Quiet. It's something I still haven't gotten use to, even though I use to think that's what I wanted. The only sound that could be heard was the light cracking of the fire in the fireplace. Even my cat was content to just be curled up on an empty chair beside it. There were no sounds of life in the house since Emil moved out and I decided to become independent. At first it was calming and I really enjoyed it, but now it seems to be a haunting reminder of how alone I was.
Closing my book, I decided it was a good time for me to call it a night. I put out the fire and heading upstairs to my bedroom. I could hear Bragi jump off his chair and dash to follow me, since his first source of warmth was now gone. The portraits that covered the wall seemed to mock me with the past, especially the one with Mathias, Emil, Tino, Berwald, and I before Berwald and Tino left. We weren't the happiest during that time, and I know this sounds so sappy, but at least we were together. It seems like a better solution than us being broken up now, even if we still got to see one another on fairly regular bases. Even after changing and getting into bed, I couldn't shake those thoughts from my mind. Bragi disapproved of this by clawing at my leg when I moved to get more comfortable.
"Nei, Bragi." I said as I swatted him away, only to receive a hiss in return. Not wanting to fight with a cat, I gave up and let him crawl to the unused pillow beside me and curl up for the night. Just as I was about to let myself drift to sleep, my phone began to ring, causing me to jolt up. No one ever called me this late at night, unless it was my boss with some kind of important new. Without looking at the screen, I answered it. "Ja, sir?"
An all too familiar laugh rang through. "That's not what I was expecting, but I'll be glad to take it, Norge."
I could feel my face heat up in embarrassment. "What do you was Mathias?" I asked with my usual monotone voice. "Do you have any idea what time it is here?" To be fair it didn't seem like I'd be getting too much sleep anyways.
"Actually I do!" His boisterous voice replied to my rhetorical question. "See, I was visiting Sve on some business and I thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing. You don't mind me crashing at your place for a couple of days, do you?"
I mauled it over in my mind for a good minute or two before I let out a sigh. "I guess since you're already here it would be rude for me to say no. When will you be getting here so I can let you in?"
"About that, I'm actually HERE now." He said, and I could practically hear his traditional grin on his lips. "So you should get your pretty ass down here." Once again, Mathias laughed at his poor and crude joke.
I rolled my eyes, muttered a 'give me a minute' before hanging up and patting down the stairs to let the dunce in. When I opened the door, Mathias was leaning against the door frame with a sly smirk on his face.
"Why hello there. Did you call for a repair man?" He asked, sounding a lot like one of those bad pornos on late night cable.
"Are you coming in or not?" I asked impatiently. "Because, I don't have time to deal with this kind of stupidity right now." My face never moved from its normal neutral state as Bragi came down to complain about me getting up. He kept clawing at my pant leg until Mathias picked him up as he entered the house.
"Hey Bragi!" Mathias practically shouted in my cat's face, causing him to hiss and try to squirm out of the embrace. The cat's attempts were ignored as my 'guest' walked into the living room I was in not to long ago. "Thanks for letting me crash tonight." Mathias plopped down on the couch and Bragi was able to make his escape back upstairs. "So, what have you been up to lately? We haven't gotten to hang out and I feel like the last meeting was only business, no pleasantries." He leaned back resting his hands behind his head and propping him dirty boots on my coffee table.
I joined him on the couch before reaching over and knocking his feet off my, previously, clean table. "Keep your nasty feet off my tables, and I've just been taking care of paperwork and other work related affairs." I replied staring at the empty fireplace, debating on if I should start another fire or get a blanket.
"Sounds boring. Maybe you and I should go out for some drinks while I'm here." He seemed to brush off my cold exterior like always. "Besides, you look like you could use a good time." Mathias finished his statement with a wink.
I scoffed, before getting up and heading back to bed. "We'll see, but right now I'm going to bed. You know where the guest rooms and kitchen are. Help yourself, but make sure you clean up any mess you make." I said, leaving the annoying Dane to his own devices for the night.
"Ok. Have a good night Lukas." Those were the last words I heard before shutting my bedroom door. Oddly enough I couldn't bring myself to go to bed and just stood there drilling a hole in the door with my eyes. Bragi meowed at me, trying to coax me back to the comfortable warmth. I don't remember how long I actually stood there, but my cat had given up at that point and it wasn't till I heard Mathias' loud footsteps make their way down the hall to one of the spare rooms. It was at that point that I finally was able to get in to bed and drift off for a few hours.
It was three in the morning when I woke up again. I had been in this pattern for the past few months and I could feel it beginning to take its toll on my body. Dragging myself lazily out of bed, I went to the bathroom and to make a cup of coffee. Leaning on the counter, I sipped my drink letting my mind wander, that is until I heard noise coming from the living room. Peeking my head in, I could see Mathias relaxing on one of the armchairs reading one of my books. It was almost surreal seeing him so calm and quiet, but unlike that silence I had been living in, it was a welcoming one. A small content sigh escaped my lips, but it was enough to catch the other blonde's attention.
"Hey Norge." Mathias said calmly. "What are you doing up so early?" He asked, placing a finger on his page and closing the book.
I shuffled a bit before sitting on the seat closest to him. "I could ask you the same thing." I retorted, taking another sip of the liquid gold.
He chuckled lightly and leaned farther back into the chair. "I'm not sure. I guess I couldn't find a comfortable position or something. Is there any more of that in the pot?" The, usually, wild blonde asked, pointing to my mug.
"Yeah, help yourself." I said watching him pull himself up, leaving the book to abandoned on the side table in favor of a warm cup of coffee. When I was sure he wouldn't be able to see me from his position, I got up to check the title. No surprise it was my copy of some Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales. To my dismay he had dog-eared the page he was on. As is he hadn't read them all a hundred time before. Opening to the page I could see it was the story of The Silver Shilling.
"You don't mind me reading that, right?" Mathias' voice startled me in to closing the book. Whipping around, I was greeted by his smirk lining the rim of his mug. "Didn't mean to scare you." He chuckled, taking a seat next to where I was sitting and patting it for me to join him.
I rolled my eyes, but joined him nonetheless. "You didn't scare me, and I would prefer it if you wouldn't bend my pages." I retorted as I grabbed my own cup and continued to take small sips so Mathias wouldn't notice my slight blush of embarrassment.
"Right." Was his only reply as he snuggled in to the couch. It was all still until he decided to break the silence again. "You never did tell me why you were up at this hour." I looked over to give him a questioning look, but it fell on blind eyes, since Mathias looked as if he were asleep, with his relaxed features and closed eyes. He always look so peaceful and content like this. His usual crazy hair seemed to droop a bit and his chest rose and fell at a stead, slow pace. "Well?" The Dane's voice spoke lazily while the rest of his body seemed to stay the same.
"I've just found myself unable to sleep lately." I received a questioning hum from the man next to me, as a way of asking me why. "I think it's because of Emil being so sick lately. It always worries me." I said flatly. Yes, that was part of it, but I knew that my brother was able to take care of himself, no matter how it hurt me.
"Emil's big enough and been sick enough to know how to handle it. Don't worry too much." Mathias reached over and massaged the base of my neck, something I found comfort in when we were younger in the Viking age. "By the way, have you talked to him lately?" He asked.
I gave a small nod as I let my eyes close and relax at his actions. "A few days ago. He said the worst part was over and he just need to sleep the rest off." I could hear the Dane start to say something, but I had already found myself in falling in to the best sleep I had had in, what seemed like forever. When I finally awoke around noon, I saw Mathias sprawled out, mouth wide open and snoring loudly. Instead of waking him up with a smack, I decided you let him be as I made another pot of coffee and the annoying blonde's favorite breakfast as my own way to say thank you. Not that I would tell him that. It was that night that I realized maybe it was the idiot and his own type of noise that I missed the whole time. Maybe I'll invite him over more often.
A/N: Ok so this is just something that I decided to write as a way to get back in to writing with my new WORKING computer. Thanks for reading and I hope it was at least a bit enjoyable. Sorry if this seems like it's been done.