Nordic 5: On Tour

Caffè con Burro

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Lukas grumbled silently, walking away from the continental breakfast. Stupid Italian coffee culture. He saw nothing wrong with a large cup of coffee with butter to go. The best he could do was a modest cup of black coffee, but at least they let him take it with him.

He thought he would get some work done, but as he journeyed to the resort's business center, an odd noise caught his ear. It was familiar but different. He followed the sound to the guest lounge. That was Mathias' voice singing along to the guitar, not a full song, just a few lines along with the melody. Lukas didn't recognize it. It was so unlike their usual music. Lukas leaned against the wall outside. An ache grew in his chest as he listened. He missed that voice. Lukas closed his eyes. He missed Mathias.

The music stopped and Lukas looked up. Mathias set aside the guitar and picked up the notepad beside him. He stared at it as if ready to write but let it slide through his fingers and settled his head into his hands. The ache in Lukas' chest worsened.

"That didn't sound like 'Let's enjoy! Let's get excited!'"

Mathias' head flew up as Lukas stepped forward.

"Um... it wasn't."

"Eduard's waiting on that track though." Said Lukas, walking up.

Mathias shrugged, a hand drifting back to the guitar. "I can't really think of joy and excitement right now."

Lukas sat on the other end of the couch with Mathias. It was bizarre seeing Mathias without a smile. "You have to have realized by now I'm not pressing charge—."

"I don't care about that." Mathias sighed, resting his face in his hands. "I hurt someone I love and destroyed everything I care about most."

It didn't surprise Lukas that Mathias loved him. They were close. Closer than most friends. But he had spent so much time villainizing Mathias that it hadn't occurred to him that Mathias had lost something as well.

Lukas grasped the guitar.

"Was this in your suite?"

Mathias dragged his hands down his face, offering an exhausted, "Yeah."

"There was one in my room. A drum kit, too."

Mathias raised a brow.

"And yet there was no coffee maker." Said Lukas, eyeing the cup in his hand. "Italian's don't know how to serve a proper cup."

A small smirk curled Mathias' lips. "They didn't let you put butter in it, did they?"

Lukas didn't look over as he mumbled, "Stupid Italian coffee."

Mathias raised a finger for Lukas to wait as he rummaged his coat pocket, taking out a butter packet and presenting it to him. Lukas took it warily.

"You carry butter with you?" Lukas used a lot of butter, but even he didn't carry it around.

"I forgot I had it. I got it with my coffee at the airport. Kind of a habit... since you tend to forget."

Mathias avoided his eyes and Lukas looked at the little plastic container before opening it and adding the contents to his drink. He let it melt a bit and took a sip, sighing at the taste. Lukas leaned back. They stared across the room.

"You really should learn English," Lukas announced out of the blue.

"Well, I brought Sadık to translate but as soon as he saw that Greek guy they started fighting."

"Exactly why you should learn English."

Mathias frowned. "It was bad enough I had to learn Swedish."

"You never learned Swedish. You picked it up listening to the rest of us. And you forget to use it and break into Danish all the time."

Mathias sat defeated. He never could argue with Lukas. He guessed it was good luck that they seldom did.

"How about this? I'll teach you English." Said Lukas, setting the guitar on his lap. "And you can finally show me how to play this thing."

Lukas tried to play the few notes that he knew and Mathias couldn't stop himself from stepping in.

"You have to keep your finger down." Said Mathias, moving to correct the placement. "Like this."

Lukas strummed again, playing the note perfectly. A smile flashed across Mathias' face and Lukas felt a weight lift. He didn't know what he had been looking for, but he found it.

The lesson continued. Mathias was just as bad a teacher as Lukas remembered. The fact that any progress was made was likely due to Lukas' incredible ear for music. They'd moved side by side, brushing shoulders. Mathias would reach around Lukas to adjust his finger placement but Lukas never flinched. He never felt nervous or uncomfortable. In fact, he felt more at peace than he had since that night in the green room.

The morning slipped past them and hunger reminded them of the time. Convinced Mathias would not be able to feed himself, Lukas dragged him along on his quest for something edible.

"Do you think they'd have smoked eel?" Asked Mathias as they walked through the market.

"Doubt it. Only you freak Danes eat that stuff." Said Lukas, scanning the seafood displayed over ice.

"You enjoyed it." Said Mathias, a teasing upswing to his voice.

Lukas rolled his eyes. He was about to make a comment, but Mathias' phone cut him off. Mathias checked it.

"It's Sadık." He swiped to answer and placed the phone to his ear. "Hallo?" After a pause Mathias sighed, rubbing his brow. "You do realize I will have to cancel my meeting with Rome now?" Another pause. "Well, who else will translate?"

"I'll do it." Said Lukas, and Mathias forgot about the voice coming through the phone in his hand. "I have a meeting with him tonight. We'll just go together."

Lukas took out his own phone and dialed Romulus' work contact. It rang a moment and then was answered by an accented, "Herro?"

"Hallo, Kiku. It's Lukas. Would you please inform Romulus that Mathias will be joining our meeting tonight?"

"Hai. Vargas-sema had assumed you wourd be attending each other's meetings anyway."

Lukas listened to the Japanese man's voice echo on the other side of the phone. As well as a rapid beeping and multilingual shouting that reminded Lukas of those medical dramas that he never admitted to watching.

"Are you in a hospital?"

"Ah... hai. Some friends of mine got into a... accident."

"Is that Hercules yelling in the background?"

"Ah..."

"And Sadık?"

"I am sorry. I must go. I wirr see you at our meeting, Bondevik-san. Goodbye."

Kiku hung up and Lukas' phone returned to its home screen. Mathias had apparently ended his call and was staring at Lukas with confusion and alarm. Lukas decided to ignore it.

"Was Sadık in the hospital?"

Mathias' confusion doubled, but he answered. "Yeah."

"Hmm. Can't wait to hear Kiku's explanation for this."

Lukas was about to continue through the market but Mathias spoke. "Why are you doing this?"

Lukas suddenly felt exhausted.

"The hell if I know." Lukas shrugged. He ran a hand through his hair, eyes refusing to meet Mathias'. "I should hate you. I should never want to see you again, but I don't. Maybe if you had... but you stopped. You stopped before you saw Tino." Lukas looked up, a controlled fury behind an otherwise neutral expression. "You were my big, stupid, best friend and it's hard to give you up! Now let's find something to eat before we both starve."

Lukasturned and marched away, refusing to let his emotions get the better of him.