Tino was humming a happy song to himself as he opened the door to Dr. Roman Empire's office. Then he jumped as loud celebration music blared over the speakers.

"What in the sweet name of salty licorice is going on here?!" Tino cried as he clamped his hands over his ears. A rainstorm of streamers fell down from the ceiling as Dr. Roman Empire leaped into the center of the room. Tino could see his therapist's lips moving but the music was too loud for him to understand what was being said.

"I CAN'T HEAR YA-aghh!" Tino yelled, choking as a piece of confetti flew into his mouth. "Gahgk! Ugh..."

The music stopped, leaving only a low buzz echoing in Tino's ears as Dr. Roman Empire's voice called from what sounded like miles away.

"Sorry about that Tino my friend! I just wanted to congratulate you on scoring with such a wonderfully chiseled piece of war hero. I was so happy when I saw that he was the one to win the date with you! It was the best!"

"What?!" Tino jumped back a bit in surprise "Wait, who told ya about that?"

"Nobody, Silly!" Dr. Roman Empire laughed "I was there!"

"Ya were at the auction?"

"Of course! Who did you think made the first bid for 10 credits?"

"You...wait, ya were the one who made that bid? Why?"

"Well, to be honest, I was more than a bit worried about you ever since you had the incident where you got three punch lines wrong in a row and then ran off the stage with tears streaming down your face. I thought maybe nobody would want to pay to go on a date with you after that, so I made a bid myself that way I could be there for you in that rock bottom moment."

"Ah," Tino looked down at his feet, shame creeping in as he remembered the crying and running off the stage "Ah...well. Um, thanks, I guess. For thinking of me, heh."

"But you didn't need it!" Dr. Roman Empire clapped him on the back "You were able to charm a tall, strong Swedish stallion, excellent work! Here, I got this present that you two will soon be having use for."

"Ah...thank ya?" Tino's round, rosy face took on a confused expression as he accepted a box in rainbow striped wrapping paper. He removed the lid and his eyes bulged. "Shackles and a riding crop!? And...is that a handheld smoothie mixer? What would that-oh Holy Moly, I can't think about it!"

"I included a pack of batteries for the smoothie mixer, although I'm sure the two of you have plenty of electricity generated anyways eh?" Dr. Roman Empire beamed as he sat back down on his leather rolling chair. "Seeing such passion makes me so happy! It reminds me of the empire's golden days."

"Um," Tino squinted at the box with a perplexed expression as he fell back onto the couch "Uh, actually...I don't...we haven't...We're still just friends, ya see-"

"Just friends? No sweet lovemaking in the moonlight?"

"Uh no, I mean...I don't know what I mean."

Positive Tino: Ya mean 'not yet'. ; )

"Ah well, plenty of time for that later. So tell me Tino, how have ya been managing your job and your anxiety disorder? Things worse? Better? About the same?"

"Better!" Tino beamed "Oh so much better. Berwald has been doing super well with the comedy training and stuff. We're actually going to do a test run for my agents tomorrow. I think they'll really like it. We play off of each other really well!"

"Comedy training?" Dr. Roman Empire raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh right, I forgot to tell ya! I asked Berwald to become my partner in stand up comedy at the end of our first date together, and he agreed!"

"We're talking about the same Berwald, right? The tall hunk of muscle that doesn't smile and could slice concrete with his laser stare?"

"Yep!" Tino nodded "You wouldn't think it at first, but Berwald actually has a great sense of humor. And a lot of things that aren't normally funny are funny when he's saying them. Like he started singing, hee hee, 'Pink Sparkle Snuggle Fluff ' the other day in his low monotone voice and with that same serious expression on his face and, ha ha ha! Ah, just thinking about that makes me laugh."

Dr. Roman Empire smiled "That would be kind of funny. Well this is great Tino! You seem to have found something you'd been missing for a while!"

"Missing?" Tino turned his head to the side "What was missing?"

"Hope," Dr. Roman Empire replied "For a long time there you didn't seem to think that there was a way you could bring your act back together. You didn't have any faith in yourself that you'd be able to do the job you need to in order to support your family. But now you're positive and hopeful and you sound ready to try new things! This is wonderful! I'm so happy for you."

Tino smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head "Ha ha! Ya know, I hadn't thought about it that way, but yah! You're right, I do have hope again, and it feels so nice. Berwald isn't just a war hero, he's my hero too! Although, gosh, I feel kind of bad. He's already given me so much, I wish I had something to give back to him."

"You probably already do," Dr. Roman Empire noted "You must have done something for Berwald for him to go to such great lengths to score a date with you."

"Hmm..." Tino put his hand on his chin and closed his eyes.

"...coming back from th' war…listening t' ya was th' first thing that made me happy in a long time."

"The first thing that made him happy..." Tino repeated softly "Huh, that's weird though. He hasn't talked a lot about how the war made him unhappy. I don't know if I really made that big of a difference."

"Just because he hasn't said anything doesn't mean he hasn't had problems," Dr. Roman Empire commented as he made a note on his clipboard "He might be ashamed or nervous to tell you about it. He might be worried it'd make you think he was crazy or something."

"What?!" Tino laughed "Me, think he was crazy? Oh no way, does he know how crazy I am, drowning in anxiety over any little thing? I'm as crazy as they come! I wouldn't think he was crazy no matter what problems he had. I hope he knows that. Does he know that? I mean, after all Berwald's helped me out with, I would hope he'd let me know if he had a problem, that way I could help him too..."

...

Berwald was humming the tune to "Pink Sparkle Snuggle Fluff" as he walked back into the living room. These past couple of weeks had been beyond awesome. Life had turned into an ongoing round of the fun-sillies. He snickered silently as he remembered the part of the routine they'd been working on.

"...make my start up in the fragrance industry!"

"With dog cologne?"

"No no, see, the bottle has a picture of a white, fluffy puppy on it to let people know that it will make them smell soft and cuddly!"

"Ah."

"I thought of a great appealing name for it too. I'm calling it "Breeze of Bloody Flower Egg." Isn't that romantic and appealing?"

"...think I understand why ya didn't get that naming job in the scented candle industry."

"Really? Why?"

"Yer...overqualified..."

Berwald shook his head as he sat down in front of the holovision set. Silly Tino. Tino always made his day brighter. There was no situation that Tino couldn't-

"And now for the weather forecast of this obscure outpost station. This evening there is a sixty-percent chance of some moderate meteor showers. Those showers should clear up early tomorrow morning, just in time for a 100% chance of a pictonian ambush. Stacy, is here with us now on the scene. Stacy?"

The view switched to the outside of the outpost. A microphone-wielding pictonian tilted its head to the side as a group of scientists ran screaming away from the advancing swarm.

"Oh, looks like that ambush came a little earlier than expected. Our meteor shower forecast should be correct though. You're watching Interplanetary Weather at-"

The reporter's voice faded out as Berwald's holovision screen morphed into a pile of burning rubble. No longer was he standing in the safety of his apartment. Now he was in the middle of a burning city where innocent civilians shrieked in horror as the swarm stumbled towards them.

"BER, RUN!"

"Mom?!" Berwald spun around to see his mother being dragged away by a couple of pictonians.

"It's too late for me, save yourself!"

Berwald disregarded his mother's pleas and instead ran straight for her assailants. Except something solid had materialized in midair and flung him back onto the carpet.

Carpet?

Berwald was back in his apartment, blood sliding down the side of his face as he looked up through broken glasses as the now-dented wall.

"Nh, Mom?" he called again, coughing blood out of his throat as he tried to lift himself up to his knees. "Mom? Ya alright?"

Reasonable Berwald: Ya don't remember?

"Remember what?"

Reasonable Berwald: Mom and Dad were taken by the swarm years ago, before ya even joined the military. Ya never saw them get carried away by the pictonians. Ya were away at high school when th' attack happened.

"...Yer right. What happened to my apartment though? That made no sense."

Reasonable Berwald: Nothing happened t' yer apartment.

Worried Berwald: Then...what happened...to me?

Reasonable Berwald: Ya know exactly what happened t' ya, Corporal Oxenstierna. Ya can lie t' th' psychiatrist all ya want. Ya can lie t' yerself too. But it won't change the truth. You're suffering from Post Traumatic Str-

"No, no I'm not."

Reasonable Berwald: Yes ya are. Ya have the symptoms.

"No. I'm not that weak. These kind of things can't get t' me."

Reasonable Berwald: It's not about being weak. Yer sick and ya need to stop letting your pride getting in the way of treatment.

"No, I can't go in and get treatment. If Tino knew about this he would probably think I was crazy 'nd be afraid of me."

Reasonable Berwald: Alright, now yer just being stupid. Tino is a sweet guy. He wouldn't be scared of ya if he knew-

A dull white tentacle wrapped around Reasonable Berwald's neck and threw him against the wall, where he collapsed next to Hopeful Berwald, who had recently been taken out in a similar manner. As Berwald's feelings of horror grew stranger, more white tentacles sprouted on the walls of his mind, smothering him in despair. Defeated and afraid, Berwald dragged himself into the corner of the living room and curled up on the floor, blue eyes staring vacantly into a void of emptiness.

Despairing Berwald: It's no use. I'll never be able t' overcome these feelings. It'd be best for everyone involved if I just laid here 'til I turn to dust 'nd fade away.

A few feet away from him, Berwald's computer started to light up with messages.

-Hey Fearless Hero! Ya still want to come over and practice tonight? I thought I might try cooking dinner for us, so ya might want to bring a fire extinguisher, ha ha!-

-Also, do ya know if pasta is supposed to turn purple when ya boil it?-

-Hey, guess what? Grape juice is not the best substitute for water when you're boiling noodles. Who would have known?-

-It was tonight ya were coming over, right? Am I remembering this right? Ah, you're probably just on your way, aren't ya? See ya soon, Super Stud!-

-Berwald, is everything okay? Is the traffic bad? If ya want we can meet tomorrow, no problem! I hope everything is okay.-

-...Is it the grape juice noodles? Don't worry. I promise ya if ya come over I'll just order a pizza or something. Do ya like anchovy pizza? I love it!-

-Berwald? Are ya okay? Ya didn't get sick or hurt or something, did ya?-

Tino... thought Berwald as he watched the messages flash by in front of him. ...I'm so sorry.

Dudes! I am so so so so so so so very x 500 sorry for how long this chapter took. And that it was an angst-filled chapter when it finally did get posted. I'm just not writing as quickly as I used to. But I promise I will not leave you without a conclusion. I will finish this story, just like I finished all my others, no matter how long it takes. Thank you for your support. Next chapter should be quicker to write and much more cheerful.