a/n. it's a little late but this is for obviously something's third year on ff

Taiwan likes cute things like moe anime and Iceland's puffin. The first, she watches faithfully, akin to America and his Saw movies. The second, she wishes she could pet, as she does with Japan's puppy, but she doesn't dare approach Iceland, no. China mutters things about those "damned Westerners" and forbids her from talking to them, so she makes more of an attempt to start conversations with America or England or Germany.

It's a small rebellion, but even then she's never tried to make contact with Iceland. She doesn't want to. He's too cold and fiercely protective of the one reason she might have liked him – he yelled at Sealand for trying to feed it crackers, for god's sake. Sealand!

And Korea likes to show her dramas where the plucky heroine melts the heart of the icy hot rich guy, and Iceland's a pretty prosperous nation and he's pretty damn icy (it's even in his name) but life doesn't work in a melodramatic, cancer-ridden way and he's not particularly attractive. Denmark is more her type, anyway.

But the puffin is goddamn adorable, so to speak. One day she spots it outside a Starbucks, pink ribbon and all. Iceland is in line, waiting to order and this might be her chance. Tentatively, she edges closer to the bird, and then freezes. A flash of pale hair, and she tenses and shields her face, but no, it's just some stranger. She giggles out of relief. Since when has she been one to shy away from obstacles, anyway? She's goddamn unstoppable. And wasn't there a saying about how pets resemble their owners? Surely such an irresistibly adorable puffin couldn't belong to an asshole.

Right?

Except, "Hey you! Exactly what do you think you're doing? Mr. Puffin is not meant to be handled by... children." Like he was any older than her, and was that contempt she heard in his voice? Distate?

"And who do you think you are? You left him all the way over here. Some kind of owner you are," she tells him indignantly.

He snorts. "Mr. Puffin is not a pet. He's my friend."

"Well, what kind of friend would stop you from getting along with other people?" she asks, and then leans down to pick up the puffin. Iceland pales.

"Stop it! Don't you dare – don't you dare touch – let him down let him down let him down!"

She almost drops the black bird. It's not some kind of ticking bomb, is it? Oh man it's not going to peck her, right? But the puffin just squawks contentedly and burrows into her arms. Huh.

Iceland stares at her, violet eyes wide and mouth gaping. She sticks her tongue out at him, because fuck maturity, and then the absurdity of the situation hits her. Taiwan has to giggle. And that makes him furrow his brows. His glare is acid.

... but his eyebrows aren't even a fourth as thick as Hong Kong's and his eyes are too soft. A bit of drastic expression change, but try living with Mister Bushy-Brows for a couple decades. You don't even notice stone-eyed stares. He's not even yelling at her, really, and why was she so afraid of him before?

"Stop it Mister Puffin doesn't like strangers put him down – "

"You just freaked out. You just freaked out."

" – let him down!" He's all kinds of petulant. If only he would jut out his lip, or stamp his foot, or something. That would be icing on the cake. It's kind of cute, actually. Not attractive, but ... cute.

So she pretends to think for a moment. This is fun. "What's the magic word?"

"Please let him down?"

The word sounds foreign on his tongue, and to her ears. He's probably never asked someone nicely before. Hm. China's instilled all sorts of values into her head so she's never gone a day without saying please or thank you. And suddenly, she has an epiphany. Iceland is totally freaking out because she has his puffin. And he's totally going along with her demands.

... she's going to relish this.

"All right, can you get me some coffee?"

"What?"

She smiles sweetly and strokes the puffin. She swears she can see Iceland twitch. "You want Mr. Puffin back, right?" His eyes flicker realization but he just nods. "Well, I'm thirsty and you know, your puffin is really adorable. I could take him home and play with him for weeks and you'd never see him again. But – "

" – do you take your coffee with cream? Milk?" he asks her. His voice is steely with resignation and she claps with delight. Or, thinks of doing so. You know. Puffin in arms.

"Yes to cream, no to milk. Also, I only drink decaf. And after this, well, I know of this really cute clothings store ... "

A grumble. Iceland heads to the line again and Taiwan grins, a little. Who knew icy hot rich guys minus the hot could be so easily controlled by a bird and a girl?

A goddamn adorable bird and a goddamn unstoppable girl, but still.