Authors note: I don't know the people or own anything/anyone etc etc Don't sue me etc. For the record: "Kulta" is Finnish for "Darling".

Chapter 1

I knew that my constant worrying irritated Bam, but I couldn't help but to worry about Lauri sometimes.

"Dude, I'm sure he's fine." Bam huffed at me.

I'd been pacing anxiously all day because I couldn't find Lauri anywhere. I thought I looked in every possible place but there was no sign of him.

"Seriously, he's fine, stop fucking pacing before you wear a hole in my carpet." Bam sighed, clearly getting annoyed at my anxiety.

I didn't listen to Bam, because no matter how many times he told me that Lauri was fine, I couldn't accept that as a solution to his disappearance when there was every chance that he might not be okay. Bam sighed at me again when he realised I wasn't listening to his blasé reassurance.

"Have you tried the garden?" Bam huffed, "Every other time he's disappeared he's been in a fucking tree somewhere."

I knew Bam was trying to give me ideas of where to find Lauri so that I would hurry up and find him so that he didn't have to watch me pace around the house anymore. Bam was always a very laid back person, and it always irritated him when people around him didn't act in the same way. I was more concerned with finding Lauri than I was with catering to Bam's needs, but never the less I made my way outside to see if I could spot Lauri anywhere.

I knew it wasn't going to be terribly easy to find Lauri, if he was even outside at all. I tried to phone Lauri earlier but he didn't answer his phone. I thought I might as well try once more before I started looking for him just in case he answered this time. I pulled out my phone and dialled Lauri's number again, hoping he'd answer this time. I heard the phone click when Lauri answered. Lauri never spoke first on the phone, so I knew it was my cue to talk.

"Lauri, I've been looking for you all day! Are you okay?" I asked as I sighed a breath of relief.

Lauri didn't reply; he seldom spoke, so I wasn't surprised when he didn't respond to my question.

"Where are you?" I asked in Finnish, knowing that he was more likely to respond to Finnish.

"Talking to the birds." Lauri whispered back to me in Finnish before hanging up the phone.

I sighed as I put my phone back in my pocket; I was going to have to guess where he was. I knew that if he was talking to birds, it meant he actually was in a tree somewhere – but where? Bam's house had a forest right next to it, how was I supposed to find him in there? I had no choice but to start looking because it was the only way I would find him. He never told me where he was because he liked knowing that no one could find him unless he wanted them to. I wasn't angry, or even annoyed, at having to search for him in a forest – I knew that by no one knowing where he was he felt safe, and that was something I would never want to take away from him.

I wandered aimlessly towards the towering trees of the forest and just hoped that I was going in the right direction to find him.

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It didn't take me long to find Lauri. I was just thankful that he was a creature of habit. The first place I checked was where I'd found him a couple of times before now when he disappeared. There was one tree that he liked to climb at the edge of the forest near Castle Bam. I was never sure why he liked that tree in particular, but at least it made it easier for me to find him.

I approached the tree slowly to make sure Lauri had seen me coming – I didn't want to startle him. I stopped in front of the tree and looked up to see if he was there. I could see his back facing in my direction and legs dangling limply; he was sitting on a high branch in the shadow provided by the trunk of the tree.

"Lauri, kulta," I called out softly, "Won't you come down from there?"

Lauri turned his head back and glanced down at me over his shoulder. Without replying he carefully manoeuvred his body to face the other way so that he was facing in my direction. Lauri watched me carefully, still swinging his legs back and forth. He didn't give me any indication that he was going to climb down from the tree anytime soon; he just smiled that sweet smile at me.

"Kulta, I was worried about you, can you please come down?" I asked him with a slight smile.

Lauri continued to watch me but didn't move from his spot on the branch. He tilted his head sideways and continued to smile at me. I smiled to myself when I realised that he was playing with me again.

"Lauri, you know I won't come up there." I laughed.

Time after time Lauri tried to get me to climb up trees to get him, rather than him just climbing down. I was never sure why he felt the need to try and get me to retrieve him, but I guess he was just a playful person like that. I never went up and got him because I was afraid of heights, and he knew that, but he still kept trying to get me to get him down.

After Lauri realised that I wasn't going to climb up the tree after him he playfully pouted his bottom lip at me. His child like pout turned into a grin as he started to climb down the tree. Playing games with me always amused him to some degree – it just made me happy to finally see him smiling more.

Lauri climbed down each individual branch to get to the ground. He moved with such precision and fluidity that it obviously came naturally to him. Some people could just walk on uneven rocks and climb the tallest trees easily, and some people couldn't – Lauri was obviously one of the people who could. Without hesitating I was already walking towards Lauri, meeting him face on when he turned around. I pulled him into my arms, almost crushing the small man. I exhaled a deep sigh of relief. Now that he was in my arms I knew he was safe.

"Ville…" Lauri managed to barely choke.

"Oh sorry, Lauri!" I laughed as I released him from my crushing grasp.

Lauri stepped backwards and leant forward as he coughed lightly, trying to recover from having the air forced out of him.

"Are you okay?" I asked apologetically.

Lauri stood up straight and nodded. He smiled before moving forward to initiate another hug between us. I wrapped my arms around his waist more carefully this time. Lauri rested his arms on my chest and hunched his shoulders forward. I moved my arms up and wrapped them around his shoulders and pulled his body closer to mine. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. It always made me sad when Lauri wanted to be held like this, because I knew that when he felt vulnerable he liked me to hold him so that he felt protected. It always worried me, because every hug we shared made me think about every word he never spoke and that made me wonder what he was thinking about and what kind of things he never told me.

I opened my eyes when I felt a brush of cold air. The sun was starting to set and the breeze was picking up.

"We should go inside, Lauri." I told him in Finnish.

Lauri looked up at me, slightly confused. He could see me gazing into the distance, watching the setting sun. He turned his body slightly so he could look in the same direction as I was to see what I was looking at. Lauri smiled at the changing colours in the sky, I would have bet that he didn't even notice how late it had gotten while he was in the tree. Lauri had never been observant to things like time, he lived by experiences and remembered points in time by the events that occurred in and around that point in time. My guess was that if he remembered tonight, he would remember the beautiful pink and orange colours of the sunset and being in my arms.