Chapter 2

Tino had been invited to a party of one of his co-workers, Mathias Densen. He had been informed that everyone was allowed to bring one extra person. Naturally, Tino was thinking about asking his new boyfriend, Berwald Oxenstierna.

The two of them had been dating for little over a month now. Since that fated day in the elevator, the Swede never fully left Tino's mind. He occasionally found himself dreaming of blue eyes and gentle hands, and that gorgeous smile only he was familiar with. And it goes without saying, the sex was heavenly.

But now, Tino was nervous to ask Berwald. Not only because it was always Berwald inviting him, but also because nobody around the office knew about their relationship. He had no idea how the others would react. And to top it off, Berwald was still… well, Berwald. Tino now knew he wasn't as scary as he looked, but the other employees didn't.

Tino sighed as he poured himself a cup of tea. He would just have to discuss it with Berwald, see what he thought about it all. He just hoped his lover wouldn't be upset or anything.

The Finn jumped as the doorbell rang. He stole a glance at the clock: 7.30 PM. Strange, Berwald wasn't supposed to arrive yet. Nonetheless, Tino skidded to the front door, always happy to see his boyfriend again (Berwald had taken to calling Tino his 'wife', but Tino didn't really feel like calling Berwald his 'husband').

As soon as Tino opened the door, he was met by a bouquet of red roses and the shy yet stern looking face of the Swede.

"For me? Thank you!" Tino exclaimed as Berwald pushed the roses in his hands. "I'll just go put these in a vase!"

Berwald nodded before Tino turned around and went to his kitchen. His guest closed the door behind him and silently followed his wife's trail.

"You know, I wanted to talk about-"

Tino was cut off as he felt two strong arms snake their way around his waist. Surprised, he looked over his shoulder, only to find his lips being captured in a passionate kiss. Tino dropped the roses as he quickly lost himself in the embrace.

There would be no talking tonight.

xoxox

Tino woke up to the sound of chirping birds and the soft glow of the morning sun filling his bedroom. When he opened his eyes, they immediately fell upon the sleeping face of his lover. Tino smiled blissfully. It was a Sunday morning, and they had nowhere to go. He felt completely at peace.

Tino started tracing circles on Berwald's face, gingerly following his cheekbone and placing light kisses on his closed eyelids. Berwald was soon stirred to the land of the awake. He smiled when he was met by a grinning Finn. He pulled his wife close, and nuzzled his hair, placing tiny kisses on it.

"M'rnin," he mumbled.

Tino chuckled. "Morning sleepy head. Have any good dreams?"

"'F y'," he answered, which could be translated to "Of you."

Tino lightly blushed as he buried his face in the crook of Berwald's neck. He loved cuddling like this. Berwald was perfect to cuddle with, even though his appearances would make you think otherwise.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before their peaceful state was disturbed by the audible growling of Berwald's stomach. Tino laughed as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Berwald seemed flustered about his body's behaviour, and also reluctant to let go of his lover.

"I guess I'll make some Kropser then!" Kropser were baked pancakes, a recipe Tino had learnt from his grandmother when he was still living in Finland as a little boy.

Berwald joined him in the kitchen as soon as he'd taken a shower to wash away the still lingering sleepiness. Tino had placed the forgotten roses in a vase. Luckily he had left them in the washstand which was filled with water, so they hadn't dried out. Berwald placed a good morning-kiss on Tino's forehead and then made some coffee for the two of them, already well-acquainted with Tino's kitchen after spending several nights at his apartment.

As Tino was taking two plates out of the cupboard, he suddenly remembered the party of next Friday. He carefully placed the Kropser on their plates, and after setting them down on his little table, he spoke up.

"So um, Berwald. I have a proposal, if you want to call it that."

Berwald looked up, face unreadable as ever, and waited for him to continue.

"Um… You know Mathias from sales?" Berwald nodded. You couldn't not know Mathias, he always made sure everybody knew he was around. But loud and obnoxious as he could be, he was also very good at his job as a salesman.

"Yeah, so he's giving a party next Friday, and I'm invited. And he sort of said we could bring one other person, so…"

Berwald's eyes brightened with understanding. "So y' w'nt me t' c'me ?" he asked (more like stated), before taking a sip of his coffee.

Tino nervously twiddled with his thumbs. "I would love for you to come, but only if you want to! It's just that, well…"

Berwald looked up again, now frowning. Shit, Tino did not want him to get mad or misunderstand.

"It's just that, I like you very much, but I don't know how the others will think of you, you know? I-I mean, maybe they would think of our relationship as wrong, or they would find us disgusting, and I would hate it if anyone were to be disgusted by you because of me, and-"

Tino had gotten louder as he was finally able to voice his concern. He liked Berwald a lot, heck, he loved the guy (not that he'd told him yet), but two guys dating still wasn't universally accepted.

Tino cut off his ramblings as Berwald got up and pulled him into an embrace. He carefully articulated his next sentence, not wanting Tino to miss a thing.

"Don't worry 'bout me. I don't care what the others th'nk. Only you are important to m'."

It was the longest sentence Berwald had ever produced while pronouncing most of his vowels, and he looked slightly exhausted by it. Both men were blushing heavily at the hidden confession.

Tino put his arms around Berwald's shoulders and hugged him tighter.

"I know. But you are the CEO and all, I just don't want to cause any trouble for you."

"Th't's my concern. If y' want t' go t' the p'rty, I'll be h'ppy t' come w'th y'."

Tino shot him one of his biggest grins. "All right then. Ready to tell the others about our relationship?"

Berwald shot him one of those smiles Tino just loved. Maybe it still was a little soon to come out of the closet, but with Berwald by his side, he felt strong enough to do anything.

xoxox

Tino was a lot less confident when both of them were taking the elevator up to the floor where the party was being held. One side of him wanted to let the whole world know of their relationship, but another, fairly larger side, just wanted to race back home and hide under the covers along with Berwald, keeping his lover all to himself.

They had decided not to talk about their relationship until someone asked them about it (which would probably come soon enough, seeing as Tino brought Berwald along as his date). Tino tried to swallow away the lump that had started forming in his throat. He felt his hand being squeezed, and looked up at his boyfriend. Berwald tried to look reassuring, but due to his own nerves his face had shifted back into his usual sternness. Tino realized Berwald must be feeling even less at ease, him not being able to hold long conversations and all.

Tino smiled widely and squeezed back, partly forgetting about his nerves. He had to be strong for the both of them. He was the one that had brought Berwald with him, and his boyfriend's position was a lot more important than his own. He couldn't screw this up, and he definitely couldn't make Berwald any more anxious than he already was.

"We'll be fine," he whispered, before placing a light peck on top of Berwald's nose. His frown slightly lessened, and he shot a light smile at Tino before the doors opened.

The party was already pretty lively. There was a table with snacks and an improvised bar that served various cocktails. There was a place in the middle of the room where a couple of people were dancing, the music was good and excited chattering could be heard.

Tino guided Berwald across the room, searching for the host. He thought it would be polite to let him know he had arrived, and that he had brought someone with him.

"Yo Tino!" a voice shouted.

Tino and Berwald looked around to see an already intoxicated Mathias coming their way. His eyes went wide with surprise when he saw Berwald, but he didn't falter.

"Glad you could make it! And good evening to you too, Berwald."

Berwald nodded stiffly. He was already feeling rather uncomfortable, mostly because of his nerves and the fact that some people had already thrown him some very frightened glances. Mathias however, wasn't fazed by his sudden appearance in the least.

"So yeah, booze is over there, grub's on that table, and the building's open until five. So, enjoy yourselves!"

He walked off after seeing Emil Steilsson and Lukas Bondevik enter the room, brothers (although they had only recently found out about that) and two of Mathias' best friends.

Berwald seemed to relax more as Tino pushed a drink into his hands and pulled him over to the side, away from the crowd. Nobody had questioned Berwald's appearance yet, but they did seem reluctant to come near him. Tino didn't care. If they didn't want to come near Berwald, he would bring Berwald to them.

Tino took Berwald by the hand and walked around the room, saying hi to everyone they encountered. As soon as his co-workers saw that Berwald was with him, they were more eager to accept his company. Tino was very likeable after all. If he could be friends with Berwald, then he probably wasn't such a scary guy after all. But they were still a little wary, so it didn't get any further than a greeting and a bit of small talk (to which Berwald replied with a "hm" or a shaking of the head most of the time).

Berwald relaxed even more when he saw the others didn't shy away from him like they used to in the office. In fact, he was beginning to enjoy himself. Especially since Tino was happy, and Tino's happiness meant the world to him.

His peace was soon disturbed by a very drunk Gilbert. People believed he had only gotten in the company through connections, his brother Ludwig being the boss and all. Only his friends Francis and Antonio knew what exactly it was he did for the company, but they never felt like enlightening the other employees. Tino had heard it had something to do with keeping other companies from snatching away their clients. And he also knew that Gilbert got even more obnoxious when he wasn't sober.

He could literally feel Berwald's anger rising as Gilbert kept winking at him, leaning forward to whisper obscenities into his ear. But when he tried to grope his ass on top of it all, Berwald had enough of his behaviour.

The Swede grabbed Gilbert's arm in a death-grip strong enough to make any grown man cry.

"K'p off 'f m' wife," he hissed.

At the same moment he spoke those words, the room had gone dead-silent, as a reaction to Gilbert's yelping. Tino felt his face heating up when he realized what his lover had just said. Berwald quickly released Gilbert's arm, but the damage was already done. Tino was absolutely certain they were done for.

What he didn't expect, was for Mathias to start laughing. "Dude, Gilbert! You really need to learn to stop harassing people!" Francis and Antonio quickly stepped in to remove their friend from the picture, pulling him onto the balcony for some fresh air.

Tino blinked sheepishly as the music started up again, and nobody seemed too shaken by Berwald's sudden outburst. Berwald didn't understand either. Mathias, Emil and Lukas walked up to them.

"Hey Tino, you okay? He didn't hurt you or anything, right?" Mathias asked, real concern on his face.

Tino blinked before shaking his head, still not sure how to react. Mathias smiled and turned to Berwald. "Sorry for his behaviour. He always gets like that when he's drunk. He definitely didn't mean to hurt your boyfriend!"

Berwald blinked as well, before nodding.

"W-wait!" Tino suddenly spat out. Mathias looked at him, one eyebrow raised in question.

"S-so… You guys are all okay with it? I-I mean, with me and Berwald being, you know…"

Mathias started laughing again. "Sure dude! And I mean, it was kinda obvious. Berwald has been visiting your office non-stop the past month." Tino started blushing again.

"And hey-" Mathias pulled Lukas close. "It's not like you're the only one around here!"

Lukas lightly choked Mathias with his own tie, but didn't break away from the hug. Tino and Berwald were still dumbfounded. Emil rolled his eyes and bent over to whisper something in Tino's ear.

"Don't mind them. You actually look kind of cute together."

Tino was beet red by now. Berwald possessively laid an arm around his shoulder and pulled him away from Emil, not knowing what he had said. Emil just shrugged and went back to the bar, followed by Lukas and Mathias (Mathias trying to kiss Lukas, while Lukas kept pushing him away but secretly enjoyed the attention).

"So… I guess everyone's okay with it then…" Tino said after a long pause. He looked up at Berwald, who was frowning and looked very confused.

"G'ss so," Berwald replied. (Guess so)

When the music slowed down, Tino's smile widened. This was wonderful news. He gently took Berwald by the hand and pulled him to the dance floor. Berwald, oblivious to his intentions, obediently followed. When they got to the dance floor, and Tino put Berwald's arms around his waist, the Swede looked flustered.

"Don't worry. Only look at me, all right?" Tino whispered.

Berwald nodded, and flashed him that special smile, reserved only to his lover. Everything was fine. Their co-workers knew about their relationship, and they had absolutely nothing against it. As long as the boss didn't find out (the man wasn't really pro-relationships at work; there were no written rules about it, but it was always for the better to stay on Ludwig's good side), everything would work out in the future.

Tino slowly placed his head on Berwald's chest, closing his eyes. He softly sang along with the lyrics of the song.

Berwald placed a gentle kiss on top of Tino's head. He wanted to stay like this forever. Never letting go, ignoring everyone around them. Only the two of them mattered.