The old house was dark and silent, all except the faint sound of Rúni's keyboard from behind a closed door, and the old, steady ticking of the Mora clock that stood proudly by the top of the stairs. It was certainly a change, for the house was normally bustling and lively, and it was certainly rare to find it any differently.
But the only real sign of life (Besides Rúni and his laptop, of course- But that was normal) was the thin strip of light seeping out from under the door at the end of the hall.

There had been something off, in the last few days; There was just something missing, and the atmosphere was far from normal.
But, really, it wasn't that hard to figure out what, exactly, was missing.
You see, for the first time in a long while, Enok hadn't woken to the rather unpleasant surprise of an array of Lego pieces scattered across his bedroom floor.

The old Mora clock that stood proudly at the top of the stairs struck two with a low chime, and in only a few seconds the dust seemed to settle; the house fell back to silence. That was, until the low creak of the floorboards emerged from behind a heavy door, and the pale light of a laptop screen flooded into the hall as Rúni's door was pushed open. The Icelander, clad in a grey t-shirt, navy hoodie and faded flannel pajama bottoms, took a moment to adjust from the light of his laptop to the darkness of the hall before stepping out of his room with a yawn stifled in his palm.

Certainly, it wasn't uncommon for Rúni to be up late- The Icelander much preferred to stay up late and lie in, than vice versa. He had learned through several years of living with a certain Norwegian that his lights were to be off long before 2AM, but the Icelander would often toss a pillow to the floor to cover the slit between carpet and door and avoid the light of his laptop from being detected. There was no doubt: Rúni knew his way around.

But as the Icelandic teen allowed his eyes to adjust to the now dark hall, the faint strip of light seeping out from underneath the door of the large study was what caught his eye. And for a moment he just stared, trying to decipher who exactly it was behind the door.
Both Tino and Jan were unlikely; Jan rarely allowed things to pile up, and Tino's workload had been rather leniant lately. Enok had spent the evening in a conference and had returned home exhausted- So he doubted he'd be up and awake.

Of course, he couldn't be the culprit, so there was only one person who it could be: Mathias.

With a sigh, the Icelander tugged the door of his room closed to hide the light from his screen, and crept up the hall with near silent steps. The door was ever-so-slightly ajar, though it emitted a long, unhealthy creak as it was pushed open. The Icelander grimaced slightly at the sound, though he peered inside when he heard no signs of stirring.

The sight wasn't especially surprising; Of course it was Mathias who lay fast asleep at the desk, his arms crossed and his head lowered to the makeshift cushion beneath himself. However, it did force a small sigh from Rúni's lips as he stepped inside quietly, footing careful so as not to make the floorboards creak beneath his weight. It wasn't entirely managed, but the Dane seemed entirely oblivious to the sound of movement, and upon seeing this, Rúni eased up a bit.

The Icelandic teen was soon standing by the edge of the desk, and he leaned a hand against the edge of the wooden surface to lean in, and glance over the papers half-hidden by the Dane's sleeves arms. If they were documents to be handed to their leaders or anything dire, he'd have to wake him- It was better to check. His Danish wasn't perfect, but it was more than enough to suffice, and the Icelander was soon leaning back from the desk with a sigh.

'He's worrying this much about Eurovision?' Was the pale-haired boy's first thought, as he glanced down at the sleeping form of the Danish man. Well, he couldn't blame him- If the contest was taking place in Reykjavík, he'd want things to go as smoothly as possible, too. But this wasn't dire- It could wait until morning, it seemed, and the Icelander quietly inched back towards the door, leaving it open and allowing the light of the study to fill the dark hallway.

It was barely a few minutes later before Rúni was leaving the study once more with a slight look of satisfaction on his face, pulling the door closed after himself so it was left ajar once more.

But the Icelander didn't head back to his room again, no; He inched closer to Jan's room, instead. The Norwegian was certainly not a morning person, but this was important- or so he told himself. Jan, he decided, needed to be a little more adventurous with his sleeping patterns. So, the Icelander creaked the Norwegian's door open to peer into the dark room, a muffled grunt of annoyance making itself known from under Jan's bundle of covers. "What is it?" Came the tired, aggravated querie, and Rúni forced a small look of fatigue onto his features, to feign the idea that he'd managed a few hours of sleep prior as opposed to sitting on his laptop. "Mathias is asleep at the desk in the study, and I didn't know if I should wake him or not." When the Norwegian gave him a look of confusion, a sheepish smile curled his lips. "So I need you to help with that, bróðir."

For a moment, Jan simply stared at Rúni, before grunting a "No." and leaning his head back down against his pillows, eyes drifting shut as he nestled his cheek into the warm material.

It only took a minute for the Icelandic boy to hook hands around one end of the pillow and tug hard, successfully dislocating it from under the Norwegian's head.

"I wasn't asking."

"Why can't you do it?" The Norwegian retorted, but reluctantly sat up nonetheless, wiping the small patch of saliva that had collected at the corner of his mouth while he slept away. But without another word, Rúni just tossed the pillow back to the bed and stretched his arms above his head until his shoulders gave a satisfying click, then headed back for the door. "I'm too tired. 'S your job."

And soon enough, Jan was dragging himself up the hall, to push open the old wooden door and peer inside.

There he was; Still sound asleep. Surprisingly, with Rúni's quilts wrapped around his shoulders, and the Icelander's faded, tatty puffin blanket from when he was a child spread over his lap. At least it was getting some use, even still- Rúni usually just kept it draped over the back of his desk chair, or at the back of his wardrobe.

Jan sighed softly, leaning in the doorframe for a minute to simply watch the quiet rise-and-fall of the Dane's shoulders. He really must have been tired, if he was asleep in such a fashion... With a click of his tongue in disapproval, the Norwegian stood once more and inched back into the hall, slowly feeling his way downstairs.

The trip took about fifteen minutes, but eventually the rather tired Norwegian was trudging back towards the study with a cup of dark coffee in hand, with just a touch of milk, how he liked it. Even if it was cold by the time he woke, it really was the thought that counted, of course. But nonetheless, it would help him stay awake.

And within long, Jan had left the door ajar once more and was soon tucked back into bed, asleep within minutes. The Norwegian was always slow to drift off, but when woken in the middle of the night, the first thing he'd want to do is get back into bed. And just like that, the house fell back to silence once more.

It wasn't abnormal for the Swedish man to rise early; Enok often found himself awake before the majority of the other's- At least, Rúni and Jan. Mathias was usually the first up, but to Enok's surprise, his carpet was completely clear. That, alone, came as a surprise. But as the Swede stirred awake, it was to the sound of the shower running and an empty bed- Tino was already up, it seemed, and using up the hot water. Great.

But at the apparent lack of a familiar Danish face, Enok was... well, curious, naturally. Only after slipping on his glasses did he rise from the bed, stretching his back and sighing in relief at the movement. The house was warm enough, and really, with a distinct lack of toys strategically placed over his floor, it felt better to be up.

However, he'd need to investigate.

And so, he did. After running a hand through flaxen hair the Swede paced to the hall, casting a glance to the ajar door of the study, which revealed an obviously sleeping Mathias hunched over the desk. It seemed Tino had also stopped in; A little Moomin plush sat perched in front of him in the desk, along with the (obviously cold) coffee the Norwegian had left.

The sight made Enok's lips tug into a small smile, and the Swede left the door open for just a moment, pacing down the hall to the Dane's own room.

It was only a few hours later the Dane woke to a drooled on paper, warm quilts around his shoulders, and the floor of the study scattered with Lego.

Great.

I'm so sorry for the wait on this one! I've been in and out of hospital alot lately, with no real warning beforehand.

I hope this is okay, and thankyou DC-Jellybean for the prompt! 3