Interest of Subject

Swirling the paper in circles, Lukas watched images appear on the slightly sheen paper. A small smile formed on his lips as he watched the image of Mathias and Berwald in headlocks appear. After several tries at developing the image, it finally reached perfection. He waited for a minute of swirling developer around before switching to the stop tub.

When he walked out of the room with the photo in a tray, he saw Finn and Ice in the room. "What are you two doing?"

Tino turned to look over his shoulder. "Oh! Hei, Lukie! Mattie told us you would be in the dark room."

Emil sneaked a peak over Lukas's shoulder at the photo in the tray. "So, you like those pictures?"

Lukas covered the tray with a towel. "Do you mind?" he sighed as his younger brother chuckled.

"How is your printing going?" Tino asked with a sweet smile.

"It's peaceful," Lukas said with a small smile, "I already have some great prints of my travels. I'll be framing them tomorrow to hang up."

"Really?" Tino gasped, "Can I see them?"

Lukas tensed slightly, shaking his head. "Not yet. They are best seen after I frame them."

The smaller Nordic deflated slightly. "Oh...Okei, I can wait~!" He smiled his flowery smile, forever proving to Norge why his older brother fell in love with him.

Emil smirked. "How many of those pictures you printed are actually of scenery?" he asked.

Lukas looked at the teen blankly. "All, why do you ask?"

Ice shrugged. "Thought I would ask."

"Oh!" Tino gasped, "Mattie wanted me to tell you he was making your favorite for dinner tonight."

Lukas nodded. "Alright, takk."

Tino smiled, dragging Ice to his side. "We'll let you finish up Norge," he said, "see you later~" Emil started to protest when Finn dragged him back up the stairs.

Lukas shook his head with a quiet chuckle, turning on his heel to walk back into the room. The door closed and his eyes adjusted to the red lights. He let a sigh escape as he looked at the photos he had hung to dry. Some were photos of his travels around Europe, but for each 8X10 of scenery, there was a 4X6 of Denmark of some sort.

One was of him sleeping...the Dane had managed to wrap himself in a cocoon of blanket and curled up into a ball. Another was of him kneeling in front of a crying Peter and ruffling his hair. One of his favorites from this printing session was of him laying in the grass outside of their house with a book splayed open on his broad chest while the sun warmed his already bright face as the man took a nap. Then there were some of him interacting with the rest of the Nordics in either helpful or humorous ways. One of him being chased by Ice, another with him helping Fin reach for something.

He looked at the most recent one, smiling as he lightly traced the smile on his Dane's lips with his pinky finger.

"Some people call it an obsession," Lukas told himself as he hung the photo on the line to dry, "But I call it...interest of subject.