I had a little time skip to move the story forward more. It should start to pick up more quickly soon.

But anyways, enjoy~!


Hong Kong had been staying with England for nearly a month, and he had kept his promise about cooking dinner every night. He even helped around the house when his father was off at work or resting from work. He refused to go to the next world meeting though.

He'd contacted Iceland over the time he'd been gone, giving the excuse that he wanted his boyfriend to have time with his family without himself being in the way. He also claimed that he didn't want to anger his boyfriend's Nordic brothers again.

He didn't know when he would be leaving England's house, but he did greatly miss Iceland and wanted to be there for him, but something just felt wrong with the whole situation. Over the month of seeing no one but the Englishman (when he was even home, which wasn't often), Hong Kong found plenty of time to laze around and think.

His mind kept going back to the conversation he'd had with his father when he first arrived.

"I, like, broke a really important promise," he told England. "I hurt him like that...I betrayed him..."

England sat in his arm chair, one leg crossed over the other and his hands clasped together on his lap as he listened to his son's story, care in his eyes. "I do believe that Iceland was only scared, Leon," he told his son in an effort to sooth him.

"Well, I know he was scared. So was I, but-"

"But you were scared for a different reason?" England mused, arching an eyebrow and lifting a teacup to his lips.

Hong Kong stared at his former caretaker. "I...don't know, I suppose." He paused as if trying to collect his thoughts. He received only a nod and thus continued on, still not entirely sure what to say. "I guess...this whole thing, like, scares me," he decided vaguely.

"Oh?"

The young Asian nation nodded slowly and closed his eyes as if this were just a dream he could wake up from. England smiled knowingly.

"You are still young, Leon. All of this stress you're feeling, lad, are common fears for most adults," the Englishman informed him, only to see a confused expression on the other's face. He sighed and smiled. "It means that you're growing up, lad." Standing with his tea cup in one hand, he patted his son's shoulder reassuringly and left the room shortly thereafter.

The thought of 'growing up,' as England had put it, lingered in the Asian's mind for far too long. It was hard for him to think of. He'd always been called an immature and rebellious child. Never once had he even been compared to an adult, unless it was to spot the differences.

But he couldn't quite understand it. How exactly does fear make him more mature? Nothing had really changed other than the increase in anxiety and the building worry that he wouldn't be good enough to help Iceland; to be a father.

He was thinking of this yet again. It happened every day since he'd been told that he was maturing, most of the time when he was busy caring for England's house while he was gone. At the moment, he was trying to organize a storage closet in the basement. He spent about half an hour doing so, until he accidentally dropped a box from one of the higher shelves.

Yellow-ish smoke filled the tiny room and stung his eyes, making them burn and water. He couldn't see as he tried to make his way to the door, clenching his eyes shut in a vain attempt to stop the pain. He tripped over the box on the way, of course, and ended up falling into the shelves, causing even more things to fall and clatter around him. A few jars of some sort shattered, and something hard fell on his head. After he was sure everything was done falling down on him, he rubbed the bump on his head and continued crawling out of the closet, bits of glass cutting into his hands and knees.

Oh yeah, he thought as he painfully fled back out of the room. He'd forgotten about the smoke bomb he'd hidden in there back when he actually lived with England. What was I thinking? That could've gotten someone killed...

And then it dawned on him. It had been nearly a month and a half since he'd done anything mischievous...and here he was, not worrying about what prank to pull next, but worrying about others.

Cleaning his cuts and bruises (and blinking repeatedly to get the sting out of his eyes) in the bathroom, Hong Kong suddenly felt bad for all of the horrible things he'd done to England and China, among others. He'd never felt the wrath of his pranks himself but had always laughed at the others' pain. He figured this must have been karma coming to slap him in the face.

And somehow, more than ever, he found himself wanting to be with family again.


"England, may I have a word with you, aru?" China asked during the break at the world conference.

"Ah...sure, I suppose," the Englishman answered, feeling slightly awkward at the random request. "Would you like to talk over a cup of tea?" he asked politely. "There is a tea shop just down the block."

The two of them casually left the conference building and made it to the tea shop for lunch. After receiving their hot drinks, the two of them got comfortable in some nice cushioned chairs by the window, sitting across from each other.

"So, what is it that you wanted to ask?" England questioned after placing his tea on the coffee table separating them.

"I wanted to know if anything is going on with Hong Kong," the Chinese man told him a bit shakily, trying not to rudely avert his gaze as the awkward just surged through him.

England's eyes widened slightly, his eyebrows raised in mock surprise, inclining his head forward. "And what makes you think something is going on?" he asked defensively.

China caught the angry glare that the Englishman was sending toward him and looked down at his own tea briefly before meeting the other's eyes again. "Aiyah...it's just...we heard him talking on the phone a while ago...and he didn't sound like h-"

"Himself?" England finished, receiving a careful nod from the Asian nation. "And what exactly is he to you normally?" he ranted. "Do you think he feels nothing simply because he doesn't trust you with his emotions?! Is he just some expressionless brat to you?! Someone you can just order around? Someone you can vent your anger on for your bloody hatred of anything European?!"

China was stunned at the intensity of the Englishman's anger, and so were the rest of the people in the tea shop, who now were staring at the scene after England's outburst. It only took a minute of awkward silence before an employee asked them to leave.

England was in too much of a hurry to get back to the meeting. China tried several times to stop the man and talk, but it all was in vain. Once they were back in the conference room again, the meeting continued for the rest of the day.

Thankfully, none of the other nations, with the exception of the Nordics and the other Asian nations, noticed the cold shoulder that England was giving the Chinese man. The conference continued on as usual, only neither of two argued with anyone, which only served to confuse the others as they saw the Brit in an even more foul mood than usual.

Taiwan and Korea each shared a look with China and nodded subtly and turned glared at Iceland at the other end of the table. If basic approach wouldn't work, then it was time to bring 'the plan' back into action.


Mm. The Plan wasn't cancelled after all, I suppose. I'm just writing this out my ass. Bad things might happen to Iceland...actually, yeah, I'm gonna do something kinda horrible to him. Apologies in advance?

Thanks for reading~! Please review!