AN: So, when was the last time I updated? A week ago? I don't know. Written upon request~ I won't be putting down Sweden's translations. He talks quite a bit. Huh. Would anybody believe me if I said that my big toe has been swollen since winter break? D:
Warnings: SuFin (Sweden/Finland)
It's was days like this when it made him glad that he was a child and thus, didn't have to grow up. Peter watched as both of his parents clicked and clacked away at their personal laptops, trying to keep up with the project's deadlines. He returned his attention back to his project at the moment. Oh boy was he happy that nobody was grading it.
What was originally supposed to be a working spaceship (he was going to get the firecrackers from Alfred) made from Legos, looked more like a house made of Legos. Honestly, how does something like this happens is beyond him.
"Papa, are you sure you can't help me?"
"Yeah. Busy."
"Would you help me if I said it was homework?"
The little boy marveled at how his Papa managed to look at him (albeit with something like a glare), but managed to keep his fingers moving on the keyboard. His Mama couldn't do it no matter how hard he tried.
"Is i' hom'wor'?"
"Um," He reached out, plucking up Hanatamago from her spot by Tino's foot and plopped her onto his lap. "No, not really."
Berwald's eyes set back onto the computer screen. "I'l hel' 'en I'm don'."
"But Papa~" He whined, stroking the puppy's silky fur. Before another peep could be made, the father figure gave him this look that just caused his voice to shut down. It was like the time when the lightening struck the lines and caused the electricity to shut down suddenly. Peter was so freaked out that he couldn't talk and had to sleep with his parents.
"Jus' 'nother pa'ra'gr'ph."
"Okay, Papa! What about you Ma… ma?" Words trailed off as Peter watched the other, a look of utter worry on that baby face of his. The Finnish boy certainly didn't seem like his counterpart at the moment. His eyes were red and if Peter looked carefully, there was a slight squint in them. That was never a good sign. Slender fingers pecked at different keys at a breakneck pace. Violet eyes met with blue and Tino cracked a smile.
It kinda scared Peter.
"I'll help you after I'm done, okay?"
"Okay…" Peter went back to playing with the block pieces, a fluffy Hanatamago sleeping in his lap.
Berwald sat on the floor, Hanatamago trying to engage him in a small game of tag, as he fiddled around with the small blocks. "Whe' oth' piec'?" He questioned in the thick accent that even four years of intensive speech therapy didn't cure.
The blonde scattered the pieces next to him as he searched for the one Berwald was talking about. A small 'Ah' escaped his lips when he spied it and he tried to toss it into the older man's open palm. He failed.
Nobody spoke and nobody made a move. The only sound was the clacking of the tumbling piece. Well, that was the only sound until Peter sighed and flopped onto the ground. He gently grabbed the sides of Hanatamago and dragged her to him. He laid his head in her fur.
"Papa?"
"Hmn."
"Why did Mama go into the study room? Why couldn't he stay here and help?"
Berwald pushed his glasses up farther onto his nose. He continued fumbling with the handle made of Legos before he answered, "Tino's bus'y." The simple answer seemed to curb the boy's curiosity.
"Oh… OUCH!" He yelped, bolting straight up and covering his nose. The handle dropped to the ground with a clatter and in less than a split second, Berwald was prying Peter's small hands from his nose. Hanatamago dashed off and out of the room.
"She bit me…"
"I tol' yo' no' t' pu' you' 'ace clos' t' 'er 'outh." He chided, with a gentle hand, he twisted the child's head to the side. Peter, by now, was sweating bullets and quite embarrassed. His Papa is just way to protective sometimes and it didn't help that his Mama encouraged it. And they wonder why he never brings his friends over for sleepovers.
There was a sigh of relief from the big man and he pulled back. "You' no' ble'din'."
"Yeah," He rubbed his nose. "She didn't bite me too hard or anything. " His fingers brushed over a small little imprint of a tooth. "Just hard enough to leave a mark though."
Peter could clearly see the furrow of his eyebrows and he knew that his Papa was thinking. What he was thinking about, he didn't like. "Papa!" He whined as the Sweden got up and started heading for the kitchen. "You don't have to get the first aid or anything!" Berwald disappeared into the kitchen. "Sheesh." Can't you stop treating me like I'm two or something?
He really had to fight his maternal instincts that were screaming at him to burst through the door decked out in a doctor's uniform with a first aid box in hand. He really had to fight, fight it so hard that he thought that he might rip out his hair. Maybe Berwald was right, maybe he was the female in this relationship.
But it was his baby boy that just screamed out in pain, but he couldn't do crap because he swore that he was going to stay in this room until he was finished with this part of the project. Tino has to set a good example; he can't go back on a promise! Or can he...? No, absolutely cannot! But maybe a quick check up would be... "I hate being a mom."
His hair stood on end when large hands (larger than his at least) rested themselves on his shoulder. The Finnish male could just feel this aura coming off from who ever it was behind and it was a bit… freaky to be truthful. Well, until he heard the voice.
"Do yo' li' be'n' m' wife?"
Tino almost chuckled. "Don't joke around like that. I told you that I'm not your wife!"
"… Joke?"
Tino didn't need to look at Berwald to know that he was wearing that genuine kicked-puppy look… with a little bit of that darkness that the man just couldn't get rid of. He always wore that look whenever he said that word.
"No, no! I-I didn't mean it like that or anything!" He squealed as he frantically flapped his arms around for emphasis. "It's just, I mean, it's… j-just forget I said that." With a resigned sigh, he saved his document and closed the laptop. I probably won't be working on it for a while.
"What are you doing in here anyways?"
"Rubb'r ban's."
Rubber bands? Why would he need rubber bands for? Oh… don't tell me. "You're not teaching Peter how to make a Lego gun are you?"
Berwald just pulled up a chair and sat down next to Tino. He refused to meet his eyes.
"Berwald." He had to fight to keep that whine out of his voice. He needed to sound professional. "He's only a child! You don't honestly think this is a good idea do you?"
There was a short-lived period of silence before he responded with one word, "Francis."
A small 'Oh' escaped his lips when he remembered the moment that the Swede was referring to. It was the time before they talked to Peter about stranger danger and Francis danger. Let's just say that both were very unhappy when they walked out of the house to see Francis luring their child away with candy. Berwald actually rushed back into the house, grabbed the first thing he could find, and started clobbering Francis with the water bottle.
After that, Tino took special precautions into telling Peter to stay away from him. It worked very well, especially when he told him that Francis ate little boys like him.
"Is the gun for you or for Peter?"
"… Peter."
Tino decided not to comment about the fact that he didn't sound too sure of himself. "Just make sure it's semi-automatic or manual, okay? The rubber bands are in the canister next to the bills."
"Al'ost don' wit' th' projec'?"
It took a bit for Tino to recover from the unexpected question, but he managed to shake his head. Turning his attention to the closed laptop, he flipped it open and double-clicked on the project. It opened to reveal how far Tino managed to get.
Berwald read through his project with a dour look. "Las' week."
"I know that we were supposed to be at this part last week."
"Wha' happ'n?"
Tino's face contorted into a scowl. Berwald decided against commenting on how cute he looked. "The other people in my group aren't doing anything! I have to do everything myself!"
"Jus' tal' t' tea'her."
"Um, about that. Can you come with me? She kind of… scares me."
The Sweden nodded.
"I'm sorry Tino, but I don't know what I can do. Why didn't you come to me with this earlier?"
"Because they were actually doing work earlier?"
There was a sigh from the woman behind the desk as she took the glasses off her face. She rubbed at her eyes idly before placing the spectacles back on. "Well, you can exile them from your group." She suggested.
"But then I would still be doing all the work on my own."
"How about talking to them?"
"I already tried that. Can't I go join another group?"
"I spilt everybody into equal groups already and we're too far into the project. And since everybody is doing it on the same thing, it wouldn't be fair to your host group."
Tino couldn't bring himself to keep looking into his professor's eyes. The only thing he could stare at was his shoe. They really needed a good scrubbing. "O-Oh… okay."
"Tino coul' jo'n m' gro'."
All eyes were on Berwald when he finally spoke up. Tino's violet eyes were wide with hope while the teacher's brown eyes were wide with shock. That must have been the first time he talked in her class. It took her awhile to figure out what he just said.
"Well, Berwald." She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes again. "I know you two are close friends, so you want to help him. But he can join your group if and only if everybody is okay with it." She looked him right in the eyes. "But you can't force anybody. It has to be their own decision."
At that last sentence, both students' spirits fell. Berwald had a certain Austrian in his group that just hated it when people mooched off of him. There was no way that he was going to let Tino move into his group when he was this far behind.
The teacher gave both of them a sympathetic look as if she could tell what was going through their minds. "I'm sorry you two. I don't know what else to do."
"It's… okay. Thank you, Mrs. San Marino." With that said, the duo left the classroom and headed off to their third period class. Today was going to be a long day.
Tino sat, curled up, on the couch as he watched Peter trying to improve his aim by shooting down the cups. Berwald sat next to Tino, his head resting on the smaller male's shoulder and he gave the occasional advice to help Peter.
"Nobody is going to be eating me, right, Hanatamago!"
A playful growl was her answer as she chased off after the flying rubber bands that were far off from their targets. She chased after one particular one and picked it up into her jaw as it dropped to the ground. She gave it one quick shake of the head, her floppy eyes whipping about, before she dashed off with it in mouth.
"What!? Hanatamago! Come back with that! I need it!" He wailed as he ran off with her, his arm waving the Lego gun around.
Chuckles were heard from both Tino and Berwald at the sight, but then they settled back into a comfortable silence. It lasted one for a few moments before Tino spoke.
"Berwald," He started, successfully attracting the man's attention. "I don't know what I should do. This class is the only one where I have a B and if I can get an A on this project, it'll bring my grade up to the A." He laid his head on top of Berwald's. "Guess I won't be getting those straight A's."
The Swede took notice of how Tino's voice seemed to crack a little when he said the last sentence. He knew how much the blonde has been working hard to get those straight A's (he has been even before he entered high school) and that bothered him. Each year, each semester, there was always some outside force that interfered. This year, it was going to be positive.
Berwald abruptly stood up while Tino slide down and hit the sofa with a soft pffph. He stared up at the larger man, confusion in his violet eyes as Berwald strolled off and out of the room. "Berwald? Where are you going?" He called out as he propped himself up. There was something of a grunt in reply and Tino decided not to press anymore.
The blonde sat by himself for a little while before Berwald peeked into the room, one laptop in each hand.
"Berwald? What are you doing with those?"
"Helpin'." Was his answer as he strolled into the room and took his seat by Tino's side. He handed over Tino's possession while he turned his own. Violet eyes stared at the laptop in confusion, but he followed Berwald's example and turned his own on.
Digging into his pant's pocket, he pulled out his USB flash drive and plugged it into his computer. A large smile threatened to break out on Tino's face at the sight of that flash drive. Where Berwald got that tiny dog-bone shaped flash drive was beyond him. Though he had to admit, his flash drive wasn't too much better. A flash drive in the shape of a cross and was a necklace; he still didn't know where Denny got it from.
Whatever Berwald was loading into his flash drive, it was done. He handed it to Tino who accepted it and plugged it into his own computer. A frown appeared at the sight of the file. "Your project?"
Berwald nodded.
"Oh, Berwald." He sighed. "You're my friend, I can't do this! Your group might get really mad at you if they find out!"
Tino didn't miss the look of unease that passed through his friend's teal eyes. He knew that Berwald was loyal, to a fault really. This was one of the reasons why most people would kill to be his friend (once they get past his menacing demeanor). Everybody was sure that he would never betray them. Tino was sure that Berwald was torn at the moment.
"No' do'n' thi' fo' m' frien'." He said slowly, deliberately chosing each word. "Do'n' thi' fo' m' wife."
He didn't know why Berwald was staring at him with that look of utter concern after he said that. Well, he didn't know why until Peter showed up and screamed.
"Papa!" He hollered and Hanatamago gave off a bark from where she rode in his hood. "Why is Mama crying!? What did you do!?"
"Wha—OUCH." He grimaced as he covered the area of his leg where Peter shot him with the rubber band. Maybe teaching him how to use that gun was a bad idea. Actually, maybe giving a twelve-year older a gun was a bad idea in the first place.
The gun dropped to the ground with a loud clatter as boy ran to comfort his Mama. "Mama, it's okay! Don't cry! I'm here!" He threw his arms around Tino's neck and pressed his face into the crook of the Finnish's neck.
Peter could feel the rumbling of Tino's loud laughter through his chest and he could feel warm arms wrap themselves around his waist. "Peter, it's okay. Mama isn't crying because he's sad or anything. Papa did a very good thing and made Mama cry."
"So it's good crying?"
"It's good crying."
Peter cast a guilty look over his shoulder at the other man. He didn't look too happy. "Sorry Papa."
" 'S oka'." Berwald opened his arms to which Peter responded to immediately. With a flamboyant pounce, he leapt into those open arms and returned the hug. The arms stayed open and Berwald gave Tino a quizzical look through his glasses.
Tino pointed a finger to himself to which Berwald gave a curt nod.
Scouting closer to the duo, he could feel strong arms closing. A small smile bloomed on his face and he rested his cheek on top of Peter's ruffled blonde mop of hair. "I love you two."
"I love you too, Ma! You too, Papa."
"I lov' yo' to'."
"What!? What about me, Papa?"
"Fin', fin'. I lov' yo' to.' Jus' don' shoo't m' an'y'mor'."
