Of IKEA Glasses and Hot Tubs.
Summary: The Nordics share some childish antics while in the hot tub!
It was early in the fall, the leafs just beginning to fall off the trees. The Nordics had gathered at Sweden's upscale cottage to try and enjoy what was left of the nice weather before they were plunged into lightless winter. They sat around and were enjoying his equally upscale hot tub. Everyone had served themselves drinks and sat together enjoying their small pool of warmth as the days slowly grew shorter, the sun dipping lower into the sky. It was rare that they all got together, and even more rare that they managed to get along for this amount of time. The comfortable silence was broken not surprisingly, by a certain spiky-haired Dane, who had just finished off his drink.
"WHOA! Hey guys! Check this out! The glasses float!" Sure enough, Denmark's empty glass of the IKEA variety was bobbing with the current produced by the underwater jets, it's rim an inch or two above the surface. Normally, Denmark would be sure he had nothing to do with IKEA or Sweden in general for that matter, however Norway had given him a very pointed speech about being a polite guest beforehand.
"I wonder if it would work with water in it...?" Denmark thought aloud. He grabbed the glass and dunked it under the water, filling it halfway and brought it to the surface. He set the glass down in the water, his hands hovering close to it in case it tipped, thus causing his little experiment to fail. The glass slowly floated around in the froth of liquid, five sets of blue eyes on it, the rim still just above the surface and ended up in front of Finland.
"That's pretty neat!" Finland said coaxing the glass in Sweden's direction. The latter silently collected his glass and stepped out of the tub onto the deck. He gave a quick nod in a preoccupied Finland's direction and went back into the house, presumably to start the dinner preparations. Meanwhile Finland was attempting to do the same feat with his own glass.
"Yeah! Screw those fancy shmancy RC-built-in-radio-cup-holder thingies! These just do it by themselves!" Denmark exclaimed, his voice filled with triumph. "Who knew something from IKEA could be so entertaining?" That earned him an elbow to his rib, courtesy of Norway.
"Ouch~ Norway that was uncalled for!"
"Yeah. It is neat," Iceland said, contributing to the conversation for the first time. "but they tip over pretty easily." he said while he nudged Finland's glass, thus knocking it over. They watched through the turbulent water as it's distorted figure sank and came to rest at the bottom of the tub near Finland's foot, Denmark still rubbing his side from Norway's previous blow.
"That's true..." Denmark replied sounding a bit dejected.
"And if you leave them in the water for too long, it'd make your drink all warm and the ice would melt." he added.
"That's also true..."
"Sorry Denmark, but Iceland's got a point. It was a good idea in theory. But I think just keeping the drinks outside the hot tub would be easier than constantly having to avoid glasses that were floating around in the water. " Finland said. They sat in silence for a moment, while Finland retrieved the cup and placed it on the deck, Iceland turning his own cup around in his hands as he sat.
"Hey, look, if you pull the glass out upside down the water stays in it." Iceland said. He held the bottom of his glass, keeping the rim just under the surface of the water. And sure enough, the glass was still full, with a few bubbles escaping, making the gap between the base of the cup and the surface of the water inside it larger. When he pulled it all the way out of the water, the contents splashed out.
"That's awesome!" Denmark said, his happiness returning.
"That's a pretty good trick to pull at a pool party for a kroner [1] or two." said Finland. Iceland nodded in agreement, silently feeling a small amount of pride in his accomplishment.
"You guys are so childish. That's just simple physics." Norway said, as deadpan as ever.
"Aww, way to be a killjoy, Norge!~" Denmark replied in a joking tone.
"Shut up."
"Uh, well I'm done, I think I'll go help Sweden with dinner." Finland said as he stepped out of the hot tub and collected his long since forgotten glass.
"Yeah, I should go take a shower." Iceland added, also exiting the tub of swirling water.
"Well I'm not going to stay in here with him." Norway said and followed the others inside.
"Hey! Wait for me!"
[1] Kroner of various types are the currency of all the Nordics except, ironically Finland. The Fins use euros like most of the rest of Europe meaning they are also facing imminent financial disaster because of the euro's inflation or something like that (I stole my dad's copy of The Economist though I only understood about a sixth of the actually content).
Authors note:
Well, I was away and found myself in much the same situation except I was by myself. My mom had brought me a drink in an IKEA glass and I found that it floated with out tipping over and spilling the drink. But then I realized that that wasn't a very practical idea and then discovered the upside down glass filled with water thing. I was really excited about this and could imagine Denmark being all excited too and Norway being Norway, thus, this fanfic was born! This is my first fic. Reviews are much appreciated!