Chapter Two; Back to the Train.
Matthias slumped back against the familiar damp chill of the train station bench, his heaving breaths billowing clear white steam into the snowy air. It was late winter, Oslo.
Three months since he saw the angel.
Three months since he lost him in the cold.
Three months, and he was still looking.
The first trip had been a whim, a foolhardy search brought to reality by a bored foolhardy man. Foolhardy or lovestruck, Matthias was yet to differentiate. The first trip had seemed, then and now, nothing more than something to ease his troubled mind, not even getting the name of the angel on earth, but now, now it was something else.
He had returned to Bergen late that night tired, broken and cold as the bench where he sat. Right then he had promised to not do such stupid things again... Oh how he hated his lack of self control.
The Dane did return to Oslo the next day, buying a ticket from the same till, from the same woman. Starting down every street, tapping on people's shoulder trying to describe the boy, the angel, without a name or a face. Most people stared at him like he was crazy, funny how he was starting to believe them. The sidelong glances and the nervous whispers, he wondered if he really was going insane. Chasing down a ghost of a boy, a figment of his starved brain.
Whatever he felt, or whatever he didn't, it made no difference. Each day he bought a ticket, each day he searched down the cold Oslo streets and each day he came home as he did the first day;
Broken. Tired. Cold.
Cold like he was now. Empty inside, eyes seeing the smoke and steam he saw everyday as the last trickle of people fell through the cracks in the frosted pavement like rain on the cold sidewalks but not really seeing. His eyes glazed with thought and regret. He knew this all was foolish, all of it, every sense he had left told him to give up. To go home, to get drunk, to do anything to get away from whatever had taken hold in his mind and clamped his common sense to a state of nonexistence.
The Dane shivered, wrapping his jacket further around himself trying to close in more warmth than the flimsy cloth was worth. It was no good though, besides, he didn't feel the cold so much anymore.
..She was covered in leather and gold, twenty one years old...
Matthias lifted his head, leaving the chilled confines of his scarf. The music drifted its way through the almost abandoned train station. The sound found it's way through the small cracks in the pavement, lifting the chill almost. Lighting the world.
...I lost her in the cold. It's unfair, she's out there... Somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in Brooklyn.
The Dane stood. His eyes wide, his rear end not missing the loss of the cold stone as he took off down the train platform. His loud footfalls echoed out over the slick, icy walls.
... She's somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in Brooklyn...
The sound intensified, thinckening the Dane's drive. He didn't know why this song was drawing him so, or how it did. But something about it made it seem connected to the angel, the angel he had been yearning for for so long.
He turned a corner, his shoes slipping on the wet pavement. He jogged forward his ears perking as the lyrics implanted themselves in his brain.
... Little miss perfect sitting at a train stop...Red nike high tops listening to hip-hop...
Matthias felt his heart jump into his throat; It has to be him! It has to be! He turned another corner finding himself in a small crowd of people stepping off of a latenight train. The Dane searched frantically, his heart hammering.
... While we were waiting, starting conversating... Before I got a name, along came a train...
The music drew his wandering gaze to the left, a head of blonde hair pointing from the crowd heading away from him. Matthias shoved past any people in his way, mumbling quick and meaningless 'sorry's to the outraged passengers. He ran through the steam, hand reaching out to clamp on the shoulder of the angel he had met long ago. The figure jumped spinning towards him...
... Matthias felt his heart sink.
The face looking back at him, outraged to be sure, but not the face of the angel he had seen that day. He looked at the ground, his exitement fluttering away like falling snow as it did the very first day.
"...- The hell do you think you're doing?!" Matthias snapped back to reality, his eyes searching the face of the outraged person. Who was it? Did it matter? All that mattered was that it was not who he wanted to be standing in front of him.
"Uh... Sorry..." He mumbled, looking at the ground. "I thought you were someone else..."
The person grumbled a little more before turning back around and stomping away. Matthias didn't bother to watch him go, he was too lost in his own misery. Slouching his shoulders forward he slumped to the nearest bench and collapsed, head in his hands, heart on his sleeve. He didn't dare look up, the smoke and steam reminding him too much of the day he met the angel, the day his whole world was broken into shards of what it used to be.
What was once tidy and relatively orderly was now a fools mission for something he could never achieve. Never. He sighed into his gloved sanctuary choking back the tears that were threatening to spill over.
... Next stop; Brooklyn... Next stop; Brooklyn...
Matthias paused, puzzling over the sound. Was that...? He pulled his heavy head out of his hands before his breath caught and his eyes went wide.
An angel.
His angel.
"Is this seat taken?"
Matthias sputtered, his dumb struck brain only able to form a stuttered sentence, no better than their last meeting.
"Uh... No!" He took a breath "No ones si-sitting here..."
The angel nodded plopping down next to him, the angel stole a glance that took the Dane's breath away, and then a double take that made Matthias fight the urge to faint.
"Hey... Do I know you..?"
Matthias nodded as nonchalantly as he could "Uh... Yeah! We here a couple months ago... You were going to visit some relatives...?" Matthias cringed, hating the way that sentence sounded.
Thankfully his angel didn't seem to notice "Oh yeah." His voice lacked light and colour but the bird song that whispered lullabies was hidden beneath the cold tone. Matthias swallowed hard "I remember now..."
The Dane licked his lips "So... How did it go? The visit... I, uh, mean..."
The angel shrugged "It was fine, I have good family in Oslo..." I was looking for you everywhere...
"Did you stay for the whole three months?" That's how long I've been thinking about you...
"No. I've been going back and forth for the last little bit." His eyebrows furrowed, a look of thought crossed the angel's features "Looking for a job, not much success though..." He shook his head, retreating into his scarf. Matthias had to bite back a smile, he looked too gorgous with a light blush on his cheeks.
"Oh?"
"Yeah..." He looked at the Dane, his icy gaze making Matthias forget how to breath "I don't think I ever got your name...?"
"Matthias." The Dane told him, his heart leaping into his throat "Matthias Kohler..."
"Lukas Bondervik."
An angel...
Lukas sighed looking out over the empty platform. His icy gorgous eyes scanning the steamy scene in front of him shivering a little retreating into the confines of his scarf. Clutching his hand in a small ball, as if a warm drink was meant to be there comforting his chilled body.
He turned to Matthias "Do you like coffee?"
Matthias smiled an one thousand watt smile "Who doesn't?"
The angel raised an eyebrow at the Dane, fidgiting almost nervously with his jacket until he finally sighed, standing.
"I'm cold. Would you like to join me for some coffee?"
Matthias smiled, popping up beside the angel. His body no longer felt the chill of the cold or the emptiness of regret. All he could feel was a bubbling happiness that spread through him like nothing he had ever felt before.
"Only if you're paying!"
"I'm not paying for you, idiot."
"But Lukas..."
"No."
The bickered their way out of the train station up towards the lights of Oslo shining overhead, silloueting them both in dazzling neon and artificial suns.
Matthias wouldn't have it any other way.
... Oh I wonder will we ever meet again? Yeah I wonder if we'll ever meet again.. I hope we do...
... Somewhere in Brooklyn...
END
A/N; So this is my second chapter... What is with me and writing late at night...? Anyway! Tell me what you think. All lyrics belong to Bruno Mars and Hetalia belongs to... NOT ME!
-Artemis