It was a nice, autumn day, leaves are slowly falling down slowly as a cold wind passed; Tino Väinämoïnen couldn't ask for a better day than this. Clutching the strap of his backpack, he walked slowly towards his school, looking at each student in front of him. He could see Emil Steilsson, the Icelandic half-brother of his Norwegian friend, Lukas Bondevik. He was about to jog towards the boy when somebody tripped him. He looked up to see the same infuriating guy who bullied him since he came to Denmark. Tall, yet well built, blonde hair up in spikes and a shit-eating grin.
"Yo, lille Finn. How are we today?" he asked in an overly friendly way. He held out a hand, but Tino knew better. "Eh? Not letting me help you up? Suit yourself. We're going to have lotsa fun this year anyways, lille Finn~"
"Damn you, Matthias Kølher," Tino muttered as he glared at the blonde's back as he walked away. He pulled himself up and continued walking towards his school.
Matthias Kølher, the bane of Tino's life. Tino thought that his life in Denmark would be the same as the one he had in Finland, but his thought was immediately quashed when he entered school. He was early that time, too excited to see his new school and room, when the spiky-haired Dane entered the room with a small group of guys. He thought that he could make friends with them, but he was wrong, the guys were mean to him, especially Matthias, who seemed to be the ringleader of the group.
Tino was entering the gates of his high school, his thought still in the past, when he saw something flicker at the woods besides the school. He entered quickly and went into the 'blind spot' of the main building, scaled the concrete fence, pulled out the scope of his father's rifle (that he took secretly) and looked to where he saw the flicker. Being a son of a military marksman, Tino has been trained by his father on how to use guns, especially sniper rifles. "Calm yourself, slow your breathing, control your heartbeat and fire at the interval of your heartbeat", was the voice of his father said inside Tino's head as he searched for the flicker.
After a minute of searching, he saw it again, now brighter than the last one. He zoomed in the scope so he would know what the cause of the flicker, and saw two persons, facing each other, their chests glowing.
"Oh, my God! A soul resonance!" He said, and tried to discern who those persons are, even if he already has a hunch on who they are. When the taller of the two turned just enough for the Finn to see his face, Tino gave a gasp, it was his Swedish best friend. When he saw his best friend's face, Tino decided that he should stop spying, for this kind of thing is a private affair.
While walking to his classroom via the backdoor, Tino tried to remember what he knew about soul resonance. "The human's soul, the container of his conscience, exists in a different dimension. It is said to vibrate in a certain way, and there is only one similar vibration for each person. When two persons with the same vibrations meet, a phenomenon called 'soul resonance' will happen, in which the chest of two persons glow. It is said that the two are soul mates, and will never be separated from each other. After a few minutes, the glow will disappear, and will leave a gem-like item, known as a 'soul drop', which is, traditionally, to be given to the other person. But, even if two people with the same vibrations meet, their soul sometimes won't glow, the cause of which is unknown, as cases of soul resonance are quite rare."
Tino was about to walk up the stairs, when his head collided with something solid and warm. He felt himself falling backwards, but a hand to his back prevented that. He looked up to saw who he bumped with, and immediately, a scowl worked to his forehead. "Why you?" he asked as the person who caught him smiled his usual shit-eating smile.
"Oh? What are you doing in the senior building, Tino? Missed me already?" Matthias said, still not letting go.
"As if anyone would miss you," Tino muttered.
"Aww, how cute. I know you miss me."
"I'm late for class. Please let me go." Tino regretted saying that, for after he said it, Matthias's smile intensified (Tino wondered how it even got way more intense) and he let's go, making Tino fall to the floor. As his butt hit the cold, hard floor, the bell started to ring.
"You're late, Tino. What're you gonna do now?"
Tino looked down at the floor, tears forming in his eyes. This is what he hated about himself, he cries easily. Matthias jumped in front of him and squatted down to look at his face better.
"Oi, you're tearing up!" he said, then laughed mockingly. He then grabbed Tino's face and forcefully made him look up, his eyes glinting. "You're such a weakling! I wonder why didn't you shot yourself dead already."
Tino tried to wrench his face from the Dane's grip, to no avail. He started crying, punching Matthias's chest weakly, begging the blonde to let go of him.
Matthias shoved Tino to the side, stood up, and said with a smile. "Well, because you beg so well, I'll let you go. Let's play some other time, Tino."
The Finn decided to skip school that day. Climbing up the concrete fence and dashing to the woods is easy, and when he reached the glade at the middle of the woods did he calmed down. He sat at the edge of the clearing at the foot of an old oak, thinking what it would feel if he has found his soul mate.
"I hope he or she would be a good person," he thought out loud as he leafed through his math book, trying to grasp the concept of the Pythagorean Theorem. After an hour or so, he started to walk out of the wood to his house.
When Tino reached his house, he immediately went to his room and turned on his computer. He smiled at his wallpaper, which is his hometown in winter, and instantly opened his browser and logged in into Facebook and opened up an unopened message from his friend.
"Hans is online already?" He asked himself as he replied to his friend, who asked him to message him back if he's free. "That guy must be skipping school again."
Hans Andersen is Tino's Facebook friend. The guy is from Denmark as well, but is living at the capital. It was just luck that the two liked the same band, and is member at the same group. It has been a year since the two started chatting almost daily. But, even if they knew each other for months, Tino still doesn't know what he looks like, owing to the other's camera shyness, though he had a vague impression of him, due to the Finn pestering the other to give him his physical description.
'Skipping school again, Hans? That's not good, you know.'
'No class today here. It's boring actually.'
'Liar. Knowing you, I know you skipped out.'
'I am not lying, dude! I swear on my grandma's grave!'
'Your grandma's grave is so littered with broken promises now, Hans. Anyways, that bastard Matthias is so infuriating! His looks are wasted because of his rotten attitude. He could actually be my type if he's not like what he is.' Tino typed. Hans has always been the person he could open up with.
'What did he do to you?'
'He tripped me on the way to school and…' Tino hesitated, thinking if he should add what happened at the back rooms, or not. In the end, he didn't add it.
'Tino, you know you've got to stand up to him. This can't go on, you know.'
Tino laughed mirthlessly, and then typed a reply. 'I don't think I can stand up to that guy. You've seen my photos already, right? And remember, I've sent you photos of him.' He sent him photos of the Dane, so that Hans would know who his bully is.
'I know, but still, you have to stand up against him. Anyways, I've got chores, talk to you later.' Hans said, and logged out after a few moments.
Tino logged out after checking out his notifications and friend requests tabs. He laid down on his bed, thinking about what Hans told him. "Stand up to him, huh?" he muttered, then decided to clean the whole house just to have something to do.
The next day, Tino went to school earlier so that he would avoid Matthias. He was thankful that he didn't encounter the Dane, and slipped into his first class, which is Organic Chemistry. He sat at his usual chair at the front table, and skimmed his chemistry book. After a few minutes, his friends, Berwald Oxenstierna and Lukas Bondevik, entered the classroom, both have a small smile on their faces.
"Moi!" greeted Tino, and waved at the two, who waved back. "You two seemed happy, what's up?" he asked as the two took the seats besides him.
"Ummm… I dunno if I'm th' one ta say it… Nor, ya do it…" Berwald said, and nodded at Lukas, who everyone calls Nor (short for Norway, him home country.)
Lukas looked at Berwald, then at Tino, then back at Berwald before raising his left hand. Tino immediately noticed the thin band on his ring finger. It is coloured blue, with a thin band of yellow at the middle; it shone as sunlight caught it.
Tino's eyes grew wide as he saw the gem-like ring. "Oh my gosh… is that a soul drop?"
Lukas nodded, his cheeks a tad pink. "Yeah. Berwald gave it to me yesterday. I already gave him mine."
Tino smiled as Berwald showed him his left hand, showing the soul drop that Lukas gave him (a red, white and blue ring, much like the Norwegian flag). The three chatted happily until Tino noticed that the classroom is already filled, and their teacher is already at the front.
Tino had a fine day, but the class he's been dreading came closer and closer until he dragged himself to the Home Economics room for his Home Economics class, the one thing he is good at, other than using guns. He slowly entered the room, and without a doubt, Matthias is at his table, fixing his apron while reading the writings at the board.
The Finn tried to be discreet in entering, but it seems that Matthias has some sort of Tino-radar, or he is just that noisy, that the Dane looked at him with a smirk. "You're here. We're baking, lille Finn. Make sure you don't poison Miss Bonnefoy again, got that?"
He didn't listen to the Dane and went to his table and started to prepare himself. He reminded himself to stick to the ingredients written on the board and not to experiment with other ingredients. When the whole class had entered, Tino focused his eyes to their French teacher, who started talking in heavily-accented Danish that they will be baking Danish pastry.
The class was quiet while doing their activity, even Matthias, who would usually jeer at Tino for messing up, is unusually quiet and focused. Tino usually noticed the Dane would be focused when their activity for the day is baking, and he seemed to be good at it. The Finn put the blonde out of his mind, and focused on the glaze he is making while his pastry is baking.
After most of the class has finished baking and glazing their pastries, their teacher went around and tested their pastry. As usual, Miss Bonnefoy praised Matthias for his amazing Danish pastry, and she patted Tino on the shoulder and gave him a smile, which he translated as 'good work for sticking to the recipe, Tino,', and after their teacher has tested everyone's work, the students were allowed to taste the other's work.
Tino tested the German kid's ("Is he really a high-school student?" he thought.) and also his Italian boyfriend's own. After he has tested a few more, he returned to his table to entertain the ones who wanted to try (dared to, actually) his work. He was happily chatting with the ones who tried his pastry, when, "Hey, lille Finn, lemme try one," Matthias said and took one. He took a bite out of the pastry, sneered, and then walked back to his workplace, munching on the pastry. "It's not poisoned, good one, Tino."
When the teacher has dismissed them, Tino remained for a bit until everyone has gone, and went to Matthias' table. He has left two pastries on his plate, and Tino, out of curiosity, tried one. "Damn, these are good!" he exclaimed as he took a bite.
"Well, thank you for that," a voice said, and Tino, out of shock, placed the pastry back on the plate with such speed that it nearly knocked the plate off the table.
The voice turned out to be Matthias's. The Dane walked towards the frightened Finn and lifted up the other's chin. "Did I give permission for you to touch those? I just went out to buy a drink, and then I see you enjoying them. Do you really want to get hurt?" he asked, glaring at Tino.
Tino nearly pissed himself as Matthias glared at him. He opened his mouth slightly to defend himself, remembering what Hans said, but he was cut off when Matthias spoke again. "I've got no choice but to take my pastry back from you," he said, smirking, and then kissed Tino. Because Tino has his lips slightly parted when he was kissed, Matthias could easily slipped his tongue in, but for some reason, he just licked at the Finn's lips, but what Tino was surprised about, he started kissing back the Dane; he couldn't blame himself, Matthias was a good kisser.
When the two parted, Matthias took his pastry and gave one to Tino. "I changed my mind, you seem to like the taste of Danish pastry, so I'll give you one," he whispered and walked off.
Tino was rooted at the spot, his mind repeating what happened to him earlier. He walked out of the room after a minute, still holding the pastry that was given to him. At the gates he saw Berwald and Lukas talking to each other. He walked towards them and asked, "Hey, is it normal for someone that hates a person to kiss him?"
Lukas looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow, while Berwald answered the question. "If tha' s'meone kissed th' p'rson they hate, it must be b'cause he act'lly like 'im, 'nd 'is 'hate' is jus' a cov'r, or he jus' doesn't know howta act 'round said p'rson, so he acts mean to 'im."
Tino took a deep breath and looked at the pastry in his hand. Lukas took the pastry and took a bite out of it. "This pastry… Matthias?"
Tino looked at Lukas and blushed. He took the pastry and dashed back to his house. When he reached his house, he quickly went to his room and turned his computer on, he need to share this with Hans.
'What the fuck!? He kissed you!? As in lips to lips!?' was Hans' reply to Tino's message. The Finn told him everything that happened that afternoon.
'Yes, he did. He then gave me the other pastry, the one that I hadn't took,' Tino typed, sighing. 'I wished at least he gave me the one I took.'
'Was he a good kisser? Just kidding. So, are you okay now?' Hans asked, which made Tino blush.
'I'm fine. And yeah, he's a good kisser,' he replied, blushing intensely from the memory.
Hans didn't reply, but when he did, it was just 'Sorry Tino, I gotta go. Dad's making me do chores.'
Tino decided to do his homework too, but he couldn't focus on answering, partly due to the pastry on a plate in front of him and the memories it entails. When he did finished his work, it was already dark, but it didn't change the mind of his father when he asked him to go to the grocery store to buy some stuff.
"I know you could take care of yourself, son. And I know you're carrying that pocket knife I gave you," his father said as he literally pushed his son and gave him the list.
Tino walked slowly along the dark road, humming some song that's stuck on his mind for some time and toying the cross necklace he bought a few months ago. He was about to turn the corner when he heard footsteps and drunken voices. He stopped for a moment and thought if he should walk on or walk back and find a safe hiding spot, but it was too late, he was already seen.
"Hey, ain't that tiny Tino?" Someone asked, his voice quite familiar to the Finn.
"Yeah, it is!" another one replied.
"Watcha doin' out and about, tiny Tino?" a third voice asked.
Tino walked back slowly, but someone grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled him closer. Tino counted five people, and he knew all of them, they were the guys who always follow behind Matthias when they were younger. The four others circled around Tino as the guy holding him looked at him from head to toe.
"Shit, he's kinda cute," the one who's holding him said, inspecting him closely by the light of the streetlamp. Tino could clearly smell alcohol on his breath.
"Damn, you dig guys, dude?" someone said and laughed out loud, the others laughed as well.
"When he's this cute, I'd gladly fuck the shit out of him," the guy holding his hand said, pulling him closer. The others hooted and cheered for the guy to do it.
Tino tried to get the knife from his back pocket, but the person at his back noticed it and pulled it out of his pocket. "No you don't, tiny."
The guy holding Tino wrist took the Finn's free hand and held both his hands with one hand, while the other held his cheek. Tino struggled against the grip of the guy holding him, but he was strong. The guy was moving closer to his face, but then he heard something, it was, unmistakeably, a punch. He looked around and saw a blonde guy punching the two guys at his back, wrenched his hands free from the one holding it, and punching him as well. The blonde guy pushed Tino away as it turned into a full-on brawl. Tino was afraid that his saviour would be beaten up, but his worries were useless, the blonde guy won at the end.
The blonde guy walked towards Tino, who was sitting on the ground, and held out a hand. "You okay, lille Finn?" the guy asked, which made Tino's head snap up at him.
"Matthias?" he asked, dumbfounded.
"Wow, congratulations, you now know how to recognize people," Matthias said sarcastically, who took Tino's wrist and pulled him up.
Tino looked at the hand that was holding his wrist, and immediately took it back. "Why are you helping me?" he asked.
"Is it wrong to help someone who really needs it?" he asked back. Tino glared at him, and he sighed. "I happen to saw you with those idiots, and I know they're up to no good. You're not hurt?"
"No… Thank you," Tino muttered, looking down. When Tino looked up, he noticed that there's a bruise under Matthias' left eye, and a gash on his left arm and right oblique. "Damn, we need to treat you!" he exclaimed and pulled on Matthias.
"My house is just up ahead. No one's home right now," Matthias said nonchalantly while letting himself be pulled. "You know you don't need to do this, right? This is it."
The two stopped at the front of a modest house. "Your house is nice," Tino complimented.
"It's fine." Matthias said, shrugging as he walked to the front door and unlocked it. "In."
"Wow, not even polite, are we? Not that I expect you to be," Tino muttered under his breath, but still followed the Dane inside.
Matthias clearly heard what Tino said, but didn't comment on it; instead he just walked up the stairs, and then entered the first door on their right. Tino followed him and found himself in a room painted off white, which was pretty well-organized. A look to his right, and he saw that posters of rock bands dominated the wall, while to the left side is where the bed is, on which he saw Matthias is sitting and taking off his shirt. Tino looked at the Dane with wide eyes and a blushing cheek. He couldn't help himself but utter "damn" under his breath as his eyes take on Matthias's body. He knew that the blonde is in good shape, but he didn't expect him to be this good-looking.
"Like what you're seeing?" Matthias asked, looking at Tino with an amused smile.
Seeing his smile irritated Tino. He scowled at the Dane and asked, "Do you have a first-aid kit? Those wounds need to be treated."
Matthias pointed to a door at his back. "In there, on top of the cabinet."
Tino stormed in the room, towards the door, which turned out to be his bathroom. He immediately saw the first-aid kit and took it. He returned to the room and saw that Matthias is doing something with his phone. Because the Dane's back is tuned to him, he took a peek and saw that the guy is on Facebook. He walked in closer and saw that his profile didn't show his name, but a name he knew very much. "Why is Matthias' profile name 'Hans'?", he thought. "Even down to the profile photo, it's the same as his!"
"It's rude to look on people's private stuff without their consent, you know?" Matthias said, logging out and looked back at Tino with his eyes unreadable. "Are you gonna treat my wounds, or not?"
Tino glared at Matthias. "Explain," he said as he placed the kit on the bed, opened it, and took out the gauze, tincture of iodine and some cotton balls. He started treating the Dane's wounds, putting a bit more pressure while cleaning the wounds.
"Do you know my real name, Tino?" Matthias asked, looking down at the Finn.
"Unless your name's Lars Løkke Rasmussen*, then I know that it's Matthias Kølher," Tino replied, covering the wounds with gauze. He then looked at the bruise underneath Matthias' eye. "It's not that serious, but we need to put ice on this."
Matthias gave a short laugh as he stood up and walked out of the room. "Not quite right there, Tino. My real name's Hans Matthias Kølher. I just tell people to call me 'Matthias' because my dad's name is Hans, and I like the meaning."
"Both means 'God is gracious', right?" Tino said as he followed Matthias, who was walking to the kitchen. "That doesn't explain your Facebook account."
"I used my first name and my mom's maiden name, simple as that," he said as he held an ice pack to his bruise. "Anything wrong with that?"
Tino's opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He was too shocked hearing him say that. When he found his voice again, he yelled "Everything is wrong with that! Why the fuck did you act like you are a different person!? Is it to get close to me and know my secrets then use it against me!?"
Matthias put the ice pack down, looking at him intently. "How about I made that account because I don't know how to get close to you because my mind goes blank whenever I see you, and the only way I know how to act in front of you I like when we were kids, when I didn't realize that I-"
"You what? You didn't realize you what?"
"Nothing, never mind. I'm okay now. You can go."
Tino stomped out of the kitchen to the front door, but before he left, he looked back and said, "You know, I like Hans. A lot," knowing that the Dane could hear him well.
The next day, Tino didn't see Matthias for the whole day, as with the next, and the next, and the next. He kept on thinking that it's good that he haven't seen him for a few days, but at the same time, he couldn't help to be worried. His worry was apparently obvious that Lukas immediately noticed it. "Matthias is at Copenhagen at the moment. He already is excused for school, and will be back tonight," he said, reading Hans Christian Andersen's works.
Tino surprised himself by asking what Matthias is doing at the capital city. "Copenhagen? What is he doing there?"
Lukas looked up from his book and looked at Tino, his usually dead eyes serious. "It's private, so you have to ask him yourself if you want to know. He'll be arriving tonight."
Tino debated with himself if he has to go to the Dane's house or not, but when Miss Bonnefoy gave him a stack of papers, saying that it's the recipes Matthias asked her and some of the homework he missed.
"Please, bring them to him. He's already missed a week's worth, any more and his standing would plummet! We don't want to lose one of our most brilliant minds, oui?" Miss Bonnefoy said as she gave Tino the stack of papers. "Poor child, he's got the mind of a genius, but his attitude is… not that good," she added, shaking her head.
Tino begrudgingly walked to Matthias' house, thinking about what he will say when he reached there. "Better give it to him, and then go," he said to himself as he slowly crossed the well-tended lawn towards the door. When he reached the door, he gave it a half-hearted knock, and it opened up to show a lady with a big bosom and a mischievous glint in her eyes, which greatly reminded him of Matthias. "She must be Matthias' mother", he thought as he cleared his throat and said, "G-good afternoon, ma'am. Is Matthias here?"
The lady smiled at him, looked to her back and said in a sweet voice, "Darling, someone's asking for you. Just look at those babies later over dinner." The lady walked away from the doorway and beckoned Tino inside.
Tino went in shyly, and his mouth nearly dropped when he saw Matthias. He's wearing a black vest over a red shirt, his hair still in its spikes, but his face looked more mature than usual, and it fitted him nicely. The lady gave Tino a slight push on the small of his back and gave him a wink. "In you go, dear. I'll just brew some tea," she said as she disappeared towards the kitchen.
When Matthias' mother was gone, Tino didn't notice that he was checking out the Dane again, his eyes now trailing down from Matthias' handsome face down to his feet, it seemed that the Dane just came out of a meeting with some important people that he needs to look smart. "Finished with the visual check?" Matthias asked mischievously. "I know I look handsome as fuck. So, what do you want?"
"I- the teachers gave me your assignment, and some recipes from Miss Bonnefoy," Tino said, taking out the papers from his backpack and handing it to Matthias.
Matthias took the papers and glanced at it. He then walked up to the stairs, signalling Tino to follow him as well. The Finn swallowed, and then tentatively followed the Dane to his room. When he entered, he saw that Matthias was sitting in front of his computer, typing something.
"What are you doing?" Tino asked as he took a peek, it looked something very important. "That looks so serious."
"I'm trying to help my mom in her work. She's a researcher based in Copenhagen," he said, then minimized the Word program and took a paper from the bunch Tino gave him. "They gave lotsa work there. My brain's gonna explode if I do this in one sitting."
"They said you're a genius, but your attitude does not match with your brain," Tino said as he sat on the bed, placing his backpack on the floor. "So, why do you want me up here?"
Matthias stood up from his chair, went to the bed, and laid down. It took him a few seconds before he could answer. "I asked you to come because I want to… um… I want to say… sorry… for my shitty attitude and for bullying you…"
The Dane's answer has completely taken Tino aback. It took him a good two minutes before he could find his voice and ask "What?"
"Dammit, still slow, are you?" Matthias said, clicking his tongue and sitting up. "I'm saying sorry for what I did to you for all those years since elementary school. I… don't really know how to act around people, so I would usually bully them or use my knowledge to twist them around my finger. The first time I saw you, I thought you were an interesting guy, but back then, I don't know how to act, so I would bully you, just to catch your attention. It was the only way I could keep your attention to me. Then, a year ago, when I saw you at that group, I decided to change my profile's name and add you as a friend. I thought that, by concealing my identity, I could have more information about you, and the same time, not scaring you off. You didn't notice that when I wasn't at school, I was active on Facebook?"
"I noticed, but I thought that those were just mere coincidence," Tino replied in a weak voice, looking at the Dane.
Matthias gave a chuckle. "Nope, not a coincidence. I'm a smart guy, and a few unexcused absences that are within the limit won't hurt my standings. Anyways, that one year has already given me a lot of information on you, also, I noticed one thing," He stood up and looked directly at Tino's eyes. "When you talk to Hans, you were always talking about me. When I noticed that, I knew that something's up, but I try not to get my hopes up."
Tino looked at Matthias incredulously. "'Get your hopes up,' so your saying-"
"Just as you're thinking, Tino," Matthias interrupted, his eyes giving off a lambent glow.
"You really confuse me, you know that? For years, you've been bullying me, and now, you're saying that you like me?"
Matthias gave him a small smile and a shrug. "I'm a bully, what do you expect?"
"Really, even until now, you're bullying me. You really are a bad boy… But you know, I don't hate bad boys who knew when to stop being one," Tino said, smiling back. "Also, I admired you when we were young, but when you showed that bad side of yours, my thoughts about you changed. I started to hate you, but there's still a bit of admiration left," Tino looked straight into Matthias' eyes, and, for the first time, noticed that it was a very beautiful shade of blue. "Now, as you explained why you were hiding yourself, and also shared your feelings to me, and when you saved me, the admiration that was left in my heart fought back against the hate, and made way to something that I was extremely sure won't happen," and at that moment, something happened; both of their chest started to light up.
Tino looked at his chest, then at Matthias', then back at his. "You're kidding me? Now?"
Meanwhile, Matthias is pressing his hand to his face, laughing softly. "I told you earlier, right? That I'm helping my mom? She's one of the forerunners in soul research, and one of her findings is that a soul resonance would most likely occur when the two persons with almost the same vibrations would feel in love, and the pair is in close proximity with one another. Funny that that paper is the one I was looking up at before you came in."
Tino looked at Matthias again, surprised that Matthias, a year older than him, is helping on trans-dimensional research. "So, you're saying-"
"That I had a hunch that this would happen when you would start to like me back, but I didn't know that it would be so soon!" Matthias said, laughing and hugged Tino.
Tino, not knowing what to do, hugged back tightly. After a minute has passed, the two broke apart, Matthias grinning widely while Tino is giving a smile. The light shining from their chest is already weakening, and when it totally disappeared, it left something warm on their chests. Tino took it out from under his shirt, and on his palm, a light blue and white cross.
He smiled when he saw his soul drop; it looked like the surface of the lake where he used to play as a kid, reflecting the clouds in the sky. "It's so warm and beautiful," he whispered, then looked at Matthias' soul drop: brilliant red, like a ruby, with a thin, white strip at the middle of the cross' bars.
"Just like the Dannebrog**," Matthias said, smiling down at the cross in his palm. He then took Tino's free hand and pressed the cross on it. "As per traditions, I give you a piece of my soul."
Tino grasped the Dane's hand, and pressed his own soul drop on Matthias' free hand. "And I as well, give you a piece of my soul."
The two gazed at each other's eyes, slowly closing in on each other, and then, after what seemed like an eternity, their lips met. And as the two savoured each other, they thought about what would happen in the future, but the two just dismissed it, there are lots of times to worry about what's going to happen, but for now, enjoying this precious moment is what's more important.
When they broke off, Matthias leaned his head on Tino, and whispered a vow. "As long as you held my soul in your hand, I will always be with you. If you call my name, be it stormy seas or furious blizzards, I will face them, just to be at your side. So never let go, the piece of my very existence, as we dance to the song of fate and our souls, for I will be with you, to lead the way, and keep you safe, forever."
Tino chuckled, then looked at Matthias' eyes with sincerity and whispered his vow. "I will be your refuge, so trust on me and rest easy. I will be your guiding light, lighting your way when you are lost. I will be a lake; I will provide you with everything I could give. I will never let go of your hand, wherever we may go, whatever we may face. Let us dance together, with the gentle song our soul sings as we glide through this dance floor known as life. I will be at your side, to support you, and love you, forever."
End.
*Lars Løkke Rasmussen is Denmark's current Prime Minister
**The Dannebrog is the Danish flag
A/N: *singing 'I'm Alive' by Becca* I'm alive! I'm alive, oh yeah! Between the good and bad's where you'll find me, reaching for heaven~
Yes, everyone, I'm alive! And I'm so sorry for not churning out ideas, school has been to taxing. Anyways, did you enjoy this? This one-shot has been longer than usual, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that my ending is super lame. Anyways, to those who read 'Alice' and have been thinking if it's abandoned, it is not. I simply lost my files and had to start again :'( . I've written its continuation, but I'll postpone adding chapters after I've done a fair few. And now that I have nothing more to say, I bid you adieu, and see you in another story!