After those first awkward minutes, things started to go smoothly. There was no silence between the two, both were talking and listening to the other with interest. Iceland was quite surprised by this; he's never talked this much to anyone before. And I mean anyone…! Even his conversations with Norway were short and to the point. This was different; though it was only mindless small talk, mind you.

"Wow" Iceland said while flipping through Hong Kong's notebook, "You really do like fireworks a lot."

Hong Kong shrugged, leaning on his hand, "Yeah, I guess."

Iceland turned to him, "Why is that?"

Hong Kong lifted his head, looking at Iceland, "Why I like fireworks, you mean?"

"Yes." He inquired.

"Well", Hong Kong began, brushing his long bangs out of his face, "they're bright…vivid…the sound and sight of one exploding is very cool."

Iceland nodded along, "I see…"

"And…" Hong Kong leaned back on his hand with a soft smile, "they're also very beautiful."

At that moment, Iceland felt his breath hitch.A small blush spread over Iceland's face as he looked away. What was that just now…?

"And you?"

"Hm?" Iceland looked back at the Asian, "What?"

"What do you really like?"

"Uh…" Iceland thought for a moment before responding, "I like puffins and…liquorice."

"Puffins?" Hong Kong echoed in a somewhat confused tone.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Iceland paused "…What?"

"Why?" Hong Kong repeated.

"Uh, why would you-?"

"Just repeating the questions you asked before."

"Oh, I see…" Touché, Hong Kong…

"Well" Iceland continued, "I like them because…" he thought for a moment before shrugging, "because they're….cute."

Hong Kong raised his eyebrows, "Because they're cute?"

Iceland narrowed his eyes in confusion of his own answer, looking down at his lap, "Yeah…"

The Asian shrugged lightly before grabbing his pencil, asking "And what does this 'cute puffin' look like?"

Iceland looked back up, "It's a black and white bird with an orange beak…"

Hong Kong turned to a blank page in his notebook, "Is it a large bird?"

"Not really. It's about 30 centimetres tall."

Sketching on the paper, Hong Kong asked, "It has a big orange beak, right?"

"Uh, yeah…" Iceland watched the brunette's hand, "Why do you ask…?"

"One moment…"

Hong Kong continued sketching for a minute or two before stopping and holding up the book to Iceland's face.

"Ta-dah." He proclaimed dully, slightly amused with the look on the Icelandic's face. His eyes were wide and sparkling with admiration and his mouth was formed in a 'o' shape. And he thought puffins were cuter than that? Hong Kong would disagree…

"It-It looks so real…" Iceland said, recovering from the after-shock.

Hong Kong swiftly ripped out the paper from the book and hands it to Iceland, "Here."

Iceland slowly took the paper and blinked, "What?"

"You can have it, it's yours." Hong Kong repeated.

A gracious smile blossomed on Iceland's face, "Thank you."

Hong Kong nodded, mirroring the same smile. He watched Iceland look down at his drawing and… frown? A soft cough from the Icelandic caught Hong Kong's attention. He looked up and saw Iceland looking at him with cheeks dusted red.

"Um…" he began nervously, cheeks still red and eyebrows twitching in annoyance and embarrassment, "C-Could you also draw a bowtie?"

…What?

"Uh, I'm sorry?" Hong Kong replied, slightly confused.

Iceland puts down the drawing in front of him and shyly points to the puffin's neck, averting his gaze, "Could you draw a bowtie on its neck?"

Hong Kong looked at Iceland for a second before pulling the paper closer, "…Yeah, sure."

After he erased and started to redraw a bowtie, Hong Kong spoke up again.

"So you sure have a love for bowties, don't you?"

Iceland shrugged, watching Hong Kong draw, "I guess…"

Hong Kong raised his eyebrow sceptically, "…You're really good at giving straight-forward answers, aren't you?"

"…Are you trying to be funny?"

"Well, is it working?"

The Icelandic narrowed his eyes, replying in an unpleasant tone, "No."

Hong Kong looked back down, resuming drawing, "Then not at all."

Iceland's accusing gaze stayed on Hong Kong for a while, watching the brunette carefully.

'Maybe this guy is more trouble than I thought he'd be…' crossed his mind.

Trouble, huh? Well, that's not entirely true; Iceland wasn't expecting anything of Hong Kong. Hell, Iceland didn't except to be sitting here talking to him at all! The thought of this whole thing alone would have made Iceland's head spin a few months ago. But Hong Kong seems like an okay guy, he's polite (for the most part so far…) and seems to enjoy Iceland's company. So maybe…?

"Iceland."

Iceland turned his head to the familiar voice. Norway standing in front of their table, holding his message bag on his shoulder.

The Icelandic quickly stood up, "H-Hi." I didn't see him, how did he just get there?

"I'm done, are you ready to go?" Norway asked blankly, nodding to the Asian seated at the table who nodded back.

"Uh, yeah." Iceland said, lifting his bag on the table to place his book back inside, "Give me a minute."

"Okay." Norway replied, slowly looking at the bookshelves around the room.

Iceland turned back to the brunette still seated at the table, "Well, it was nice to meet you. And uh…"

"And I'll see you tomorrow." Hong Kong finished, handing Iceland the drawing. "Here."

Iceland blushed slightly, "Yeah, see you tomorrow…"

Iceland reached for the paper in Hong Kong's hand. When his hand made contact with it, he glanced up to see Hong Kong looking back. Iceland broke eye contact, quickly standing back up straight quite stiffly and letting out a small nervous cough. This action made Hong Kong laugh under his breath.

"So, uh... Bye." Iceland murmured, looking down, clutching the paper tightly in his hands.

"Bye." Hong Kong cooed, tossing a small wink at the Icelandic. This action made Iceland's face flush red in an instant before taking his leave. Hong Kong watched in amusement as Iceland scurried over the older Nordic, face still somewhat flushed.

Norway turned to look at this brother, "You're ready?"

"Yeah, all set…" Iceland replied, folding the paper in half. Then they started walking out of the library, down the hall and outside the school. Things were silent until Norway decided to interrupt.

"Did you two get along?"

"…." Dammit! Iceland could feel the blush coming back, remembering the latest incident. "…Yeah."

Norway raised his eyebrow, "So you two…talked?"

Iceland looked to the side, gripping the paper in his hand, "Yeah. He's a…nice guy…"

Thank you for reading! Reviews = love~!3