Chapter Text
It was early summer, and the temperature outside was slowly climbing upwards. Vegard sat in front of the mirror and studied his reflection. The dark curls had finally started to get some length. He pulled out a curl and grinned widely to himself when he saw that the lock reached all the way down to his shoulder.
He looked forward to showing it to Bård. He couldn’t wait for the boy with the golden mane to eat the words he had spat out last summer; that Vegard would never be able to get as long and good looking hair as his own.
He hadn't seen Bård since christmas. They had needed some time apart after working together on a daily basis for the last couple of years. Bård had embarked on a three month trip around the world, all on his own. Meanwhile, Vegard had been at home in his apartment in Bergen and done nothing. Or, that's not entirely true, he had pieced together one hell of a big and complicated model air plane, but that wasn't exactly something that would impress Bård in any way.
Now, however, Bård was on his way home, and tomorrow they'd start taping their first real TV show. They were to travel across Norway interviewing interesting and quirky people. Vegard was full of anticipation, and he was happy he was doing it together with his brother. He would rarely admit it, but without Bård he probably wouldn't have become a public figure with such a vulnerable profession as comedian. Bård was the outgoing and outspoken one of the two, always offering a quick reply and full of wit. He often felt a tiny bit awkward in social settings , so having his bubbly little brother by his side was reassuring, even though most of Bård's quick replies and witty comments were directed at him.
Vegard ran his fingers through his hair and got up to get dressed. Damn volume, maybe he could try a straightening iron to get it a bit flatter? In the mean time, he covered up his ruffled mess with his favorite beanie and bolted out the door.
----
Bård leaned his head on his right hand as he looked out the small window of the plane. It was just minutes away from hitting the ground. He had been away for a long time, too long in fact. He had been away for so long that he had even started to miss the eternal rain at home, but most of all he had missed his big brother. The trip had started out as a magnificent find-yourself adventure, but quickly turned into a lonely and pathetic pity party for one.
He had left his mobile at home, a decision he had come to regret after a few days, when he had wanted to call his brother and beg him to hop on the next flight over and join him. Good old Vegard who always was there for him no matter what. Bård decided to never again complain about how boring his brother could be. At this point he'd rather spend a lifetime listening to Vegard talking than to spend one more day alone.
He thought back to the last day before he left Norway, they had had one of their typical quarrels, what it was about had long ago escaped his memory, followed by an overly long lecture concerning the health hazard of dust-balls in the office. Bård had thrown his hands up in the air, and gone home early to pack his bags. "Fuck you Vegard, it's gonna be damn good to get some time away from you" had been the last words he had said to his brother before he left. Somewhat jokingly, but with a serious enough facial expression for Vegard to know that he meant it. He regretted saying that now, and wondered whether Vegard would come and pick him up at the airport at all.
----
The doors at the arrivals terminal opened, and Bård peered cautiously around looking for his big brother's tousled head. The hall was full of people. Young and old all stood looking for their loved ones with inquiring eyes. Bård stared investigative at all the faces, but he couldn't find Vegard's friendly smile in any of them. He felt his heart sink as he realized that his brother wasn't there. He had to look down at the ground when he felt a tear pierce through and linger in the corner of his eye. He exhaled loudly, and with a hunched back he scurried towards the exit.
"Hey" a voice said suddenly, "where are you going?" He knew that voice. Bård looked up and his blue blood shot eyes met the vibrant brown of his brother. If it was because of the multiple months of solitude, or out of sheer joy that Vegard had come after all, he didn't know, but less than a second passed before he threw his arms around his older brother and started bawling. Vegard's eyes widened and with a slightly confused look on his face he tried to stroke Bård gently on his back. Bård squeezed him even harder at that, and buried his face on Vegard's shoulder.
His fast paced breathing hit a spot on Vegard's neck which made the older one get the chills. It must have been a while since the last time I got a hug, he thought to himself, and continued stroking his little brother's back . They stayed like that for a while, before Bård eventually wiped away his tears with the back of his hand, and shook his head in slight self doubt. " OK, enough gay for one day" he laughed and gave Vegard a quick pounce to the shoulder. "Let's go home"
----
"Don't I get any comments on my hair? "Vegard pretended to pout and looked over at Bård as they drove home. Bård looked back at him. It had certainly gotten longer since he last saw him. The dark curls framed his face in a very flattering way.
"Nah, what do you mean? Did you get a haircut?" he teased.
Vegard rolled his eyes. "Fucking typical! When are you gonna admit that you're jealous? Don't think I don't know it. Remember that time you borrowed mom's curling iron? You burnt off half your hair!" Vegard laughed at the memory. He glanced over at his little brother and lifted one eyebrow in anticipation of a response.
Bård grimaced. "Ha ha HA.." he said mockingly in return, but he couldn't really deny that Vegard was right.
He shot another look at Vegard. There seemed to be more changes to him than just the length of his hair. His profile had somehow become more mature and manly. And he had stubble!
Bård moved his hand up to his own chin and felt the smooth skin on his fingertips. He sighed. He couldn't help but feel a surge of envy.
Bård had always been the pretty brother, he had been told that so many times that he had become quite self confident on the matter, maybe too confident. He studied his brother from the corner of his eye. Vegard was talking, something about the car or the scenery or the sky. Bård wasn't listening. He was almost bothered by his big brother's new level of handsome.
"Hello? Earth to Bård!? I asked you a question."
Bård snapped out of his train of thought, and felt a shot of blood rush to his cheeks as he realized he had been staring at his brother for God knows how long.
"How was your trip??" Vegard was obviously tired of asking the question without getting an answer.
"Oh it was ok, I don't really feel like talking about it right now" Bård furrowed his eyebrows and looked down. "I'm just dead tired from the hellish long flight, could we just listen to some music or something?"
Truth was he didn't want to talk about it at all, he wished he'd never gone in the first place. Although he had wished for some time to himself, he had quickly come to realize that he had grown accustom to never being alone. To always having his brother by his side. Through thick and thin.
Vegard turned the radio on and flicked through the channels until they simultaneously started humming along to a tune they both recognized from their childhood.
----
" Okay , here we are," Vegard stopped the car in front of Bård's apartment. "Everything is arranged and ready for tomorrow. All you have to do is show up at the office at 9"
Bård nodded a thank you for the lift. "See you tomorrow"
He collected his bag from the trunk, and walked up the stairs to his flat.
Once inside he went straight to bed, but after a couple of hours he woke abruptly, clinging to his pillow.
The bedroom felt icy cold, and he couldn't shake the feeling of loneliness that kept clawing at him. He regretted not asking Vegard to sleep over in order to have someone to talk to. He got up and went into the living room, slumped down onto the couch and turned the TV on. 5 reality shows later he dozed off.
"Beep beeeep beeeeep!!" Bård lifted one eyelid slowly while trying to figure out what was making such a ghastly loud noise in the middle of the night.
"Beeeep beeeeep beeeeeeeep" He opened both his eyes and noticed that the sun had flooded half the room. Shit, it wasn't the middle of the night after all, it was morning and he had snoozed through all the alarms on his phone. He jumped off the couch, threw on some clothes he had chucked on the floor the day before, and ran out the door. Normally he wouldn't have cared much about being late for work, but this was his first TV job. He could not be late for his first TV job! Fuck fuck fuck fuck, the swearwords almost formed a melody as he ran down the street and rounded the corner of TV Norge's new office building downtown.
Out of breath and with a pulse through the roof he rushed into the office where Vegard and the rest of the team sat. They were going through the itinerary one last time before hitting the road.
"Hi," he yelled with what little voice he managed to get out before having to bend down and support his arms on his knees in order to catch his breath.
"Last minute as usual.. we were about to leave without you!" Vegard looked at him with a devilish expression - "This year's Gullruten award for best TV presenter goes solely to Vegard Ylvisåker, on the account that his brother didn't even bother to show up for the taping!" He laughed at his own little joke.
"Oh come on, everyone knows I'm the real star here." Bård tucked his hair behind his ear and winked at his brother. "What are we waiting for? Let's go"
----
" You're kidding me!? You haven't brought anything?" Vegard looked at his little brother in disbelief as they drove towards the first destination of the trip.
" No.. or yes, I had packed a bag, but then I kind of forgot it at home this morning"
" Fucking hell, Bård" Vegard shook his head, "what are you gonna do? Lend all my stuff?" He laughed. "Don't mistake my laughter for amusement, Bård. This is my annoyed laugh"
" Yes I'm very familiar with your annoyed laugh, thank you very much Vegard!.. But it wouldn't really be the first time we've borrowed stuff from each other. And don't forget I used to get all your hand me downs, it's just a pity I outgrew hobbit sized clothes at the age of 12…" He looked smugly over at his big brother and raised his eyebrows.
"Oh fuck off, if you're going to be rude, you can go naked"
Bård laughed "Good idea, I'll set a view count record"
" Pfft .. who would want to look at your bony ass? Here's a real man for you" Vegard tried to flex his upper arm, but Bård pinched him in the side, resulting in a high pitched squeal from Vegard.
"Wow, such man!" Bård replied, at which they both cracked up.
They narrowly escaped driving off the road in their laughing fit. "I think we need some air." Vegard stopped the car at a lookout point above a valley. They exited the car and approached the edge.
Bård walked over to Vegard and threw his arm around his big brother's shoulder.
"I have missed this" he said with a sigh.
"What? Norwegian nature?" Vegard felt clever and clapped his hands. He knew what his little brother meant, but he wanted him to say it out loud.
"You and me, you idiot!" Bård let go of his grip around Vegard's shoulder and turned to face him.
"The two of us against the world type of thing. I never thought I would, but you have no idea how much I actually missed you these last couple of months"
He looked Vegard in the eye, "I thought you should know, you know. You mean a lot to me"
Vegard started laughing, searching for some type of sarcasm in Bård's eyes, but his laugh fell silent when he saw that Bård was completely serious.
"This is really something Bård, let me go get a pen, I want this in writing!"
"Huh?" Bård smiled deviously at his big brother, "I didn't say a thing.."