Sorry this update took so long, but there's a lot to it and a lot of notes at the end , but it encompasses Christmas, so, enjoy!
Winter in England was nothing like winter in Germany.
Ludwig tried not to think about it, about Christmas coming nearer, brining memories of his grandfather and brother, and all of the pain those memories now carried. Yet every time he passed a window and saw the snow that wetly clung to the city around them, he sighed. Winter in Germany was much grander. He had been eager to see how it compared to a Swedish winter, and so now felt rather disappointed.
Having completed a pointless lap around the house, he climbed the stairs to head back to the bedroom to read, again, secretly feeling almost sad that Berwald hadn't come to interrupt him again. Admittedly it would be a bad habit for him to develop if it did it constantly, but he couldn't help partially wishing that he would come seek out his attention again.
As Ludwig began down the hallway, however, he spotted Lukas coming out of one of the rooms. Only, it wasn't the room he shared with Mathias. The room he was exiting was the room Ludwig shared with Berwald. Lukas looked directly at him, those entrancing eyes making him slow his step until he paused a few feet away. He didn't say anything, and didn't offer any explanation as to what he had been doing, he simply stared at him until he blinked, and then turned around and walked down the hall to his own room, shutting the door without looking back. His entire body felt almost tense as walked forward and looked inside the room. Nothing seemed immediately out of place, but as he entered he spotted something resting on the chair that sat beside the window. He approached the chair and then lifted the foreign object into his hands slowly.
Ludwig had seen Lukas with a sketchbook in his lap a few times, but had never seen any of his drawings until now. Centered on the piece of paper that had been left on the chair was a beautiful drawing of a small cluster of hellebore. The flowers were drawn to their actual size and each had their own unique details, as though he had drawn it while looking at the real thing, although Ludwig was certain he hadn't. The lightly sketched background seemed to suggest snowfall, and the faintness with which the details of the broad petals were drawn suggested that they were white with dark stems, exactly as they would look this time of year.
Hellebore was an ever-green plant that flowered even in winter in Germany. His grandfather had meticulously kept some in the garden on the side of the house that had once been planted by his grandmother before she passed away. Gilbert called the plant the "Christmas rose", and had kept one pressed between the pages of a booklet he always carried with him, though the rest of the small book's content was a secret, even from him.
He shook his head and was about to set the drawing back down when he noticed some writing at the bottom of the page, and then blinked in surprise.
"For Ludwig." it said simply.
He stood there for a long time, simply staring at the drawing. He wondered what had compelled him to do such a strange thing. A drawing like this would have certainly taken a fair amount of time, not that they had much else to do, but he hadn't been certain of the terms he was on with Lukas. Was this some form of a peace offering? But what about the odd delivery? He could have handed it to him, or said something when he came up the stairs, but he didn't. Why?
After a bit he simply decided that if Lukas had something to say, he would say it, and for now he should just thank him when he saw him next. He wasn't sure if it was completely by chance that the Norwegian had chosen to draw hellebore over any other flower, but he found himself rather touched by the sentiment, and promised himself he would make sure to find a safe place to keep the drawing.
They spent Christmas in England, and needless to say, it was strange. However, it wasn't strange because he was spending it in England, it was strange because everyone in the household began to act utterly bizarre as they approached the eventful week.
It started with Tino, who began cleaning much more intensely than usual. Obsessively, almost. He even cleaned up things that weren't his, which led to a few minor issues. Ludwig didn't think much of it at first, but then he realized how it had seemed to put the others on edge. That was strange. Next, Berwald, Lukas, and Tino all left one day and returned with tons of white candles in their arms. After that, even Mathias looked anxious. Ludwig tried to ask Berwald what was happening, but he didn't hear him, appearing deep in thought, and after the third time repeating himself he gave up and decided that he would eventually find out.
The house felt tense. Clean, but tense.
With the arrival of Christmas Eve, the tension seemed to peak during the day, but when the sun fell, it disappeared as if it had never been. When it was dark enough, all of the lights were turned off, replaced with dozens of pale candles that were spread out around the main room and kitchen, giving the house an aura that could have been described as consecrated, or maybe just cozy. The Scandinavians finally smiled and Lukas and Emil made a few holiday foods for all of them, the likes of which Ludwig had never even heard of, but enjoyed nonetheless.
They sat together that night in the main room and Berwald finally pulled him close as they sat together. He didn't seem so distracted anymore, and was instead contently observed the activities in the room from behind Ludwig's shoulder, occasionally giving him small, shy kisses when he thought no one was looking. It forced Ludwig to continuously cover his mouth to avoid grinning like an idiot throughout the night.
They ate and drank a little, laughing and telling stories about Christmases past. Mathias told a story about one year when he and his brothers accidently caught their Christmas tree on fire, and everyone laughed while Berwald mumbled something strange about a goat which Tino heard and giggled so hard he tipped over. Ludwig frowned, not understanding, but laughed a little at the blond rolling on the ground beside them.
Before the night grew too late, however, Mathias had slipped into the kitchen to fetch a bag of almonds he had been watching strangely for a few days and returned with some kind of rice pudding that contained the carefully watched almonds. He gave a bowl to each of them and grinned widely before asking Ludwig what Christmas was like in Germany.
This earned him a lot of attention he would have rather avoided, but they all seemed to be genuinely interested in the kinds of traditions he was familiar with coming from Germany. He told them of the popular Advent calendars his grandfather used to give to him and his brother when they were young and also of the toy nutcrackers they would play with. Emil quietly told him that if he brought something like that to Iceland during this time of year, it would come to life. Mathias laughed loudly at him but Ludwig frowned as he remembered thinking that some of them had looked rather frightening to him when he was a child.
That night Mathias hugged everyone as they went up to bed, and although Lukas tried to punch him, he managed to nimbly move around his fist and grabbed him up in a tight hug, which made everyone chuckle a little. Berwald and Ludwig went to bed together as they normally did, although the Swede kept a candle lit in their room for the rest of the night, but wouldn't tell him why. He suspected a few others did the same, though.
Christmas morning came at last, and everyone was awakened at the crack of dawn by a pajama-wearing Mathias. Ludwig, who was more accustomed to waking up early and at a moment's notice, then watched each of the others sleepily stumble down the stairs, looking as though the only thing that was preventing any of them from murdering the Dane in cold blood was the holiness of this particular day, and perhaps the considerable amount energy it would take to catch him. Mathias seemed oblivious to the deadly vibes that emanated from the others, and happily bounced around them, hugging everyone he could get his arms around.
Most of the others headed straight to the kitchen to start the coffee and begin making food, but once Tino rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he greeted Mathias happily and they sang a little. Ludwig laughed and tried to help as much as he could, and after a chaotic breakfast where they ended up cooking at eating at the same time in an attempt to have holiday food ready for later, they made it to the main room and exchanged gifts.
It had been hard to go shopping discretely (and honestly, to go shopping at all, even with the attempts British propaganda was making to keep things hopeful and cheerful), but Berwald and Tino had both gone with him a few days before, and he had managed to pick up something for each of them. Not to mention Lukas actually smiled at him when he saw the new sketchbook he had got for him, which made him smile back even wider. Mathias got alcohol from almost everyone, which made everyone laugh, if not nervously. Emil had been given a new jacket by Lukas, since his old, brown one was nearly falling apart, and the Icelander gave him an awkward side hug as thanks, which appeared to amuse the Norwegian who took him into a larger hug suddenly and against his will.
Mathias gave Ludwig a necklace with a strange cross-shaped pendant, and when he looked up questioningly, he realized that all of them wore something similar. The Dane proudly told him that he offered it to him because he wanted him to become an "official" member of their group and they both shared sentimental smiles while Emil and Lukas scoffed and Berwald rolled his eyes.
As things began to calm down, however, Tino's smile grew large enough to indicate that he was hiding something. When he was finally questioned about it, he simply jumped up excitedly and ran upstairs. Everyone looked to Emil for an explanation as his roommate, but he only frowned at them and ate the licorice Berwald had managed to get for him in silence. After a moment, Tino returned with a festive hat and an oddly shaped bag. He grinned widely as he gave them each a present from the bag, shouting about Christmas in Finnish while they laughed.
He sensibly gave Mathias a red bottle opener, which he had painted with a white cross to resemble the Danish flag. He looked torn between the want to laugh and cry as he got up and hugged the shorter Finn. Emil received a strange gift of black thread and a few black patches of cloth, which he quickly set away, but looked at Tino with a rare expression of honest thanks. He gave Lukas an even stranger gift, however, which was a rather impressive butter knife. By the way the two looked at each other, he gathered it was an inside joke. Then, he gave Ludwig a bar of German chocolate, surprising everyone, but when he was questioned as to how to had managed to obtain the item in question, the Finn just winked cheerfully and turned to the last person in their group. By then, they had all realized that the bag was moving.
"Er, what's that?" Mathias asked him loudly, trying out his new bottle opener successfully.
"Remember the puppies we saw in the window when we were shopping?" Tino asked, positively beaming as he spoke.
Berwald looked mildly fearful, but nodded after a moment. Ludwig remembered that, too; it was when they had all gone together. The tall, seemingly-stoic Swede had almost been left behind as Ludwig and Tino walked on because he had been playfully tapping on the store window as tiny, white puppies tried to catch his finger through the glass. The bag let out a high-pitched bark and Mathias laughed in disbelief as the Finn reached inside and drew out the last item: a tiny, white puppy with a red ribbon around its neck.
He bent down and let the small dog into Berwald's lap. He stared down at it and it stared up at him, and then excitedly began trying to catch his fingers when he offered them, successfully capturing his index finger at last. He smiled affectionately at the small, fluffy creature, and then looked up at Tino and tilted his head almost shyly.
"Thanks, Tino," he said softly.
He seemed to stutter a bit, but still smile cheerfully. "Of course,"
The rest of Christmas Day was mostly spent playing with the new puppy and eating strange food. As they tried to name the dog, however, they quickly decided that, although Tino had been the one to give Berwald the small dog, he was not very good at naming it.
"Hmm," Tino had appeared to honestly be deep in thought before speaking. "Sardine Panic."
Everyone seemed to be waiting for Tino to admit he was joking, but when he didn't, Ludwig and Mathias had laughed so hard they fell over on each other while Lukas and Berwald exchanged very concerned expressions.
"What, seriously?" Emil asked him in disbelief.
Tino looked at him with his eyebrows raised innocently, as if that were a perfectly normal name.
"Well, I like it," Mathias told him as he pushed himself back up, trying to smother his grin to look serious, but ended up only smiling wider as he attempted to call the dog to him before he fell over on Ludwig again, dissolving utterly into laughter. "Come here, little Sardine Panic,"
"Well, how about…" everyone hushed to hear the next idea. "Cheese Castle?"
Another loud roar of laughter sounded from Ludwig and Mathias.
"For the love of God, no!" Lukas cried as Emil let out a noise of anguish.
Berwald's expression as he stared at the Finn was that of a broken man.
Tino frowned a bit around the room and then studied the poor, innocent dog once more. "I've got it: Bloody-Hanatamago."
Ludwig almost couldn't breathe with how hard he was laughing. What did that even mean?
"…how about just Hanatamago?" Berwald asked as the small puppy rolled over so he could pet its stomach.
"Could we call her Hana for short?" Mathias asked, wiping his eyes and helping Ludwig to sit back up too.
"Hana sounds nice," Ludwig added.
"It sounds normal," Lukas murmured, and Ludwig and the Dane had to stifle a few chuckles.
Tino looked slightly disappointed, but Berwald was smiling, and after a moment he looked back down at the dog.
"Come here, Hana," he called experimentally.
The puppy in question stared at him for a moment, and then rolled back over on to his paws and made his way onto the Finn's lap. Mathias cheered happily and Berwald nodded in satisfaction.
"Hana's good, too," Tino smiled in a good-spirited manner, and after the puppy moved off his lap, everyone took turns hugging him again.
But, for the rest of the holiday, anytime someone said anything about cheese or sardines the room burst into laughter, which was followed by Finnish curses.
Christmas away from home wasn't so bad this year, Ludwig thought.
Okay, there's a few notes for this section:
First of all, it's come to my attention that the proper terms are "Finn" and "Finnish", sorry about that.
Second, the weirdness among everyone but Ludwig was supposed to be sort of a play on the fact that nearly all the holidays in their corresponding countries are a little different and on different days because when Christianity began to dominate the area, they used holidays like Christmas to cover up the pagan holidays in order to get people to convert more easily. So, for example, the thing about getting tons of candles while they're acting all weird is reference to the old pagan festival of light that was held in the middle of winter. Now, in countries like Sweden, they celebrate St. Lucia's Day (or St. Lucy's Day) on December 13th, which is a celebration that still centers around lights and candles and stuff, but is Christian themed instead.
Things like Tino cleaning up before is based of Finnish tradition, as is Mathias' thing about almonds (it's typical to made a special kind of rice pudding on Christmas Eve that includes almonds).
When Emil mentions nutcrackers coming to life, it's actually more of a reverence to New Year's Eve/Day, since in Iceland there are many traditions of magical events that happen on that day (some even include the dead rising o.o).
When Berwald mutters about goats it's in reference to the "Yule Goat" (also called the Gävle Goat). Even though the tradition of building the large one most are familiar with didn't start officially until the 1960's, the tradition of goats being associated with yule-time holidays far enough back to be connected with the Norse god Thor.
Finally, the bit about the necklace they give Ludwig is sort of a reference to the "Nordic Cross". It's not an actual cross, even though the description is vague, it's intended to suggest something more between the Christian cross, which is a t shape, and the Nordic symbol of Mjölnir (Thor's Hammer), which is more of a T shape. The ambiguity is on purpose.