Well, I wanted to try my hand at DenNor. The first fic for this pair? Angst. Because why not.

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Lukas leans against Mathias, breathing soft, chest rising slowly as Mathias runs his fingers through his blond hair and pushes the clip that holds his long bangs out by accident. It's a nice feeling, letting someone run their fingers through his hair and he slowly dozes off. It had been an eventful day, visiting his cousin and spending all day hiking with his family.

He feels Mathias pause, just briefly, gingerly letting strands fall back into place. There's hesitancy, as though continuing would be painful.

"What's wrong?" His words are half slurred, brain unable to form a coherent sentence. Mathias draw in a deep breath, and it takes him too long to answer.

"Nothin',"

"That pause ain't nothin'," Lukas grumbles.

"It's nothin'," Mathias says, more defensively.

"Ya sound like Egill now." Lukas purses his lips and stares up at Mathias, a blank expression. "You don't look happy."

Mathias realizes he isn't smiling, and he forces a large grin. "I'm fine! Just tired! Hikin' an' all that." Lukas wrinkles his nose and shifts a little bit. It's times like these Mathias is reminded of a big difference between them, and it stays with him for a long time. He pecks Lukas on the lips. "Anyways, I'm hungry. Let's make somethin' ta eat!"

"It's nine at night."

"So?"

Lukas rolls his eyes and smiles a little bit. "Okay." He relents, not arguing. "Let's make somethin' to eat." It takes him a few minutes to gather the energy to even get up. "I am sore."

"We did a lot of climbin'," Mathias replies as he scrambles to his feet. "So yeah, you'll be tired, right?"

"Aren't you?"

"Not particularly."

"Right." Lukas nods. "I s'pose with bein' immortal, you start to not need sleep and start developing differently."

"Somethin' like that," Mathias frowns. "I don't really get it myself."

"S'alright." Lukas gives him a little hug. "We'll make somethin' t' eat and then go to bed."

"Yeah." Mathias isn't very vain at all, but he hates these little reminders. Lukas aching, Lukas is tired, Lukas is getting gray hair. Lukas is gonna leave him soon. "Tomorrow, let's just spend all day t'gether."

Lukas frowns a little. "We've spent all week together. I have t' go back to work at some point."

"I know." He rubs the back of his head. "I jus' love spending time with you 's all."

Lukas gives him a little nod. "I guess."

Mathias lets out a little breath. Lukas doesn't believe him, but that's okay. If he could just convince himself, it'll be okay, right? Right? He hopes so. They make something small, with Mathias chatting away like he usually does. The cheer in his voice is forced, he's louder than usual and Lukas casually sips at his (probably now cold) coffee, listening intently and giving him feedback.

"Ya ever thought about writin' a book?"

"Huh?"

Lukas nods a little bit. "Ya have so many stories, ya know. You talk a lot, and you could publish 'em. I'm sure someone would appreciate them, too."

"Uh, I guess." He's not going to.

As Lukas sleeps that night, Mathias runs his fingers through his hair and sighs softly to himself. He gives him a little kiss on the cheek. He's so sick of ending up alone, and he always gets into relationships without thinking much of it. One of the things Mathias hates about this stupid curse, is that people always leave him in the end. They leave him because they die, or they don't want to be with someone who will not grow old with them.

After awhile, he had decided that it's best to be alone but Lukas was so cool too him. He was handsome, too and despite his seemingly distant personality, he approached Mathias. It was casual, and straight forward. "I like you. You're annoying, but I like you. Go out for coffee with me." And that had been it.

In the end, he knows he'll have to accept it.

The next day, there's a heavy silence between them until late afternoon.

"You're an idiot."

"I love you, too."

"'m not gonna die so soon." Mathias doesn't know what to say to that. "So, yer an idiot. Stop worryin', yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Ya have me for a long time. To yerself."

"Yeah."

"So stop, 'kay?"

Mathias gives him a little kiss. "Okay."

Promises aren't forever, they both know this. There's nothing neither could do, and Mathias just wishes there was but fate is against him. Fate will always be against him, but he'll smile Lukas' sake because Lukas calls him stupid and that's okay, he guesses. If Lukas really thought that, he would have left a long time ago, right? Chosen someone else, chosen someone to grow old with, chosen someone who wasn't so wild and energetic.

Right?