Although Sweden tried for days, he could never find that one person who had managed to steal his heart on sight. The countless expeditions, which he paid to the various convenient stores around the city – not to mention with Denmark in tow – was a failure. It disappointed the Swede to no end, but driven with sheer determination, Sweden continued surveying the city streets in the hopes of finding the nameless blonde.
Denmark twirled in his swivel chair.
"Hey Sve, if you really wanted to know about her, why didn't you ever check for her name on the internet?" Denmark inquired.
"What?" Sweden immediately snapped his attention to Denmark, his eyes widened in disbelief, "You knew her name? And you didn't tell me!"
"Well yeah sure, her friend across the road yelled her name out. I thought you knew."
"Well I didn't." Sweden growled.
Denmark flinched.
"You didn't ask," Denmark snapped.
"Why would I ask when I didn't know you knew! Plu-"
"Ahhh… Mr. Boss would like to see both of you in his office," Came a feeble voice, belonging to none other than the happy-go-lucky Spaniard of the office.
Both Scandinavians jerked their head in Spain's direction, tension hung in the atmosphere like a storm about to break.
Fluttering nervously, Spain made a hasty excuse and scuttled off to find his Prussian bestie. No one liked the Scandinavians when they were at their meanest.
"You lookin' for us, Boss?" Denmark asked, opening the teak door that let into the major office of the building.
Their American boss, with sandy blond hair and eyes that radiated pride and everlasting glee, looked up from his paper work. Adjusting his glasses, which had slipped down the crook of his nose, the American smiled broadly at them. The gleaming oak table glimmered somewhat maliciously at them, and a giant plaque card with the name " Alfred Jones" written in bold italics on it, stood on the desk, as if to boast the significance of the name written on it. Printed in finer print at the bottom of the name was "Little Hero", the pathetic name of the big time company.
"We're not in any trouble, are we?" Sweden ventured quietly, " I swear that if anything happened involving the two of us, it was all Denmark's idea."
"Woah. Hey. Don't go and blame me for everything!" Denmark hissed quietly to Sweden.
"Guys! Come on, both of you. Both of you are considered the few of my prized workers in this here company! Little Hero would not have made it this far! Take a seat, take a seat!" Mr Jones gestured to the two cushioned chairs before the oak table.
"So what's this 'bout?" Sweden mumbled, as he gingerly took a seat.
"I'm glad you asked! Well, I think-"
"You think?"
"Hush Mr. Denmark. Let me finish. Yes, I think I'm planning on doing a joint project with this other company. I think you'd be quite familiar with it since it's another company that's been widely renowned for it's stationary production."
"Are you talking about 'Imaginary Ink'?" Denmark snorted. Personally he thought the company name was just as bad as the one he worked in. After all, who in the right mind would buy pens that has imaginary ink?
"Otherwise known as I2. Igg- Mr. Kirkland has agreed to a joint project and I'm sending in my best workers to ensure that this project sees nothing but success. If you were to see to its success, I can guarantee you both a raise and a promotion." Mr. Jones said, concluding his briefing with reaping rewards.
Both Sweden and Denmark nodded slowly, taking in and digesting the bits of information thoroughly.
The taxi pulled over at the grand entrance to the company of Imaginary Ink. The building towered over 60 stories high and just above the entrance was a massive Light Emitting Diode (LED) screen stretched wide across, where commercials were played non stop. Both men were just in time to see a commercial begin.
The screen flickered to life as a commercial began its screening. The initial scene showed a girl in an examination hall, her eyes were twitching in frustration as the pen she was using failed to work. Tapping the pen on the table, the girl bit her lower lip as she concentrated on the question paper. The screen then showed a clock, with the time ticking by. Suddenly, a friend tossed her a pen with the logo "I2" engraved onto the side. As if enlightened, the girl began to answer the questions one by one as she breezed through the paper. When the bell rang, the girl stood up immediately to hand in her script.
Sweden blinked in disbelief. The story line had been so pathetic; it was a wonder the company managed to sell anything. As he returned his gaze to the screen, he saw the video fade out to black and words in bold appeared on the screen. "Pen ink flows so smoothly, you'd feel as if the pen writes on its own."
"What a load of bullshit." Denmark breathed from next to him, a humourless grimace on his face.
Sweden chuckled, the Dane was absolutely right. " I feel the same too."
"Ah! I see you have arrived!"
Turning around to address this new person, both Sweden and Denmark were surprised to see the "girl" who Sweden had saved just days before. Because sure as sure, the two people who stood before them were both men.
"I'm Finland, and this is my colleague, Norway." Finland introduced slowly as realization slowly hit the Fin, " So, uhmm, how did you like the commercial? Mr. Norway and I are in charge of media promotion, and we worked tirelessly to come up with that commercial you've just seen. It's been one of our greatest works so far. It hasn't been aired on television yet… But it will soon! If I may, I'd like to boast for a bit. I'm very proud of the ending catch phrase, it took me days to come up with something that carried so much impact. If you don't mind, would you like to share your opinions on the commercial? We'd be honoured to listen to some advice and uhmm… ha ha ha…"
Finland looked sheepishly as he realized that he had just ranted on to clients who had no interest in such unilateral problems.
"Well to be honest," Denmark began, his voice tinged with unusual candor, " I found it very chea-oomf"
Sweden nudged Denmark in the ribs before the word 'cheap' could have been formed properly.
"He meant cheerful." Sweden interjected.
"Cheerful?" Norway snorted, eyeing them with skepticism.
"He's not very good at expressing himself." Sweden lied.
Denmark wore an expression of utmost bewilderment and incredulity. "What?"
"What he meant was that he feels very safe knowing that there are good pens, like the ones you produce, being sold in the local shops." Sweden lied, again.
"That's good to hear! The boss would be pleased!" Finland exclaimed, buying into those lies, " This way please, if you don't mind. I'll bring you to one of the conference rooms."
As the Finnish and Norwegian took the lead, Denmark fell in step with Sweden. A lazy smile had spread across Sweden's face and Denmark sighed.
"You, my friend, are a certified liar." Denmark remarked under his breath, taking extra cares that the shorter two men in front could not hear.
"Mhmm…" Sweden replied noncommittally.
" So I don't really know what all this hoo-ha was about, heck i didn't even read through the review Mr. Jones gave us. Hah, i don't understand anything about this joint project. But one thing's for sure, that was definitely the same person you saved." Denmark grumbled as he flagged down a cab.
Getting into the passenger seat with his friend, Sweden nodded absently.
"You said you saved a girl. Lo and behold, Finland was actually a guy."
"I thought so. Guess I was wrong."
Throughout the whole meeting at the company of Imaginary Ink, Sweden had found almost every possible reason to spend some time with the Finnish man, leaving Denmark with the Norwegian, who found every possible reason to stay away from the Dane.
Denmark groaned. " Hey man, don't do this to me. Every time you leave me with Sir Norway, I feel like his eyes are scorching into my very skull and I might just die from all that electromagnetic hate wave."
"Drama queen." Sweden sniffed.
"King. Drama King. Really Sve, you have to get your eyes check. Your glasses don't seem to do any good. You're mistaking men for women."
Sweden really couldn't care less. He allowed the Dane to rant incessantly in the background while his mind wandered to the little Finnish man. Finland was cute. Sweden nodded his consent at having arrived at such a conclusion. He would try to get to know the Finnish man better tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Denmark slouched in his seat and stared out the window.
"Wait till Hungary hears 'bout it." Denmark sniffed. The journey back to their office would take quite awhile, and Sweden allowed himself to drift into sleep, lulled by the deep rumbling sounds of the motors.
A/N: Alas, the second chapter. I just love writing about the Nordics. I apologise for any OOC-ness. They were unintentional. The story title's relevance has yet to appear, but I assure you it will show in time. I hope you enjoyed this update! Cheers~ R&R would be appreciated. (:
