[FanFic] Spooning
Title: Spooning
Prompt: Norway, Iceland - Routines [Optional time period: Medieval or 1700s]
Pairing: Familial Norway & Iceland
Time period: from Norse settlement in Iceland up to 1814 when Denmark loses Norway to Sweden
Rating: G
Word Count: 1602
Summary: Norway is gone, and things just aren't the same anymore.
Norway is baking. It's Sunday and he's puttering around Sweden's kitchen probably making something rustic and filling to stave off his heart's bitter chill. Iceland knows this even as he lies in his little bed in Denmark's stony house, across the narrow hall from Norway's empty room. He's hungry, but too scared to get out of bed and risk running across a hung-over Denmark blubbering in the kitchen again. Attempting to ignore the rumbling in his stomach, he rolls over and tries to go back to sleep.
***
The scent of something delicious wafts out of the collection of tents pitched on his shores and Iceland unconsciously steps closer. One of the strange men, much smaller than the rest, but just as fierce looking, is staring intently at something cooking amidst the smouldering coals. It smells nothing like the any of the things the other groups of men who have visited his island have ever cooked.
Iceland steps closer still, his bare feet nearly stepping on the hem of his white smock in the process. The strange man suddenly looks up and stares right into Iceland's eyes. Frozen with fear at being caught, he doesn't move, but neither does the stranger. Then, with slow motions, the man reaches down and picks up what he was cooking. It's dark and round and Iceland doesn’t recognise it. The man holds it out towards him, and Iceland deliberates carefully, before suddenly racing down and snatching the thing before retreating to his rocky hideout.
His hand hurts from the heat when he finally stops running, but Iceland ignores it. He carefully examines the thing that he took. It's bigger than his fist, and much darker, but smells even better up close than it did from afar. Cautiously he bites into it and the taste explodes over his tongue, thick and slightly sour but deliciously different from anything he's ever eaten. It's so wonderful that before he knows it, his hand is empty and his belly is full.
The next time that he sees the man, he walks straight up to him with his hands outstretched, asking for more. He does get another one, but not until they've already set sail towards the rising sun. The man calls him Ice and says his own name is Norge. Iceland cries himself to sleep as his home disappears from view.
***
Life with Norge isn't really all that bad, but Iceland misses his little island terribly, especially at night. Norge's friends Sverige and Danmark tell him that he's adorable and bring him sweets and pretty baubles whenever they visit, but it doesn't fill the aching void in his heart. The only thing that comes close is warm bread, because it reminds him of the last time that he saw the snow-capped peaks of his rumbling volcanos before they slipped beneath the horizon.
Nor notices and makes a special effort to bake different types of bread every week; some light, some dark, some soft and some dense, but all equally delicious. Ice devours everything with relish, and eventually Nor lets him help as he prepares the small loaves. He gets so sticky and floury on his first attempt that Nor laughs at him, the sound soft and breathy in the weak morning sunlight, and Ice feels his heart swell in his chest.
***
When Dan insists that Nor and Ice come and live with him in his big stone house, Ice is initially delighted with the pretty new smocks that he's given to wear, especially as they match Nor's, but his caregiver is less impressed. Ice covers his ears as Nor crumples the pretty clothes in one angry fist and literally screams at the other man, nearly incoherent with rage, whilst Dan snaps back at him just as angrily.
Ice doesn't understand what the argument is about and bursts into tears when his colourful new dress is torn. Dan immediately scoops him up and loops a long gold chain around his neck to distract him. It works, and he stops crying to examine it, still hiccupping intermittently. When he looks up again, Nor is standing there with slumped shoulders and a defeated look on his face.
Later, in Dan's expansive kitchen and dressed in his fancy new clothes, Nor starts learning how to make sweet Danish pastries. Ice thinks that the matching aprons that Dan gave them to keep their pretty dresses clean are wonderful and puts his on at every opportunity. Nor never seems overly enthusiastic, but doesn't yell about it again, and he always lets Ice eat the first pastry out of the oven.
***
As Ice gets older, he starts to realise what is was that upset Nor so badly about wearing the pretty clothes that Dan provided. Dresses were for women and children and it was emasculating for a man to wear them. He also suddenly notices that everyone around them treats Nor like a woman, to the point of using female pronouns, and that Nor just accepts it all with polite words and a bland face. Ice feels incredibly guilty.
He knows that he is the reason why Nor capitulated so quickly to Dan's blatant attempts at feminising the both of them. He even understands Dan's reasons for restraining them in this way, they still have status and responsibilities, but they are also clearly subordinate to Dan's position and he still has enormous power over them. Ice knows that this is all his fault, if only he hadn't cried when Nor started yelling.
He tries to talk to Nor about it whilst helping to create delicate French fancies, but the other man refuses to co-operate and instead concentrates on sugaring decorative rose petals. Stumped, anxious and still feeling guilty, Ice attempts to apologise for his childish actions but is silenced by an angry glare and blunt refusal to accept. Nor tells him in no uncertain terms that none of it is his fault and then offers him a calming slice of still-warm cake.
***
Wearing men's clothing for the first time, Ice can't decide if he should be proud of his new status, or if he should admit that he feels terribly uncomfortable and painfully self-conscious. Nor ruffles his hair and tells him that he looks very manly, Dan slaps him on the back and calls him brother, Sve nods approvingly, and Fin gives him a watery smile whilst attempting to fade into the furniture. The small drawing room is crowded with all of them in there, but Dan likes to make a spectacle of everything.
Dressed in his own masculine garb, Nor looks very strange to Ice. He has become so accustomed to seeing him in his embroidered dresses, that to suddenly him dressed the same way as the other men comes as a small shock every time he glances across the room. The sudden change in his appearance hasn't changed the habits of centuries though and Nor still flitters about the room with small steps handing out sweet treats from a decorative tray. Ice takes more than is polite and blushes when Nor huffs at him.
***
When Sve eventually leaves the house in the middle of the night, with Fin firmly in tow, dissolving the Kalmar Union once and for all, Ice huddles in his bedroom as Dan rages impotently. He knows that Nor is there trying to calm the other man down and that he will only get in the way if he tries to help, but he can't stop but worrying. Dan is a violent man used to getting his own way, by force if necessary.
Next morning, Nor is sporting a black eye, a split lip and he appears to be limping somewhat, but he refuses to answer any of Ice's enquiries as to his wellbeing and Ice eventually gives up. He also notices that Nor's habitually sharp tongue is now a lot sharper than it used to be and that most of it is directed straight towards their overlord, although Dan seems oblivious. Even the Danish pastries that Nor prepares are sharply piquant.
***
As Sve's power waxes, Dan's appears to wane, not that the man will ever admit it. The two men clash continuously, inevitably drawing Nor and Fin into their skirmishes. Dan is more volatile than ever and Nor frequently sports bruises, not all of them from the battlefield, Ice just tries to stay out of Dan's way because the man's fists are incredibly heavy and he's indiscriminate about who gets hit when he's deep in his cups.
The three of them are gathered in the dining room one morning, with a plate of small spicy biscuits courtesy of Nor, when Dan apparently gets the news that he's been waiting for. Russia is trying to annex Finland. Smiling hugely, Dan hugs them both heartily before picking up his well-used axe and heading out to start yet another war.
***
For as long as Iceland can remember, Norway has always baked once a week. What he's baked has changed as has the day that he bakes on, but he has always, always, baked. And for the first time in a very long time, Iceland isn't there with him.
Dan's war caused Sve to lose Fin to Russia, but world politics demanded that he give up Nor as compensation. Nor fought back by declaring independence, but it didn't help, and when Sve came to escort him to Sweden, to sleep in Fin's empty bed, he went. He didn't wave goodbye, but he did leave a small rustic loaf wrapped in an embroidered apron at the foot of Ice's bed.
***END***