"I don't want it."
"But you haven't eaten anything today, Is."
"I don't want it, though."
"You have to eat a little bit. C'mon, please?"
"Nei. I'm not hungry."
For nearly half an hour, the words exchanged over the dinner table were familiar and unceasing. The Danish man, who'd finished his meal long before, was sitting with one elbow pressed the the table top and the other leaned across the table, gently prodding at the Icelander's food with his cutlery in an attempt to get him to eat. Obviously, to no real avail.
"Island," Mathias groaned, drawing his hand back from the Icelander's dish to rest his head in his palm. "We've already made you somethin' little. But you have to eat something." Sadly, all he gained in response was a shake of the boy's head. With a sigh, Mathias leaned back in his chair, sighing out a soft pokkers while he rested his head back, to peer up at the Norwegian man passing by the table with a used plate in hand.
"Any ideas, Jan?" He asked with a glance back to the Norwegian, running a calloused hand through untamed, flaxen hair. "Can't get 'im to eat a thing."
Rúni sat quietly, his elbows pressed to the edge of the wooden table and his hands supporting his head boredly. He seemed absolutely disinterested in the conversation taking place, staring down at his meal with an expression of distaste and boredom.
"Rúni." The Norwegian man spoke, his sharp tone causing the Icelandic boy's eyes to raise from his bowl. "You have to eat. A little bit won't hurt you."
However, Rúni simply shook his head, his nose crinkling in distaste. "I don't want it."
Heaving a sigh, Mathias leaned his elbows back against the edge of the table, reaching over to spear a chunk of meat and hold the fork to the Icelander, who just stared at it with a soft frown.
"You're not to leave the table until you've eaten at least half of it." Jan ordered, before glancing to Mathias with a nod, then lifting the Dane's bowl and heading to the kitchen to wash them.
"C'mon, Rúni. If you eat half of it, you can go do whatever you like. 'S not that much." He pressed, lifting the fork up to the boy. "I promise, it's good, ja? You like stew." With a reluctant sigh, Rúni took the fork from him and popped it into his mouth, then watching Mathias lean across the table a bit more to ruffle his hair with a light praise of "Good job, kiddo!"
For nearly half an hour more they sat in silence, Rúni slowly finishing half of his meal and Mathias watching quietly, while he drummed his fingers against his glass and peered around the room quietly. A small while later, after being alerted by Rúni he'd finished, Mathias wandered back into the kitchen with the boy's bowl, running the tap and letting the sink fill with warm water while he listened to the boy scurrying upstairs with soft footsteps. Jan had settled himself in the living room with a book, seeming more than content to relax, now Rúni had eaten. The boy was busying himself with some drawing, and for now, the house seemed pretty peaceful.
The rest of the evening was pretty quiet- Rúni occasionally reappeared to ask for juice, and then headed back upstairs to play, and aside from the occasional disturbances, Jan and Mathias stayed curled up on the couch to watch a few episodes of "Game of Thrones". Even bedtime for Rúni was surprisingly easy- Who even rejected the offer of a story, in favour of cuddling up with his old stuffed puffin clasped to his chest and slowly managing to drift off, while Jan and Mathias settled themselves back downstairs to avoid waking the child.
However, the peace didn't last long into the night.
Stirring from a blissful sleep, Jan found himself tucked close to Mathias' chest, blinking sleepily against the dark material of the Dane's nightshirt. With a sleepy grunt as he moved to rub his eyes with two fingers, the Norwegian slowly levered himself up, peering over the lump of their quilts towards the clock on his nightstand, which proudly displayed 03:17. Groaning tiredly, Jan allowed his head to drop back to his pillow, and nestle a little closer to the sleepy hold of the Danish man. Though, within only a few minutes of closing his eyes, the silence in the house was diminished by the faint sound of crying emerging from down the hall.
"Rúni?" Jan whispered sleepily against Mathias, shifting around a little to quietly untangle himself from Mathias' hold, who stirred from his groggy haze as the warmth of his bedmate disappeared. "Mm... Hvad der skete (What happened)?" He asked thickly, peering up to Jan sleepily while the Norwegian stood.
"Rúni's up." Came the quiet reply, the Norwegian stifling a yawn in his hand as Mathias sat up. "I think somethin's wrong." "
Wait," Mathias mumbled, pulling himself up and out of bed with a hand running through his hair. "I'll go with ya, yeah?"
After flicking on the lamp by Mathias' side of their bed, the two quietly headed down the hall, stopping just outside the boy's room, and listening for a moment. Rúni was crying, for sure... Slowly creaking the door open, Jan peered into the dark room, just able to make out the silhouette of the Icelander perched on the edge of his bed.
"Lille?" Mathias spoke up first, appearing behind Jan and looking in over his shoulder. The voices seemed to make Rúni jump, as his eyes snapped up towards the doorframe quietly, eyes flickering between the barely illuminated faces of his guardians. Gaining no reply, though, the two stepped in a bit, and Mathias flicked on the lamp on Rúni's bedside, decorated with little ladybugs and dragonflies.
In the light of the room, it was clear the boy was upset. His puffin toy was clasped close to his front, and tears stained red little cheeks while he sat perched on the edge of his mattress. He said nothing although a few sniffles escaped him, while his gaze remained locked onto the carpeted floor and refusing to meet the eyes of the two men, who were now exchanging worried glances.
"Lille, what's wrong?" Mathias asked firstly, kneeling down by the edge of the bed and tucking his heels under himself. "Y'okay?" Of course, gaining no answer, the Danish man leaned up a little to gently stroke his bangs back, and peer up to his face a bit easier. However, what he hadn't been expecting, was to feel an unfamiliar heat beneath his own palms. His brows furrowed a little, and he moved to gently feel at his cheek, then his forehead, just to be sure he hadn't made a mistake. "Jan, he's hot." He said quietly as he glanced up to the Norwegian man, drawing his hand back to give the Norwegian a chance to feel at his heated cheeks, too.
Jan knelt by the bed beside the Danish man, reaching up a little to gently feel Rúni's cheeks and hush the Icelander when he began protesting. "Hold on, skatten min." Peering up to Mathias over his shoulder, the Norwegian man spoke up quietly, his hands moving to find Rúni's warm palms. "Can you check if we have any Calpol left? There should be some in the kitchen." He requested softly, and after receiving a nod from Mathias, Jan moved to sit beside the sobbing Icelandic boy on the edge of the bed.
"Shh, skatt. Calm down," He soothed easily, gently wrapping an arm around the child and running a hand through the boy's hair quietly, smoothing it back from his face and silently feeling at his forehead once more, just to be sure he'd made no mistakes, the first time. "You're okay, now, ja? We'll get you a little bit of medicine and all tucked up in bed, and if y'want, we'll lie with you. Okay? Shh, Rúni. You're fine, shh..."
For a few minutes the pair sat like this, while Mathias scoured the kitchen for some form of medicine that might be of any use to Rúni after finding no Calpol. The child's sobs didn't cease, though were muffled just a little by Jan's shirt while he hid his heated face in the material. But after only a few minutes, the arm Jan had looped around the Icelander was what notified the Norwegian of the small movement in the boy's shoulders, and the feeling of Rúni pulling away a bit from Jan's side. Feeling this, Jan drew his arm back a little and peered down to Rúni's face, which offered no real help as to what was happening.
"Rúni, are you alright?" He asked softly, watching the boy carefully crack open tear-filled, pale blue eyes to meet Jan's own. Upon receiving a hesitant shake of his head in response, the Norwegian gently stroked his hair back again to see his face a bit better as the child's eyes welled with tears again. Slowly Jan sat back, one hand rubbing gentle circles into Rúni's back while he waited for him to say something. Anything.
But the only sound escaping Rúni was the sound of his breathing hitching while his stomach heaved, and Rúni leaned forwards a little bit while he fought to keep his stomach contents in place. He panted shakily as he swallowed back the bile rising in his throat and his grip tightened around Jan's nightshirt, and, already having an idea of what was to come, Jan quickly cupped a hand against the boy's chin while his other pressed to Rúni's back, ensuring he was leaning forwards to aid his breathing a little.
"Mathias," Jan called hurriedly, continuing to gently attempt to soothe the boy with slow circles being rubbed into his tensing back. "Get a basin." He sat back a little as the boy sobbed, continuing his gentle ministrations. He gently guided the boy forwards again when he felt his breathing hitch, watching the boy retch silently while he hung over the bedside. "Mathias," He called again, praying the Danish man could hear him from downstairs. He rubbed the child's back gently, watching the boy closely as his brows tugged into a frown and his tongue curled, another short hiccup forcing his stomach contents up to pool in Jan's readied hand with a few wet coughs. The Norwegian grimaced almost immediately, but didn't draw back incase there was more to come; Rúni didn't look much better.
"Shh, shh, Skatt," He whispered, trying to ease the child as he gagged and sobbed against Jan's hand, kept in place by the gentle hand on his back. With teary eyes and a dripping nose, the Icelandic boy peered up to him apologetically, though the gaze was only held for a minute. As he felt his stomach heaving again, Rúni ducked his head once more, miserably retching his stomach contents up once again.
It seemed like hours before Mathias reappeared (When in reality, he'd only been around five more minutes) with a basin in hand, and at the sight of Rúni heaving into Jan's hand, he rushed over to hand the container to the Norwegian, who promptly held it under Rúni's chin. Rúni sobbed and coughed into the basin, and Jan took the chance to let the worst of the mess drain off his hand. "Sit with him, ja?" He asked softly, untucking himself from around Rúni to stand up. "I need to wash my hands."
After receiving a short nod from Mathias the Norwegian stood from the bed, pacing to the door with a few swift strides. He peered back towards the two, as Mathias knelt down on the floor near Rúni, patting the boy's knees gently and tucking his bangs behind his ear every so often, while he waited for the boy's stomach to calm down a bit and cooed a soft "You're okay, Rúni. Shh, lille.". Just as quickly, Jan disappeared down the dark hall, slipping into the bathroom to wash his dripping hands with a small grimace and getting himself cleaned up.
It was nearly an hour later before Jan slipped back into Rúni's room, after having looked around for the Calpol he'd mentioned earlier and eventually finding some stowed away at the back of his nightstand- Probably back from when Rúni was teething, and would wake up through the night with flushed cheeks and teary eyes. As he wandered back to Rúni's room with quiet footsteps, he read over the label carefully to make sure he wouldn't give too large a dose, the Norwegian writing being rhymed aloud under his breath.
The door to Rúni's room was still slightly ajar, and the light from his bedside pooling into the hall offered some help to finding his way back. Quietly stepping back inside, Jan nudged the door closed after himself and set the Calpol down on the nightstand quietly.
Rúni was tucked into bed and sleeping soundly once more, his cheeks a warm tint of apple red and his damp bangs stroked back from his forehead, thanks to the gentle ministrations of the Danish man lying next to him. Upon noticing Jan return, Mathias raised his head from where it had been settled on the Icelander's pillow and allowed his hand to rest gently against the boy's mop of damp hair, to smile groggily to the Norwegian man.
Clearly, having gotten a little too comfortable.
"Hej," He yawned, slowly levering himself up on his elbows, though being as careful as he could not to wake the boy asleep by his side. It had taken absolutely ages to soothe the boy enough to let him fall asleep, and he really didn't want to wake him again- It had been a long night for Rúni already. "I think I nearly fell asleep, m'self." The Dane admitted as he clambered off the bed, stretching his arms out with a yawn and stepping closer to Jan, then casting a glance back to Rúni's sleeping form.
"Poor kid," Mathias sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, gently moving to take Jan's hand in his own. "Y'think he's okay?"
"I'm sure he's fine, kjære. We'll just have to keep him home sick for a few days, and keep an eye on his fever. Now, c'mon. Let's go to bed."
Quietly turning Rúni's beside lamp out, the two crept out, leaving the boy's door ajar incase he needed them again during the night. Soon enough, Jan and Mathias were tucked back into their queen-sized bed, arms looped around one another and their door left ajar, just a little.
"G'night, elskede." Came a dozy farewell, as a light kiss was pressed the the Norwegian's forehead.
"Night, Mathias."
If you can't tell, I have a real soft spot for this sort of relation. ;w; Daddy!DenNor and Child!Ice guarantees cuteness, doesn't it? uwu
Mathias - Denmark
Jan - Norway
Rúni - Iceland
Anyway- Let me know if I should continue this? uwu Or drop me a suggestion for other things to write! I've got an idea or two in mind. 3
Hope you enjoy! c: