Hey all! Yeah, I know I'm working on another fanfic at the moment but this plot bunny attacked me and I had to feed it! Plus I think that Sweden and Finland are super adorable so... yeah, I kind of had to write this. It's my first one-shot, so be nice and review! Tell me how I'm doing please!
"Hello? Tino? Tino, can you please pick up?"
Finland groaned and rolled over beneath the covers of his bed, his indigo eyes opening blearily to glare with murderous intensity at the answering machine that Estonia's voice was currently coming from.
"Tino? Hey, look, Tino, I know it's late but I really need your help right now... If you're there, please pick up."
The Nordic country sighed and reached towards the answering machine. He gently pressed one of the buttons closest to him, his mouth already opening to speak.
"I'm right here, Eduard," Finland croaked, his voice still thick with sleep.
"Tino? Thank God... I was afraid that creepy Swedish friend of yours would pick up... He's not with you now, is he?"
"No," Tino said shortly. Berwald had gotten home late the night before after a full day of work with his boss and had immediately scared Norway and Denmark off of the couch before collapsing unceremoniously into the vacated seat. "No, he's not with me. What do you want, Eduard? Did you not notice that it's-" Finland glanced over the answering machine at his alarm clock, silently cursing when he saw the time. "- 3:00 in the morning?"
"Yeah, yeah, Tino, I know, and I'm really sorry." The Baltic nation's voice trailed off for a moment, his tone suddenly nervous. "But... I really need your help here."
"Is it an emergency?" Finland demanded, his voice abruptly alert. "Are you okay? What about the others?"
"No, no they're all fine," Estonia assured him. "Lithuania's visiting Poland for the night, and Latvia-." The nation's voice trembled for a moment at the mention of the third Baltic nation but he forced himself to continue. "Raivis is asleep at the moment."
"As he should be," Finland muttered despite himself. "Then what's the matter?"
"I just... I just need to talk to you, Tino. It's urgent. Please?"
Finland sighed and ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair.
"I'm not going to get an answer out of you on this machine, am I?" he muttered.
Estonia laughed shakily. "Nope. Not while there's a chance that your Swedish psychopath or that insane Dane can hear me."
"Berwald isn't a psychopath, Eduard," Finland retorted sternly. He sighed again and swung his legs out of bed. "I'll be right over, Ed," he muttered.
"Thanks Fin."
Tino pulled himself out of bed, his hands groping in the darkness for the light switch. He paused as his fingers came into contact with the cool plastic, his thoughts going to his still-slumbering house mates. He didn't want to wake any of them... Especially not Denmark or Sweden. Berwald needed all the sleep that he could get... and Mathias was even crazier when he was woken up early. Yeah, that wouldn't be a good idea...
The Finnish country slipped stealthily out of his bedroom, his gloved hands fumbling on the the buttons of his thick wool jacket as he made his way towards the door. The weatherman had called for extremely low temperatures over the next few days, and he definitely didn't want to have to deal with frostbite at the moment. No need to make Berwald worry... The Swede already had enough on his plate.
Finland glanced over his shoulder at the thought of his self-proclaimed 'husband', his eyes going immediately to the slumbering form of the large Nordic. Tino's gaze softened and he back up until he stood over the sleeping man. He removed one of his gloves and ran a hand across Sweden's forehead, his fingers lightly brushing a few loose strands of the foreboding country's blonde hair away from his face before gently removing the glasses that hung crookedly from the Nordic's nose.
"I'll be back soon, Berwald," he whispered tenderly. The Finnish nation bent and gently brushed his lips against the Swede's forehead before he turned back to the door and left the house, not noticing the single white glove that he had left behind.
Sunlight poured in through the large bay window that took up half of the wall of the living room, its golden rays hitting slamming mercilessly into the face of the country that reclined on the couch. The sleeping Swede grunted and pressed his face against the side of the couch, desperately trying to block out the cruel light. He stiffened as something soft slid across his cheek, his deep blue eyes opening slowly to see a white glove resting against the side of his head.
"T'no?" he muttered sleepily, his eyes squinting as he tried to focus on the glove. Dammit, where were his glasses? The country's hand slipped aimlessly across the surface of the coffee table, unceremoniously pushing aside the crumpled wrappers and take out boxes that had been left there by Denmark from the week before until it came into contact with the thin wire frames of his glasses.
The Nordic country gently pushed his glasses onto the bridge of his nose and glanced back at the glove, his eyes narrowing.
"Th's 's F'nl'nd's," he grunted. "B't... why's 't h'r?"
Sweden hauled himself off of the couch that had been his bed for the past twelve hours and made his way to the stairs, his eyes narrowing in a wince at the pain in his muscles. Perhaps he should have listened to Finland and passed out on a bed instead of a couch... preferably the gentle Fin's bed.
Berwald hesitated outside of Tino's door, his eyes narrowing when he saw that it was open. Finland never left his door open... Sweden shouldered open the door and glanced around at Finland's usually spotless room, his sapphire eyes resting for a moment at the pile of Finland's nightclothes that had been dumped carelessly at the foot of the unmade bed. Had Finland left without cleaning his room? That was unlike him... perhaps something had come up in his country that had caused the Fin to leave immediately? Or had Tino had one of his urges to go off into the wilderness and think about whatever happened to be on his mind at the moment? And when exactly had he left?
Berwald glanced over at Finland's bedroom window, his unease mounting when he caught sight of the solid curtain of white outside of the glass. A blizzard... damn; Berwald knew that the weatherman had predicted low temperatures, but he hadn't mentioned anything about a blizzard... what if Tino was caught out there? Would he be able to survive?
Sweden turned to leave the room, his anxious gaze catching sight of a blinking red light on Tino's answering machine. He frowned and walked over to the machine, his finger pressing against the button of the machine. His frown deepened when he heard Estonia's voice asking for Tino. Was the Baltic country behind this? Berwald wasn't fond of the Estonian at the best of times; if that idiot had lured Finland outside in the middle of a blizzard...
Sweden grabbed Finland's Blackberry off of the bedside table, his brow furrowing. Why hadn't Tino taken his cellphone, dammit? He scrolled through Finland's contacts until he found Estonia, his hand pressing the call button rather aggressively.
"Hullo?" Estonia's voice called sleepily over the phone. "Who is this?"
"'s Sw'd'n," Berwald growled. "'s F'nl'nd th'r?"
"S-sweden? Why are you calling- wait, what about Fin?"
"Eduard?" a sleepy voice called from the background. "What's goin' on?"
"Go back to sleep, Raivis," Estonia insisted gently. "I'll be there in a second... Uh, what about Finland, Sweden?"
"Wh'r 's h'?" Sweden demanded, not really in the mood to ask why Estonia and Latvia were still in bed at this hour- wait, what time was it anyways?
"What're you talking about? He should have come home by now, I sent him back at 10 this morning when we were done talking."
"Wh't w'r y' t'lk'ng 'bout?" The Swede asked, more than a little curious.
"Uh..." Sweden could almost picture the Estonian's face flushing as the Baltic nation mumbled incoherently from the other end of the line. "I- uh, I called him earlier this morning to... to ask for some advice.
"'bout wh't?"
"I... wanted to ask him... what to do about Raivis..." Estonia murmured sheepishly.
"L'tvi?" Sweden muttered, his eyebrows raised. He had known about Estonia's love for Latvia ever since Finland had told him about it several centuries ago... although he couldn't understand why the Estonian had called Finland for relationship advice. Perhaps it was because they were such close friends?
"Y-yeah... Anyways, Finland came over from your house and was nice enough to help me out. I wanted to tell Raivis how I felt, you see, only I didn't- I couldn't actually build up the nerve to tell Raivis... Anyways, Fin came by early this morning and helped me sort things out then left shortly after Raivis woke up so I could talk to him alone... Like I said, he was gone by 10 in the morning."
"'nd y' d'dn't n't'ce th' bl'zz'rd?" Sweden snarled.
"Uh... well, it wasn't snowing that hard over here at the time and Tino insisted that he was fine to walk home, although I offered him the car-"
"Y' sh'ld h've m'de h'm st'y!" Berwald yelled, his normally impassive face contorted in fury.
Estonia squeaked on the other end of the line and started to stammer out apologies. The Swede waved the frightened country's words away and glanced back at the blizzard outside of the window, his heart sinking. Where was Tino? Was he safe?
"G' l'k'ng f'r T'no," Sweden snapped, interrupting Estonia mid-apology. "W't 'nt'l th' bli'zz'rd st'ps 'nd s'rch f'r h'm. 'll g't D'nm'rk, N'rw'y, 'nd 'cel'nd t' h'lp m' h're."
"A-alright. I'll call Toris and Feliks, make sure Tino didn't take a wrong turn and end up there... I could probably call Russia and Ukraine, too, and tell them to keep their eyes open," Estonia suggested, his voice calming as he focused on the task at hand.
Sweden agreed, a little uneasy at the inclusion of Russia in the plan... he still hadn't forgiven the large nation for taking Finland away from him... Still, if it would help find Tino...
"G''d 'dea. 'll g't th' 'th'rs 'p. C'll m' 'f 'nyth'ng c'm's 'p."
Sweden hung up before Estonia could make another reply and walked quickly out of Finland's room, trying to escape the worry that had taken hold of him the moment he had found the Fin's bed empty and unmade. What if something bad had happened to his wife? Berwald glanced at a clock as he made his way to the other bedrooms, his heart sinking when he saw the time. 2 pm... Would the blizzard even stop before the sun went down? What if they couldn't find him before nightfall? Could even a country survive freezing to death?
"D'nm'rk!" Sweden yelled, his voice nearly breaking in desperation as he kicked open the Dane's door.
Denmark yelped and fell out of bed, his already messy blonde hair falling haphazardly into his blue eyes. The Dane stared at Sweden in shock, completely oblivious to the fact that he was almost completely naked save for his bright red boxers, and opened his mouth to protest, only to be beaten to it by the irate Norwegian sharing his bed.
"What the hell, Berwald? Who gave you permission to just burst in here? Haven't you fucking heard of knocking you bastard?"
"Sh't 'p, N'rw'y," Sweden interrupted, not really in the mood to deal with the Norwegian. "Th's 's 'n 'm'rg'ncy. F'nl'nd 's m'ss'ng."
"What d'ya mean missing?" Denmark demanded, his pale face reddening with fury. "Who took my Fin? Was it Russia? Dammit, I'm going to kill that communist-"
"It wasn't Russia," a calm voice interrupted from behind Sweden. The three other Nordics turned to see Norway's brother Iceland standing in the doorway, the top of his silver head barely visible over the Swede's shoulders. "Finland went to Estonia's house to give him relationship advice and must have gotten stuck in the blizzard on his way back," Iceland continued flatly. "I overheard Sweden's conversation with Estonia on the phone."
"You know it's not nice to eavesdrop..." Denmark muttered in a halfhearted attempt at discipline. "So what do we do now?" he added, his normally obnoxious voice cowed in determination.
"We can't do anything until the blizzard clears up," Norway spoke up, his light blue eyes still slightly irritated from his rather abrupt wake up. "We'd all get lost and be no help at all to Tino if we went out now."
Sweden nodded in reluctant agreement, although everything in him was screaming at him to go after his wife now.
"Why did Fin leave without waking us up?" Denmark whined, his eyes pained. "I mean, one of us would've gone with him."
"H' d'dn't w'nt t' b'th'r 's," Berwald replied automatically. He cringed at his own words and looked away for a moment. That was so like Tino too... The damn country would rather die than cause anyone else a little inconvenience. That damn, beautiful, amazing country...
"I can send Mr. Puffin out," Iceland suggested flatly. "He's sort of like a penguin so he knows his way in a snowstorm... He'd at least be able to check the perimeter of the house to make sure that Finland isn't trapped nearby."
"Excellent plan, brother dear," Norway murmured in approval, ignoring the glare that Iceland sent in his direction at the term 'brother dear'.
"Yeah!" Denmark agreed enthusiastically. "Send out the penguin!"
"He's a puffin," Iceland corrected dryly.
"Wh't'v'r," Sweden snapped. "S'nd 't th' b'rd."
Iceland nodded and ran to the door, the puffin tucked securely against his chest. The violet-eyed nation hesitated for a moment at the door before pulling it open and gently nudging the bird outside.
"Come back quickly," Iceland urged the animal, his eyes following the bird's movements until it disappeared from sight. Sweden shut the door after the bird, his eyes locked on the blizzard that was still going on outside of the window. His muscles tensed as the minutes went by without any sign from Iceland's companion. Had the bird gotten lost as well or was there nothing to find? Was Tino even nearby?
A sharp tapping sound against the door interrupted Sweden's thoughts. He joined the other Nordics in a crowd around the door as Iceland gently pulled his pet back inside, his pale hands stroking the puffin's snow-encrusted black feathers. The violet-eyed Nordic frowned for a moment and bent over the bird, his hands fastening onto something that appeared to be stuck to the puffin's wings. Iceland's face paled and he turned towards Sweden, a white hat held tightly in his hand.
Berwald felt the breath fly out of him at the sight of Tino's hat, his hand reaching out automatically to take if from Iceland's shaking hands. Finland loved his hat... he wouldn't have left it in the snow unless something bad had happened, right? Did that mean that Tino-?
Sweden pushed the thought away and squared his shoulders, his jaw tightening in determination as he reached for his heaviest coat.
Screw the blizzard. He was going to find his wife.
Finland stumbled through the door into the eerily lit house, his breath coming in short gasps as his body struggled to adapt to the heat of his home. He leaned against the door frame, his hands shaking as he pulled off the gloves that he had borrowed from Estonia. Damn, that had been incredibly stupid of him to leave one of his gloves here... and then to lose his hat when he tripped over one of Denmark's many 'rock sculptures' that had been covered by the earlier snows. Tino was still in a bad mood over the loss of his beloved hat... although, to be fair, perhaps it hadn't been the smartest idea to wear a white hat when there was snow on the ground.
Finland had been slightly annoyed when he arrived at Estonia's house at nearly 5 o'clock in the morning to find out that his old friend's emergency was how to tell Latvia of the Estonian's centuries old affection. Yes, he understood Eduard's unease (Tino himself had nearly died of fright when he first told Berwald that he loved him), and the Fin couldn't deny that he was flattered to have been called instead of someone like France or Hungary... but, still. Was it really necessary to wake Tino up at 3 in the morning just so that he could give Estonia a nearly 5 hour pep talk?
And then of course there had been the blizzard... although Tino knew that he was actually at fault in this case. If he had accepted Eduard's offer of the car instead of insisting on walking through the developing snowstorm to save gas, he wouldn't have been forced to wait out the storm at a house in the middle of nowhere that was owned by two girls who were a little too interested in Finland's relationship with Sweden...
Speaking of which, where was Sweden?
Finland frowned and looked around at the empty living room and kitchen, suddenly realizing how quiet the house was. That was odd... even Denmark and Norway would have been up by now. After all, it was nearly 7 at night and the sun was already beginning to go down.
Tino shrugged out of his nearly frozen wool coat and crept through the silent house, his unease increasing with every empty room he passed. Where was everybody? Had they all gone out to get something or to party?
Not in this weather, Tino thought to himself as he passed by Denmark's 'secret' drinking room. And Berwald, at least, would have waited here for me... Oh wait.
They hadn't known where he was going. He hadn't left a note. Finland smacked himself in the forehead and collapsed into a sitting position in the hall outside of Sweden's room. How could he have been so stupid... He hadn't even left a note for Berwald. Did they think that Tino had walked out on them? Were they worried that something had happened to him? After all, there had been a blizzard for most of the day. Was that why there was no one in the house? But, surely they knew that Finland was capable of handling himself in snowy weather? He was Finland, for crying out loud. He knew snow... dear God, now he sounded like Russia.
"Should I go out after them?" the Fin muttered to himself. "But, I don't know where they've gone so how would I find them... Still, it's not like I can wait here until they come back. Oh, Su-san will be so angry with me. He hates it when I go off without telling him... and especially since I went to visit Eduard and Berwald doesn't really like him at all..."
A door slammed somewhere below, snapping Tino out of his reverie. The Fin leaped to his feet and ran towards the top of the stairs that led down to the living room and kitchen, craning his neck to catch a glimpse of whoever had entered.
Sweden was slumped against the doorway, his head and shoulders bowed as if under a terrible weight, though the only thing that graced his shoulders was a heavy wool coat similar to Finland's. What little of his skin that was exposed was tainted a faint blue from the cold, and the strands of his light blonde hair that poked out from beneath his dark blue cap were nearly frozen. The Swede's face was contorted in misery and a shaking hand was pressed against his eyes, as if to hold back the tears that occasionally ran down his pale cheeks.
Wait... tears? Sweden was... crying?
Finland felt the breath catch in his throat and suddenly found himself leaning against the railing of the stairs for support. Berwald was crying? He had never seen the strong nation cry... was it because of him?
"Tino..." The Swede croaked, nearly causing the Finnish nation's heart to stop. For a moment, Tino wondered if Sweden had looked up and seen him, only to be proven wrong when Berwald continued, his head now pressed against the wall behind him, his dark blue eyes squeezed shut beneath his glasses.
"Tino..." Sweden whispered again, his voice cracking. "'m s' s'rry... I c'ldn't... 'm s' s'rry."
Finland slowly began to make his way down the stairs towards the other country, his throat working as he struggled to produce words that would alert Sweden to his presence, words that would comfort the mourning nation.
"Why d'd y' g'?" Berwald gasped, his hands now clutching a piece of what looked to be white fabric. "Y' sh'ld h'v w'ke m' 'p..."
"You were tired," Tino murmured, finally regaining the use of his voice. "I... wanted you to get some sleep."
Sweden's eyes flew open, his head turning so fast in the Fin's direction that Tino could have sworn he heard something crack. The Swedish nation stared mutely at Finland as he descended the last of the stairs, a sheepish smile plastered on his face beneath the tears that had begun to fall the moment he caught sight of Berwald.
"I'm sorry, I never meant to worry you," Finland muttered. "I never thought to write a note or anything... And I had no idea that there would be a blizzard..." Finland winced, hating how pathetic his excuses sounded. He glanced at Sweden to see if the other nation was angry, only to be met by the Swede's stunned expression. "I'm sorry," Tino whispered again. "Please don't be mad..."
Arms wrapped around him and pulled him tightly against Sweden's chest with such force that the Fin squeaked in surprise. Tino glanced up from the prison of Berwald's arms, indigo eyes meeting sapphire ones timidly. Berwald only tightened his grip and buried his face in the Fin's hair, a low moan of relief escaping his lips as he breathed in his love's scent.
"I l'v y'," the Swede breathed against Finland's ear. "D'n't d' th't 'g'in'. Y' sc'r'd m'."
Tino smiled sheepishly and wrapped his arms around Sweden's waist, allowing himself to be held by the strong country whose tears were seeping into his damp hair.
"I won't," he promised quietly. "I love you, too, Berwald."
Berwald nodded mutely and pulled the Fin even closer until the smaller country was nearly in his lap.
"Sh'ld c'll 'st'ni' 'nd D'nm'rk, 'nd th' 'th'rs," he muttered. "T'll th'm y'r s'f..."
"Do you want to do that now?" Tino asked gently, willing to patiently wait for the Swedish man's affection.
Sweden glanced down at the blonde that he held in his arms, a small smile curving his lips.
"No," he whispered. "Th'y c'n w'it"
Finland opened his mouth to protest, only to be silenced by the lips that now claimed his mouth. He gasped and kissed back, reveling in the relief and passion that he felt in Sweden's kiss and embrace. He leaned against Berwald's chest, his lips opening slightly to allow entrance to the Sweden's tongue. Sweden chuckled and moved his hands for a moment, his rough fingers gently depositing a snowy white cap on top of Finland's head. Finland grinned against the Swede's lips, while some distant part of his mind noted that a phone was going off not to far away.
At the moment, Finland really couldn't bring himself to care who was calling.
Whoever it was could wait.
Yep, there you go. SuFin fluff! Yay! Hoped you all liked it! And I don't own Hetalia or blizzards... doesn't matter if they're from Dairy Queen or not haha