Authors Note: Hello there! Sorry for the wait this time. It was a bit longer. I've been asked about the pistes system, and I'm sorry I haven't explained it before. Piste is the French term for a ski course, used in Europe, and the system I'm using works like this:

Green- easiest
Blue- easy
Red- harder
Black - hardest

Unfortunately there won't be much more skiing for Lukas in the near future, so we'll have to see what happens next...

Reviews are my fuel. They keep me going.

Chapter seven

'Eg skal ut i det fri,

Vera gauken i li,

Vera bjønnen som vaknar i bjørnehi,

Vera sol vera regn,

Vera fuglen under sky,

Vera alt som denne dagen kan by.' (Vandringsvise, Odd Nordstoga)

Mathias followed the rescuers down to the base of the mountain after Lukas blacked out. There was an ambulance waiting, and while Mathias was told he was not allowed to ride along with them, a kindly paramedic gave him the address of the hospital his friend would be taken to. Despite the unpleasantness of the situation, Mathias couldn't help but feel pleased with himself. He had gotten far closer to Lukas than he would have imagined that morning. Not without the physical violence that as usual followed, but that was just a small price to pay. He rubbed his jaw and smiled. Just a teeny tiny price.

That day he went home early. He figured there was nothing more he could do, and by now he hardly felt like doing any more snowboarding. At the apartment, his dad and Signe were anticipating his arrival.

They greeted him as he opened the door, rushing around happily and asking how his day had been. He replied with his usual, vague answers. He didn't feel like going into detail about today's events. It would only make them more worried. As it was, they actually seemed to be in a surprisingly positive mood today. Mathias grabbed a pot noodle from the cupboard and set up the kettle before sitting down at the table, where his dad and Signe were now sitting and smiling up at him. They looked like they were going to explode with some unspoken excitement. Mathias looked at them suspiciously.

'Come on, out with it.' He said dully as he looked at them with an expression he had lent from Lukas.

Their grins only grew.

'Tell us about her then' Dad said with a smirk.

'What's her name? What's she like? Who is she?' Signe probed.

Mathias stared at them.

'Err... What?'

'The girl you've been seeing! You leave early every morning, and come home late every evening!' Signe looked positively gleeful. Mathias made sure the look he gave her contained a poisonous amount of condensed hatred.

'It must be a girl. I can't think of any other reason you'd be gone so much.' Dad sounded gruffer than Signe, but still rather pleased with himself.

Mathias continued staring at them for a long moment of silence. They were both bouncing up and down in their seats in anticipation, like vultures that had just spotted dinner. Finally, he decided he wasn't in the mood for this and swiftly stood up. He finished making his pot noodle and then retreated into his room with his tasty snack clutched in his hands. He heard disappointed groans and calls of 'we'll find out sooner or later!' from the two eager adults before he popped in his headphones and blared some music, drowning out all irritating sounds. Since he had come to Norway he had developed a taste for Norwegian heavy metal. He had always been a rocker, and a Norwegian band called Kvelertak he had heard on the radio had quickly become one of his favourites.

He considered what he was going to do tomorrow. There was no question about it, he was going to visit his little Norge in hospital, but how was the real question. He had checked a map and found that the hospital was too far to walk, though buses frequently passed through the area. Maybe he could convince dad to buy him a bus pass?

Gazing up at the ceiling, he thought about the events of the day. He smiled as he rubbed his jaw happily.

Lukas drifted in and out of consciousness. His world consisted of the darkness of closed eyelids and the blinding white of the hospital and all within it. He was aware of people constantly standing over his bed. He tried to make them leave, but he almost always ended up vomiting instead. He was also aware that he had been given quite a lot of painkillers, and had apparently been diagnosed with a mild concussion from the fall as well. He made sure whichever nurse came to wake him and check his blood pressure throughout that night was even more aware of how little he wanted them to be there, or even to be there himself. The night passed in a blend of deep slumber, rude awakenings and constricting arm bands. He hated hospitals.

The next morning he was woken by the soft glow of daylight through his eyelids. He opened his eyes lazily and blinked a few times, getting his bearings, before looking up and realising just who was grinning down at him.

He groaned.

'Norge! You're awake!'

Lukas pulled his covers over his head.

'I am now.'

'Oh come on Norge, I saw you were awake. Anyway, I brought you orange juice!'

Lukas' head throbbed with the loudness of Mathias' voice, but he was thirsty. He peeked curiously over the top of the blanket. Mathias was sitting there with a whole tray of various breakfast goods.

'How- why did you-' Lukas mumbled as he sat up and grabbed a piece of rye bread, beginning to chew on it slowly and deliberately. He hadn't realised how hungry he was until now. He sped up. This was good rye bread.

Mathias was still, infuriatingly, smiling.

'Good huh? I got it from the local bakery.'

Lukas nodded. He knew of it. He'd been going there since he was a child. He remembered when he used to head down there with his mom in the morning before breakfast to get fresh pastries.

'It's been a while since I've been in one of these...' Mathias said quietly.

Lukas looked up, startled at the change of tone. Mathias was glancing around the room with a melancholic look on his face. Confused, Lukas furrowed his brow. Then he remembered. Mathias' mom. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Lukas reached out and placed his hand upon Mathias'. The other boy seemed surprised, but quickly adjusted and gripped Lukas' hand tightly. His face grew darker and he looked away quickly with a sniff, though not quick enough for Lukas not to notice the tear that rolled slowly down his cheek. Lukas squeezed his hand.

At that moment, a nurse rounded the corner and Lukas dropped Mathias' hand quickly. Mathias put on a rather pathetic sad puppy face, but Lukas ignored it as the nurse approached the bed.

'Hello Lukas, how are you feeling this morning?'

Lukas grumbled something at her and she nodded happily.

'Well I'm happy to say that you're free to go! We'll supply you with a wheelchair, and we'll let you know when you're supposed to come back so we can check on you. It will take at least 13 weeks to heal. Please don't put any weight on your legs, and feel free to contact us if you have any problems. Now, I trust this young man is here to pick you up?'

She raised her eyebrows at Mathias, who saw a chance and immediately jumped up.

'Why, yes I am!' He exclaimed, grabbing the wheelchair from the nurse's arms and shooing her away. She shuffled off, looking a bit annoyed and confused. Mathias had that effect on people.

Lukas tried to shift himself out of the bed. Pain shot up through him and he gasped, eventually ending up sitting on the edge of the bed with his feet dangling just above the floor. Both legs were broken, they had told him. He sighed. He wouldn't be going back out on the slopes for a very long time.

Mathias dipped his face down close to Lukas'. He could feel his breath on his face. The boy's pupils were huge as a cat's in the dark, and Lukas felt a blush spread across his face. He was pretty sure his own eyes looked similar.

'Ready, Norge?' said Mathias with a serious expression on his face. And expression behind which a smirk lingered. Lukas could tell.

'For what?'

'For this!' Mathias exclaimed, as he swiftly slipped a strong arm around the smaller teenager's waist and hoisted him into the wheelchair so quickly that Lukas hardly had time to feel a tinge of pain. He cried out in surprise nonetheless, and once he was seated comfortably he delivered a fierce punch to Mathias' stomach. The other boy doubled over, laughing and groaning simultaneously. How did he do that?

Being in a wheelchair was a strange sensation. In the hospital people hardly spared them a glance, but outside everyone stared. Lukas felt weak. He felt shameful. His usual mysterious and icy demeanour was seeping away, and he felt so naked and uncomfortable without it. They stopped in the street.

'How exactly do you plan to get back?' Lukas questioned dryly, looking up at Mathias. That was another thing about this wheelchair. He was always looking up at people.

Mathias smiled and flashed two bus passes. Lukas raised an eyebrow.

'Ah, well, you see, Dad and Signe are convinced that I have a girlfriend, so when I asked for a bus pass they gave me two so my 'lady friend' could have one.' He looked pained and irritated as he said it.

A bus drew up, and they, with great difficulty, got on it. Lukas really hated this chair.

The bus journey wasn't long. They spent the trip home discussing all sorts of things. Sometimes they just sat in complete silence. When they reached their apartment building, Mathias insisted on wheeling him to his flat.

'Pretty convenient that we live in the same building!' exclaimed Mathias with a wink as he flung open Lukas' apartment door. He walked straight in- it would have been unlike him to wait to be invited- and then remembered Lukas still parked outside the door and went back out to wheel him in.

'Emil?' Lukas called loudly. A white head of hair peeked out from behind a bedroom door.

'I'm here.' He said, just as emotionlessly as Lukas. Mathias was quite astounded by that. They must be brothers.

When Emil noticed the wheelchair and stranger in the living room, his eyes widened and he stepped out into the room.

'What happened?' Was that concern? Mathias had a hard time telling. To him, this boy was even harder to read than Lukas.

'Hit a chicken head. Broke both legs. Mathias helped me home from the hospital.'

Wow. Way to condense 2 days of dramatic events into three incomplete sentences. His younger brother only nodded before retreating back into what Mathias supposed was his bedroom. Strange people.

He was broken from his thoughts when a voice called to him from across the room.

'Well I'm going to watch Troll Hunter.'

Mathias couldn't help but laugh. Of course Troll Hunter was his favourite film. What else would it be?

'Are you going to join me or what?'

Surprised, and pleased, to receive and invite, Mathias jumped over the back of the couch and landed roughly next to Lukas.

'Sure am!' He exclaimed.

Lukas rolled his eyes.

Authors Note: *squeals* ((Troll Hunter is my favourite film also. I like to sneak references in hehe))