What Happens in Norway, Stays in Norway
A/N: This chapter was a collab between The Rain in Reykjavik and CuteArtsyDoll
Any people or places that are in this story are merely coincidental.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
Okay, I think that just about covers everything.
Thank you and enjoy!
Chapter One
Two light indigo eyes scanned carefully over the words of confirmation to the spring semester study abroad program in Norway. He couldn't resist the smile that spread on his lips as he placed his silver laptop to the side. He nestled on his twin sized bed in his dorm, feeling absolutely content. There was nothing but silence and the sound of his fan blowing cool air on his face. Other than that, he planned to rest well tonight. He used to have a roommate, however, they graduated last semester. He loved his independence, so the absence of another individual was not unsettling.
It was nearing midnight and his flight was early in the morning. He knew, according to his calculations, that he was going to get maybe five hours of sleep tonight. Closing his tired eyes after getting comfortable, he switched off the lights next to his bed and dozed off.
Even after this careful planning, he managed to get up exactly twenty minutes before he had to leave. The alarm hadn't gone off. He scrambled to pack his bags, pushing folded sweaters into his suitcase and brushing his teeth at the same time. Shortly after he finished with his suitcase and rinsing out his foamy mouth, he swiftly raked his comb through his hair in a weak attempt to tame his previous bedhead hairstyle. Regardless, if he was pressed for time or not, Emil was going to take a minute to at least look presentable.
After a half-eaten plate of eggs, three runs back to his dorm room to grab his phone, his keys, the laptop charger, he pulled his suitcase and his backpack with him to the taxi. He hurriedly asked the friendly man in the front to take him to the airport, and then he finally relaxed. Norway was going to be great, and he was going to get there on time. And everything was going to be just fine.
Upon arriving to the destination, he paid the taxi driver and bid him a farewell before darting off towards the airport sliding doors. He managed to locate a group of familiar faces from his university. Catching up to them, he stumbled forward when someone hugged him from behind unexpectedly.
"Emil!" Mathias exclaimed excitedly, lifting the Icelander a foot off of the ground, "I thought you were going to miss your only chance to study in Norway." Emil chuckled softly, rolling his eyes at Mathias's assumptions. "I'm here, aren't I?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice that Mathias failed to acknowledge.
"Yeah, well," Mathias said, just as oblivious as ever, "you're almost late, so we thought either ya got lost on the way or you didn't come at all!" He laughed heartily and released Emil from his arms, still grinning widely.
Emil turned and huffed at him. "It's important to me. So I guess you're right about one thing," he mumbled.
All of the students in the study abroad program formed a single line, awaiting the security procedures. Emil sighed out with a slight feeling of fatigue as he fished out his cellphone from his pocket. As he swiped through his text messages, he sensed someone quite literally breathing down his neck. Cautiously turning his head, he rolled his eyes at his annoying friend, Mathias. "Do you mind?"
Mathias shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "There's not much else to do, man. And unless you're texting a boyfriend or something..." He laughed at the blush at Emil's face. "Nah, I'm kidding, I get it. Sorry."
'He's so cute,' Mathias thought to himself, peering over Emil's shoulder to confirm whether he was single or not. Sensing the taller blonde standing closer, he leaned back sharply to bump him out of his personal bubble. "Oh, come on, Emil!" The said Icelander sighed with a small blush and muttered, "This is going to be a long trip."
Soon they were checked by security and followed through with the other procedures. All of the students boarded the plane and Emil found himself sitting next to the window with an excited Dane too close for comfort.
Instead of listening to his colleague blather about his excitement, the twenty one year old drowned him out with his music blasting against his eardrums. Feeling increasingly satisfied with the selection of music playing, he closed his heavy eyes and decided to catch up on a few more hours of sleep before they landed in Oslo, Norway.
Emil grunted as he was woken up by the Dane poking his cheek repeatedly. "Wake up, Emil! We landed in Norway!" Other students started to stare at the flustered Icelander and obnoxious Dane. "Hey, you don't have to be so close to me!" Emil pushed Mathias's body, which was practically pressed up against his, and stood up to collect his personal belongings from the cabinet above them.
After all of the students formed a group in the area to collect their luggage, Emil chuckled at the different language posted here and there. He would definitely have to work on his Norwegian. All of the students that are studying here with him and Mathias had to take a semester of Norwegian.
Eventually, Emil was interrupted from his thoughts when Mathias started to guide him towards the luggage drop off that was ejecting suitcases and bags onto the conveyor belt. "There is mine!" Mathias exclaimed, snatching his suitcase from the conveyor belt and then grabbed Emil's suitcase. "Thanks," he smiled at the generous action and caused Mathias to blush slightly. "No problem, Emil. I do what I can, ya know?"
Finally they boarded the train that would lead them to the university in Oslo. Mathias purposely stood close behind Emil just to ruffle his feathers. He knew how to annoy his younger colleague.
One of the sponsors announced as the train came to a halt at their stop, "Be sure to partner up with another student. This will be your roommate. I don't want to see any girls and guys pairing up." Some of the students groaned, but the others knew that it was logical.
Emil tried his best to avoid Mathias' gaze, casting his eyes desperately around to find someone he knew that he could possibly pair up with. Just the thought of pairing up with Mathias for an entire semester and sharing a room with him was abhorrent.
"Hey, buddy, looks like it's you and me!" But it was to no avail; the Dane wrapped an arm around him and pulled him way too close for comfort, holding him there in an iron grip. Everyone else had already found a roommate and Mathias had clearly wasted no time in claiming Emil as his own. Great.
"Yeah, whatever," Emil mumbled, avoiding Mathias' gaze again. He diverted his attention to the mountains beyond the train, and the sun shining weakly over the snow-capped peaks. It was nowhere near strong enough to be even remotely warm, but somehow just being here, in a place he'd wanted to travel to his whole life, made him feel warm inside.
Yeah. The flowers were blooming, finally; the snow was melting away and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He'd picked an excellent day to arrive. Already having previous knowledge of Norway's weather, he hoped the sun would hold out at least through the week. He'd need an excuse to get outside and away from Mathias.
Sooner or later, they finally arrived at their destination: the International University of Norway. They were mostly business students, who arrived to further their goals and create new friendships with the Norwegians. "Well, here we are!" Mathias always had to point out the obvious. 'No shit, captain obvious...' He thought sarcastically to himself with a roll of his eyes.
Mathias laughed, ruffling his friend's hair. "Lighten up, dude," he said bracingly, as though reading Emil's mind. "It's gonna be fun."
Emil bit back a retort- How fun could it possibly be if Mathias was gonna be with him the whole damn time?- but he had to admit the man was right. Once he settled in, it was going to be great. He'd heard many great things about the university; it was brand-new and was very welcoming to everyone. Even if he wasn't a business type, he felt certain he was going to settle right in.
As soon as the group of students arrived at the dorms, Mathias wrestled his way through to claim the dorm closest to the only lookout balcony. Since he is a strong, tall, former football player, he was quite intimidating until he opened his mouth to joke around. Emil hurried over towards his goofy roommate and thanked him for selecting the best dorm in the place.
Mathias yelled his welcome and Emil shrugged his way into the room. It was pleasantly large, with one bed on either side. The balcony overlooked the courtyard; Emil could see the mountains past it. At least Mathias had done one thing right.
Turning away from the window, Emil decided to unpack his suitcase, carefully organizing his essentials in particular areas of the room. Mathias, on the other hand, unsurprisingly unloaded all of his already crumple clothing on the bed in one disorderly motion.
"Seriously?" Emil mumbled, giving his new roommate a withering look. "Did you not have more than half a minute to pack?"
"Yeah," Mathias shot back over his shoulder as he moved to the closet to throw his clothes in. "But I guess it got tossed around a bit on the plane or somethin'." He threw the closet shut and fell back onto the bed that was the furthest from the window, patting the covers. "Ahh, this one's comfortable. You'd rather be next to the window, right, Emil?"
Emil allowed a small smile to grace his lips, "I suppose." He proceeded to decorate the wall above his bed with an antique Icelandic flag. He inherited it from his grandfather several years ago and waited until he left the country to represent his nationality. There was a prolonged silence and Mathias watched as Emil leaned over the bed to straighten the flag out at the corners. He didn't mind the view of his friend's attractive figure. That was until Emil looked over his shoulder to catch Mathias gawking at his backside.
"It's a flag," Emil mumbled, completely missing where Mathias' gaze had been pointed. "What, too old for you or something?"
Mathias shut his mouth, shook his head, and grinned sheepishly. "Ah, no, no, that's not-" he coughed, running a nervous hand through his hair. "Nah, I'm just... You're all the way in Norway, like, 900 miles away from home, and you're still putting the flag up, that's nationalism, right there...! Yeah..."
"Which classes are you taking this semester?" Emil asked, breaking the silence as soon as he fell back into his bed with a following sigh. Humming briskly, Mathias checked his class schedule from his cellphone. "I have a Norwegian language course, general psychology, and a yoga course as my elective." Emil laughed softly to himself at the choice of classes. He knew Mathias reasonably well enough to distinguish the slight disgust of the Norwegian language in his face. "What about you?" Mathias inquired, feeling like he had the right to know since he disclosed his information. "I have the same classes actually." Mathias made a surprised noise that made Emil raise an eyebrow. "Surprised? Well, what did you expect? We're the only exchange students who are not majoring in business after all."
Mathias shrugged. "I guess you're right. It's just really cool, that's all!" And before Emil could open his mouth to say a word, Mathias had thrown an arm around him and pulled him close. "It'd be even better if we ended up in the same sections, huh? Then we'd be together all day!"
Emil bit back a gagging noise at the thought of that. Praying to every god he knew, he hoped that that wouldn't be the case- his classes were supposed to get him away from Mathias, not bring them closer. He'd just have to hope that he'd make a few friends in his classes to have an adequate excuse to get away from the annoying Dane.
Less than admirably pushing the Dane away, he stood up from his bed and decided to explore the campus. After all, he just arrived and sought to discovered unmarked territories. Mathias noticed Emil clasp the door handle and copied his previous action to follow him. "Why are you following me?" Emil huffed out, clearly annoyed when he felt Mathias's strong arm wrap around his shoulder. "Protecting ya," he stated in a confident tone, "ya know, since you are so adorable, someone might want to grab you and keep ya." Rolling his light indigo eyes, he made a snarky remark. "Maybe that was my intention." Mathias frowned slightly, but then replaced it with a goofy grin and shouted, "Don't deny yer feelings for me!" Other students glanced over at the pair at the sudden outburst and what happened next.
A/N: Please leave a review, because it motivates me to update faster. Slight DenIce for humor purposes. I promise there will be NorIce, DenNor, and possibly DenNorIce later on in the future chapters! Click that follow and favorite button on your way out, please. See you soon~ ;)