine." he grumbled. "We'll be somewhere in the house if you need us." he walked off.

Edd looked back down and started at the end, gradually beginning to pull the old bandage off. Warm blood instantly began streaking and trailing down Tord's arm. Blinking back warm tears, Edd got up and went into the kitchen and grabbed a cloth, wetting it in the sink with shaking hands.

He came back out and sat back down next to Tord. Edd gripped Tord's arm again, wiping the blood off and pressing it to his wounds, holding it there. Tord let out a small hiss, flinching. Edd sent him a small apologetic glance. Tord swallowed and looked down.

He frowned, noticing how Edd's hands were shaking uncontrollably, and soon also noticed that Edd himself was shaking, biting down on his lip with tear-filled eyes.

"You said you were fine," Edd finally bit out and met eyes with Tord. His expression was actually readable this time despite the tears; it was anger. "Y-You said you were, Tord. You promised. You promised that you were fine, that we had nothing to worry about. And we-I believed you. But I go out to the store with Tom for fifteen minutes, and I get a call from Matt that you were cutting yourself. How is that fine!?"

Tord looked away as Edd shakily pulled out some gauze and began applying it to his arm.

"It isn't fine," Tord mumbled.

"Exactly!" Edd choked, ripping the roll of gauze away from the gauze applied to Tord's arm. He put the gauze down and rested his hands on Tord's shoulders.

"Tord, how long have you been doing this?" he questioned desparately.

Tord looked away mutely.

"Tord, please, I have to know...don't shut me out...please Tord..." Edd begged.

Tord sighed. "Only since last night. Not that long at all."

Part of Edd looked relieved while the other half still looked unconvinced and apprehensive.

Edd sniffled and wiped away his tears before finishing wrapping up Tord's right arm and going to his left.

"Tord, you have to stop doing this. It's dangerous." Edd swallowed.

Tord quietly sat there as Edd finished mending his cuts.

Edd turned to him. "You won't do this anymore, right? No more stupid stuff?"

Tord managed a small grin, gesturing with his hand to his face. "If by stupid stuff, you mean me burning the other half of my face and burning my other arm, I'm good." he quipped.

Edd let out a watery laugh, wrapping his arms around the Norwegian tightly and nuzzling his face in his neck. "You are the worst." he sniffled.