Arrival



Berwald could tell Tino wasn't scared anymore, which made his own faint smile increase a small amount. A question soon came to his head, and he had to swallow his own fear in order to spit it out. "W'ld... W'ld you l'ke t' c'me over 'nd read 't?" He inquired, a hint of nervousness audible in his voice.


Tino found it unusual to recognize such feelings as nervousness from Berwald's voice, and he tilted his head. "That's probably the best way to do it, yeah", the Finn smiled widely. For the past years that they had been together as friends and neighbour countries, Tino wondered if he had really gone over to him that many times, in the end.


The other nodded, pushing his glasses up again. He wondered if Tino had figured out what that meant, hoping he hadn't. If he had, he would know just how nervous and awkward he was around the small, adorable Finn-- and then maybe figure out exactly why he was so nervous all the time. The Swede looked over his shoulder, in the direction of his house. "Ok'y. Let's go th'n."


"Mhm, let's go!" Tino cheered, tugging on Berwald's hand as he began to make his way to the t aller man's place, before his ears and cheeks heated up awfully much. He realized what he had just done, but knew that letting go of Berwald's hand would be even more awkward and impolite, so he gave his hand a careful squeeze and continued to walk, blushing bright red.


Berwald's face lit up red as well, but this was a good kind of red. A happy red; a my-crush-just-took-my-hand sort of red. He lightly squeezed the smaller Finn's hand back, careful not to startle him, and began to walk too. His smile wasn't what you could call 'big,'--compared to Tino's usual grin-- but for the Swede, it was record-breaking.


Tino didn't dare to glance over his shoulder at Berwald, but could feel weird sort of happiness as his hand was squeezed back - it caused butterflies to fly wildly around in the pit of his stomach and his heart beat faster, and he had zero idea why. He remembered that he had felt these same kind of things earlier too, but only with Berwald. Swallowing softly, he tried to ignore it all while walking.


Berwald continued to walk, not realizing that his face was still a deep red. As he looked ahead, he couldn't help but notice the way Tino's little hat bounced slightly which each step he took, which he thought was really cute. Along with the bouncing hat, Berwald absolutely loved the way Tino walked: bouncily. He could never tell exactly why everything he did was so bouncy, but he didn't care as long as it didn't change.


Tino bit on his bottom lip again, seeing the house before them, and they'd soon be there. The Finn liked Berwald's home a lot - it had its own, sweet atmosphere and scent to it, and Tino felt always so comfortable in. Now that the thought about it, it kind of fitted Berwald himself, too. Sweet. The Swede was sweet, kind, caring.. Even when others didn't see it. Although Tino was sometimes scared of him, he knew it better than anyone else that Berwald was good from his heart.


Berwald saw the house as well, and felt a wave of joy and sadness. The joy being that Tino would be at his house, seeing one of his stories; the sadness being that once they arrived, Tino wouldn't feel a need to hold his hand anymore. The hand-holding was one of his favorite things about Tino. He wasn't sure if it was friendship, or the same thing he felt, but he didn't think about it too much.


Tino supposed that it'd be all awkward if he kept holding on Berwald's hand even when they had arrived, so he carefully let go of it. He didn't want to make him uncomfortable in any way, after all. "Aah, here we already are!" He sighed happily to fill in to the silence, waiting for Berwald to open up the door, before he stepped inside.


Berwald nodded, opening the door and holding it open for Tino. His hand was still warm from Tino's, and he relished the feeling.

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