The Tip of the Iceberg
Characters: Iceland, Fem!Norway, Fem!England, Hong Kong, mentions of Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
Pairings: ...Let's just stick with Denmark/Fem!Norway and eventual Iceland/Fem!Norway. Final pairing will be Ice/Fem!Nor.
Rating: M. It's high school, and I'm portraying it as realistically as possible while still making it story-shaped. So yeah, M.
Genre: Romance
Warnings: Language. Genderbends. Text message section.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything I reference. It's all
Chapter 8: In Which Feelings Are Revealed
The next Monday, during their Senior Privilege…
"So, how was it?" Morgan demanded impatiently.
"How was what?" Nora asked, looking up from her AP Government homework.
"You know what! Now tell me."
"You mean the date? It was fine, I guess. He took me to see Thor, and kissed me twice. Not bad, overall."
"You let him kiss you twice?"
"Well, the first time I had no idea. And The good night kiss is fairly customary. Can we talk about this later? I really need to get this done."
"It's not due for another two days, Nora! We're talking about this now."
Nora sighed deeply and looked up at her best friend. "Why can't we talk about it later?"
"Because Søren will be around later, and I can't interrogate you then. Now, why did you let him kiss you twice?"
"I wasn't expecting for him to do it the first time. He only did it to shut me up. And I already told you why I did the second time," Nora said tersely, looking slightly annoyed.
"I don't know why you're being so cagey about all this," Morgan whined, pouting slightly. "What's wrong with you?"
"Eirik's been avoiding me lately. He says he has a crush on someone, but he won't tell me who it is," Nora sighed as she put her homework back into her bag. "I just miss having him around. I know he hates Søren, but still. He's my probably my very best friend in the whole world, and I don't want to lose him over this."
"I doubt that he's avoiding you because of whom you're dating. He never has before, has he?"
"It's different this time. They both seriously hate each other. I'm used to the person trying to win the bet hating him, because they think of him as competition, but he's never really hated any of them before…"
"You're forgetting Berwald. He hated Berwald for a good long while there."
"Well, yeah, because he ended up being a total waste of time – the man is gayer than a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide, after all. But even then he didn't start hating Berwald until after we'd broken up."
"I don't know what to tell you, Nora. Anyway, get back to the date. So you saw Thor? What did you think of it?"
"Can we not talk about it? Please?"
"It was that bad?"
"No. Worse."
To: Eirik
You can't avoid her forever. Confrontation is inevitable.
To: Michael
Ill talk to her later ok? Shes sitting with Soren now
To: Eirik
You'd better. Morgan says that Nora's going to come after you & confront you if you don't.
To: Michael
… since when do you talk to Morgan?
To: Eirik
Since none of your business. TALK TO HER.
To: Michael
I will! Dont nag me
To: Eirik
I'll stop nagging when you start moving.
"Hey, Michael?" Nora asked, approaching the Asian boy cautiously. "Do you know where Eirik is?"
"He took the bus home. Apparently his dad wanted him directly home, and didn't want him mooching off other people for a ride or something," Michael lied smoothly as he took his textbooks out of his locker and put them into his bag.
The reality was that Eirik had taken the bus home, but not because his dad wanted him there. He was still avoiding Nora like the plague.
"Oh. Well, thanks for letting me know," she said, walking out of the building and towards her car.
Friday of that week…
Nora glanced down at her phone anxiously, waiting for a reply to the dozen or so texts that she had sent to Eirik in the last two hours, all along the lines of "where are you? We need to talk."
Maybe he just doesn't have his phone on him, she thought nervously, trying to focus back in on her homework.
Ten minutes later, she was texting him again, her panic levels rising rapidly. If he doesn't text me back in the next 15 minutes, I'll go look for him, she vowed, turning back to her work. She succeeded on focusing on it for roughly ten minutes before she was rushing downstairs, grabbing her coat and heading out the door. "I'm heading out, mama! I'll be back later," she called out to her mother, who was in the living room watching some old movie off of Netflix.
She jogged quickly towards Eirik's house, trying to calm her nerves down and not succeeding in the slightest. She approached the door, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell. When no one answered after a few minutes, she rang it again, (barely) resisting the urge to repeatedly press the button.
The door finally opened a minute later on a thin, balding man just slightly taller than she was. "Oh. It's you. If you're lookin' for Eirik, he ain't here," Eirik's stepfather spat.
"Well, do you have any idea where he went? He's not answering any of my texts," Nora said, shoving down the urge to punch the man in the face for his rudeness.
"Little shit ran off about an hour ago and left his phone here. He probably ain't too far off. Surprised he didn't run off to you, the little slut."
"Well, uhm, thanks for your time, then," Nora said politely, turning around and walking down the street again. She decided to head to the park where the two of them used to play together when they were little, just to see if he was there. It wasn't that far off from either of their houses – about three blocks – and he still escaped there sometimes when he was frustrated with his parents.
She walked very quickly down those three blocks, shivering slightly from the cold wind blowing through – snow was on its way, she could practically smell it in the air.
Eirik sat on one of the swings at the park, swinging ever so slightly back and forth to keep warm, even though he was wearing a hat, gloves, and winter coat. Her boots crunched on the gravel, and Eirik looked up to see who was approaching, his eyes widening when he saw who it was.
"Nor? What're you doing here?"
"I was looking for you. I was texting you for about two hours with no response, and I finally went over to your house to see what happened. Your dad answered the door and told me you ran off after a fight, and I just guessed that you'd be here," she explained, shrugging slightly. "If you're not at my place after a fight, you're usually at Michael's or here."
"I'm a little too predictable that way, aren't I?" he sighed, his breath coming out in a puff of air. "Anyway, you know where I am now, you can go home."
"No!" She protested, walking closer towards him. "You've been avoiding me all week, and I want to know why."
"I don't want to talk about it, Nor."
"Is it because of Søren? Because I'll dump him, if you want, I'm not that attached to him –"
"It's not because of Søren," he answered quickly.
"Did you ask out that girl you have a crush on, then? Because I know that girls aren't really all that comfortable when there's another girl in the picture, so to speak."
"I – no, I didn't ask her out. I'm still – I'm still working on it."
"Well, then, why the hell have you been avoiding me?" She demanded, stomping her foot a little bit.
"I just… I don't want to talk about it, okay?" he said somewhat angrily.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't, okay? Just drop it."
"No! You've been avoiding me, and really distant, and I don't know why, but it seriously scares me. I feel like I'm losing you already," she said in a small voice, staring down at her feet.
Eirik stood up and walked directly up to her. She had to look at him to look him directly in the eye – and when had that happened, she wondered dazedly. She'd been taller than him for as long as she could remember, really, but now she was shorter than him by six inches at least. And she was by no means a short person.
"Nora, seriously. You're not losing me. You're crazy to think that you are," he sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Well, it feels like I am! You're not telling me things, and you're avoiding me, and I just – I don't know what to do anymore."
"All right, fine. You really want to know why I've been avoiding you? "
"Yes!"
"I've been avoiding you because I'm trying to work out a plan to ask out the girl I like. And it's really hard, because that girl is kind of already taken –"
"So why are you trying to ask her out, then? I mean, if she's already taken, then it's kind of rude to just try and break her and her boyfriend up," Nora interrupted abruptly.
"Nor. Please. Don't interrupt me. And I'm trying to break them up because the guy she's dating is a douche, and he won't be good for her at all in the long run. It's also hard, because I've liked her for a really long time, and I don't really know how to ask her out because of that. I'm scared of what will happen if she rejects me."
"W-why would she reject you?" Nora asked, shivering a little bit. "You're the sweetest guy I know, besides Timo and Berwald. Any girl would be lucky to have you."
"I'm just scared that she would, okay? Like I said, I've liked her for a really long time."
"Well, if you would tell me who she is, then I could maybe help you…"
"Oh, Nora," he sighed, "how can you be so blind?"
"Blind? What are you talking about?" she asked in confusion.
"It's…" he paused and inhaled deeply. "It's you."
"W-what?" she asked dazedly, reeling backwards.
"You're the girl I've been crushing on for years, Nora. It's you. It's only ever been you," he explained, grabbing onto her hand to make sure she wouldn't run off.
"B-but why? Why me? I mean, if you wanted, you could get pretty much any girl you wanted –" she babbled, only stopping when he put a gloved finger over her mouth.
"Shush! I don't want them, I want you. Because you're brilliant, and gorgeous, and because of the way you bite your lip when you're nervous, and the way you're not afraid to completely flay someone alive with your words when you don't like what they're doing. Because you're hilarious when you want to be, and because you'd rather watch Star Wars over any chick flick. Because I watched you fall apart after your dad died, and then pick yourself back up again. Because you're the best friend I could ever have. There's a million reasons why.
"Eirik, I – I can't do this. Not with you. I'm so, so sorry, but I just – I'm with Søren now, and I –"
"God, this is why I didn't want to tell you!" He shouted, letting go of her hand and trying to run one of his own through his hair only to be met with his hat. "I knew it wasn't going to go well. I knew you'd say no."
"I'm – I'm so sorry, Eirik. I wish I didn't have to say no," she apologized sincerely, her throat swelling up and making her feel like she was choking.
"I know. Believe me, I know."
"I just – I've got to go," she lied, turning around and running as if hell itself was chasing her.
She didn't see that behind her, Eirik had sunk to the ground, shaking with an attempt to control his sorrow and anger.
"Moi Moi! You've reached the voicemail of Timo Väinämöinen and Berwald Oxenstierna. Please leave a message after the beep, and we'll get back to you when we get a chance."
Beep
"Hey Berwald, it's Nora. I need some… uhm, advice, and I was wondering if you're available to talk any time soon. Call me back and let me know, okay? Thanks, bye."
A/N: Thank you all for the absolutely wonderful reviews I got for last chapter! They really mean a lot to me. Each and every one of them.
And yes, this does mean Sweden and Finland will be showing up next chapter.
Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it.
