Library Day

[oranje_windmill]

Who: Sindre and Willem
When: Thursday, November 18th, late afternoon
Where: The LU Library
What: Two of Liberty’s most stoic men share a table in the university library.

Comments

[oranje_windmill]

Willem set his bag down and pulled out his computer. Leaving the machine booting up he headed into the shelves and returned with several books, the contents of which he began making notes about on the computer. For a while there was only the turning of pages, the scratching of a pen, and the clicking of keys to accompany them. Eventually, Willem dropped the books off at the front desk before returning with another stack. As he set it down beside his computer, he noticed that in his absence it had begun showing pictures as his screen saver. The current one featured himself and several friends engaged in a drinking game. One of those friends was a grinning Dane with spiky hair.

Almost angrily he moved his finger across the mouse pad to erase the image. After all most 4 years of friendship he should be used to Søren's mercurial moods and bouts of odd behavior, yet even though Søren seemed settled happily in Denmark Willem couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling that the events Halloween had brought.

Maybe it was the fact that he’d never truly seen Søren defeated before.

Realizing he had read the same sentence 5 times and still had no idea what it was about, he decided to give up and ask the one person most likely to fill in the gaps.

“Do you know what happened to Søren the weekend before he left?” he questioned of the man across from him.

You know I'm tired when I slip into runs of alliterative words

[talks_to_nisse]

The sudden break in the silence severely startled Sindre, causing him to jerk hard enough to only narrowly avoid scrawling red pen clear across the paper he was grading. Not that it would have made much difference; this particular test had accumulated it's fair share of ink on its own.

After his brain kicked into gear and parsed the question, Sindre's head shot up only to drop back down a second later. He knew how guilty those actions likely made him look, but he hadn't anticipated the question. Though it likely answered where Søren had been that weekend.

Shifting uncomfortably, the urge to snap out a "None of your business" grew within him. But that was unfair as much as untrue. Though Sindre knew little of Wilm, he knew that Søren and him were indeed good friends, and if Søren did go to Wilm, then he did have the right to know. And it's not as if the other knew what he was asking.

"I...we got in a fight."

[oranje_windmill]

Willem winced when Sindre jumped. He hadn’t meant to startle the man, but questions about the events of the Friday before Halloween had been circling his head ever since Søren had shown up on his couch and refused to give him any answers. And now that he had the one other person who probably knew Søren well enough to know them, the words had tumbled out of his mouth.

And then he received an answer, although it wasn’t one he would have guessed. His eyebrows rose, and he set down the book he’d been holding.

“He got into a fight with you?”

He ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stand even more on end then it already was.

“Well that does explain a lot.”

[talks_to_nisse]

That wasn't the response he expected. Sindre frowned slightly. People normally were surprised to hear that he and Søren almost never fought, let alone that this past incident had been their first physical fight, not the reverse. "What do you mean, 'with me'?" he asked. "He's obnoxious enough to have fought with everyone he's come across."

Willem's behavior and comment just made his confused frown deepen. He had assumed Søren hadn't returned because he was still angry, but this sounded...

"What does it explain?"

[oranje_windmill]

Willem paused for a second, choosing his words carefully.

“Søren gets into fights, yes, but rarely with those he’s close to. Especially not serious, physical ones. And the two of you seem close.”

Or rather, Søren had it bad for the Norwegian. That at least Willem was sure of. But he wasn’t going to tell the other man that, not when he wasn’t quite sure how Sindre felt and definitely not without his best friend’s permission.

“I’m sorry, it’s probably none of my business, especially since you seem to have made up.”

[talks_to_nisse]

Sindre had to look down at that. Hearing Willem articulate that fact just made him feel worse about the fight. True, Søren had started it. Also true that it seemed like he had tried to start it, but that didn't make Sindre feel any better. He knew Søren just as well, and he should have recognized what he was doing.

Willem seemed rather close to Søren, and apparently knew something had happened. Sindre supposed he deserved to know the truth, regardless of how much he'd prefer to have that kept secret.

Keeping his gaze on the papers in front of him, Sindre tried his best to explain. "I'm still not quite sure what happened. He started shoving his furniture around; that's what brought me upstairs. Søren was already angry and about verbally attacked me when I tried to figure out what he was doing. He just..." Sindre made a helpless gesture. "You're right; we are close. And he used that to piss me off, and I lost my temper in turn, and..." he shrugged. "That's about it."

Now that he thought about it, there was a high chance Søren saw Willem, at least once, in between the time Sindre and Søren had fought and the time he had bumped into Søren walking home. Maybe..."Did you see him at all after that? He just...dropped off the face of the earth, and I..." he trailed off, leaving the 'was worried' go unsaid.

[oranje_windmill]

Willem steepled his fingers, leaning forward with his elbows resting on the table and his chin resting on his hands.

He had been well prepared, should he ever meet the person who had so thoroughly hurt his best friend, to retaliate against them in kind. And if he looked hard enough he could find some small bit of anger towards the Norwegian. But apparently things were more complicated than he had thought, and truthfully he had to admit that he himself might have done the same thing in the same situation.

Besides, Sindre was apparently giving him the truth, even though it seemed to cost him. And so Willem answered in kind.

“He was sitting on my couch when I got home Friday night, obviously just having been in a fight. I was allowed to patch him up, but he gave me no explanation and basically spent the weekend staring at my walls. Then on Monday night I had a..” A second’s pause here, as he’s not used to calling Erin his ex yet since they had only broken up that morning. "friend over, and walked her to the bus stop. He was gone when I got back.”

A slight shrug of the shoulders.

“He sent me a text message that Thursday before he left, but otherwise I have no idea where he went.”

[talks_to_nisse]

Sindre's shoulders slumped a bit at that. He supposed it had been too much to hope that Søren had stayed in the same place for the whole week. At least Willem could identify his whereabouts for over half the week. "Still leaves a good chunk of time unaccounted for; he didn't show up until Thursday," he mused aloud. "But thank you. It's good to know where he was for part of that time."

He flinched the slightest bit internally at the description of Søren's behavior. "He said...he said that he hadn't been taking his pills. Which caused part of the problem."

[oranje_windmill]

“He kept talking about not having taken something. It wasn’t till later I realized he was probably talking about his pills.”

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he glanced over at his computer screen. Another picture floated across, this one of Søren and himself leaned against a bridge railing in Amsterdam, their bicycles in the background.

Godverdomme

He turned his attention back to the man across from him.

"Did he at least ever contact his...” a pause, as he searches for the word. “.. boy toy? The one who posted worried blogs all week?”

[talks_to_nisse]

"...boy toy?" Sindre frowned in confusion at that. Last he had heard--well. They hadn't really spoken of who they had feelings for since Søren had showed up at his door drunk, and even then Sindre had gotten more of the story out of the man that had dropped him off.

Still, with Søren always around, Sindre thought that he would have at least caught a hint of a boytoy. It's not as if his friend was that subtle. And while Søren would certainly kick Kai out in order to fully enjoy said person, he would have expected to hear Kai--

His eyes widened slightly at the realization, and he had to repress amusement at someone else making the same mistake he had after Kai's arrival.

"Do you mean his cousin? The one living with him? He went back the day before he left, and I assume they worked things out."

[oranje_windmill]

Willem knew he’d said something wrong when the other man stared at him with that confused look. And then when Sindre explained who Kai actually was, it was his turn to look confused.

“His cousin? But they seemed…..”

And then he realized what he was about to say and who he was going to say it about, and promptly shut his mouth. After all, this was the man who spent half their time together hanging off him in some form or fashion.

Instead, he sat back in his chair, smirking despite himself.

"die sukkel" he muttered, sounding half amused and half exasperated.

[talks_to_nisse]

Sindre couldn't help but show his own amusement. "I thought the same thing at first. His damn blogs, right? And I live right below them, and some of the sounds I hear..." He shook his head. "Søren didn't even understand why I would be mistaken at first. That was an odd conversation." The memory of why it had been so odd had Sindre turning his head slightly to the side to hide the bit of redness that rose in his cheeks.

Coughing to clear his throat, Sindre looked back to Willem. "But no, there's nothing going on between Kai and Søren. No chances of secret incest between them." His expression darkened with his next thought. "Kai is interested in...someone else."

[oranje_windmill]

Willem rolled his eyes.

“That sounds like him. And yes, it was the blogs. I have yet to meet this Kai in person.”

He watched as Sindre’s expression darkened.

“I assume you don’t think much of whoever he does have feelings for though.”

...I think shortposts are going to rock it, now.

[talks_to_nisse]

Narrowing his eyes at Willem, Sindre gave a short, almost violent, nod. "Nei," he all but spat. "I think very highly of my brother. I don't think highly of Kai announcing his desire to fuck him to the world."

Shortposts for the win!

[oranje_windmill]

Willem’s eyebrows rose again.

“He actually said that in front of you? Well there’s the proof he and Søren are related.”

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out under the table and crossing them at the ankles.

“And I understand where you’re coming from. Søren is my best friend, but I wouldn’t want him sleeping with either of my sisters. And the same would go for this Kai is they’re as alike as they seem.”

hellll yeah

[talks_to_nisse]

"Of course he did," Sindre responded heatedly. "Kid clearly doesn't have the sense most are born with, and he must have auctioned what he had off."

...That was more heated than he intended. He needed to rein his anger in.

"Søren at least realized it was a poor move when Kai said it," he continued more calmly. "I don't think Kai did until he was leaving the apartment. And not under his own power."

Mimicking Willem's posture, Sindre leaned back as well, adjusting his legs after he unintentionally kicked the other man. "What would you do, then? If Søren tried to get with your sisters?"