Watching Hanatamago pull on her leash as they walked down the cold path in Riseberga park, Tino ignored the slight twinge of embarrassment at the thought of using his dog to meet someone. It was the best chance that he had. He didn’t think it was quite appropriate to use his position as Peter’s teacher to meet Berwald nor did he want to since he was aiming for- what? A casual meeting? He was flying in the dark but it didn’t matter.
It was the last Saturday of break and Tino was hoping that Peter had returned to Sweden by now. If he had then Tino had decided to bet on Berwald and Peter being in the park around the same time as they had been for the last couple of weeks. It hadn’t snowed yet and he hoped that the two were out taking advantage of the It was possible that they wouldn’t be there but it was worth trying. He’d overheard Peter talking about dogs so Hana was the perfect bait. So he kept on walking towards the field where he had hidden before.
As he approached the field, he kept his eyes peeled for the familiar figures, willing them to be there. Yes! There were voices, he could hear them clearly. This was it. Tightening his grip on Hanatamago’s leash he adopted a purposefully casual stride and headed down past the field gazing around as if he was vaguely interested in whatever was around him.
Glancing over he saw Peter and the tall figure of Berwald. Berwald had a soccer ball and he was getting ready to kick it back to Peter. However, as soon as Peter saw Hanatamago his attention snapped from soccer to the dog and then up to Tino. As soon as he saw Tino a look of recognition shot across his face and he ran over. Tino felt a rush of elation shoot through him. It was going perfectly.
“Tino! What are you doing here? Is that your dog? May I pet him?” Peter asked already kneeling on the ground and holding his hands out for Hanatamago to sniff at.
“Yes, you may pet her,” he put a bit of weight on the ‘her’. “And I’m out walking for exercise.” Which was true enough he thought privately.
Peter immediately started to pet Hanatamago and laughed when she tried to lick his hands. “She’s really cute.”
“Peter. Who’s this?”
A deep voice came from behind and Tino felt a slight shiver run down his back. This was it. He had to make at least a decent impression or else. Turning to face Berwald, he reached out a hand and introduced himself.
“Hello, my name is Tino Väinämöinen. Your son Peter is one of my students at school.”
Berwald looked momentarily surprised but also extended his hand to shake. “Berwald Oxenstierna. Nice t’finally meetcha.”
“It’s very nice to meet you too,” Tino replied. “It was unfortunate that I wasn’t able meet all the parents of my students before the year started.”
Peter interrupted before Berwald could reply. “Dad, look look look.” He pointed to where Hanatamago had bitten into the sleeve of his jacket. “I can make her go in circles.” He started to wave his arm and Hana was forced to circle to keep her grip on him.
“Peter, stoppit. S’not nice to do.”
Tino reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a red rubber ball and offered it to Peter. “Here. She loves to chase after her ball. If you want, throw the ball for her and she’ll bring it back.”
“Okay!” Peter grabbed the ball and Tino quickly unhooked her leash. Once Hanatamago was free, she started jumping at Peter’s heels and barking, eager to play. The two ran back into the field where Peter threw the ball as hard as he could, and Hanatamago exploded after it, barking like mad.
Tino smiled a little at sight, and the two men stood there silently watching Peter laugh and throw the ball and the dog bring it back.
Berwald seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking “D’ya like Sweden so far?”
Tino turned back to Berwald and smiled lightly. “Oh yes. It’s been fine. Although I’m still figuring things out slowly.”
Berwald nodded calmly.
“It’s different from Finland and Russia but I like it here. Getting used to the differences has been interesting to say the least,” Tino continued, happy to have a sort of conversation going.
“Y’lived in Russia too?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“Yes. I lived there for three years in Saint Petersburg.”
“Hm? Oh! Yes, I do. Somehow I ended up speaking quite a few languages,” Tino laughed a little. “But I like languages so it’s good.”
“S’impressive,” said Berwald. “I can only speak Swedish n’English. Used t’speak a bit of Danish but s’mostly gone now.” “Ah, I’ve never been to Denmark. Have you then? It’s not so far from Malmö after all,” Tino considered this thoughtfully. Maybe he ought to go sometime.
“Went for school years’ago, ‘though I go ever’y once ina while still. Got an olde -” But then Berwald cut himself off and stopped speaking, shaking his head a little.
Silence fell between them again and Tino tried to think of something else to say but not seem too nosy or rude. But then Peter came back over with Hanatamago at his heels. It looked as though she had gotten tired of chasing the ball so Tino put her leash back on and accepted the toy back from Peter.
“What were you talking about?” asked Peter, looking between them both and pulling his coat around him.
“Just a little about life in other countries,” replied Tino easily and Berwald grunted in assent.
Peter looked as though he understood completely. “Yeah, it took me awhile to get used to Sweden after living in England all my life. What do you miss the most about living in Finland?”
Tino paused and thought about it for a second. What did he miss the most? There were many things, and people too. But if it came down to just one thing then...
“Probably the sauna,” he admitted slowly. “Back with my family we had a small one next to the house and even in college and in Russia, I was able to go whenever I wanted. Since I’ve been here, I haven’t really gone much. But that’s my fault of course.” Tino smiled wryly. “I haven’t really found a place that I like to go to.”
Peter gasped loudly and both Berwald and Tino glanced at him with slight alarm. “Dad! I’ve got a great idea. We can go to our public sauna and you can show him around. And I’ll swim in the pool.”
Tino felt his face heat up with embarrassment and he couldn’t help but notice that Berwald was suddenly looking very awkward as well. The sauna was not his idea of a good first activity with Berwald. Not that he didn’t like the sauna; he loved the sauna but he had been thinking of something more like coffee or a casual walk. Specifically an activity that involved clothing, or more than just a towel.
“I-I don’t know if that’s a good idea Peter,” Tino tried to say as kindly as possible.
“Why not?” Peter asked innocently and he had to scramble for an answer.
“Well because... because I - uh - I don’t really talk when I’m in the sauna. I just sit and relax,” he lied.
“That’s perfect though. Dad doesn’t talk much in the sauna either.”
Tino internally cursed and looked shyly at Berwald, not sure if he wanted him to agree or tell his son to stop. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking;his face was blank and he was just looking at him. It was almost scary and Tino had to force himself to not flinch, reminding himself that Berwald wasn’t as frightening as he sometimes looked.
“S’okay with me.”
Peter beamed up at his dad.
“Only If y’want to f’course.” Berwald added, speaking now at Tino.
“Well...” Tino hesitated. He couldn’t quite come up with a good reason to say no. He really wanted to find a way to get to know Berwald. If this was how it had to start, then he supposed that he’d just have to go with it and see what happened. “If it’s not any inconvenience to you then I will,” he agreed.
“Yes! Pool time!” Peter cheered.
“Yer getting in th’ sauna too Peter.”
“The sauna’s all boring though. I just want to swim,” Peter whined a little.
“Tough fer you.”
“Fine, I’ll get in, but only for a bit. Then I’m swimming.” Peter gave a dramatic sigh but Berwald nodded, satisfied.
So after getting directions and the time, Tino agreed to meet Berwald and Peter the next day at one of the public saunas. He just hoped that he wouldn’t end up regretting it.
AuthorNotes: Next part is up but I have some bad news. I’m going to have to put this story on hiatus. I’ve got an important exam in August that pretty much determines if I can keep my job and I’m getting more paranoid as the days creep by. I just can’t dedicate the amount of time that I should to this story right now. I’m so sorry OP. I thought I could handle all the work but I can’t. I’m not going to abandon the story though. But I probably won’t be able to update again until September. This may change depending on how well I start memorizing material but that’s where I am right now. I feel like a total heel and I’m really sorry about this. But failing my exam will cause some serious problems for me. @_@
We learn French, Spanish or German (depending on the student's choice) since 6th grade in Sweden, so Sweden just being able to speak Swedish and English (and a bit Danish) is a bit unrealistic.
Also, there are many houses in Sweden with saunas; they're not uncommon at all. Apartments don't have saunas, naturally, but I kind of doubt they do in Finland either.
Other than that, I'm sad you're going on a hiatus. Nice chapter :)
Hi SwedeAnon! A!a here and thanks so much for all the feed back.
Haha, yeah reality has to bend a little for this story. Berwald needed to be fluent in English because otherwise he would have no way to communicate with Peter because Peter didn't speak any Swedish when he was first adopted. And he got a bit of Danish from a certain someone and school, again for plots' sake. Heh, Finland is probably more unrealistic since I'm writing him as though he can speak Finnish/Swedish/Russian/English. But for the sake of communication, I need them to be very multilingual because every character comes from their own country. XD And of course none of this matters in a way because the entire story is written in English anyways and there is no way for me to indicate when the languages switch.
Thanks for the info on saunas too. I did a lot of research but most of it led me to Finnish saunas and not Swedish saunas.
I don't think it's unrealistic? Most people that learned French, for example, are only able anymore to survive in France after five years, but not to keep up a normal conversation and especially not a more complicated one. English sticks but languages that aren't used fade away quickly, and I don't see a reason for which ber would use a lot of French/whatever else he learned.
All in all you are right, but only being bilingual is not that unlikely for someone like Ber who doesn't work something international/does not talk a lot anyway. He has no reason/way to train and keep his skills alive.
This is of course only my opinion ^^;
Except for that, I hope that I'll see a continuation of this one day ^^ And the Peter-Floweregg interactions were just cute.
:D I love how manipulative Tino is, setting up all this and being so underhanded. Cuz its funny when it sorta blows up at him. Also, he's too adorable to think badly of.
I'm very upset you have a hiatus in place... but of course I understand the rigors of RL are more important, so I just wish you luck on your exam!
It's over, isn't? The author stopped posting and this amazing story will be lost. And I was loving it! Anyway, if someone (author, other anon) sees this and can prove me wrong, please do so and post the link to the following parts. Thanks. And congratulations to A!A, this fill was amazing.
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Placeholder for single dad!Swedenx teacher!Finland + student!Sealand, wrongly suspecting abuse
(Anonymous) 2011-06-06 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)Prompt is here: http://hetalia-kink.livejournal.com/19013.html?thread=67759429#t67759429
Second fill (my fill) parts 1-5 are here: http://hetalia-kink.livejournal.com/19013.html?thread=74921029#t74921029.
Parts 6 on will go from here.
Thank you.
Band-Aids 6a/?
(Anonymous) 2011-06-21 12:35 am (UTC)(link)Watching Hanatamago pull on her leash as they walked down the cold path in Riseberga park, Tino ignored the slight twinge of embarrassment at the thought of using his dog to meet someone. It was the best chance that he had. He didn’t think it was quite appropriate to use his position as Peter’s teacher to meet Berwald nor did he want to since he was aiming for- what? A casual meeting? He was flying in the dark but it didn’t matter.
It was the last Saturday of break and Tino was hoping that Peter had returned to Sweden by now. If he had then Tino had decided to bet on Berwald and Peter being in the park around the same time as they had been for the last couple of weeks. It hadn’t snowed yet and he hoped that the two were out taking advantage of the It was possible that they wouldn’t be there but it was worth trying. He’d overheard Peter talking about dogs so Hana was the perfect bait. So he kept on walking towards the field where he had hidden before.
As he approached the field, he kept his eyes peeled for the familiar figures, willing them to be there. Yes! There were voices, he could hear them clearly. This was it. Tightening his grip on Hanatamago’s leash he adopted a purposefully casual stride and headed down past the field gazing around as if he was vaguely interested in whatever was around him.
Glancing over he saw Peter and the tall figure of Berwald. Berwald had a soccer ball and he was getting ready to kick it back to Peter. However, as soon as Peter saw Hanatamago his attention snapped from soccer to the dog and then up to Tino. As soon as he saw Tino a look of recognition shot across his face and he ran over. Tino felt a rush of elation shoot through him. It was going perfectly.
“Tino! What are you doing here? Is that your dog? May I pet him?” Peter asked already kneeling on the ground and holding his hands out for Hanatamago to sniff at.
“Yes, you may pet her,” he put a bit of weight on the ‘her’. “And I’m out walking for exercise.”
Which was true enough he thought privately.
Peter immediately started to pet Hanatamago and laughed when she tried to lick his hands. “She’s really cute.”
“Peter. Who’s this?”
A deep voice came from behind and Tino felt a slight shiver run down his back. This was it. He had to make at least a decent impression or else. Turning to face Berwald, he reached out a hand and introduced himself.
“Hello, my name is Tino Väinämöinen. Your son Peter is one of my students at school.”
Berwald looked momentarily surprised but also extended his hand to shake. “Berwald Oxenstierna. Nice t’finally meetcha.”
“It’s very nice to meet you too,” Tino replied. “It was unfortunate that I wasn’t able meet all the parents of my students before the year started.”
Peter interrupted before Berwald could reply. “Dad, look look look.” He pointed to where Hanatamago had bitten into the sleeve of his jacket. “I can make her go in circles.” He started to wave his arm and Hana was forced to circle to keep her grip on him.
“Peter, stoppit. S’not nice to do.”
Tino reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a red rubber ball and offered it to Peter. “Here. She loves to chase after her ball. If you want, throw the ball for her and she’ll bring it back.”
“Okay!” Peter grabbed the ball and Tino quickly unhooked her leash. Once Hanatamago was free, she started jumping at Peter’s heels and barking, eager to play. The two ran back into the field where Peter threw the ball as hard as he could, and Hanatamago exploded after it, barking like mad.
Tino smiled a little at sight, and the two men stood there silently watching Peter laugh and throw the ball and the dog bring it back.
Berwald seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking “D’ya like Sweden so far?”
Tino turned back to Berwald and smiled lightly. “Oh yes. It’s been fine. Although I’m still figuring things out slowly.”
Berwald nodded calmly.
“It’s different from Finland and Russia but I like it here. Getting used to the differences has been interesting to say the least,” Tino continued, happy to have a sort of conversation going.
“Y’lived in Russia too?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“Yes. I lived there for three years in Saint Petersburg.”
“Mmm. “Y’speak Russian then?”
Band-Aids 6b/?
(Anonymous) 2011-06-21 12:37 am (UTC)(link)“Hm? Oh! Yes, I do. Somehow I ended up speaking quite a few languages,” Tino laughed a little. “But I like languages so it’s good.”
“S’impressive,” said Berwald. “I can only speak Swedish n’English. Used t’speak a bit of Danish but s’mostly gone now.”
“Ah, I’ve never been to Denmark. Have you then? It’s not so far from Malmö after all,” Tino considered this thoughtfully. Maybe he ought to go sometime.
“Went for school years’ago, ‘though I go ever’y once ina while still. Got an olde -” But then Berwald cut himself off and stopped speaking, shaking his head a little.
Silence fell between them again and Tino tried to think of something else to say but not seem too nosy or rude. But then Peter came back over with Hanatamago at his heels. It looked as though she had gotten tired of chasing the ball so Tino put her leash back on and accepted the toy back from Peter.
“What were you talking about?” asked Peter, looking between them both and pulling his coat around him.
“Just a little about life in other countries,” replied Tino easily and Berwald grunted in assent.
Peter looked as though he understood completely. “Yeah, it took me awhile to get used to Sweden after living in England all my life. What do you miss the most about living in Finland?”
Tino paused and thought about it for a second. What did he miss the most? There were many things, and people too. But if it came down to just one thing then...
“Probably the sauna,” he admitted slowly. “Back with my family we had a small one next to the house and even in college and in Russia, I was able to go whenever I wanted. Since I’ve been here, I haven’t really gone much. But that’s my fault of course.” Tino smiled wryly. “I haven’t really found a place that I like to go to.”
Peter gasped loudly and both Berwald and Tino glanced at him with slight alarm. “Dad! I’ve got a great idea. We can go to our public sauna and you can show him around. And I’ll swim in the pool.”
Tino felt his face heat up with embarrassment and he couldn’t help but notice that Berwald was suddenly looking very awkward as well. The sauna was not his idea of a good first activity with Berwald. Not that he didn’t like the sauna; he loved the sauna but he had been thinking of something more like coffee or a casual walk. Specifically an activity that involved clothing, or more than just a towel.
“I-I don’t know if that’s a good idea Peter,” Tino tried to say as kindly as possible.
“Why not?” Peter asked innocently and he had to scramble for an answer.
“Well because... because I - uh - I don’t really talk when I’m in the sauna. I just sit and relax,” he lied.
“That’s perfect though. Dad doesn’t talk much in the sauna either.”
Tino internally cursed and looked shyly at Berwald, not sure if he wanted him to agree or tell his son to stop. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking;his face was blank and he was just looking at him. It was almost scary and Tino had to force himself to not flinch, reminding himself that Berwald wasn’t as frightening as he sometimes looked.
“S’okay with me.”
Peter beamed up at his dad.
“Only If y’want to f’course.” Berwald added, speaking now at Tino.
“Well...” Tino hesitated. He couldn’t quite come up with a good reason to say no. He really wanted to find a way to get to know Berwald. If this was how it had to start, then he supposed that he’d just have to go with it and see what happened. “If it’s not any inconvenience to you then I will,” he agreed.
“Yes! Pool time!” Peter cheered.
“Yer getting in th’ sauna too Peter.”
“The sauna’s all boring though. I just want to swim,” Peter whined a little.
“Tough fer you.”
“Fine, I’ll get in, but only for a bit. Then I’m swimming.” Peter gave a dramatic sigh but Berwald nodded, satisfied.
So after getting directions and the time, Tino agreed to meet Berwald and Peter the next day at one of the public saunas. He just hoped that he wouldn’t end up regretting it.
Band-Aids 6b/? - notes
(Anonymous) 2011-06-21 12:39 am (UTC)(link)Re: Band-Aids 6b/? - notes
(Anonymous) 2011-06-21 12:15 pm (UTC)(link)We learn French, Spanish or German (depending on the student's choice) since 6th grade in Sweden, so Sweden just being able to speak Swedish and English (and a bit Danish) is a bit unrealistic.
Also, there are many houses in Sweden with saunas; they're not uncommon at all. Apartments don't have saunas, naturally, but I kind of doubt they do in Finland either.
Other than that, I'm sad you're going on a hiatus. Nice chapter :)
Re: Band-Aids 6b/? - notes
(Anonymous) 2011-06-21 01:28 pm (UTC)(link)Haha, yeah reality has to bend a little for this story. Berwald needed to be fluent in English because otherwise he would have no way to communicate with Peter because Peter didn't speak any Swedish when he was first adopted. And he got a bit of Danish from a certain someone and school, again for plots' sake. Heh, Finland is probably more unrealistic since I'm writing him as though he can speak Finnish/Swedish/Russian/English. But for the sake of communication, I need them to be very multilingual because every character comes from their own country. XD And of course none of this matters in a way because the entire story is written in English anyways and there is no way for me to indicate when the languages switch.
Thanks for the info on saunas too. I did a lot of research but most of it led me to Finnish saunas and not Swedish saunas.
Re: Band-Aids 6b/? - notes
(Anonymous) 2011-06-22 02:52 pm (UTC)(link)All in all you are right, but only being bilingual is not that unlikely for someone like Ber who doesn't work something international/does not talk a lot anyway. He has no reason/way to train and keep his skills alive.
This is of course only my opinion ^^;
Except for that, I hope that I'll see a continuation of this one day ^^ And the Peter-Floweregg interactions were just cute.
Re: Band-Aids 6b/? - notes
(Anonymous) 2011-06-24 12:26 am (UTC)(link)I'm very upset you have a hiatus in place... but of course I understand the rigors of RL are more important, so I just wish you luck on your exam!
New!Anonymous
(Anonymous) 2012-07-22 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)And I was loving it!
Anyway, if someone (author, other anon) sees this and can prove me wrong, please do so and post the link to the following parts.
Thanks.
And congratulations to A!A, this fill was amazing.