This is a song fic based on Forever and Always by Parachute.

The night was quiet for once. Unusually quiet. Norway sat at the table by himself. A first in a long time. There had hardly been a night when he wasn't there.

That idiot's probably out doing something stupid again, Norway thought. Still, the quiet was odd. No annoying phone calls. No obnoxious car intruding on his driveway. Norway often wondered why he was the one bothered all the time. All of his friends were grateful that Denmark decided to bother Norway. Norway was the only one who didn't let Denmark drive him insane. Norway never let anything or anyone get to him. Maybe Denmark had finally caught on.

Norway's eyes caught a flash of light as something passed by his window. Still not Denmark.

Good, Norway thought. It was time for him to go to sleep anyway. Even if Denmark did show up, Norway wouldn't let him in this time.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Norway sighed. He should have been expecting this. He checked the caller ID and didn't recognize the number. It could still be Denmark messing around. Norway figured he wasn't smart enough to do that, though. Denmark was the kind of person who wanted people to know it was him gracing them with a call.

"Hello?" Norway said as he picked up the phone.

"Yes hello? Is this Norge?"

Norway sighed. So it was Denmark bothering him. Or someone else because of Denmark. Denmark was the only one stupid enough to call him that. It wasn't this lady's fault.

"Yeah, who is this?"

"This is the Baltic hospital. I'm afraid there's been an accident. Denmark's in critical condition. You're his emergency contact, so if you could get here..."

Norway bristled. He figured something like this would happen one day. Maybe not that bad, but Denmark was known for doing crazy, stupid things. "Fine. I'll be right there," he said brusquely and hung up the phone.

That idiot had really done it this time. Being an idiot was really nothing new to Denmark. He had probably tried to drive drunk again, despite all of the warnings. Why did Denmark have to be so stupid? Norway thought back to that last time when Denmark asked him that idiotic question.

"Hey! Norge!"

Norway tried his best to ignore Denmark. Too much eggnog meant that Norway was stuck babysitting Denmark so that he wouldn't break something or burn something down on Christmas Eve.

"What do you think Santa will bring you tonight?"

"You're an idiot, Denmark. It's just Finland."

"Yeah, I know that, but what do you think he'll getcha?" Denmark said happily, not minding Norway's biting comment.

"Probably the same thing he gets me every year."

"Ugh, you're so boring, Norge. You get socks every year. Isn't there something you really want?"

"No," Norway said, hoping he would just shut up and drop it.

"You know what I want?" Denmark continued.

"I really don't care, Denmark."

"Come on! Guess!" Even though Denmark was bigger than Norway, he was practically hanging off his arm.

"No."

"Just one guess! It's not like it's going to kill ya!"

"No."

"Norge!"

Denmark pulled down hard, catching Norway by surprise. Even while stupid drunk, Denmark was crazy strong. He was on his knees and had Norway pinned down in the cold, wet snow.

Norway's eyes were burning with fury. "Get off of me."

"Not until you guess," Denmark said with a silly grin on his face.

"Denmark, I..." Norway's words were interrupted when Denmark covered Norway's mouth with his.

Denmark's breath was warm on Norway's face. It stank of alcohol. "I want you forever. Forever and always. Through the good and the bad and the ugly." He grinned with that stupid, silly smile again. "We'll grow old together. Forever and always."

Norway kneed him between the legs and pushed the writhing Denmark to the side.

Norway sat up and wiped his mouth with the back of his glove. He could feel his face grow hot with the emotion he would never show.

"Sometimes, I really can't stand you."

He should have been there this time. Norway parked his car at the hospital. He vaguely wondered if the others knew. He tried calling Sweden's number. No answer. No Sweden. No Finland. No Iceland. Norway was the only one who had been bothered this late at night.

He went straight to the front desk.

The nurse looked relieved. She put down the phone just so she could lead Norway through the halls. "Thank goodness you're here."

"Yeah, but how do you know..."

"NORGE IS EASILY THE BEST PERSON I KNOW!" A loud voice echoed through the hallways. I rolled my eyes and understood. "HE'S GOT THIS BLOND HAIR THAT HE CLIPS BACK IN A GIRLY BARRETTE AND SOME WEIRD THING THAT JUST FLOATS FROM THE BACK OF HIS HEAD."

"He was in this crash and..." the nurse was saying, but Norway could barely hear her. His head was filled with that annoying voice.

Norway saw him in the little room before Denmark could see Norway. It shocked Norway how much he was in shock, and Norway wasn't even the victim. Denmark had always been so animated, yet his body looked like he was weighed down on the bed by a bunch of tubes and needles. Thick, red spotted bandages were plastered to his head, making his unruly hair really stick out in all directions.

Denmark went quiet and grinned when he finally saw Norway. Norway kept a straight face like he always did when he entered the room.

"Norge," Denmark whispered, his voice hoarse. He coughed and hacked and tried to clear his throat so he could try to talk normally. To try to talk as if nothing was wrong.

"You lost your voice, idiot. Stop trying to yell so much," Norway said. He could see all the bruising now. Denmark's skin was practically all purple. He didn't like the way that look made him feel.

"Yeah," Denmark said, giving up on trying to make appearances. Denmark looked at Norway's hands. He frowned as he saw Norway trying to subtly wring his hands to death. "Geez, stop doing that to yourself." Denmark used all of his effort to lift his hand off the bed a few inches. "If you really need to do that, at least do it to me. I'm already beat up."

Norway frowned at Denmark's idiotic reasoning. He was tired and sat at the chair at Denmark's bedside. He grabbed Denmark's hand and squeezed as hard as he could. Denmark winced at the added pain.

"You're the biggest idiot I've ever met," Norway remarked.

Denmark knew Norway. He knew to pick out the undetectable wavers in Norway's monotonous voice. Denmark had finally gotten Norway to worry. After all that and now... Denmark didn't want to think about that. He applied another smile to his face.

"Good. I've got a reputation to live up to."

They were both quiet after that. They'd never had to question life before. They thought they would always live, I guess. Plenty of time for everything that way.

"You know our kids will be invincible just like me." Denmark's smile turned into a grin. "They'll do all the stupid stuff I did, only they'll do it smarter just like you."

Norway shook his head. "You're an idiot. That's physically impossible. We're both dudes. You've hit your head too hard, remember?"

Denmark laughed, trying to play this all off like some kind of giant joke. "Nope! I don't believe I can. We'll all live up on a house on the hillside. That way, we can go sledding in the winter when the snow's too high and we're too lazy to do anything else. We won't need to worry if we're rich or poor or..."

Norway got up slightly from his chair. He kissed Denmark lightly on his lips. Denmark was damning himself for being so weak. He could hardly do anything that he wanted to do with Norway. He wanted to keep him right there. To stay right there on his lips. Forever and always.

Norway stayed for as long as he could manage. Moving his kiss from lightly touching to drawing in Denmark until it physically hurt. He could feel his eyes stinging as he parted.

"Damn you, Denmark," Norway said angrily. He wiped at the tears ready to betray him. "You've always been fucking there. You sure as hell aren't going to leave me now when I actually need you."

Norway didn't think he'd ever find himself saying those words. That he'd come to need an idiot like Denmark. The possibility of Denmark actually being gone never crossed his mind. He had always seemed to just be there from the very beginning. Norway had always relied on him to be there.

Denmark smiled, holding on to the high he felt when Norway's lips were on his, praying that he'd live to feel that many more times. "You've always needed me. Why do you think I never went anywhere?"

Denmark looked up at Norway. He didn't know what would happen anymore. Norway couldn't look at him.

"Hey," Denmark said, trying to grab Norway's attention while he still could. "I love you."

Norway glared at Denmark. He couldn't stop the silent tears now. "Of course I knew that, you idiot. Do you think I'd put up with you if I didn't love you back?"

Denmark wanted to fly off the bed. He wanted to slam Norway to the ground just like he did in the snow. All those years that he didn't let him know. Were they all wasted? Norway flew to him instead, drawing out far too many kisses than could be handled.

Denmark's breaths were ragged, but not in the good way. Norway frowned. He got up and went to the door.

"What are you doing? Get back here!" Denmark breathed. He didn't care if Norway took away every single breath he had. Those kisses were worth dying for.

"I know what I want," Norway said simply.

Norway ignored the Norge that was called out when he left. He stormed next door to find one of those hospital gift shops. There were two kids gathering a bunch of candy. Too much sugar for this far past their bedtime, in Norway's opinion. They'd be bouncing off the walls just like...

Norway went to the pile and took two little packages of candy.

"Hey, what do you think you're..."

"I'm borrowing this," Norway said without another word. The kids were screaming along with the shop attendant when he made his way back out to the hall. He found a man in black robes coming out of a room where the nurses were pulling a cloth over a dead man's head. The guy made a cross on his chest. Norway grabbed that guy and dragged him to Denmark's room despite his protests.

Norway ignored the fact that Denmark looked worse than he did before. Denmark tried to hide the fact that it was getting harder for him to stay awake.

Norway broke open the candy packages and slipped the ring pops on their appropriate fingers.

Denmark laughed weakly. "Norge, what are you..."

"I'm marrying you," Norway said quickly. "You're mine, so I'm never going to let you go."

The chaplain finally figured out his role in this crazy scheme. "Wait, I can't actually..."

"I don't care. Just do the ceremony," Norway demanded. It didn't matter what anyone thought or if it would actually be official. All Norway wanted was to keep Denmark bound to him in this life in any way possible.

"I..." Norway started. The chaplain flipped open his bible and started reading the appropriate passages and verses. Norway continued his vows. "want you forever. Forever and always." He held onto Denmark's hand. He looked into his blue eyes as they were trying to focus on his. "Through the good and the bad and the ugly. We'll grow old together and always remember, whether happy or sad or whatever." Norway was never good with emotions. He couldn't tell if he wanted to laugh or cry in that ridiculous moment."We'll still love each other, forever and always."

"Forever and always." Denmark reminisced on those words he had said that Christmas when he was just a bit drunk and wanted nothing more than to stay by Norway's side. He still wanted that. More than anything now.

Norway didn't want to listen to the hospital noise. The heart monitor was getting too loud. The beeps were slowly drowning out the voice he wanted to hear the most. The annoyingly constant voice he thought would never leave his life.

"I...love you forever," Denmark's voice was too quiet. Norway had to lean in close. "Forever and always." Denmark didn't have the strength to keep his eyes open, despite how bad he wanted to. "Please...just remember...even if I'm not there, I'll always love you...forever and always."

"I now pronounce you husband and...husband," the chaplain said nervously. He had found it all a bit awkward, but it was hard not to see a sad beauty in that. To join the lives of two people soon to be separated.

Norway closed the gap between them, not believing what was happening. He kissed Denmark's lips. Even when they stopped responding. And the world was filled with one long, loud, monotonous sound.