Dear Starboy {TomTord Neighbourhood AU, COMPLETE REUPLOAD}

safe haven

tom simmered slightly. tord knew he
was right but was he ready to be tom's
personal problem solver?

"tom. why are you home?"

tom inhaled a deep breath before
leaning over his window ledge. his
hands gripped the window sill so tightly that the wood cracked off until his knuckles turned white.

"i had an anxiety attack during my
exam. nothing important, just my
nerves fucking me over."

tord felt his face and stomach drop.
anxiety attacks. he'd had a few and
they were god awful. who'd have
thought the stoic, cool guy neighbour would have anxiety?

"are you home alone, tom?"
"yes."
"do you want to come over?"
"thanks but no thanks. i'm unstable
right now."
"then.. do you want a cherry?"

tom nodded as tord tossed the cherry at him. tom snatched it up and started
gently nibbling the sleek red skin.

"anxiety huh?"
"don't get all smug, tord."
i'm not. i just had an idea for our
first voyage."
"i told you i'm not going on illegal
voyages."

tord paused before adjusting his pink
rose crown. tom was still shocked
at how there weren't already bees buzzing around it.

"what if i told you it was legal."
"nope."
"safe."
"nope."
"away from all humanity?"
"... maybe."

tord beamed and clapped his hands
joyously. like a little kid.

"great! meet me back at these
windows at 9:00."
"9:00 at night?!"
"yup! wear something pretty for me."
"i will literally wear a trash bag with
holes for my limbs."
"please don't."
"i'm just teasing."

the two boys shook on it and turned to continue their personal duties.

~

9 o'clock.

tom had settled on wearing a thin
leather jacket, white v-neck, and ripped jeans. nothing special, but he hadn't a reason to dress extravagantly.

the brunet slid open his window to see a familiar boy pushing open his own.

tord was wearing a blush pink cotton
shirt hidden under a silk black bomber jacket with white crosses threaded into the sleeves. his hair was rather messy and slightly damp. he hadn't bothered with jewellry, but did have a single black choker.

he immediately noticed tom and
waggled his fingers in a typically
flirty manner.

"good evening, kittyboy."
"evening, tord."
"ready for an adventure?"
"sure."

tord swung his legs over the ledge and
half twisted his body.

tom awkwardly knelt by his window ledge. there was no way he'd risk his life to go on a midnight journey with practically a stranger.

tord swiftly dropped from the window and landed on a thick branch of the tree between the houses. an old
chestnut tree that had been there for
generations. he rotated his head to
see the nervous wreck named tom, watching from a distance.

"are you mad?!"
tom's hands rested on his hips as he pulled a baffled expression.

"yes." tord was for once dead serious, his eyes glinting against the dark night atmosphere.

"i'm not jumping!"
"please, tom."
"nope."
"if you fall, i'll catch you."

tom pondered the thought for a second before hesitantly clinging to the window frame.

did he trust tord? absolutely not.
so why was he obeying?

one foot reached the stony wall
of his house.

he looked back at tord, both eyes locked onto his every movement. silver and red. tord looked so different from this angle. he looked so-

slip

grab

thud

tom felt his body slam into a solid
object. his hand was no longer gripping the window, but found its way to hold something else. something warm. with fingers.

wait.

fingers?

tom pulled himself back to see tord
smiling warmly at him. both of them on the tree branch.

teetering dangerously backwards, tord wrapped a protective arm around kittyboy's waist, both holding hands with astonished expressions on their faces. tord seized the moment to pull tom's waist closer and jump from the branch, to the ground.

once on the ground, tom backed away
and patted himself down; as if looking
for any damage marks.

"thanks."
"no problem, i had a feeling you'd suck at sneaking around."

tord didn't leave a second for his friend to protest in his defence before walking past the tree, and into the lane behind them.

tom jogged to keep up and tugged
at his leather sleeves.

"where are we going?"
"a place only i know of."
"which is?"
"near. now shut your mouth, boy."

tord took a sharp right towards the local forest.

a white metal sign scribed with metallic black lettering was nailed into the damp soil bordering the forest.

starbank forest

tom followed like a curious toddler till
he heard a distant noise.

a sound of pure serenity.
running water. a nearby stream.

he'd never been in the woods so far before so he wouldn't know if they had a stream, but the woods didn't have a stream.

tord pushed aside a large green leaf
covering the pebbled path they'd been
following, his eyes lighting up like a
kid's on christmas morning.

"we're here!"

tom mimicked the action and pushed
past the lush foliage. his jaw dropped as his head spun.

a silvery rocky cliff covered in wispy
ivy spirals covered the horizon. white
jets of water flowed down the cliff face and right into the silvery pool below.

a waterfall.

tom gasped as tord began pacing up
to it, his hands tracing the corrugated
stone protrusions. birds cawed from
the trees overhead.

tord eventually sat himself on a smooth rock beside the water, letting his shoulders sink inwards and back fall onto the stone.

tom perched beside him, one leg
straightened with his foot planted
into the dark soil, the other resting
on the rock.

"beautiful, right?"
"yes. it is."
"i noticed this place the day we moved
into town."
"you found this so soon?"
"of course. i thought it'd be a nice
stargazing spot."
"it's always the stars with you."
"yup. i want to be one."
"you are a star."

tord giggled and hummed to himself. a song tom has never heard.

tom watched the fireflies glowing as they danced among the darkness. time shifted as the clouds in the sky dissipated into a sheet of black.

"so. this is your new safe haven?"
"i guess so. it seems like it could be
a new home."
"what about the home beside mine."
"that's a house. not a home. home is
where the heart is."

tord let out a shallow breath as he
widely grinned up at the moon. full and round, like a pristine white plate.

"how about i share this new haven?"
"what do you mean?"
"you said... you're unstable and...so am i."
"so?"
"you are the only other person to know about here. let's make it our place."

tord held out his hand. stray black
tendrils of a tattoo peeked out from
under his sleeve that tom had never
noticed before. tom took the hand into his own. the contact was icy but soon became comforting.

"yeah... our place."