You'd think that you'd get that wonderful blissful feeling in your stomach when someone comes out and says I love you. That feeling that you've finally found the one that you want to share your life with and share it for many years. It's glorious and only a few truly feel it in the purest of ways.

When you've known someone for so long, you will have seen the best and the worst in them. Sometimes it's scary but you come to realize why they act the way they do when the going get's tough. So if you understand this about them then you should be able to accept them fully, and love them the way they love you right?
But sometimes you just can't do that, not when the words that should speak true love sound dry and deceptive.
Sadly, the first time Norway heard these words it was bitter.

A door slammed and shouts of cursive language echoed through the house. Norway rose from his seat at his desk and rushed down the narrow hall outside his room. Denmark was pissed and it wasn't going to be easy to get him out of it this time, Breaking objects and the shattering of valuables from years gone by only quickened his pace to the young Icelandic's room. All he found was a pile of shaking sheets in the corner of the room. He moved quickly and leaned down to kiss the head of silver hair that poked from the sheets.

"Don't worry, Iceland" He knelt beside him and hugged the smaller boy as he stroked his hair. His voice turned into a wavering whisper "It will be alright, we'll be a family again soon."
The false belief of one day having the family, that they never had in the first place, was the only hope Iceland could hold onto. Although he'd never really seen this family Norway often mused about at times like this. He clung to his older brother and wished with all his heart that what Norway said was true.

The thumps of fists against walls from the hallway were nearing their hide away. Norway let go of Iceland and with much protest from the boy, he stood up and left the room, locking the door behind him. Iceland alone in his room crying, was hardly his first problem anymore. He was facing the man the caused the pain and hurt in the first place and then so suddenly the Danes rage had almost subsided when they made eye contact. A smirk stretched on his face but Norway just stood frozen with dull eyes that showed years of lost hope. Denmark's were the opposite, filled with fire and a longing for victory.
He spoke so casually as if he'd done nothing "Your brother is crying." Norway almost twitched and darted his eyes away for a moment. Denmark looked to the floor. "You should stop that noise, it's giving me a headache"
Norway cracked "And why the hell do you think he's crying!" Without thinking he pulled the taller man forward by his shirt so they were at eye level and yelled at his face. "Don't you know how much it hurts to be around you! Every time you come home like this- Every time it's- It's no wonder Sve and Fin left us!" He unclenched his fist and pushed him away then turned and wiped his eyes. Denmark stood staring, seemingly unfazed and calm on the outside, but he was burning with emotions on the inside. He was angry again, and wanted to scold Norway for speaking out like that, but he couldn't, not then. He couldn't risk losing him. He stretched out a hand and weaved his hand with Norway's to which he flinched and cried openly. It was like reminding him of pain that he had never quite felt.
Denmark then said the unavoidable "I love you" and Norway wrenched his hand away and screamed in the face of the man that attracted day time nightmares "I HATE YOU!"

But that was years ago.. A tragic moment in their history that tore them both to pieces. The words were relayed often after that. Verbally the words stayed the same, but inside they would change. A simple 'hello' or 'goodnight' was swapped with 'I love you'. Every time he said them Norway would turn away and not speak. It broke him; from the strong Nation of Norway, to the brittle crumbling mountain. Even if he never got a response Denmark would keep faking a smiling and continued chorusing the three worn-out words.
To Iceland the words brought him happiness. The man he looked up to as a father figure would smile at his brother and it was as if they were the family that Norway promised him. Through childish eyes he didn't see the whole picture.
He saw a smiling man that would now play games and teach him new things. He never saw Norway's disapproval. He saw Norway making delicious dinner's for them and he saw him sitting on the couch in the evening with Denmark, but he didn't see the irritation in his eyes as he dished up each meal, or the discomfort he felt being near the other man.
And every morning he would stand by the window when his brother went to work, and stretch out his arms and whisper "I love you, this much." He hadn't ever cared that Norway never looked back. He assumed that he was in too much of a rush everyday to stop for a moment, and not just because Denmark was standing behind him.
..He didn't see the whole picture.

Denmark grew tired of the charade and gave in, that's when their family became split. Iceland was now old enough to live on his own and Norway needed to be away from Denmark. Norway had then spent many years out of contact with Denmark and his relationship with his brother grew thin..

Norway strummed his fingers on the table as he stared down at his phone. One missed call and four unread texts in the past hour. He sighed seeing the missed call from his boss but the texts were all from Denmark. Every one of them read "Hej wuu2" and had been sent with in 10 minutes of each other. The idiot was bored and happened to have money on his phone, how annoying. He closed his phone and put it down and picked up his pen again. The bothersome messages were becoming more frequent recently. He'd gotten about a sentence or two when the double beep ringtone on his phone sounded. He rolled his eyes and dialled the number of the nuisance.
"What do you want?" Norway snarled down the phone.
"Eh?" He chuckled.
"Why do you keep texting me, moron?" He picked up his pen again and attempted to write while talking.
"I just wanted to chat with you Nor."
"Don't you have a trade report due in tomorrow?"
"Oh snap! I should go!" The phone hung up.
Norway sighed, why was it he seemed to keep track of the Dane's work better than Denmark did. Yet Denmark had learned Norway's routine's off by heart just so he always knew where to find Norway when he wanted him. But he always wanted him, and always texted him. Now thinking about it, those text messages are pointless, if Denmark knows his schedule then he should already know 'What he's up 2". He frowned and tapped his pen on the table. What a bother that guy was.
He'd wondered a lot about Denmark and sometimes had to scold himself for thinking about the idiot too much. It was stupid, time wasting pondering that got him no where and would just added to the dream like world he often drifted into when he stopped working for a moment. His daydreams were often as bland as his emotionless face but when he thought about the Dane his mind would race and think so much faster and he would fall deeper into his own thoughts and mind.

He would soon fall asleep and see shades of soft pinky orange, which were pale enough to call peach. But he'd seen these colours enough to identify each separately.
He sat down in the room with his Nordic friends, next to Denmark. The room would fill with even brighter colours of yellow's and blue's that twirled and blended with each other. They splashed around like an artist with a watercolour brush and dripped down the walls and made beautiful patterns. His friends laughed and Denmark was now chatting and singing with Sweden, and the colours continued to dance vibrantly and the room was filled with warmth and joy. He felt so light that he could almost have been flying around the room with the splattered paints.
Remember when this was reality?
Denmark was holding Sweden's hand, and they laughed and so did his friends. He stopped and felt himself sink to the floor. The intense colours around him became saturated and lifeless as he watched the event, he'd watched so many times, relay. The laughter and joy died and everyone's faces became solemn. Sweden then turned away from Denmark and held the small Finn's hand. It stayed that way for a moment but Norway knew what would come next. He backed up against the wall and watched the anger rise in Denmark's eyes. The silent shouts were deafening, his mind swung into confusion as the room grew cold. He could hear everything clear except somehow everything was still muffled. He felt his legs become tight and he saw Iceland was a child at his feet and they both cried. The room felt like a tornado as his head pounded and his eyes burnt from stinging tears that felt like acid streaming down his cheeks. He knew this meant Denmark was coming closer to them. And that moment Denmark yelled and then Norway yelled back but again it was muffled. He cried out when he felt Iceland leave him to face the Dane alone but his world suddenly grew silent and his eyes became clear. They were alone in a room full of white, holding hands. It was so simple, but so complex. So soft, but so very very painful.
A howling wind blew past his face and his eyes shot open.

He was now staring at his ceiling of his bedroom. 'What a confusing place to wake up after such a horrible dream', he thought. Perhaps his troll took him to his bed while he fell asleep. He knew staying up late and having coffee at night was a bad idea. He didn't really care about that now though, if he was half asleep in his bed he might as well just go back to sleep. He glanced at the clock to check the time, it was already 10:15 am. He had slept through a whole night, and his stomach growled as if on cue to remind him he'd also missed dinner and was in need of breakfast. Going back to sleep would have been lovely right now, his bed felt warm and soft it was perfect. But his unfed stomach forced him to sit up and head down stairs to the kitchen. Walking down the hall he noticed a few doors left open and went to shut them, until he got to the guest room and saw an unmade bed and clothes on the floor. Denmark's clothes. He frowned at the empty room and closed the door. That idiot had slept over without invitation? And what's more Norway had been asleep when he got here. Oh the things he could have done to him.
As if promised he found the Dane lying across Norway's couch with an open book. It appeared to be an old book from the collection of ones about the Viking history. He seemed to find it amusing for what ever reason, probably because that particular book had some very inaccurate recordings.

Norway coughed and Denmark flicked his head up to see the his friend still in his pyjama's.
"Norge!" He stood up and dropped the book down on the couch before making his way to stand in front of Norway "You're finally awake, I-"
He was cut off by the Norwegian's hand in his face. "What are you doing here?" He glared at him, though he looked more drowsy than anything.
"Oh! I finished my trade report and my boss sent me over to Sweden's to actually drop it off. So I did that then came here, but you were asleep and it was kinda late so I didn't want to go back home this late at night." He grinned and rocked on the balls of his feet. But Norway just stared, not sure of what he was supposed to say to that.

"Hey Nor, did ya sleep well?" The Dane walked off into the kitchen "You slept a long time, you must have been working on something really boring to have fallen asleep at your table."
Norway's eyes grew wide and he just looked away "I slept fine."
"That's good!" Denmark was making coffee for Norway, it looked as if Denmark had already had a few by the number of mugs added to the sink. He chuckled "Cause you're a little mean sometimes when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed."
"Sometimes I'm just in a bad mood cause you show up uninvited to my house, then you wonder why I don't want you here." He took a seat down at the table and stared blandly at the wall as he leaned against his chair.
"I tried calling you a few times" Denmark said defensively.
"Is that so?" He looked at his phone which had still been on the table. He did in fact have three missed calls from Denmark.
"I figured you wouldn't mind that much" Denmark looked sheepishly at Norway as he sat down with the coffee for Norway.
Norway took his mug and murmured a thank you and held his hands around the hot beverage. "Well still, I'm going to confiscate that key soon."
Denmark chuckled, watching Norway fumbled with his unclipped hair "But you won't, cause you secretly love my unexpected visits~"
"Where did my pin go?" He looked on the floor and on the table around his work from last night. Denmark pulled the cross pin from his pocket and showed it to Norway. "..Danmark" Norway went to take it but Denmark pulled his hand back.
"Uh uh ahh~ I took it out so I could put it back in, for you" He had the cheekiest look on his face as he stood up and walked around the table.
"You're so irritating" He glared at the man standing beside him.
"C'mon Nor, just let me do it, pleeeease." Denmark put on his best puppy dog eyes and begged in front of Norway until he gave in.
"Fine you idiot, just do it nicely." He frowned as Denmark got down on his knee's and pulled Norway's hair behind his ear and kept it in place with the little Nordic cross pin. He brushed a few stray hairs back in with the rest and smiled, marvelling at his job well down. Norway turned to see if he could see a bit of his reflection in the window. From what he could tell it looked fine. When he looked back at the Dane on his knee's at his feet, he looked expectant of something.
"What?"
"Do I get a thank you?" He pouted.
"No, I could have done that myself, idiot" He turned back to his coffee and grumbled, more than a little embarrassed.
Denmark just smiled and stared "But I made you look even more beautiful"
Norway responded by hitting Denmark on the top of his head. The Dane whined and whimpered out "I love you too, Nor" and fell back on the floor before crawling back to his seat and lying his head on the table.
Okay, Norway new exactly why he always constantly got text messages and calls and letters and random visits from Denmark. For years Denmark had tried to fix things between them and most of the time everything was okay. They got along well enough and they talked about lots of things. They didn't really have that big of a problem with each other, but Denmark didn't just want to be friends with Norway. And it was ever since that night he first said I love you to Norway, that he tried to make Norway believe that he really did love him. Although to Norway he saw that Denmark was still torn about Sweden cheating on him. Denmark had a little book in his bedside drawer that was filled with photographs and trinkets from Sweden. Sure it was okay to keep memories of those things, but Denmark still dwelled on it, so how was Norway supposed to believe he wasn't just a substitute for Sweden. He didn't want to let him get his heartbroken by Denmark's silly desires to rebuild the past. In all honesty, he had been in love with Denmark in the past, but Denmark didn't love him back. He was chasing after Sweden all the time and Norway had been ignored. Along with his younger brother who didn't understand the confusion the rest of them felt. He was lost and confused about that part of himself.
Denmark let out a loud and obnoxious sigh, bringing Norway back to the present. He looked up and noticed it had been fifteen minutes of them just sitting there. Fifteen minutes of Denmark just lying with his head on the table and Norway just staring at the wall. Denmark sighed again and Norway raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"I haven't seen you in ages Nor.."
"You're seeing me now."
"I've just really missed you, and this house. It's so nice here" Denmark folded his arms and lay his head on top of them. "I wish my boss sent me to your house rather than Sve's all the time. Why don't we have as many trade routes and connections.?"
"Cause you built a bridge between you and Sweden." Norway almost sounded irritated and gripped the cup tighter.

Denmark was silent for a moment and Norway quietly fumed. "I want to build a bridge between you and I." Norway blinked and looked at the blonde head of hair. "With huge industrial ports and shipping lanes and there would be ten lanes of each side of the bridge just because so many people will be using it. Everyday there will be people cleaning and doing maintenance on the bridge, just so it stays really strong and never breaks. And they'll be professionals so they'll work fast, and be able to come home in time for their families and kids. We'll fly out flags at both ends of the bridge and every five kilometres there will be more flags placed on the sides. Oh and at night we'll have really bright lights on the road so it looks like day, so it's safe too, but when you look out on the water you will see the lights of ships and they will twinkle on the Skagerrak strait. And once a year we'll shut the entire bridge down so no one can cross it, and you and I will hold hands and walk across the entire distance, and when it turns dark we'll turn the lights off so we can see all the stars without the light pollution and then I'd tell you how much I love you.."
Norway stared down at him gobsmacked. His mouth hung ajar and his mind rushed with thoughts. He was just stunned and a bit taken back by what Denmark had just said to him. Was he actually serious?
He whispered. "And what would Norge do?"
Denmark lifted his head but didn't look Norway in the eyes. "He'd say… 'Hold both my hands' and I'd take them both in mine, and he'd let me hold them, and I'd ask him if he loved me too. He'd just nod cause he's a little shy like that."
Norway could feel his face and ears were hot. He sat there like a statue, staring directly at Denmark. He almost shook because he was so nervous. Norway reached over the table and lifted Denmark's face to look at him. Norway nodded, and Denmark's eyes were filled with tears but he didn't let them fall until Norway gave the smallest and sweetest smile. Denmark sobbed and mumbled "I love you so much Norway"

And that nod, with the hesitant kiss that followed, sealed it. However, history had taught Norway to be wiser. The part of him that accepted Denmark that one morning still existed, existed strongly even, but his pride would not let it take over. His mind reminded him of the broken trust, fear and pain that could be brought upon him by that man and those thoughts kept his guard up. So initially the changes in his actions were slow and minute. The changes on Denmark's behalf, he did realise after a few weeks, were slow and minute also. The visits to Sweden, the just-to-long stares at him decreased over time, and there was one morning when Norway was looking for something that he found the book, Sweden's book, gone from the bedside drawer. A few days later he had found it when looking for a coat, tucked away in the closet and tied up in string. A small gesture, one not even meant to be noticed by Norway, but effective nonetheless. So over time, the man let the Dane hug him around their houses without much complaint and in public with weaker struggling than he used to. It became progress in their own way.

It was a warm evening on the shore of Kristiansand. Norway stood letting the wind blow in his hair and ruffle his clothes. It had just gone dusk and the sun was tinting the colourful buildings even stranger colours. He held a pack over one shoulder and had a bin of food in the other. He turned back to the people behind him that were helping that idiotic Dane get his things from the van and had started loading them into the small yacht. Norway packed his stuff down and stepped back on the dock so his friends could wish them fair well. Sweden shook his hand and Finland and Sealand both gave him a hug. Denmark swung Sealand in the air and had kept trying to explain that this trip was for him and Norway only. Iceland shoulder tapped Norway and hesitantly hugged his older brother. Norway hugged back and apologised for not seeing him as much as he should have and Iceland pulled away with glassy eyes.
"Ice, I'll be back, you can see me as muc-" Norway was stopped and Iceland spoke.
"No. It's just, I can now finally see the family we never had." Norway pulled his brother into a hug again to stop him from seeing his own bittersweet tears. When he pulled away for the last time he gave him an odd smile and wiped his eyes.
"Good bye Island." He nodded.
"Good bye bro-.. Noregur" Finland put an arm around Iceland and chuckled, causing the Icelandic boy to become embarrassed.
Denmark took Norway's hand and smiled, flicking his head in the direction of the yacht. "C'mon" They waved their good byes and set off into the water.
Before they could sail out of sight, Iceland ran back to the end of the dock and stretched out his arms and shouted shamelessly over the harbour "I love you idiots this much!"
Denmark swung his head back and laughed, standing up high and stretched his long arms out and shouted back "And I love you this much!" Norway ducked his head in shame but laughed a little anyway. He saw that Finland and Sweden were also laughing too. And Iceland just stood there shamelessly.

Norway looked at Denmark and Denmark looked back, he still had his arms stretched out "You know the story of the Little Nutbrown Hare?"
Denmark laughed "Guess how much I love you?" Denmark got down on his knee's and wrapped his arms around Norway and blew raspberries in his cheek, making Norway laugh and squirm as he tried to push him away.
He smiled and pulled away "Norge, I used to read that to you when we were younger." Norway raised an eyebrow.
"Did you now?"
As the sky grew dark and the stars came out, they lay back together on the deck of the boat. They marvelled at the stars and had almost lost sight of the shore, and now the only lights came from the sky. The moon was small and only a slither of it showed, so they could see plenty of stars well enough. They pointed out constellations that they had learned and memorised years ago. Regretfully it had gotten cold so they had to huddle under a blanket, but it meant that they got to cuddle each other under the stars. Denmark had an arm around Norway and Norway lay on his shoulder.
"Hey Nor?"
"Hm?"
"I reeeeally love you."
Norway smiled and moved his arms till he could find both of Denmark's hands and held them tight. He whispered "I love you too Dan."
"How much do you love me?" he chuckled
Norway rolled his eyes and pointed up to the crescent moon "All the way to the moon."
Denmark smiled and finished it "Well I love you all the way to the moon too." He rolled them over so he could look down on Norway, and kissed him on the lips gently. "And back~."
This was true bliss.

Hey guys, thanks for reading all the way to the end!
I really appreciate it when people review! ^u^

This is the longest thing I've ever written, and had the most planning out of anything.
Kezi-chan helped me write this with her encouragement and actually did write a little bit of it, so make sure to go read some of her lovely stories too!

As Denmark said, the story about the Nutbrown hare is called "Guess How Much I Love You" and it's the cutest little book so if you see it definitely take a look w;;
I used to have it read to me as a child and I would do what little Ice did at the windows of my kindergarten. *0* How cute was I?

Till the next time~!

Edited the layout. Thank you Annastra for pointing that out