Chapter 10

A Date?

The night seemed to move too fast for Tino. Maybe because he knew Berwald was to leave sooner then the day he and his partner had agreed on. At least it was the weekend, which meant that Tino didn't have to work till Monday and could spend as much time as he could with Berwald.

Saturday morning, Tino and Berwald went around town, exploring the town together. Once morning had showed, Tino, Berwald and Hanatamago clambered into the car, Berwald smiled as he looked over the interior.

"How did you get this car to work?" Berwald asked.

"My Great-Great Grandfather salvaged it from the remains of an old furnance," Tino replied, placing his key in the ignition, "He and his brother had to rebuild it fro scratch from various parts they found while cleaning."

"Ah."

"It's been in our family 5 generations and we've been taking good care of it since then." Tino smiled, "It's the one thing that ties me to my family."

The drive didn't take long, they reached an old building, and began climbing the stairs to its top most floor. The heat was sweltering when they reached the top of the building roof, Berwald and Tino removed their jackets and sat on the ledge, their feet dangling over the side. Tino pulled his backpack around, pulling out a few sandwichs, passing one to Berwald.

"Why did you bring us here?" Berwald asked, chewing on his sandwich thoughtfully.

"No reason." Tino smiled as he bit into his own. "I normally come up here on some weekends to think."

"About what?"

"Things."

They sat on the ledge of the building for a long time. Sometimes in silence other times, asking each other questions about their worlds. Tino was just as fasinated by Berwald's world as Berwald was about his, which painfully made him realize that once again, Berwald would be leaving soon. He chewed his sandwich in silence.

A rumble in the distance caught Tino's attention. He looked up to see dark clouds in the distance, a flash told Tino that a it was a thunderstorm that was rolling in. He felt something tap his shoulder and turned to face Berwald, who pointed at the onimous clouds in the distance.

"How dangerous is the rain?" Berwald asked, a look of concern in his eyes.

"Its not the rain you should worry about," Tino replied, standing on his feet, pulling Berwald with him, "Its the lightening you need to look out for."

"Why the lightening?"

"It would hurt more, don't cha' think?" Tino laughed as he scooped Hanatamago into his arms.

They drove back to Tino's house as the rain pitter-pattered against the car's windshield. Once in the driveway, Berwald stepped outside along with Tino, to find that the light rain wasn't at all dangerous, just warm and smelled like iron. He turned to Tino, who popped open an umbrella, smiling.

Berwald was about to return the smile, only to have it replsced with a strangled yell as he watched Tino being struck by lightening. He quickly ran to his fallen friend, kicking aside the charred remains of the umbrella. Berwald felt as though someone or something ripped his heart in two, as he fell to his knees and scooped the smaller blonde in his arms. To his immense relief, Tino's eyes were blinking and he coughed, a puff a smoke escaping his lips.

"See? Beware of lightening!" Tino smiled, coughing as removed himself from Berwald's grasp and dusted himself off, "That's the 6th time I've been struck by it. It really hurts."

"6th?" Berwald asked, slightly alarmed, "But how-"

"Dunno." Tino shrugged, "I guess if the toxicity in the air couldn't kill us neither could nature's remaining forces."

Berwald smiled, reaching out for Tino as he popped open another umbrella, only to let out another shocked yell as Tino was, once again, struck by lightening. Since when did lightening strike the same place or thing twice?

Saturday then turned into Sunday, after scanning Tino, Berwald was utterly amazed that Tino's body and organs weren't at all effected by the many volts of electricity, that went through him no less than 12 hours ago. They were functioning like they were supposed to, Berwald sighed in relief, he didn't sleep well last night, afraid that if he strayed too far from Tino, he would end up finding him dead. At least his fears were dismissed.

They swept the porch and driveway clean from the piled dust and loose dirt from the overnight duststorm, and dug out the car. Berwald was amazed that so much dust was kicked up the winds during a damp night.

"How are you feeling?" Berwald asked, dusting his hands.

"Never better!" Tino chirped, placing the shovels into the garage, "Thanks for helping me clear my yard."

"No problem."

They decided to head back into town, this time exploring an old abandoned amusement park. Tino began looking for the maintance shed, to start up the park's circuit breakers, he didn't have to look far for the shed. Walking down the rickety stairs, they found the circuit breakers, Tino opened the lid to their box and placed a red and black jump starter cables to the box.

After checking that the other ends zapped when they touched each other, Tino then attempted to hook them up to his car's battery only to shot back by the force of the electrical current. Berwald managed to catch him before his back met the wall of jagged pipes, pulling Tino, into his lap he began to search for some wounds, causing the youth to blush. Finding only a first-degree burn on Tino's right hand, Berwald treated it while sharing a tender smile with Finnish man.

To properly thank the Swedish man for helping him these past two days, Tino decided that they were going to spend the rest of the day teaching Berwald how to drive instead. Berwald had obvisiously never set foot behind the wheel of a car, let alone a manual. He struggled with the simple unity of the clutch and sifting gears, making the car stop every inch, almost making Tino's head collide with the dashboard and recieving apologizies for every time he killed the small blonde's car. Tino smiled, somehow, Berwald looked so handsome apologizing.

They found themselves at a bench once the sun started setting. Tino sighed, this was his favorite part of the day, despite all the rotting trash and decaying buildings, there was the one proof that there was still some beauty in this dead world. Tino blushed he felt Berwald's hand gently take his uninjured left hand into his own, when he looked up into Berwald's face he found that he was smiling at him.

"It's beautiful," Berwald muttered, "After everything that could happen, there's always hope."

Tino wanted to say something to the man, but found that the words died in his throat and were replaced with another, "Y-Yeah."

The day ended with a game of 'Pong' that Tino's grandfather had salvaged years ago, to Berwald, the simple game graphics were strangely fasicinating. He couldn't play well as evident of the game score; 0 to 1999, oops, make that 2000. He didn't understand it, since it was a simple game with simple controls.

"So... Tomorrow, you're leaving right?" Tino asked, fiddling with his game remote.

"Yes." Berwald answered, without looking at him.

Tino sighed and looked over at the containment unit and its calling device. He wished that the very item wasn't the reason that brought Berwald to him, he wished that Berwald came to understand why humanity left the planet in the first place.

"I'll come back."

"What?"

He looked up to see Berwald staring at him with those beautiful, yet serious, blue-green eyes. He blushed when he took his hands into his own, holding them close.

"I'll be back." Berwald repeated, "In three day's time."

Tino felt a tear run down his cheek as he smiled weakly, "You promise?"

"I promise."

Aaawwww... What do you guys think of it? :3