It wasn't supposed to go quite like this.
Everything had been normal up until the lunch break at this particular meeting of nations. And a non-nation, in Hong Kong's case. The meeting itself was focused on economics, so he tagged along with China to watch and take notes. Due to some lucky break, he even got two minutes of speaking time. The Hong Kong economy still booming enough to be considered important while comparing financial cases of the nations present.
It was right before lunch, when he caught sight of Iceland. He looked positively bored, now that his bit in the meeting was over. He was one of the first to speak, either to get it out of the way and avoid being picked on by Hong Kong's distant 'family' and company, or to set the pace of the meeting. Iceland was quick and quiet while glossing over his trade surplus details and quarterly growth reports. To be honest, Hong Kong hadn't really listened at first, but now he was wishing he had. Iceland was essentially forgotten among the bigger nations, who, of course, were yelling and pointing fingers this far into the ordeal. Again, Iceland looked bored, slumping forward in his seat and scribbling on his notepad. His bangs were falling into his eyes, but Iceland made no move to swish them out of his face. It was kind of... attractive? Is that what Hong Kong is feeling? Surely the littlest Nordic could be considered objectively good looking, so these feelings aren't too strange, or so Hong Kong thought. Because Iceland is good looking. From the top of his light blonde head to the tip of his straightened nose, down to his... feet. Hong Kong didn't dare to look under the table to get a better glimpse of what Iceland looked like his nice pressed suit and shined shoes, though it was tempting.
That's why he decided to catch him at lunch. Perhaps he'd be even more alluring once he exchanged real words in a real conversation. None of this recited work bull.
Hong Kong quickly dodged through the crowd once Germany had demanded they recess for lunch, as everyone was well out of hand. Despite the slow, almost globular movements of the meandering nations, Hong Kong made it way out into the corridor and spotted his 'prize.' Iceland was easy to spot from the top down, his hair contrasting nicely with his charcoal blazer and slacks. He had a side pressed to the wall as others passed, which in turn slowed him down and made the approach all too easy for Hong Kong.
"Hey, you getting something to eat?" A nice smooth opening to get things rolling.
"Huh?"
Well, it would have been, had Iceland not been startled. He looked at Hong Kong like a deer in the headlights, his fingers subtly gripping tighter onto his notepad.
"Lunch. Are you going? We could go together."
"Um... I was going to go to my room." Iceland gestured vaguely with his notepad.
"Oh. I can wait for you? You don't have anyone to go with, right?"
Hong Kong internally cringed once the second question weaseled its way out of his mouth. So much for smooth! It was true that the other Nordics weren't here at this particular gathering, which was an incredibly odd sight to (not) see.
"No... why do you care, anyway?"
"I just thought we could get lunch. I'm solo, too."
"China is here."
"I'm not going to lunch with him."
Iceland got over his deer-face look and instead was studying Hong Kong with what he assumed was a massive amount of skepticism.
"Look, I just thought you might like to have lunch with someone. If not, I'll go and leave you alone, yeah?"
Iceland had to think through this one. It was strange request coming from... well, a stranger, essentially! He had a few brief dealings with
Hong Kong in the past, sure, but he knew next to nothing about him outside of work. Then again, he did seem nice...
"I need to put my things away."
"I can wait."
So it was settled.
Lunch was a simple affair at burger joint two blocks from the hotel. It somehow looked surprisingly clean yet still felt greasy when they walked in. Neither minded, or kept it well hidden, as they ordered and picked a corner booth where they could sit and chat with some semblance of privacy.
They didn't talk about much, though their small talk took a detour pretty quick into the conversation, and they sounded... well, like typical teenage boys. Hong Kong could see that Iceland was still guarding himself, but he considered it to be a step in the right direction to get him to speak about something other than what he does with his money (or the unpronounceable volcano, which Iceland was sick of discussing, Hong Kong later found out). Overall, it was... nice, really. An earth-shattering good time? Where there personal revelations and epiphanies about Iceland a person, or about Hong Kong's being? No. Not at all. But it beat going out with the family. It was refreshing, to say the least.
Iceland thought so too.
Back at the hotel, they fumbled about awkwardly for a topic to discuss and what to do next. They had a ninety minute break. They had only killed about forty minutes. Ultimately, Hong Kong figured out that Iceland was getting skittish by the groups of people coming and going, and invited him back to the room. It would be quiet there. Iceland accepted.
Then things got even a little more out of the ordinary.
Surely the day could be considered normal still, though Hong Kong had technically asked a guy out, which he had never done before, and he found said guy wonderfully attractive, and he's pretty sure he caught said guy making eyes at him when he wasn't supposed to be looking. Nothing's come of it, right? So it's fine, right? Right. Just two guys hanging out and talking, even if this was a relatively new experience for the both of them.
Once again, the conversation veered way off its predicted course once Hong Kong had to open his dumb mouth and ask an equally dumb question again: "So, like, why are you here alone?"
"I'm here with you, idiot."
"You know what I mean."
"Because the others weren't invited, I guess."
"That's weird. Like, I never see you guys by yourselves, you know?"
"Because you only see us at the meetings."
"So, what? You aren't a pack like all the time?"
"Not really. We have things to do. Anyway, I wouldn't know, since I live on an island, remember?"
"What's that got to do with anything? So do I."
"Aren't you right next to China?"
"Yeah?"
"So it's different."
Hong Kong didn't understand, and he figured saying as much would get him called an idiot, or an equally confusing explanation. Possibly both. So he went with a safe answer, as much has he didn't want to. "Okay."
Iceland didn't bother to pick the conversation back up, opting to stare out the balcony window as best he could from the tacky chair he was sitting in. The way the sunlight touched his pale features so gently-
No, okay, Hong Kong knew it was hormones buzzing around inside him that was making him... well, sort of a mess! It was annoying, mostly because he didn't know how to deal with it. He'd been a teenager for a long time and hadn't experienced strong urges that were making him think of stupid stuff like that. Other stupid stuff, well, yeah, and Hong Kong had drawn a small handful of lewd pictures, but it wasn't anything like this. It wasn't really driven by anything other than his troublemaking teenage tendencies. This was maybe the same, but not really, because Hong Kong could tell he was overthinking this whole thing and he never put in an excessive amount of thought into his feelings before. Typically he just did things, being very action oriented.
So why was he suddenly slowing down and becoming a thinker? It was bugging him, and he had to break the silence or else he'd be driven mad by his own annoying brain.
"Hey, can you come here for a sec?"
Iceland snapped out of his reverie to look at Hong Kong, cross-legged on the bed. "Why?"
"Just because."
Iceland contemplated for a moment, then crossed the small distance to the bed, where he sat down awkwardly next to Hong Kong.
"What were you thinking about?"
"What?"
"What were you thinking about?"
"Uh... stuff? Nothing really."
"It looked like you were concentrating on something."
"I wasn't."
"Oh."
It was a lie, but Hong Kong didn't need to know that. Iceland just didn't understand this guy's quirks or what his angle was. Surely there was an actual reasoning for inviting him out to lunch, and back to his room... because if not, wouldn't he have just let Iceland go? Why be so clingy all of a sudden?
As much as Iceland did want to push him away, due to being completely unaccustomed to these kinds of happenings, there was something about Hong Kong that Iceland could feel himself gravitating towards. Normally it was easy to push people off and away or bolt and hide... that wasn't the case now. Maybe because Hong Kong's ulterior motives weren't exactly clear, but Iceland didn't get a suspicious vibe off him. He seemed sincere in wanting to hang out, even if it was totally an out of the blue invitation. Maybe he was just a spontaneous guy. That didn't explain Iceland's 'magnetism,' however. And that's what really bothered him. There was some mental disconnect from his body, some invisble signal that he wasn't consciously processing but some other part of him was. There weren't any warning bells going off, despite Iceland being aware that he wasn't aware of something, which fed into him being unsettled yet somewhat okay at the same time. It goes without saying, but it's a very conflicting feeling.
During Iceland's intense rumination, Hong Kong seemed to key in on the body language and figure something was a little off. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked and hesitantly reached out to touch Iceland's arm.
"Y-yeah, fine." The stutter and jumping at physical contact probably didn't help Iceland sound convincing.
"Sure? You're a little red."
"What?!" Iceland's hands flew up to his face to cover his cheeks and eyes. He was clearly embarrassed, though Hong Kong didn't know why.
"Like, it's okay." Just like Iceland couldn't sound convincing, Hong Kong couldn't sound reassuring since he didn't know what exactly needed to be reassured.
Either way, Iceland slowly put his hands down and tried to breathe, although he was quivering. That made Hong Kong unnerved.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah."
"You're shaking."
"Shut up, I know."
Hong Kong zipped his lip after that.
They spent the remainder of their break in an awkward silence. Hong Kong fiddling with his phone and occasionally glancing over to check on his companion, who held he knees to his chest and either started down at his lap or out at the wall. It was honestly kind of creepy, but still a little sad in some way. Hong Kong felt himself really wanting to be at his literal side, hand on his back and-
No, not again!
Before Hong Kong could get wrapped up in his confusing hormonal thoughts, his phone buzzed again with a huffy message from China, demanding to know where he was and that the meeting was going to start in a minute. Hong Kong was about to tap out a reply, but looked over at Iceland again. Then, throwing care to the wind, reached out and tapped his shoulder, startling Iceland for what, the third time in the span of less than two hours?
"The meeting is going to start."
"Oh." Iceland slid off the bed without another word. Hong Kong followed, typing a text to China on their way out. In the corridor, Hong Kong turned right while Iceland turned left.
"The meeting is this way."
"I'm not going."
"You aren't? Why not?" It was Hong Kong's turned to be surprised for once.
"I already talked and the rest doesn't concern me."
"So where're you going?"
"My room."
Hong Kong hesitated, seriously considering his words before they burst forth without his permission. He didn't like they way they sounded in his head, but they needed to be said: "I don't think you should be alone."
"It's fine." Iceland was getting a little more prickly, but there was something still 'off' about him that Hong Kong couldn't place.
"Let me walk you back."
"I can do it myself."
"I know, but like, I just have this feeling."
"Whatever that means." Iceland started to stalk off anyway.
Hong Kong followed. "I just feel like something... bad is going to happen, or something, yeah? So can I walk you back?"
"Whatever."
So he did.
It was another string of awkward silence as they went down the corridor to the elevator and up to more floors, down another corridor, to Iceland's room. Hong Kong desperately wanted to say something without running his mouth, but Iceland was giving off such a weird vibe that Hong Kong spent the majority of their walk trying to comprehend it instead of thinking of what to say. Not like it mattered to much, as Iceland apparently had been walking fast to try and lose his tag-along or otherwise was on a mission to get back to his room to hide out. Hong Kong knew his last chance would be at Iceland's door. He wanted to get an extension for the deadline to figure out his feelings. He could only hope Iceland would be so kind as to give it to him.
Iceland didn't turn to say goodbye when they reached his door. He put in the card key and was going to make his getaway, when Hong Kong quickly shoved his foot in the door, resulting in a scuff mark on his impeccably clean shoe.
"Don't you wanna like, hang out more?"
"No." Iceland pressed the door harder against the side of Hong Kong's foot.
"Then I guess this is good bye."
Iceland didn't say anything, but in the brief moment where he let his guard down, Hong Kong was able to swiftly open the door just enough to land a peck on the other boy's lips.
Neither of them were expecting that. Iceland fainted, and Hong Kong panicked.
At least he was able to catch Iceland before he hit the floor.