Turning away from his computer, Tino leaned back in his chair. Could he be worrying over nothing? It was possible but why would any child be wearing band-aids week after week? And how did he keep getting so many of them? Either Peter had a hidden stash or someone was buying them for him. Why would any parent go around buying boxes and boxes of band-aids unless they were needed?
But on the other hand, Niels had a good point. Between the two of them, Niels had always been the good one at being calm and objective and Tino had always valued his opinion.
The Norwegian was one of his closest and oldest friends. When Tino was in primary school, there had been some sort of Nordic Pen Pal exchange thing at his school where students from one country wrote to students of another. He ended up with a Norwegian boy one year ahead of him and they had exchanged letters and just kept going after the program stopped. Letters became phone calls which eventually became e-mails and Skype. It would seem strange to many that the two had only met in person ten times but they had known each other for the greater portion of both their lives.
Tino didn’t know Eirikur quite as long. He vividly remembered the scandal in Neils’ family when it came out that his father had had an affair and that Niels had a half-brother in Iceland. But once the two boys had met each other, they became inseparable. Eirikur had come over to Norway every summer from then on to live with Niels’ family and was now attending college in Norway and sharing an apartment with Niels year round. It had taken a bit for Tino to get to know Eirikur but over time the two of them had become good friends as well.
But right now, there wasn’t much he could do right now. He might as well go and walk Hanatamago and get some work done for tomorrow.
Monday arrived and Tino waited, nervous for what he would see when Peter walked in the classroom. But as his class filed in and he saw Peter; there were no obvious band-aids that he could see. Tino released the breath he’d been holding and started to take attendance.
The day went smoothly and the class moved through math, lit and discussion, recess, science, music with the music instructor then lunch and the second longer recess. It was as the second recess was ending that Tino finally was able to talk to Peter. As the class moved back into the classroom, Tino saw something bright red going up the inside of Peter’s arm.
“Peter! Wait for a second please.” Tino pulled Peter to the side of the hall and looked at his arm in horror. Peter had five band-aids on his arm starting at his wrist and moving up, completely covering the inside of his wrist.
“What happened to your wrist?” Tino asked in alarm, taking Peter’s hand and turning it over so he could see the underside of his arm clearly.
“Nothing” Peter said, looking a little surprised at Tino’s tone of voice. “Aren’t they great? They have ninjas on them!”
It was true. The band-aids were red with little black ninjas on them. But Tino was too distressed to take much notice. How had he missed these earlier?
“Peter, I don’t understand. Did you hurt yourself?”
“No, of course not,” Peter said, rolling his eyes a little.
“Well, if you don’t need them could you please take the band-aids off and -”
“No!” Peter yanked his hand out of Tino’s and jerked away from him.
“Peter!”
Tino was stunned as Peter hid his arm behind his back and scooted even farther away from him.
“I don’t want to take them off,” Peter muttered and refused to meet Tino’s eyes. “I won’t take them off. It’s my arm. You can’t make me.”
“Alright. Okay. I won’t make you take them off. Calm down.” Tino spoke softly, trying not upset Peter any more than he already had. “I just wanted to know why you still had so many band-aids on. That’s all.”
“I already told you on Friday,” Peter grumbled.
“Yes you did,” agreed Tino. “I was just double checking.”
Peter scowled. “Can I go back inside the class now please?”
Author Notes: I’m going to make some small adjustments so the school is more Swedish so Tino will be called Tino by his students and no more bells. Just a small little tweak. Feel free to critique if you want.
C1: Thanks! Hehe, I love biology so I suspect most the lessons written will be science related.
OP: Characterization is so important so I’m glad to see that I’m doing well. Definitely let me know if my characterization starts to wobble. I took into account your comment about reassuring Finland and made a few adjustments for it. I can easily remove the FrUK but the RusFin must stay or my plot dies. But this is definitely SuFin. ^_^ Haha, and don’t worry about correcting my English. I’m just a biology major who screws up English on a regular basis. I really happy that you like it so far.
C2: Thanks! Yes, this prompt is adorable so I’m happy to try and give it a shot.
C3: Believe me, I am so grateful for this information! I looked all over the net but I couldn’t find much about actual teachers and students in Sweden. I heard that school was like that in Finland but I wasn’t sure if Sweden was the same. It makes me wish I could have gone to school in Sweden. Ah well...
Random!anon: Wow, you’re from Israel? This meme is more international than I thought.
Hurray~ An update♥ It's always nice to see Finland interacting with other Nordics, so I'm glad that you had him going to Norway for advice. It was also nice to see Sealand acting a bit more suspiciously in this chapter; thanks for considering my feedback ^^ It looks like things are going to start heating up. I can't wait to read on♥
Band-Aids 3a/?
anonymous
May 11 2011, 01:54:16 UTC
Trying to figure out how to follow someone and not be noticed and not break any laws along the way was actually pretty difficult as Tino found out. He didn’t have any trouble getting Peter’s address since he had access to Peter’s records. He also found out that Peter’s adoptive father’s name was Berwald Oxenstierna.
“What an unusual name,” thought Tino with a smile. “It’s fun to see Swedish names that don’t end in ‘son’.”
But now that Tino had his information, he needed to find a good way to follow Peter and Berwald. The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became. But he just had to do this! All he needed was one actual incident and that would be enough. It was against the law to hit or use corporal punishment in Sweden. But if Peter was being knocked around or something like that, he supposed it was a subtle way around the law.
Deciding to wait until the next week, Tino started to prepare. He figured that it would be foolish to follow Peter too closely and people would notice a guy following a child around. On the other hand, the thought of him staying too far away and having to use binoculars was ridiculous. So he would need to get close enough to see but not close enough to attract attention.
Tino bought a simple notebook and wrote ‘Record- P.Kirkland’ on it so he wouldn’t get it mixed up with the many other books and binders he had in his apartment. He wanted to write everything that he saw so he had a written record for proof but also so he wouldn’t forget details or mix up days. There was no way of knowing how long he would have to do this after all.
Monday finally arrived and Tino spent the day nerve wracked and jittery. He knew what he had to do but he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to. He practically fell out a window at lunch when a younger student surprised him. Peter still had on band-aids in random places but Tino didn’t make any mention of them. At the end of the day, he let the students out and waited thirty minutes before heading out the door.
He had decided that following Peter strait home would be too obvious. Following afterwards and then watching the house from an outside location seemed like a smarter choice. That way he would be able to see when Peter and his father went in and out of the house. He would follow them if they went somewhere. If they didn’t, he could come back and try again later.
Grabbing his bike and notebook, he made sure he had everything he needed. It was Monday, the second week of October. Tino noted the day and month in his notebook and took off on his bike. It was a cold day and it would only get colder as Sweden moved into winter and the daylight slowly disappeared. He was glad that he had a good coat and gloves. But then again, he’d lived in Russia for three years so he ought to be able to handle Swedish weather with no problems.
Tino continued biking for about twenty minutes until he spotted the right side street and turned off. Now that he was off the main street, it was easier to look around. It was a nice area with a simple neighborhood of houses and gardens. It looked a bit bare since all the trees were shedding but he could tell that the neighborhood would be gorgeous in the Spring with all the trees and flowers in bloom.
Slowing down to check the house numbers, Tino realized that he was getting closer to the house. Most of the surrounding houses seemed empty but that wasn’t too surprising since it was afternoon and cold. The most important thing would be to find a good place where he could watch the house, but still be inconspicuous.
Biking past the house cautiously, Tino took a good look at the outside. It was a small two story house, painted white with a bright red tiled roof. There was a car port but it was empty at the moment. To his surprise, the front yard was quite nice. Maybe his father enjoyed landscaping or something because there were many flower beds and little shrubs bordering the yard. A low green metal fence completed the picture. Nothing surprising or alarming really. Just a typical Swedish home.
Nonetheless, Tino had a job to do. Looking around, he located a few places where he could hide but still see the entrance and the yard. He crammed himself into his chosen spot and waited, tense and alert for any movement.
Band-Aids 3b/?
anonymous
May 11 2011, 01:56:28 UTC
An hour and a half later Tino was rewarded when a navy blue Volvo pulled into the driveway of the house and parked. Tino quickly grabbed for his notebook and a pencil to scribble the time and arrival of the car. Watching carefully, he saw a very tall man step out of the car and turn and Tino felt his breath catch. This man, this tall Swede was wearing a harsh scowl as he looked around and glared at everything. He was even scarier in person! Tino cringed back into the bush he was hiding in.
Berwald stomped over to the door, opened it with a crash and vanished inside, leaving Tino to worry outside. Unfortunately, neither Peter nor his dad came out again for the rest of the evening. As it got colder and darker, Tino decided to give up for the day and go home. He would go back the next day for sure.
From then on a pattern developed. Tino would take note of how many band-aids Peter was wearing at school. Then after the students left, he would wait for thirty minutes and follow Peter home. He had to rotate areas in the neighborhood so it didn’t look as though he was hanging around and by bringing work to keep himself busy, it wasn’t too hard to stay unnoticed. He made sure to never step onto private property or make any sort of personal contact.
On Tuesday, Berwald and Peter left the house to go to the local coop and Tino followed at a careful distance. As they were going through the parking lot, without any warning Berwald grabbed Peter by the back of the neck and hauled the boy backwards. Tino almost screamed until he realized that Peter had come close to being hit by a car backing out of a parking space and that his father had just saved him. But he still felt a sense of outrage. There was absolutely no reason to grab Peter by his neck! Honestly, he could have just grabbed him by the arm.
Once inside the coop, Tino had his work cut out for him. Peter was never still. He continuously circled his father, bounced up and down on his heels and would occasionally pull on the shopping cart. Berwald seemed to take it all in stride but it meant that Tino had to work hard to stay hidden. Scooting around shelves and dodging behind stacks of boxed goods, he ended up relying more on sound than sight. However he was able to take advantage of Peter’s accent. The boy could speak fluent Swedish but he spoke with a distinct accent so when the pair of them got out of Tino’s sight which was often; he could listen carefully for Peter’s voice and follow the sounds. He couldn’t hear Berwald very well but when he did hear his voice, it always sounded very harsh and a bit strange.
“Does this man speak kindly at all to his son?” Tino wondered with a frown, as he wrote in his notebook. Hearing the voices get suddenly louder, he realized almost too late that his targets were coming back towards him and he was forced to dive behind a huge display of cans, shocking all the nearby shoppers. But to his intense relief, neither Berwald nor Peter noticed anything which was the important thing unlike his dignity which was being pummeled by cans of creamed corn.
On Wednesday, the weather was sunny and cool so the two of them decided to rake up the fallen leaves in the yard. At one point, Peter charged his dad and tried to get him to play with him. Coming around, Peter jabbed at his dad with his rake, swinging at him and getting in a few hits in before dodging off, laughing. Berwald didn’t do anything until Peter finally managed to smack him hard across the back. Then he lunged at Peter, hauled him over his shoulder and tossed him into the leaf pile. Tino was mortified. Berwald was throwing his child across the yard! Oh god! He had to write this down! Peter avenged himself magnificently by jumping up and shoving handfuls of damp leaves down his dad’s pants but Tino was busy writing in his notebook and unfortunately didn’t see it.
The next day, Tino followed Peter and Berwald to a rummage sale. Berwald seemed to be most interested in old furniture and wood pieces while Peter looked at everything but carpentry work. Tino was also taking the time to enjoy himself and look around too. He’d only been to this area a few times before and he wasn’t too worried about being spotted in the crowd.
Band-Aids 3c/?
anonymous
May 11 2011, 01:58:46 UTC
Eventually Berwald purchased a few pieces of hardwood and Peter got an book and they looked as though they were ready to leave. But as they headed towards the exit, Tino lost sight of them. Well, that was fine since it was starting to get late and Tino needed to get home too. Then a scream rang out and everyone in the area turned to look. Instantly recognizing the voice, Tino rushed towards the noise and saw Peter grabbing his head and Berwald kneeling next to him with his arms on his shoulders. Wood was scattered all over the ground and people were beginning to stare. What had happened? Had Berwald intentionally dropped hardwood on Peter’s head?
Tino looked on in dismay and chewed his lip. No, there was no way that any person would do that on purpose, not in public at least. Tino wasn’t sure what to think. If this guy would throw his kid across a yard, then would he smack him with a piece of wood? It was almost too horrible to consider.
But that couldn’t be because Berwald was hugging Peter and running his hand over his head. He was obviously concerned about him and Peter wasn’t pulling away from him. So it must have just been an accident. Just an accident. Okay. They were getting and picking up the wood and everything is fine. All good.
Tino leaned against a booth and tried to relax. He wasn’t sure if his heart could keep taking this kind of stress. But nothing else noteworthy happened that day and on Friday the two of them remained at home for the evening.
So it wasn’t until Saturday morning that Tino became aware of a major flaw in his abuse theory.
Author notes: I hope this part didn’t seem horribly boring to people. It’s hard to have dialogue when your main character is keeping a 30-60 ft distance from the other main characters. @_@ Poor Tino is a very flustered stalker. Feel free to critique if you want. OP: Things are indeed heating up. XD C1: Yeah, I’ve got my own list of WIPs I dream of seeing updated.
Re: Band-Aids 3c/?
anonymous
May 11 2011, 08:17:41 UTC
I don't want to seem like a bitch, but... the majority of our lastnames do no end in "son". A lot do, but a lot also end in "gren", "berg", "löf" or "qvist"; that's just as common. Berwald is an unusual (cough false cough) name though :P
Anyhow, I am really enjoying this fill, can't wait for more :3
Re: Band-Aids 3c/?
anonymous
May 11 2011, 09:57:24 UTC
The part at the grocery store made me laugh so hard. The mental images are priceless.
My theory is the Peter either walked into the wood or was inconveniently placed and Berwald turned around. The same thing's happened to me, only with a plate and in the kitchen. Being short has drawbacks. >_
Band-Aids 4a/?
anonymous
May 25 2011, 01:16:20 UTC
Saturday morning, Tino decided to take Hanatamago to Riseberga park to get some exercise. Poor Hanatamago had spent more time than usual in his apartment alone since he had been out following Peter. So going to the park and letting her get a nice long walk would be good for her.
It was a quiet and cold morning with every breath turning the air white. Tino enjoyed the changing leaves while Hana padded along beside him. They were walking on a quiet path along a field when they approached a turn up ahead. Hearing a familiar voice coming from around the corner, Tino stopped in the middle of the path. At first he wasn’t sure if he was hearing properly. It seemed so unlikely that he would run into them here. But when he heard a second familiar voice he leapt in to action.
Dragging Hanatamago off the path, he hid them both behind some very large bushes only realizing too late that he wasn’t following anyone and that he had no reason to hide. However, Peter and his dad were walking down the path from the opposite direction; Peter carrying a soccer ball. He was stuck. Jumping out now would be even more suspicious than if they just ran into each other in the park. So either he walked away in another direction or remained hidden.
“Ah well,” thought Tino. “I might as well take advantage of this. I can watch for a little while.” He settled in so he could see better and Hanatamago laid down.
Meanwhile Peter was looking from the path into a large grass field than ran alongside the trees, searching for a spot to practise.
“Is this a good place Dad?” asked Peter, walking alongside the path and kicking at the fallen leaves.
“In th’ field,” came the usual rough reply.
“You go to the far end okay?” Peter yelled as he ran into the field. “Try to block my shots.”
Berwald nodded and took an appropriate position at the end of the field. As soon as his dad was in the the right position, Peter ran forward and kicked the ball as hard as he could. Berwald blocked the shot and kicked the ball back and the cycle repeated, each trying to out shoot each other.
Watching from around the bush, Tino was amused to see that while Berwald was doing a pretty good job of blocking goals, Peter was having trouble aiming and some of his shots kept going wide. Berwald was definitely getting more exercise running after the ball than Peter was.
Nothing very remarkable happened until Peter managed to miss-kick the ball and it slammed strait into Berwald’s face, knocking his glasses off and stunning him momentarily. Peter ran across the grass yelling apologies but before he could reach his dad, Berwald yelled “Don’t move!”
Peter skidded to a halt and Tino tensed up. But then Berwald knelt down carefully and began to feel the ground with his hands, obviously searching for his glasses. After a few moments of searching around, he located his glasses and put them back on while Peter ran the rest of the way to him.
“I’m so sorry Dad! I didn’t mean to hit you in the face! Are you okay?” Peter asked.
“s’no big deal. M’fine,” replied Berwald, rubbing his face. “But yeh tend to shoot too strong to the side. Don’t turn yer feet so much.”
“Okay. Let me try again then,” called Peter, running back down the field and waiting for the ball. Berwald kicked it back and they started up again.
It was only after Peter had managed to smack his dad in the face for the second time that Tino suddenly realized that something was off. Peter’s face was clear! Tino didn’t have his notebook with him but he distinctly remembered on Friday that Peter had been wearing a band-aid on his face. It had been down his cheek and it was covered with little pizzas. He hadn’t commented on it but some of the other kids had complimented Peter.
But where was it now? Peter’s face was bandage free and not only that; from where Tino was hiding he could clearly see that there was no injury on Peter’s face. Nothing. No bruise, no cut or abrasion, no nothing. Just skin. And on Thursday, Peter hadn’t had any bandages on his face. So he’d only had it on for one day?
Band-Aids 4b/?
anonymous
May 25 2011, 01:19:04 UTC
“Why isn’t he wearing it now?” wondered Tino, his head spinning a little. Just what was going on with this child? He needed to check his notebook but Hanatamago had to come first right now. Carefully, he walked away from the bush and away from the field, hoping that he wouldn’t be noticed as he headed back to where he’d locked his bike earlier. He and Hana could walk over there for now.
As soon as Tino arrived home and fed Hanatamago, he checked his notebook and then he discovered something strange. He’d seen the two of them go out and since he usually kept a distance and was looking for acts of violence, he’d completely ignored the band-aids. But looking back now, he couldn’t remember Peter wearing any of the band-aids when he was with his father. But at the same time, Peter was always wearing his coat when Tino was following him. At school he hung it up so why did -
It was then that a crazy thought hit Tino.
What if Peter was wearing band-aids at school but not around his dad?
Oh god, it couldn’t be.
If it was true, then Tino was wrong and something completely different was going on. Even though he had been watching them for a week, he wasn't eactly sure he had real evidence of foul play. There had been some suspicious activity but he didn’t really have anything solid.
It looked like he would have to follow through for another week. And this time he would be even more vigilant!
Monday and Tuesday had passed with nothing more than locals trips to the store. And neither of them were as stressful as his first trip. On Wednesday night the two ended up going out for dinner and so Tino followed Peter and Berwald to small restaurant. By this time, Tino was becoming less nervous and so risked sitting at a table near enough to hear their voices, trusting that the other patrons and noise would hide him. Pulling out a book, he ordered some food and kept his eyes focused down as he eavesdropped on parts of Peter and Berwald’s conversation.
“Hey Dad! Guess what! Did you know that in Japan there’s a giant Gundam on an island? Isn’t that awesome?” asked Peter loudly.
“Mmm.” Berwald made a vague noise of interest.
“I mean wouldn’t it be cool to see? Alfred told me about it. He said that Japan is doing all sorts of cool stuff with robots. His friend told him about it.”
Berwald nodded and continued eating. “Do you think robots will ever rule the world? Take it over and all that?” Peter looked exited at the idea but Berwald shook his head.
“It’s prob’ly not somethin we’re goin to hafta worry ‘bout anytime soon. Cept in the movies or somethin.”
Peter grinned at his dad. “Alfred still gets scared by ghost movies. Even though he’s twenty five!”
“Sounds like Alfred has’n overactive i’magination,” said Berwald.
“Maybe.” Peter shrugged and poked at his food. “But he believes in aliens you know. Not scared of them at all. He has one for a friend apparently.”
Berwald sighed. “Like I said, overactive i’magination. Their s’more import’nt things to worry ‘bout.”
“Tino’s like that too. He worries about funny stuff like that,” replied Peter.
Tino jerked his head up from his book and had to fight the urge to whirl around and reveal himself. What did Peter mean that he worried about ‘funny stuff’? He strained even harder to hear clearly over the babble of the other customers.
“What d’you mean ‘funny stuff’?” asked Berwald sharply, looking strait at his son.
“W-well, I mean he worries about weird things. You know, things that aren’t a big deal,” Peter shrugged at this dad. “That’s all.”
But Berwald wasn’t going to let the subject drop. “What sort of ‘funny stuff’ Peter?” he asked again, his voice serious. Peter sighed at his dad but spoke anyway. “It’s just that there’s this kid in my class. I don’t know him all that well. Anyways, he’s been wearing band-aids and Tino was worried about him. That’s it.”
Berwald looked at his son carefully before asking “How d’you know this?”
“Oh, I heard Tino talking to him in the hall when we came if from recess. Tino sounded worried but I thought it was weird,” Peter spoke in a rush.
“Well it’s better fer him to be concern’ed than ignore it,” said Berwald slowly. “It’s good that he’ notices things an’ pays attention.”
Band-Aids 4c/?
anonymous
May 25 2011, 01:22:10 UTC
“I suppose so. I’d much rather have him as a teacher than dumb ol-”
“Peter!” Berwald interrupted him. “Don’t talk that way ‘bout the other teachers. S’rude.”
“But it’s true!!” Peter whined. The other six year teachers are all boring and stodgy. At least Tino likes recess duty and doing stuff with us.
“There’s more to school than recess. B’sides Ester n’ Karina are both quite a bit older than Tino. More experienced too,” Berwald pointed out.
“I’d still rather have Tino,” muttered Peter under his breath. “He’s actually fun to be around.”
Silence fell between them for a while and they started to eat again before Berwald said softly “Well, M’glad that you like him so much.”
“Everyone likes him,” said Peter. “He’s really cheerful and everything. Even the younger students want to be around him. Just the other day a bunch of younger girls dragged him off to play jump rope. It was really funny; he kept getting caught up in the rope.”
Berwald made an inaudible noise and the two finished eating. Shortly after, they paid for their food and left while Tino sat in silence at his table, trying to process what he’d just heard. He was torn between shock and joy. At first, he couldn’t believe that Peter had just lied to his dad but after considering what he’d been seeing for the last week and a half, it was clear that Peter was hiding the band-aids. So there was no possible way he could admit to being the student that Tino had spoken to. As for the other comments, Tino felt such a sense of overwhelming joy that he had to bite the insides of his cheeks to keep from cheering like a complete idiot in the restaurant.
His students liked him. Peter liked him. Other students besides his own liked him.
Tino felt such a surge of happiness he could barely breathe. Of course he wasn’t foolish enough to think that just because one of his students had made a broad statement that it was actually true for everyone. But still, Peter had told his dad that he preferred him over two more experienced and arguably superior teachers. Something like that shouldn’t make him so ridiculously happy.
But it did.
Leaning back into his chair, Tino allowed a small smile to spread across his face. He knew that he was generally an agreeable sort of person and that he worked well with kids but that hadn’t prevented him from being nervous about his first teaching job. Hearing Peter’s words was incredibly soothing to the small part of him that worried about whether or not he was managing to connect with his students. And it was true that he was trying to get to know the younger students. Someday they would be students of his and it was important to get to know them. Besides, there were worse things in life than being outshone by a group of ten year old girls with jump ropes.
For the rest of the week and into the weekend, Tino continued to follow Berwald and Peter. However on Sunday after his second week, he finally accepted that nothing was going on and debated if it was a good time to finally stop. He had gone from being seriously concerned to mildly curious about the whole band-aid issue. It was clear to him that Peter and Berwald had a great albeit slightly unusual father-son relationship and that nothing going on. Peter was still wearing band-aids at school and not at home but perhaps...
Band-Aids 4c/? -notes
anonymous
May 25 2011, 01:35:56 UTC
Oh man, I am so so sorry that it took me this long to put up the next part. I didn't mean to let two weeks go between parts. I moved last weekend and lost a ton of time and internet and all that. If I don't have huge chunks of time to write, I have trouble getting stuff done and I have to shift it to the next weekend. I'd like to get out at least one part a week. But we're moving along here! As always, feel free to critique.
C1: I'm so glad you love it! Sweden is indeed adorable. C2: Hehe, lots of description but we're moving past it slowly. Fin is figuring out though. C3:The wood wasn't really important. Someone knocked into Sweden and it fell out of his hands. I just wanted to show that Tino can't always see everything that's going on.XD C4: I'm so sorry!! Really I am! I read an article in NYT that gave me the impression that the majority of Swedes have 'son' in their last names. Clearly, I was wrong. Thanks for clearing it up for me. I'm glad you like it so far! C5: I do rather like the image of Tino lying on the floor pummeled by cans as onlookers stare at him in confusion. XD The wood was knocked by another person and dropped onto Peter, poor kid.
It's all good, Author!non; I understand that real life gets in the way sometimes. I'm just glad you're updating at all. And what a cute chapter it was! It was wonderful to see Sweden and Sealand playing together and having a real conversation. And how nice of Sealand to give Finland that little confidence boost! I can't wait to read the next part :)
But on the other hand, Niels had a good point. Between the two of them, Niels had always been the good one at being calm and objective and Tino had always valued his opinion.
The Norwegian was one of his closest and oldest friends. When Tino was in primary school, there had been some sort of Nordic Pen Pal exchange thing at his school where students from one country wrote to students of another. He ended up with a Norwegian boy one year ahead of him and they had exchanged letters and just kept going after the program stopped. Letters became phone calls which eventually became e-mails and Skype. It would seem strange to many that the two had only met in person ten times but they had known each other for the greater portion of both their lives.
Tino didn’t know Eirikur quite as long. He vividly remembered the scandal in Neils’ family when it came out that his father had had an affair and that Niels had a half-brother in Iceland. But once the two boys had met each other, they became inseparable. Eirikur had come over to Norway every summer from then on to live with Niels’ family and was now attending college in Norway and sharing an apartment with Niels year round. It had taken a bit for Tino to get to know Eirikur but over time the two of them had become good friends as well.
But right now, there wasn’t much he could do right now. He might as well go and walk Hanatamago and get some work done for tomorrow.
Monday arrived and Tino waited, nervous for what he would see when Peter walked in the classroom. But as his class filed in and he saw Peter; there were no obvious band-aids that he could see. Tino released the breath he’d been holding and started to take attendance.
The day went smoothly and the class moved through math, lit and discussion, recess, science, music with the music instructor then lunch and the second longer recess. It was as the second recess was ending that Tino finally was able to talk to Peter. As the class moved back into the classroom, Tino saw something bright red going up the inside of Peter’s arm.
“Peter! Wait for a second please.” Tino pulled Peter to the side of the hall and looked at his arm in horror. Peter had five band-aids on his arm starting at his wrist and moving up, completely covering the inside of his wrist.
“What happened to your wrist?” Tino asked in alarm, taking Peter’s hand and turning it over so he could see the underside of his arm clearly.
“Nothing” Peter said, looking a little surprised at Tino’s tone of voice. “Aren’t they great? They have ninjas on them!”
It was true. The band-aids were red with little black ninjas on them. But Tino was too distressed to take much notice. How had he missed these earlier?
“Peter, I don’t understand. Did you hurt yourself?”
“No, of course not,” Peter said, rolling his eyes a little.
“Well, if you don’t need them could you please take the band-aids off and -”
“No!” Peter yanked his hand out of Tino’s and jerked away from him.
“Peter!”
Tino was stunned as Peter hid his arm behind his back and scooted even farther away from him.
“I don’t want to take them off,” Peter muttered and refused to meet Tino’s eyes. “I won’t take them off. It’s my arm. You can’t make me.”
“Alright. Okay. I won’t make you take them off. Calm down.” Tino spoke softly, trying not upset Peter any more than he already had. “I just wanted to know why you still had so many band-aids on. That’s all.”
“I already told you on Friday,” Peter grumbled.
“Yes you did,” agreed Tino. “I was just double checking.”
Peter scowled. “Can I go back inside the class now please?”
Tino nodded and Peter fled.
That was it. He would not let this continue.
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I’m going to make some small adjustments so the school is more Swedish so Tino will be called Tino by his students and no more bells. Just a small little tweak. Feel free to critique if you want.
C1: Thanks! Hehe, I love biology so I suspect most the lessons written will be science related.
OP: Characterization is so important so I’m glad to see that I’m doing well. Definitely let me know if my characterization starts to wobble. I took into account your comment about reassuring Finland and made a few adjustments for it. I can easily remove the FrUK but the RusFin must stay or my plot dies. But this is definitely SuFin. ^_^ Haha, and don’t worry about correcting my English. I’m just a biology major who screws up English on a regular basis. I really happy that you like it so far.
C2: Thanks! Yes, this prompt is adorable so I’m happy to try and give it a shot.
C3: Believe me, I am so grateful for this information! I looked all over the net but I couldn’t find much about actual teachers and students in Sweden. I heard that school was like that in Finland but I wasn’t sure if Sweden was the same. It makes me wish I could have gone to school in Sweden. Ah well...
Random!anon: Wow, you’re from Israel? This meme is more international than I thought.
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“What an unusual name,” thought Tino with a smile. “It’s fun to see Swedish names that don’t end in ‘son’.”
But now that Tino had his information, he needed to find a good way to follow Peter and Berwald. The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became. But he just had to do this! All he needed was one actual incident and that would be enough. It was against the law to hit or use corporal punishment in Sweden. But if Peter was being knocked around or something like that, he supposed it was a subtle way around the law.
Deciding to wait until the next week, Tino started to prepare. He figured that it would be foolish to follow Peter too closely and people would notice a guy following a child around. On the other hand, the thought of him staying too far away and having to use binoculars was ridiculous. So he would need to get close enough to see but not close enough to attract attention.
Tino bought a simple notebook and wrote ‘Record- P.Kirkland’ on it so he wouldn’t get it mixed up with the many other books and binders he had in his apartment. He wanted to write everything that he saw so he had a written record for proof but also so he wouldn’t forget details or mix up days. There was no way of knowing how long he would have to do this after all.
Monday finally arrived and Tino spent the day nerve wracked and jittery. He knew what he had to do but he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to. He practically fell out a window at lunch when a younger student surprised him. Peter still had on band-aids in random places but Tino didn’t make any mention of them. At the end of the day, he let the students out and waited thirty minutes before heading out the door.
He had decided that following Peter strait home would be too obvious. Following afterwards and then watching the house from an outside location seemed like a smarter choice. That way he would be able to see when Peter and his father went in and out of the house. He would follow them if they went somewhere. If they didn’t, he could come back and try again later.
Grabbing his bike and notebook, he made sure he had everything he needed. It was Monday, the second week of October. Tino noted the day and month in his notebook and took off on his bike. It was a cold day and it would only get colder as Sweden moved into winter and the daylight slowly disappeared. He was glad that he had a good coat and gloves. But then again, he’d lived in Russia for three years so he ought to be able to handle Swedish weather with no problems.
Tino continued biking for about twenty minutes until he spotted the right side street and turned off. Now that he was off the main street, it was easier to look around. It was a nice area with a simple neighborhood of houses and gardens. It looked a bit bare since all the trees were shedding but he could tell that the neighborhood would be gorgeous in the Spring with all the trees and flowers in bloom.
Slowing down to check the house numbers, Tino realized that he was getting closer to the house. Most of the surrounding houses seemed empty but that wasn’t too surprising since it was afternoon and cold. The most important thing would be to find a good place where he could watch the house, but still be inconspicuous.
Biking past the house cautiously, Tino took a good look at the outside. It was a small two story house, painted white with a bright red tiled roof. There was a car port but it was empty at the moment. To his surprise, the front yard was quite nice. Maybe his father enjoyed landscaping or something because there were many flower beds and little shrubs bordering the yard. A low green metal fence completed the picture. Nothing surprising or alarming really. Just a typical Swedish home.
Nonetheless, Tino had a job to do. Looking around, he located a few places where he could hide but still see the entrance and the yard. He crammed himself into his chosen spot and waited, tense and alert for any movement.
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Berwald stomped over to the door, opened it with a crash and vanished inside, leaving Tino to worry outside. Unfortunately, neither Peter nor his dad came out again for the rest of the evening. As it got colder and darker, Tino decided to give up for the day and go home. He would go back the next day for sure.
From then on a pattern developed. Tino would take note of how many band-aids Peter was wearing at school. Then after the students left, he would wait for thirty minutes and follow Peter home. He had to rotate areas in the neighborhood so it didn’t look as though he was hanging around and by bringing work to keep himself busy, it wasn’t too hard to stay unnoticed. He made sure to never step onto private property or make any sort of personal contact.
On Tuesday, Berwald and Peter left the house to go to the local coop and Tino followed at a careful distance. As they were going through the parking lot, without any warning Berwald grabbed Peter by the back of the neck and hauled the boy backwards. Tino almost screamed until he realized that Peter had come close to being hit by a car backing out of a parking space and that his father had just saved him. But he still felt a sense of outrage. There was absolutely no reason to grab Peter by his neck! Honestly, he could have just grabbed him by the arm.
Once inside the coop, Tino had his work cut out for him. Peter was never still. He continuously circled his father, bounced up and down on his heels and would occasionally pull on the shopping cart. Berwald seemed to take it all in stride but it meant that Tino had to work hard to stay hidden. Scooting around shelves and dodging behind stacks of boxed goods, he ended up relying more on sound than sight. However he was able to take advantage of Peter’s accent. The boy could speak fluent Swedish but he spoke with a distinct accent so when the pair of them got out of Tino’s sight which was often; he could listen carefully for Peter’s voice and follow the sounds. He couldn’t hear Berwald very well but when he did hear his voice, it always sounded very harsh and a bit strange.
“Does this man speak kindly at all to his son?” Tino wondered with a frown, as he wrote in his notebook. Hearing the voices get suddenly louder, he realized almost too late that his targets were coming back towards him and he was forced to dive behind a huge display of cans, shocking all the nearby shoppers. But to his intense relief, neither Berwald nor Peter noticed anything which was the important thing unlike his dignity which was being pummeled by cans of creamed corn.
On Wednesday, the weather was sunny and cool so the two of them decided to rake up the fallen leaves in the yard. At one point, Peter charged his dad and tried to get him to play with him. Coming around, Peter jabbed at his dad with his rake, swinging at him and getting in a few hits in before dodging off, laughing. Berwald didn’t do anything until Peter finally managed to smack him hard across the back. Then he lunged at Peter, hauled him over his shoulder and tossed him into the leaf pile. Tino was mortified. Berwald was throwing his child across the yard! Oh god! He had to write this down!
Peter avenged himself magnificently by jumping up and shoving handfuls of damp leaves down his dad’s pants but Tino was busy writing in his notebook and unfortunately didn’t see it.
The next day, Tino followed Peter and Berwald to a rummage sale. Berwald seemed to be most interested in old furniture and wood pieces while Peter looked at everything but carpentry work. Tino was also taking the time to enjoy himself and look around too. He’d only been to this area a few times before and he wasn’t too worried about being spotted in the crowd.
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Tino looked on in dismay and chewed his lip. No, there was no way that any person would do that on purpose, not in public at least. Tino wasn’t sure what to think. If this guy would throw his kid across a yard, then would he smack him with a piece of wood? It was almost too horrible to consider.
But that couldn’t be because Berwald was hugging Peter and running his hand over his head. He was obviously concerned about him and Peter wasn’t pulling away from him. So it must have just been an accident. Just an accident. Okay. They were getting and picking up the wood and everything is fine. All good.
Tino leaned against a booth and tried to relax. He wasn’t sure if his heart could keep taking this kind of stress. But nothing else noteworthy happened that day and on Friday the two of them remained at home for the evening.
So it wasn’t until Saturday morning that Tino became aware of a major flaw in his abuse theory.
Author notes: I hope this part didn’t seem horribly boring to people. It’s hard to have dialogue when your main character is keeping a 30-60 ft distance from the other main characters. @_@ Poor Tino is a very flustered stalker. Feel free to critique if you want.
OP: Things are indeed heating up. XD
C1: Yeah, I’ve got my own list of WIPs I dream of seeing updated.
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I love this story. Can'twait for next part.
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<3 This is really, really lovely. I like the way this is characterized and how flightly Tino is. :3 He makes me happy. And Ber is adorbbbbllleee
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Anyhow, I am really enjoying this fill, can't wait for more :3
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My theory is the Peter either walked into the wood or was inconveniently placed and Berwald turned around. The same thing's happened to me, only with a plate and in the kitchen. Being short has drawbacks. >_
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It was a quiet and cold morning with every breath turning the air white. Tino enjoyed the changing leaves while Hana padded along beside him. They were walking on a quiet path along a field when they approached a turn up ahead. Hearing a familiar voice coming from around the corner, Tino stopped in the middle of the path. At first he wasn’t sure if he was hearing properly. It seemed so unlikely that he would run into them here. But when he heard a second familiar voice he leapt in to action.
Dragging Hanatamago off the path, he hid them both behind some very large bushes only realizing too late that he wasn’t following anyone and that he had no reason to hide. However, Peter and his dad were walking down the path from the opposite direction; Peter carrying a soccer ball. He was stuck. Jumping out now would be even more suspicious than if they just ran into each other in the park. So either he walked away in another direction or remained hidden.
“Ah well,” thought Tino. “I might as well take advantage of this. I can watch for a little while.” He settled in so he could see better and Hanatamago laid down.
Meanwhile Peter was looking from the path into a large grass field than ran alongside the trees, searching for a spot to practise.
“Is this a good place Dad?” asked Peter, walking alongside the path and kicking at the fallen leaves.
“In th’ field,” came the usual rough reply.
“You go to the far end okay?” Peter yelled as he ran into the field. “Try to block my shots.”
Berwald nodded and took an appropriate position at the end of the field. As soon as his dad was in the the right position, Peter ran forward and kicked the ball as hard as he could. Berwald blocked the shot and kicked the ball back and the cycle repeated, each trying to out shoot each other.
Watching from around the bush, Tino was amused to see that while Berwald was doing a pretty good job of blocking goals, Peter was having trouble aiming and some of his shots kept going wide. Berwald was definitely getting more exercise running after the ball than Peter was.
Nothing very remarkable happened until Peter managed to miss-kick the ball and it slammed strait into Berwald’s face, knocking his glasses off and stunning him momentarily. Peter ran across the grass yelling apologies but before he could reach his dad, Berwald yelled “Don’t move!”
Peter skidded to a halt and Tino tensed up. But then Berwald knelt down carefully and began to feel the ground with his hands, obviously searching for his glasses. After a few moments of searching around, he located his glasses and put them back on while Peter ran the rest of the way to him.
“I’m so sorry Dad! I didn’t mean to hit you in the face! Are you okay?” Peter asked.
“s’no big deal. M’fine,” replied Berwald, rubbing his face. “But yeh tend to shoot too strong to the side. Don’t turn yer feet so much.”
“Okay. Let me try again then,” called Peter, running back down the field and waiting for the ball. Berwald kicked it back and they started up again.
It was only after Peter had managed to smack his dad in the face for the second time that Tino suddenly realized that something was off. Peter’s face was clear! Tino didn’t have his notebook with him but he distinctly remembered on Friday that Peter had been wearing a band-aid on his face. It had been down his cheek and it was covered with little pizzas. He hadn’t commented on it but some of the other kids had complimented Peter.
But where was it now? Peter’s face was bandage free and not only that; from where Tino was hiding he could clearly see that there was no injury on Peter’s face. Nothing. No bruise, no cut or abrasion, no nothing. Just skin. And on Thursday, Peter hadn’t had any bandages on his face. So he’d only had it on for one day?
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“Why isn’t he wearing it now?” wondered Tino, his head spinning a little. Just what was going on with this child? He needed to check his notebook but Hanatamago had to come first right now. Carefully, he walked away from the bush and away from the field, hoping that he wouldn’t be noticed as he headed back to where he’d locked his bike earlier. He and Hana could walk over there for now.
As soon as Tino arrived home and fed Hanatamago, he checked his notebook and then he discovered something strange. He’d seen the two of them go out and since he usually kept a distance and was looking for acts of violence, he’d completely ignored the band-aids. But looking back now, he couldn’t remember Peter wearing any of the band-aids when he was with his father. But at the same time, Peter was always wearing his coat when Tino was following him. At school he hung it up so why did -
It was then that a crazy thought hit Tino.
What if Peter was wearing band-aids at school but not around his dad?
Oh god, it couldn’t be.
If it was true, then Tino was wrong and something completely different was going on. Even though he had been watching them for a week, he wasn't eactly sure he had real evidence of foul play. There had been some suspicious activity but he didn’t really have anything solid.
It looked like he would have to follow through for another week. And this time he would be even more vigilant!
Monday and Tuesday had passed with nothing more than locals trips to the store. And neither of them were as stressful as his first trip. On Wednesday night the two ended up going out for dinner and so Tino followed Peter and Berwald to small restaurant. By this time, Tino was becoming less nervous and so risked sitting at a table near enough to hear their voices, trusting that the other patrons and noise would hide him. Pulling out a book, he ordered some food and kept his eyes focused down as he eavesdropped on parts of Peter and Berwald’s conversation.
“Hey Dad! Guess what! Did you know that in Japan there’s a giant Gundam on an island? Isn’t that awesome?” asked Peter loudly.
“Mmm.” Berwald made a vague noise of interest.
“I mean wouldn’t it be cool to see? Alfred told me about it. He said that Japan is doing all sorts of cool stuff with robots. His friend told him about it.”
Berwald nodded and continued eating.
“Do you think robots will ever rule the world? Take it over and all that?” Peter looked exited at the idea but Berwald shook his head.
“It’s prob’ly not somethin we’re goin to hafta worry ‘bout anytime soon. Cept in the movies or somethin.”
Peter grinned at his dad. “Alfred still gets scared by ghost movies. Even though he’s twenty five!”
“Sounds like Alfred has’n overactive i’magination,” said Berwald.
“Maybe.” Peter shrugged and poked at his food. “But he believes in aliens you know. Not scared of them at all. He has one for a friend apparently.”
Berwald sighed. “Like I said, overactive i’magination. Their s’more import’nt things to worry ‘bout.”
“Tino’s like that too. He worries about funny stuff like that,” replied Peter.
Tino jerked his head up from his book and had to fight the urge to whirl around and reveal himself. What did Peter mean that he worried about ‘funny stuff’? He strained even harder to hear clearly over the babble of the other customers.
“What d’you mean ‘funny stuff’?” asked Berwald sharply, looking strait at his son.
“W-well, I mean he worries about weird things. You know, things that aren’t a big deal,” Peter shrugged at this dad. “That’s all.”
But Berwald wasn’t going to let the subject drop. “What sort of ‘funny stuff’ Peter?” he asked again, his voice serious.
Peter sighed at his dad but spoke anyway. “It’s just that there’s this kid in my class. I don’t know him all that well. Anyways, he’s been wearing band-aids and Tino was worried about him. That’s it.”
Berwald looked at his son carefully before asking “How d’you know this?”
“Oh, I heard Tino talking to him in the hall when we came if from recess. Tino sounded worried but I thought it was weird,” Peter spoke in a rush.
“Well it’s better fer him to be concern’ed than ignore it,” said Berwald slowly. “It’s good that he’ notices things an’ pays attention.”
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“I suppose so. I’d much rather have him as a teacher than dumb ol-”
“Peter!” Berwald interrupted him. “Don’t talk that way ‘bout the other teachers. S’rude.”
“But it’s true!!” Peter whined. The other six year teachers are all boring and stodgy. At least Tino likes recess duty and doing stuff with us.
“There’s more to school than recess. B’sides Ester n’ Karina are both quite a bit older than Tino. More experienced too,” Berwald pointed out.
“I’d still rather have Tino,” muttered Peter under his breath. “He’s actually fun to be around.”
Silence fell between them for a while and they started to eat again before Berwald said softly “Well, M’glad that you like him so much.”
“Everyone likes him,” said Peter. “He’s really cheerful and everything. Even the younger students want to be around him. Just the other day a bunch of younger girls dragged him off to play jump rope. It was really funny; he kept getting caught up in the rope.”
Berwald made an inaudible noise and the two finished eating. Shortly after, they paid for their food and left while Tino sat in silence at his table, trying to process what he’d just heard. He was torn between shock and joy. At first, he couldn’t believe that Peter had just lied to his dad but after considering what he’d been seeing for the last week and a half, it was clear that Peter was hiding the band-aids. So there was no possible way he could admit to being the student that Tino had spoken to. As for the other comments, Tino felt such a sense of overwhelming joy that he had to bite the insides of his cheeks to keep from cheering like a complete idiot in the restaurant.
His students liked him. Peter liked him. Other students besides his own liked him.
Tino felt such a surge of happiness he could barely breathe. Of course he wasn’t foolish enough to think that just because one of his students had made a broad statement that it was actually true for everyone. But still, Peter had told his dad that he preferred him over two more experienced and arguably superior teachers. Something like that shouldn’t make him so ridiculously happy.
But it did.
Leaning back into his chair, Tino allowed a small smile to spread across his face. He knew that he was generally an agreeable sort of person and that he worked well with kids but that hadn’t prevented him from being nervous about his first teaching job. Hearing Peter’s words was incredibly soothing to the small part of him that worried about whether or not he was managing to connect with his students. And it was true that he was trying to get to know the younger students. Someday they would be students of his and it was important to get to know them. Besides, there were worse things in life than being outshone by a group of ten year old girls with jump ropes.
For the rest of the week and into the weekend, Tino continued to follow Berwald and Peter. However on Sunday after his second week, he finally accepted that nothing was going on and debated if it was a good time to finally stop. He had gone from being seriously concerned to mildly curious about the whole band-aid issue. It was clear to him that Peter and Berwald had a great albeit slightly unusual father-son relationship and that nothing going on. Peter was still wearing band-aids at school and not at home but perhaps...
It was time for him to just let it go.
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Oh man, I am so so sorry that it took me this long to put up the next part. I didn't mean to let two weeks go between parts. I moved last weekend and lost a ton of time and internet and all that. If I don't have huge chunks of time to write, I have trouble getting stuff done and I have to shift it to the next weekend. I'd like to get out at least one part a week. But we're moving along here! As always, feel free to critique.
C1: I'm so glad you love it! Sweden is indeed adorable.
C2: Hehe, lots of description but we're moving past it slowly. Fin is figuring out though.
C3:The wood wasn't really important. Someone knocked into Sweden and it fell out of his hands. I just wanted to show that Tino can't always see everything that's going on.XD
C4: I'm so sorry!! Really I am! I read an article in NYT that gave me the impression that the majority of Swedes have 'son' in their last names. Clearly, I was wrong. Thanks for clearing it up for me. I'm glad you like it so far!
C5: I do rather like the image of Tino lying on the floor pummeled by cans as onlookers stare at him in confusion. XD The wood was knocked by another person and dropped onto Peter, poor kid.
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