Chapter 9 – Do you need a friend?
It had been a week since Tino made amends with Francis, and February had now rolled over into March. Christina came to pick Tino up every day on her way to work and the two had started to form a bit of a bond. But rather than just wait in the car for him to come down from the apartment when she stopped to collect him, she had made a habit of parking up and coming all the way up to their door. On two occasions she had even brought baked goods, muffins on Wednesday and a pecan pie on Friday after she'd learned in conversation that it was Lukas's favourite.
Tino had also been spending more time getting to know his other colleagues at work, and found that he had a lot in common in particular with Eduard from accounts and finance, and Elizabeta, the photographer who had now not only seen him run smack into a glass door, but also in nothing but tight underwear and a garter belt at the Arlovskaya shoot. His work life was good, and he felt happy to get up in the mornings for another day at Icon.
Home life was also better than anyone in the small household had expected. The first evening that Lars and Emil saw each other for the first time in a good few years was very awkward, and Emil excused himself from the table half way through dinner and small talk. But as the days rolled by the Thomassen family seemed to be getting used to each other again.
Lars slept on the pull out sofa that was usually Tino's bed, and Tino shared with Lukas in his big queen size. They hadn't shared a room, let alone a bed, since their college days. This was of course before Lukas dropped out and they got this apartment. It was hard getting used to sleeping with each other for the first couple of nights as it was obvious that Lukas hadn't shared a bed with anyone for a long time by the way he sprawled out and stole all the blankets, but he soon stopped after several shoves and kicks from Tino during the night. There had been some debate if they should invest in an inflatable mattress for Tino to sleep on, but rather than break his back sleeping on the floor neither Lukas nor Tino minded sharing.
This morning Tino had woken early and left Lukas asleep. Monday was his only day off during the week when he didn't open the store. He'd padded blearily into the kitchen to make breakfast to find Lars and Emil already sat at the dining table talking quietly. Not wanting to intrude, he hurried and made his toast and excused himself to go and eat in the living room instead.
Now as he sat in Christina's car on the way to work, Tino couldn't help but wonder how Emil must be feeling. Of course this was situation was difficult for Lukas, as his whole life had to take a different route due to the actions of his father. But Emil was suddenly whisked away from the life he knew at a young age after already going through the grief of losing his mother and had to start again with just his brother and brother's housemate who was at that point a complete stranger. All while his Dad fled back to Norway and losing custody of Emil to Lukas. He had been only 11 at the time, as there were 12 years between he and Lukas. Tino loved Emil like a brother, and though he would never tell that to Emil out loud, he knew that Emil felt the same about him. He didn't want him to get hurt again in all this.
"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Christina said, glancing over at Tino as he sat slumped in the passenger seat, chin in palm, as she pulled into the car park. She turned the engine off and fiddled with taking her seatbelt off and tucking her rear view mirrors in.
"Nothing, just family stuff." Tino replied with a small sigh as he pushed the car door open and stepped out. Christina had an obnoxiously large 4x4, and Tino had to use the footplate to step down from the passenger seat. She on the other hand had no problem as she came in easily over 6ft tall when she had heels on.
A little comically, Tino only just reached Christina's shoulder as they walked side by side, the pair of them straying far from their average height category for their gender.
"Do you get on with your parents?" he asked as they stepped through the front doors and waited for the elevator like every other morning.
Christina hesitated a little before she responded, tucking a stray lock of her short, curly hair behind her ear.
"I mean, yeah I guess we do. We fight a little every now and then, but in the end I love them and they love me. I'm lucky to have accepting parents. I couldn't imagine what it must be like for Lukas, if that's who you're worrying about."
Tino wondered for a moment what Christina meant by saying that her parents were accepting, but didn't dwell on it.
"No it's Emil actually that I'm a little worried about. I just hope Lars doesn't fill his head with crap, y'know?" he admitted, then chewed on his lip in thought. On their journeys to and from work, Tino had told Christina all about Lars's visit, and that Lukas had raised Emil himself.
As the elevator chimed, Tino stood up straight and gave himself a little wiggle, trying to shake away his thoughts before starting his work day.
The doors slid open and the pair parted quickly as someone stormed out.
"I dunno how they expect me t' do it." Berwald muttered to himself, throwing his hands up in exasperation. He was closely followed by Matthew, who shot a worried glance at Tino as he hurried past them and chased after Berwald.
"Mr Oxenstierna, please wait a moment!" Matthew called after Berwald, but once Berwald was within the rotation of the front doors and out of the building, the assistant stopped in the middle of the foyer and sighed visibly. Matthew was the assistant to Arthur, who shared the title of Editor with Francis. Arthur focused more on the background workings of the magazine, arranging the features and coming up with ideas for each season's theme, while Francis worked more in the front line and liaised with clients, photographers and celebrities who brought the ideas to life and then arranged the mock ups. As much as Tino had clashed with Francis to begin with, he didn't envy Matthew and would much rather be the assistant to Francis over Arthur.
Tino turned to Christina,
"If you see Francis can you tell him that I'm helping Matthew?"
Christina looked at him and blinked her large doe-like eyes as if he'd just spoken another language.
"Uh, I know you've just made friends with Francis and all that jazz, but if he knows you're helping Matthew and by doing so secondhandedly helping Arthur he'll go crazy!" she flapped, thrusting her hand out in front of the elevator doors to stop them from closing.
"Then tell him I'm helping Berwald then. I won't be long I promise." Tino said and clasped his hands in front of his chest as if to plea.
With a quick roll of the eye, Christina nodded and stepped into the elevator, letting the doors finally slide closed.
"Hey Matt, what's going on? What's with Berwald?" Tino asked gently as he approached Matthew.
"I tried to tell Arthur and Francis that it was too much of an ask, but who am I to have an opinion." He said with a slightly irritated tone to his voice and pushed his glasses further up on his nose.
"I think they forget that Berwald is just one guy and-" Matthew continued but stopped suddenly and looked over Tino's shoulder as the elevator chimed once again, "oh for goodness sake."
Turning around to see who Matthew was looking at, Tino saw a woman with long dirty blonde hair tied messily into a braid slung over her shoulder. She looked familiar to him, but he couldn't for the life of him think why. She hurried over to where he and Matthew were standing.
"I'm sorry Mathieu, this is my fault. I shouldn't have suggested anything." She said, sounding almost embarrassed. She had a heavy French sounding accent to her voice.
"Matthew, I'm not sure what's going on here, but shouldn't someone go after Berwald?" he said, pointing towards the door.
For a moment, Matthew simply stood looking between Tino and the French woman, looking torn.
"Okay. Tino, you go and see if you can see Berwald outside, and I'll escort Miss Marcon back up to the offices. If you see him please bring him back up with you, Francis will want to see him." He paused to look at his watch, "and if you need to calm him down first I'll cover for your absence." He finished with a slightly strained smile, obviously trying to retain composure in front of this woman.
"Will do!" Tino said and made his way back outside, leaving Matthew to deal with Miss Marcon. The wind had picked up a little so he zipped his coat up a little further as he looked up and down the street. Berwald couldn't have gone far unless he planned to not come back to work at all. By the looks of things he just needed to calm down and get some fresh air after whatever had happened to bother him so much. Unsure of which direction to head in or where to begin looking for Berwald, Tino stood right in the middle of the sidewalk, apologising absentmindedly as people huffed in annoyance and glared at him as they had to walk around him, eyes searching the hustle and bustle of the street for a tall, blonde Swede. Shoving his hands into his coat pockets Tino set off towards the nearest street corner that lead to the coffee shop he had ran into Berwald in the other day, and then a small park was further down the same street. These were two places that weren't too far away from the office building and it wouldn't hurt to start looking there. Looking up to the grey sky that threatened rain, Tino wondered why he had recognised the woman back in the foyer just then. He was racking his brains trying to think where he had seen her before, and momentarily forgot what he was doing until he saw a familiar figure hunched on a bench a few feet in front of him.
Tino stopped for a moment and just watched Berwald as he sat there, slumped on the bench looking out at the little ducks on the pond ahead of him. One arm hung lazily by his side, the other tucked into his jacket pocket. A small part of Tino didn't want to disturb him and just give him some space, but a lot more of him wanted to see if he was okay. Working up the courage, Tino sauntered over to the bench and sat down tentatively next to Berwald.
Berwald's eyes slid to look at Tino from behind his glasses and he cleared his throat softly.
"Hey Berwald, I just wanted to check that you were okay…" Tino began, leaning forward slightly so that he could look up to Berwald's downcast face.
"Mhm." Berwald nodded and cast his gaze back out to the pond.
"I'm fine. Just needed a bit o' space. Sorry if I barged past ya in the lobby before." He mumbled, still not meeting Tino's eye, and took his hand out of his pocket to adjust his glasses.
"Ah! Berwald!" Tino exclaimed when he noticed the bandage on Berwald's hand. "How did that happen? You're hurt!"
Chuckling a little to himself, Berwald extended his hand out towards Tino, wiggling his fingers a little, finally looking at him properly. "Ya mean this? Happens all the time. It doesn't hurt. Just caught it on a piece of metal."
Tino nodded and looked down at his own hands. They were small and soft compared to Berwald's. He kept his nails neatly trimmed short, whereas it looked like Berwald had a habit of biting his nails judging by their ragged and uneven edges. Silence fell over the two for a moment as the wind whipped past. The ducks quacked and splashed on the pond, and a cyclist rode past them.
"So… Is everything okay? I could speak to Francis for you if you need anything. Matthew said that he thinks Arthur and Francis forget you're just one person. If you're over worked I can talk to them if you want." Tino said, eyes searching Berwald's face for any hints as to how he was feeling on his features.
"It's okay Tino, but thanks. Appreciate it." He simply shook his head.
"Ludwig has been good t' me. When Francis took over the company and Arthur was made co-editor in chief they wanted to start renting an' supplying props for shoots and just hiring a set design crew as and when they needed one. It woulda put me out of a job, so I told 'em both that I could still do it, and that I would work harder. They could just keep me an' pay one salary rather than pay a hire company and I would do the same amount of work as a full team would do. Ludwig agreed before he handed the company over completely."
As Berwald spoke, it began to dawn on Tino why everyone thought Berwald was strange and weird for keeping himself holed up all the time in his workshop. Now it was painfully clear that he did it not because he wanted it to be that way, instead he was just working really hard and literally didn't have time to socialise. He was always the first in the office for the day and one of the last to leave. Icon held so many photo shoots and events each day, and Berwald was always building and taking apart the sets, barely even having time to eat lunch.
"Ber, if you're struggling you should say something! I can definitely talk to Ludwig for you!" Tino cried, appalled at not only himself but at all of his colleagues for not noticing this sooner.
"It's okay. Usually its fine an' I can get everything done that I need to. But next week we've got two big shoots. That author whose book launch we're coverin' and then there's the American fashion designer. Arthur wants a real intricate set designin' for each of them and I just dunno how they expect me t' do it." Berwald fiddled with the cuff of his shirt sleeve as he continued, "How am I supposed to build a bookshop settin', clear it away and a then build a rodeo ring right after? It's not even like I can use parts of one set in the other-"
Berwald stopped suddenly as Tino burst up from the bench and jumped up and down on the spot. "Sorry to interrupt Ber but I've just realised something! I can help you out here!"
Confused, Berwald tilted his head to the side to show that he was listening.
"Do you remember the name of the author who's doing the book launch? She's French right? I heard Matthew and Michelle talking about her only a week ago!" Tino said rather frantically.
If Tino was right in what he was thinking, his idea would help not only Berwald by taking some work off his hands, but would also help Lukas to get some footfall into his store.
Berwald scratched his chin in thought. "Starts with an L… Lucy?"
"Lucille!" Tino yelled, and a huge grin spread across his face, "Lucille Marcon! My best friend loves her work and he runs a bookshop in town! Why don't we hold the book launch there and just use his store as a set? He would let you use it for free too I just know he would!"
Clasping his hands to his chest, Tino spun around on the spot, unable to contain his excitement at his idea.
"We have to tell Francis!"
"No, this just won't work." Arthur said, his arms folded across his chest.
Tino and Berwald stood before Arthur and Francis in Francis's office. Matthew stood by the door, scribbling something on his clipboard. Tino had just finished enthusiastically pitching his idea of holding the shoot for the Marcon book launch in Lukas's shop, but now he felt utterly deflated at their reaction. Berwald hadn't said a word and let Tino do all the talking as he shrank before the Editors.
Francis adjusted his cravat and gave Tino a sympathetic look.
"I'm sorry Tino, but I have to agree with Arthur. Doing a shoot like this on location will be difficult, especially knowing that the location is owned by someone who is a big fan of Lucille. We just don't know what would happen. There could be a leak, or a sudden surge of fans appearing."
Arthur looked surprised that Francis had agreed with him so quickly as he turned back to Tino.
"It wasn't a bad idea, just not a very practical one. Berwald will be just fine constructing the sets if we allowed a little more time, right Berwald? We'll push back the Emily Jones shoot by a day." he concluded before even waiting for Berwald to reply as if he knew he wasn't going to object. Tino looked up at Berwald who towered next to him and wanted to jump in to explain that he felt Berwald was being stretched too thin, but stopped himself when he remembered what had happened last time he had butted in on someone else's business.
Sensing Tino's hesitation, Francis looked at him, "Is that everything, Tino?"
He quickly glanced at Berwald, who was avoiding his gaze again, then simply nodded and forced a smile to hide his disappointment and set his mind back to his work day ahead.
"Yep! That's everything. But while I have you, you have a meeting later at 1pm with Lovino and Antonio about the cover for next month. I'm going to go and set the room up for it now, do you want refreshments on the table?"
Francis looked pleased with Tino's response and gave him a small pat on the shoulder as he opened the door to escort Berwald, Arthur, Matthew and Tino out.
"That would be wonderful."
Matthew caught Tino's eye as they left the office, and there was an odd expression on his face and Tino couldn't quite place, as if he wanted to ask him something, but he couldn't worry about it right now. He had a job to be getting on with.
Emil sat in the front seat of Lukas's car and scrolled through Instagram, peering out of the windscreen every now and again, the repetitive ticking from the hazard lights filling the small space. As Lukas was driving Emil to school the car had suddenly ground to a halt and black smoke began to pour out of the engine. They had been pulled over on the roadside for a while, and Lukas had the hood up currently inspecting the engine.
"Okay Em, try now. Turn the key." Lukas shouted to Emil as he stood back from the car, his hands blackened by the oil of the engine.
Emil did as he was asked and put his phone down, leaning over to the driver's seat and turning the key in the ignition. The car chugged and shuddered to life for a moment, but soon died again and didn't start. Lukas gave up and slammed the hood closed, a noise of infuriation escaping him. Emil rolled the window down and stuck his head out.
"I can just walk to school from here. I'll be fine. Are you gonna call for recovery?" he asked Lukas, who had leant against the side of the car.
Lukas waved his mobile phone that was already in his hand at Emil in response, and then stood up to open the car door to let his brother out – the door handle didn't work from the inside.
Emil patted the roof of the red Fiat Panda as he got out and looked at Lukas, his brows knitted.
"She's served us well, old Doris, but I think she's finally had it Luke." He said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.
Lukas had had his car for just over 7 years, and it was named Doris by Tino and Emil who nearly died when Lukas showed up in it after he'd bought it cheap at a used car show room. They said it looked like a car a little old woman would drive 5 miles to do the grocery shop once a week. It was at least 15 years old if not more at the time Lukas had bought it, and Emil was genuinely surprised that it had survived this long and kept passing it's MOT's with flying colours. Until today.
"I'll get the bus to school this week, or hitch a ride with Leon until we get another car. We can go to the showroom on Saturday with dad if you want?" Emil suggested while picking his satchel up from the foot well of the car and slinging it over his shoulder.
Lukas could have grimaced at Emil's naivety that they could just go and purchase another car that easily, but he didn't and simply closed the car door as Emil moved away from it.
Emil fidgeted, not liking Lukas's silence,
"You'll be alright won't you? Waiting here for the recovery?"
Emil's tone of voice dragged Lukas from his thoughts. Catching the expression on his brothers face, he straightened himself up.
"Of course, lillebror, I'll be fine. Now go, you're late enough as it is. And if anyone at school has problems with your lateness get them to call me. Okay? You can text me if you want me to meet you at the bus stop later." he said, wiping his dirty hands on his jeans.
Usually Emil would yell at Lukas for talking to him like a little kid, but decided to let it go this morning. No matter how much his big brother irritated him, he was only looking out for him. Emil just wished that he could support his brother in return just as much had he'd supported him. He was clearly struggling and there wasn't much he could do about it, especially while still in school.
"Okay bro, see you later." He said as he waved goodbye over his shoulder and set off down the road. Lukas didn't take his eye off him until he was safely round the corner.
Determined not to waste money on calling out a recovery company, Lukas rolled his sleeves up and unlatched the hood again, continuing to tinker with the engine. As today was his day off he wasn't in a rush to be anywhere.
Unaware of how much time had passed, Lukas had his head buried in the hood and was so focused on what he was doing he didn't hear the rumble of another car pull up behind him on the grass verge.
"Hey, do you need any help? Engine problems huh?" a male voice called out and a car engine turned off. Lukas stopped what he was doing and lowered the hood so that he could peer round the car to see who had stopped to help him. A black Volkswagen had pulled up, and when Lukas recognised the person it belonged to as they stepped out he wanted to crawl under his own car and never come out again.
"Oh, it's you!" the boy from the café, Matthias, said as he slammed his car door shut and made his way over to Lukas.
"Jesus, am I in a cheesy Mills and Boon novel or something?" Lukas muttered to himself as Matthias ambled over and peered at the engine.
"Wow, that doesn't look good." He deadpanned, grinning sheepishly at Lukas.
Lukas caught Matthias looking him up and down, probably taking in his white cardigan and pale jeans, now ruined with black engine fluid, and also his weary expression. He looked a mess.
"I don't know much about cars, but unless you're a mechanic you're probably not gonna be able to fix that," Matthias said with a slightly faltered laugh, "but I've got a tow rope in the trunk if you want me to tow you home? I don't mind."
Staring incredulously at Matthias, Lukas couldn't believe the chances of him being only person out of however many people had drove past that had stopped and offered to help. When he was out of his work uniform he looked slightly older than Lukas had first thought when he met him, stood there on the grass in chino trousers and a khaki sweater, his strawberry blonde hair swept up and out of his freckly face. This was also confirmed also by the fact that he could drive.
Lukas could feel anxiety creeping up from the pit of his stomach as he thought about the calls he had sent to voicemail and few texts he had left unopened from Matthias. They eventually fizzled out until he stopped contacting him altogether a few days ago. As much as Lukas wished they hadn't met before now and that he hadn't been stupid enough to give out his own number to this guy, Matthias didn't seem to be bothered by the fact he'd been ignored by Lukas and instead stood there waiting for Lukas to take up his offer.
Lukas thought about it for a moment before gingerly closing the hood again for the final time. Inwardly he scolded himself for being such a bag of nerves when it came to interacting with new people.
"You… don't want anything in return do you? I mean, I have a little bit of money in my wallet." Lukas asked cautiously, rolling his sleeves back down. Not having to call for recovery would save him a lot of money, but he wanted to also make sure that Matthias didn't expect anything too large in return.
Matthias laughed and shook his head.
"Nope, nothing in return, just doin' my good deed for the day. Unless you were planning to drive to the other end of the country, in that case I might hafta charge you some money for gas!" he waited for Lukas to laugh as his joke, but when he didn't he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Right, lemme go and get the tow rope. Do you have a tow bar?"
Unsure, Lukas hesitated before scurrying around to the back of his car to check.
"Ah shit, no I don't." he confirmed. "Is that a problem?"
"No, just means I need to connect the rope to your chassis instead. It shouldn't take long!" Matthias said confidently as he went to his car and took the tow rope from the trunk.
Lukas stood on the grass verge by his car, feeling slightly embarrassed by Doris compared to Matthias's VW Golf, and watched as Matthias brought his car round and parked it in front of his. In no time at all he had connected the tow rope and tested the strength of the connection by driving forward a few feet. When all was ready he opened his door a crack and called to Lukas.
"Have you driven while being towed before?"
Lukas shook his head. He was an overly cautious driver at the best of times, and the thought of having to steer a car that he had no engine power over concerned him.
"Okay. I'll go slowly for you. Just steer as you normally would, and remember that you still need to indicate. Oh and please use your brakes. As much as I don't mind helpin' ya, I don't want you smashing into the back of Roxie."
Lukas laughed a little, starting to feel a little less anxious around Matthias,
"You named your car too?"
Matthias's face broke into a huge grin when he heard Lukas laugh. "Why of course! Who does Roxie have the pleasure of towing to safety?"
"This is Doris. She's an old gal if you couldn't tell." Lukas said with a smirk, nodding to the fiat, "and I don't think she'll drive again." He added a little more solemnly.
"Well Doris, let's take you for one last spin! Ready to hit the road?" Matthias slid into his driver's seat and started the engine.
Lukas punched in his postcode when Matthias handed him the sat-nav device and then got in his car and put his seatbelt on. He took a deep breath and braced himself for the drive home, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white as Matthias set off slowly and they bumped off kerbside and onto the road. Lukas's could now hear every creak and groan that his old car made without the reverberation of the engine, and being so close to the back of Matthias's car was disorientating. He was so close that he could see Matthias's reflection in his wing mirror as he kept looking behind him to check on Lukas. Shifting in his seat, Lukas flicked on his indicator as Matthias had done signalling for a left turn, and felt his whole body tense as he swung round the corner. Thank god they weren't too far from home.
Not much more than 15 minutes later, Matthias had successfully managed to tow Lukas and Doris home, and he had just finished unhooking the tow rope. He slung the rope into the trunk of his car and slammed it closed.
"Well, that was kinda fun." He said with a laugh.
Lukas busied himself with taking his car key off his set of keys and slid it into his back pocket – he wouldn't be needing it for a while. Matthias watched him as he did so.
"Look I'm sorry about your car. I hope you can get it fixed." Matthias said as he hovered between Lukas and his own car. He looked around and noticed the store front of the bookshop.
"So, do ya live above this store?"
Lukas nodded, not really feeling like telling Matthias it was in fact his store. As he and Matthias stood on the street in a small silence, Lukas wondered if Matthias expected him to invite him inside and wasn't sure what to say now that Matthias had done him a huge favour.
"Lukas? Is that you?"
Lukas and Matthias looked up to see Lars hanging over the balcony, his hand raised to his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun as he squinted down below him.
"Yeah, it's me. I'll be up in a minute." Lukas answered him, and Matthias stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"Well, I'd best be off then." He said a little ineptly as he began to walk backwards towards his car, its lights flashing once as he unlocked it with a touch of a button on his key fob.
Lukas felt guilty and even embarrassed by himself that he couldn't seem to figure out how to wrap up this conversation or express how grateful he was to Matthias. He took a step forward,
"Thank you, Matthias. Really, thank you." He said finally, and smiled genuinely at Matthias. "And if there's anything I can do to re-pay you, you know where to find me." He added quickly, still feeling as though he hadn't expressed his gratitude enough.
Matthias beamed as he opened his car door, not once taking his eyes off Lukas.
"Ditto. If you ever need a coffee, black with no sugar, and a Tuna Toastie you know where to find me." He said with a wave of his hand before he slid into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. A the engine rumbled to life, Matthias beeped his horn twice and kept waving out of the window as he drove away, leaving Lukas stood alone on the pavement, staring after the car until it was no longer in sight.
A/N: I love this fic, though I struggled with this chapter a bit. I feel like it's a bit dialogue heavy but I just love writing interactions between my boys, y'know?
If anyone is reading this who read this back in 2012 when it first came out, please let me know cause I'd love to hear what you think! Of course if you're a new reader I want to hear from you too, but I'm genuinely curious if anyone is still here from 8 YEARS AGO. wtf.
Anyway, thanks for reading and please drop a review if you can, I'd love to know what you all think!
See you next chapter :)