Disclaimer: set in an AU where Sweden and Åland aren't dating

Sweden couldn't sleep. He was stuck in a room with all the other Nordics, all together for a Nordic meeting. He wasn't used to all the snoring. He sighed and looked around the room. Norway was holding Denmark, and Finland was holding his knife. He'd always wondered what'd happened to him. Before he got taken by Russia, he was sweet and calming, but after he got back he was… distant, to say the least. He'd once tried to ask Åland why Finland was so aggressive now, but he didn't know much as they were kept separately.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a quiet noise from his former boyfriend. He looked in his direction. Finland was shaking slightly, occasionally flinching. His facial expression wasn't the usual surly look he had when he was sleeping (or awake), it was frightened and sad. Another muted cry came from the back of his throat, and Sweden decided to wake him from whatever nightmare he was experiencing. He approached him carefully, knowing that he would not react well to being awoken. He shook his shoulder lightly. "Finland?"

Sweden jumped back as Finland jumped, swinging his knife at whatever had touched him. "Calm down, it's just me!"

Finland started breathing more normally as he realized that what he'd perceived was just a dream, glaring at Sweden for waking him.

"You were having a nightmare.."

Finland reached for his vodka, which was never far away, and took a swig.

"What was it about?"

He made a downward motion with his knife that imitated a long beard. Who has a beard like that, everyone who has facial hair that we know has only small amounts of it, other than Rus-.. oh.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sweden already knew the answer before he even asked the question, but it seemed like the right thing to do to at least ask. Finland shook his head violently. But what Sweden didn't expect was for Finland to scoot closer to him. He cautiously put his arm around Finland, who flinched at first, but then relaxed to the touch. "Listen… I'm sorry. I should've helped you more when Russia tried to take you." Finland tensed at the mention of that name. "I know I didn't do enough, and I don't know what happened to you but.. I miss you. The old you." Finland took his phone, and opened the notes app.

He told me you didn't care. He said you would never come for me because you never really loved me.

"I did, I still do! I just- I didn't know how to help you. I felt useless knowing you and Åland were trapped there and that he was hurting you, but I-.. he was too strong for me to fight. I'm… I'm sorry." He had a lump in his throat, and he noticed Finland was on the verge of tears, too, and was shaking again.

Neither of them said anything as they leaned against each other and the headboard, until Sweden noticed a soft snoring coming from next to him. "... I still love you." he said, pulling Finland closer and drifting off to sleep.

Denmark woke up first. He looked around the room, and noticed Sweden was missing from his bed. He looked over and saw him and Finland.

"Hey guys, what the fuck, Finland and Sweden are togeth-" He stopped to dodge a knife flying his way. He decided not to finish the sentence.