Chapter 1: Encounter

Berwald, a tall Swedish man, had a way of making people nervous. His face seemed to be in permanent scowl mode, and, since he was tall, he scared everyone around him. It's not like he meant to, though. He just didn't have good social skills. However, he didn't used to be like this. He was short when he was in 9th grade and no one thought that he would ever grow much taller. Because of this, he was picked on constantly at school and had very few friends. Two years later he had a growth spurt that lasted until he was taller than every kid in school. Now they picked on him even more, for being a 'freak of nature.'

Because of his private personality, he never told the teachers or his parents, causing him to slowly sink into depression. One day, a teacher saw a kid throwing names and other insults at Berwald. When his parents were told about what was happening, they pulled him from school and began to home school him. They rarely ever let him go outside, causing the already socially awkward boy to become even more so. Eventually, when he moved out, he noticed that he scared many people.

He moved into an apartment not long after, and found it difficult to live around people who never wanted to hang around him. Depression began to catch up with him again, so he rarely went out. One day, he lost his key to his room and went to go talk with the manager about getting a replacement. 'Oh joy,' was his first thought. As he waited for the key, a man, escorted by an older man, came in. The younger was wearing sun glasses, which Berwald thought was weird. It wasn't that bright outside.

"Here you are, s-sir." The nervous manager said, coming out of the back room and handing Berwald his key. When the manager saw the other two behind the tall scary man, he immediately swiched gears and became sickeningly happy. "Hello there!"

"Hello, I'm here to get my son a place to stay."

The manager gave a weird look to the father but his smile came back instantly. "Of course! You're the guy who called about you son being blind."

The father rolled his eyes. "Yes and let's announce it to the whole world."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Okay, Tin-..."Berwald didn't here the rest of the conversation because the door shut behind him. He went back up to his room to be alone once more.

Two months passed, and on this particular day, Berwald left the safe confines of his home. As usual, he was given weird looks and people would edge away in a not-so-subtle manner, as if he had a horrible disease. He knew that he was tall and had a scary face, but that didn't mean he didn't have feelings. Stuffing his hands into his coat pockets, he tried to ignore the stares and continue with his mission: grocery shopping. As easy as it might sound, it wasn't for him. Whenever he went, the cashier would have a hard time focusing on the checking out the items. Instead he seemed to entranced by his scariness. After a while, the tall man became impatient.

" 'scuse me," Berwald said with his Swedish voice.

"Huh?" The man looked scared that Berwald had spoken to him.

"I need t' g't goin'."

"Oh... right." The cashier turned back to the items and continued.

Berwald internally sighed and waited to pay. Once everything was bought and payed for, he left as quickly as he could. He didn't want to be in the presence of people who judged before they knew him. As he walked, he didn't notice a small man heading straight for him. He was too busy trying to ignore everyone around him. Before he knew it, he and the smaller man collided with a thump. Berwald was barely fazed by the encounter, but the other was on the ground in an instant.

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" The man began with what sound like a Finnish accent.

Berwald didn't know what to say. Someone was talking to him voluntarily and this someone looked a little familiar. He looked over him carefully. The man had pale blonde hair and a sincere smile. He didn't seem to want to run away. This confused the tall man.

"Are you okay?" The man asked. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

Berwald would've laughed if he wasn't in a state of shock right now. Even thinking about the small man hurting him was almost too funny.

"No, m' f'ne," Berwald said, a little cautiously.

"That's good," said the man with a smile. All of a sudden his brow furrowed.

Berwald noticed this and assumed that the small man realized who he was talking to. He almost slapped himself for getting his hopes up. Then something strange happened. The man began to crawl around on the floor and pat his hands around him as if in search of something.

"Umm, could you help me?" The man asked.

Berwald was even more shocked, now. He couldn't find his voice to respond. The small Fin was still talking to him.

"Are you still there?"

'Am I still here? Of course I am...' Berwald thought to himself. "Uh, yeah..."

"Oh, that's good. I was afraid you left me. Anyway, could you help me? I dropped my walking stick."

Berwald just about facepalmed. Of course! The man was blind! Quickly, he scanned the floor and spotted the item that the man needed and quickly grabbed it, handing it to him. "Here."

"Thank you!" Said the man happily. He stood up and continued, extending his hand in the direction he thought Berwald was standing. "I'm Tino."

Berwald slowly took the small hand into his. " 'm Berw'ld."

"Well, it was nice to meet you Berwald." Tino let go of his hand and moved it over to his left wrist. He had a watch there. Lifting the cover to it, his fingers slowly traced the dial and 'felt' what time it was. "Oh, dear! I have to get going. Bye, Berwald."

Tino left, waving enthusiastically. Berwald was left there, in shock. Blind or not, someone actually talked to him. Inwardly, he smiled. Maybe there was hope for him.

A few days passed, but Berwald could not forget about Tino. His encounter mad him feel happy, but that slowly dissipated, because he began to see that it was probably only a once in a life time occurrence for him. No body wanted to be his friend. People only want to get away from him.

While he was sitting in his living room, one particularly lonely day, his phone rang. Answering it, he found that it was an automated message letting him know that his payment for rent was due in a week. He sighed and hung up before the message could finish. The manager was so scared of him that he wouldn't even talk to him over the phone. He needed an already recorded message to do that.

After a week, he decided that another trip to the store was nessecary so he put on his coat and walked the short distance. He got there, and as usual, no one would meet his eye, or stay around him for very long. As he walked through the isles, he accidentally bumped into someone.

" 'm s'rry." Berwald turned around to face the stranger. His eyes widened when he saw who it was. It was Tino.

"Hmm? Berwald, is that you?" Tino asked.

"Y-Yes." The big man stutter. He wasn't sure how to take this second encounter. "How'd y' know?"

"Oh, I never forget a voice," said the small blonde excitedly.

Berwald wasn't sure how to respond so he simply said, " 'kay."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, s'nothin'."

Tino didn't believe him, but he didn't press the matter, considering they were still strangers to each other. So instead he decided to talk about something else. "I don't think this second meeting is coincidence. I think it was meant to happen."

The Swede said nothing as Tino continued.

"You want to come over to my place?"

Berwald froze. They still didn't know anything about each other. The small Fin was blind and he was opening up his home to a complete stranger. "Umm."

"It's okay, if you don't want to. I just thought that I'd offer." His ever present smile was slowly disappearing.

This caused Berwald to think. The only person that accepts him just offered something. "Wait. 'll c'me over, but why're y' 'nvitin' me? We don't r'lly know each oth'r."

"Well I don't have many friends. People don't seem to want to be friends with a blind person, and besides. You sound like you could use a friend too." His smile came back. "So, I was just about to check out. Are you done shopping as well?"

"Yes." Berwald lied. He didn't want to stay here anymore, so he decided he was done.

"Okay, let's go." The Fin began walking towards the checkout.

Following, the Swede started to think. 'What am I doing?'

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Well this is the start of a beautiful friendship/romance. I think that SuFin has to be one of the cutest couples eva'! I added some more detail and reuploaded. Don't forget to review~!