Har han sjølv heve tuftene grave

Og sett sjølv sine hus oppå dei.

Mathias watched Lukas for a couple of minutes before he got bored and started whining "I want to help too!" he was quickly turned down by a flying stone and forced to sit down and watch his friend building their future home.

Every year, every summer, Lukas visited his little house on the most southern tip of his country. Or almost, but who cared? Every year he was welcomed by sun, warmth and small boats in little harbours scattered across the many small villages. Every year he could, for two months, just relax on one of the islands in the Norwegian archipelago with a cold beer in one hand and a good book on his lap. He could enjoy the sounds of waves and laughter from passing skiffs and a motorboat passing by every now and then. He loved his stays. He loved the little store and the bakery on the corner of the four main buildings in the centre of the Island, his island, his summer paradise.

It had been like that for as long as he could remember there being small white painted houses and people living like they could live forever. But now, for the past three years, every time he visited, it had been raining... a lot.

He didn't mind rain at all, but raining on his summer paradise? Everything suddenly became so gray and all problems from work just rushed though his head, he weren't able to turn his head off, like the sun worked like some sort of button, to turn everything but himself and his crime books off, and of course the people living and vacationing here. The sun was idyllic, the people were idyllic... this greyness hanging over it all, was absolutely not idyllic.

Lukas took a sip of his coffee and looked up from his newspaper out on the grey wet street outside the little bakery. The volume on the TV in the upper corner of the room was set on low and he could just make out Kristen's voice. Yet another grey, rainy day. He glanced at his watch, already too late on his usual morning round. He sighed and nodded to the waitress who smiled brightly at him and walked slowly to his table. "You done already Lukas?" she took the cup in one hand and the little plate with a half finished skolebolle in the other. "Didn't feel like finishing up my fantastic bun or should I be offended?" she laughed a bit and shook her head. Lukas was about to say something but was interrupted by her suddenly turning away and rushing behind the counter. "I forgot to give you this!" It came in this morning." She was soon beside Lukas again shoving a piece of paper in his face.

"takk?" he took the paper and started reading, and he could swear he heard thunder and screaming the moment he read the name of the person who'd left it behind.

Hi! I went by your house but you weren't there so I came here instead (good thinking ey?) You weren't here either so I just wrote this (so you don't go all 'get out of my house you thief!') and went back to your place (you didn't lock your door) so I'll be there when you come back.

Mathias

"Denmark..." Lukas could feel the irritation rise. It wasn't like he didn't like the haycock, but they shared everything already (or more like the Dane took everything he could), he didn't want to lose his only escape... besides from his hut in Telemark, Voss, Møre, Svolvær and his many apartments and houses in most the big cities of his country... but that was beside the point, he most certainly did not want the Dane to take his Island away from him.

"Thanks for your time, the bun was lovely, but I lost my appetite... see you tomorrow." He managed to force his lips upwards in a smile, before he walked with quick long steps out in the still falling rain. His Paradise was being infested with rain and messy blond hair and way too much obnoxiousness.

It usually didn't take long to walk from the bakery to his home on the other side of the island, but due to the lack of actually wanting to get there it took him over 30 minutes. 30 minutes just wandering around stamping in puddles or randomly stop and wander a little away from the road to get a glimpse of lightning plundering down into the ocean. He guessed he had to treasure the little of peace he could get before the storm. He just had to put on the right clothes... no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing, and by this he meant clothing fit for being thrown around... maybe Den took him out fishing? No ... that great lump couldn't be that willing to throw his life away to go out fishing in that weather.

He was at his front door way too soon, but took a few minutes to prepare and imagine the death and destruction inside before he opened the door. And the moment he took the first step inside the little house he could hear the heart wrenching sound of... nothing, not a sound... apart from boiling water... he hadn't forgotten to turn off all the plates on the oven... had he? He took a few sceptic steps into the house, pulling off his raincoat in the process. "Hallo?" he decided to call into the relatively empty home. "Yeah?" He heard the voice call from the living room, "you home already?" Lukas turned the corner and saw the Dane on the sofa, empty cup of coffee and a book in hand. Smiling. Unusually calm... too calm.

Mathias nodded and looked down on the page in the book again, smile never faltering. He didn't even move from his spot, it looked like he had no intention of getting up to greet his friend, not that he and Lukas were friends...

Lukas stood there a couple of seconds, listening to the sound of the grandfather clock ticking its way through the moments and the steady inhales of the other before he turned around into the kitchen. Mathias had a cup of coffee, that meant there had to be more in the kitchen.

After pouring himself some he went back into the room with the guest, placing himself on the opposite side of the coffee table in his comfortable wing chair never once taking his eyes of the other, who by the way, still had his annoying smile and nostalgic glint in his eyes.

The Norwegian waited a couple of minutes to give the Dane a chance to explain himself and the unwanted visit. He never did, despite Lukas' attempts to get his attention.

"What do you want?" Lukas couldn't take it any longer, but hid his irritation (and curiosity) behind a well made layer of no emotions what so ever.

But to Norway's annoyance (and disappointment) the other didn't even give him the slightest recognition. So with a small huff the room went into silence once again.

A few pages later and a good half an hour later Mathias finally raised his gaze up at the other person in the room, but Lukas' triumph was short lived as Denmark quickly looked away and stared intensively at the raising ocean outside. His blue eyes following the waves crashing into rocks further out. The smile he had worn earlier was now barely visible but the longing expression was still present.

"I remember last time I was here." Mathias didn't look away from the window "looks like it's going to be a storm out there huh?" He smiled again and raised his legs so they rested on the table. "Why haven't you invited me out here before?"

Lukas' dull eyes looked at the Dane a bit before answering "You've never been here before, yes, and why should I?" The Norwegian man took a well earned sip of his coffee, he answered that pretty damn well. But he wasn't prepared for the next thing coming out of the Dane's mouth "We should move in together again." The answers flew by Mathias' brain unnoticed, not that the Norwegian expected more from the gold winning medallist in stupidity. "Why?" after a long silence he finally answered. Denmark's smile grew into a wide grin in record time "because we're best friends! And you didn't say no." As soon as the words were out of the wild haired man's mouth he was at Lukas' side, the book with him. "I brought this along!" he exclaimed happily almost throwing the thing down in the smaller man's lap. "I found it in the stuff from the ol' house and-.."

"You haven't cleaned it up before now?"

"Shh, I'm talking. Well as I said, I went through the old stuff, and found that book and you wouldn't believe all the stuff in there! " His grin now even wider than before, looking expectantly at Norway.

"no, what could be so awesome to be worthy of your time, oh great king?" he snorted sarcastically, still image of poor dusted down furniture from old times fresh in his head.

"Stories! Lots of 'em, and journals from battles and little diary entries, pictures and drawings!" The look of nostalgia was back as he stared out into nothingness.

"I even found some of your stories!" he quickly opened the book still in Lukas' lap and turned to a page somewhere in the middle. Norway let his eyes run over the page while Mathias read the clumsily written words in the top of the page out loud "Tro og Utro, remember that one?" He smiled proudly and pointed down at the corner of the next page where someone had drawn something that looked like three men sitting alongside a fireplace with two smaller people placed in the laps of two of the men.

Norway glanced up at Denmark "Is that supposed to be us?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Mhm! Pretty darn good at drawing aren't I?" He quickly skipped further into the book and stopped at a page with only three people covering the worn paper, himself, Iceland and Denmark. What a cute little family. Yeah.

"Look at that. There you have the strokes of a real master." Norway was about to leave a snarky comment but was interrupted by Denmark flipping the pages again and stopping as suddenly on one of the first Pages.

Lukas had to bring the book a little closer to his face as he didn't have his reading glasses on "Is that...?" Mathias stared at the old drawing in the book with a genuine smile on his sharp masculine features, he nodded and pointed down at the two people in the middle of the storm that took place in the picture "You see who that is?" he looked up into Lukas' eyes "that's the two greatest friends in the whole world. You and I." Lukas stared at the waves crashing inn on land, all that force freezing the moment the artist drew them, he stared at the all too familiar rocks and reefs outside the small island. He averted his eyes away from the waves and focused on the two people in the middle of it all. It looked like they were placing stones on the plateau just above where the power of the ocean came bursting inn.

"That was going to be our first real home together you said." The person beside Lukas had moved to the window and was staring at the rain pondering at the glass. "How foolish of me." Lukas said as he closed the book and sat it down on the table, taking another sip of the now lukewarm beverage in his mug and mumbled into it "We both knew that it wasn't going to happen." Denmark turned around and looked at the other male "yeah... you're probably right, but it didn't stop us from building the foundation." His grin was back in no time as he tapped the rafter and examining the work "It doesn't look like it stopped you from building the rest either."

The rest of the evening went by listening to the radio and playing card games both thought were forgotten and planning how to spend the oncoming couple of days, with the still falling rain outside.

"Look at this place Nor! It's perfect!" The Norwegian boy almost couldn't hear a thing of what the young Dane said, or shouted because of the howling wind and terrible rain soaking him to his bones.

He quickly made his way over to his friends' side "What?" they both shook from the cold but Mathias wouldn't let such a small thing come in his way. "On clear days I'm sure we can see all the way to my place!" Denmark flashed Norway a huge grin and started fumbling with some of the stones covering the ground, Norway only rolled his eyes and stared down at the other "yeah, yeah... could we please just find a place to sleep tonight... I'm freezing, if you don't want those rocks to be our shelter." The boy with the messy hair turned on his heels and stared at his friend "That could be it! This could be our home... or shelter or whatever you want to call it." He turned around again starting to lay the rocks in a perfect square.

Norway stared annoyed at the other, wishing he'd just stayed back with the others, but now he was stuck with the Danish idiot. He couldn't help himself but observe the boys' actions and soon found flaws in everything the haycock was doing. "That'll be too small you know." He pointed at the beginning of the foundation "and it's going to fall apart as soon as winter arrives." The taller of the two stood up from his work and looked down at the stones "I see..." after a couple of minutes spent in silence Lukas gave up on trying to get the Dane to understand it for himself. "Look, if this is going to be our home I don't want it to collapse every time a storm comes in." He took a stone and sat down with the other stones and started digging placing each part of the foundation down with accuracy and care.

Mathias watched Lukas for a couple of minutes before he got bored and started whining "I want to help too!" he was quickly turned down by a flying stone and was forced to sit down and watch his friend building their future home.

After 7 rounds of Rummy Denmark looked up at Norway and smiled, "I'm glad you finished it." Lukas looked back at him "I never break a promise do I?"

After a couple of hours Norway could hear a soft snoring noise coming from his right, when he turned around he was met by a curled up sleeping Denmark embracing future colds and sicknesses. Norway stared at him and at the end let a smile slide over his face "One day our home, my island will be more than just foundations." he turned around and continued placing the stones on his stormy paradise.

A/N: God this turned out completely different from what I wanted... and nothing has anything to do with anything what so ever... it's just words knitted together. Well then.

I've been listening to a couple of songs... and this came to be... or the beginning did... the end is sort of... flaahf. Well yeah.

Sorry for all the grammatical errors, English as you can see isn't my first language... so hope I didn't ruin everything.

Har han sjølv heve tuftene grave og sett sjølv sine hus oppå dei – Where he himself built the foundations, and houses on top of them (I suck at translation.) - Old Norwegian poem/song.

Don't hesitate to ask if there is something you're wondering about... or something... Im'onna shu' up now.

Oh, and I don't own anything... just the idea ... no... I don't think I own that either ... oh well.