#lars lindstrom

After Bianca’s passing and many long sessions with Dr. Berman, Lars finally decides to fully live his life without fear and self-isolation. This includes learning how to speak Swedish

He first meets you at the local library. You were both standing in the Foreign Languages section; he was searching for a Swedish for Beginners textbook, while you were looking for a Spanish for Working Professionals one

“Woah, I am so sorry! Are you alright?” you exclaimed. 

Lars was walking right by you when you bumped into his shoulder as you stood back up from searching through the bottom shelf. 

“Y-yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” Lars’ face turned beet red when he saw that he clumsily ran into a beautiful girl like you. He remembered what Dr. Berman had asked him to do: notice a detail about a stranger and then strike up a conversation about it. 

“Do you—do you speak Spanish?” Lars was pointing at the book you were holding. 

“Yeah, I studied it in college but I’m still brushing up on my skills so that I can talk to the customers at my work.” You sweetly smiled at the brunet man.

“That’s amazing! I wish I spoke another language,” he mused.

“What language are you learning?”

“I’m, uh, learning Swedish right now. It’s actually supposed to be my heritage language but my family never spoke it at home,” Lars revealed to you.

The two of you quickly hit it off and Lars asks you out on a date to watch Spider-Man 3 at the movie theater right as you walk towards the library’s exit with him

You help Lars to finally move out of the little converted garage next to his family’s house and move in together to your own comfy apartment

While cleaning out the house’s basement, you find an old cookbook full of Swedish recipes (that were thankfully written in English). Lars’ only introduction to Swedish food was the food court at Ikea, so you decide to make Swedish meatballs over egg noodles as the first dinner at your new apartment

When Lars takes his first bite of the delicious noodles, he starts tearing up in front of you. You quickly run over to the other side of the dinner table to embrace him and soothingly kiss his forehead. While he could never taste his mom’s cooking, he felt like she sent you instead—his beautiful angel who loved him unconditionally and understood everything about him

Lars always plays Swedish lessons tapes in the car during his drives with you to the lake. You both repeat the phrases but laugh at each other when you butcher the pronunciations

Lars takes you to the Midsommar Celebration in Minneapolis when summer comes around. He looks so handsome in his white tunic and red vest wrapped around his soft tummy, while he says you look absolutely breathtaking in your colorful floral wreath headband and traditional white embroidered dress

You guys invite Gus, Karin, and their baby girl Noomi to have dinner at your shared apartment. When Lars sees you hug little Noomi on your lap and teach her all the Swedish phrases you’ve learned, he smiles brightly and fantasizes about having his own baby with you, with him teaching his kid everything about his culture that his dad didn’t 

After your in-laws say their goodbyes and head back home, Lars finally decides to dig out his mom’s dusty ABBA CD from the cabinet and plays it on the living room’s CD player

You dance to the Swedish version of “Honey Honey” with him in the living room, and he grabs your hand to twirl you around, now that he’s not scared to touch your soft, warm skin

He gently grabs both sides of your face with his large hands and gives you a sweet, loving kiss. It was his way of saying “thank you” for all the love and patience you gave him 

“Jag älskar dig, älskling (I love you, darling),” he says with happy tears in his eyes.