Impromptu Movie Nights
A hetalia fanfiction, featuring the pairing NedDen (Netherlands x Denmark)!
One shot for aph-fanfic-network
Rating: K
Genres: Domestic
Notes: Fluffy. Very fluffy.
Matthias was halfway through the Phantom of the Opera when Lars trooped in, exhausted.
“Oh, you’re back!” he said, smiling brightly, “food’s on the table. And there’s some instant ramen in the cupboard, if it isn’t enough. How was the meeting?” He glanced at Lars expectantly as he tossed another handful of heavily buttered popcorn into his mouth. He looked very at home, a blanket draped across his legs and a plastic bowl resting on his lap.
Lars gave a non-committal grunt, kicking off his shoes. Matthias shrugged, turning his attention back to the television. It had taken a lot of string pulling to get a “lost” movie converted into a disc, and he was going to enjoy it.
Lars unbuttoned his jacket and hung it neatly on the hook, straightening it a few times before he was satisfied.
“You should go to sleep,” Matthias said, still staring at the screen, captivated by Christine’s voice. He would’ve sent flowers to Aud then and, a large bouquet of red roses with a nice satin ribbon. That is, if it wasn’t for the fact that the film was about a hundred years old and the actress had been dead for quite a while.
He sighed, trudging his way down the hallway. It took Lars about seventeen seconds to remember that he was not in his own house, and Matthias’ kitchen was the other way. It took another nine seconds before he decided that walking all the way to get food was not worth it.
Matthias glanced up curiously when the footsteps stopped. “You still here?” he asked, scrunching his brow in confusion, “aren’t you hungry or something? I spent all afternoon cooking food that you liked. Your recipes are odd. And difficult.”
Lars grunted again as he slowly made his way to the couch.
“What are you doing?” Matthias asked, worried.
He answered by lowering himself onto the seat and easing himself into a starfish position across the length of the couch. The almost-empty bowl clattered on the floor, causing buttery popcorn to roll onto the floor.
On a regular day, when it was still bright outside, when Lars wasn’t sleep deprived and it wasn’t immediately after an extremely exhausting meeting with his boss, he would quickly get up, pick up all the plastic bowl and popcorn and wash the bowl so it was all nice and butter-free. He might even wash the carpet, just to make sure.
But he was tired, and a tired Lars did not give a single fuck at all. It was a well known fact, but not well known enough to stop Matthias from getting up and trying to clean up the mess.
“Don’t move,” Lars murmured lethargically as he tugged at Matthias’ arm, “S'comfortable. Don’t mess it up.” Matthias stared at him owlishly, before letting out an amused chuckle and sinking back down into his seat. Lars adjusted his position so he was on his back and his head was rested on Matthias’ lap. His legs dangled off the side of the couch.
“You’re like a cat,” Matthias mused as he used his clean hand to gently run his fingers through the taller man’s stiffly gelled hair. Lars made a noise of lazy annoyance and half-heartedly pushed Matthias’ hand away. In the end, he gave in to the Dane’s persistence and resigned to watching the movie through half lidded eyes. It was relaxing, in its own odd way
“’M not a cat,” he said after a moment of thought, “I’m a bun.”
Matthias hummed. “A bun, huh? What type of bunny?” He asked as he stroked the bottom of Lars’ chin.
“A cute one, ” Lars glared at a laughing Matthias.
“Sure,” Matthias said, unable to keep his impish grin off his face, “Like the lop, huh? Miffy?”
“’S name’s not Miffy,” he muttered as he stared determinedly ahead at Raoul. Matthias laughed a little before he cursed. “You almost made me miss that part,” he said, lightly prodding the back of Lars’ head, “did you do that on purpose?”
“Maybe,” Lars said, stretching like a tall, thin cat in a designer business suit, “maybe not.”
They watched in silence as the Phantom and the viscount dueled.
“I don’t think I’ve ever watched this one with you,” Matthias said suddenly, pursing his lips, “have I?”
He shook his head, “I don’t think I’ve seen this one at all.”
He could feel Matthias shift as he sat up straight. Oh boy.
“It took a lot of work, but I managed to find it!” he said proudly, “It took a lot of talking around-With Ber, and Gil helped a lot, too! But I managed to snag this baby! I even got it turned into a CD, see?” he said, gesturing triumphantly at the screen.
“And then I had to make sure the media wouldn’t find out about this-what a field day they would have, huh. Such a classic. Brings back such memories. I wanted to keep it special, you know? A little selfish of me, but I don’t regret a thing.”
“Mm hmm,” Lars said, batting Matthias’ face playfully, “I wasn’t listening, by the way.”
He heard a few mutters of “no appreciation” and grumbling about the amount of trouble he had to deal with to be watching this right now, but he eventually ceased his complaining and watched it with him quietly.
“This is really nice,” Matthias said as he absentmindedly traced small shapes on Lars’ face in a soothing manner.
“Mm,” he agreed, “’S nice.” His eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. He stifled a yawn.
Matthias smiled knowingly and tugged the blanket so it covered Lars too.
“Smells like cakes,” he said drowsily as he burrowed deeper into the blanket. He closed his eyes and enveloped himself in the smell. Danishes and almond butter cakes and jam pastries.
“I’ve been making too many, then,” he replied, “What’s you’re favourite?”
“I don’t have one.” Lars voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.
It was quiet for a while again.
“There’s a word in Danish,” Matthias said thoughtfully, “An adjective. Hyggelig. Do you know what’s ’hyggelig’, Lars?”
“Is this ’hyggelig’?” He asked, half asleep.
“I suppose.”
“Then I like hyggelig a lot,” Lars murmured as his eyes fluttered shut to the melody of the beautifully tragic and tragically beautiful voices.