AN: Guys, I am seriously grinning like an idiot (or, maybe to put it better, like Matthias) as I type this. Your reviews and support really, really, really mean a lot to me…Even though I'm mean and I keep making you all wait because I'm kind of bouncing between Hetalia, Homestuck, and Pokemon right now. But…Thank you. Oh! And if anyone's confused: Berwald and all the Nordics are in 11th grade but Emil, who's in 8th.
"So, uh…Berwald." Tino managed to choke out as they left the lunchroom and Tino noticed that Berwald was habitually walking off by himself.
"Hm?" Berwald mumbled as he gazed at Tino intently.
"You have history next?...Right?..." Tino asked. Berwald nodded. "Then, uh…Let's go together. It would be rude of me to just leave you by yourself when we're heading in the same direction."
Berwald was just a bit surprised, perhaps pleasantly surprised.
"…'K." he said as he waited for Tino to get everything off of the table and catch up with him.
"So…You, uh…" Tino said mindlessly, groping for a subject to ease the awkwardness he felt. "Live in an apartment?..." he finally said, mentally smacking himself soon after.
'What kind of question was THAT?' he thought.
"…Yeah." Berwald answered.
"Oh." He said.
"Why d'ya sit wi'them?" Berwald asked.
"I'm partners with Nikolai." Tino replied.
"D'he warn ya 'bout Matthias?..." Berwald asked.
"Er…Yeah. But Matthias is a good guy." Tino said. Berwald stared at him in a way that was supposed to come off as mild curiosity, but his solemn appearance coupled with Tino's somewhat distorted view of him made it seem even more intimidating for the smaller of the two.
"I mean!...He's not the most amazing person in the world and I'm sure he's made mistakes and stuff, but he honestly isn't that bad!..." Tino managed to say on one breathe.
"Yeah…I guess…" Berwald said.
"You…Really don't like him, don't you?..." Tino asked. Berwald shook his head. "Can I ask why?..." Berwald shrugged.
"'S…Annoyin'. How 'e's always bein' loud 'nd stuff…"
"Loud people bother you?..." Tino asked.
"Yeah…" Berwald replied.
"Oh…"
"Y' know Nik?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah. We were friends when we both started here. It was kind of scary, y'know? Being the new kid and not knowing anyone?...But, I'm sure you know that, since you're new here this year and all." Tino said.
"Hm." Berwald agreed.
"But, he was always a nice guy. We just started hanging out with other people that we had more in common with and…You know how that works." Tino said.
"Kinda."
"But…You two were friends when you were little? That's so cute." Tino said before he could catch himself. He practically threw his hands up in a defensive stance. "But, I didn't mean it in a weird way or anything 'cause…You know." Tino said.
"S'okay." Berwald said.
"I…Thanks." Tino said after smiling. Berwald found himself silently remarking 'cute' without meaning to. It's not like he restrained it or anything, he was way past feeling insecure over being homosexual and the painful years of torture at the hands of homophobes during middle school, but it had just kind of randomly crossed his mind.
"Nik an' I did jus' about everthin' together."
"It's nice to have a friend like that."
"Hm." More awkward silence.
"Perhaps it's not my place to ask…" Tino started. "But…Do you know much about Emil?..." Tino asked.
"'S always been like that." Berwald said. Tino wondered if Berwald was getting sick of him, so he spent the rest of the walk to class in a silent trance. When they got there, they entered the room together, and as several of the students turned to see who had entered, they were just a tad bit surprised. Or perhaps a better way to describe it was mind-numbingly shocked. As usual, Berwald failed to notice and headed straight for his desk, but Tino waved nervously, particularly to Eduard, whose mouth was literally agape.
'Yeah, he's still scary.' Tino's gaze said as he took his seat. 'But he's nice. He doesn't mean anyone any harm…I don't think.'
…
After his brother took a deep breath and reluctantly headed back over to the middle school area and he and Matthias parted ways for separate classes, Nikolai was finally alone with his thoughts. It's not that he minded company, he just liked being alone, that's all. Of course, most company around here wasn't worth the time, so he usually avoided it altogether.
"Hello, Witch Boy." Called out a voice that to Nikolai, was like a ragged pair of cat claws scraping down a blackboard. Instead of turning to acknowledge him, he continued on, acting as if he didn't even hear him.
"Hey, Witch Boy, listen to me when I talk to you!" it called more loudly, running to catch up with Nikolai. Nikolai soon found the arm of a boy significantly taller than himself around his shoulder in a manner that suggested friendship, but Nikolai knew better than that. His cold violet eyes turned toward the arm's owner for a millisecond before darting back in front of him.
"You been getting into anymore black magic crap lately?" the other asked sarcastically. Nikolai cringed inwardly. Christ, did these people ever let off? As soon as you publicly admit you like the fantasy genre and that you think Gandalf the wizard is cool, you're branded as a cult maniac for life.
"Screw off." Nikolai said as matter-of-factly as ever.
"Skinned any cats?" Nikolai's eyebrows almost furrowed. He liked cats.
"Screw. Off."
"Or what? You'll curse me?" the bully asked before throwing Nikolai against the lockers he happened to be walking by. Only a few students even bothered to look, and most only made quick glances before returning to their own self-absorbed thoughts.
"Don't ignore me again, Witch Boy." He said before turning to walk away.
"Jackass…You can go die for all I care…" Nikolai muttered before picking himself up and going on his way as though nothing had happened, with no evidence for the contrary except a new ugly bruise forming on the pale skin of Nikolai's shoulder.
AN: Tino sure does say 'uh' a lot, doesn't he? And Matthias' word is dude. Maybe I should assign them all little tic words…Hm…Nah. Anyway if my traffic graph is right, then I'm apparently getting quite a few Swedish visitors. For this story, they're second only to Americans. You Swedes sure must love your English fanfiction… Or your Hetalia representative…Or both, I honestly don't know. And you Finns. I'm watching you, just barely behind the Swedes…*shifty eyes, wonders if some international conspiracy is going on*
Also, now there's some part of me that wants to call Nikolai 'Klarion' because he's called 'witch boy'. If anyone gets what that's from, I will love you forever (and perhaps we can fangirl (or if you're a guy, fanboy) over it together sometime?).
And one more thing: The dumbass bullying poor Nikolai isn't any Hetalia character. I couldn't bring myself to make any of them mean, and really, who would have a bone to pick with Nikolai besides some complete jerk?