A/N : FinGer. A bit fluffy perhaps for me. (I LOVE Finland. It's my favorite country, I swear. I love Finnish men, they're so awkward. It makes me smile.)

MERCURY

Ludwig knew he wanted to spend his week of vacation in Finland. The question really was just where. So many cities, so many places. It was the middle of September, so going very far north would have been useless in the sense of seeing northern lights. Didn't want to go to Helsinki, because Gilbert hadn't liked it.

In the end, he settled for Turku. It was small, quaint, like him, but had enough to do and see. Plenty of the great outdoors. Had high hopes, very high, and was looking very much forward to it.

He had studied furiously before traveling, as he always did, and knew enough by the time his plane landed the rules of Finnish society. Above all else, he knew not to make unnecessary eye contact and to never sit directly in front of someone if there were other seats available. He felt as if he would fit right in, as socially awkward as he was. No worry of him striking up a conversation with a startled Finn.

He dutifully obeyed all unspoken rules, and was very quiet on the train from Helsinki, never once lifting his eyes up to where they would risk meeting someone else's. He made it to Turku with no incident, checked into his hotel, threw himself on his bed, and sighed in relief.

Vacation, at last. Desperately needed one, and by himself. His first vacation without Gilbert or Roderich. All alone, and it was glorious.

His only plan for that day was to go out and get a beer, and then come back and go immediately to sleep. Had plenty of time to sightsee.

Naturally, because he seemed to be unlucky, he ran into a hurdle that very first night.

When the sun was close to setting, he went walking nearby and found a decent bar, went in, sat down in a barstool at the end in the corner, and happily ordered his beer that he wanted. He played around on his phone, looking up the sights in town and seeing what everyone enjoyed most about the city.

The bar was getting crowded, and Ludwig contemplated on getting a second beer, halfway now through his first.

Ludwig looked up then, and made eye contact with a man at the other end of the bar.

On no!

Broke the greatest rule, committed the biggest sin, and Ludwig very quickly looked away and pretended it had never happened at all. The dumb side of him wanted to call, stupidly, 'I'm so sorry!'

'Sorry I looked into your eyes and shattered every bit of civilized Finnish society.'

Ludwig wasn't even sure how much he was exaggerating, but knew it wasn't a lot if he were. Maybe he was being a bit dramatic, but he was a stickler for the rules and the rules had said no eye contact, so by god, that was what he was trying to do.

He kept his eyes very downcast, and tried to carry on.

He finished his beer, quietly, and sat for a moment, pondering his next move.

When he looked up again, another awful jolt—once more, he made eye contact with that same man, because that man was now staring at him. Shit! Made eye contact earlier, and was now in a relationship with that guy, if only for the hours they sat across from each other at the bar.

Uh-oh.

The man suddenly waved the bartender over, spoke a little, and the next thing Ludwig knew the bartender was sliding him a shot of Jäger.

"From that guy," the man said, with a tilt of his head, and Ludwig dared himself to glance over to see that same guy still staring away at him.

Ludwig did the polite thing and accepted the drink, raising his chin up in acknowledgement, and the Finn across the way just held up his beer.

Well, hell, the free drink was nice, he supposed, if nothing else. He was that guy's husband for the moment as it was, because lord knew they had made enough eye contact now to be considered married. Would enjoy the benefits for now.

His confidence quickly crumbled when the Finn put back the rest of his beer in one long chug and then stood up. A jolt of adrenaline, and Ludwig hoped that he was just going to leave, but of course he didn't, and came over towards the empty stool next to Ludwig.

Damn! What to do? He wasn't used to people noticing him at all, let alone buying him a drink and then actively seeking him out. Not the worst thing for his ego, naturally, but he was terrified all the same, and he very quickly put back the Jäger before the man reached him.

The Finn stood and stared at him silently for a while, Ludwig squirmed, and then finally he spoke in Finnish.

Ludwig was quick to ask, "You speak German?"

A short silence, as the Finn stared unblinkingly, and then a prying, "English?"

Ludwig nodded his head.

Whew.

The Finn seemed equally as relieved, and asked, "Can I sit here?"

A pretty voice, higher and smoother than his own.

Somewhat entranced and a little flattered, Ludwig just gave a dumb nod. Ha—this guy was his husband now, so may as well have a seat. They were making and holding direct eye contact now in very close proximity, so they were practically making love at that point.

The Finn sat, and stared away.

"So, what was that? German, right? You German?"

Again, Ludwig nodded.

"You a tourist?"

Another nod.

The Finn fell still and silent, and then waved down another beer. Ludwig ordered one too, and took a moment to observe his new partner. A rather handsome fellow, certainly. A pleasant surprise. Blond hair, neatly trimmed to above the nape of his neck, bangs swept to one side. Pretty eyes, big and brown and rather soft. Thick eyebrows, a bit of a button nose. A rather round face, rounder cheeks, coated with stubble. Many moles and sunspots here and there across his face and neck. Not as tall as Ludwig was, but quite wide. Broad and stocky. A fair bit older than Ludwig. Had a good few beers in him already, from the look of him, eyes lidded as they were and his face a bit pink. Clearly, he had been out on a very casual night with zero expectations of anything, for he was dressed quite sloppily. His button-down was wrinkled to oblivion, sleeves halfway rolled up, and his jeans were ripped at the knees.

...quite handsome, indeed. Had he been dressed neatly, he could have slid right into a boy band with no questions.

As the man grabbed his newest beer, Ludwig observed his very large hands.

Yes, yes, yes, very nice, quite. Ludwig was certainly in no hurry to run for the hills, socially awkward or no, and the Finn just took a very long chug of his beer, perhaps for courage, and then at last turned fully to Ludwig and held out one of those big hands.

"I'm Timo."

He took the hand, and replied, "Ludwig. Nice to meet you. Thanks for the drink."

Timo's hand was quite rough, and very warm, and he merely nodded his head.

Neither of them seemed to be heavy talkers, which was ideal perhaps, as they settled in over their beers and glanced awkwardly at each other. Goodness, now what? He hadn't exactly studied quite this far. Hadn't anticipated anyone paying him any attention while he was here, and no doubt this Timo fellow was trying to figure out Ludwig's inclinations without outright asking, 'Hey, you into guys?'

At last, Timo found his voice and asked, "How do you like Turku so far?"

Ludwig glanced over, their eyes met yet again, and Ludwig held that gaze for a while, as he replied, "I don't know. I just got here today. I haven't seen anything yet."

Timo looked him up and down, quite intently and obviously with interest, and gave the first bit of a smile.

"Came to see the castle, huh?"

Ludwig snorted, and tried to tease Timo a bit by uttering, "Oh, no, not at all. I came for the Moomins."

A wide-eyed look of surprise, and then Timo actually laughed, and Ludwig finally smiled.

Timo looked down into his beer, eyes lidded and smiling lopsidedly, and then his tongue poked out ever so slightly in thought and he very seriously uttered, "I fuckin' love the Moomins."

Ludwig's smile became quite wide, as this stocky, tipsy Finnish man declared a love for something most men would consider childish. Cute. Nostalgia was a potent thing, after all.

With that little laugh, Timo loosened up a bit, became more casual, found his feet, and Ludwig did too, and speaking was much easier. After that, when Timo spoke, he leaned sideways, and at one point he lifted his hand and rested it briefly atop Ludwig's forearm there above the bar. When Ludwig didn't pull away at all, Timo seemed very confident, very bolstered.

They chattered a bit, and Ludwig felt as confident as Timo suddenly looked. When Timo leaned sideways, Ludwig found himself suddenly doing the same, often putting them in danger of butting heads.

When the beer was gone, Timo turned to him once more, and asked, "So what are your plans for tonight?"

Riskily, Ludwig responded, "No plans at all."

Timo lifted his brow, and tried, so carefully, "Would you care to have a walk? The city is pretty at night."

Against his better judgment, Ludwig nodded his head.

"Sounds nice."

They paid their tabs and walked out, and Timo led the way quite surely, taking Ludwig into brightly lit streets and then towards the river. They went out onto the bridge, leaned against the side, and stood there for a while, staring at the lights on the water. Ludwig watched Timo carefully from the corner of his eye, because Timo was very close and from the look on his face he was very clearly plotting.

Surely enough, when Timo had crept close enough for their shoulders to touch, he asked, "So, you wanna come by my place, maybe? For another beer or something? There's a good boxing match on in about an hour."

That did sound fun, come to think, drinking and watching television on a stranger's couch, and although Ludwig was not spontaneous nor impulsive, he very brashly said, "I'd like that."

He was on vacation after all, and entirely unsupervised by Gilbert and Roderich.

Timo smiled, a real, full smile, and was very handsome for it. He was very quick to guide Ludwig to his home, a good forty minute walk or so, but they made it in time for the match and sobered up in the meanwhile, and of course had gotten in some more good chatter on the way.

Timo's voice was so nice to listen to. Ludwig found it quite endearing.

When Timo ushered Ludwig into his perfectly normal home, a bit bare but pleasantly neutral in palette and decorations, Timo led Ludwig straight to the sofa and flipped on the television.

When Timo went for more beer, though, Ludwig refused, and for that Timo didn't drink any more as well. Was sobered up now, and wanted Timo in that state too, for when Ludwig inevitably found himself in Timo's hands. It was no fun drunk, after all. Got a bit sloppy that way.

Timo kept a bit of a gap between them, politely, but always leaned over sideways to speak.

Ludwig couldn't say he was particularly invested in boxing by any means, but wouldn't pass up the chance to watch it when it came along for free. Timo, however, seemed very invested indeed, and said to Ludwig the second they sat down on the couch, "You know, Finland has made some of the best boxers in history! There are great statues all over, especially in Helsinki."

Ludwig tried to be very interested, and wasn't certain he was successful.

For all it mattered in the end; despite Timo leaping to his feet and shouting at the television in Finnish and jerking his fist in the air, his apparent favorite still lost. He groaned, covered his face with his palms, and by then Ludwig had gathered up enough courage and affection for Timo to make the first move, because Timo seemed too afraid to.

He stood up, went over to sulking Timo, grabbed his wrists and lowered his hands, and kissed him. Timo gawked at him for just a second, frozen up, but he very quickly came to, and very surely. Hands on his waist, and the scent of Timo was quite pleasant, cologne mingled with that faint whiff of beer, and suddenly Timo was pushing him back and walking him clumsily towards a door.

Good thing they had sobered up after all.

He grabbed handfuls of Timo's shirt for balance as they staggered awkwardly backwards, and somehow they made it to the bed with little incident and no falls. Timo was very quiet, as always, breathing heavily and content to run his hands down Ludwig's legs as Ludwig very happily undid the buttons of his shirt.

Was so glad to be alone, with no Gilbert waiting for him to return in the hotel. Could hear that loud voice in his head when Gilbert went on the warpath looking for him, only to hunt him down here and kick open the door and pull out a gun when he saw someone pinning down his little brother.

That thought made him laugh, and Timo lifted his head from Ludwig's neck and raised his brow, asking, "What?"

Looked a little nervous, and Ludwig was quick to reply, as he finished with the shirt and yanked Timo out of it, "Oh, nothing. I just didn't think this would be my welcome to the city."

Timo almost smirked then, he was so sure of it, and his ego seemed rather stoked when he muttered back, as he ripped Ludwig's belt off, "You were the one coming on to me so hard."

Oh, yeah—he had made eye contact. Twice.

Certainly his fault, and Ludwig conceded with a very sultrily rumbled, "I couldn't help it. You're very handsome."

Timo was smirking then, absolutely was, looking quite self-satisfied and almost smug, and that was the last they spoke for a good long while, fumbling about as they were to get rid of unwanted articles of clothing.

Loved Timo's hands, how rough they were as they ran over his shoulders when Ludwig rolled Timo onto his back and squirmed down. Wondered what he did for a living for them to be so calloused. Would ask soon, when his mouth was otherwise unoccupied.

Probably lost a good bit of hair, hard as Timo was clenching it.

A fun night indeed, although Ludwig had to clamp his jaw to avoid laughing once more when Timo rolled them over again and pinned him down, because up on Timo's dresser, in the corner of the room, sat a plush Moomin.

Ha!

What a dork. Ludwig found Timo positively to his liking in every sense, and ran his hands endlessly over Timo's back and shoulders because Timo seemed to like it. Come to think, for being so awkward and quiet and rather rough during the act, Timo was actually very affectionate. As soon as he fell down on Ludwig he was nuzzling his neck, and then he rolled them over so that Timo was spooning him, arm over his chest and pressing up against him very fervently.

A snuggler, apparently.

Ludwig eyeballed the Moomin plushie, snorted, and gripped Timo's forearm. He clearly wasn't going to be let go anytime soon, so he may as well settle in and get comfortable. Looked like he was spending the night.

Timo kissed the back of his neck, and asked, eagerly, "So how long are you staying here?"

Ludwig smiled to himself.

"A week."

A very pleased noise from Timo's chest, a tighter grip, and then lifted up his head to press his lips against Ludwig's ear, and murmured, "I'm a good tour guide. And then of course, I'll be happy to find you fun things to do at night."

Was pretty sure he knew what Timo had in mind.

Well! What a fun week this was going to be.

So Ludwig just rumbled in response, "Sounds good to me."

Timo just grunted back, "Go see if you can get your money back from that hotel. You're in for it."

Challenge accepted.

Before they drifted to sleep, Ludwig breathed, "Take me to Moomin World tomorrow."

Timo snuggled up against his back, and replied, so happily, "I was already gonna."

Naturally.

Best vacation ever.