Noxious [DenNor]

6.

Oddly, I am feeling merciful today.

The evening air was cold and sweet. Around Mathias, the world was turning orange and scarlet. Who was it that always said October sunsets were the best? Norway? Well, he had to agree. It wasn't quite cold enough to numb his turbulent emotions, but it was doing the trick on his bare arms and hands. Plus, it was nice to look at. Not soothing... But pretty enough.

Nothing wrong with a show of compassion, would you not agree?

Eyes the color of firewood flashed behind his own, and Mathias cringed from where he was standing on the front porch of the Nordic household.

These thoughts. Were they memories? He felt there was a meaning behind it, something... significant. But he could think of nothing.

Brief flashes- Images, he supposed- of an unfamiliar old woman weaved in and out of his thoughts, making it hard to focus on anything. Whenever he was not thinking of this menacing lady and her scratchy voice, he was thinking of Norway.

Norway's lips. How they had felt on his. How, for just a moment, he had been certain their hearts were beating as one. The last time he had been anywhere near that intimate with Norway, they had been huddled into one another, shrouded in animal furs, on the shadowy lower deck of a vessel.

Again, Mathias cringed and look up sharply, towards the driveway. Lukas's car was gone, and he hadn't answered the phone the twenty-two times- and counting- that Denmark had tried to get ahold of him. He wanted to know what that had been about, why Norway had done something like... like that.

He didn't know what to feel. He was shaken and baffled. Did this mean that Lukas had feelings for him? Not just "You're my brother and I guess you're okay," feelings, but "I love you like a lover," feelings?

He clenched his jaw, then stomped down the stairs. The sound of his steel-toed boots thundered through the still, mid-October air. Mathias trooped over to his beat up old minivan, swung open the door, then plunked down in the driver's seat.

"Mathias, where are you even going?" he mumbled to himself. He dragged his fingers down his face as the sound of tortured screams echoed through his head. His mind was trying to remember something, trying to remember the day that he had been-

"Den? Where are you going? Can I come?" Mathias's head shot up as, from the porch, there came a lithe, light-haired figure.

Norway? Was Norway at home after all? He couldn't explain the sudden excitement that bursted in his chest, but boy was he quick to shove it away.

No, it wasn't Norway. When the figure came closer, he saw that it was only Iceland, accompanied on one shoulder by that pesky bird of his.

Denmark chuckled in spite of himself, and his lips curved into an instinctive, albeit crooked smile.

"I don't know where I'm going, Icey. I just wanna get out, you know? Wanna join?"

He couldn't be left alone with his thoughts. Mathias was positive that thinking about how perfect Norway's lips fit into his would drive him into the icy grip of insanity. He had already caught himself laughing to himself a few hours ago, just after Norway took off.

At the offer, he could see Emil appear to try and play it off cool, like he didn't want to go. Typical Icey.

After a moment, however, the short Icelandic country gave up the act and nodded. He slid into the passenger seat and nodded, lips twisting into that abashed scowl of his. "Yes, please. I've been stuck at the house for days!" he complained, rolling his eyes.

Mathias only smiled. Emil had let Hong Kong borrow his car a week ago, and he'd not yet gotten it back from the Asian country. "Buckle up."

"But Den-"

"Emil. Buckle up."

The authority in Mathias's voice must have struck Emil as odd, because he froze for a moment, staring in shocked defiance. Then, without another word, he secured the cold strap over his shoulder and leaned back with a grouchy sigh. Mr. Puffin settled down on the shoulder of the seat.

As he always did, Mathias noticed how much like Lukas Emil looked when he was pouty and defiant like that.

With that thought still clanging around his head, he buckled up himself, then backed out of the driveway and pulled away into the golden October evening, not entirely certain of where he was going, and not entirely certain if he cared. 

BLEGHHH, I'M SORRY FOR SUCH A SNOTTY CHAPTER. I PROMISE, THIS IS ALL LEADING UP TO SOMETHING GRAND. I HAVE PLANS FOR THIS STORY, MAN. BIG PLANS.