~Chapter 4~

~We Meet Again~

Tino remained in quiet for the rest of the admittedly short journey; yet it wasn't peaceful. The Dane's easily recognisable voice cut through the air loudly, whilst the rest of the voices seemed to blend into one another in a monotonous, noisy drone. He was vaguely aware of his new friend talking to him, infrequently, and the flash of the monitor every time he passed a level.

A sigh of relief slipped past his slightly parted lips as he saw the gate, leading to the prestigious building. It could even be said that he smiled slightly, at the very least. Eagerly was the way he rose to his feet, adrenaline and excitement the fuel in his veins. He turned to the Estonian excitedly, his eyes alight with wonder.

"Eduard! We're here!"

The aforementioned Estonian gave a small chuckle, pushing his glasses up as he responded.

"So we are."

"Do we get to choose roommates?" Tino inquired curiously, still focused on the Estonian. Eduard quickly shut the lid of his laptop and rose to his feet, a small smile working its way on his face.

"I hope so… I'd hate to end up with one of them."

Tino frowned slightly at the words, clearly troubled. A slight twitch of his eyebrow and a clenched fist later, he had quickly found his sunny disposition again.

"Ready? Let's go!" The Finn did his best to project his enthusiasm, as he was terribly delighted to be here. He inhaled and exhaled quickly, almost hyperventilating as his foot touched the concrete pavement outside the school.

The air was fresh; as was the start.

Quickly, he turned on his heel and smiled freely at the Estonian, a smile so wide his eyes closed slightly.

"Right, young un's, we're here! Let's proceed to the main atrium, eh?" Mr. Vargas asked rhetorically, making shooing motions as he grinned. He laughed boomingly as he hurried everyone up, making sure he didn't lose a single person.

"Are you ready to see who we're with?" TIno asked, worry creeping into his tone. Although, it was barely perceptible.

"I don't think we have a choice." The Estonian replied coolly. He gestured towards the piece of paper, announcing the room numbers and room sharers. "We'll wait until the madness dies down."

Tino tapped his foot nervously as he watched the young teens scramble towards the board. The reactions were less than reassuring. Tino wasn't entirely sure, but he thought there was an element on fear of one of the boy's faces. He gulped audibly, gnawing on his bottom lip; a terrible habit of his.

In contrast, the Estonian didn't appear to care in the slightest. The tapping of experienced fingers on a soft keyboard of the polished laptop was the only respite the Finn had, the only noise that grounded him amongst all the chaos.

However, it was all over in less than a heartbeat. Before long, even Eduard realised that there were no overtly large crowds surrounding the notice boards.

The Finn supressed yet another sigh of relief… he didn't want a reputation for sighing! He ran up to the notice board; in vain, as it was a relatively short distance. Tino pressed his face up against the glass, almost touching it, his breath creating fog on its transparent surface. Worried violet orbs quickly scanned the names and numbers listed next to each other.

Within a few seconds, he spotted his own name. He raised an eyebrow. His name should be at the bottom, shouldn't it?

Indeed, it wasn't. His name was next to a boy known as Lukas Bondevick. Room 19.

Another Nordic, his admitted grimly in his mind. Was this done on purpose? I can count my lucky stars!

He grinned a little and stepped back a few steps, bouncing a tad as he does so. He stood with his back to the board, hiding his own name strategically. An innocent smile was shot in the direction of a rather frazzled and tired looking Estonian.

"I'm off to my room now! Goodbye!" He stood up straight and flamboyantly waved his hand, speeding off towards his room.

His pace soon slowed, as soon as the Estonian was out of sight. He silently pondered:

I wonder what sort of person he is… I know he's one of the Nordics, but I wonder which one? I know that he's definitely not Matthias… and therefore not Danish. So… there's only Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic that he could possibly be. Maybe he's Swedish? He's probably Swedish… hey, that means that our countries are neighbours! If we go home, maybe we could visit each other's houses!

His mind continued his inner babble on the way to his room. To a person on the outside, Tino would've seen horribly depressed. His head was down, his spirit seemingly defeated, and his violet eyes averted… he most definitely seemed down in the dumps.

However, the Finnish teen quickly perked up when he saw his room number, having the decency to knock on the door at first. A trademark smile slipped onto his face with practised ease. The room's door swung inwards slowly, almost ominously.

Yet the Finn refused to be so easily intimidated.

His jaw dropped silently as he looked at who he was greeted with, clearly not expecting the shock.

Dull, mauve eyes returned his gaze coolly, yet blankly.

"Moi moi! Are you Lukas? I saw you on the coach!" The Finn babbled nervously, the words running off his tongue before he could stop them. The boy sighed and adjusted his hair clip, a look of irritation crossing his face quickly.

"I know. You're Tino." He stated it blankly, without any room for argument. The Finn chuckled and shrugged a little, unsure of what to say. He flashed another smile at the mysterious youth, hoping to find a topic they were both comfortable with.

"So, uh… where are you from?" Tino questioned, desperately seeking a topic. The slightly taller boy gave a heavy sigh, his hand sliding up to play with his fringe. A slight twinge of his eyebrow was the only indication of his discomfort, and possible irritation.

"Norway." His blank tone left no room for argument, laid out as flatly as it was. The lack of emotion scared the Finn somewhat, yet he tried his best not to show it.

Tino opened his mouth to speak; rather, to babble. The Norwegian cut him off with a look, before speaking in his monotonous voice once again.

"I'll help you." He spoke slowly, as if he couldn't believe what he was saying.

"E-Eh?" The Finn stuttered nervously, feeling as if he had upset his new roommate.

"To move in. I've already sorted myself out. It took a while." He sighed a little and allowed his hand to fall from his hair, gazing off into the distance for a moment. Before long, his eyes met with the considerably more relieved Finn's.

"Ah! Kiitos!" He exclaimed, a look of unrestrained joy masking his previous confusion. The Norwegian merely nodded his head once and turned on his heel, daintily stepping back into the half-bare room.

At least the walls weren't white. Rather, they were a sunny yellow.

Tino grinned broadly as he saw his suitcase resting atop a bed. He had no idea of how it got there, and frankly didn't care. In seconds he had unzipped the plain case, madly tearing the contents out. Clothes, trinkets and moomins flew around the room as he unpacked his stuff, quite literally, onto the floor.

When the Finn had stood up and looked at his mess somewhat proudly, he came upon an astounding sight: Lukas was showing emotion. In fact, his voice was laced with worry as he spoke.

"…I fear for my life already."


Hello dear readers!~

Thank you so much for sticking with this story!~ I don't really have anything to say, and I feel as if I've expressed my gratitude as fully as I can, so i'm going to end this little author's note here!~

Thanks to these reviewers: KKsaiyancat, Katie-Kat1129 and The Little Chibi!~