No Time For Lying on a Friday Night

Nerdgirl-Hime

Berwald should not have been freaking out that much. It was just getting ready for a Friday night out with his longtime best friend Tino, a tradition they had been upholding for a long time: Tino would come over in his beat-up sedan, escaping from the turmoil his older sister brought the family into in the hours between when she came home from school with Tino and when she left in an angry huff to go to some party or other. He felt a little selfish, but the havoc within Tino's home made it able for them to spend so much time together.

He stood in front of the hallway mirror, looking at his reflection. He frowned, dissatisfied. There was a smattering of acne near his hairline where his short blond bangs brushed his forehead, and he hadn't cleaned his glasses in a while.

The sounds of the engine dying and the car door slamming brought him back to his senses. No time to clean his glasses or apply a smudge of Proactive. Berwald dashed over to the window. Tino's sedan was parked in his parents' driveway and he was glaring at it, probably uttering some curses in his native language at it. Berwald rapped on the windowpane to get the other boy's attention. Tino turned to him, his glare softening into a smile, and raced through Berwald's front door, not caring to knock.

"Hey," He greeted breathlessly, nose and ears slightly reddened from the outside chill.

"Hey y'rself," Berwald closed the door behind Tino, "how's it goin?"

Tino groaned and tossed himself onto Berwald's living room couch. "Terrible." He rolled over and let himself sink into the plush.

Berwald stood over him. "At least let m' take yer coat," he mumbled.

"Nah," Tino grinned, "I feel like going out tonight." He got up.

"Where to?"

Tino's grin faded and he crossed his arms, "Anywhere that isn't my house. Ugh. I just want to be alone tonight."

"'Lone?" Berwald's spirits fell.

The shorter blonde's grin reappeared as he went for the door. "With my best friend, of course. Can't have Friday nights without you, Ber. Being totally honest here."

Berwald grabbed his coat off a hook near the door, donned his boots, and followed his best friend out the house. The two boys made a beeline for Tino's sedan, Tino taking the driver's seat and Berwald taking the passenger seat. As Tino started the ignition, Berwald sighed, sinking into the seat. Whenever he and Tino went out in Tino's car, this seat was his territory. He loved this seat. If he just turned to the head a little to the left, he was able to see Tino's profile, something he loved even more than that seat.

"Dammit!" Tino's expletive shook Berwald out of his stupor. Upon glancing at his companion's quizzical look, he immediately apologized. "Sorry. Having a bad night."

"Care t' talk 'bout it?" Berwald asked.

That seemed to calm him down. He sighed, running his fingers through his sandy blonde hair. "The day was all right until I got home. Sis got a text from her boyfriend right after, then, BOOM! Shit exploded."

The dim light from the street lamps reflected off of Tino's glassy eyes. Berwald was mesmerized. Those eyes, focused straight ahead on the road, were an odd shade of bluish-violet. They were hypnotizing, like a kaleidoscope. Berwald nodded, still focused on those kaleidoscope eyes he loved so much. "Shit 'sploded?" he asked.

Tino nodded. "Yeah. Mom and dad never approved of sis's boyfriend in the first place. They're trying to convince her to break it off, but it's not working." He gripped the steering wheel, knuckles bleaching. "They're so stupid," he laughed weakly, "I'll never fall in love like that."

Berwald gave a weak chortle, a ruse to hide the sudden pang of pain he felt at Tino's remark. It was almost enough to make his spirits fall into hopelessness. I hope you're wrong, Tino, he brooded painfully, fiddling with the strap of his seatbelt.

"Hey Ber," Tino started, abandoning the subject, "what's the difference between bird flu and swine flu?"

"Dunno, what?"

Tino chuckled. "If you have bird flu, you need tweetment. If you have swine flu, you need oink-ment!"

Oh God, Berwald mentally cringed in pain at the joke, but faked a smile anyway.

XxX

The place Tino had in mind was a small club in the next town over, a place he and Berwald sometimes liked to go to when in the mood to get out of the house. Tino wasn't much of a dancer, he liked to sit at a table with his favorite soda pop and listen to the songs he liked. Berwald adored dancing, and if he had his way, would spin Tino out onto the dance floor and turn the whole club upside-down, but most of the time, he stayed put at the table, sitting across from Tino, talking over the blaring music.

A new song started just as they were sitting down at their usual table. "Ooh, I like this song!" Tino exclaimed, tapping his foot to the beat.

Berwald gave a small smile. I knew that, he thought. After spending this much time with Tino, he knew all his favorite songs.

In fact, after spending this much time with Tino, he knew most everything there was to know about the boy. His birthday was December 6th. His favorite color was light blue. Even though his sister was wild, she was pretty, like her brother. He inherited those mystical violet eyes from his father. The song playing right now was only his fifth-favorite song.

He looked up at Tino's face, holding his gaze for a second until the sandy-haired boy let out a nervous laugh. Berwald grunted; a question.

"Sorry, you just look... Your face..."

Was there something on his face? Berwald reached up and brushed his cheek with his fingertips. Then he remembered the acne. Had Tino caught sight of the disgusting acne plaguing his hairline? Damn, he should have put on that cream earlier...

Tino gulped down his drink before continuing, "No... I mean, your expression... You looked really intense just now."

"Ah... Sorry." Berwald thanked the darkness of the club for hiding the tint reddening his cheeks and ears.

"Nah, nah, it's all right." Tino waved his hand, dismissing the subject. He leaned back into his chair, shoulders hunched over, and looked down at his soda. Berwald's brow furrowed. Tino really wasn't feeling good tonight. He was just across the table, an easy distance for Berwald to stretch a long arm across to caress Tino's face, comfort him, make him smile again, but his hand simply sat there on the metal surface, large and limp.

Tino's gaze drifted across the room at the dancers. "You want to dance?" he asked.

Berwald jumped in his seat. Either Tino was a mind-reader or he knew more about Berwald than he let on. "But... Y' told me y' weren't much of a dancer," he muttered.

Tino grinned, downed the rest of his soda pop, and stood up. "Yeah, but I know you love dancing. Plus I've seen you dance. Dancing like that shouldn't be kept secret, y'know."

The larger blonde was taken aback. He got up. "'Kay, then," he said, and they walked towards the dance floor. His thoughts mingled with the flashing lights; how did he know I liked to dance?

XxX

So it turned out Tino was not the best dancer ever, not even close to Berwald's abilities. But he still tried. With an awkward smile on his face, he swung his hips to the music. Berwald was still shocked that Tino had decided to dance. Even while he himself grooved, he kept one eye on Tino, trying to determine just what had gotten into his head that night.

Tino dizzily slumped back into his chair, grinning. "Now I see why you like dancing," he breathed, reaching for Berwald's soda pop. "Mind if I have some?" Berwald nodded and Tino took a swig, immediately spitting it out. "Ew," he muttered, "I hate flat soda."

Berwald, of course, knew that too. He took his soda back and finished it quietly as Tino told him just about every lame joke in the book. As painful as it was to listen to, there was a reason, and Berwald knew and respected it: Tino simply wanted to keep his mind off the disaster warning which was his sister and her boyfriend, so Berwald was happy to oblige.

Tino shook his head and smiled. "I'm so glad you're listening to me, Ber. It's an honest-to-God hurricane back at home and I swear that we're all going down in a sinking ship by tomorrow morning and this is the worst thing ever and I can't believe she's dating him..." He looked away, "God, I thought my older sister was supposed to be smarter."

"Yer real smart, though."

"Not like you," Tino flashed a small smile at his companion, "You got a perfect score on that history test everyone flunked."

"How'd ya know?" Berwald asked quizzically; he recalled lying to Tino about his grade to make him feel better.

Tino shifted so that he was propped up by his elbows on the metal table and flashed another smile. "I know when you're lying, Ber. You've got this little dent above your left eyebrow that appears when you're lying."

Berwald felt up his eyebrows. I really should stop lying to Tino, he thought.

"Not that you lie about anything big," Tino continued coolly, casting his gaze across the dance floor once more. "Just about small shit like how you secretly love to dance, or really love showtunes."

"Hey," Berwald scooted his chair back abruptly, causing a loud scrape which made Tino jump in his seat. "I don' love showtunes..."

"There's that dent again," he said, readjusting himself. Locking his violet kaleidoscope eyes with Berwald's, he added, "You really don't need to be so closed-off, Ber. There are some things I can't tell by looking at you, so you've gotta tell me instead. With words." He held out a pinky. "Promise?"

"I can' e'nunciate well," Berwald replied, unable to tear his gaze away from Tino's, "But 'll try."

"Thanks."

XxX

They were back in Tino's car. It was past ten-thirty; Tino's sister was definitely out of the house and partying at her boyfriend's by now, and he could drop Berwald off, return home, and quietly and peacefully lock himself inside his room and be off to sleep before the shouting matches started.

At least, until his cell phone rang. Tino answered it. It was his mother. Berwald spaced out, staring out the window as Tino launched into a babble of angry and unintelligible Finnish until one word he knew snapped him back to reality.

"Perkele!" Tino swore into the phone. "What do you mean, she's back? What is she doing? Why is she back? Who is she with? No!"

Silence; more unintelligible Finnish. Then a loud and obnoxious groan from Tino.

"You want me to come home? No way, mom! Not if he's going to be there!"

Berwald stiffened. Tino never talked to his parents in such a crude manner.

Tino groaned. "Fine, I'll be there in twenty. Bye." With a growl, he snapped the phone shut and slammed it into the shallow tray between his and Berwald's seats. Berwald winced at the loud clatter it made.

"Ev'rythin' okay?" he asked cautiously.

Tino shook his head. "I just don't get it, Ber. Why do I have to be home when they're around?"

"Yer sister's boyfriend?"

"Words cannot describe," Tino sighed.

Berwald nodded. Despite Tino's words, he has told him how much of an asshole his sister's boyfriend was, making a mess of their house, kicking around the poor family dog, ordering him and his sister around, and even going so far as to threaten to beat up Tino. Not the kind of person Berwald would ever want to go home to. "Why do they want ye home?" he asked.

"I dunno, human shield?" Tino shrugged, "They want me to come home for a 'talk'. This can't be good."

The car swerved suddenly; Tino slammed his fist down on the horn. "Damn drunk drivers!" he cursed.

Berwald cautiously placed a hand over Tino's shoulder. He didn't like it when he was angry. "Y' okay?"

"No. Of course not."

Berwald felt a sinking feeling in his gut, as if somebody had dropped a boulder into his stomach.

"But," Tino continued quietly, placing a gentle hand over his friend's arm, "thanks for worrying."

XxX

It was past eleven PM when Tino's sedan rolled back into Berwald's driveway. "Walk you to the door?" the Finn asked, his lips upturned in a kind smile. Berwald nodded and they got out of the car to walk through the cold. They stood on the porch under the dirty, bug-infested light, facing each other.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then," Berwald muttered, placing a hand on the doorknob.

Those would have been perfectly normal parting words, yet neither of them budged an inch. His throat itched. He wanted to tell Tino that his love wasn't painful and annoying like his sister's, that he would treat him well and wouldn't be an asshole just like his sister's boyfriend, anything and everything out of the plethora of thoughts racing through his head at that very moment.

Then it came back to him, Tino's words at the nightclub.

"You really don't need to be so closed-off, Ber. There are some things I can't tell by looking at you, so you've gotta tell me instead. With words. Promise?"

He couldn't break such an important promise like that.

"Well," Tino sighed, turning to leave.

"Tino, wait." Berwald grabbed his friend by the sleeve of his coat.

Tino turned around. "Hm?"

"I love you." There. He said it. They stood there, their warm breaths sending puffs of fog into the cold air.

Tino smiled. "I knew that."

"You did?" Berwald let go of Tino's jacket, startled.

"I know a lot of things about you, Sve." He stood on tiptoes and kissed Berwald, so quickly he might have imagined it, turned around, and walked away. "I'll be over tomorrow at noon," he called over his shoulder.

Berwald stood dumbfounded under the yellowed light as Tino drove away, breathing unspoken questions into the frigid air.

AN: Yaaay more SuFin.
I have this sinking feeling that something's wrong with the story so if there is, oh my gog please tell me and I will thank you so hard.