They had spent over a month in Iceland, and in all honestly it wasn't as bad as Lukas remembered. Then again, they did have more people, and a small dog, which made things slightly more interesting. Yet, when it became obvious that something was wrong with Ludwig and Berwald started making that helpless face he hated, it wasn't Lukas who did anything. It was Mathias. Not only did he try to do something to help the newest member of their group, he succeeded. Ludwig, who seemed like he hadn't smiled nor eaten a full meal in days, was suddenly laughing as Mathias joked and told him stupid stories. That struck Lukas.

After that, Emil seemed to fall into a foul mood as well, and Lukas later learned that he had lost contact with a friend he had made in England whom he hadn't told anyone about, but again Mathias came to the rescue. He took Tino to town just for something to do and one day they returned with a soccer ball, and the two of them moved the furniture and played in the living room until Lukas ordered them outside.

As he watched them play from the window Tino popped up beside him and cooed happily at how sweet it was to see them playing together. After a minute however, Tino quietly sighed.

"He's been coming in to sleep in my room," Tino informed him in a low voice.

Lukas' eyebrows twitched a bit, and he glanced at him sideways. "He has?"

Tino could see him nod a bit. "Coming to sleep in that second bed. I think he gets lonely, not that he'd ever say so,"

He pursed his lips silently. Emil and Tino had a good relation, but they still had to separate sometimes. Even so, Lukas knew that underneath it all, Emil hated being away from people he trusted enough to feel comfortable with. Spending the day apart was one thing, but sleeping alone every night was another. He hadn't even thought about it.

Later that day, Lukas heard some commotion upstairs, and when he went to investigate, he saw that Mathias had pushed the beds in Tino's room together. No one spoke, but Tino and Mathias both smiled a little.

A few days later, Mathias' strange behavior intensified when he poked his head in the kitchen, asking for Berwald. That in itself wasn't strange, but the tone caught Lukas' attention. It was a meek tone. Mathias would never meekly seek out Berwald. When Lukas pushed him for why he was looking for him, he showed him the small toy puffin that Emil slept with. It was an old plush toy, and there were places where it was tearing and wearing out. In his other hand Mathias held a needle and some thread in a way that suggested he had never held sewing supplies before. Lukas nodded once and took him to find Berwald.

The Swede was outside looking grim, probably thinking about Ludwig who remained persistently unhappy lately, but Lukas was silent as they approached. Mathias offered the small toy to him in the shyest way he had ever seen from the Dane. It seemed to catch Berwald off guard too, but he nodded and they all went inside so he could mend Emil's puffin. Lukas knew that Emil was embarrassed by the fact that he still slept with a stuffed animal, and he hadn't wanted the others to know, but he also knew that the Icelander would appreciate the kind gesture when he was finished being upset about Mathias getting into his things.

Lukas stared wonderingly at Mathias while Berwald worked. What had gotten into him?

Mathias still tended to annoy Lukas, but the amount of times he had to tell him to leave him alone had significantly reduced. He began to knock before he came bursting into their shared room as well, and slowly, Lukas felt his desire to hit him and call him names lessen a bit. He still occasionally took a swing at him and Mathias was an idiot, but, something had changed.

Finally, one evening while they were sitting alone in the living room, Lukas gathered himself up, got out of the chair, and marched over to the couch. Mathias looked up from where he was sitting and smiled stupidly but didn't do anything. So, Lukas sat down next to him. Mathias seemed to be fighting himself to want to hug Lukas, but he was aware that the Dane knew that if he did so Lukas would leave again. Instead, Mathias just moved over a bit to give him more room.

They sat in silence for a moment, and then Mathias inquired about Emil. It was a gentle, casual inquiry, but Lukas looked at him for a long moment before answering honestly. Emil he been sleeping with his and Tino's beds close together now, and his stuffed Puffin was fixed. He was doing better. Mathias grinned happily to hear that, and Lukas felt himself smiling a bit, too.

The Dane then began to ramble about how his oldest brother always did the sewing for them, and that he could never get the string through the loop in the needle anyway, and that's the only reason he asked Berwald to sew the puffin for Emil, but when he trailed off Lukas looked at him.

"Thank you." he said simply.

Mathias paused, his eye wide and his mouth forming a small 'o' of surprise. Then, he grinned widely.

"It wasn't a problem," he beamed.

Lukas began to smile back, and then shoved him a bit and leaned against his shoulder. "Idiot."

Mathias laughed a little, but then he heard him swallow, as if concentrating. After a few seconds, Lukas felt his arm raise and then drape around his shoulders cautiously. It wasn't like the normal, rough hug that Mathias had trademarked, and when Lukas didn't pull away, he found the warmth of his heavy arm to be less unbearable than normal.

They talked on the couch until Lukas got up to make dinner, and even then, Mathias gingerly trailed after him. He talked to him while he cooked, moving constantly from the table to the counter to the doorway, but was always careful to stay out of his way. Just before dinner was finished, however, Lukas felt Mathias' arms wrap around him, and he was pulled into a tight hug from behind.

"Sorry, I just really wanted a hug," he muttered, stubbornly clinging to him for a moment.

Lukas tried to sound and look annoyed, but the hug was shorter than he had expected, and after a tense moment of Mathias waiting to see if he was mad, Lukas bid him to taste what he was cooking. He had only ever done such a thing with Berwald, and it felt a little strange, though he tried to tell himself that it was all in his head.

"Mmm," he hummed as the Norwegian fed him from the large spoon.

Lukas smiled and rolled his eyes at his exaggerated volume. "Does it need more salt?"

Mathias looked at him and then at the salt, and then licked his lips. "Uh, I think, it's actually good on salt,"

His hesitance was new. Normally he would whine about how salty it was, or how there was too much butter, and Lukas would firmly tell him that no recipe ever called for enough of either, but the furthest Mathias went was teasingly pulling the salt out of his reach. Lukas smiled wider before he could stop himself.

After that, it became part of their routine for Lukas to spend almost every evening on the couch beside Mathias. He usually ended up just listening to him talk, since anytime he brought a book to read the Dane whined until he got his attention. In return, however, Mathias often set a pillow on his lap for Lukas to lie on, and it was one of these times that, while the taller man rambled on about fishing, he dozed off for a bit. When he realized he had fallen asleep, he tried to wake up quickly, but then he felt a warm hand gently brush his hair to the side of his face and everything seemed to stop, even his mind.

Mathias' hand felt nice. His hands were large and heavy, but when he was being gentle, they felt rather pleasant. He appeared not to realize that Lukas had woken up slightly, and continued to softly trace the edge of his face with his fingertips, sending occasional chills through Lukas' body. The touches were tender and smooth, and after a few minutes Lukas felt himself being lulled back to sleep.

Before he could fully lose consciousness again, however, his ears picked up the unfamiliar sound of Mathias whispering. What he heard nearly stopped his heart.

"What if I asked you to run away with me, Luke?" his voice was low and soft, filled with a strange sense of longing and tenderness. "Would you say yes? Would you come with me?"

He shifted a little on his lap to hide the way his throat constricted, and for a moment he feared that Mathias had realized he was awake, but the tall Dane only let out a heavy sigh and suddenly scooped him up, carrying him up to bed without a word more. Mathias settled him down into the bed as though he weighed no more than a child, and then lied beside him. It only took a few minutes before he was breathing softly.

As soon as Lukas was certain he was asleep, he rolled over and stared at his face. It was calm, childishly calm, and innocent.

"Don't ask me that," Lukas whispered against the fabric of the pillow as his eyes traced the lines of his face. "Please, don't ask me."

Swallowing hard, he rolled over to his other side and faced the wall. If Mathias asked him, he knew what he would have to say, and it wouldn't the answer he wanted to hear.

Before he could try to clear his mind to sleep, he felt one last surprise from the Dane. His hand, his warm, gentle hand, was blindly reaching for Lukas'. He let Mathias find it, and their fingers curled together loosely, his thumb occasionally running over the back of Lukas' hand slowly.

Idiot, he thought. But, it was only half-hearted.