"Because nobody goes through life without a scar." – Carol Burnett

"You should probably go home now."

Those are the exact words Finland says when they finish breakfast. Sweden is standing by the sink and he nearly drops the dishes in his hands when he hears them. Finland has been healed for not even an hour and already he is throwing Sweden out. But Sweden thinks he probably should have expected that. Finland had never wanted him around in the first place, and for all his attempts at being helpful he seems to have been nothing but an annoyance. And he does need to go back to his own country to check in with his boss and catch up on all the work he has missed. But that knowledge does not make the words sting any less.

Sweden turns around slowly and looks at Finland, trying to understand the motivations behind the other nation's words. But Finland is staring at the table, pushing the remains of his breakfast around the plate with the fork in his left hand. Finland has never been particularly coordinated with his left hand, and he is even less so at the moment. In any other situation Sweden probably would have found his clumsiness cute.

And Sweden does not know what to do, or what to say. He has been blissfully ignoring the strain in their relationship this whole time, but the tension between them cannot be ignored any longer. It does not escape Sweden that Finland is wary around him. Wary as he has not been for centuries.

Finland does not trust him anymore. Though Sweden has done everything he could think of to try and earn that trust back. He was not there when Finland needed him most. What little he can do now is not enough to make up for that.

Finland does not need him here anymore. It is as simple as that. And because he is no longer needed, Sweden is no longer wanted.

He can leave tomorrow after packing his things. And as he leaves the kitchen Sweden does his best to ignore the breaking of his heart. He should not have, but some part of him had hoped that things would go back to the way they were before all this. Before the war. Before everything. Not for the first time Sweden curses himself for being so hopeless in all matters relating to Finland.

"Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus." - Wallace Stegner

Sweden has been living there for months. And as he packs up his things to leave it feels like moving house. He had been stupid to assume anything would change, that somehow they could continue like this.

Finland spends the whole day doing everything possible with his left hand; everything that he struggled with the day before. He revels in his newfound and returned freedom. Sweden packs his things and putters around the house, performing menial chores one last time before he is unceremoniously thrown out.

The next morning he stands on the doorstep with his bags. He feels heartbroken, but he does not let Finland see. This is how it will be between them from now on, he assumes. Only friends. Are they even friends?

Finland sees him off with a smile that Sweden cannot bring himself to return; tells him to get back to his own country, his own people; promises that he will be fine on his own. And then Sweden is gone. Gone down the front walk and into the waiting taxi, and then gone down the street and out of Finland's sight. And Finland watches the whole time, and longer, before he disappears back into the house again.

The house is lonely without Sweden.

Quiet.

Finland has grown accustomed to hearing Sweden's soft footsteps as he moves about the house doing menial chores. To feeling Sweden's silent presence in the next room when he goes to bed. To having someone to talk to. He finds he misses it.

Months pass. A year. More.

Finland hears nothing from Sweden, and makes no attempt to contact him. Other things are more important.

It is at a meeting when next they see each other. This time Sweden is finally able to return Finland's smile. He wants to ask a thousand questions, but does not. Instead he shares polite greetings, talks about the weather and everything else that does not matter. He considers inviting Finland for coffee when work is done, but thinks better of it. Not today. Not any time soon, either.

But someday.

"We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never-so-little scar." – William James