A/N Happy Birthday Sweden! :D This is for you.

Alright so this is the first installment of a two part story. I have been working on it for quite a while and am still working on the second part. The pairing is DenSwe or SweDen, and although I'm not that great at romance I thought I'd give it a shot. Thought I'd keep the author's note short today so the rest of it is after the story.

Disclaimer: Ich (I) besitze (own) kein (not) Hetalia


Why was it so hard?

Why was it so hard to be honest? With himself... With others.

He was one of those people who didn't show how they felt, not well at least. He kept all his emotions bottled up inside. He couldn't even admit to himself what he was feeling. So why was he even here?

Here in the Dane's own city.

In front of the Dane's own house.

It was now or never. If Berwald turned away now, he wasn't ever coming back. Hesitantly and with much foreboding dread, he poked the little button of doom. A thing that most people would incorrectly refer to as a doorbell. Count to twenty. He told himself. If he doesn't show, you can leave.

One.

Two.

Three.

Hands sticky with sweat. Anxious adrenaline rushing through his veins.

Seven.

Butterflies in his stomach. He wondered if he should just leave now and forget the whole endeavor. Before he did something stupid. Something he couldn't take back.

Fifteen.

Was the Dane coming or not? It wasn't like him not to answer the door.

Eighteen.

Footsteps. From the other side. The adrenaline was stronger than ever. He was shaking in the anticipation of rejection. It wasn't too late to run and hide.

Twenty.

The door creaked open to reveal the ever cheerful Dane, that he half wanted to hug, half wanted to punch in the face.

He didn't have to do either as the Dane spoke instead. "Hej Berri, whatcha doing here? Couldn't resist the awesome me, or did ya want to reinstate the Kalmar Union?"

"Far åt helvete!" The glare he sent would have alone been enough to send any normal person running. Yet however Mathias Køhler did not match any definition of normal.

"Love ya too, Sverige." Oh how he wished the Dane actually meant that when he said it.

"Ja, ja. Can we talk?"

"Sure, whatever. Be best if came inside. Want a beer? It's Danish, not your weak, disgusting stuff." Was that all the Dane thought about alcohol, and their rivalry?

"Nej I'll pass."

"Soooo... Beerriii..." The Dane sauntered forward. His face inches from Berwald's. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest, a drum that was announcing the upcoming battle. Badum, Badum, Badum. He wondered if Mathias could hear it too. "Why are you really here? And don't give me that shit about trade agreements and border policies."

Of all the things the Dane had to ask it had to be that one.

The one he couldn't answer.

The one he didn't want to answer.

"I... uh..."

"Come on Sve, I won't tell anybody. It'll be just between you and me. Dig og mig. Du och jag."

He's drunk he told himself. He's drunk he doesn't really mean what he's saying. But it was so tempting. So tempting to tell Mathias everything. Especially when he was like this.

When he wouldn't remember anything of the conversation.

"Jag älskar dig." The words rushed out his mouth before he even knew what he was saying. Flying free like birds, after being chained up in his heart and mind for so long.

Mathias recoiled, eyes wide in shock. "You what?"

"I uh... h've f'r a l'ng t'me." He stuttered out, half afraid the Dane might reach for his axe. "I'll le've n'w."


If there was one thing Berwald underestimated about Mathias it was his ability to hold his liquor. After over a thousand years the Dane had perfected the art, and very little could escape him. Unfortunately for (or fortunately, depending upon how you look at it) Berwald, last night didn't even qualify as drinking for Mathias, and as such he could remember every bit of it.

Honestly Mathias wasn't sure what to think. He really wasn't.


He looked down at the offending object in his hands. It wasn't as if he wanted to ignore the Dane... Well after last night he kind of did, but still who in their right mind calls someone at 4:00 in the morning. The fact that he was still awake was a testament to his own lack of sleep. He was not answering because of the Danes rude manners, defiantly not because he was afraid that last nights conversation might come up. Of course not.

Well mannered and polite as ever though he allowed the phone to accept the call and be brought to his ear. "Hej! Hej! Pick up the phone Berri! Please Berri pick up the phone." Did Mathias talk to the phone while it was ringing? Strange.

"Hello?"

A sigh sounded from the other end. One the sounded suspiciously like Oh good, you picked up. "Hej, Berri! We should meet up some time. Hang out and stuff you know, the work can wait." That was such a Mathias thing to say.

"Why?"

"Well you know we've got that bridge anniversary coming up that we need to celebrate."

"Mathias, you feel the need to celebrate everything." Really look at him. He even celebrated America's independence day. Why on earth? Actually never mind, there was a simple answer to that... He was Mathias. Question answered, problem solved. Actually he wouldn't mind spending time with his old friend. It had been ages ago that the had last seen Mathias with without fighting.

"Is that a yes?"

"I suppose..." Why did he have to be so Mathias like? He would be so much easier to stand if he was calmer, but then again then he wouldn't be the Mathias they all knew and loved, would he?

"Saturday then. I'll meet you at Malmo." Beep, beep, beep.

Ugh. That was so him, ask someone to meet him and then hang up before they could answer.


A/N As I said before I haven't ever really written romance before so if it isn't inconvenient it would be really helpful if you could give me your opinions on it so the next part can be better, positive or negative. I really do value constructive criticism. Currently I am still working on the second part. It may take a while to finish as I am going to have to do some research, but I can guaranty that it is going to be longer.

Lastly to any Swedes or Danes out there I apologize if I messed up you language. Currently I am using google translate as I do not know anyone who speaks either of those languages.

-gylfie


Edit: 1/7/12

Thanks go out to Eraman for correcting me on some of the Swedish.