Title: The Art of Falling Apart

Author: Whiskey Bloodsbane Pincher

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Romance

Pairing(s): DenNor, minor SuFin and various others.

Rating: T

Summary: When Lukas' eight year old brother is diagnosed with cancer, his life shatters and he becomes a hollow shell of the man he was. But when Matthias Køhler meets the seemingly emotionless Lukas Bondevik at his brother's café, he makes it his mission to make the broken man smile.

Warnings: Occasional bad language, mentions of cancer.

A/N: I can feel my uncompleted fics glaring at me but oops, my hand slipped.

THE ART OF FALLING APART

"When life crumbles to pieces, glue doesn't always fix it."

― Korey Miracle

Prologue: Reflection

On 13 February, 2015 everything started to fall apart.

Lukas still remembered the day to its very detail – it was impossible not do so – he remembered the call – the call that would change everything – he remembered the composed, cool voice on the other end telling him that his brother – his little, eight year old Emil – had collapsed in school. He remembered scrambling off his chair, grabbing his coat and running out of his little cubicle almost manically – his co-workers had watched his retreating figure in astonishment; he was usually a calm, collected man – even before the voice stopped talking.

The rest of the hour was a blur. He had jumped into his ratty, ancient car – his job as a small time editor for a lesser known magazine had never paid much but it had always been enough to satisfy the family of two – and driven as fast as he could, breaking at least a fifty traffic rules before skidding to a halt in the parking lot of the World Grace Hospital.

"Emil," he spat out at the receptionist's desk, "Emil Steilsson-Bondevik."

The blond receptionist had looked at him sympathetically – he would come to detest that look – and directed him to the room. He stumbled around the unfamiliar passages crawling with patients and doctors, with their sickly stench of death – he would later be able to navigate them blind-folded – until he finally found the room and barged inside.

"Emil," he breathed out when he saw the toddler sitting on the bed, his legs swinging off the side. He had swooped in and pulled his little brother into a tight hug. Emil's tiny arms came up to hug him back and buried his head into his brother's chest. Lukas then became aware of the presence of another figure standing awkwardly in the room. A doctor, he presumed, due to the white coat she wore. Placing a protective hand over Emil's head, he looked at the blonde woman.

"What happened? Is he alright?" His voice sounded almost accusing.

The doctor's awkwardness shifted as she slipped into her professional role and nodded.

"Ja, he should be. The fainting episode was probably due to exertion, but we are running some tests to be positive."

"They took my blood, bror."

Lukas looked down to see Emil smiling toothily at him showing him his arm, where a smiley-face band-aid was visible. Lukas felt his eyes soften, and the corner of his lip twitched up.

"And did you cry?"

"Nope!" Emil replied, shaking his head vigorously, his hair flopping into his eyes – Lukas never managed to get him a haircut he badly needed; Emil wouldn't need it after a few months – and glanced at the stern-faced doctor. "Doctor Monika said that she'd give me a lolly for not crying!"

The doctor nodded, a smile gracing her lips.

"Feliciano will be back with it soon. In the mean time," the doctor turned to Lukas, "Could you please fill out some paperwork?"

Lukas nodded and set Emil down on the bed where the boy resumed swinging his legs.

"Yes, doctor."

(he didn't know that this was the calm before the storm)

Two days passed – two more days of blissful ignorance – until the call. It was a Sunday. Emil and Lukas were curled up on the couch, marathoning Disney movies when Lukas' phone rang.

"Bror?" Emil asked, a pout making its way to his face. "I'll be just a moment," Lukas smiled slightly and ruffled his hair. Frowning at the unfamiliar number blaring up at him, Lukas made his way to the small hallway of their apartment and answered the phone.

"Who's this?"

"Mr. Lukas Bondevik, I presume?"

". . .Yes."

"This is from the World Grace Hospital. I request you to come here as quickly as possible. It's regarding your brother, Emil Steilsson-Bondevik."

And just like that, Lukas Bondevik's world started crashing down around him.

One hour later, Lukas was sitting at Doctor Monika Beilschmidt's desk trying to process everything she had just told him. There was complete silence except the distant sounds of Emil and Nurse Feliciano playing in the small room connected to the doctor's office. The walls of the doctor's office were covered with paintings of flowers, fields of flowers upon flowers. Certificates of merit adorned the wall in front of him and even more so were the frames with children smiling up at him. Smiling, mocking him. The flowers, constricting him.

He couldn't breathe.

"Leukemia?" Lukas repeated, his voice was steady – he was thankful for that, so thankful – but his insides beginning to crumble.

"There's a high chance," Monika looked at the man, pity etched on her face – Lukas wanted to throw something at her; he wanted to do anything to scrape that look away – and continued, "We will run a few more tests. Take some bone marrow samples. But I urge you to prepare for the worst."

Prepare for the worst.

Lukas couldn't breathe.

"Bror?"

His head snapped up to see his brother peeping into the office. He cautiously moved towards Lukas and scrambled up his lap. Raising a chubby hand to touch his face, Emil frowned.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah – Emil!" The ditzy looking male nurse rushed in after him, "You're not supposed – "

"Feli." Monika said softly, a silent plea to stop talking left unspoken as Lukas gathered Emil in his arms, hugging him tightly for a few moments before setting him on the floor.

"Go play with Nurse Feliciano, Emil." Lukas' voice was cold, emotionless.

Emil blinked, "But – "

Feliciano gently picked him up after a brief nod from Monika and carried the struggling boy back to the playroom. There was silence in the office.

"So," Lukas said, "Can it be cured?"

"It depends on how fast the cancer is spreading and on which stage it is. Then we'll start treatment."

"But can it be cured?"

Monika heaved a sigh.

"Usually. The treatment works better on children. But as I said, it depends on the cancer."

Lukas looked at the doctor – he had never been gladder for his ability to mask his emotions – for what seemed like ages before nodding. Nodding, because he finally understood what was happening. Nodding, because he accepted his – his little brother's – fate. Nodding, because this was going to be his life and as much as hated it, it was not going to change.

Nodding, because he was afraid he'd start crying if he said something.

Lukas didn't feel anything when the results came back positive. He didn't feel anything when Emil was diagnosed with high-risk acute lymphocytic leukemia. He didn't feel anything when the only person he had ever loved was carted off to the hospital. He didn't feel anything when he realized how he had ignored all the blatant signs that had pointed towards this. He didn't feel anything when he had to give up his dream of becoming an author and devote all his time to working to pay the hospital bills.

He didn't feel anything but terrible, heart-wrenching, lonely emptiness.

Yes, it was on 13 February, 2015, when everything started to fall apart.

useless author's useless a/n: Yes, my writing sucks. But is that fact going to stop me? Apparently not. I have completely butchered Norway's character, yeah? Someone shoot me.
I just love DenNor, okay? With Ice. Sick Ice. Please don't kill me for doing that. This isn't edited, so ehehe, sorry for the rampant grammatical errors? I really need a beta ;;
Monika is Fem!Germany, if you haven't figured that out. I just had to because Fem!Paediatrician!Germany is such a win. Also, I have zero knowledge about leukemia. I do not mean to offend anyone. There might be errors in the information I steal from the internet, so feel free to correct them.
Denmark will be introduced in the next chapter, where the events will probably occur a few months after the prologue. :)
Okay, then. Review? Review whore needs reviews. /shot
Danke! See you in the next chapter (which I hope will be up soon *sweats*) if you decide to stick around!
- Whiskey -