For the Sake of a Child (1/?)
anonymous
February 3 2011, 22:22:59 UTC
Sorry it's taking time to get started ^^; It'll pick up soon. I hope! lol
Tino fidgeted with his vest, his cuffs, his collar. He patted his hair, trying to neaten it up, and glanced in his pocket mirror. Did his eyes look tired?
"You look like you're getting ready for a date," Liz commented, laughing. "And the fact that you have your own hand mirror..." Tino flushed and returned the mirror to his decidedly masculine attache case.
"I want to make a good impression on the father, is all," he replied. He tugged on his tie, which didn't need to be fixed. "The principal made it quite clear that it's up to the teachers to recruit new students." To himself, he added, And I do NOT want to lose my job this quickly. He hadn't had his job as a fifth-grade teacher for a whole semester yet, and he loved it dearly... not to mention there was a surplus of teachers and very, very few schools around. He'd gotten lucky to get this job, and right after graduation. If he lost it, he could probably say hello to a job waiting tables. The benefits of working at a little private school were easy to see: it was a clean, cute little place with small classes and highly delicious school lunches. On the other hand, he probably wouldn't have had to be a salesman at a public school, pushing his wares onto the rich parents of his students. He swallowed. It would be his first time to try this. He had to make a good impression.
All the details-- sparse though they were-- about the possible transfer student were printed on the school letterhead in front of him. The student's name was Peter Kirkland, but oddly his father's was Berwald Oxenstierna. The father apparently owned some kind of company; the son was apparenly a good swimmer and enjoyed video games. It wasn't much to go on. Tino sighed and checked his watch again. Minutes slowly ticked by. Their appointment was a 12:30, during his students' recess period. He would have exactly 30 minutes to convince this man he had never met to pay the school's exhorbant fees and enroll his son. No problem, he told himself. The reasons he should come here are obvious, after all. The classroom and books will speak for themselves. And I... I'll have to speak for myself, too. My students like me. This won't be so hard.
A hand clapped down on his arm and he yelped, then blushed. "Don't scare me like that, Liz!"
"You're off in the ozone again," the sixth-grade teacher laughed, flipping her long hair back. Liz should be the one doing this interview-- no man would be able to resist her pretty face. "It's about time, isn't it?"
"What?!" Tino leapt up, knocking his attache case to the floor, then scrambled to gather it up again. "See you, Liz!" he called over his shoulder as he made a dash out the door.
"Good luck!" she called after, still laughing.
+++++
When Tino saw that the father-son pair were already in his classroom, seated at one of the students' tables with their backs to the door, his heart sank like a rock into his belly. They'd be thinking he didn't value their time, that he was slow and lazying and worthless... Be positive, his mind hissed. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Both father and son turned when the door opened. The boy grinned widely, his halo of gold hair catching the light; he had a bright orange bandaid across his nose, and wore what looked like the uniform of his current school. Tino grinned back, feeling considerably more at ease-- that is, until he caught sight of the father. The man's face was as hard and still as if it had been carved into the side of a mountain, brows drawn together in a deep frown. The eyes that stared out from under that brow were cold and distant, partially obstructed by narrow glasses. Tino's blood turned to ice, and he forgot to say anything, trapped as he was under that leaden glare.
"HI!" the boy shouted finally. He leapt from his chair and ran over, clasping Tino's free hand with his own and shaking it vigorously. "I'm Peter. That's my dad Berwald." He jerked his thumb toward the glaring man, who had risen from his chair. The man was built like a brick house, tall and solid and intimidating.
Re: For the Sake of a Child (2/?)
anonymous
February 3 2011, 22:26:52 UTC
Run! Tino's instincts shouted, stupidly, but he forced a smile onto his face and reached his hand out to the man. I probably look like a mental patient, he thought, imagining his stupid-looking expression. "Ni-nice to meet you both," he stuttered. "I'm Tin- I mean, I'm Mr. Väinämöinen. Um. Welcome to my classroom."
"Ah." The man shook his hand; his hand was strong and surprisingly calloused for someone rich enough to consider sending a student to this school. That was all he said. He released Tino's hand but stood there, just staring, like he was trying to see inside Tino's brain.
"Well, then, let's sit," Tino said with an uneasy laugh. He motioned to the table where the two had been seated before. "I'll show you our textbooks, and tell you about what we do every day." The big man nodded, dropping his hand rather heavily onto the boy's head and pushing him back toward the table. As soon as their backs were turned Tino took a deep breath, gathered up the materials he'd put together for his little presentation, and braced himself.
+++++
Tino chewed his lip and glanced around the classroom, at the tops of his students' heads. They were all bent over, working hard on their spelling quizzes-- well, not Al, he was taking a nap-- and ignoring their teacher altogether. This gave him a moment to plan. There were two more seats than students in his class, so he could arrange them whichever way he wanted; but where would Peter feel most comfortable? By the window? Was he easily distracted, though? Would it be best to put him with the talkative students, or the quiet ones? Al was the friendliest, but he was also the most likely to be distracting.
Why Mr. Oxenstierna had agreed to send Peter here was still a mystery to Tino; he had been so positive that he had botched their meeting that he had allowed Liz to take him out for drinks, and had then allowed her to buy him as many as it took to get him good and drunk. His depression had lasted all weekend, only to be abruptly ended when the principal had informed him this morning that, somehow, he'd managed to convince Mr. Oxenstierna to open his wallet and enroll his cheerful little son.
The boy would be here after recess, so that he wouldn't have to take any tests he had no way of preparing for. The bell rang and the students, shouting their excitement, ran to the desk and handed in their quizzes before bolting out the door for lunch. Tino spent the next hour arranging and rearranging the tables where the students sat in groups of threes and fours, only remembering to eat when Liz showed up with a sandwich for him.
In the end he put the boy's nametag at a table near the window, so that he wouldn't feel like he was in a spotlight right in the center, with three of the friendlier students. Peter arrived with the principal just a few minutes before the class returned, dressed now in the school's uniform and looking ever-cheerful, his orange bandage replaced with a lime green one.
When the kids returned to find everything shuffled around and a new nameplate on one of the tables they fell silent, and turned to Tino suspiciously. When they caught sight of Peter they set to whispering immediately.
"Well, I guess you noticed that I moved some things around. We have a new student today!" He put as much excitement as he could into his voice, hoping it would catch on. "This is Peter Kirkland, and--"
"HI!" Peter cried, waving enthusiastically. A smattering of laughter was all he got in reply, and he flushed a little. "My name's Peter, and I came here from England--"
"Doesn't your dad dig ditches or something?" called Hans, and everyone laughed. "You moved into the house next door. We saw him." Tino frowned, surprised-- he'd never known Hans to act like that before.
"No, he doesn't!" Peter replied indignantly, nearly having to shout over the laughter. "He owns a furniture company."
Re: For the Sake of a Child (3/?)
anonymous
February 3 2011, 22:28:14 UTC
"Did he make all your ugly furniture himself?" Hans asked, to more laughter. Before Peter could respond, a girl in the back, Shira, added, "I heard he's not even your real daddy, that your family didn't even want you!"
"That's enough!" Tino shouted, planting a fist on the top of his desk. The room fell silent at once. His students watched with wide eyes; he'd never raised his voice with them before. "That's not how you treat a new friend. Hans, Shira, you can stay after in detention this afternoon. Everyone else, get out your math books!" There was widespread grumbling, intermingled with the sound of books being taken out of bookbags. Tino put his hand on Peter's shoulder. "Your seat is there," he said, pointing at the table. Peter smiled, and looked visably relieved that it wasn't the empty seat next to Hans. When he reached his seat, however, he was greeted by silence. None of his table-mates were willing to reach out and be his friend; their classmates were all watching.
Something in Tino's heart twisted and hurt.
Peter was resolutely ignored for the rest of the day, despite Tino's best efforts. When the final bell rang he meant to catch the boy to talk to him, but he had to chase Hans down the hall and remind him of his detention, and when he was back, Peter was gone.
+++++
Things refused to improve. Peter continued receiving the cold shoulder from his classmates; and worse than that, he had shown up on his second day with a new bandage, this one across his forehead. On his third day, he had a bandage on each knee, and his classmates had taken to calling him "Bandaids" no matter how hard Tino tried to stop it. In fact the harder he tried, the worse it got. By Friday, Peter had stopped grinning altogether. Tino had looked in on his students during lunch and found Peter sitting alone at the end of one of the long tables in the cafeteria, staring resolutely into his cup.
"Peter," Tino called as the students filed out of the classroom, eager to go home for the weekend. "Will you stay a minute?"
The boy glanced at the big plastic Power Rangers watch on his wrist and shrugged. "My dad doesn't like it when I'm late," he said. There was a new, neon yellow bandaid on his upper arm, which he rubbed at unconsciously.
"Just for a minute," Tino assured him. He pulled a chair up next to his desk and motioned for the boy to sit down. "I know you're having a hard time. Do you want to talk? Is... is everything okay?"
"Of course not," Peter snapped. He crossed his arms. "Everyone hates me. Can I go now?"
"No one hates you, Peter," Tino said, hoping he sounded empathetic. He reached a hand out to rest it on the boy's knee, but Peter jerked away, folding his knees up to his chest and dropping his chin down on them.
"My dad really doesn't like for me to be late." Glanced at his watch again. Something was clearly wrong. A queasy feeling came over Tino.
"Is everything okay at home, Peter?" he breathed.
The boy cocked his head, looking Tino straight in the face. Then he laughed. "What do you mean?"
"With your dad. Is everything okay?"
"Of course everything is okay!" Peter laughed for the first time in days, but to Tino's ears it sounded tinny, forced. His heart sank. "Speaking of that, I gotta go." The boy jumped up and dashed for the door. "See you next week, Teach!"
Long after the door had fallen shut, Tino sat staring at it, unable to shake the awful feeling that had crawled into his stomach. Something was very, very wrong. But he didn't know for sure. He had to get more evidence, had to have proof. But the bandaids, and Peter's strange personality... Tino remembered Berwald Oxenstierna's glaring face-- it was scary even in memory-- and leapt up out of his chair, grabbing his coat in the same motion. He had to get to Peter's house, and protect him from that dangerous man.
OP thinks...
anonymous
February 3 2011, 23:40:37 UTC
this looks very promising so far! Characterization tends to be a sticking point for me when I read fics, but yours was very faithful to canon. I like that you made the reason for Finland's worry go beyond just the bandaids and added some convincingly fishy behavior as well. All in all, good job anon! I really look forward to reading more.
I'm curious about the other characters you gave names. Are they canon characters or OCs? If they're canon characters, might I request a key of which names you've assigned to those who don't have canon human names?
Ah, thank goodness xD I write Finland pretty often, but I've never written Sealand before. It's a little harder than I predicted >_>
The students are OCs. I guess Al is based on Alfred ._. None of them are important though xD But it would seem weird if Finland was referring to his own students without using their names. They have eclectic names in an attempt to handwave Tino's, Berwald's, and Peter's non-matching names ^^; Liz is Hungary ^^;; (Elizabeta = Liz)
Re: For the Sake of a Child (3/?)
anonymous
February 3 2011, 23:50:18 UTC
A!a, you have no idea how long I've been waiting for a good written sufin family fic! Your start is more than promising, I love how your Tino thinks and Peter is just as adorable as I like him.
Thank you so much, hopefully we can look forward to new chapters soon. And thumbs up for the OP, the request is lovely!
Re: For the Sake of a Child (3/?)
anonymous
February 4 2011, 03:29:13 UTC
This is just so cute! I can't wait for the next parts...oh, a!anon, you've just captured my heart completely. Their personalities and characterization is just so good.
Re: For the Sake of a Child (3/?)
anonymous
February 27 2011, 12:52:47 UTC
So here's the thing: I don't leave reviews a lot, but when I do, they're quite....(moderately, compared to others I've seen)....long. So...get ready? XDDD
Characterization-wise, this is flawless. <3 I mean, I can totally see the characters doing and saying these things, and that means that you have quite a good grasp on their personalities. Good job! 8D
I like your writing style. It's not too brief (I hate one-liner paragraphs) and it's not too tedious (I hate paragraphs made of only one sentence too.). It's a very good balance between what needs to be said and what can be added in order to make it more entertaining.
The only thing that bothers me is how fast the plot seems to be going. It's either that, or my ignorance of how bullying even works is just hindering me from making a correct judgment. For me, it seems so...abrupt--the way that the class just collectively decided to hate Peter the moment he stepped in. In my opinion, it would've been more sensible to have them tiptoe on eggshells around him for a few days then when he does something decidedly stupid, that's when they start his harsh treatment. Again, I could be wrong here (please do correct me if I am), since bullying doesn't really happen in my school.
Finally, what I really have to say is this: OMG I'M SO EXCITED 8DDDD Please update soon!! <3 <3 <3 Can't wait HNGGGGG *A*
Yep, that's pretty much all that's going on in my mind. Hope my comments help! :D
Re: For the Sake of a Child (3/?)
anonymous
March 18 2011, 08:49:24 UTC
Bullying happens the way it did in the story, usually. Especially with new kids. They're often hated from the start, because they're new and, often times, different.
Tino fidgeted with his vest, his cuffs, his collar. He patted his hair, trying to neaten it up, and glanced in his pocket mirror. Did his eyes look tired?
"You look like you're getting ready for a date," Liz commented, laughing. "And the fact that you have your own hand mirror..." Tino flushed and returned the mirror to his decidedly masculine attache case.
"I want to make a good impression on the father, is all," he replied. He tugged on his tie, which didn't need to be fixed. "The principal made it quite clear that it's up to the teachers to recruit new students." To himself, he added, And I do NOT want to lose my job this quickly. He hadn't had his job as a fifth-grade teacher for a whole semester yet, and he loved it dearly... not to mention there was a surplus of teachers and very, very few schools around. He'd gotten lucky to get this job, and right after graduation. If he lost it, he could probably say hello to a job waiting tables. The benefits of working at a little private school were easy to see: it was a clean, cute little place with small classes and highly delicious school lunches. On the other hand, he probably wouldn't have had to be a salesman at a public school, pushing his wares onto the rich parents of his students. He swallowed. It would be his first time to try this. He had to make a good impression.
All the details-- sparse though they were-- about the possible transfer student were printed on the school letterhead in front of him. The student's name was Peter Kirkland, but oddly his father's was Berwald Oxenstierna. The father apparently owned some kind of company; the son was apparenly a good swimmer and enjoyed video games. It wasn't much to go on. Tino sighed and checked his watch again. Minutes slowly ticked by. Their appointment was a 12:30, during his students' recess period. He would have exactly 30 minutes to convince this man he had never met to pay the school's exhorbant fees and enroll his son. No problem, he told himself. The reasons he should come here are obvious, after all. The classroom and books will speak for themselves. And I... I'll have to speak for myself, too. My students like me. This won't be so hard.
A hand clapped down on his arm and he yelped, then blushed. "Don't scare me like that, Liz!"
"You're off in the ozone again," the sixth-grade teacher laughed, flipping her long hair back. Liz should be the one doing this interview-- no man would be able to resist her pretty face. "It's about time, isn't it?"
"What?!" Tino leapt up, knocking his attache case to the floor, then scrambled to gather it up again. "See you, Liz!" he called over his shoulder as he made a dash out the door.
"Good luck!" she called after, still laughing.
+++++
When Tino saw that the father-son pair were already in his classroom, seated at one of the students' tables with their backs to the door, his heart sank like a rock into his belly. They'd be thinking he didn't value their time, that he was slow and lazying and worthless... Be positive, his mind hissed. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Both father and son turned when the door opened. The boy grinned widely, his halo of gold hair catching the light; he had a bright orange bandaid across his nose, and wore what looked like the uniform of his current school. Tino grinned back, feeling considerably more at ease-- that is, until he caught sight of the father. The man's face was as hard and still as if it had been carved into the side of a mountain, brows drawn together in a deep frown. The eyes that stared out from under that brow were cold and distant, partially obstructed by narrow glasses. Tino's blood turned to ice, and he forgot to say anything, trapped as he was under that leaden glare.
"HI!" the boy shouted finally. He leapt from his chair and ran over, clasping Tino's free hand with his own and shaking it vigorously. "I'm Peter. That's my dad Berwald." He jerked his thumb toward the glaring man, who had risen from his chair. The man was built like a brick house, tall and solid and intimidating.
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"Ah." The man shook his hand; his hand was strong and surprisingly calloused for someone rich enough to consider sending a student to this school. That was all he said. He released Tino's hand but stood there, just staring, like he was trying to see inside Tino's brain.
"Well, then, let's sit," Tino said with an uneasy laugh. He motioned to the table where the two had been seated before. "I'll show you our textbooks, and tell you about what we do every day." The big man nodded, dropping his hand rather heavily onto the boy's head and pushing him back toward the table. As soon as their backs were turned Tino took a deep breath, gathered up the materials he'd put together for his little presentation, and braced himself.
+++++
Tino chewed his lip and glanced around the classroom, at the tops of his students' heads. They were all bent over, working hard on their spelling quizzes-- well, not Al, he was taking a nap-- and ignoring their teacher altogether. This gave him a moment to plan. There were two more seats than students in his class, so he could arrange them whichever way he wanted; but where would Peter feel most comfortable? By the window? Was he easily distracted, though? Would it be best to put him with the talkative students, or the quiet ones? Al was the friendliest, but he was also the most likely to be distracting.
Why Mr. Oxenstierna had agreed to send Peter here was still a mystery to Tino; he had been so positive that he had botched their meeting that he had allowed Liz to take him out for drinks, and had then allowed her to buy him as many as it took to get him good and drunk. His depression had lasted all weekend, only to be abruptly ended when the principal had informed him this morning that, somehow, he'd managed to convince Mr. Oxenstierna to open his wallet and enroll his cheerful little son.
The boy would be here after recess, so that he wouldn't have to take any tests he had no way of preparing for. The bell rang and the students, shouting their excitement, ran to the desk and handed in their quizzes before bolting out the door for lunch. Tino spent the next hour arranging and rearranging the tables where the students sat in groups of threes and fours, only remembering to eat when Liz showed up with a sandwich for him.
In the end he put the boy's nametag at a table near the window, so that he wouldn't feel like he was in a spotlight right in the center, with three of the friendlier students. Peter arrived with the principal just a few minutes before the class returned, dressed now in the school's uniform and looking ever-cheerful, his orange bandage replaced with a lime green one.
When the kids returned to find everything shuffled around and a new nameplate on one of the tables they fell silent, and turned to Tino suspiciously. When they caught sight of Peter they set to whispering immediately.
"Well, I guess you noticed that I moved some things around. We have a new student today!" He put as much excitement as he could into his voice, hoping it would catch on. "This is Peter Kirkland, and--"
"HI!" Peter cried, waving enthusiastically. A smattering of laughter was all he got in reply, and he flushed a little. "My name's Peter, and I came here from England--"
"Doesn't your dad dig ditches or something?" called Hans, and everyone laughed. "You moved into the house next door. We saw him." Tino frowned, surprised-- he'd never known Hans to act like that before.
"No, he doesn't!" Peter replied indignantly, nearly having to shout over the laughter. "He owns a furniture company."
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"That's enough!" Tino shouted, planting a fist on the top of his desk. The room fell silent at once. His students watched with wide eyes; he'd never raised his voice with them before. "That's not how you treat a new friend. Hans, Shira, you can stay after in detention this afternoon. Everyone else, get out your math books!" There was widespread grumbling, intermingled with the sound of books being taken out of bookbags. Tino put his hand on Peter's shoulder. "Your seat is there," he said, pointing at the table. Peter smiled, and looked visably relieved that it wasn't the empty seat next to Hans. When he reached his seat, however, he was greeted by silence. None of his table-mates were willing to reach out and be his friend; their classmates were all watching.
Something in Tino's heart twisted and hurt.
Peter was resolutely ignored for the rest of the day, despite Tino's best efforts. When the final bell rang he meant to catch the boy to talk to him, but he had to chase Hans down the hall and remind him of his detention, and when he was back, Peter was gone.
+++++
Things refused to improve. Peter continued receiving the cold shoulder from his classmates; and worse than that, he had shown up on his second day with a new bandage, this one across his forehead. On his third day, he had a bandage on each knee, and his classmates had taken to calling him "Bandaids" no matter how hard Tino tried to stop it. In fact the harder he tried, the worse it got. By Friday, Peter had stopped grinning altogether. Tino had looked in on his students during lunch and found Peter sitting alone at the end of one of the long tables in the cafeteria, staring resolutely into his cup.
"Peter," Tino called as the students filed out of the classroom, eager to go home for the weekend. "Will you stay a minute?"
The boy glanced at the big plastic Power Rangers watch on his wrist and shrugged. "My dad doesn't like it when I'm late," he said. There was a new, neon yellow bandaid on his upper arm, which he rubbed at unconsciously.
"Just for a minute," Tino assured him. He pulled a chair up next to his desk and motioned for the boy to sit down. "I know you're having a hard time. Do you want to talk? Is... is everything okay?"
"Of course not," Peter snapped. He crossed his arms. "Everyone hates me. Can I go now?"
"No one hates you, Peter," Tino said, hoping he sounded empathetic. He reached a hand out to rest it on the boy's knee, but Peter jerked away, folding his knees up to his chest and dropping his chin down on them.
"My dad really doesn't like for me to be late." Glanced at his watch again. Something was clearly wrong. A queasy feeling came over Tino.
"Is everything okay at home, Peter?" he breathed.
The boy cocked his head, looking Tino straight in the face. Then he laughed. "What do you mean?"
"With your dad. Is everything okay?"
"Of course everything is okay!" Peter laughed for the first time in days, but to Tino's ears it sounded tinny, forced. His heart sank. "Speaking of that, I gotta go." The boy jumped up and dashed for the door. "See you next week, Teach!"
Long after the door had fallen shut, Tino sat staring at it, unable to shake the awful feeling that had crawled into his stomach. Something was very, very wrong. But he didn't know for sure. He had to get more evidence, had to have proof. But the bandaids, and Peter's strange personality... Tino remembered Berwald Oxenstierna's glaring face-- it was scary even in memory-- and leapt up out of his chair, grabbing his coat in the same motion. He had to get to Peter's house, and protect him from that dangerous man.
Hope you like it so far ^^;
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I'm curious about the other characters you gave names. Are they canon characters or OCs? If they're canon characters, might I request a key of which names you've assigned to those who don't have canon human names?
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The students are OCs. I guess Al is based on Alfred ._. None of them are important though xD But it would seem weird if Finland was referring to his own students without using their names. They have eclectic names in an attempt to handwave Tino's, Berwald's, and Peter's non-matching names ^^;
Liz is Hungary ^^;; (Elizabeta = Liz)
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Thank you so much, hopefully we can look forward to new chapters soon. And thumbs up for the OP, the request is lovely!
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Love the story, keep it up anon! 83~
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I can't wait 'till the next chapter! <3
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Characterization-wise, this is flawless. <3 I mean, I can totally see the characters doing and saying these things, and that means that you have quite a good grasp on their personalities. Good job! 8D
I like your writing style. It's not too brief (I hate one-liner paragraphs) and it's not too tedious (I hate paragraphs made of only one sentence too.). It's a very good balance between what needs to be said and what can be added in order to make it more entertaining.
The only thing that bothers me is how fast the plot seems to be going. It's either that, or my ignorance of how bullying even works is just hindering me from making a correct judgment. For me, it seems so...abrupt--the way that the class just collectively decided to hate Peter the moment he stepped in. In my opinion, it would've been more sensible to have them tiptoe on eggshells around him for a few days then when he does something decidedly stupid, that's when they start his harsh treatment. Again, I could be wrong here (please do correct me if I am), since bullying doesn't really happen in my school.
Finally, what I really have to say is this: OMG I'M SO EXCITED 8DDDD Please update soon!! <3 <3 <3 Can't wait HNGGGGG *A*
Yep, that's pretty much all that's going on in my mind. Hope my comments help! :D
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