Endless Summer I - Nothing Beats the Stench of Chlorine


It was just another summer day, really. There was nothing at all to suggest that it would be any different to a normal day. My brother and I were lazing in front of the television, half-watching the football match that was on. I'm not really interested in football, but I found myself half-heartedly cheering for the losing side. Everyone loves an underdog...

and that's right about the point where my phone started ringing.

Now let's think. Who'd ring in the middle of the day, probably end up ordering me around and giving me very little warning about it? Yep. It was Mathias.

'Hej, Nor, you're free, right?'

'Uh-'

'Good! Meet us at 2 in front of the station!' And... he hung up. Great. How did he know I was free? I mean, I was, but that's beside the point! I could have been very busy for all he knew-

My phone rang again.

'Forgot to mention, bring your swimming stuff, and your bike! Oh, and money! Lots of money! Ok, farvel!' Yeah, him again. What's all that about?

Sigh... suppose I'd better get my stuff together, or Mathias will explode. And that would be a very bad thing.

Oh, and the losing team on the TV? They carried on losing. Which was not my doing.

Knowing the SOS Brigade's policy of making the last one there pay for everything, I cycled to the station as fast as I could. Of course, my crappy luck manages to show through much too often, and everyone was already there. Never mind the fact that I was fifteen minutes early... that's it. Next time I'm arriving an hour early. That'll show them.

'Late, Nor! Penalty!' Mathias' dramatic pointer finger had returned. 'Ok, now everyone's here we can get going! Berwald, take Eirikur's bike and carry Tino! Nor, I'm stealing your bike and you and Eirikur are riding on the back!'

'Wait, why are you stealing my bike? Don't you have one of your own?' He's Danish, he must have one!

'Because I'm not wasting mine on you!' I'm glad he values us so highly...

'Where are we going, anyway?'

'The public pool, of course! Why else'd I ask ya to bring your swimming stuff?' ...could you not get so close to my face? You're annoying. 'Besides, we've got lots of summer-y things to do and only two weeks left, and once that's gone it's gone!'

Gone? Oh, I'm sure something will come up. It is Mathias, after all.

Luckily, the swimming pool wasn't too far away from the station. Why we needed to cycle there is beyond me, but once again Køhler logic has failed every test.


Well, you can see why they call it a 'public' pool. It's crowded. Suddenly I wasn't too keen on this idea... I hate large crowds of people. Still, the Brigade was here together, so I can't go anywhere without being punished for it later...

'Ah, smell that chlorine! Let's go!' And with that, Mathias ran down the steps and jumped straight into the pool. Can't he read the 'No Diving' sign? Evidently not, as he got back out again and pulled Tino and Berwald in. I remember thinking, wow, he must be pretty strong to be able to pull Berwald into the pool with one hand. I mean, the guy's huge! Although he wasn't exactly putting up much of a resistance...

'Come on! The water's really warm!' Only Eirikur and I were dry at this point.

'Nice to see Mathias enjoying himself in normal ways,' Eirikur commented to me. I'm... not entirely sure whether he was serious or not...

'He phoned me without warning, gave me a list of things to bring, then stole my bicycle. That's not 'nice'.'

'On the other hand, it keeps him occupied so he won't make anything unusual happen. I mean, there haven't been any problems since the island incident, so with any luck that will continue. As far as we and Mathias are concerned, there is nothing to worry about.'

...right. Let's see how long that lasts.

'Hej! You haven't been in the water yet!' Mathias called to us. He again clambered out of the pool, grabbed both of our wrists and dragged us into the pool. Dammit, Mathias, warn me next time!

After we'd drowned ourselves enough, we ate lunch by the side of the pool. Tino'd brought food - many packets of liquorice, several different types of sandwich and lots of other stuff I can't be bothered to list. Well, Tino was in the Cookery Club before Mathias kidnapped him, so naturally it was all very tasty. Unfortunately, tastes don't translate very well into words, so I can't describe it here. Well... things were certainly peaceful around here.

A beach ball bounced off the side of Mathias' leg. A young boy and girl were running towards us, apologising. Well, the girl was the one apologising. She had a flower in her hair and eyebrows almost as thick as my brother's. The boy, on the other hand, had an odd haircurl similar to mine, except actually attached to his head. Oh, and it was much more angular. Anyway, descriptions aside, Mathias seemed to take it as a challenge, and ran off to play with the two back in the water. The rest of us moved into the shade. Not a bad way to spend the holidays, really, even if it was at such short notice.

Hmm... I wonder what Berwald was staring at? It looked like he was just aimlessly staring into the middle distance...

'Nor!' Mathias had gathered the two children and brought them over to meet us. 'Ok, you two, this is the rest of my brigade! Just ask them if ya need anything, ok?' So now we were being roped in as workbitches for two random kids you just met? Mathias...

'Ok!' the two said in unison. I wonder if they go to my brother's school? I think I may have seen them around once or twice, but I can't be sure.

Anyway, pool time was over. Mathias took us back to our usual café, where he produced an incredibly long list. A list of what, I hear you ask? Things he wanted to cram into our final two weeks of summer. That we'd all be doing as a Brigade. I couldn't get away from this crazy bunch even if I wanted to...

The activities he'd listed included such things as part-time jobs, that festival tomorrow, seeing fireworks, and 'going on a trip', whatever that meant. Going to the pool had already been crossed out... well, obviously, since we'd just done that.

'Anything else you want to do?' Mathias asked all of us.

'Uh... I'd like to try goldfish scooping?' Tino suggested.

'Ok! Goldfish scooping it is then! I think they have a stall like that at the festival, so it should be fine!' And what, pray tell, are you going to do if they don't? Although, thinking about it, if there isn't one planned Mathias will probably make one appear... 'We'll start on the list tomorrow!'

Well... there go my chances of a peaceful two weeks.

And since I was, uh... 'late' despite being fifteen minutes early, I got stuck paying for everyone's drinks at the café. I despise Mathias' policies sometimes...


A/N: Shorter chapter today... sorry!

The two kids are Wy and Seborga, since they're among the younger nations in Hetalia. Admittedly, I can't find a suitable festival to replace O-bon, so I'm keeping it generic. Regarding pairings and stuff... I'm really not the best person at writing stuff like that, so it'll probably stay as subtext, but I'll try to get enough in to keep you rabid shippers happy xD

Next chapter, everyone goes shopping, and visits the festival! Woo!

Until next time, farewell~