"Yes, thank you sir, thank you so very much. Have a good day!"
Denmark forced himself to close the door and calmly walk to the end of the corridor before celebrating. "Alright!" he whooped, "Norge will be so happy when he finds out what I did!" He paused and grinned. "This calls for a Carlsberg!" He mentally patted himself on the back for the reference and laughed all the way to the pub, ignoring the strange looks the passer-bys are giving him.
"I what? He what?"
Norway sighed into the phone. "But why did you even allow him to persuade you into-" Cut off by the person on the other line, he listened for a moment and nodded, the crease on his forehead deepening. "Yes, but I really do not mind working today." He listened for another moment and sighed. "Compared to him, by working, I am taking a break," he muttered, then replied, "Fine, I shall take the day off. Yes. Alright. Thank you. Goodbye."
The Norwegian hung up the phone and took a big mouthful of his morning coffee. That idiot.
The doorbell rang, like he predicted it would. He went on to do what he planned to do, which is nothing.
The doorbell rang longer, and was accompanied with knocks on the door. He is so easy to predict.
Harder knocks, then they stopped coming.
In three… two… one…
Riiiiiiing~
"I am not openi-"
"NOOOOORGEEEEE! Open the door, buddy! Come on, just open it, you'll find a great surprise~!"
"Other than the one from my boss telling me that someone personally went to persuade him to grant, and I quote, a 'workaholic', a day's leave? That's enough surprises for one day."
"Aw, Norge! Just open the door! Please? My arm is getting a cramp- Oops. I wasn't supposed to say that. Pretend I said nothing!"
"Dan, what are you doing?"
Norway looked incredulously through his window as a familiar Dane stood awkwardly outside his door, bundled with wrapping paper and ribbons into a pattern resembling a Norwegian flag, and caught his eye. He grinned sheepishly.
"Er, surprise? Happy birthday, Norge!"
"Seriously, Danmark, of all the ridiculous things to do, you had to settle with this," Norway said as he stuffed the last of the ribbons into the trash while Denmark rotated his sore arm.
"Norge! It's your birthday! What could be a better present than receiving my services for a day?" Denmark grinned and bowed deeply. "I am your most loyal and humble servant, my good sir. Command me, and I shall serve you to the best of my abilities."
"What abilities?" Norway muttered, too low for the Dane to hear.
"So anyway," said Dane continued, "it's your birthday! You should be happy! Smile, Nor!"
"Why should I? I don't have any reason to."
Norway immediately regretted saying those words.
"I'll give you a reason to!" Denmark flashed his trademark grin. "That'll be my mission for today: make Norway smile!" He thought for a moment. "There's a carnival not far from here. Let's visit that! If I'm lucky, I may even be able to win you something!" He grabbed the Norwegian's hand. "Come on, let's go!"
Norway sighed. "Fine. Since I don't have anything productive to do today anyway."
"Awesome!" Denmark whooped, stealing a certain albino's catchphrase. "We are going to have such a fun time together. I promise you!"
"Besides, we did have a fun time, didn't we?" Denmark said while unlocking the door.
Even under his thick black coat, Norway couldn't stop his teeth from chattering long enough to give Denmark a legitimate reply, so he opted for a glare instead.
"…I still got you a bunny?" Denmark tried, holding up the small semi-soggy pink rabbit plush toy, its limp head lolling to one side.
Norway silently pushed past him through the door, making a beeline for the bathroom.
"…stupid drunk."
"I made you some soup," Denmark said as Norway finally came down the stairs, a thick towel wrapped around his small frame, "that is, if you want it."
Norway silently held out a hand, not making eye contact with him.
"Have a seat," the Dane said, ladling some warm broth into a bowl and serving it. "Be careful, it's hot."
Norway sipped slowly at the broth, the taste of sickly sweet candyfloss and dehydrating salty popcorn overpowered by the savory flavor of homemade food, letting the heat warm his hands and insides.
Denmark watched him for a while, searching for the right words to say. "Look, I'm really, truly sorry, Nor, but that guy really was insulting you and your government, and I know humans aren't supposed to know about us being personifications and everything, but-"
"Danmark. Don't you think I have not heard worse?" Norway said behind his bowl. "I hear these things all the time out in the street. That's why I work so hard to make my country a better place." He lifted his head to meet the Dane's eyes. "And he was drunk. That does not give you a reason to punch him."
"But…!" He protested. "He… He hit you! And you fell into the lake!"
"Because I was mistaken for another person, and I tripped over my own feet, you idiot!"
Denmark was slightly taken aback by the outburst. "I… I'm sorry, Nor… I just don't want to see you hurt…"
"Hey, hey, no tears, it's still my birthday, remember?"
"Oh, yeah, heh…" Denmark tried to force a smile and failed. "Sorry for such a shitty birthday, Norge."
Norway took another sip of the broth and spotted the now-dried pink rabbit plush on the table. He flashed back to the carnival, where Denmark made him try every single ride with him, even the kiddy ones, while he had the same wide grin plastered on his face the whole time. He recalled when Denmark spent almost all his money at the games booth, trying to hit the pyramid of cans down, and the booth manager taking pity on him and giving him the rabbit plush as a consolation, which the Dane in turn gave it to him. He remembered when a drunk man mistook him as someone else and attempted to start a fight, but Denmark defended him.
"Don't hit Norge!" he had cried out, accidentally letting the name slip.
"Oh, so he's the country now? Pah!" the drunkard sneered, "this stupid country took my dumb job! And here I thought migrating here would be such a wonderful idea. This bloody sucks! I hate this country!"
Even though the words were slurred, it still had the same effect on him as those other words he had heard. It was like a knife digging deeper into his chest.
Other times, he would have suffered in silence.
This time, though, someone was there to pull out the knife.
He had to admit, it did make him feel a bit better seeing the man almost fly backwards, and the blood trickling out of his nose.
"No, Danmark, it was alright. It was… fun, even."
Denmark's eyes widened. "Norge… Did you just… smile?"
Norway touched his upturned lips. "Huh, I guess I am."
Denmark broke into a grin. "Aw hell yeah! I managed to make Norge smile! Woo hoo!" He did a little dance of celebration, which made Norway shake his head, but he kept the smile on. He hugged the Norwegian from behind.
"Thank you, Danmark. For everything," Norway said.
"It's what a best buddy would do." Denmark replied, hugging him more tightly.
"Gratulerer med dagen, Norge."
A/N: The last sentence was 'happy birthday, Norway' in Norwegian.
I wanted to do a lighthearted birthday fic for Norge initially, with Dan fooling around and everything, but somehow, angst happened. Oh well.
Thank you for reading this! If you managed to get through this piece of rushed work. Iamsosleepynow.
Sorry if I offended any Norwegians, that scene just popped into my head and I wrote it down before I knew it. It was something really random, really.
Neither Hetalia, Carlsberg nor the Norwegian government belong to me.
Happy birthday, Norway! -heart-