Notice: This is a NorFin/FinNor story. This wonderful pairing has way too little literature, especially multichapters. This is an AU, so be prepared.

Also, I don't own the characters nor Hetalia. You would know if I did...

Enjoy!

Autumn was gradually changing in to winter. The fallen leaves had frosted over during the night and were crunchier than usual under Lukas's feet. His breath came in small, foggy huffs as he made his way in his usual stoic manner towards the school that could be seen at the end of the road. He was 17 and had just started his second year of high school. Even though he appeared bored and stoic, he actually enjoyed new knowledge and he liked his friends – though he would never say that aloud, especially to one certain Dane…

"Luukieee!"

Lukas was half-sure his thinking had summoned the devil when one boisterous Dane could be seen running towards him arms wide open like he wanted a hug - and knowing the Dane that was a real possibility. Lukas kept his pace even, his poker face not once slipping while he eyed the approaching annoyance. On the last moment before the collision, he stepped aside and ducked a little to avoid the flailing arms. The annoyance ran past him and skipped to a halt.

"Mathias Køhler, what do you think you are doing?" Lukas asked in his monotone voice. These kinds of displays were not uncommon for the Dane and Lukas didn't know if he was more annoyed or amused by his friend's antics. Contrary the popular belief, he did show emotions and kept his poker face usually when he wanted to mess with people. Take it as his peculiar way to show affection. Mathias seemed unaffected by it, but Lukas presumed it was because he was used to it and knew it was his way to treat friends. It was an interesting friendship, but it worked, even if Mathias often did annoy Lukas to no end. But isn't that what best friends were for? And no, Lukas just did not admit to himself that he thought of Mathias as his best friend. Okay, maybe he did and maybe it was true.

Mathias turned to face him with a face-splitting grin he tended to greet Lukas with. That grin annoyed him.

"I just wanted to give you a hug. Can I give you a hug? I missed you", Mathias declared. Lukas rolled his eyes and continued his journey since he wasn't fond of being late. Mathias fell in step with him, so he walked a bit faster.

"No. We just saw yesterday", Lukas commented and ignored the puppy eyes Mathias was giving him.

"Yea, but I still missed you", he replied. When Lukas didn't answer, Mathias apparently took it as a sign of approval and threw one of his arms around him. Lukas pinched Mathias's hand and slipped from under it when his friend was busy yelping. He might have pinched really hard.

"Ow! That really hurt, you know", Mathias said while shaking his "injured" hand.

"It was supposed to. I gave no permission to such an action", Lukas responded. Also it really was his way to show some affection to the Dane. He didn't go around pinching people for fun, after all.

"Aww, I forgot you were not fond of public displays of affection", Mathias said teasingly.

"After all these years you still forget that?" Lukas asked. Now he was just messing with Mathias, who laughed at his comment.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Lukas", Mathias laughed.

"Some more than others", Lukas muttered just as they stepped inside the school gates. Another of their friends, Berwald, was waiting for them in front of the building. The Swede was quiet and stoic, but made good company and didn't annoy Lukas like Mathias did. Berwald and Lukas didn't always agree on everything, but mostly managed to keep things polite and civil. Mathias and Berwald in the other hand did occasionally annoy each other and when they were younger they did have lots of fights, but they had both calmed down a bit. Despite their differences, they were friends and kept together.

Mathias and Berwald were on their third year, one year older than Lukas. That was why they often saw only on breaks and free periods, but sometimes they did have classes together. Lukas's little brother Emil also went to the same school, but he wasn't in high school yet – he would start next year – so Lukas rarely saw him in school grounds. It was the only international school around. He also liked to mess with his brother as he cared for him, but Emil didn't take to it that easy. It was fun, seeing his cool and collected brother so flustered. Mostly he was nice to Emil, though, and loved his brother dearly.

The three of them walked through the school hall with Mathias telling about his weird dream until Lukas took a turn towards his classroom while Berwald and Mathias continued to theirs. While Lukas didn't look like he had been listening to the Dane, he had been doing so, and thought that the dream had been just as obnoxious as his friend – let it be said that it included nudity, yodeling and running through a crowded street.

Lukas arrived early like he liked to and settled to stand near the locked door to wait for the teacher. There were few others, but more and more slowly drifted in front of the classroom. People chatted with their friends, attempted to complete homework in the last minute or were typing on their phones. Lukas enjoyed watching people and had developed a very fine skill regarding it; he was able to pick the little things most ignored or didn't take notice of. People tended to say more with their bodies than they intended. Sometimes he encountered something more interesting, like now he spotted a blonde boy leaning to a wall close by.

The boy was shorter than Lukas, but not by much. He had brown eyes. The boy appeared to be relaxed, but with his skills Lukas could pick the small signs of nervousness from him. Lukas wasn't surprised since he didn't remember seeing the boy at the school before, which meant he was new and most likely starting just today. Almost everyone was nervous on their first day, especially if they were transferring to new school in the middle of the semester. After determining the cause to the boy's behavior and figuring the reason he was there, Lukas directed his attention elsewhere – he would learn more soon enough if the boy was in his class.

The teacher arrived and Lukas slipped inside the classroom and onto his seat which was in the back row and next to a window. He was seated there in almost every class since the teachers trusted him to listen and work quietly from there, unlike many other students. They would be having math now, which wasn't one of Lukas's favorite subjects but he still did just fine. Next class would be English and that he would be sharing with Arthur and Vladimir, a Brit and a Romanian, who shared his interest in mythology and magic.

A small, butterfly-like thing flew across the restless room without anyone else paying it any attention.

Yeah, then there was that. The secret Lukas had never told anyone but his little brother and he was unsure if Emil believed or even remembered it. It was also the main reason to his interest in everything magical and mythological. He saw things, creatures, no one else saw – or at least no one else ever looked at them or acknowledged them in any way. Lukas wasn't stupid enough to tell anyone; he knew it would fall under the category 'crazy'. Sometimes he entertained a thought that few others could see them too, but kept quiet about it for the same reason. Still, it would be too dangerous to ask around without being dragged into a mental ward.

Lukas let out a small, almost unnoticeable sigh at his thoughts and did his best to ignore the fairy, which wasn't easy. It was the size of his finger and radiated light, how do you ignore something like that, especially when she had so pretty wings? He knew it was a she because of the tinkling noise it made, males sounded different – don't ask how he found out. He ended up opening the window a little so the fairy could get out if she wanted. It was his lucky day since the fairy grew bored quickly and the slight breeze from the open window got her attention. Soon enough she was out of the classroom and Lukas closed the window carefully, but no one had noticed a thing. People didn't usually pay attention to him anyway with the exception of his friends.

When all the hassle had died down and only the new boy was standing awkwardly in front of the class, the teacher – whom everyone called General Winter – cleared his throat and spoke with his deep, rumbling voice:

"We have a new student joining us today, make him feel welcome." Then he turned his head and told the boy: "Please introduce yourself, and then you can go and sit next to Eduard. He sits there in the back row, the middle desk."

The boy nodded and faced the class. Lukas could see clearly how nervous he was, but he speculated that to others he seemed just slightly so. The boy gave a friendly smile, which to Lukas seemed honest even if it was nervous as well.

"Hello, I'm Tino Väinämöinen and you can call me just Tino. I'm transferring here starting today", the boy – Tino – said lightly. He had an accent which was vaguely familiar to Lukas, but not overly so. At least he knew it wasn't Norwegian like his, Danish, Swedish or Icelandic which his brother spoke. Tino didn't say anything more but walked to the place pointed to him. A short and informative introduction; Lukas could appreciate that. Some people went on and on about themselves for minutes, and Lukas was glad he didn't have to sit through one of those.

Eduard sat one desk pair right from Lukas, so Tino was headed his way. Lukas would've normally paid little to no attention to this, but something about the boy got his attention. His nervousness seemed to fade, that was normal… except that it faded a little too much. Seemingly Tino was quite relaxed as he sat next to Eduard, leaving one empty seat between Lukas and him, but there was something else, too. Interestingly enough Lukas couldn't put a finger on it, and this frustrated him to no end. He was supposed to be good at reading people, but while his instincts told him there was something beneath that seemingly relaxed surface, his eyes couldn't find it. He wasn't even sure why he thought there should be something else: Tino's body language was the perfect example of someone who was comfortable. Wait, that was just it. Perfect. Nobody's body language was a perfect example of something; it was way more complicated than that.

Lukas trusted his instincts, so Tino wasn't actually as relaxed as he seemed to be. The problem was that Lukas couldn't get a read on him, just the notion that it was too perfect to be real. And that in turn meant that this Tino was aware of body language, maybe even on the same level as Lukas. That led him to the real problem: if Tino paid enough attention, he might at least partly discover Lukas's secret. Lukas had to be more careful when this new guy was around, or he could catch him staring at thin air or some other reaction he had to fairies. Lukas's friends were used to his antics and didn't think anything about it, but someone who didn't just see but truly observed could make the link that he was seeing something everyone else couldn't. Lukas hadn't had a reason to mask his body language before, so it would be a challenge. If he was lucky he could pull it off and maybe get a glimpse of what Tino hid under his mask. Lukas knew how hard it would be to not slip for even a second, so either one of them would make a mistake at some point of time.

It would be very much like a game, Lukas mused. And the one to fail first would be revealing something they didn't want anyone else to see. Tino just didn't know he was playing – yet. It was just a matter of time when he would notice that Lukas wore a mask too, and Lukas guessed he couldn't resist the urge to figure out what was under that mask. The thing about being good at reading people was that one got used to knowing what people felt, and facing someone that one couldn't figure out was like a challenge thrown into one's face. Lukas knew that by masking his body language he was making himself a target for close inspection, which meant a greater risk of being caught. While continuing like normal would make him more invisible, he knew from experience that with enough time he would be discovered anyway. He had to take a risk and see what would come of it. Maybe Tino wasn't interested in reading people and he was worrying over nothing, but better be safe than sorry.

Secrets were a headache to keep. Lukas wondered what Tino wanted to hide from the world so badly.

Oh Lukas, soon you'll wish that was your biggest problem...

I hope my unprofessional writing skills didn't put you off. This was the introduction, so there wasn't too much action, but it will come. The buildup, however, will take a while. Meanwhile Denmark will entertain you. Oh, and Iceland will be in this story too. For now there are no other pairings planned, but I can change my mind about that - especially since I've probably already made so many people upset by breaking up the usual pairing system. Nothing wrong with friendship, though, so it will be featured a lot as well, as you most likely noticed.

Oh, and about Finland's eye color, I know it's violet but since it was brown in the anime, I got an idea how to combine these two. He has actually violet eyes, but they look currently brown for certain reasons you will find about later.

English is not my first language, so I'm terribly sorry for all the grammatical mistakes.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or for any other reason.

- Sumy