"This tie is, like, totally choking me..." Hong Kong grumbled as England fussed with his clothes.

"Belt up and get used to it, lad," the British man said quickly, giving a final tug on the tie in question. "You are going to have to dress to the nines now that you are my colony. I won't stand to have some slob... represent me..." The blonde trailed off and Hong Kong noticed his eyes cloud over, like the other man was seeing a far-away memory.

The asian sighed.

"Like, whatever. Let's just, like, go already." The weird look in England's green eyes faded slowly and he nodded. Without waiting for the British man's lead, Hong Kong walked outside and got in the passenger seat, followed by an indignant England.

Hong Kong sank into the leather of the seat, ignoring the older man's ranting.

"At least you aren't trying to drive, I suppose..." England muttered hotly.

Hong Kong gave him a look and said, "I could, like, totally try...~"

"Don't even start." With that, England jerked the key and started the car.

The drive itself was pretty quiet. The Englishman concentrated on driving and the Asian just silently stared out the window, neither one opting for starting a conversation. The smeared green forest and the scattered lakes rushing past seemed much more interesting to the teenager than the stiff old Brit's conversation skills anyway.

After what seemed like a dynasty's worth of time, they finally pulled into the crowded parking lot of their destination. Hong Kong got out of the red car and had barely shut the door with a click when he heard a shout.

"AI-YAH! HONG KONG!" The young Asian froze, then turned around slowly, only to see his very own China-baba standing right before him. The handsome (edit: see pretty) Chinese man's brown eyes were open wide and his mouth was openly hanging. The shock and what Hong Kong believed was horror on China's face made the teen's heart contract a little, but it wasn't noticeable on his face.

"What on earth happened, -aru!?" Hong Kong couldn't even get a word in before the other man turned him around and started thoroughly checking him for injuries. China's deft hands patting him down left the brown-eyed teen with a feeling he couldn't describe. Loneliness?

"Hey! Get your hands off him! He's FINE!" A sharp, unmistakable British voice yelled from the other side of the car. The peeved blonde quickly strode toward Hong Kong and China. China halted, but then turned to yell at the Englishman.

"What did you do, -aru? It's only been five days, and you still managed to screw it up, -aru!" He yelled forcefully, gold eyes gleaming.

England recoiled, then shouted back just as powerfully, "You stay out of this! I know what I did, so keep your nose out of our business!"

The two nations snarled at each other, maintaining their fiery glared. It was a stalemate, and they both knew it.

There was a pause. Then...

"Whoa. I'm, like, taller than you, baba." England facepalmed and China's face exploded in shock and distress.

"Your beautiful voice -aru! It's gone! What happened to your beautiful, gorge- YOUR EYEBROWS!" China began to rant and fume all over the place, yelling even louder when England grabbed Hong Kong by the arm and dragged him away to the meeting room. Hong Kong thought he could hear China say something about getting England in his sleep, but there was no way he would tell the older nation. Never ever, not in a billion years.

"Phew... he didn't follow us..." England said once they were inside and far enough from China for England's liking. "That bugger wasn't even supposed to talk to you... leave it to him to break the rules." Hong Kong was standing silently until England made that jab, upon which he turned and stalked through a door that led to the conference room, leaving the other nation behind.

"Hey, wait just a ti-" SLAM. The Asian knew he was going to get a karmic bite in the butt for that stunt, but in his mind it was totally worth it. He made his way across the overwhelmingly large room filled with countries to his designated seat, identified by a tag that had his name in professional curly text. Even though he and England were early, the meeting room was already blaring with the noise of countries fighting with each other. Out of the corner of his eye he saw England coming through the door and walk over to his seat, only to be promptly interrupted by America who somehow appeared in front of his face.

For the most part, the brown haired teenager was left alone, though he did get some strange looks. It was probably the fact that he could count the number of times he'd been outside of China-baba's house on one hand and not many countries knew about him previously. Once, though, he felt his sleeve being tugged on, and he turned to see his little "sister," Taiwan, looking at him curiously.

"Hong...?" She asked, tilting her adorable little head to one side. Hong Kong nodded and gave a small, nearly invisible smile. Taiwan's eyes widened and she grinned, then shouted, "Kaoru!" and hugging him tightly. He hugged her back and patted her head.

"Like, sorry, Mei, but you, like, have to sit with baba now..." he said gently. Taiwan sulked and gave a final squeeze, then left in search of her seat and the rest of her... their family.

"Bye, Kao-kun!" He gave a small wave and watched as she vanished into the crowd, following her with his eyes. Just before his little sister disappeared, Hong Kong caught a glance of violet. Violet eyes.

His own eyes widened in surprise and he quickly scanned the area again, but the haunting eyes seemed to have disappeared. No matter how many times he looked over that area, the mysterious purple eyes remained hidden. Then, finally, he gave up, resting his head in his hand grumpily. He didn't even try to pay attention to the meeting; everyone was talking without listening, and, frankly, he just wasn't in the mood to take notes.

So pointless... he thought as he watched. A small sigh escaped him. And so, like boring. Yes, surprisingly, a bunch of older nations arguing about topics like politics andold grudges was boring to the child-turned-teenager. And Hong Kong was never one tolet himself stay bored...

~HKHK~

It was nearly impossible to take notes at these meetings, but Iceland tried. He really did. Behind the blah, blah, blah, there was at least a single gain of worthwhile information... at least, that's what he tried to tell himself.

He was always seated next to Norway, a small and emotionless young man who usually wore a cross-shaped pin in his hair. This was because Norway adamantly refused to let Iceland sit next to anyone else. Even though Iceland hated it, Norway was very protective of the white-haired boy. Iceland knew by country standards he was only as grown as a 15 year old human, but he could take care of himself!

"You don't have to take notes, Ice..." Said protective nation whispered to him for the fifth time that day.

"Nor-"

"Big brother."

"I'm not calling you that!" That was another thing. He kept trying to get Iceland to call him "big brother." It was annoying as hell, especially when Iceland was trying to act independent and mature.

Norway just stared at him and mouthed "big brother," an action that Iceland deemed unnecessarily creepy.

".. Geez, forget it, I'm going to the bathroom." Iceland said irritably, then got up and walked out the door.

He shut the wooden lacquered door harder than he meant to, but figured that it wouldn't be heard over the cacophony of the room. It was only when he turned around did he realize something vitally important: he had no idea where the bathroom even was. Iceland stood still for a moment, wondering what to do.

... There is no way I'm going back in there... It would just go to Norway's head, he thought. I didn't really even need to use the bathroom, anyway... Upon further reflection and against his better judgement, Iceland decided to skip the rest of the meeting in favor of sitting in the hallways, playing with the only available toy in his possession: a dinky set of marbles he received from Finland on the ride there.

~HKHK~

Okay... Almost done... Hong Kong thought as he worked. He quickly cut some twine with his teeth and tied it around his masterpiece, then surveyed the end result.

Like, epic win.

~HKHK~

The only sound echoing around the large hallways was the slight click-click-click of Iceland's marbles as he played. It was kind of strange, being by himself on the ornately decorated rug, shooting marbles like it was nothing out of the ordinary. However, the white-haired nation supposed it was better than being stuck inside that aggravating meeting and having to put up with Norway's smothering attention.

He's probably being harassed by that guy... Denmark, I think. Yeah, that's it. Iceland mused, flicking the shooter marble expertly. He laughed inwardly when heremembered Norway's face in response to the overenthusiastic man. I have never seen a more disgusted face... And ten seconds later he socked Denmark right in- BOOOM!

Iceland's thoughts were interrupted as a massive explosion racked the hallway, sending his marbles scattering this way and that. The boy jumped in surprise, startled by the sudden noise. What startled him even more, however, was the thick black smoke that started pouring out of some doors at the far end of the hallway. His eyes widened in shock and fear. The raucous noise of the fire alarm filled his head.

Andskotinn! Did something blow up? Is there a fire?! ... I have to go warn the other countries! He scrambled up from his position on the floor and made to run backinto the room when he saw a flash of movement in the smoke. His heartbeat quickenedwith dread and he felt a cold sweat sweep over his body. Don't tell me... Is someone in that?!

For a moment he was paralyzed, mentally screaming at himself to go, to move and help, to do SOMETHING. He had scarcely taken two shaky breaths when a figure shot out of the black cloud. The Nordic country's mind didn't have any time to register the stranger's sudden arrival or safety as the man ran down the hallway, his figure blurred.

Time seemed to slow down as the man got closer and closer to Iceland, however, and the boy got a quick, clear glimpse of the other person. He was cloaked entirely in soot, dirtying his practical suit, and his brown hair seemed slightly disheveled. The stranger met eyes with Iceland as he ran, and, strangely, Iceland saw brown eyes widen in surprise and, interestingly, recognition. He mouthed something... well, he probably spoke, but Iceland was in too much shock to register his words.

Unfortunately, Iceland proved too much of a distraction for the older teen. He tread directly upon a clump of marbles that had scattered and his expression went from surprised to "oh... crap."

Iceland was still incapable of moving and could only watch as the brown haired figure ungracefully lost his footing and fell toward him.

Then they kissed. If what happened could even be called a kiss, the briefest, most unplanned touching of lips in the history of ever. Against all odds, like a scene in a shojo manga, the stranger's lips found Iceland's and they touched, if only for the briefest instances. Despite the quickness of the encounter, the warmth Iceland suddenly felt on his lips left a rosy blush creeping up his face.

And then the moment was gone, for gravity was still in effect, and the person continued his plummet, finally landing on top of the Nordic in a heap. Iceland was knocked over from force when the two collided and he found himself pinned to the ground by the weight on top of him. Though he was in a state of shock (aptly demonstrated by his red face), he knew immediately that the weight which should have pressed against him was much too light to belong to the stranger. What...? Indeed, it was much more akin to that of a ten or eleven year old.

After a few seconds, the white-haired teen slowly asked, "Um... are you okay?" Iceland lifted his head cautiously, causing him to stare directly into the stranger's big, emotionless brown eyes. The face that stared back at him was covered in soot, but round and innocent, not the angular face of the adolescent Iceland saw moments before. It was the personage of a child, not an 18 year old.

Needless to say, Iceland's sense of reality was pretty much shot.

A/N: Whoo! Finally updated! :D I must say, this chapter was very fun to write. And I realize... this is Icy's first appearance. Oh my gosh. A Panfin fic and Icy doesn't show up until the fourth chapter?! WHAT IS THIS? Haha. Anyway, here it is. Extra long (maybe?) as an apology for taking so long to update. Critiques are adored and flamed are ignored. Thank you!

Also that Icelandic word Icy says is basically an Icelandic swear word. Use your imagination! *shot*

And I am so sorry if the format is a little wonky on this one. :\