Summary: AU When tragedy befalls Tino, a Finnish writer, he moves to a quiet village in the north of Sweden, where upon his arrival, captures the attention of the reclusive, stoic, giant living next door. SuFin, BerwaldxTino. Lightly based off of the back summary of Astrid and Veronika.
Discalimer: Hetalia and its characters will never be mine, and thank God for that because otherwise bad things would happen. Very bad things.
Romancing a Stone: Prologue
At first, he wasn't sure what to expect of the place. He had anticipated an old, rustic log cabin of sorts, but he hadn't expected it to be in practically the middle of nowhere. After six long months, Tino grudgingly surrendered to his editor's persistent badgering of finally taking a vacation break. The Dane just couldn't take 'no' for an answer, then again, Jesper never was one to give up until he got what he wanted. It was a part of the Dane's charm he supposed. He probably would have never had his first novel published if it wasn't for Jesper's perseverance. For that Tino was extremely grateful, but he couldn't help but resent that certain trait of the Dane because that's exactly how he got here in the first place.
"I swear to God if he wasn't my friend…" he huffed, smiling slightly at the thought of his editor.
With a sigh Tino got out of the driver's seat and popped the trunk open before he gently closed the door. Tired from the long ferry ride from Vassa to Umeå, then the 3 hour drive further inland, Tino had finally arrived in a tiny, quiet village in the north of Sweden close to the border of the northernmost province of Norrbotten. The village was cute to say the least. It was small but it had many shops.
The cabin Tino had rented out (for God knows how long, stupid Jesper never told him) wasn't very far from town, perhaps 5 kilometers or so. He wouldn't mind walking to town; he had grown accustomed to walking around a lot while living in Helsinki.
The cabin was beautiful and quaint, with a spacious driveway, which was a good thing, since that meant less work for him. Shoveling snow was a pain in the ass and was one of the few things Tino didn't miss from his rural childhood. Perhaps the only problem was the fact that except for the house across the narrow, unpaved road, it was completely isolated. There were no other houses in sight, and the surrounding white landscape only served to intensify the feeling of seclusion. It was a little unsettling but at the same time it was rather nice.
Carefully, Tino picked up a small box of some of his belongings and with his other arm, grabbed two thick woolen blankets. With ease, Tino navigated through the knee-high snow to the cabin's front door, pinning the box and the blankets against the wall with his hip while he opened the door and carried in his belongings to the bedroom upstairs. He had plenty of time to check out the house but for right now, he simply wanted to move his stuff from the car into the house before it became pitch dark outside. The sun was already on the verge of setting. Taking a moment to look around, Tino noticed how lovely dusk was. The snow was practically glowing with hues of yellow and purple, and some blue in between here and there. It had been far too long since he's seen the sunset in the snow.
After two more trips from his car and back, Tino locked up the car and proceeded to head inside. The movers would be coming all this week with his things so he only bothered to bring the essentials with him. Before he could head inside however, a flicker of light caught his attention and he turned to the source of the light only to see it vanish. The only thing he saw was the house across the street, but oddly enough, there were no lights on in the house at all. It appeared nobody was home, but then again, if no one was home why was there smoke spilling over from the chimney?
"That's strange…" He murmured.
Looking more closely, Tino could see that the house was similar to his own. Just like his, it was an old log cabin, although somewhat larger, and it was surrounded by firs and pine trees. All the windows had either the curtains drawn or blinds closed, and in the front yard was a tree stump with an axe wedged into it's interior. The fact that his new neighbor had an axe made Tino a bit uncomfortable. Just a wee bit really. There was no way that his mysterious neighbor that he's still never met yet was some mentally disturbed psychopath with an axe and totally normal passion for chopping people's heads off…right?
"Crap," Tino cursed. Even in his own thoughts he rambled. It was a bad habit of his really.
Finally, Tino turned around and entered his new house and shut the door. He never noticed that the whole time he was checking out the house across the street, a pair of pale blue eyes stared right back at him.
Determined to get some sleep, Tino headed back upstairs to his bedroom and unfolded the futon lying against the wall. The room was empty except for a dusty cherry-wood dresser and an old loveseat sitting in the corner. There were marks on the floor that indicated that once upon a time a bed resided in this room. Oh well, his bed would be here within two or three days probably. For a moment, Tino entertained the idea of taking the blankets, pillows, and the futon, and making a fort out of them in the corner. So, that's exactly what he did. After fumbling around for a bit and some serious (oh so very serious) brainstorming, Tino finally made his little fortress out of the futon and the pillows, using one of the blankets to drape over the dresser and an old disassembled bedpost lying alongside the love seat.
Carefully crawling inside his little makeshift pillow wonderland, because dammit it sure was comfy, he settled beneath his remaining blanket, and within minutes fell into a deep sleep, surrounded by pillows and blankets like a cozy cocoon. The last thing he thought of before he succumbed to sleep was the dense smell of pine from the cabin and image of a smoking chimney.
It was the first time in months that he got a good night's sleep.
The next morning Tino woke up to the sound of a dull, repetitive, thudding noise. Cracking open one eye, the Finn saw that it was only 6:08 A.M.
'Fuck it's early.'
With a drowsy groan, the blond rolled over and dragged himself out of his cozy little fort and rubbed his eyes of sleep while he walked over to the window intent on finding out the cause of the noise. Squinting his eyes a little to adjust to the dim lighting, Tino located what, or rather who, was causing all the racket. Standing there in the middle of the snow, with an axe in hand was a spectacled man chopping wood on the tree stump across the street. Looking closer, Tino could see the man was young, no more than a few years older than himself, and he was a freaking giant! Sure he was a little shorter than most guys but this guy had to be at least over six feet tall! The man had short pale blond hair with only the edges poking out beneath a black beanie pulled snugly over his head. He wore a dark blue coat and a pair of worn jeans tucked into tall, brown snow boots, and had a white scarf wrapped around his neck and the lower half of his face to ward off the frigid morning air.
So this was his mysterious neighbor.
'Well that was anticlimactic' thought Tino with a slight pout. Although he had to admit 'anticlimactic' was better than 'holyshit!crazyassaxemurderer!' Giggling at the mere absurdity of his thoughts, Tino stood there by the window observing the giant as he chopped through stack after stack of wood. After a few minutes, Tino turned away from the window and lay back down within his fort to go back to sleep. It was still pretty early after all. Closing his eyes, he focused on the rhythmic thud of the axe; the sound was mesmerizing and within a few minutes Tino was lulled back to sleep.
At exactly nine o'clock the alarm went off signaling the official start of the Finn's morning. Struggling to get out from beneath the covers, Tino stumbled his way out of the fort, knocking over the bedpost in the process causing the whole fort to collapse and cave in on itself.
With a wistful sigh, Tino looked down at his demolished fortress of pillows, and blankets. Quickly giving a mock salute, he pivoted on his heel and proceeded into the bathroom adjacent to his bedroom to take a nice, hot shower. Tino was the type of guy that took his showers in the morning in order to wake up properly, and if he didn't, well then he'd be yawning and falling asleep all day.
After he dried himself off, Tino changed into a white long-sleeve, and shimmied his way into a pair of black snow pants, taking care to tuck them in properly into a pair of his own brown snow boots. With a quick check of himself in the mirror, he grabbed his trademark white beret and placed it on top of his head. With a nod to himself, Tino descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen. Running back upstairs to acquire the small bag of groceries he bought on his way here, the Finn returned to the kitchen and set some water to boil for tea while he made himself a bowl of instant oatmeal. Not the most ideal breakfast, but it would do until his trip into town tomorrow morning. When the water had boiled, Tino pulled the kettle off the stove and poured some water into a mug and made himself a nice, steaming cup of chamomile tea. As he slowly sipped at his tea, he relished in its warmth and noticed how cold the house was. He could see his own breath come out in white puffs. He made a note to buy some firewood later so he could start up the fireplace.
He still had a while before the movers arrived with his stuff so he decided to take a look around before they came. Walking around the house, Tino took a moment to look around and noticed how empty the house truly was. It seemed as if no one had lived here in ages. Well, most likely that was the case. As he walked into what seemed to once be a bedroom, Tino observed how all the furniture had a thick film of dust coating it.
Out of the corner of his eye Tino caught the glare of a picture frame sitting on the edge of a wooden bookshelf. Padding over to cross the room, Tino gently picked up the picture frame, wiping the dust off with the pad of his thumb. Peering up from the photograph was a young boy with shocking blue eyes that seemed to stare right into the camera. The boy was smiling and had rosy cheeks. Standing beside the young boy were what Tino assumed to be his parents. Each of them held one of the boys hands and beside them was a small, scruffy white dog with it's tongue hanging outside of it mouth as it jumped at the boy's legs. The boy's mother was beautiful and tall with long blond locks of hair that tumbled to her waist. She had eyes nearly identical to her son. Looking upon her smiling face reminded Tino of his own mother. The thought made his chest feel tight and uncomfortable. Sighing through his nose as he composed himself, he glanced back at the photograph and looked at the brunette to the boy's right. The man was muscular and tall as well. His face was somewhat frightening with it's it rigid angles and his bottle green gaze, but he was very handsome nonetheless.
The picture was filled with warmth, and made Tino feel somewhat nostalgic. This must have been the family that lived here before him. Perhaps they had left behind the photo by mistake? It seemed odd though.
As he kept exploring the cabin Tino came across another photograph of the young boy along with four other little boys. One looked familiar with wild blonde hair, missing teeth, and warm cobalt eyes. The boy was laughing and had his arms slung over the shoulders of the young boy and a shorter blond with a somewhat neutral borderline annoyed expression, and deadened navy blue eyes. This boy held onto the shoulders of a younger platinum blond with violet eyes similar to his own. The platinum blond boy held onto a stuffed puffin toy and looked all riled up. The last child in the photograph made Tino pause. The child was half-hidden behind the first boy's back. The boy had fair blonde hair and was shorter than most of the kids. His face was round with a layer of baby fat in his cheeks and had russet colored eyes. On his head was a white beret that was a bit too large for him and drooped off the side of his head.
If it weren't for the difference in eye color, Tino would have that he was looking at a picture of himself when he was younger.
The sudden noise of an engine and tires skidding to a stop outside his house brought Tino out of his thoughts as he raced over to the window to see who it was.
A large white moving truck had parked into his driveway and two men stepped out of the truck. One was a blond while the other was a brunette. Moving away from the window, Tino rushed over to the front door and pulled it open just as one of the men was about to knock on it.
"Hello there! I'm guessing you two are the ones that Eduard was talking about?"
With a quick flip of his hair the blond replied, "Yeah, that's like, us. You're like Tino Väinämoy-moy…uh Väinä-" "Väinämöinen? Yeah, that's me." The Finn cut in, and looked over at the brunette who had stayed silent until now.
"Nice to me-" the brunette was cut off as the blond reached over and roughly shook Tino's hand. "So I'm like Feliks, and this total cutie right here is Liet."
A little surprised by the blonde's enthusiastic handshake, Tino smiled sympathetically towards the now blushing brunette. With a sigh the brunette held his hand out towards Tino, "Actually my real name is Toris. Nice to meet you."
With a firm shake the trio headed back over to the truck and started pulling out boxes, moving in and out of the house. Within 20 minutes the truck had been emptied of its cargo and Tino invited the two inside for a bit.
"Would you guys like tea or coffee? Sorry, but I don't have much to offer until I go into town tomorrow…."
"A cup of coffee would be wonderful," replied Toris with a small smile.
Tino prepared the coffee, and sat back down at the table to join the others.
"So what like brings you like all the way out here, in the middle of frigging nowhere?" drawled Feliks while he leaned his chin into his hand.
There was a slight pause as Tino's smile faltered for a moment.
"Feliks! You shouldn't ask about things that aren't your business!" chided the Lithuanian.
Smiling once again Tino raised his hand to calm down the brunette. "No! No! It's quite alright! Really!" he proclaimed, "The reason why I came here was because my editor thought I needed a vacation of sorts. It's silly really…"
While the strange duo chatted with one another, Tino kept catching himself daydreaming, and often kept gazing at the house across the street.
The noise of fingers snapping in front of his face caught his attention as he looked over at Feliks.
"Helloooooo…Anyone like home?" Feliks called.
"O-oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be so rude!" the Finn chuckled nervously and rubbed at the back of his head.
Instead of the chiding reply he had been anticipating, all Tino received was a concerned look from Toris who asked if was okay. Looking back at Feliks, Tino followed his line of vision over to the house across the street. The Pole had an anxious look on his face and finally turned back to the confused Finn.
"So, you're like neighbors with that guy now, huh?"
He must have seen Tino's puzzled expression because he gave an exasperated sigh and pointed over to the house before continuing.
"You're the neighbor of like the town hermit!" he cried.
"Feliks!"
The Polish man ignored the Lithuanian in his excitement. "Like he's this huge bear of man that's like a total loner and he's hella scary, and he never speaks to people, and he's always glaring at something! I hear bad things about him, Tino dear, you've gotta be careful, he might like kidnap you and like chop you up with his axe."
"Feliks! You've never even met the man! Don't speak badly about Berwald, you're scaring poor Tino," said Toris.
"Oh please Liet. You know it's like true."
To this, the Lithuanian merely spluttered angrily
"Berwald?" Tino asked.
Glancing back towards the Finn, Toris smiled gently, "Yeah, that's his name. Berwald Oxenstierna. He's the man that runs the lumber yard and hardware store in town, he's a bit strange but he's kind." He paused a moment to glare over at his blond companion, "Don't listen to Feliks. Nobody really knows the guy, so people just assume all sorts of crazy things about him. Berwald keeps to himself and always has for as long as I've known him."
Learning about his new neighbor just made Tino feel more uneasy and anxious. Feliks' horror stories about the Swedish giant only served to make Tino even more preoccupied.
Standing up, and nodding over towards Feliks, Toris pulled his coat on and walked towards the front of the house. Following, Tino said his goodbyes to the two as they stepped outside towards the truck.
Before getting into the truck, Toris turned back towards Tino and lay a hand gently on his shoulder. He looked somewhat sad as looked the Finn in the eye, and with a voice barely above a whisper, said, "You know people are often afraid of what they don't know or what they don't understand. Please keep that in mind."
Silently, Tino nodded and the brunette smiled and waved goodbye as he climbed into the truck. He stood there for a long time just staring after the white truck and watching as it eventually blended in with the white landscape. He stood there till he couldn't hear the roar of the truck's engine. With one last glance towards the cabin across the street, Tino retreated back into his abode, with Toris' words replaying over and over in his head.
That night Tino dreamt of a land covered in ice and snow and a cozy little cabin hidden deep within a snowy forest. The cabin was full of warmth and the sound of children's laughter was abundant within the cabin walls. Feelings of love, security, and happiness surrounded him in a flurry of emotions as he laughed and laughed and laughed. Arms wrapped around him, and he basked in their warmth and he felt soft kisses pressed to his cheeks as he was rocked to sleep. The crackle of a fire soothed him and a kind, drowned-out voice washed over him as his eyelids slid shut. He opened his eyes once again but this time, there were no warm arms encompassing him, and no fire to heat him up. The log cabin was gone, and in its place before him was a cave. The cave was dark, and large. He could feel the wind at his back and shivered. Surely if he ventured father in the cave it would be warmer right?
The boy wandered deeper into the dark, pleased to see he was right.
He stopped dead cold when he saw a huge black mass shift in front of him. The mass let out a low, growl and came closer to him. Frozen stiff with fear, he could only watch as the mass got closer and closer until they were practically nose-to-nose. He vaguely registered the huge "mass" was actually a large brown bear. His breath hitched in his throat as the bear sniffed his face, before it finally looked at him straight in the eyes. Confusion and amazement flashed through his mind, replacing the panic and terror he had felt prior.
The bear had blue eyes.
It had frightening frosty blue eyes, and from their proximity, he could see a dash of green in them as well.
They were beautiful.
The bear turned from him and stalked over to the wall where it lay back down. Still standing in the same spot, the bear looked over at him. Somehow, despite all logic telling him to run, he walked over to the bear and lay down beside it without hesitation. The bear curled up around him, and the warmth that he felt back in the cabin returned to him. Through the bear' thick fur he could hear its heartbeat; loud, strong, and constant.
After he heard the faint sound of the door shutting in the distance, he cautiously pulled backed the curtains and peered over at the house across the street just in time to see the upstairs light flicker on. The morning had been filled with all sorts of noises. The sounds of laughter, and doors opening and closing had disturbed his quiet. He had gotten his first glimpse of the stranger that was moving into the house next door. The young man was blond and pretty short, but what caught his attention was the fact that wore a white beret. It was rather strange. No one else but him had lived on this street for such a long time, and now that this stranger had come, it was like the Swede's world of silence and isolation had been invaded by small sounds of life.
Okay so I know Berwald's official height is somewhere around 182 cm and that's basically like 5"10 which really isn't that tall at all. At least not in my book, maybe it's because I've been surrounded by men who are all over 6 ft tall…well that's why I altered his height a little. This chapter is very boring but (hopefully) next chapter will be more interesting.
Reviews would be lovely, and would definitely help me write faster. Constructive criticism is lovely as well so don't be shy about that please .
Flames will just be used to kill the fleas on my cat. (no I'm not going to light the cat of fire)
