Emil was an introvert. He didn't enjoy social interactions, crowds, and just people in general. His days were spent locked in his bedroom, browsing the internet for useless things to add to his wishlist and communicating with his puffin. Hell, he barely answered the phone unless it was absolutely necessary.

And that was why Lukas was taken back by the words, "Can I bring a friend over?"

He looked up from his copy of A Clash of Swords and straightened his back in the velvet seat. The teenager in front of him stood bashfully, his face turning a rosy red and his gaze towards the maroon carpet of the living room. Lukas had to admit that his brother's chagrined appearance wasn't too out of character for the naturally shy boy, but that didn't mean it didn't make him cuter.

"Who?"

"Eh?" Emil looked back up and met his eyes, turning his head away immediately after. "Oh, um...I don't think you know her-"

The elder couldn't help but smirk. This "her" must have been some special person if he became sheepish like that when brought up. He made an ostentatious clicking noise with his tongue to let Emil know that yes, he did find it adorable. They made eye contact again, and this time the younger knit his brows and threw back his shoulders.

"I figured that the world meeting this weekend is being hosted at your place, and since we all usually stay here the night before, I wanted to bring a girl over."

"A girl?"

"She's my friend!" He puffed his cheeks and sighed. "You don't know who she is. She's Leah Wang, uh, Hong Kong." The boy crossed his arms firmly. "We met at a Halloween Party a few years ago."

Lukas took a generously long sip of coffee to wash down any chuckle that might escape his throat. He kept an eye open and peered at Emil, whose face was beginning to look more of a ruby color than rosy.

The sudden boost in self confidence left when the teen shifted his vision to the wall next to him. "Just say no. I know you're going to. I shouldn't have asked..."

"I do know of her. She used to live with Kirkland, correct?" A ginger nod answered him. "You know I only have four guest rooms. Where would she be sleeping?"

"Well um...I thought we could share a room? We might stay up a little bit later anyway...I left my PS3 in my room and..."

He never felt prouder. Emil, the boy who would skip the meeting altogether if he were able to, wanted to bring a female friend over and have her sleep in his room. His brother was probably sweating the hell out of himself this entire time.

"How long have you been planning this?" Westeros could wait. Lukas was starting to enjoy the awkwardness of his brother by the seconds.

The teen rubbed his hands together and pursed his lips. "Why does it matter? Besides, you're going to say no anyways."

"What makes you think I would say no?"

Emil's eyes widened, and Lukas noticed a glimpse of a smile. It wouldn't be too visible to a stranger, but seeing that he had a permanent bitch face every time they got together, it was definitely a pleasant change.

"Stop looking at me like that!" The expression dropped back into one of disgust, and the elder felt an idiotic grin plastered on his face.

"What's her favorite color?"

"What's it to you-"

"I'm just curious."

Emil ran a hand through his platinum blond locks and sighed. "Red, why?"

"What are her hobbies?" He took another sip of coffee as he listened.

"Well, she likes fashion. She's also good at martial arts and making dumplings."

Lukas set the mug down next to him and closed his eyes. He really did love leaving his brother in suspense. By the sound of it, they had nothing in common; Emil's favorite color was purple, he only wore lopapeysas, and the closest thing he could do to karate was bend down and get food out of the fridge. Still, he needed to press forward.

"How long have you two been talking?"

He finally took a seat across from the older nation, crossing his leg over the other as he did so. "She messaged me shortly after that party, and we've been communicating since. We don't really hang out since we're both busy, but we do Skype occasionally."

"I see." His brother was obviously pining over a long-distanced girl who he shared no similarities with. In one hand, he had a feeling that if Leah were to sleep over, it wouldn't end well for Emil. In the other, the boy already thought he was annoying and unfair, so it wouldn't hurt to decrease those assumptions a little bit. Hell, the entire situation so far was sweet, so why not continue it?

"Tell Leah I'll be expecting her here this weekend."

The teen sat up in his chair and placed his hands on his now straightened knees. "Really? Thank you!" He began to blush once more, but pointed his vision towards something on the ground. He never showed too much emotion, it must have been something he picked up from Lukas in his viking days. "Uh, I guess I'll leave now..."

Emil hoisted himself up from the leather material and rushed out of the room. It wasn't until Lukas heard the all too familiar sound of the front door opening and closing when he let himself loose. He shook his head and smiled once more, now hoping more than ever that Leah shared romantic feelings for his brother.


"Lukas says he just picked her up from the airport. They should be here in ten minutes or so."

Matthias watched as Tino put his phone back into his pocket and walked into the Norwegian's kitchen. It was Friday, and the meeting was taking place the next morning at nine. Usually, the Dane dreaded the event, but after hearing that Emil was bringing a 'friend' to stay the night, he found that he couldn't wait until then. The Finnish nation was beaming with excitement, though his thoughts were probably a lot less provocative than his. Even Berwald appeared to have a slightly more positive aura around him.

Tino seated himself in a wooden chair at the table. "I'm so glad he's finally met someone he likes! I hope she feels the same way towards him! What do you think, Sweden?"

The larger man seemed shocked at first, but quickly nodded in agreement. Matthias let out a shallow laugh.

"She will, with a little help," he exclaimed while shuffling through his sweatshirt pocket. The other two men couldn't believe he would dress so casually at a time like this, but they figured that Emil has already told her not to take him seriously.

When the Danish man found what he was searching for, he withdrew, to their horrified expressions, two condoms and a bag of red licorice. He threw them in the center and rapidly drummed his fingers against the surface of the table.

Tino moved his hands up to his cheeks, looking at him, the pile, and back at him. "Is this a joke?!"

"Nope!" He released another laugh, this time a set of giggles. "Preventing pregnancy is nothing to joke about!"

Berwald roughly shoved his shoulder from his spot across the table.

"Hey! What was that for?"

The smaller man looked around frantically and moved his elbows onto the table, leaving his hands ruffled in his hair. "You don't really think they'll do things like that, do you? Did he even get the sex talk?"

"Oh yeah, he definitely did." Matthias pushed out his chair and stood up, grabbing the items as he did so. "Let me just say, I'm pretty sure he doesn't look at pomegranates the same way he did before that day."

He pocketed the condoms, but grabbed a pen and tape from the counter's junk drawer. He quickly scribbled a wobbly smiley face on a nearby napkin, taping it to the bag of licorice and running through the living room and up the stairs to Emil's room. It was plopped in front of the door, and he made his way to the kitchen just in time for the expected three people to come in through the front entrance.

Lukas stomped his snow-clad boots and hung his wool cloak upon first stepping in. Emil did the same, but threw in a knitted hat and matching green mittens. The Nordics were accustomed to the crisp, solemn winters in their countries, and though they weren't technically human, their thousand year old bodies still became pink and frigid to the touch. Matthias couldn't decide if the teenager's cheeks were salmon colored due to the February air or his guest, so his eyes shifted from his face to his slender fingers laced around a small suitcase.

"I'm going to bring her things up. I'll be back." Emil gave a tiny wave to the men at the table, each of who gave one back. Lukas turned around to help the girl with something on the coat rack as he proceeded to wheel the travel bag out of the entrance-way. He made it through the kitchen, but was stopped by the Dane. The older man grabbed his bottom and slid the condoms in one of his back pockets, making sure his brother and Leah were still occupied.

The boy bat his hand away and glared at him. "What are you-"

"Shhh..." Matthias put a hand to his lips and smirked. "You'll learn soon enough."

He let out what sounded like a growl and continued forward. After leaving the room, Lukas finally moved out of the way, allowing him access to see what made Emil flustered.

Leah was stunning. She had thin, black hair trailing down and meeting her curvacious hips. There wasn't much going on in her chest area, and she lacked in the height department as well, but the color in her cheeks enunciated her high cheek bones and thick eyebrows. If Lukas was right about anything, it was that she definitely was interested in martial arts; her body was noticeably toned underneath her skinny jeans and quarter sleeve. 'Its a shame,' his thoughts began, 'that she's already taken. But what is she doing with a guy like Emil?'

She was led into the room, her cotton socks caressing the tiled floor. Her face formed a shy smile as she greeted the men with a mature, "Hello."

"Hello!" Matthias rose and grabbed her hand, shaking it firmly. If he was about to yank her arm out, she didn't complain. He was positive there was sweat leaking out onto her too, but the only thing that came out of her was, "Its a pleasure to meet you."

Tino and Berwald did the same, minus the exaggeration. The Finn inquired about her flight, and how she was feeling seeing that it was a quarter to eight at night.

"Oh, it was quite boring. I am slightly lethargic from the time zone changes, but nonetheless the Norwegian environment is breathtakingly worth it." The female nation stoically glanced at the now perplexed country. "I simply cannot wait to restore my country's land in hopes it becomes as equally as beautiful."

Her etiquette unsurprisingly came from the British country. The atmosphere drastically changed as no one knew how to react, but, Matthias being Matthias, took his claim of being the family jack-ass. "If you think Oslo is gorgeous, you should see my capital!"

Emil glided back to the group just in time, meeting the back of his neck with his fist. The Danish man coughed a few times and rubbed the sore spot.

The teen, standing five foot eight, was dramatically taller than the girl. Through the pain, the image of a hamster trying to engulf a banana ran through Matthias' mind.

"You said earlier that you're not hungry, right?"

She nodded gently. "The airplane gave me too much of an adrenaline rush to even think about eating or drinking."

Emil looked at Lukas pleadingly. It would be too rude to just ask if they could leave, but he was sure everyone could feel the uncomfortable shift in the room.

Thankfully, his brother caught on. "You should rest so you're not napping during the meeting."

"Yes, thank you." Leah began to bow but caught herself. "I apologize. Sometimes I become confused between my Eastern and Western cultures."

"Uh, yeah I guess we'll be heading up now." The two said their goodnight's and the Icelandic lead the way out of the room, but they couldn't make it up the stairs without the Danish man exclaiming an echoing, "Don't do anything stupid up there!" followed by a slapping sound.


"So let me get this straight. Your family, like, thinks you have the hots for me?"

"Yeah. Denmark even slipped me a couple of condoms."

Leah stretched her legs on Emil's carpeted floor and bent her body forward, touching the floor without hesitation. She popped a piece of the red licorice into her mouth, much to his disgust.

"How can you eat those things? Black is so much better!"

"I think you mean the other way around". She opened her mouth and revealed the chewed up candy, making the boy turn away and grunt in disgust.

"Whatever happened to you being a proper lady, huh?"

"That's only for like, first impressions! I think it scared your family, though."

"Yeah, maybe." Emil faced her again and slouched onto the floor from his seat on the single bed. "Should I start up Mario Kart?"

"Hell yeah!" she said, somersaulting backwards and turning to face the television. "Anyways, what did you do with the condoms?"

He smirked as his fingers met the game console's power button. "I poked some thumbtacks into them and slid them under his door."

"You mean you didn't save them for Seychelles?"

Emil's back straightened and he furrowed his brows. "Shut. Up."

"Come on, its about time you tell Michelle about your little crush."

"She doesn't have to know. We're fine as friends. Besides, wouldn't that alarm everyone in this house if we weren't the ones dating?"

"Yeah, maybe, but I think you two would be cute." Leah put a hand on his shoulder and he inched away.

"Uh, thanks. Now just shut up and pick your character!"