"Kiss me first?"

The question lingered in the air like fog. Hong Kong wondered if it was inappropriate to ask, but he really wanted to be small again; his big form was rather cumbersome. Iceland looked like he had a large candy stuck in his throat. His purple eyes had first widened, then shifted sideways in anxiety. He seemed to have trouble swallowing.

Hong Kong tilted his head.

"Please?"

After a moment of silence, Iceland cleared his throat and replied.

"Look, it's… it's not right to ask somebody to kiss you. Kisses are meant for very special people, and, no offense, I don't know you well enough. Can't you just deal with it?" Iceland's hands had started gesturing frantically as he got more animated. Hong Kong watched them disinterestedly.

"It's not, like, easy to deal with it," Hong Kong said at last, looking up at Iceland from his position on the couch. His big frame was so clumsy and it was weird to be moving a body that you didn't associate with yourself. It felt like he wasn't himself, and that unnerved him. Like, if he was that way for long enough, he'd begin to lose himself somewhere. That prospect was scary.

Iceland's expression changed slightly, and he sighed with exasperation.

"Ugh, fine,"he grumbled. Hong Kong perked up a little, happy. "But you, uh, need to close your eyes, ok?"

Strange condition. But Hong Kong complied, and then he was sitting without his sense of sight. In the blackness, he waited and waited. Iceland was taking his time, that's for certain. He debated telling Iceland to hurry up, that he was sick of waiting… but he had faith in Iceland, and truth be told he didn't really mind that Iceland was dawdling.

He felt the cushion depress next to him. And then he felt the soft touch of Iceland kissing his cheek.

Hong Kong opened his eyes and rubbed the spot where Iceland had kissed him. Iceland was watching him carefully, his cheeks slightly splotched.

Then, on cue, Hong Kong felt the clothes around him grow bigger. Then he was sitting in a pile of shirt and pants, looking up at Iceland who seemed to have grown a couple of inches. He waved his arms, misfitting sleeves flopping around and smiled.

Iceland smiled slightly back at him, then got up.

"Are your pajamas in the back compartment?" He called over his shoulder, and opened up Hong Kong's suitcase.

"Uh-huh." After a few seconds of rifling around, Iceland pulled out Hong Kong's pajamas and handed them to him. Hong Kong grabbed them and pulled off his other clothes. His pajamas smelled new and fresh as he pulled the top over his head. These pajamas weren't the ones he had when he lived with China-baba; England bought them their first day together.

Hong Kong wished that he had his old pajamas. They were older, better and didn't smell like fabric softener and filthy lies.

The apartment suddenly seemed a lot smaller and lonelier. He noticed that Iceland wasn't in the room with him anymore, and that his bedroom door was closed. Hong Kong slid off the couch and wandered over toward the door and pushed against it experimentally. Iceland had probably locked it.

To his surprise, it was open. He pushed it farther and took a look inside.

The room was dark. A little bit of moonlight that shone in through the window was the only trace of light in the room. Because of that, Hong Kong could see Iceland lying on a bed that had been pushed up against the wall. The other boy looked passed out; his legs and arms were splayed against the sheets. He was snoring softly. His white hair glimmered in the sparse lighting.

Hong Kong clenched his pajamas in his fists. Seeing Iceland made his feeling of loneliness bubble up inside him until he felt like he was going to throw up. He missed China-baba and his brothers and sisters. He wanted to see them again. He hated being stuck with England, but— Iceland had found him. He'd taken him away from England.

Hong Kong padded across the room, the carpet muffling his footsteps. He stopped in front of Iceland's bed. Cautiously, but determinedly, he pulled back the covers to the bed and crawled in. He didn't care if Iceland got mad. Anything was worth quelling the abandoned feeling in his stomach.

As he snuggled under the blankets with Iceland sleeping soundly next to him, Hong Kong didn't feel quite so alone. He fell asleep smiling.

~HKHK~

Sunlight streaming in the window was what woke Iceland. By the intensity of the light, it was late morning, around 10 or 11. Iceland blinked once, then tried to bury his head back into his pillow.

As he was moving, he realized that he wasn't alone in his bed. And he had his arms wrapped around this person. In befuddlement, Iceland patted the bare back of the person who was in bed with him, his sleep confusion dimming his thinking. After a moment, it dawned on him that there really was someone else in bed with him.

He screamed and flailed off of the bed and on to the floor. The person… It had to be Hong Kong. Hong Kong sat up and blearily rubbed his eyes.

"W-what are you doing in my bed!?"

"… There, like, weren't any other beds." Hong Kong yawned and looked at Iceland dazedly.

Iceland grimaced and realized that he'd forgotten to lay out a bed for his guest. His charge? Whatever. Contact with Hong Kong was causing him immeasurable amounts of emotional trauma. He was getting more and more agitated by the minute.

"What are you getting so worked up about…"

Iceland recoiled. He knew in the back of his mind that he was being irrational, but waking up face to face with another teenager rattled him. Hong Kong wasn't a teen, after all, but he sure looked it from where Iceland was sitting. Plus, that was totally a direct violation of personal space!

"'m hungry…" Hong Kong mumbled. His stomach grumbled audibly, and Iceland sighed.

I should… probably kiss him first. His teen form is too awkward for me to handle.He took another glance at Hong Kong, who had totaled his clothes and was sitting on the bed just covered by a blanket. He quickly stood up and lurched toward the bed. Ok, just do it quick and get it over with.Before Hong Kong could even respond, Iceland had leaned in with his eyes squeezed shut and kissed him for the second time in 12 hours. As before, the asian reverted to his smaller body in a few short moments.

"Could you pass me some clothes?" Hong Kong asked, yawning. Iceland complied and tried to hide the blush that was creeping up his face. Even though the kiss was short and painless, it appeared that he still wasn't used to the prospect.

After a couple of deep, meditative breaths, Iceland said, "Is cereal ok?" Regardless of whether or not Hong Kong wanted it, he was getting cereal. He stood up and walked into the kitchen. Then he pulled out two bowls and spoons, as well as the box of cereal. The kid had followed him into the kitchen and had sat down at the small table.

Never before had Iceland felt more awkward in his own house. It was like the child was watching every action he made, and he felt nervous in spite of himself. Iceland was a self-conscious person by nature, but this scrutiny made it so much worse. He accidentally banged the porcelain bowls when he set them down on the table and winced at the noise.

Hong Kong was quiet throughout the meal. Although Iceland felt like he had an obligation to make small talk, he felt intimidated, and resigned himself to chewing softly. Even the muffled crunches from eating seemed too loud for the awkwardly still ambience in the room. Occasionally Iceland would glance at Hong Kong, but the other nation didn't shift his eyes from his bowl of cereal.

When he was done, Hong Kong pushed his bowl forward and said, "Thank you for the meal." He bowed his head slightly.

Iceland was a little surprised at the sudden formality and said, "No problem." He picked up the dishes from the table and washed them in his sink.

"Iceland?"

"Yes?"

"Do you like living here?"

"I can't complain. It's good enough for me. And I don't have to deal with any of the other nordic countries," Iceland said after a pause.

Hong Kong didn't respond for a little bit. Iceland began to dry off the bowls and wondered what the other kid was thinking.

"… Iceland?"

"Mm?"

"… You, like, have a funny accent."

Iceland made a face.

"You too, you brat."

Iceland heard a noise from behind him, then looked back quickly as he realized it was laughter. Yep, his eyes confirmed it: Hong Kong was laughing. Iceland smiled slightly. Then the younger boy stopped laughing and looked at him seriously.

"Iceland, yours is funnier."

"No, yours is, like, totally funnier," Iceland responded, mocking the others' verbal tic.

"No, yours."

"No, yours."

"Yours times, like, infinity. Your "v"s totally sound like "w"s. It's wery funny."

"I can't help that! You are such a brat, you know that…" Iceland exhaled irritatedly, but then smiled a little bit. His accent was one of his sore points, to the extent that he tried to say as little as possible during nation meetings. But when Hong Kong talked about it, he didn't seem to mind as much. Maybe he felt less threatened since it was coming from a little kid rather than one of his peers.

"People have told me I speak like I have cotton balls in my mouth." Iceland finished toweling off the bowls and returned them to their place in the cupboard. Then he took a seat back at the table, adjacent to Hong Kong.

"A little bit," Hong Kong replied.

"Even though I learned English a bit ago, I still can't get rid of this accent…" Iceland sighed and crossed his arms. "You'll probably lose your accent 'cause you're so young. When did you start learning English?"

"A year ago… Big Brows sent tutors to China-baba's house. It was, like, really annoying." If Iceland wasn't mistaken, Hong Kong was pouting. "China-baba didn't like it, but he said I would be better if I knew the language. So I learned it."

"You learned English in a year?"

Hong Kong shrugged. Iceland inwardly felt a little bit of resentment; it had taken him at least five years to manage passable English. Even now he still struggled sometimes when he didn't speak the language for a while.

He tried to mask his grumpiness by nodding appreciatively. Hong Kong deserved recognition for that achievement; Iceland should commend the kid, not put him down.

They talked for a little longer. Iceland found that the mood had shifted from awkward and stifled to more laid back, and he felt glad.

During the conversation, Hong Kong's eyes gradually began to droop. They had woken up only an hour ago, but the boy still looked dead tired. Iceland had planned out some activities to keep Hong Kong occupied, but it looked like that wouldn't be necessary.

"Maybe you should take a nap." Hong Kong yawned so large that Iceland swore he heard his jaw crack.

"… 'kay." The small boy slipped off the chair and walked back into Iceland's room.

"Oh, I'll make a bed for…" Iceland trailed off as Hong Kong shut the door. "Fine! If you like sleeping in my bed that much!" Iceland grumbled.

With Hong Kong back asleep, Iceland pondered for a moment what he should do. He didn't have to return to work until tomorrow, which was what allowed him to sleep in late. He had to do the laundry, but really didn't feel like it. There was a few miscellaneous sheets of paperwork he had to do. He decided he would get to that after he checked his mailbox.

There was a slight pile up of newspapers in his mailbox. Looks like he'd forgotten to cancel his subscription for the days he was gone. He began to sort the pile but stopped when he noticed a blue stationary envelope. It was on the top of the pile, so it must have just came that day.

"What's this?" He murmured out loud. He rarely ever got letters in the mail from anybody, even Norway. When the other nordic wanted to communicate with him, he would send a bird with a letter.

Iceland slipped the blue envelope from out of the pile and examined it closer. His address was written in curly black writing, indicative of a girl's. The letters were executed with the utmost of skill and looked very professional, but with a hint of femininity. His eyebrows rose in surprise when he looked at the return address.

Liechtenstein?

A/N: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry it was a bit late, where did these last two weeks go? To Narnia, apparently.

Anyway, I'm excited to be finally building up the tension. I'd debated including Liechtenstein as a rival, but that's what happened in the manga, so I decided I would do it. Yay? Nay?

I can't wait to write some romantic awkwardness. But all of this fluff was cute too~ Researching Icey's accent was so fun. Icelandic accents are too cute to be real.

Please comment/critique! It motivates me X) And thanks for reading!