'Wow, they are so pretty!' exclaimed Tino. He and Berwald stood peering out of their tiny window at the whirlwind of colours exploding in the night sky. Lars, curled up in Berwald's arms, giggled and clapped happily at the display, not a bit frightened by the loud noises the fireworks made. It was new year's eve, the start of a new decade and Tino hoped the 1880's would bring him better luck than the 1870's had, not that the past two years hadn't been a definite improvement but they were still a long way off from their now shared dream of owning a toy shop and both were still haunted by all that had happened to them. Tino was still too thin and sickly-looking for Berwald's liking and Berwald himself could not get over his sister's departure, not that Tino blamed him; it was hard loosing family and Tino knew that better than anyone. Still, he wished his friend would be able to move on in life and look to the future, to Lars growing up. And Lars was growing up fast. At two years old, he could walk and even say a few words. Tino joked that he would soon be starting school, and getting a job and even meeting a nice girl and get married, which made both he and Berwald feel incredibly old, even though they were only nineteen and twenty two.

The taller man only grunted in response, continuing to gaze at the fireworks.

'Hey I bet if we could climb on the roof we could see them better,' suggested Tino, who then frowned, 'not that they are not nice enough here, I was just suggesting-'

'Ye could fall,' mumbled Berwald, 'don't w'nt ya ta hurt yerself.'

'Hey, no need to worry about me!' Tino chuckled.

'Still gonna,'

'How sweet of you,' said Tino, 'and I will always worry about you, so it would be best to watch them from here.'

Berwald gave a small smile in reply. Lars yawned and rubbed his eyes.

'Tired?' asked Berwald.

Lars shook his head, 'no.' he gave another betraying yawn.

'Time fer bed,' Berwald carried Lars to the shared bed in the corner and tucked him in, 'see? Ya can still w'tch the firew'rks from here.'

'Yes papa, night night papa,' mumbled Lars, who closed his eyes.

Tino chuckled, 'shame he's going to miss the New Year, and it is only in fifteen minutes time.'

'Eh, when ya gotta go sleep ya gotta go sleep, not good fer a little 'un ta be up so late' replied Berwald, returning to his position by the window. They talked for a while about everything and nothing, about their dreams and their hopes and the past two years, those wonderful years spent busy building, painting, selling, looking after a baby and just not being alone.

'Hey only one minute left,' exclaimed Tino, looking at his pocket watch. Together, they counted down the minutes, fifty seconds… thirty… twenty… ten… five… four… three… two… one…

'Happy new year!' cried Tino, hugging Berwald tightly as the sky outside their window exploded.

'May this decade bring nothing but h'ppiness,' he replied, returning the hug. He was glad his best friend could not see how much he was blushing. Who knows what will happen in the next ten years? Maybe he could work up the courage to admit… no, it was silly. Berwald decided then that he would never tell anyone about his err… feelings for Tino and they would be nothing more and nothing less than best friends. Not the happiest thought to start the new year off with, but as Berwald looked at the sheer joy on Tino's face, he found himself smiling too.

Maybe, just maybe, his dreams might come true.

…

Hello there, so this is a little prequel to 'Red doll' and it is just to fill in a few blanks and stuff mentioned in that story. It will mainly focus on Tino and Berwald's dream of owning a toy shop and how they achieve that but there will be other characters too.

I would recommend reading the other story first, just so you know what's going on and all…

By the way, I AM working on the next chapter of RD, it's just I'm having trouble with the words and stuff so I thought I would write this.