Tino sighed, trying to pry Berwalds hands off of his pullover "Come on, Ber, please. I need to visit Toris. We need to talk about a trading contract. I promise to be back on Monday."
But the child wouldn't budge, continuing to cling to Tino, who looked up at Matthias, desperately wanting the Dane or the Norwegian next to him to do something.
Matthias nodded to Tino and then put his hand on Berwalds back, smiling, when the Swede looked up at him "Hey, Ber. Can you let go of Tino now? He needs to catch his flight. He'll be back on Monday. Only two and a half days to go without him."
Berwald looked back and forth between Tino and Matthias and then shook his head "No…" he murmured and clung to Tino tighter.
Matthias sighed and decided to take stronger actions, so that Tino would be able to catch his flight.
He grabbed Berwald gently by the waist and then slowly pulled him of of Tino, while the Fin pried the childs hands from his shoulders.
"No…" Tino heard Berwald whine, while the Swede squirmed to get out of Matthias grip and back to the Fin.
Said Fin felt his heart break, when he saw Berwald start to cry and panic. The Swede was obviously scared. And he was understandably so, since he couldn't remember anyone but Tino.
Tino was his source of comfort and the only familiar thing and now he was leaving. It was only for the rest of this Friday, Saturday, Sunday and half of Monday.
But nonetheless he could understand the Swede. He sighed and thought of what to do, as she watched Matthias try to comfort Berwald, who was full on wailing now.
"Alright." Tino said quietly "Berwald, I need to go. But you can trust me, that I will come back to you in two days. And Matthias and Lukas and also Emil will watch after you. And I promise I will call you every evening to say 'Good Night'."
Berwald seemed to be calmed down by that and his sobs died down to quiet sniffles. He wiped his eyes and looked up "And tell me a story…?"
"Yes, and that." Tino smiled.
The Swede looked at him and sniffled quietly "Pro-promise?" He murmured.
Tino smiled warmly "Yes, of course." He walked up to him and got onto his eye level, by crouching a little.
"Listen, Ber-bear." He started, to which the Swede blushed a little "I love you and I wouldn't leave you here, if I wouldn't trust these three to take good care of you. Alright? Look, Norway will cook, Emil can play with you, Matthias can cuddle with you. See? Everyone will take great care of you, alright?"
"Okay…" Berwald nodded "Alright."
Tino smiled and leaned in to kiss Berwald on the cheek "I'll see you on Monday, alright?"
Berwald nodded and stretched his arms to hug Tino, who happily obliged and hugged the child "Alright. I need to go now."
Berwald nodded and kissed Tino's cheek "Goodbye."
"Goodybe." The Fin smiled, before heading out the door.
Matthias swallowed, hoping everything would go smoothly. He looked at Berwald, who had now turned to holding onto him, knowing the child to normally be calm and well behaved. Thus he wasn't fearfull that he might cause trouble.
That evening, Matthias was tucking Berwald into bed and looked around the room to check, if the windows were all locked.
He was always a little worried for the Swedes safety, especially now that he was a child. The last few nights, he was not as worried, since he knew that Tino could easily protect Berwald, but now that the Fin was gone, he was really concerned for his brothers well being.
"You sure, you don't need anything else, Ber?" He asked for the third time now.
The Swede shook his head, cuddling to the plush lion, Tino had gotten him "I'm fine… Thank you." He murmured.
Matthias nodded and sat down on the bed "Should we call Tino?" he asked and smiled, as he saw Berwald nodding enthusiasthically.
This happiness, however, quickly died down, when Tino wasn't picking up and instead texted Matthias.
"Oh, Berwald, I'm sorry, Tino just told me that he doesn't have time to talk this evening. Toris and him have some problems and need to fix them right now." He sighed, seeing the childs eyes sadden "But, look! It says that he is recording a voice recording."
As soon as it arrived, Matthias pressed play and they heard Tino's voice.
"Hey, Ber-bear. I'm sorry, I can't seem to call, but I wanted to wish you a good night, nonetheless. Sleep well, I love you, sweetheart."
Berwald hugged the plush tighter "He promised to tell me a story…" he whispered, voice thick with tears.
Matthias panicked for a second, before smiling "Hey, you wanna sleep over at my room tonight? I can tell you a story and we can cuddle!"
The Swede's face lit up a little and he nodded "Yes, please."
That was all it took for Matthias to scoop him up into his arms, taking the essentials with him and going to his room, Berwald cuddling to him.
Matthias went to his room and sat Berwald down on the bed, getting in himself and hugging the child to his chest "Alright, what story do you want me to tell you?"
"A fairytale…" Berwald murmured sleepily, hugging Matthias.
The Dane smiled at how cute Berwald was as a child. Even though he was a little clingly, he was still really adorable.
Furthermore, Matthias could understand the Swede being clingly, especially to Tino. Suddenly being turned into a little child, would probably scare most people.
He started to run his fingers through Berwalds hair "Alright. How about something by Hans Christian Anderson? How about the story of the little mermaid?"
Berwald nodded sleepily "Yes, thank you…" he muttered and Matthias laid down with him, holding him in one arm, while pulling the blanket over them.
Then he started to tell the story, after he had turned off the lights. He didn't even have to read the story, because he did know all of the fairytales by Anderson by heart, having read them to Emil countless times.
After about twenty minutes of storytelling, he looked down to see Berwald fast asleep, hugging him with one arm, holding his plush lion with the other.
He smiled softly and hugged him back, closing his eyes, before drifting off into sleep not long after.
The next day, Berwald was having breakfast, while Tino was texting Matthias about how Berwald was doing.
The Dane told him about the last night and that Lukas, Emil and himself were planing to take the Swede to the zoo to distract him.
Tino was a bit weary at the tought of Berwald going out without him there to supervise, but he figured that the others would do a good job watching over the boy.
Thus he wished them fun and then excused himself to his next meeting.
An hour later, the four of them were on the way to the zoo, Matthias holding Berwald's hand tightly as to not lose him.
They entered the zoo and Lukas smiled a little to himself, seeing Berwald look around enthusiastically, excited to see the animals.
They walked around the park for about and hour, until they got to the bear enclosure, where the stopped. Matthias was frantically looking around trying to spot the bear, while Lukas was reading the information displayed at the gates. Emil looked around the enclosure, seemingly also looking for the bear.
The Dane was about to ask Lukas, where the bear was, when he felt Berwald grab onto his trouser leg. He looked down to see the boy looking frightened.
"Hey, champ." He smiled "What's wrong?"
Berwald pointed to his right, where Matthias could see the bear, he had been looking for, stalking closer to Berwald, who clung to the Dane's leg.
Matthias chuckled and picked him up "Hey, don't be scared. There are so many security measures taken. No bear will be able to touch you, Ber."
The Norwegian next to them snapped a picture of Matthias and Berwald, before he heard Matthias laugh at his own joke.
"Hey, Ber? We are seeing the bears."
Berwald looked up and him and pushed his head to the side with one small hand, seeming unamused by the joke.
Matthias laughed "Oh, come on. It was funny."
"Nope." He heard Emil say and turned back to the bear.
After two more hours, they all decided to get something to eat, therefore they settled down and ate some fries.
Matthias looked around and smiled "Isn't it nice here? Hey, Ber, should we take a picture of you for Tino?"
Berwald shook his head and continued to eat "No."
"Why not? Come on, one picture. It'd make Tino really happy."
Berwald looked up and nodded "Alright." He muttered and smiled, as Emil had told him to, as Matthias snapped the picture.
Matthias smiled "I'll send it to him to let him know that you are all right."
It was two hours after the meal, when Berwald got lost and the others tried to find him.
Lukas snapped at Matthias "You should have held his hand and not let him go!"
"He said he wanted to see the seals and I told him I'd wait on the bench. I'm sorry, but I didn't think he'd get lost!" The Dane defended himself.
Emil sighed worriedly "Hey! Let's not fight and try to find, how about that?"
The other males agreed and set out to search the Swede.
Berwald himself was aimlesly walking around the zoo, calling out for Matthias, feeling tears in his eyes.
After ten more minutes of searching, he simply plopped down on a bench and buried his face in his hands and started to cry.
He didn't even notice, the young lady sitting down next to him, leaning forward to look at him better "Are you alright?" She asked.
Berwald winced and looked up, backing away from her "I-I lost m-my-" He stopped and stood up from the bench, a little scared by the stranger talking to him.
The lady smiled "Hey, it's alright. You don't have to be scared. I work here." She pointed at the name badge on her blouse "See? I saw you crying and wanted to help you."
"Really?" Berwald asked "You can help me?"
She nodded and smiled "Yes, of course. Okay, first of all, I'm Leah. Who are you?"
"Berwald." The Swede muttered.
"Ah, that's an interesting name. But it's really nice." She smiled "Alright. Do you want me to help me to find your family?"
The Swede nodded and watched as Leah stood up and then extend her hand for him to take. Berwald did just that and let Leah take him along.
Both of them walked around for quite a while and the woman tried to distract Berwald, as she saw him panicking a little bit.
"Hey, did you see any animals today or did you just arrive?"
"We saw some." Berwald said and looked around for Matthias. "We saw a bear, too."
"Wow, that sounds cool. Was is interesting?" She smiled.
"Yes, the bear looked at us." Berwald mumbled and suddenly smiled "There's Matthias!" He exclaimed.
Matthias saw them, too and ran over to them "Oh God, Berwald!" He exclaimed, taking the boy into his arms "I was so worried about you!" He hugged the boy tightly.
Berwald hugged Matthias "Matthias…" He mumbled "I'm sorry…"
"No it's fine." He looked at the woman, who had brought Berwald to them "Thank you so much, Miss-"
"Johannson." She smiled "And no problem. It's my job. But now I gotta go. I hope I'll see you again soon, Berwald." She smiled and left.
As they go back home, Matthias sat Berwald down on the couch and turned on the TV "What do you want to watch?" He smiled "Do you want to watch Nils Holgersson?"
"Yes, please." Berwald sat and Matthias switched to the channel.
As he left Berwald, he met Lukas "When will dinner be ready?"
"You could cook, too." Lukas said "After all, I gotta make the antidote."
"When will it be ready?" Matthias asked "And are noodles okay for dinner?"
"Yes that's okay and in about two weeks." He said "It takes some time."
"Alright, we will be able to handle two more weeks." Matthias smiled "Alright, I'll call you when dinner's ready."
Lukas merely nodded, before leaving.
A few days later, Tino came back home and Berwald came downstairs quickly, when he heard the Fin call out that he's back home.
Tino saw Berwald and smiled brightly, quickly making his way to the child before picking him up and holding him close "I missed you so much! Have you been fine without me?"
Berwald hugged Tino tightly, burying his face in his neck "Missed you." He mumbled "But I've been fine."
Matthias came downstairs and smiled "Hey, good to see you back."
"Glad to be back." Tino laughed "Has he been behaving?"
"Sure." Matthias smiled "But he really missed you."
Berwald felt his face burning and cuddled closer to Tino.
Lukas smiled at Tino from the couch "Hey, I'm already working on the antidote."
Emil nodded "He's come pretty far already. We just gave to wait for the full moon and then get the stuff we need." He laughed lightly "Or something."
"Yeah, that was about right." Lukas chuckled "Alright, how about we eat lunch? I can cook." He suggested.
"Yes." Tino smiled "I can unpack, thank you." He said, trying to put Berwald down, but the Swede held onto him.
Tino smiled warmly "Seem that Ber will be coming upstairs with me. Maybe he can help me."
Berwald nodded "Yes." As Tino carried him away, happy to have the Fin back home.
Matthias went to help Lukas, smiling to himself because Berwald wasn't all that sad anymore.
"You're smiling like an idiot." Lukas mumbled, smiling lightly.
"I'm happy that Ber is happy, because Tino's back." He smiled.
"What a nice big brother you are." The Norwegian chuckled "Now, go and cut the potatoes, alright?"
"Yes, sir." Matthias laughed and went to cut the potatoes.
Emil rolled his eyes and smiled lightly, while setting up the table.
A few minutes later, Tino and Berwald came back downstairs. The Fin was still carrying the Swede and told him about his journey. Berwald was listening intently, looking up at Tino, smiling lightly.