Tick tock.
The pain never really ran away from him as he took another sip to hide the pain from his mind and shove it back to the recesses of said mind.
Mathias groaned when that never really worked; it never did.
He stared past at the bright lives and the partying humans and wondered if they knew of a loss quite like this that often felt like his own.
"Yo Mathy, having fun?" A drunk man hung off him, making him grin and his blue eyes appear bright.
"Ja, you out done yourself this year." Having human companions was never deemed forbidden as all had their friends to confide in simple pains and that made them forget what being a nation was all about.
Mathias grinned and let that heavy guilt, that heavy burden flee his mind if only for a moment.
Tim nodded and slunk against him, tired as humans could easily get and obviously wasted from all of the alcohol the man had consumed.
The Danish nation watched his friend with an almost wonder to his eyes as he studied how slanted the man leaned against him and gave up.
With a little nudge he led the man away, and let his attempts at coping become Mathias's as he let his own melt away to Tim.
Sure, it wasn't right, but it would temporarily hide his pain, the mark on his mind.
Tim held him up, away from the memories of losing Lukas to another and away to how much the guilt consumed him when it wasn't really his fault in the first place.
They'd never really gotten it back and when did life take sharp turns to resurrect old feelings?
He took control as he always did which was probably best for the more sober one of the two of them as Tim leaned up, ever so slightly yet perfectly calling for the love that they both pretended was romantic and sexual in these moments.
It didn't matter that Tim was trying to forget his ex that he loved too much or that Mathias was doing much of the same.
The difference came in where Tim's ex was a pretty, blond human woman while Mathias's was a male nation.
He caught his breath at the lust in the other's eyes and let their night fall away to movements that weren't quite drunk and to moments that could never erase their thoughts, feelings, or hopes.
The blur would hold them back for now.