Chapter 11: Berwald and Tino

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The residents of Brookdon had sincere respect for Berwald Oxenstierna, though surprised the man ended up taking a cleaning position of Mathias Køhler's establishment. Even more so, some found it more of a reason to admire the man.

When Berwald was born, though, his parents were well-standing; living in Seattle where his father worked as a manager at a department store and his mother worked at a school's cafeteria as a cook. Berwald wasn't close to his dad as he were his mother, and if asked, the parents would blame it on his dad's work hours. That didn't stop Berwald from noticing his dad's habit of distancing himself; neither did the fact that was the way it had always been.

He wasn't very surprised when he came home to only his mom during his 2nd grade year. He had left, she had said, only leaving a note. Berwald comforted her as she cried, as he did months after that day, through not being able to afford living in their house, moving to Brookdon, the divorce going through, and on nights she felt her hope slip away.

After they settled into Brookdon the summer after the divorce went through, Ms. Oxenstierna was doing better. She was more worried about how Berwald would get through it more than herself. Berwald was always bad at conveying his feelings, but seemed to be doing fine with adjusting to the new home and 3nd grade class.

Berwald always felt that schools were all the same, anyway. During class, all he thought about was how his mother was doing and what he would be doing when he got home. Much less, he really didn't care much about what he was doing in class nor did he care for the students there, especially the ones that tried talking to him.

Mathias Køhler was a prime example at the time, and when he came up to him in the hallway during a bathroom break, he assumed all he wanted was trouble.

"Hi." He simply said, smiling.

"Hi?" Berwald replied under his breath, questioning rather than just responding.

"I'm Mathias, I'm Lukas and Tino's best friend." Berwald had heard the name Tino before, but couldn't quite remember his face. He knew he was in his class and he assumed it was one of the other blonds that he had seen being around Mathias. But he had only glanced before. "Didn't you come here from Seattle?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." There was silence as Mathias just stared at him with his wide, baby-blue eyes. Berwald avoided his eyes and glimpsed down at the floor. "You should sit with us at lunch. Tino, Lukas, and I really want you to."

"Hm?" They wanted him to sit with him at lunch? "But I have to sit with my…"

"That's just a suggestion, I think. Tino and Lukas have never gotten in trouble before. The lunch ladies have a soft spot for them or something. And technically, you will be sitting with someone from your class. Oh! We have to get back to class!" Mathias began to scamper off down the hallway. "See you later!"

Berwald decided to ignore Mathias' request. He wouldn't have been surprised if he was being led into a trap to be humiliated like he's seen happen to the shy kids in TV shows. He would probably tell Mathias that he forgot if he were to be confronted.

As the class got into a line to go to lunch, he felt someone grab the back of his shirt.

"Hey," the person who had grabbed his shirt greeted him, his voice cracking a bit. Berwald looked at him, recognizing that it was Tino. The boy was much smaller than him, as well as the rest of their class. He dressed very formally and his light blond hair was gelled. His smile and violet eyes were both shining with interest and shyness. Suddenly Mathias' request seemed like a great idea.

"Are you going to sit with us? Mathias said you were." He almost seemed like he was pleading, and Berwald found it hard to consider telling him no.

"Sure." Berwald answered.

Tino's smile grew larger. "You are? That's great!" As they walked to lunch, Tino stayed next to Berwald's side.

"Where did you move from?" Tino asked, tip-toeing over the edges of the floor tiles.

"Seattle."

"Why?"

"Couldn't afford staying."

"Why?"

"My dad left."

Tino looked up, surprised. "Wait, what?"

"Tino, get back in line." The teacher called, glancing back from the front of the line. "And stop talking."

"Sorry, Ms. Warner!" Tino got back behind Berwald. "What's your favorite color?" He whispered to Berwald.

"I like blue." He whispered back, looking over his shoulder.

"Me too." Tino smiled.

In the lunch room, Mathias was already there and sitting in front of Lukas as the other tossed mini pretzels at him.

"Trade with me." Lukas complained.

"No." Lukas threw another pretzel, hitting him on the cheek.

"Lukas, you're wasting them." Tino whined, sitting next to him and taking the bag out of his hands. Berwald settled next to Tino and took his lunch bag out.

"You decided to sit with us?" Mathias asked, turning to Berwald.

"Of course he did, didn't you tell us he said he was?" Lukas asked him.

"Well, I thought since…" Lukas picked up a stray pretzel and tossed it at him.

"At least he didn't force him to do it." Tino gripped at him, picking up the pretzels and putting them back in the bag. "Right Berwald?"

"Yeah."

"See?" Tino exclaimed, taking a pretzel from the bag and eating it. "You want one?"

Berwald began to regularly sit by the three others at lunch. During class, he and Tino became inseparable, always together in line, during breaks, and when they had to pair up for class. Lukas always included him when they were planning on having a sleepover or party. He became good friends with Mathias, though the two commonly fussed over trivial things.

They would usually hang out at Mathias' house. His parents always cooked snacks for them and offered to take them to the new park in Brookdon. Thankfully, the house was close by Berwald's street, so he was able to walk there. When they were at Lukas' home, his mother was always willing to drive Berwald home, understanding that his mother worked a lot.

When spring break came, Lukas and Mathias were going on a trip to a waterpark while Tino and Berwald stayed back in Brookdon with no plans. Before school ended, Berwald and Tino were sitting at their desks talking.

"Why don't we hang out at your house?" Tino asked. "I could sleep over tonight or something."

"I'll ask." Berwald told him. "You should give me your number so I can call you."

"I uh…" Tino avoided his eye contact. "I don't know it."

"I'll give you mine, then." Berwald tore the corner off of a paper and got a pen out to write his house number down.

"Okay!" Berwald knew something was up with him, but he didn't want to question it and make him uncomfortable. He wrote down his number and gave it to him. "I'll call you later." Tino told him, sticking the paper into his pocket.

That afternoon, the home phone rang. Berwald picked up the phone and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey! Did you ask?"

"I did, my mom said it's okay for you to come over."

"Alright, I'll be there later."

After he hung up, he decided to watch TV to pass the time. At around 7, his mother came into the room. "I made pizza for dinner, when is your friend coming over?"

"He never gave me a time." Berwald shrugged, looking up at the time. "He should be here soon."

"Alright, we'll have to save him a few pieces. I hope he likes peperoni."

"He does."

After dinner, Berwald cleaned up the kitchen and looked at the time again. It was now 6:30 and Tino still hadn't come.

"Maybe something came up." His mom suggested. "Are you able to call him?"

"He never gave me his number." Berwald picked up the phone and looked for the caller ID in the history. "His number isn't showing up on here."

"Then we'll just have to wait." Berwald nodded and sat down at the table again.

At 8:17, Tino had finally turned up carrying a small bag with him. After Ms. Oxenstierna opened the door to let him, he smiled and looked at both of them. "Sorry I'm late."

"It's okay, dear. Is everything alright?" She asked.

"Yes, it is." Tino was avoiding her eye contact now. "My dad was in the middle of something so he wasn't able to bring me."

"That's understandable."

"We saved you some pizza." Berwald chimed in.

"Really? Thanks."

Tino ate his piece of pizza in Berwald's room while they watched TV. He was being strangely quiet, which fed onto Berwald's suspicions. Being concerned, he waited until much later in the night when they were sitting on his bed to ask.

"Hey Tino."

"Hm?"

"What happened?"

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

"Oh." Berwald paused. "That's okay."

After a long pause, Tino cleared his throat. "Really?"

"I can't force you to…" Berwald was interrupted by Tino sobbing. "Tino?"

"I just didn't want to ruin our sleepover, or our friendship. But I can't just keep lying to you or Mathias or Lukas." Tino was now crying, clinging to one of Berwald's pillows.

"Tino please calm down." Berwald grabbed his tissue box from his desk and set it down next to him. "There's a difference between lying and just not wanting to talk about things."

Tino grabbed a tissue and blew his nose. His face was so red; almost like he had been crying for much longer than he had. Tino didn't respond, and he eventually calmed down and stopped crying. He ran his fingers through his hair, upsetting the gelled style he always had.

"If your mom told you that you couldn't hang out with me, what would you do?" Tino asked.

"Hm?" Berwald was confused by the question. His mother loved Tino, why would she do something like that.

"In a pretend situation," Tino added. "If your mom didn't know me, what would you do if she told you that you couldn't be around me? For no reason?"

"I… I don't know." Berwald looked at him. "Did your parents tell you not to be around me?"

"They won't tell me why. They're perfectly okay with Lukas, and you guys aren't that much different, and they never even met either of you. It's so unfair, and at first I tried considering their point of view but I can't! I never disobeyed my parents but what can I do?" Tino ranted, more tears falling down his cheek. Instead of continuing, he pressed his face against Berwald's collar and grabbed onto his arms.

Berwald began crying with him, unable to comfort his friend. He questioned if he was a good friend in general and wondered what Tino's parents didn't like about him. Was he mean? He's never been mean to Tino. Ever. But parents only want what's best for their kids, right?

"How did you get over here if your parents didn't want you being around me?"

"I waited for them to leave the house and I left."

"You what?"

"Left the house."

"Oh." Tino sat back down in his spot and blew his nose into another tissue.

"Ms. Warner told us that nobody is perfect and even adults are wrong sometimes. What makes my parents right all the time?" He angrily pawed at his bangs again. "I'm so sick of this hair stuff."

"I uh…" Berwald stopped thinking about his relationship with his mom and began thinking about his dad. He wasn't in doubt that not only did his dad not care enough to continue supporting him and his mother, but that's how it could work for other families. But he couldn't quite judge Tino's family, he didn't know them. But they didn't know him either. "You can wash it out in the bathroom."

"Good idea."

There's no telling if Tino's rebellious stage began right after that, but he was very cautious at first. Tino had never disobeyed his parents before that. He began coming to school and washing the hair gel out into the sink in the bathroom in the morning. Tino was grounded a few days after starting it, but his parents gave in afterwards and let Tino do what he wanted with his hair.

The next year, Tino lost all guilt that he had when it came to being disobedient. He would show up to the Oxenstierna's front door, asking if Berwald could play. Ms. Oxenstierna didn't question it; Berwald had come to her after Tino told him about his parents' impression of him. She understood the situation much better than he had, and knew Tino wasn't trouble, so she didn't have an issue with him being around.

When middle school came, Tino's parents began to notice his disappearances. This didn't stop Tino at all, and so he continued. He never got into trouble, and usually had Berwald with him. As long as they played safe, Ms. Oxenstierna supported their outings and Tino's rebellion, even when they got in trouble with Tino's parents. She pretended to not know that they had gone out, and assured them that Berwald would be punished for his actions. Which, he never was. Ms. Oxenstierna didn't feel the need to take that sort of nonsense from people who didn't accept her son, after all.

Berwald was very aware as a child, but didn't quite understand the situation like his mother had for the early years of his life. He knew since the beginning that Tino's parents were very rich and had moved to Brookdon because they wanted Tino to grow up in a smaller town than Seattle. He noticed, when he became an early teen, that Tino also lived on high expectations and was expected to not only act, but look a certain way. Unfortunately, as Tino's parents would put it, Tino never reached his physical expectations while he struggled to be an all A student as well. He had lost a lot of his baby fat, but never lost his chubby cheeks or overall tubbiness. They didn't understand that Tino was just a big child, as he was all his life, and decided to try putting him on a diet. Berwald began to have to share his lunch with Tino so he wouldn't have to tolerate eating what his parents gave him.

It wasn't until their last year of middle school that something had triggered Berwald into thinking about why Tino's parents didn't want Tino around him. They knew Berwald was poor, and they didn't want Tino hanging around him as much as they wanted him eating junk food and getting bad grades. He didn't feel as angry as he felt he should have been, and he couldn't imagine how his mom felt about it. He continued to encourage Tino to rebel through high school, not for his own revenge but at this point, he just wanted Tino to be happy and free despite his parents' wants.

Their rules got stricter as Tino was getting older. They encouraged Tino to date, even at age 14, and he gladly went along with it. His parents were happy, but Tino had other plans along the subject of dating. He liked all the girls his parents wanted him to date, but he also thought the same for boys. That was a secret Berwald and the rest wanted to keep as far away from his parents as possible.

When Tino became a sophomore, he began dating a lot. He still made time for Berwald, and it wasn't like Berwald didn't mind the time apart from him. He got more time to hang around Lukas when Mathias was off doing the same as Tino elsewhere. Tino's experience helped him with his own dilemmas when it came to dating, and he would sometimes go on group dates with Tino. Life felt great for them, but Berwald knew that it was all bound to go wrong at some point.

During their Senior year, Tino was dating a guy that lived around the rich neighborhood he did. His name was Eduard and his parents were the same as Tino's, so they had a whole lot in common. His relationship with Eduard had been going on for a couple of months and was one of the few Tino would consider his more serious relationships. Posing as 'friends', Tino's parents were happy to let him come over and him go over to Eduard's.

Berwald was a little too confident that Tino wouldn't let his guard slip, even with that much advantage. Tino had visited and stayed over for the night, and at 1 in the morning, decided he wanted to get too comfortable with Eduard with the door unlocked. Eduard's father would have freaked out about kissing alone, but getting a full glimpse of Tino's boxer shorts and his son under him probably caused a much harsher reaction. Tino was sent out, leaving his things and pants behind, and to home to explain to his parents why he was kicked out. He lied, at first, but decided it was better to explain the truth before they heard it from Eduard's parents.

Tino was kicked out for three days and stayed with Berwald. He was crying hysterically, standing in front of Berwald on his door step as he explained, again, what had happened. Berwald's shirt and pillow were soaked with his tears within the early hours of the morning, and Tino had managed to go through two tissue boxes.

Tino felt a little better once he was able to talk to Eduard again, but sadly he was going to be pulled from school. He ended things with Tino over the phone, trying to not cry. Tino was heartbroken again, and Berwald needed to buy more tissues.

Tino got a call from his dad saying he was able to come back again. He claims that his parents only wanted him to come back because the neighbors would think lowly of them for kicking him out. He was only allowed to stay home until graduation, though. His parents had the decency to give him the money so he would be able to support himself.

Tino focused on getting scholarships, a job, and working for the rest of that year. Berwald began hoping that his friendship with Tino would make it through the rough time, and that Tino wouldn't have to move far off and away from Brookdon after being kicked out permanently.

But after graduation, he, Tino, Mathias, and Lukas partied at Lukas'. The party was partly for their graduation, but mostly for Tino's freedom. Lukas was only able to get a cheap birthday cake, and they watched probably the most badly made movie at the time, but Tino was forever grateful.

Berwald saw a lot of Tino after that; he had gotten a house nearby and they made time to see each other. Berwald continued to work hard to be able to move out himself, and ended up postponing going to college at the time. But he was happy, and that's all that mattered at the time.

One night, a couple months after he turned 21, he had gotten an email. Somehow, a woman named 'Lydia Foster' had gotten his contact information and wanted to speak to him. She had sent a picture of him when he was a child, and proclaimed it was a personal matter. Convinced it was important, Berwald replied to the email and confirmed his identity.

Turns out, Lydia was the sister of his father's new wife. He had moved to New York and married another woman a year after he had left his mother. Berwald learned that he had started a large business there, became wealthy, and even had 3 children there. Frustrated, Berwald wished that the woman hadn't contacted him, but continued to read the email.

Berwald's father was sick and on his death bed, refusing to tell his wife and sister who Berwald was. They had known he was married before, but they didn't know he had a son. Berwald explained that he had been lying, and told her the full story up to when he had left them. Four days after responding, he was notified that, since his stepmother didn't want to take over the business, he would be inheriting it as being the newly discovered oldest child of his father.

Berwald doubted everything at the beginning, but accepted it. Two weeks later, he packed his bags and flew to New York. He stayed with Lydia for a couple of months, arranging things and eventually selling the business. He visited his father twice, once to discuss everything he needed to take over the business, and the final time before he had left, to say goodbye.

In a weak voice, his father apologized for everything he had done. Berwald kept a straight face, listening to his every word before he accepted his apologies and told him goodbye. The word love was never spoken between the two, and when Berwald left the hospital, he finally broke down.

When he arrived home, he went home first, hugged and kissed his mother on the cheek. Berwald had ended up with about 100,000 dollars short of one million, more or less. He repaid his mother's debts, paid rent and the bills for that month, and took Tino out for a drink.

Lydia kept in contact with him for only a year before they eventually stopped emailing each other when Berwald had gotten his own house, but continuing to stay near his mother and Tino. He continued to work different jobs over the couple of years, before Mathias Køhler had come by after coming home from college, giving him the same stare as he did when they first talked.

"Hi! Guess who's going to start a coffee business out here?"

Opening day at Køhler's Koffee was one that Berwald would never forget. Mathias had never been so happy, swinging both Lukas and his brother around before they officially opened. Tino had pulled on Berwald's sleeve, giving his the smile of a free man. It wasn't much different from the one he had shown during their time at school, but it was much more sincere now.

"We did it." He said. He opened his mouth to ramble on about how he happy he was, Berwald assumed. The tears came, and he laughed.

Berwald laughed, too. "We did it." He repeated.

The years after that seemed longer when Berwald thought back at the many people he saw come to and from their still-developing town. He would over hear conversations and stories of the people who would come in that he would be able to remember presently. The people interested him, and he was always sad to see them go.

He remembered the first time Brooke came into the shop. She was a senior in high school looking for a place to relax and fill out papers for school or college, Berwald wasn't too sure. She became a regular, always ordering water to drink rather than the sometimes coffee. The more she showed up, the more stressed she seemed.

One day in particular, near closing time, she was looking really stressed and Berwald decided to sit down with her and talk to her. He kept small talk at first, and then asked her if she needed help with anything.

"No thanks." She told him, nicely. "This water is enough for me."

"Alright." Berwald told her. "If you're hungry, I'll be happy to buy you a snack."

"Really?" She questioned.

"Sure, just let me know." Berwald went back to work before she called him over and asked for a request. He bought her a muffin and sat back down next to her.

"Lukas and Tino make most of these, actually." He told her, pointing to the guys behind the counter that were giving them suspicious looks.

"They're wonderful, thank you."

"It's no problem," Berwald looked down at her paper. "What are you working on here?"

"Physics, actually." She scratched her head. "I'm having a tough time understanding it."

"Hm." Berwald looked at the problem she was currently working on. "I think you're supposed to be taking air resistance into consideration for that."

"Are you sure?" She asked. "Because I don't believe it matters."

"I can't be too sure." He looked up. "Hey Tino, can you come look at this?" Tino nodded and got up from his spot. He picked up her paper and took a look at it. "I think you do this." As he was explaining the problem to her, Lukas came over and looked over their shoulders.

"No Tino, you did the math wrong here."

"Oh, you're right." They helped her finish another problem and fix one she had already done.

"I don't remember how to do ones like these." Lukas groaned. "Hey Mathias!"

Mathias poked his head out of the back room's window. "What's up?"

"Physics." Mathias left the back room and made his was over.

"Okay, move over Tino."

"Letting the expert through," Tino moved to sit next to Berwald. Mathias sat with Brooke, giving her and in depth explanation on how to work out the problems.

The clock rung before she had finished the last question, Brooke began to put up her pencil. "It's okay, finish up on it and then you can go." Mathias told her. She finished up and set her pencil down.

"Thank you guys so much. I'm now sure I'll do well on the quiz tomorrow."

"No problem," Tino replied. "If you need more help, just ask us. I'm sure one of us has an answer."

"Thank you!"

They began greeting Brooke when she came in some afternoons. Mathias became very fond of her and always offered help on her physics assignments. She hung out a lot with Tino and Lukas and spoke to Berwald while he wasn't busy.

One day, she had stopped coming by. Mathias suggested that maybe she was busy with other things. To them, the afternoons became boring again without her. About month later, Brooke finally came by.

Berwald was worried throughout the month, and he knew something was wrong by the way she looked when she came in. She made small talk with them before around closing time. When the clock rang and the other customers left, she still sat in her usual spot. Berwald, Tino, Mathias, and Lukas made their way over and sat by her.

"Is everything okay, Brooke?" Mathias asked.

She shook her head. "I probably should have come to you guys sooner about this; I knew you were going to be worried."

"It's fine." Tino told her, giving her a comforting smile.

"Well, I…" She glanced around at all of them. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh, uh." Tino spoke, shocked.

"That's," Mathias started.

"I," Berwald began.

"It's fine," she laughed, weakly. "I just don't know what to do. I'm not finished with high school and my ex-boyfriend doesn't want anything to do with me now. I… I'm sure I can make it through, right?"

"I'm sure you will." Lukas assured her.

"You're a fast learner; this is nothing that you can't get through." Mathias told her.

"I know but," She sighed. "Raising a child will ruin all my future plans. I don't know how I'm going to afford it, either. And it's all my fault."

"Don't say that." Tino spoke up. "You could always find adoptive parents for the child."

"Would that make me a bad person?"

"Will you love your child?"

Brooke looked down. "Well, of course. I only want them to have a happy life."

"Then you're a good person." Berwald said. Brooke nodded in response.

"Have you found a couple yet?" Tino asked, months after Brooke told them the news. She was now 6 months into her pregnancy.

"Not yet, I'm sure I will soon." She responded. Berwald came into the room from the bathroom. "Hi, Berwald, how's it going?"

"Very good," He responded. "Any luck with the search?"

"Not yet, I can't expect many people to consider taking the offer without thinking it through first, you know?" Berwald nodded.

"I have been thinking a lot about it, though." Berwald said. "And I want to adopt the baby." Tino and Brooke gasped loudly.

"What?" Brooke asked. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I want you to know they're going to be in good hands. And I can assure you I will love them conditionally."

Brooke could only stare with her mouth wide open. "You are serious. But are you sure?"

"Of course I am." Berwald confirmed. "Do you have to think on this?"

"No, not at all." She nodded. "I just need help taking down all the posts."

Berwald arrived at the hospital when the time came for the baby to be born. Brooke went through a successful birth, having very few but small issues. On September 2nd, 11 p.m., Peter Oxenstierna was born. Berwald was only able to see him after he was born, and was soon able to finally hold him.

The boy was absolutely beautiful; and in his arms, Berwald cried more than he had when he left the hospital in New York, having to sit down to prevent falling over.

Berwald got time off of work to take care of Peter. Berwald adjusted well with having the baby to take care of, even with the many nights he had to stay up and feed him. Every day, Tino and/or Brooke would come by to visit and see how things were going. The couple next door to him was trusted to take care of him when Berwald returned to work.

As for the start of his feelings for Tino, he couldn't pinpoint exactly when they had started, if they were there since the beginning. At the time, Berwald didn't know if was how sentimental he was feeling at the time, or if he just got a good look at Tino one October evening. Tino had visited after they had come back from work, and had fallen asleep watching TV and holding Peter in his arms. He couldn't describe what he was thinking or feeling at the time, but he loved it. He excused any doubt in his mind that everything, good and bad, had led him up to that moment and he wanted Tino Väinämöinen in his life more than before.

That wasn't something he can force Tino into. As days went on, Berwald prided himself in his newly found love for his best friend. His dates and serious relationships were no threat to him, either. He would tell him someday, he told himself, but every time 'someday' seemed to come, he felt too weak to tell him.

He knew deep down that he was heartbroken at some degree about his situation. But like everything else that has happened in his life, he knew things will settle down somehow.

Hey guys, I have a poll on my page about which one of my works should be updated more often and it doesn't help that only 2 options were voted on. Please do me a favor and vote. Thank you so much!