Captivated by the sight of unfamiliarity, Emil's body remained glued to its place, allowing only his eyes to follow. Emil held up a hand and placed it over his chest, feeling the increasingly erratic beating of his heart.
"Oh, crap…" Emil whispered to himself, a heat rushing to his face. "...This is kind of weird, isn't it…?"
He couldn't care. There was no abandoning these sudden affections. His eyes flitted from place to place, afraid they might catch him staring. That would be more awkward than this already was. He managed to pull himself away, if only for a moment, to avoid the unpleasant artlessness of being caught admiring a total stranger.
He glanced back, the sight of them causing Emil to shiver out of his control. He strategically placed his hands over his mouth, feigning cold.
"Oh, God, what am I doing?" He asked himself once more, eyeing the confused stranger in his peripheral vision. "Just, relax or something."
Emil breathed in slowly and sighed, attempting to ease the jovial nervousness that overtook his senses. He watched his breath form in the cold air and counted.
"Uh, hey there, could you please tell me where I am?"
The voice had caught Emil off guard,"What?" Seeing the very foreigner before him made him flinch. Impressive, how they appeared to be in the same age range as him. What a score.
"Kind of weird, but you see I have no idea how I got here, honestly. Maybe if you could tell me where I am or give me directions…? Sorry to bother, by the way." They spoke with a heavy Cuban accent.
Their words went through one ear and out the other as Emil tried to control himself in the face of his unexpected interest,"Uhm, I, you. Hi, I'm Emil." He choked on his own tongue.
"Ah, okay, Emil… I'm Carlos. Could you please tell me where I am? I really don't mean to annoy you or anything." Carlos continued to request through chattering teeth, arms wrapped around himself.
"Iceland! You're in Iceland!" Emil half yelled with a strained voice. "You can come to my place to stay!" He paused, shaking,"I mean, if you want too."
"So, I'm somehow in Iceland..? How the heck... Also, thanks for your hospitality, but I'm sure I could find maybe a hostel at least to stay for now."
"No, really! It's alright with me." Emil pressured, albeit he worried he sounded kind of desperate.
"Well, if you're sure, I guess. Sounds nice." Carlos finally agreed, laughing a bit. He gave Emil a pat on the back,"So, where is your place?"
Emil walked ahead, motioning for Carlos to follow. He came up to the bike rack and unlocked his bike from it. Carlos came up shortly behind.
"I, uh, only have one bike. But you can ride mine or rent one for now."
Carlos studied the bike,"Wow, I didn't know a person's whole house could be a bicycle."
"What? Oh, ha. Hahahaha." Emil anxiously laughed.
Carlos laughed at his own joke as Emil stood hopelessly for a few moments.
"Ah ha…You know, you can ride it, I can walk or something." Emil said, pushing the bike over to Carlos.
"Really? That isn't fair for you, though."
"Yeah, really. It's okay, I'll be fine."
"Alright, sure, I'll try it."
The two started their way out of town, Carlos on a bike, thinking of how weirdly hospitable the boy was but glad, and Emil on foot, questioning his individual motive and reasoning. Every now and then, Carlos would speed ahead of Emil, leaving him some meters behind. Emil would jog back up to him, keeping the pace.
"It's pretty dang cold here, isn't it?" Carlos stated.
Emil nodded,"Yeah, pretty much."
"I think I'm starting to get hypothermia."
A few minutes passed by in silence between them. The day sky gradually faded into a deeper blue. On the horizon, a house took shape before the two.
"There it is, that's my place." Emil told.
"Thank God."
Arriving at the door of his home, Emil took the bike, kicked out the stand, and stood it beside the house, in a hurry to get Carlos inside. Grasping the handle, he twisted it and pushed in the door for it to swing inside from the momentum. Emil nudged Carlos inside, partly from adrenaline rush of his sudden love about him and because he couldn't have a person freeze to death on his doorstep.
As Emil walked in behind Carlos he was welcomed home with blank stares from Matthias and Lukas who happened to have a direct view of them coming in from the living room.
"Sorry to break it to you, Emil, but Berwald and Tino already went out to get groceries." Matthias jokingly remarked. "Thanks anyway."
"Emil," Lukas calmly inquired,"Who is this?"
"This is...Carlos?" Emil replied, now unsure of his decision to bring them home.
Everyone, including Emil himself, was now looking at Carlos.
"Uh, hey. Emil invited me over, but I'll leave if it's not okay with you all." Carlos offered, feeling rather awkward.
"No, it's alright," Lukas responded, all the while looking fixedly on Emil. He gestured for Carlos to sit with them.
"So, Carlos, where are you from? What's your business with my little girl?" Matthias questioned, attempting more pointless dialogue. Emil merely took his seat with them, ignoring the Dane's joking.
Carlos smiled tensely,"I have no clue. One moment I'm with my friend, Matthew, and all of a sudden I'm apparently in Iceland!" He then straightened his posture,"You know, I bet that wasn't Matthew at all! It was probably that Alfred guy just messing with me again! Ugh, I really hate him sometimes. He's always so loud and annoying, but this is really overkill for him. Tch, pathetic."
The rest of them watched and listened to Carlos complain about Alfred for a good five minutes. Several gestures were made and many comparisons were said. He skipped around in his complaints but always made them somehow circle back to each other for it to become a never ending loop of malcontent. When it seemed to be over, he had another reason for why the guy was a pain in the neck.
All the while, Emil had been listening intently. Focusing on every word, he was growing further into his infatuation for Carlos. How passionately he spoke of his hatred for another only deepened Emil's yearning. He reclined on his arm and leaned forward.
Everything was quiet for an uncomfortable number of seconds subsequent to the ranting.
After the heat had officially died down Matthias added,"Anyway, you know where he could sleep?"
"...Here would be fine," Lukas suggested, glancing at their guest for acceptance,"Yes?"
Carlos nodded,"Yeah, here is-" He was cut short.
"Then l-let me get your things!" Emil interfered, hurrying to his room. Practically tearing the blanket off his bed and gathering as many pillows he could hold, he ran back.
"You're very neighborly today, Emil!" Matthias affirmed.
Emil ignored him, only motioning for everyone to get up from the couch. As he set up Carlos' temporary bed, Berwald and Tino walked in, hauling in bags of produce.
"Oh! We have a visitor…!" remarked Tino, briefly touring to the kitchen to place his share of groceries on the table.
Staring for a split moment, but utterly disregarding the situation, Berwald followed.