A/N: This is my first attempt at a multi-chapter fic. I don't know how quickly I will update because I write everything in my English class and I have MCAS testing this week... Bwah~ Many thanks to Walroose and TheTickTalks for all their fantastical help! Oh, and obviously none of these characters belong to me, except for maybe Greenland, because I don't believe that he is in any anime episode, manga chapter, or web comic.
Greenland - Hans
Denmark - Mathias
Norway - Lukas
Iceland – Emil
Hong Kong - Xiang
Iceland peered intently into the mirror and fidgeted with his tie. His pale lavender eyes gazed back at him through the mirror, but quickly darted to the hotel room door as two curt knocks were heard. The heavy metal door swung open slowly and a pair of soft blue eyes curiously peeked into the room, searching until they connected with Iceland.
Iceland gave him a slight nod through the mirror and simply spoke, "Hans." Greenland quietly entered the room; letting the door slam behind him.
Greenland stood contently by the door, moving only to fix his lapel and brush a crease out of his expensive pants.
"If you don't hurry, we are going to be late. We don't need Lukas and Mathias looking for us," the man gently announced, breaking the silence of the room.
Iceland blinked once, and promptly turned around. "I suppose we should leave then," responded Iceland as he moved towards the other man. "Please don't attack Mathias again. I don't want to make Berwald and Lukas have to break up another one of your spats."
Greenland shifted uncomfortably and turned back towards the door, propping it open with his foot as he waited for Iceland to grab his briefcase.
"He deserves it though; after what we went through because of him. What a sham of a union," he bitterly muttered.
Looking up suddenly, his eyes focused attentively on Iceland, now with a cold fire burning in them.
"He was bad enough after Berwald and Tino left, but after Lukas..." he trailed off uncertainly as Iceland strode past him out the door. Quickly locking the door to Iceland's hotel room, Greenland jogged a bit to catch up with his distraught friend.
Tiny flakes of snow began to fall outside. The windows lining the hallway of the hotel rattled as a gale of wind blew through the city.
Greenland sent an apologetic glance towards Iceland. It was only after many decades of friendship that he could read his friend so well. Living together under Denmark's rule made them very close friends, but once Lukas left the union, they had to join forces to make it through the days.
Denmark was never kind to them or the other nations once Norge left, he was especially brutal to Iceland because he reminded him of Norge. Iceland gave a noncommittal shrug and continued walking with Greenland to the elevator and onto the conference.
~~~~~ Walroose ist Erstauntlich ~~~~~~
The pair stopped outside the conference room, both a few minutes late - not that anyone other than the Nordics would really notice. America could be heard through the doors, shouting wildly about Democracy and hamburgers, while a petty argument between England and France started up suddenly and almost drowned out America, who just got louder in response.
Iceland glanced quickly over at Greenland and opened the door, shuffling into the crowded room with Greenland trudging after him. Slinking along the walls of the conference room, the pair dodged a few objects that were unfortunate enough to get thrown by England in an attempt to hit France's goateed face.
As they reached their seats with the other Nordics, Denmark leaned over Norway, almost shouting to be heard over the fighting trio, "What happened to you guys? The meeting is about to start!"
Greenland's face turned sour, and he promptly ignored Denmark in favor of sitting down next to Finland who turned to him with a welcoming smile. Iceland gave Greenland a sharp look and sat between Greenland and Norway, "We decided to get breakfast and some coffee. Besides, no one seems to have noticed except you four."
Norway shoved Denmark back into his seat, and languidly brushed off his shirt, as though Denmark's presence had contaminated it. "If you were any later, we were going to look for you. Don't worry me next time Emil," Norway blandly stated, his dull eyes narrow as he glared at Iceland who sat, unresponsive to his thinly masked threat.
Denmark's smile fell slightly, but he quickly returned his focus back to the short man beside him and began to whine about being pushed away.
Iceland looked back at Greenland who was calmly conversing with Finland and Sweden, and began to pull out his papers while Mr. Puffin looked on over his shoulder.
Preparing himself for a long meeting, Iceland glanced up as Germany began yelling and got everyone's attention.
The sound of scraping chairs filled the room as lunch was called. The Nordics all remained seated, waiting for the rest of the nations to file out of the room before getting up.
Iceland was absently stroking Mr. Puffin's head; trying to keep himself awake after hours of sitting in an unproductive meeting. A cool hand suddenly wrapped around his wrist, and Iceland gaped upwards, startled.
"Emil, come with me," demanded, rather than asked, as he gave Iceland's wrist another tug. Iceland stood up, almost lazily, and followed Greenland as he purposefully strode across the room.
Mr. Puffin squawked and quickly jumped on his shoulder, unhappy to be almost left with the other Scandinavians. Sparing a glance back at his abandoned briefcase and jacket, Iceland met the steady gaze of Norway and spared him slight shrug as Greenland continued to tug him forward to an unknown destination.
Iceland sighed loudly, his eyes sliding half shut as he asked, "Where are you taking me Hans?"
"I want you to meet my friend Xiang, or I guess you'd have heard of him as Hong Kong. This is the first meeting I've seen him at for a while. China's afraid that all us Westerners are gonna corrupt him or something, as though living with England didn't already do that."
"Oh. This is the kid who lived with England for a while?"
Greenland gave a slight nod as he hunted through the crowd of departing nations for a specific face.
"How did you meet him?" probed Iceland, "During a meeting or with…" he trailed off uncertainly, not willing to mention Denmark in fear of aggravating his longtime friend.
"We met when he accompanied Denmark on a trip to England. Neither of us were wanted during their meeting, so I was stuck showing him around London. What a dreadful day that was, Hans just wouldn't stop whining."
An accented voice joined in the conversation causing both Greenland and Iceland to turn towards the source.
In front of them was an Asian boy around their height, with thick eyebrows and very long sleeves. Iceland glanced at Greenland, and his eyes widened slightly as he caught a slight blush on his friend's face as he started at the boy. Not once had Iceland ever seen Greenland embarrassed about something that wasn't caused by their family.
The boy regarded the two Nordics coolly, before continuing, "You must be Iceland. I am Hong Kong as Greenland said earlier. It's nice to finally meet you."
Iceland gave a slight nod of acceptance, "And you as well. I hear that this is the first meeting you've come to in a while. It's not as though you have missed very much. Nothing ever really happens at these things…"
Hong Kong stared at Iceland impassively before turning his gaze to Greenland and then back. "It's still nice to come, it gets me away from my family for a while."
Iceland glanced back at Greenland, who was still just standing beside him. The blush had dissipated, but nothing seemed to be registering for him, as he was still transfixed by the boy in front of them.
Iceland gave him a hard nudge with his elbow and apathetically berated him, "Come on! You can't expect me to do all the talking. He's your friend."
Greenland seemed to snap out of his daze. He harshly shoved Iceland, who shoved right back.
Hong Kong regarded them silently, watching their exchange and not-so-playful banter. He could see the connection between the two; the trust and friendship that results only from sharing many years of hardship and relying on one another to make it through the day. It was almost hard to tell that they were so much older than him.
"Would you two like to join me? I have a lunch meeting with England, which wouldn't be too bad, except that I overheard America's plans to join us. I'm not too fond of spending the lunch hour with the two of them."
Iceland and Greenland stopped their fighting and turned to Hong Kong abashed. Greenland was the first to recover.
"Doesn't bother me. But why don't you just skip it altogether? You know that England won't even remember your existence once America enters the room."
Hong Kong looked thoughtful, and turned Iceland, who just shrugged in return, upsetting Mr. Puffin, who was still on his shoulder.
"It would be better than going to lunch with the other Nordics. I have had to sit through more than enough meals with those people making lovie-eyes at each other," Iceland finally spoke carefully, shifting his feet.
Greenland interjected, "Don't forget the fighting. Can't forget the fighting between Berwald and Den. Oh and Norge too! Though, it's kind nice when Norge enters the fights, he makes them interesting."
Iceland gave Greenland a look, "It's interesting until it happens five times during one meal."
Hong Kong nodded in agreement; he knew how it felt to have a dysfunctional family. "Where would you like to eat then? I know a nice café not too far from here we could walk to."
Iceland gave a noncommittal shrug, and held up a finger as he walked back to his seat to pick up his jacket. Greenland looked contemplative.
"Are you going to be alright with all this snow? Those shoes of yours don't look like they have very good treads."
Hong Kong nodded, "It's not too far, and it wasn't that bad outside earlier. Besides I have you two to help make sure I don't slip or something."
Greenland got a bashful look on his face as he turned his head sharply away from Hong Kong. Iceland returned with his coat and gave Greenland an inquisitive look. Hong Kong shook his head and led the way out of the conference room.
Denmark and Norway watched them depart from across the room. Iceland had told them not to expect them for lunch, as they were heading out with Hong Kong.
Denmark tilted his head, "Do you think Hong Kong…" he trailed off uncertainly. Norway nodded.
"Which one specifically, I'm not sure. But obviously Hans likes him."
Denmark gave Norway a startled glance, "Hans! No, I've never seen him like anyone other than Emil. And even with Emil, it was only after living with me for a few years that he opened up to him."
Norway yanked on Denmark's tie harshly, "We'll have to wait and find out, huh? Emil doesn't seem as though he noticed anything weird."
Denmark stuttered, and gasped out, "Maybe he's just oblivious."
Norway pulled the tie even tighter, "He's not stupid."
Finland joined in, "We know he's not. Can you please let go of Mathias?"
"Lt 'em be," mumbled Sweden. "Th'y will wrk it out."
The quartet got quiet and continued to watch the door where the youngsters had departed from.
"I'll kill them if they hurt Emil," stated Norway. The group returned to their chaotic conversation while the other three continued trudging through the snow to the café.
A/N: Sooo… I'm writing this authors note about… 2 weeks… after I wrote the one at the top. I've been too busy to type, but I have filled up many pages of my English notebook with this story, my problem is finding time to type it up. Gah! I'm so excited~ I'm going with my best buddie TheTickTalks to AnimeBoston this weekend. I'm cosplaying as Romano and she is going as Sealand. It'll be her first time going, and I'm just excited to have a friend~ And thank to Walroose and TheTickTalks.