A/N: Finland's adorable, Norway's adorable, Nyotalia's adorable. What happens if you mix the three of them together?
There's no real plot progression, but I guess you can tell the scenes are sort of written in sequence. Does that count?
Title: oceans and milky ways
Rating: K
Warning: Human AU and slight oocness(?) on Finland's part
Genre/s: Romance
Pairing/s: Finfem!Nor
Summary: Her eyes are beyond anything that he could ever imagine, and Timo finds himself slowly losing breath [nyo!norway]
Inspiration/s: See Author's Note
Hope you enjoy!
I do not own Hetalia.
Timo sees stars in her eyes and he's crazy.
They're suns that burn brightly in the open and twinkle in the dark, casting light and shadows in their wake. They blind him but no one else notices, so people think he's crazy.
or in love, they add but Timo thinks they're just repeating themselves. He's crazy. He's in love. That's the same thing.
Aina begs to differ but she doesn't bother to explain. Instead, she tells him to stop staring because "it's rude" and "he has better things to do at the moment". Timo listens to her for a full eight seconds before staring again – he doesn't mean to, honest; it's like a habit now – and he says no, no he actually doesn't.
(He's lying. You can see it on his nervous face that practically shouts it out to the world, but he honestly finds her more interesting than their science lesson and is willing to suffer any repercussions from it.)
She rolls her eyes and flicks them towards the blackboard. He sees sparkles in them, but maybe it's just him.
A moment later, Timo gets in trouble because he's not paying attention in class. He apologizes profusely but then he sees the tiniest hint of a smile on Aina's face, and suddenly he doesn't think he means it anymore.
"Your eyes are blue," Timo says.
Aina spares him a look of mock disbelief and doesn't answer. It doesn't faze him.
"They're pretty," he continues, blushing like it's an embarrassing secret. Timo's terrible in poetry but he suddenly feels compliments slipping past his teeth like a wannabe casanova. "They're deep and calming. Endless. Like a never-ending ocean. I could stare at you forever."
She's quiet but Timo can see her jaw tightening. Aina thinks flattery is empty words, but Timo tells her again and again because she's perfect and she won't believe it.
"You're an idiot," she says after a while. "They're just eyes."
"They're stars," Timo corrects. "They're also oceans and milky ways and everything in between. They're sunny skies and sapphires and cornflowers. They're beautiful."
Aina looks at him. He thinks he's floating. "Idiot," she softly repeats, and this time, he agrees wholeheartedly.
It rains. School ended a few minutes ago and excited murmurs fill the air; instead of a downpour it's a sunshower. Raindrops splatter against the sidewalks like ice cream spills, not winds battering down a ship. Timo's utterly relieved because the weather nowadays is sickeningly torrid, nauseating. He thanks anyone who took part in the timing of this.
Everyone rushes out like it's vacation, but Timo stays back to pack up a few more things from his locker. He sees Aina waiting at the entrance, watching all the others rejoice as if it's the first time to rain in years, and he grins.
"Aina!"
She faces him just as he reaches her, and turns away when he talks. "Are you going home now?" Timo asks cheerily.
Aina purses her mouth and says no, no she isn't. She doesn't have an umbrella so she'll stay here until the rain stops. When he asks her if she's waiting for someone to pick her up, she looks away and bluntly states, once again, no.
Timo's smile grows bigger despite her words. "I see. You were waiting for me," he teases. "Come on, I'll walk you home then. You can use my bag as a cover."
Aina stares, brushing off his earlier implications rather quickly. "I'm heading the opposite direction."
"That's fine. It'll be exercise," he tells her.
"You'll get wet."
"It'll dry off."
"You have nothing to gain."
He smiles sheepishly. "I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you on that too."
She stares. He stares back and remembers just how mesmerizing her eyes are. They suit the rain while her blonde locks blend in with the sunshine, and Aina's suddenly like summer walking. It's early this year, Timo thinks, but he's not exactly complaining.
"Fine." The words are music to his ears. "But if you're sick tomorrow, I'm blaming you."
Sure enough, Timo comes to school with a runny nose the next day, and although she's sighing and giving him this knowing expression, he wonders when it'll rain again.
She has this habit of letting her bangs grow and forgetting to cut them, so there's always this odd week when they curtain her face and cover her eyes. Timo laughs every time she brushes them away. Aina only frowns in return. She doesn't say anything and it makes Timo a bit remorseful, but it's too bad she looks cute when she does it.
"I have a hair clip," he says offhandedly. She ignores him and picks at her lunch, eyebrows scrunching when yellow shadows her food.
Timo watches for a while before he tries again. "Do you want it?"
She stays quiet, continuing to poke her food with her fork. When she's finally about to eat some, her hair falls back in place, and a growl grows in her throat until Timo sweeps it away.
Aina glances upwards before shoving the fork in her mouth. As the seconds tick, awkwardness spreads in the air and he's about to apologize until she speaks up.
"Why do you have one?" she asks. "You won't need it."
He almost doesn't hear her, but he does and a slow smile forms. Her bangs are expertly clipped to the side as if he'd been waiting for this moment all his life. Aina stares at him expectantly, clearly waiting for an answer, but Timo tells her it's a secret. He doesn't dare say it's because he's noticed her habit a long time ago and it's been nagging him for months.
He doesn't need to. From the look on her face, he suspects she already knows.
Shakespeare weighs in his hands as her eyes close shut. Timo has trouble focusing on whatever 'the quality of mercy is not strained' means because Aina's almost slipping out of her chair. Without hesitation, he rests her head on the middle of the table, and Aina only buries her face further into the mahogany. Her hair streams all around her as she lightly snores.
Timo had hoped she wouldn't fall asleep, considering how hard it is to study beside someone sleeping. Every movement seems noisy; even a breath is too much. It honestly causes more of a distraction than when she's awake, given her reprimanding stares if he ever loses motivation.
Slowly but surely, Timo manages to finish his work. When he jots down the last of his notes, he takes a glance at the clock and realizes it's time to go.
He pats Aina's arm. "Aina, wake up." She shuffles a bit to the side. "The library's going to close soon," he calmly chides.
Yawning, she lifts her head and rubs her eyes, squinting at the table as if she doesn't know where she is. Aina blinks in recognition when she sees the papers. "...You let me sleep," she says.
Timo gives her a soft smile. "You were tired."
He helps her pack up her things and they exit the building. It's late afternoon now; orange streaks across the sky as cold air shoulders past them in a hurry. Timo offers a jacket. She takes his hand instead.
After they begin walking down the sidewalk, he asks if he was in her dream. Aina's quiet for a moment before saying she thinks he was her housekeeper, and Timo laughs and tells her he wouldn't mind being that at all.
Flowers are cheesy but so is Timo, so it doesn't really bug Aina when he shows up on her doorstep and shoves a bouquet in her hands.
He's blushing as she tells him it wasn't necessary. "B-but," he stutters, shifting his gaze sideways, "It's your birthday, so I thought..."
Aina opens her mouth. She closes it. He stiffens when he feels warm lips pressing against his cheek. They leave a second later, and on reflex, his hand inches up to his gaping face. It's hot, he notices. Burning.
"These are cornflowers," Aina states.
Timo can only nod.
She looks at him again and smiles, and blood rushes up all the way to his ears. They stand there for a while until he finds his voice, cracking out that he has to go – not because he wants to, heavens no, but because it's a bit past eight in the morning and her dad will kill him if he stays any longer and he should really be home now. Aina agrees and he lets a shaky laugh, hastily stammering a farewell as he rushes down the street.
When she heads back inside her house, her family stares at the bouquet and exchanges glances. Her father is obviously miffed but her mother is absolutely delighted, and Marlís is more amused than she should be. Aina tells them nothing as she grabs a vase and arranges it to her liking.
"They suit your eyes," her sister comments. Without a moment's pause, Aina says yes, yes they do.
Timo notices her talking to Karne, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed friend. Though he says that, they look nothing alike; Karne has friendlier eyes and spunky hair whereas Aina's got duller shades of everything, but Timo wouldn't have it any other way.
He calls out their names and the two turn to face him. There's this look of adoration on his face as he comes within earshot, like a loyal dog awaiting its master's orders. Aina mutters a hello while Karne grins.
"Cute boyfriend." She winks at Timo. He pretends not to notice. "You don't find a guy like this anywhere."
Aina's reaction is a surprise: a frown mars her features as half-lidded eyes scowl at Karne. She doesn't say anything but she doesn't need to, because the atmosphere feels like it dropped down by twenty degrees.
Karne snorts, slinging an arm over the shorter girl's shoulders. It promptly gets pushed off. "Aw, don't be so jealous. I was just kidding. Besides, everyone knows he's all yours."
Aina argues she's not jealous, but it's a weak comeback and her friend merely laughs, turning to walk away before calling out a goodbye. When they're alone, Aina wastes no time to whip a glare at Timo. He's a bit pleased to have watched their exchange.
"I'm not jealous," she repeats. He raises an eyebrow. "I'm not jealous."
He smiles and doesn't press the issue. Timo still says she didn't deny that he was her boyfriend though, and while Aina tells him to shut up, she inches closer to wrap her fingers around his.
"I love you."
Timo glances back at Aina, who's slowed down and stopped a few feet away. She looks still and calm, as if nothing had been said, but there's this steely determination in her eyes that speaks otherwise. "I don't-" Her voice cracks. "-I don't say it often, but I do."
He blinks, drawing closer to rest his forehead on hers. Timo feels warm sighs tickling his nose as he whispers back, "It's okay. I know."
She gives him this questioning look, like she believes him and doesn't at the same time, but there's a barest hint of a smile on her lips when he leans down to kiss her. Suddenly, he smells summer in the air even though it's long past; they melt perfectly together in the scent of sunflowers and oranges.
When they pull back, she wraps her arms around his neck, tiptoeing to mutter another 'I love you' into his ear. She asks if he feels the same but it's just reassurance at this point; Timo can plainly see this content look on her face, as if it was a rhetorical question. Still, he complies, because he'd say it a million times if she wanted him to, again and again, and he presses a kiss on her head.
"Forever, aina," he promises. Her eyes twinkle, and Timo sees cotton candy and blue jays and oceans. All he sees is her. "Always."
A/N: I will admit that the only reason I worked super hard on this oneshot was so I could make the last sentence. I will also admit that the original draft of this story had no capitalization whatsoever because that terrible pun looked like a typo.
(Note: The word 'aina' means 'always' in Finnish. Although I don't know if I used that correctly, cue in wordplay and cheesy!Finland.)
Thanks for reading!