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Hannes wakes up after a while of quiet peaceful slumber, he quietly yawns and rubs at his haze filled eyes, trying to clear his eyesight,
When he’s finally able to see the notices that Joakim is still sleeping next to him, he’s curled up facing the wall and hugging ‘Baron’ the Bear, the adorably large weighted teddy-bear he bought him to sleep with,
Hannes blushes lightly at how cute he looks, he’s absolutely happy to know that the bear is something that Joakim loves and makes him feel safe, it’s all he wanted for his friend,
So, very carefully Hannes rises from the bed, slowly shuffling his way out so that he can leave his friend to rest some more,
Once out of the bed, he gathers his things in his arms and quietly leaves, shutting the door behind him as he then proceeds to put on his shoes and jacket,
He stretches and decides to walk downstairs to find Pär, as he has some very lovely news for his old friend,
Hannes reaches the kitchen, but upon arriving doesn’t spot Pär,
“Old man?” He calls out, wondering as to where he went off to in his absence,
“Living room!” he hears his reply, Hannes walks off in the direction of his voice and the location mentioned,
He walks in to see Pär sitting down and reading a book about Swedish history, “You won’t believe what I’m going to tell you-“ he begins as he sits down next to his friend,
“-What’s up?” He asks without really looking up from his book,
“It’s about Joakim-“ and Hannes notices how that gets Pär’s attention, he immediately puts the book down and looks at him with full attention,
“-Is he ok-…?”
“-He’s fine, Pär… I just-… Well… You remember Joakim’s weighted teddy-bear, right?” he asks him and sees Pär’s demeanor change once again as he seems to relax,
He nods, not replying back
“Guess what he named it…” Hannes says,
Pär sits there for a moment, as he thinks of the possibilities of the bear’s name, eventually, he pulls up an answer, “Is it after one of his fallen brothers in arms?” he asks,
Hannes shakes his head, “Give up?”
Pär nods,
“Baron, after the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen…” he says and watches as Pär’s features soften, he’s nodding slowly as to indicate that he heard him but he can also tell that he’s thinking of something,
And whatever it is, it’s making him very wistful, he notices the small tears prickling on the corners of his eyes,
Hannes sighs, he pulls Pär in for a hug, it’s a quick and brief one but a good one never the less as it helps to keep Pär grounded,
“Thank you…” Pär says as he embraces his friend back, they pull away and Pär wipes his eyes with the back of his hand,
“Anytime old man… I’ll leave you alone then… alright?” he says and watches as Pär nods, Hannes heads off to where he knows Tommy and Chris are, he hopes to join them and just hang out with them,
Upstairs, Joakim has just awoken for the second time today, he feels incredibly well-rested like his internal battery has been charged all the way,
He’s still hugging his teddy-bear, Baron, close to his chest,
The rhythmic heartbeats keep him calm and focused on the world around him, as ever since he had been gifted the bear his nightmares have lessened significantly to where he’s only rarely had them,
He gently squeezes the bear tighter, pressing it closer to him, “Thank you Baron…” he whispers to it, not really expecting a reply out of his inanimate companion,
He sighs as he looks around his room, it’s still morning and he should get up and do something, maybe draw or get back to wood crafting with Pär instead of lazing around,
So, he sits upon his bed and decides to finally get up and get changed, once done, he then makes his bed and props up Baron, and folds his weighted blanket for later tonight,
Downstairs, Pär is holding a picture of him and Manfred von Richthofen in his hands, they’re both standing together and smiling in front of Manfred’s plane, an arm at his hips while the other is wrapped around Pär’s shoulders,
They were like brothers to each other when they had first met, inseparable as they were ‘sown-together-at-the-hip’ as many people told them,
Manfred looks very handsome and professional in this photograph, as does he, they’re both wearing the traditional fighter pilot uniform of the time as they’re getting ready to enter the battlefield five hours later,
Pär sighs as a melancholic feeling washes over him, he misses his dear old friend and all the good times that they shared together, but now, he’s forced to continue on living,
For him, for his children, for his spouses, and for his countless friends…
He slips the photo inside of a book haphazardly so that it half peeking out and places the book somewhere inconspicuous,
As he hears footsteps come downstairs, he begins acting as though he’s searching for something, moving things aside and looking under other things as well,
Joakim spots Pär as soon as he reaches the lasts step of the stairs and sees that he’s looking around for… something…
“Did you lose something?” Joakim asks Pär as he approaches his friend,
Pär nods and fakes an exasperated sigh, he nods, “Yeah actually… It’s a book of mine… it’s got a red hardcover, think you can help me find it?” he asks of him,
Joakim happily nods, “Yep! Did you lose it around here?”
“I think so…” Pär says as he wanders off to continue searching,
Joakim frowns and looks around the area, the living room is a very large place, with two bookshelves and some stuff was strewn about, so it’s no surprise if someone were to lose something here,
He rolls up his sleeves and begins to help Pär look around the area,
Eventually, Joakim finds the aforementioned hard covered red book, he grins and takes it when suddenly something peeking out from it catches his attention,
He grabs it, an eyebrow is cocked in curiosity,
‘What’s this…?’ he thinks to himself as he examines the object in his hands,
He has to stifle a gasp when he sees just what it is,
It’s a picture of Manfred von Richthofen, The Red Baron!
He can feel his heart soar up to the clouds, ‘Oh my god, oh my god-!’ inside he’s squealing like a schoolgirl,
He can also immediately tell that it’s an authentic picture due to how old it looks,
As he examines it closer, he sees just how absolutely drop-dead handsome Manfred looks and he can feel his cheeks redden,
Careful Joakim, your gay is showing…!
He places a hand on his quickly beating heart and takes a deep breath through his nose to steady himself,
He feels his cheeks flush harder the more his eyes wander over to Manfred, he shakes his head trying to get his handsome smile out of his head,
‘Focus Joakim, focus! Your friend is here! You got to look ‘normal’… relax’ he thinks to himself as he takes another deep breath through his nose,
Unbeknownst to him, Pär was quietly looking over to him, he had a very warm smile on his lips,
‘Oh, he’s so sweet-… Manfred, you would’ve absolutely adored him, wouldn’t you…?’ He thinks to himself with a deep warm smile that fills him up with much joy as he imagines Manfred’s contagious laughter in his head,
Upon further examination of the photograph, he also notices that there’s a handsome young fellow next to Manfred, ‘Who’s tha-‘
And his eyes widen in surprise, ‘-Pär????’ he thinks to himself,
‘Oh, no way!’
He begins to think back to when Manfred was born to the date he died,
‘Alright, so he was born in 1892 and died in 1918… But-‘ he stops thinking momentarily, ‘-no damn way, just how old is Pär-…? Maybe I should-‘ he stops himself, ‘That would be rude…’ is all he finishes his thought with,
As he goes to turn around, Pär is still acting like he’s searching so as to not look like he was watching him,
Joakim approaches his friend and taps him lightly on his shoulder, “I found it!” he happily exclaims,
As Pär turns around he sees the book and the image that Joakim hands to him, “Ah, thank you, Joakim…” he says with a smile,
“That’s you and Manfred, isn’t it?” He asks, Pär notices his lightly dusted cheeks but says nothing regarding that fact, he nods, “Yes, that’s me, do you want to see the other photos I have?
Joakim’s eyes widen, he nods, “Yes, please!” he happily exclaims,
And Pär chuckles as he leads Joakim over to his private office, it’s just off from where his bedroom is,
As they both enter, Pär flicks the light switch on, illuminating the room, and he closes the door behind them, he doesn’t want anyone else to come in,
The first thing that Joakim notices is a large wall that’s been adorned with many things, maps, newspapers, and many of the such, and he also sees that off to his right is yet another wall that’s been decorated with images of historical figures,
Some of which he immediately recognizes as well as the handsome bearded man that’s besides all of them, Pär!
Pär walks off over to his desk and pulls out a large box that has several other boxes inside of it, they’re all labeled with the names of historic individuals that Pär has been with, all the way from Martin Luther King to Leonardo da Vinci and everyone in between,
Pär has befriended many people over the span of his unusually long life, and with them, he has shared many beautiful memories,
“…About Manfred…” begins Pär as he pulls out a medium-sized box with the words ‘RED BARRON’ labeled on it,
Joakim turns his head over to him, diverting his attention from the images to his friend, “Yeah?”
“He would’ve absolutely adored meeting you…” Pär says,
At the comment, Joakim’s cheeks lightly flush again and he has to stifle a giggle that wants to come out, “A- Y-You think so?” he asks, half wondering if Pär is pulling his leg,
“Do I ‘think so’…?” Pär retorts with a chuckle, “oh please, I know so!” he says as he approaches him and hands, Joakim, a picture of Manfred,
Joakim blushes lightly at the comment that Pär made, he smiles and supposes that he’s right since it seems that he spent by far the most time with him, so he should know how he is,
Joakim then examines the picture that he's been handed,
Manfred is sitting down on something apparently, he doesn’t know what exactly as the image is cut off at the waist,
Manfred is dressed in his iconic Russian fighter pilot uniform with the red cross adorning his chest as well as a hat that hangs loosely on his head, slightly tilted off to the side,
He also has what looks to be a large coat wrapped around his shoulders, he doesn’t have his arms through the sleeves so it’s just hanging onto him,
Joakim also notices his face and the small half-smile he has,
Joakim can feel his cheeks heat up at the sight of how handsome Manfred looks,
Pär notices his pink cheeks and says nothing about it, instead he walks off to find something else that Manfred had given him as a gift while he was alive, he knew that he had it somewhere in here…
Joakim’s heart is beating so fast the more he looks at Manfred, ‘Goddamn…’ is all he thinks as he momentarily has to pry his eyes off of him, to hopefully ‘compose’ himself,
When he looks back at the image he sees that there’s something written on the image, it appears to be written twice, once in Russian and again in English, it reads:
“Для Пяра ты мне как брат, и я так рад познакомиться с тобой. Пусть ваши дни будут наполнены любовью и приключениями ...
С любовью от Рихтгофена”
“To Pär, you are like a brother to me, and I am so glad to have had met you. May your days be filled with love and adventure…”
With love, from Richthofen”
Joakim smiles at the message, ‘That’s such a sweet thing to say…’ he thinks, he also notices how Manfred’s wrote in cursive, something that he doesn’t see often,
He looks off to where Pär is and he hands him a sketch, it’s a drawing of a landscape that Manfred himself has drawn,
The image is that of the highway strip way where the planes fly down on, it also has his famous red plane centered so it’s the main focus of the work of artwork,
The more Joakim analyzes the drawing the more it begins to dawn on him just how old it is…
He looks up from the sketch and gently hands both it and the picture back to Pär, Joakim hesitates for a moment before speaking up, “A-…P-Pär?” he finally asks,
Pär lightly sighs, just from the exhaustion of it being a long day, “Yes, Joakim?” he replies,
"How- I'm sorry, I know that you don't like to talk about this stuff... But-“ he pauses for a moment, “-how old are you? Really?" he inquires of him, Pär can tell that the young boy is very curious,
"Old." He simply replies, it wasn’t meant to come out harshly, but Joakim interprets it as him being slightly annoyed so he decides to leave the conversation at that, he casts his gaze downwards,
He nods and says nothing more about it,
Pär notices this, “I-…” he sighs, Joakim looks over to him,
“I-I’m sorry Joakim… I didn’t mean for it to come out like that, it’s just that I’ve been around for a long time… and it’s a lot… honestly…”
Joakim nods, “It's ok, I understand…” he says with a nod of his head…
Pär pauses, he’s thinking of something, and Joakim notices, “What’s up?” he asks him,
“If you really want to know just how old I am I’ll tell you…” Pär comments and sees Joakim’s eyes light up,
“but-!” he says and watches Joakim stop his excitement, “-with everyone else…” he finishes, and that catches his attention, nevertheless he nods, understanding what he’s saying,
Eventually, after some time we find everyone gathered downstairs at the dining room table, Pär has gathered all of them together so that finally, everyone can know just how old everyone is in comparison to each other,
“Alright… so who wants to go first then?” Pär says,
Hannes frowns at him, “Why us, old man? Why not you?” he asks him, curious as to know why he didn’t go first since he suggested this entire thing,
Pär shook his head, “…No…” is all he tells him,
The reason why Pär doesn’t go first is that he knows he’s the absolute oldest in the group and he’ll most likely shock everyone with what he’s seen and gone through in his life,
Chris sighs and leans back into his chair, “Alright, I guess I can go first-…”