Hetalia oneshots.

Iceland x Reader: Youth.

You sat on the bridge, your feet dangling over the edge. You held an almost empty whisky bottle next to you, a cigarette being held in your fingers. Emil sat next to you, his silvery white hair glistening in the moonlight, and his violet eyes dull with sadness. A shadow hung around the two of you, every second passed and along with it, time took away your youth. You were sat in silence, no words passing between the two of you. Your minds were darkened anyway, it was all empty and it felt like a waste of time to think about anything. You heaved a breath, your lungs feeling as though they were on fire. You took another sip of whisky, bringing the cigarette back to your lips. Emil moved and grabbed it out from between your lips, bringing it to his own instead. When did all of this happen? It used to be so perfect, but now it's just so shattered. You smiled bitterly at Emil, who returned your smile, standing up on the railings and jumping down onto the concrete ground. You did the same, following the albino male. You didn't care where you were going anymore, it didn't matter.

The two of you continued to walk in silence, the cold air biting at your skin, but it didn't matter. You were 'reckless', 'wild' according to older men and women. You would die before you could get anywhere in life, is that what reckless and wild meant?If it did, then they were correct. Apparently, drinking and smoking were considered reckless, but it wasn't. Life was reckless, dividing your attention from it was fine. Or at least it was in yours and Emil's eyes. The cuts on your wrists and thighs didn't bleed anymore, and if they did, it didn't matter. The feeling of pain for you was long gone, and you didn't mind that one bit. The crunch of snow beneath your feet brought you back to reality as you finally realised where Emil was taking you. The Clearing was your place, it was where you would always meet up and scream to the heavens, asking why. It was where you had both first shown your scars to each other, and where you both decided that you would help the other no matter what. It had taken a while for you to agree to it, you had given up on trust a long while ago, but for Emil, you would have tried a million times over.

The clearing was how it always was, dark and quiet. The two of you adored this place, it was your sense of safety. Well, other than smoking, drinking and cutting. But those were only temporary. You had dreamt about running away and just living in this clearing, no one else knew about it, and you would be alone or with Emil all the time. You could run away from your hell of a house, away from the flooding of emotions that had caused your family to crack and break under pressure. You could run away from school, where everyone seemed to be better than the person next to them. The peace of the air around you in this place had always amazed you, it felt so much like an embrace, that you couldn't help but crave more. In only others could be so warm and loving. Emil gently guided you to the only tree in the clearing, where you had built a den when you were younger. You were so full of life back then, you wondered if it had been the fact that you were just another face that everyone would soon forget.

"We should stay here tonight, I don't want to go back." You move and grip his hand tightly as he spoke. You sighed and nodded in relief. "Neither do I. Emil, is the world out to hurt us?" He responded with silence. He could not answer that, and you understood why. Both of you were still a part of this world, so if he answered yes, it would be like saying the other was just trying to hurt them. "I don't want to hurt you, ever. Y/n, it's just us against everyone else." You smiled and rested your head on his shoulder, curling up to him for heat. "I'm glad." Your eyes became damp as you realised that his last words would eventually come. "Your words always ring in my head, it hurts my chest sometimes too." He chuckled darkly but didn't respond. You traced patterns into his skin, knowing that it would calm him down. He was tense, ridiculously so. You knew that it was probably his brother again. It always seemed to be Lukas' fault that he was upset. That night, you held him closer than you ever had before.

"Will out stories have happy endings?" He asked you out of the blue. The sun had risen, and you both sat there watching it with careful eyes. You shook your head, yes, hugging your knees to your chest. "They will end in death, that's all that matters." He lunged and wrapped his arms around you, breathing in your scent. "I don't want you to die in pain. Promise me that you will die by my side?" You nodded, hugging the slightly shorter male back. "I would like to be buried next to you as well, under this tree, this is our place, I want it to stay that way forever." You grinned, even though it hurt your chest to do so. "It will be Emil, this is the place we became friends, it's the place that we finally learnt to understand each other." His mouth twitched upwards and he held you close. Your heartbeats synchronised, and your breathing slowed down as you felt at peace in his surprisingly warm arms. Emil pressed a kiss to your cheek, the sudden affection surprising you. Emil was, after all, known to dislike most affection. "And it's also the place that I learnt to love you in."

You pushed him away and cried in your hands.