Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for the Samsung Corby Plus! *muhahahahahahahaha*
Pairings: SuFin (and a few other side pairings...I am not sure, the plot bunnies keep on telling me to do spin-offs with those pairings sitting in my head, should I?)
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
The Definition of a Good Day
If you had asked Tino Väinämöinen on the morning of April 27th how he thought his day would turn out to be, his answer would have been something along the lines of 'terrible and horrible'.
And you would have probably nodded your head in agreement on seeing the bump sporting on the man's forehead or the state of his breakfast; a few Ohukainen's that were quite burnt around the edges and soggy in the middle and a cup of tea that was bitter beyond imagination. And wasn't there an old saying, 'Morning shows the day'?
So it's no wonder that you would've been surprised on hearing the words that poured out of Tino's lips at about a quarter to eight that very day, when you inquired as to how his day was.
"Just wonderful!"
And you would've asked yourself, "Who am I to question that 1000 watts smile?"
So what could've happened that swung his moods from one pole to the other you ask? Well to know that, you might want to rewind the hands of your watch to five in the evening.
When Tino spotted the silhouette of a certain client lounging on a Meeks Stanton Hall armchair in the gorgeous living room of a certain British novelist, he knew that the gods were out to get him. Resigning himself to the fates he weaved his way through the maze of furniture to the man with a pair of rather 'unique' eyebrows, who was scrutinizing the man sitting before him with a mild homicidal aura. And the man in question simply stood up in response to Tino's presence, exclaiming,
"Tino ma chéri, tu es là!"
"Bonsoir Monsieur……I mean Francis. Good evening Mr. Kirkland. What can I do for you today?"
"Je suis impatient à l'idée de te faire des choses mon petit chaton!"
The Frenchman purred, earning himself the following name from the already-beyond-irritated Brit,
"Bloody wanker!"
"Tasteless Britannique!"
"Constantly horny wench of a man!"
"Souhaitez-vous pas l'amour que d'avoir, mon amour?!"
"Enough! Could you two please enlighten me as to what exactly is going on here?"
Tino tried very hard to keep the antagonism boiling inside him as far away as possible, but damn the etiquettes if his clients couldn't behave themselves.
"Ah yes……well it seems that Mr. Bonnefoy here would like to personally supervise the retrieval of his 'precious' pedestal set from my manor. As if I would even think of keeping that thing in my place!!"
"And what would YOU know of art de la Renaissance?"
A silky voiced laced with venom issued out from the armchair in a corner.
"I thought this was taken care of yesterday? And please, can we behave a bit more civilly with each other, please?"
"Seulement parce que vous l'avez dit mon cher."
Francis Bonnefoy flashed a smile at Tino that made him want to tuck his tail between his legs and make a run for the door. But, he couldn't, so he did the only thing he could of and replied,
"Thank you. Now as for the set, there's no need for you to come down here Francis, the movers would safely deliver it to your château."
"I know, mon chaton. But I wanted to meet the man, who could be so rude about the renaissance, so…"
The snort following his statement was the only response the Frenchman received.
At that moment Tino wished for nothing more than to tie both his clients up and ship them over to some remote island in Africa. But as luck would have it, he didn't need to take such a drastic step.
"W' here to ge' th' pede'al s't."
A gruff voice could be heard from the doorway.
Turning his head around, Tino's stomach did a summersault, as he spotted Berwald Oxenstierna in a tanned overall, his dirty platinum locks tucked away behind his ears save for a few loose strands, and his signature glasses perched high up on his nose.
The two men before Tino stopped talking as they took in the rather intimidating feeling resonating from the frown on the man's face.
It was a booming voice that broke the dry silence that hung over them.
"Mr. Kirkland, I aæm so æsoærry æfor thåe miæks-upe, håonestely I 'æm!"
A man in his late twenties strode into the room, also dressed in tanned overall, with the word 'Asgard' sewn artistically on his breast pocket, along with the name 'Mathias'. His accent was clearly one of Danish roots and it went along well with his boorish features.
"It's alright, as long as you get THAT out of my house!"
Arthur Kirkland answered with a huff.
"You håærde thå' æman!"
It was quite clear that the Dane was the one in charge of the workers.
But Tino barely paid any attention to his or anyone else's words, except for the timbre of the man who was gently wrapping a chair in Styrofoam, as if even the slightest of touch would somehow end up turning it into dust. His eyes followed the colossal hands that stroke the back of the chairs, and he couldn't tear his gaze away, as if hypnotized by a magic spell. And before he knew it, his legs had carried him next to the man with sea green eyes.
It was only when his eyes met with Berwald's did he remember where he was. Summoning his fast depleting courage, he stammered,
"Ummmmmmm, do you want to come and visit Hanatamago afterwards?"
Even as he was speaking, his brain was on overdrive.
What if he already had other plans? What if he thought I was some sort of a weirdo, who liked to go around asking people they have only just met to go visit their dog? Oh God, why is he staring at me like that? Rakas Jumala!
"Ok'y." Berwald replied with a shrug.
"Good! I'll see you after you're done over here, then eh?"
"Hn."
A part of Tino wanted him to get done with work as soon as possible, but apparently his clients had something else in mind.
Still arguing at the top of their lungs, Tino quickly placed himself in between the two before things could escalate any more.
"Please, let's all behave like proper gentlemen, now shall we?"
He threw in a pleading glance similar to the one Hanatamago gave him when he wanted to curl up on his lap, and just like it worked with Tino, it had more-or-less the same effect on the two men.
"Bien sûr, ma chère, tout ce que vous dites!"
The Frenchman hooked an arm around Tino's waist as he said those words.
"I apologize for my conduct, even if I was provoked and it was well-deserved by the other party, I shouldn't have behaved in such a crude fashion."
The British man followed suit.
"It's alright; let's just get this over with, ok?"
As soon as the set was loaded on to the truck, Tino found himself sighing in relief; whether it was simply because he was rid of his clients for the time being, or that a certain mover just became free, he wasn't sure.
After Berwald finished his work, he made his way to the cerulean smart car waiting at the driveway. As he walked around the bushes, he couldn't help but feel a small tinge of red creeping up on his cheeks at the sight of Tino chewing on his lower lip as he leaned on to the car.
It was just…………he had no idea what it was!
"Ah, so you're done for the day, right?"
Nodding in agreement, Berwald chose to focus on the dash board of the car, as he hopped on to the passenger seat at the front…right next to the driver's seat…where Tino was seated......think of carpentry…the chair back home needs a new coat of varnish…yes, think of that and not of the guy next to you…carpentry…varnish…carpentry………
Berwald chanted those words as if he was reciting a sutra, completely oblivious to the frown that had made an appearance on his face.
Sparing a glance at the scowling man next to him, Tino internally berated himself for asking him to go visit Hanatamago. Surely Berwald had other plans and was just being polite and not turning his invitation down. With such thoughts on mind, he was about to ask the other man where to drop him off, that Berwald interrupted his train of thought.
"Ho's he? Be'ter? E'ting p'op'rly?"
"Eh? Oh yeah, he's really active, always playing around the house."
Tino said with a chuckle.
And before either of them knew it, they were before Tino's cottage.
Parking the car in the garage, he gestured for the other man to follow him into his home.
Drawing up a chair next to the kitchen counter, Berwald cradled the bouncing puppy in his arms, looking straight into those brown orbs. It was as if Hanatamago already knew who he was.
Putting the pup down, he watched as the puppy bounced next to Tino, who was busy preparing a dish in the kitchen, much to his refusal. As the aroma of caramelized onions and meat filled the air, Berwald was oddly reminded of the hash his mother used to make for him as a kid.
And as it turned out, it was indeed a similar recipe, pyttipannu or Swedish hash as he used to call it.
The conversation over the simple snack was light and the lengthiest one Berwald had in weeks, which was saying a lot on its own, considering the man hardly ever spoke. And even though it was mostly based on random stuff ranging from Hanatamago's latest habit of playing with the telephone to his work at the Scandinavian furniture-slash-movers workshop, Berwald actually found himself enjoying the moment, so much so that his frown had almost disappeared. Well almost, because it threatened to make an appearance now and then, when he felt butterflies dance around in his stomach if he caught Tino licking his lips after taking a sip from his cola from time to time.
It was about half-past seven when Berwald decided to head for home. They had been sitting around in the living room, after Berwald had insisted and finally managed to clean the dishes without Tino, playing with Hanatamago and watching an old movie.
"Bye."
"Do you need a lift back home?"
"N', I ca' manag'."
"Oh, okay then. Bye."
Tino waved till the tall man vanished from his sight.
And that was how Tino Väinämöinen's 'terrible' day turned out to be a 'wonderful' day.
Now if you had asked a certain Swede how his day was, he would have first glanced at the screen of his Samsung Corby Plus mobile that read,
'From: Tino
I had fun today, let's do this again sometime……that's if it's ok with you?:) '
After that, he would have shown you a rare smile and mumble,
"It 'as go'd."
XOXO
I apologize for the delay in updating, and in case you are wondering, I am quite well now and plan on posting chapter 6 in the next 24 hrs. Also, I am terribly sorry for the terrible French you had to put up with in chapter 4. This chapter was supposed to be short and simple, but before I could stop myself it became 1813 words! I hope you like this chapter.
Ohukainen is a small and thin pancake cooked in a pancake pan. Larger sized pancakes with lacy edges may be cooked in a regular frying pan. Finnish pancakes may be served with sugar, molasses, whipped cream, ice cream, fresh fruit and berries or jams.
Syn. lettu, lätty, räiskäle.
Pyttipannu is a mixed dish made usually of leftover food, cut into cubes and slowly browned in butter. Most often boiled or raw potatoes, cooked meat or sausages and onions are used as the basic ingredients in hash. An egg is broken in the middle of the hot hash just before serving or served on the side. "Beef Rydberg" (Swedish: Biff Rydberg) is a more elaborate hash, prepared with ox fillet.
Rakas Jumala means Dear God in Finnish.
Valhalla is the resting place of the heroes who die in the battle-field in Norse mythology. They are led there by the Odin's charges, the maidens called Valkyries. (from chapter 4)
Asgard is the house of gods in Norse mythology.
(Yes, I am indeed fascinated by all mythologies.)
French spoken:
Tino ma chéri, tu es là! Is Tino my dear, you're here!
Je suis impatient à l'idée de te faire des choses mon petit chaton means I can't wait to do things to YOU, my little kitten.
Souhaitez-vous pas l'amour que d'avoir, mon amour means Wouldn't you love to have that, my love.
Seulement parce que vous l'avez dit mon cher means Just because you said so my dear.
Britannique is British.
Bien sûr, ma chère, tout ce que vous dites means Of course, my dear, whatever you say.
Bonsoir is Good Evening.
Berwald lingo:
W' here to ge' th' pede'al s't = We (are) here to get the pedestal set.
Ho's he? Be'ter? E'ting p'op'rly? = How's he? Better? Eating properly?
N', I ca' manag' = No, I can manage.
It 'as go'd = It was good.
Danish accent (I merely wrote how it would sound like, I am sorry if it's slightly wrong):
Mr. Kirkland, I aæm so æsoærry æfor thåe miæks-upe, håonestely I 'æm = Mr. Kirkland, I am so sorry for the mix-up, honestly I am.
You håærde thå' æman = You heard the man.
And now, in response to the reviews I have been blessed with.
xXxSilverMoonxXx: Yay if you spot yourself here again! I hope chapter 5 is to your liking.
SonChin: Thank you for the wishes dear, and I am glad you liked Francis.
Mirianna16: Thank you so much for your help!! I hope you like chapter 5, and kindly assist me in the future as well.
Misothekittyboy: Ow, you were pushed into a pool? Lol!
Thank you for saying such nice things!
LittleGirlInRed: I hope waiting for chapter 5 was worth it for you, and thank you for helping me out before. As for the earlier reference to Norse mythology, I figured since Finland was under Denmark and Sweden for a while, it must've rubbed off.
Shounen-Ai: Thanks! As for FrUK…who knows? Even I don't, it's all up to the plot bunnies!
Anina-chan: lmao...the tea part was so hilarious! Hope you like chapter 5!
Bika-chan, Calthia, S.I.R.E. Ruby-san and XXilikecatsXX: Thank you SO much everyone!
Ripan: I took your advice when writing Berwald's dialogues, I hope it was satisfactory this time around. Thanks for the tip!
Syous99 and Black-Yami-Cat: hehe! I am glad you both enjoyed Francis so much, he's going to appear a few more times…me think!
Me: Can't............*cough* breathe...........*cough*
Paramedics: Hang in there, the ambulance is nearby.
Me: *cough*.....Need *cough*......*cough*....REVIEWS.....*cough*