A/N: Hello readers, hope you enjoy this next chapter! Read on and review! I love reading your reviews! – Wolf
Chapter Seven : Home Sweet Home
Norway didn't have anything else to do. He kept up on his work, so there was none of that waiting for him. Nor did he have an adopted child to pick up and take home. He looked over at the Dane; she was staring out the window, in her own little world. They had to take a taxi to the house because she didn't have a car and she didn't know how to drive. Denmark felt Norway staring at her and she turned to look at him. She gave him a happy smile, but he just turned away.
Denmark slumped down and turned back to stare out the window. She didn't know why Norway acted like he hated her. He never smiled or anything. But if he hated her, why was he going with her to her house? She really didn't understand him. She wanted to be friends with the rest of the Nordics; she had fun hanging out with them last night and wanted to hang out with them more. She knew why they acted different around her. They knew a different Denmark.
The taxi pulled over in front of a small house. He leaned to the back and asked, "This the place?"
Norway answered before Denmark could say anything. He also paid the taxi driver. They both got out of the car and the driver drove off. Denmark turned to Norway, "Thanks for paying. I would have gotten it though."
"It's no big deal." He said as he watched Denmark check out the house's exterior.
Denmark smiled at her house. It was a good size, not too big, not too small. It had lovely light gray siding and was surrounded by large, blooming rose bushes. The grass was a little overgrown, but she could take care of that.
Norway walked up to the door and reached in his pocket for his set of keys, and then stopped, thinking Denmark might want to unlock the door. He also didn't want her to know that he had a set of keys to the place as well. Denmark followed him to the front door and unlocked the door. She walked in and smiled at how neat and simple it was.
Norway walked in behind her and sighed. The house was exactly the way he had left it. Nothing had been touched or moved around. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He ran his finger across the small table that sat next to the door, a nice layer of dust had settled on everything. The house was going to need cleaned again.
Denmark examined the pictures that lined the walls. This must have been where Mister Denmark had lived. There were lots of the other Nordics throughout the years. Some of the pictures looked really old and others looked fairly recent. There were more pictures on the mantle that she looked at. These pictures were different because all of them were either of Norway or of Mister Denmark and Norway. Denmark frowned. No wonder Norway didn't like her much, he had obviously been really good friends with Mister Denmark. She glanced over at Norway who was gazing fondly at a picture sitting on another table. She watched as he sat it facedown on the table and walked back over to her.
Having already figured that Denmark knew that he knew the house well, Norway offered to take her on a tour. He showed her the kitchen and dining area first. He noticed that the bread sitting on the counter had grown mold and he had to hold back a gag.
He showed her the rest of the rooms: the office, spare bedroom, mudroom, and ended in the master bedroom. As soon as they walked in, Norway felt sick to his stomach. Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea. The bed was neatly made; Norway's doing of course. Nothing in the room had been touched. Every knick-knack, picture, and thing belonging to Denmark was exactly where it had always been. Norway was personally curious as to what Miss Denmark planned to do with it all. There were a few things he was going to ask for. Mainly pictures and some little curios that he knew Denmark had held close.
Denmark looked around the bedroom. There was a lot of stuff. Shelves packed with different things lined the walls. Mixed in with the trinkets were more pictures; Mister Denmark had sure liked taking pictures. She ran her hand across the bed. The quilt was plain black, but there was a decorative throw patterned to look like the Danish flag. She chuckled to herself; she liked the throw. She turned back to Norway, who was still standing in the doorway. She looked at him and was instantly concerned. His eyes were more glazed over than they were before. And he looked sick. Norway's skin had paled and was taking a green tint to it. She frowned; she hadn't realized that this would be hard for him. Maybe she shouldn't have invited him to come.
Denmark walked over to Norway and gently placed a hand on his arm, "Hey, are you okay Norway?"
Norway instantly came back to reality and nodded at her, "Yeah." He said.
Denmark gave him a small smile, "Can you do me a favor?"
Norway just said, "Sure."
"I'm going to need some boxes to put this stuff in. Would you go get some for me?" Denmark walked over to the dresser and opened up the top drawer. Sure enough, it was filled with clothes that she didn't need.
Norway left the room and went back into the front room. He paused at the coffee table and picked up the picture he had placed facedown earlier. He took the back off of the frame and took the picture out of it. He stuck the picture into the pocket on the inside of his shirt and left the house.
Norway walked down the sidewalk to the store he knew was only a few blocks away. Surely they had some boxes for sale or just some cardboard ones he could have. Norway needed the fresh air anyways. He could feel the picture in his shirt rub up against his side uncomfortably. He remembered when they took that picture.
Denmark had called Norway to his house earlier that day, but when Norway arrived the Dane was nowhere to be found. Norway had made himself comfortable on the couch and had helped himself to a cup of coffee before hearing the doorknob rattle and open. Denmark walked in, and acted surprised to see Norway sitting on his couch.
Norway asked Denmark why he wanted him to come over so suddenly. Denmark explained that he saw a picture frame at the store, and bought it, and that the sample photo that was in the frame was really awesome and he wanted to recreate it with Norway. Norway asked to see the picture they would be recreating, but Denmark had already thrown it away. But that was okay because Denmark remembered exactly what it looked like.
He told Norway to wait right there while he went to go get his camera. Norway watched as he came back into the front room and got the camera all set up on the tripod and placed in a good spot. Denmark then pulled Norway up and off of the couch and placed him right where he wanted him to stand. Denmark went back to the camera and adjusted it as needed. Norway rolled his eyes at Denmark's various hand signals telling him to scoot right, and then to scoot back left, and finally to stop.
Once everything was adjusted and set Denmark told Norway to smile, which he didn't, and set the camera's timer. Denmark got next to Norway and smiled, waiting for the timer to go off. At the last second, right before the camera snapped the picture, Denmark licked his lips and placed a sloppy wet kiss right on Norway's cheek. The camera snapped, resulting in a picture featuring a Norwegian whose expression was a mix of surprise, confusion, and disgust and a happy, kissy-faced Dane.
While Norway was scrubbing his cheek with the sleeve of his shirt, Denmark went to check the camera. Denmark laughed in delight at the picture he saw. Norway tried to delete it, but Denmark made sure that he didn't. Norway left in a huff, and the next time he came back the picture was framed and sitting on Denmark's coffee table.
When Norway came out of his reminiscing, he looked around to realize that he had passed the road he needed to turn on to get to the small store. He backtracked and walked some more until the store came into view.
Norway walked back into the house, awkwardly holding several cardboard boxes that the store had given him. He found Denmark sitting in the master bedroom surrounded by piles of clothes. She was holding up a random shirt that Norway didn't even recognize. She examined it for a second before folding it back up and placing it on top of one of the piles next to her.
Denmark noticed Norway's return and turned her head to him and smiled. Norway rolled his eyes behind the boxes he was holding, Denmark smiled too much. She got up from her sitting position on the floor to take the boxes from Norway. She took one of them and started placing some of the stacks of clothes in it.
Norway watched her as she worked. The clothes she had stacked up on the floor filled one of the boxes completely and he watched as she tried to close it in a way that would keep it closed. Once it was obvious that she wasn't figuring it out and was getting frustrated he went over and offered his help. He knelt down beside her and closed the box up before moving it over to the other side of him.
Denmark grabbed a second box and continued examining the various clothing items she pulled out of the dresser. She would pull out a piece of clothing, look at it, and then pass it on to Norway. He would look at and then fold it up and place it in the box. They went through the dresser and then the closet in the same fashion. They also worked in almost complete silence. Denmark was constantly humming a tune that Norway recognized, but couldn't put his finger on.
It was dark by the time they finished going through all of Mister Denmark's clothes. They ran out of boxes halfway through the closet, so they just piled up the clothes on the floor, Denmark planning on getting more boxes the next day. Denmark offered to let Norway stay there for the night, but he declined, stating he had work the next day and needed to get back to his own place.
Denmark smiled and thanked Norway for his help by giving him an (somewhat) unwanted hug. Norway had just rolled his eyes and quietly mumbled "Stupid Dane" under his breath before leaving the house.
