Poland nodded at the Nordic group when he entered into the conference room the next morning. He felt kind of exhausted, actually, but he had taken extra precautions to look totally amazing as usual – two silver studded barrettes crisscrossed over his left ear, holding his hair back, and some super gorgeous silk shirt under his regular jacket that made him feel fabulous, not to mention the gold-flecked nail polish he had done his nails with – his boss would be mad, but whatever. It was the last day of the conference.

Finland smiled at him, at least, but everyone else in the group looked grumpy or pissed off or whatever. Sweden nodded at him, and Poland couldn't help himself from giving a little wave. Denmark scowled at him, but it was totally worth it, Poland thought.

Ugh. He went to his seat and sat down heavily. He felt so tired today, even with all his fabulous accessories. He had stayed up way too late thinking about Sweden – about being friends with him, that is. It was so odd that they had just suddenly been hanging out and it wasn't anything like Poland had expected. It was fun and relaxing and Sweden never asked him weird questions or brought up the past or tried to tell him what to do. And he was funny and bought Poland things and oh crap that was when Poland had realized something was like, maybe going on.

All things that friends did for each other, though. Poland tried to look alert as the meeting got started. America was talking first, that that either meant there'd be a huge argument or everyone would be too shell-shocked by his impossibly outlandish suggestions to say anything.

So they were friends, Poland mused. Which was great, Poland didn't have a lot of friends, he'd be glad to have someone else to hang out with at the world meetings. The kid, Peter, had totally thrown him off being all protective of his father figure. It was sweet and maybe a tiny bit painful at the same time, that they had that kind of family thing going on but at it also reminded him that Poland didn't.

And now once the thoughts were in there they wouldn't get out of his mind. Liet was no help, not answering his phone, and Poland eventually gave up, not wanting to bother him. Who he really wanted to talk to was Sweden, actually. If only to say goodbye when the conference ended, Poland thought, twisting a strand of hair in his fingers while staring blankly forward. It might actually be a relief to go back home and not have to deal with this random weirdness for awhile.

A couple of times, Poland glanced stealthily down the table towards Sweden, but Sweden never seemed to be looking at him. That was it for a pretty boring conference, so Poland tried to be proactive. He sent Sweden a text, hoping he had his phone on him and it wasn't in the clutches of the brat, asking it he wanted to do another fika before he left at the end of the conference.

To his relief – just a tiny, little bit, okay – his phone buzzed in his pocket and Poland snuck a glance at it to see Sweden's Sure brightening up the screen.

That was rad. Now all he had to do was make it through the rest of the meeting.

Which was easy enough, when you had a cell phone with internet connection. Poland didn't even bother to take notes – the last day of conferences was generally a mess, anyways, and pretty soon Germany adjourned the meeting while the usual suspects were fighting and the rest of the calmer, somewhat more mature nations left the room.

Poland bounced over to Sweden, who was hanging back, waiting for him outside in the hallway.

"Hey!" Poland smiled and smoothed his hair back.

Sweden grunted and nodded. "Shou'ld we go?"

"Oh, sure! Did you need to get Peter or check on him or whatever?"

Sweden looked down. "No, 's fine."

"'kay, let's go back to the first place!" Poland said cheerfully and lead the way.

Sweden walked next to him. Poland wasn't really that short but somehow he felt secure next to Sweden's tall figure.

"T'anks for asking," Sweden murmured, and Poland glanced over.

"For...?" About the fika? Well, weren't they friends?

"'Bout Peter. Nice ta include 'im," Sweden nodded and sent a half-smile Poland's way.

"Oh! Well, yeah, he's like, your family and stuff," Poland mumbled and glanced straight ahead. "Anyways! What'd you think about the meeting today?"

Sweden arched an eyebrow. "No thinkin' involved."

Poland laughed. "Yeah, totally. Sometimes it's just a waste of time. Lets me catch up on my emails and facebook, you know?" And every other possible social media Poland was involved in.

"Paying bills."

Poland choked on a laugh. "Say what?"

Sweden grinned at him. "Or taxes."

"Nuh-uh, you wouldn't." Poland was smiling.

"Only once."

"You did not!"

Sweden paused for a minute and then shook his head. "Thought it 'bout it, though."

"Yeah, totally. I like, always end up buying things I don't need. It's way too easy to impulse shop during those things. As I'm sure you know," Poland added slyly. He couldn't help himself.

Sweden tilted his head and looked at Poland as he held the door open – they had just gotten to the coffee shop.

"Buying other nations off the internet, duh!"

Sweden blinked at him and then his shoulders started to shake. Poland grinned, feeling pleased to make the Nordic nation laugh so hard. "S'true," he admitted, lips curling in a smile. "What'ya want?" He asked as they got to the counter.

"Hey, I got it! I asked you, ya know," Poland waved a hand.

"No, 's fine," Sweden started.

"Hey, no arguing! I said I got it, jeez," Poland sent an elbow into Sweden's side and Sweden's eyes widened.

"Arrghh," he groaned, falling into the counter, clutching his side, and Poland burst out laughing.

"Yeah, like that hurt! Get up, you are way too silly today!" He felt a warm glow that this was going so well. Him and Sweden were totally friends, what had he been worrying about last night?

Sweden straightened and nodded. "Side effect of th' meetings."

Poland's face was going to hurt, he was smiling so much. "Sounds serious."

They paused to order their drinks, and Sweden leaned down to say in a dark tone as they went to grab a table. "Very serious."

"Deadly?" Poland asked, mock concerned.

"No known cure," Sweden said, mournfully.

Poland snorted. "Oh my god! That is tragic."

Sweden looked at him in all seriousness and nodded. "'s spreading, too," he said in a low whisper.

Poland placed a hand against his heart dramatically. "Oh my god! We're done for!"

Sweden sat, eyes on Poland. He hesitated for a second and then reached out a hand to grasp Poland's. His skin was warm to the touch and Poland held himself very still.

"There's only one thin' y' can do," Sweden said, tugging on Poland's hand. Poland leaned forward in response. Oh my god, he thought stupidly, and felt ridiculous at how fast his heart was beating.

Sweden took a breath and glanced from side to side, as if the customers in the shop were listening in on their conversation. "Ice cream."

Poland stared. "That's it?"

Sweden nodded. "When w's the last time y' had some?"

"Uh – "

"Ex'ctly." Sweden drew back, removing his hand, and took a sip of his drink.

"You're such a weirdo," Poland said, but he felt himself smile anyways, his heart slowing back to normal.

"Esp'cially salmiaklakritsice cream," Sweden added. "Salty licorice," he clarified at Poland's puzzled look.

"Eww." Poland wrinkled his nose. "Okay, I might have, like, believed you before, but not now!"

It was Sweden's turn to stare. "Ya don' like salmiaklakrits?"

Poland shook his head. "No way. Okay, I've never had the ice cream!" He admitted under Sweden's look.

Sweden shook his head. "Can' believe you've never had th' ice cream..."

Poland shrugged a shoulder and propped up his chin on his hand. "I've never had a lot of Swedish things, huh?" He smiled at Sweden and Sweden smiled a little back and adjusted his glasses. He looked really cute when he got flustered. It made Poland want to do it more often.

Sweden cleared his throat and stared off in the distance. And all of a sudden he was done talking, Poland mused. They sat in silence for a long moment. "Y' could, ah. C'me visit?" Sweden said quietly, although he trailed off at the end.

"You mean..." Poland started, staring at Sweden, who was resolutely looking away. Well, Poland was totally going to be brave for the both of them! "Like a date?"

Sweden's cheeks turned pink. "Yup," he said, and then he finally glanced at Poland.

"Well yeah, duh," Poland said cheekily, and smiled. Sweden grinned back at him, and it was totally not scary at all.

"Except..."

Sweden peered down at him over the rim of his glasses. "Mm?"

"You have to come to Poland, too, and try out our coffee!"

Swede smiled. "Agreed."

"And our pop music is pretty awesome, too."

"Hmm."

"Better than ABBA." Poland hid a grin.

Sweden shot him an incredulous look. "What."

"Totally."

A pause. "Y' need the ice cream now. Clearly still feelin' the side eff'cts..."

"No, I'm like, completely cured, now, I'm sure of it."

Sweden shook his head. "Desp'rate words fr'm an ill person."

Poland was giggling. "No!"

"Yup."

"Stop it."

"D'nt want to." Sweden said quietly and ducked his head down to take a drink from his glass. He had the cute little side smile, the one that Poland had noticed first from when they started hanging out.

"Then don't," Poland said, and Sweden looked up. Their eyes met, green and blue, and Poland was sure his smile was as goofy as Sweden's was.

The end.

Random notes: The Swedes really like ice cream. (who doesn't, though!)

salmiaklakrits: salty black licorice. Common in the Nordic countries, northern Germany, the Netherlands, and the Baltic states. I've had some from the Netherlands and also from Iceland, and I'm with Poland on that one. Ugh. I don't like black licorice to begin with, so I'm obviously biased! An acquired taste, I guess.

This is so totally cheesy and cute. :p Thanks for reading! There's a smutty epilogue, which I will post eventually in my LJ, so you can check that out later if you're so inclined.