Author's Note: Hey, guys! This is part two of three. Enjoy!

"Berwald? Beeeeerwald?"

"What?"

"I think I'm dying."

"You're not."

"I am. This is what dying is like."

"How would you know?"

"Instinct."

Berwald scoffs. "Drink the water I gave you."

"Will it keep me from dying?"

"…Yes."

"Okay. Thanks, Berwald. You're a real friend."

"Remember to be sick in the toilet next time."

Tino moans in agony as his stomach tightens and continues to make him feel downright awful. He's curled up on the freezing cold tiles of the bathroom, arms wrapped around his abdomen as he wonders how in the world he thought it'd be a good idea to do this to his body. Never again. Now he knows why it's called fruit punch because it's sure as hell punching his digestive system and is currently crippling his liver.

Berwald turns out all of the lights except for the one in the bathroom where Tino is. Tino will appreciate his dutiful help in the morning, but until then, he'll remain a cluster of whines and garbled phrases that are heavily slurred and don't make any sense. Nonetheless, somewhere in his rational mind, he's glad someone is around to make sure he's not getting dehydrated or actually dying in any way, shape, or form. This is a true sign of companionship, surely, and now Tino is almost wholly convinced Berwald isn't as dangerous or shifty as he originally seemed.

Berwald clearly has a gentler, softer side to him, it's just unfortunate that Tino had to learn this the hard way.

"Tino? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah."

"Want to go to your bed?"

"Wow, Berwald. This is really sudden."

Berwald's brows come together in confusion. "What's so sudden?"

"You wanting to go to bed with me. I'm drunk. Not tonight."

"That's not what I meant! How much punch did you drink?"

"Not much…"

"I don't believe you," Berwald grunts before tugging Tino up, dragging him out of the bathroom, and leading him on wobbly feet to his bed. "Go to sleep."

"I'm not tired," Tino gripes, head still immensely fuzzy.

"Too bad."

"Berwald, what do you like about Sweden?"

"Why are you asking that question now of all times?"

"I'm—" Tino has to pause to hiccup, "curious."

"Well, it's the only place I've ever known. It's home. Everyone likes their home."

Tino makes a noise of disagreement and hums, "Not everyone. Some people have homes they hate and want to run away."

"I see your point, but we always have an attachment to where we grew up, even if we end up moving away and say we don't want to go back."

This is the most Tino has ever heard Berwald talk, and it's a shame he's not in a decent state of mind to delve deeper into the conversation. Being in the condition he's in, he's only able to reply with another hum before his thoughts drift elsewhere. By the time he realizes there was something else he wanted to say, he has already forgotten what that something was.

"Goodnight," Berwald says at last, turning away. "Don't die, okay?"

Tino manages a smile, just sober enough to recognize Berwald is making a joke. "Okay. I won't."

And so, Tino takes a few measured breaths and let's his fatigue from staying up late and partying catch up with him. After some tossing, turning, and more groaning, he does doze off, and as soon as he cracks his eyes open in the morning, he has to immediately shut them again when the sunlight coming in through the window nearly blinds him and makes his head hurt with such vigor it makes him dizzy.

His first hangover—what a horrible rite of passage.

Berwald, bless his terrifying heart, hands him a cup of coffee as soon as he sees him and says, "This'll help."

Tino doesn't hesitate to take the offering. It's the saving grace of what is likely going to be the most unnecessarily painful morning of his generally unoriginal and fun-deprived life.

"KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! Open up!"

Not him again, Tino thinks, dropping his head onto the cool top of the kitchen table.

Berwald doesn't seem thrilled by the disturbance either, which isn't a surprise. He glares at the door for a long time as if he could will Mathias to go away by telepathic means.

"Are you guys ignoring me? That's no way to treat a friend!" Mathias says, and they can almost hear the pout in his voice.

"Who said you were a friend?" Tino mumbles against upraised knees, wanting to fall asleep and not wake up for at least three days.

Fortunately, Mathias doesn't seem to hear his little remark. "I have something important to ask you both!"

Berwald rolls his eyes and does his best to continue about his business as though nothing is out of the ordinary. He cleans his glasses with the tail of his shirt and flips open a newspaper, letting out a yawn in the process.

"Come on! I've brought your phone charger back, Berwald!"

"Leave it by the door," Berwald grunts in a low tone, still refusing to invite the boy in.

"Please, please, please open the door! I swear this is important. I wouldn't be out here, groveling on your doorstep, if it wasn't," Mathias reasons, and it seems Berwald is beginning to cave in because he inches his way toward the door, debating his options.

At long last, he turns the lock, and Mathias comes storming inside like a hurricane, full of energy as usual, despite last night's party. How has he managed to get away from the aftermath without even a tiny headache? Did he drink the punch? He must have, and yet, he's completely fine. The normal rules of the earth don't apply to him, apparently.

"What's this important thing you had to talk about?" Berwald asks, but Mathia's mind is already elsewhere.

"Got any milk around here? I was going to smuggle some from the dining hall, so I could have cereal this morning, but I forgot."

Berwald scowls and his nose scrunches up in displeasure. "That's why you were banging on the door?"

"Yeah, that, and I really do have your phone charger," Mathias mutters before shoving the adapter and its cable into Berwald's chest. "So, you don't have any milk?"

"No."

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

Mathias smiles with fake sweetness, sweeps into the kitchen area, and wrenches open the mini-fridge. A second later, he takes out a small, half-empty carton of milk and holds it up as though it's a bar of gold.

"Thanks, guys. See ya later," he says before making his escape, except Berwald blocks his path just in time and snatches the milk back.

"Hey! Give it here!"

"I said you couldn't have it," Berwald snarls, sounding pretty intimidating.

"No, you said you didn't have any, which was a lie, but don't worry, I'll forgive you for lying if you just let me take this carton off your hands," Mathias replies, tongue-in-cheek.

"Go away, Mathias."

"That's what I'm trying to do. Just give the milk back. You've soured over the years, Berwald. You didn't used to be this cruel to me."

Berwald's nostrils flare as he tries to control his welling anger. "When are you going to stop this?"

"Stop what?"

"Stop trying to reconcile things by being a pest. Leave the past in the past, and stop taking out your frustrations on Tino."

Mathias furrows his brows together and smooths a hand over his hair as though he wants to tame it but can't. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You didn't take him out yesterday just to make a new friend."

"I wanted him to have a good time."

"No, you wanted to embarrass him and make him miserable. Your plan failed."

It's Mathias's turn to scowl. He returns Berwald's glare, forcibly grabs the milk back, and storms out of the dorm without another word.

Tino takes some time to let everything register in his hungover head and finally mumbles, "What was that all about?"

"Nothing, don't worry."

"You mentioned something about leaving the past in the past?"

"It's a long story that you don't want to hear. Trust me," Berwald insists, aggressive enough to make Tino back down for the meantime.

"Okay, if you say so."

Focusing in class becomes harder than ever before. As Tino stares at the blackboard and watches his professor's mouth move, he doesn't understand any of what's being said because all he can think about is the party and the cryptic exchange between Berwald and Mathias. He spends an entire week dragging his feet to and fro across campus, physically present but mentally absent. It's all so strange. What did he miss? How do Berwald and Mathias know each other anyway? It didn't seem like a significant question to ask before, but now Tino is dying to know the answer.

And since he isn't going to be getting any answers from Berwald, he supposes his only option is to speak to Mathias directly.

He knows he can't simply walk into the boy's dorm room because Berwald would likely find out and be suspicious. No, he has to be stealthier about it.

Thankfully, it turns out Mathias is a fairly popular figure at the school, and all it takes is a little asking around at the campus' Student Activities Board, of which Mathias is apparently a part of, to get some information on his whereabouts in between classes. He claims he has a campus event he would like to organize, and one of the girls at the board reveals that he can find Mathias hanging about in the game room around lunchtime.

And so, Tino stakes out the area and, fortunately, he is rewarded for his efforts. Fifteen minutes into waiting, Mathias comes traipsing through the door and greets a bunch of other students hanging around the vintage arcade game collection in the room before he sits himself in a pleather armchair, drops his feet on the nearby coffee table, and makes himself at home.

"Mathias?"

"You're stalking me now?" Mathias asks with a joking air, except there's an underlying sharpness that Tino doesn't miss.

"I just wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away."

This seemed a lot easier when he imagined it in his head. Will Mathias get angry if Tino tries to snoop too much?

"Uhmm... I just wanted to ask..."

"I'm listening."

"How did you and Berwald meet?"

Mathias narrows his eyes. "Did he put you up to this?"

"No! I swear he doesn't know I'm here."

Mathias huffs, folding his arms across his chest. "We had a thing and now we don't, okay?"

"A thing...? Oh, oh. Berwald is—?"

"Yeah."

Something about this news makes Tino's breathing speed up. "Wow. Okay… I'm sorry, I know that was kind of a personal question."

Berwald and Mathias were together once? The thought alone makes Tino incredibly confused and gives him the urge to laugh. It's hard to imagine Berwald surrounding himself with someone who is so rowdy and demanding all of the time. How did they ever get along? Were they constantly arguing and at odds with one another? Is that why they broke up?

Tino wants to know more, but it really isn't his place to ask.

"Whatever. It was a while ago… You can go away now," Mathias says with a sniff, and Tino hurriedly turns away, knowing better than to aggravate him.

Berwald sure is full of surprises. Just when Tino thought he was starting to figure him out, he's thrown off guard. Oddly enough, Tino can feel a lurking bud of guilt expand in his stomach. What if Berwald didn't want him to find out he's gay? Is Tino now supposed to pretend that he doesn't know? Wouldn't that be deceptive?

Then again, Berwald has the right to know. Maybe it'll make things awkward between them, but it's better to be honest than to have the truth come out eventually anyway. Or… Berwald might just tell him soon enough and then Tino can just act like he's finding out for the first time.

Ugh, why did he have to go prying in the first place? When will he learn that ignorance really is bliss?

He heads back to the dorm that evening, feeling terrible for a multitude of reasons—going behind Berwald's back, being nosy, dredging up old wounds…

And he must not be very good at concealing his emotions because Berwald notices right away that something is up.

"Bad day?" Berwald asks as he comes inside and drops his backpack before retiring to his signature spot on the couch.

"No, nothing like that."

"What is it then?"

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"Mmm… Okay."

That's Berwald's great gift—he knows when to give up and allow another person their space. He doesn't cross boundaries. Tino, on the other hand, is another story.

"Hey, there's this thing going on... The club fair. There's going to be free food. Do you want to go?"

Tino rubs a hand over his eyes and jolts with amazement, taken aback that Berwald would actually invite him to go out where there will be other people, music, and a lot of other social nuisances. It doesn't seem like something Berwald would be interested in at all, and it's sudden. Berwald doesn't do anything suddenly. He has to make plans a month in advance, doesn't leave the dorm unless he absolutely has to, and avoids people in general like the plague.

"Uhh, sure! That sounds fun," Tino says, trying not to seem too eager, which is a tendency of his.

Berwald smiles the tiniest smile Tino has ever witnessed, and honestly, it's as though the world has been flipped upside down. A smiling Berwald can't be a good sign for things to come. Something isn't right. It's too good to be true.

"It's tomorrow."

"Okay, I'm free tomorrow."

"Okay."

Tino smiles back, guilt forgotten.

He practically sprints out of his last class the following day, so excited by the fact that he's actually going out to an event with Berwald. When did Berwald become a person he willing started devoting time to? Somewhere between vomiting on the young man's shoes and finding out his history with Mathias, he'd reached a breakthrough in their relationship. Somehow, he has gone from just being his serial-killer roommate to a friend.

He has come to appreciate their early morning and late night conversations. He enjoys waking up to see Berwald already catching up on new reading material with cups of coffee waiting for them both. He likes that he has been able to gain Berwald's trust—that he can talk to him for hours like no other person can while also being able to feel comfortable in the occasional silence between them.

So when he sees Berwald standing next to a long row of tables that have been set up outside for the fair, he doesn't hesitate to march right on over to him with a friendly grin.

"Hey," Berwald says.

"Hey. I saw they have cotton candy. Do you want to get some?"

"Sure."

"Okay! I'll get it for us!" Tino offers, heart thrumming with half-skittish beats. When he returns and hands Berwald the pink-and-blue swirled sugary treat, he tells himself this is the best moment he's experienced at university thus far—way better than the party and the monotone classes.

Berwald takes a bite of the cotton candy, and Tino wishes he could take a picture even though it would likely make Berwald unhappy.

"How does it taste?" Tino asks curiously, refusing to take a bite of his own until he gets a response.

"Too sweet," Berwald mutters, swallowing hard and grimacing.

Tino's heart nearly bursts from all of the emotion it's bearing. "That's good. It's supposed to be like that."

They walk around a bit and explore all of the clubs that are advertising themselves at the event. Tino doesn't consider himself to be a student with much school-spirit, and maybe if he didn't procrastinate constantly and loaf around for a minimum of four hours a day, he could consider committing himself to being a part of a club, but until that day comes, he'll just have to accept that he's not ready for an extracurricular activity.

There's a table with a "wheel of fortune." If you spin the wheel and it lands on a certain color, you can win a prize. Tino gives it a go and doesn't have any luck with it, but then Berwald takes a turn and wins himself a book and a box of pens. If there's anything Tino knows about Berwald, it's that he'll be able to put those prizes to good use.

Aside from some mingling, there isn't much else to do, and so, Berwald makes a new suggestion. "Want to go for a trip?"

"A trip to where?"

"It's a surprise."

Tino widens his eyes comically and laughs, "I never thought you'd be the type of person to like surprises."

"I don't like surprises. I just like coming up with surprises for other people."

"Fair enough. Let's go, then!"

"Okay, we'll take my car."

"You have a car? Since when?"

"Yeah, it's my parents'. Still works," Berwald explains, leading the way to the campus parking lot.

Had Tino been asked to get into Berwald's car a month ago, he would have screamed for help and started running away, but now, he feels rather assured that the young man won't try anything creepy. He supposes there's still a one percent chance that his change of heart toward Berwald was wrong and that Berwald really is a serial-killer-in-the-making, but he decides to take that chance.

They get into Berwald's little sedan and end up in a large park just outside of the city. It's surrounded by a little lake, and, in the looming twilight, the lampposts lighting the walkway give off a warm, inviting glow.

"This is my favorite place in all of Sweden."

"It sure is pretty," Tino agrees as they walk between the trees and down the dirt path. "Swedish trees are different from Finnish trees."

"How can you tell?"

"They're taller. Everything in Sweden is taller," Tino jokes, emphasizing his point by standing on the tips of his toes and still failing to match Berwald's height.

Berwald smirks and adjusts his glasses before walking onward. The water in the lake is rippling a bit, filling the silence. "If I'm ever going through something, I always end up coming back to this same place. It has always been here for me."

"That's really beautiful."

"It's silly."

"It's not," Tino assures, wanting to wipe the sadness off of Berwald's face. He seems lonely.

"I'm glad we're friends," Berwald murmurs.

"Me, too."

They sit by the edge of the lake and watch the sun completely disappear under the horizon. The crickets come out, a thick mist from the water fills their lungs and makes them tired, and all Tino wants to do is sit by a campfire and take a nap.

"We should go. There's a lot of wildlife we don't want to run into around here."

All of Tino's peaceful thoughts are immediately shattered. "What kind of wildlife?"

"You don't want to know."

And so, they briskly make their way back to the car and drive to campus, and Tino can't wait to head inside their cozy dorm, put on some slippers, and drink some hot cocoa.

Berwald parks the car in the same spot it was standing in before their trip, steps out into the chilly night once more, and mumbles, "I want to tell you something."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I'll tell you once we're inside," he decides, leading the way.

They make it to their familiar doorstep, and Berwald is just unlocking the door when Mathias, of course, comes to interrupt them for the umpteenth time.

"Where've you two been? It explains why Tino hasn't been stalking me anymore," Mathias says from behind them, voice echoing in the quiet hallway.

"Stalking?" Berwald asks.

Oh, no, Tino thinks, holding his breath.

"Yeah, Tino came hunting me down the other day and wanted to know all about us."

Berwald frowns. "Us?"

"Yup. Guess he wanted to make sure we were through so he could take a stab at you."

Tino wants to shrivel up and disappear when Berwald spins around to look at him with icy eyes.

"If there was something you wanted to know, why didn't you ask me?" Berwald demands, clearly hurt.

"I… I didn't…" Tino struggles to come up with an answer that doesn't sound completely horrible.

"You didn't think I would tell you, right? Well, I wouldn't have told you because it's not your business."

"I'm sorry."

Berwald shakes his head and goes inside, giving Tino the cold shoulder while Mathias looks rather pleased with himself.

"Well, I'll let you two lovebirds go back to what you were doing," Mathias gloats, slipping away back into his own dorm.