Chapter Text
Freya had convinced Sven to build another snowman. She was sad that the first one would have to spend Christmas alone. Even though he was almost ready to sell his soul for a bottle of vodka, Sven agreed. He hoped that the cold would distract him from how awful he felt.
A car parked before the house. Inside was a short, middle aged woman. The thick coat she wore added to her already stout figure. As soon as she had notice the car, Freya’s expression darkened.
“What’s wrong?”
“That’s the child service woman. She only comes to scare my dads.”
Without further acknowledgment, the rather tired looking woman rang the doorbell. Jan opened almost immediately and let her in.
“It’s Christmas tomorrow and these people have nothing better to do?”
“We have received a call that strangers have seemingly moved into your house.”
Mrs. Petersen looked like she already knew that this visit was a waste of time. Still, Jan was sweating bullets. He wrung his hands as he tried to speak steadily.
“They haven’t moved in and they’re not quite strangers either. You’ve probably heard about the black out. Their apartments don’t have power and so we let them sleep in our basement until that’s resolved. Freya knows both of them since she was a baby. They’re basically like uncles to her.”
“Where is your partner?”
“Jørn is at work. He has the late shift and his leave starts after Christmas.”
She scribbled something on her notepad.
“Do you plan to let Freya spend time with her mother over the holidays?”
“We’ve planned to send Freya to her grandmother in Bergen for Sylvester.”
“May I give my opinion?”
“Sure.”
“It’s a nice sentiment that you want her to spend time with her mother but I don’t think it’s productive. You’re not just separated like any other couple, Ms. Vikernes has proven time in time again that she has no interest in integrating into society and living a live without some sort of highly concerning illegal behavior. Even in jail, with every sort of help at her fingertips, she kept up displays of far right ideologies. That is no way to help Freya grow into a responsible member of society.”
Jan bit his tongue. It had taken months to convince the case workers that he wasn’t a nazi and he still didn’t think they believed him. Good on them.
“I just think it’s Kristina’s right to see her. She’s never left alone with Freya.”
“But is it really the right thing to do?”
Mrs. Petersen looked out of the window.
“Mr. Kristiansen is no stranger to us either. To say that he has an alcohol problem is putting it lightly. He has shown up drunk to meetings multiple times.”
“He does have a drinking problem but he has made genuine attempts to better himself. We have established rules around drinking and smoking and he has adhered to them.”
“What are those rules?”
“No drinking and smoking in front of Freya, everything has to be kept where she can’t get or see it and if someone is drunk, they have to leave. In Sven’s case right now, we make sure he goes to the basement and sobers up there.”
Mrs. Petersen successfully held back a smile.
“How many times did you have to send him to the basement?”
“Well since he has been staying here, we didn’t have to. He recognizes when he has had too much and leaves.”
“I’m going to chose to believe that. Who is the other person staying here?”
“Rune Eriksen. He’s our guitarist.”
“Where is he?”
“He should be asleep. He caught the flu. Freya likes to read with him.”
“Is he in any way a danger to Freya?”
“No. He’s very responsible.”
“Well, then I think we’re done here. The house is clean, Freya is dressed appropriately for the weather and no one is doing drugs. You should probably talk to your neighbors and make up with them.”
She grabbed her handbag and notebook and walked towards the door.
“Your stutter is getting better too.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as the door closed behind her, Jan’s face darkened.
“YoUr StUtTeR iS gEtTiNg BeTtEr. Dumb bitch.”
Sven and Freya had finished their second snowman. Just as the last time, they could barely feel their fingers anymore.
As Freya went upstairs to put on a thinner pullover, Sven stepped up to Jan.
“What was that about?”
“Nothing. Some asshole in the neighborhood called child services for fun. She just came over, which gave me half a heart attack, to call you an alcoholic and ask dumb questions.”
“I mean… she isn’t wrong but what do I have to do with anything?”
“Well you live here now, so she needs to know if you’re dangerous. I told her that you’re trying to sober up, you owe me something for that.”
“Thanks. I’m going to look after Rune.”
Jan sighed. He sunk deeper into his chair.
“Why do you stay with him? He just yells at you all the time. If Jørn ever tried to hit me, I’d kick him out.”
Without a second of hesitation, Sven answered.
“It’s not just yelling and hitting all the time. He listens to me and he keeps me steady when everything feels like too much. Without Rune, I probably wouldn’t be alive anymore.”
As quietly as he could, Sven walked down the stairs. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Rune. A stray strand of hair had fallen into his face. Sven swept it out of his face.
Rune hadn’t shaved in a while. On his cheeks was some reddish stubble. The circles under his eyes had become only slightly lighter.
With a deep breath, Rune stirred awake.
“Hey.”
“How are you?”
“Better than yesterday but still not perfect.”
Rune sat up and put his head on Sven’s shoulder.
“What about you?”
“Everything hurts, my hands are shaking and I feel like I’m dying but at least I didn’t drink anything.”
Rune looked Sven in the eyes. He moved closer. Sven gladly accepted the kiss. He put his hand on Rune’s.
“Have you eaten something today?”
“I’ve been asleep all day. I think I need to shave too. My god, your hands are cold.”
Rune grabbed both of Sven’s hands and put them on his chest.
“I build another snowman with Freya. She didn’t want the first one to be alone.”
“I hope she never grows up to become like any of us.”
“Me neither. Come on, let’s make you something to eat.”
Rune wrapped his arms around Sven. As he reciprocated, Sven noticed how sticky Rune’s skin was.
“And maybe you could take a shower.”
“Yea, I should probably do that.”
Sven decided to make pancakes, mostly because they were hard to mess up and didn’t need anything that had to be cut. He figured he would make enough for everyone. As the pancakes piled higher and higher, Jan came into the kitchen.
“Are you making dinner?”
“Yea, I figured I would make enough for everyone.”
“Thanks, I completely forgot about that. We should have some sauce in the freezer, I’ll take care of that-”
A loud bump came from upstairs. Before Sven even realized the sound, Jan was already upstairs. Just as he feared, the noise had come from Freya’s bedroom. She stood next to a shelf that was lying on the floor.
“Are you okay?”
Freya nodded quietly. Jan felt the tension fall from his shoulders. He wrapped her in a tight hug.
“How did you even do that, hm?”
“I wanted to climb on the shelf to get my forest puzzle.”
“But why didn’t you just ask one of us?”
“I’m a big girl and you were all busy.”
“Freya, I’m never too busy to help you. Before you hurt yourself, you anyone of us, okay? Come on, let’s put the shelve up again.”
When the shelve stood again and they had finished putting everything back in place, Jan gave the desired puzzle to his daughter.
“Please don’t climb on the furniture again, okay princess?”
“Okay. Are you making pancakes?”
“Sven is but it’s still a bit early for dinner. Jørn isn’t even back from work yet.”
“But why is he making dinner already?”
“He just wanted to make something to eat for Rune.”
“Yea, he explained that he’s basically sick because he had too many interesting substances.”
“Did he really explain that to you like that?”
Freya nodded. Internally, Jan was beyond relieved that he hadn’t to find some way to explain drugs and addiction to her.
Rune was already sat at the table. He was shaven completely clean and looked like a teenager again.
“What happened to you?”
Jan didn’t even try to hide the amusement in his voice.
“I flinched because of that loud noise and I cut a notch into my mustache and then everything had to go.”
Rune continued to chew on his pancake.
“You look really cute like this. All smooth.”
“Thanks.”
Rune had noticed that Jan was more flirtatious with him than with other people. He tried his best to mostly ignore it.
After they had eaten something, Rune and Sven excused themselves back to the basement. Jan was relieved when they locked the door.
“Are Sven and Rune in the basement again?”
“Yes, they’re probably asleep.”
“Do you think they’re making noises again?”
“That doesn’t matter because that’s nothing for you anyway. Have you finished your puzzle yet?”
Jan was thoroughly determined to not let that be a topic again.
“No.”
“Then we’re doing that now.”
After Jan sent Freya to brush her teeth, they spend the rest of the evening with the puzzle. After some time, the little girl could barely keep her eyes open.
“Do you want to go to sleep?”
“Mhm.”
Freya crawled into her bed.
“Tomorrow is Christmas. Are you exited?”
“Yea. It’s going to be so cool because we’re all going to be together.”
“I’m sure it’ll be great.”
“Good night.”
“Sleep well. Do you want the night light turned on?”
“No. I’m not scared of the dark.”
“Okay, you know where it is in case you need it.”
“I don’t need it!”
“Night night.”
“Night night.”
Jan turned off the light and closed the door. Jørn had taken care of the kitchen and already taken a two beers out of the fridge.
“You seem very tense. How about we drink something and see where the evening takes us.”
“You know exactly what I need.”
Jan plopped down on the couch and took a sip of the beer.
“Fuck, I’ve had one hell of a day. Mrs. Petersen was called over and annoyed me because we let Rune and Sven stay here. In the end she fucked off without doing anything, because of course she didn’t. In the afternoon, Freya tried to climb a shelf to get a puzzle and the thing fell over.”
“Did Freya get hurt?”
“Luckily not.”
“Well, then everything is turned out okay, didn’t it?”
Jørn stepped behind Jan and began to rub his shoulders.
“No one is hurt, nothing broke, everything is alright. Tomorrow is Christmas, you should try to relax a bit.”
“You’re right. Fuck, you’re good at this.”
“Do you want me to keep going?”
“Please.”
“Why did you agree to let them stay here? What were you thinking?”
Jan scoffed bitterly.
“I didn’t think at all. I had gotten home three hours earlier and Sven’s call woke me up again. I just said yes and let them come over so I could go back to bed.”
“At least they won’t die. How about we go upstairs?”
“To do what?”
“Whatever you want but the less clothing the better.”
“Sounds great.”