CIRL IcelandxReader

"Ah-Ah…..AH-CHOO!!!" You sniffled and grabbed a tissue. You'd caught a cold the other day and it had quickly progressed to the point of leaving you practically bed-ridden. You were beyond miserable and were really wishing that someone lived with you or at least that someone would stop by and see if you were still alive so that you didn't have to move every time you needed something.

Reaching for another tissue, your hand met air and you groaned. That was the second box in as many days. And if this box was empty, that meant you'd have to go to the store and get more. You wanted to cry. You could barely stand without feeling exhausted. And now you'd have to go driving and walking around a grocery store. Wonderful.

You would've screamed into your pillow, but that would only make your already aching head hurt even worse. So instead, you tightly wrapped a blanket around yourself and slowly shuffled out of bed. Grasping onto furniture and the walls, you inched your way out of your bedroom and down the hall. You stepped into the living to slip on some shoes and noticed a person standing there.

You squinted your eyes and observed that the person looked an awful lot like Iceland. At that revelation you rolled your eyes and moved forward again.

"Great," you muttered. "Now I'm hallucinating." Before the last syllable left your lips, your body decided to give out on itself. But before you collapsed on the floor, your "hallucination" darted over and caught you. You blinked up at him in confusion.

"You don't feel like a hallucination." He chuckled a little and lifted you up onto the couch.

"Maybe because I'm not a hallucination. Although I can understand why you would think so." You nodded weakly and coughed as he sat down next to you.

"Y-you're, Iceland, right?"

"Yes I am. What's your name?"

"(Full Name)."

"It's nice to meet you."

"You too. How come you're not surprised that I know who you are?" He held up something that you barely recognized as your Hetalia Season 4 DVD.

"I saw this on your table and realized that I was on the cover. I'm assuming that countries don't have representations here, do they?" You shook your head slowly and leaned back against the couch's armrest. Iceland noticed your tired state and pressed the back of his hand to your forehead.

"Holy cripes. You've got a really bad fever. Have you taken any medicine?"

"Y-yeah. But that was hours ago," you said, coughing into your hand.

"Where do you keep it?"

"In the bathroom cabinet." He nodded and got up. You watched him head to the bathroom, confused that he was so willing to help you. Not that you didn't appreciate it, but it seemed so random. Especially since he had just apparently arrived here out of nowhere.
He came back in with some cold medicine and poured some into the cap for you. Grimacing at the gross taste, you quickly swallowed it and handed the lid back to him. Iceland set the bottle down on the table and turned back to see you still making faces at the disgusting medicine.

"Thanks for the help," you said, running your tongue over your teeth to try and get the taste out.

"It wasn't a problem. You look miserable."

"Bingo," you muttered sarcastically. "I feel miserable. But look, my cold isn't as big a deal as your situation. Since you helped me and everything, would you like to stay here for now?" He looked at you, contemplating your offer.

"It couldn't hurt. Thanks." You nodded sunk further into your blanket. He tugged on the bottom of it to cover your feet and stood up.

"Well, I may as well make myself useful. Do you need anything?"

"Well…I ran out of tissues. But I'm not gonna make you go buy more." You slowly sat up, determined to go get them yourself. He shook his head and pushed you back down again.

"No, you don't have to. I don't mind. Just wait here and I'll be back as soon as I can." With that, he turned and headed to the front door. You could only sigh as he left, hoping he wouldn't get himself lost.


--Timeskip—


You happily skipped into your house, just returning from a very successful shopping trip at a discount bookstore near your apartment. You shouted a greeting to Emil as you closed the door. You'd managed to get a bunch of new books for barely fifteen bucks. There was one in particular, though, that you couldn't wait to read.

Classic Stories from Around the World was the title. There were stories from all over the place: Greece, Italy, Germany, France, Poland, and a whole lot more. Not to mention Iceland. That was the story you were looking forward to the most.

You tossed a bag of licorice at Emil as you swept past him to dump your books in your room.

"I know you only said you wanted half a pound, but I got you a whole one cause you go through those things like nobody's business!" You heard him sigh as you carried the old book with you into the living room.

"Thank you, (Name). But I don't think I eat them that much." You snorted and sat down next to him on the couch.

"Oh please. You eat those faster than I ran through tissues when I was sick. Now stop being so ungrateful and eat them." He chuckled at your command and proceeded to take out a licorice stick. You cracked open your book and flicked through the first couple of pages, looking for the page Iceland's story was on. Emil tilted his head curiously to read the title on the cover.

"Is that one of the books you just bought?"

"Yepp! It's got stories from all over the world! It's so cool!"

"What countries are in there?"

"Do you want the whole list?"

"Why not?" he said, shrugging.

"Ok. There's Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient India, Biblical Literature, Ancient Rome, Persia, Arabia, France, Spain, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, America, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Yiddish, Belgium, Holland, Latin America, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, China, Japan, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and you."

"That's a lot of countries. How many stories do the Nordics have?"

"Uh, Sweden and Denmark both have two. And you and Norway each have one."

"Only one?"

"Yeah. But yours sounds more epic than Norway's," you stated, laughing.

"What are the stories?"

"Yours is called The Birth of Sinfjotl, the Son of Sigmund."

"Ah. Okay. And Norway's?" You started cackling.

"The Story of a Chicken!" Emil smirked at that, while you continued laughing.

"It certainly sounds interesting," he commented, chewing thoughtfully on another licorice stick. You nodded and flipped to the beginning of the Nordics' stories. As you read, you failed to notice Emil watching you.

He wondered how you had never managed to catch his staring before. He did it way too often to be coincidence, and sometimes he zoned out while staring at you. But he supposed he was lucky you hadn't noticed. Then he might have had to confess his feelings for you, and that could make things awkward.

He must have rotten luck, he decided as he noticed you staring back at him.

"Yes?" he asked, pretending nothing was wrong. You raised an eyebrow at him.

"You've been staring at me for a while now. Everything ok?" He quickly turned away and bit off a piece of licorice.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't everything be ok?" You shrugged and turned back to your book.

"If you say so." He glanced at you out of the corner of his eye then stared at his licorice, debating on his next move.

You felt Emil tap your shoulder, so you stuck a finger in the book to hold your place and looked over at him. But your vision became blocked by pale skin and light hair. Blinking in surprise, you realized that Emil was kissing y—Wait, he was KISSING YOU??

You jerked back in surprise and stared at him wide-eyed. He looked at you then turned away, hurt showing on his face.

"I guess I was wrong," he said. Shaking yourself out of your daze, you reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. He flinched away and you frowned. Reaching out again, you firmly grasped his shoulder and made him turn to you. But even then, he refused to lift his head.

Sighing, you put a finger under his chin so you could look him in the eye. When his eyes finally met yours, you smiled.

"No you weren't," you said, dropping your hand from his face to hold his hand.

"Why did you jerk away then?"

"Because I was surprised. I hadn't been expecting that at all." He scowled and blushed.

"I probably should've thought of that," he muttered. You just giggled and pecked him on the lips.

"It's alright. I love you, Emil."

"I love you too, (Name)."