Perspective [Norway/Hong Kong]

[roesslyng]

Title: Perspective
Fandom: Hetalia
Characters/Pairing: Norway/Hong Kong
Rating: 0+
Length: 2.9k
Summary: Norway takes Hong Kong for an outing in the mountains. Though they're very different types of people, they're more comfortable together than either of them would ever have expected.
Other: Established relationship. Written for nordipalooza fest. Prompt was "Norway, Anyone - fresh air - modern". [DW crosspost] [Tumblr crosspost]



Perspective

The boat slowly made its way up the fjord.

Hong Kong pulled his hands into the sleeves of his jacket. It was summer, but the air was too cold for his taste, especially out on the water. Looking over the surrounding mountains and the sunlight sparkling on the surface of the fjord, he wondered if he should take some more pictures. No matter which way he turned, the view was travel-magazine perfect. But he'd already taken a lot of photos as soon as the boat pulled away from the village, quietly slipping deeper up the fjord as the sun spiked on the mountaintops. Maybe it was better to let his hands stay warm for a while.

Norway had suggested the outing last night.

"Are you up for a bit of hiking?" Norway had asked him as they sat outside together in the patio, enjoying the late evening sunlight. "I know a place with a nice view. Quiet. Not a lot of tourists. We could give it a go if you'd like."

"That sounds good," Hong Kong told him. And he meant it.

He'd glanced at Norway, wondering if he believed that. It was something Norway had never offered before, and Hong Kong could guess why.

But if Norway was surprised that he'd actually said yes, he must have decided to keep it to himself. Not a single comment about how he understood that Hong Kong was a city kid, and that they could take their time once they got out there. No condescension or criticism. Not anything like that. He only nodded, and brushed affectionate fingertips over Hong Kong's hand, and that was all.

Norway was taking Hong Kong at his word, like he usually did. It was one of the things Hong Kong liked the most about him.

Still. Hong Kong found himself glad that he'd already had a few trial runs with Iceland. They hadn't exactly planned it out that way; it was just that Iceland had offered, and Hong Kong said yes, after a little bit of hesitation. So Iceland had taken him out to explore the countryside, starting with the easier trails before working their way up to his mountains. It had gone better than Hong Kong had expected, and he'd enjoyed it more than he thought he would, and even though Hong Kong wasn't very experienced at first, he never really worried about embarrassing himself in front of Iceland.

But this was different. Norway was different.

Norway was... something else. Not just a friend, not like Iceland was. Not at all. And Hong Kong sure was worried about embarrassing himself in front of him.

They'd been seeing each other, as Norway would put it, for a while. But 'a while' didn't mean very much when they were usually on the other side of the planet from each other. It definitely hadn't been so long that Hong Kong wouldn't care any more about whether or not he looked like a dumb kid in front of Norway.

Maybe it didn't matter.

Okay, Hong Kong told himself as he looked out at the water and the mountains. It's okay. He's taking you somewhere easy. Even if you were a complete newbie, Norway would be really nice and patient about everything. And it's not like you'd make a stupid mistake, like thinking you can wear sandals to go hiking in the mountains.

Somehow, knowing that didn't help much.

Hong Kong stared out at the mountains for a moment, chewing at his lower lip.

Then he turned and went to where Norway sat steering the boat.

"D'you have like, a map of where we're going?"

"Front pocket of my rucksack," Norway said, nodding toward it. He glanced at Hong Kong, then swept his eyes forward again. "Want to take a look?"

"Yeah." He took it out, then settled down onto the seat next to him. The path was marked clearly, winding its way first along the fjord and then up the mountain – but not, as far as he could tell, very far up. Nothing that he couldn't handle, at least.

He'd been on hikes like that with Iceland plenty of times.

Hong Kong did his best to hide his relief as he folded the map and put it away.

"Decided to keep things simple, since we're only makin' a day of this," Norway said, glancing over at him. "I know you didn't come here plannin' on this sort of thing."

Hong Kong smiled. "It's okay," he said. And it was. Sure, when Norway invited him for a visit, he hadn't mentioned anything like this. Just some quiet time together, that was all. But Hong Kong had learned on his very first time visiting Norway's house that it was a good idea to at least bring decent shoes and clothes suitable for mucking around in the woods.

This wasn't much of a stretch beyond that.

"Could do something more involved another time, mayhaps. Camping. Lots of good places for that near here."

"Yeah?...That sounds good." And you sound like you're tripping over your tongue like a dorky kid, Hong Kong told himself. "I, um. I've gone with Iceland before. Camping, I mean. At his place. It was nice."

"That so."

"Yeah. It'd be better with you, though."

It was a cheesy thing to say. Really cheesy. Just stop talking, Hong Kong told himself. But he noticed, then, something – the flicker of a smile tugging at the corner of Norway's lips. Even a year ago, he wouldn't have noticed it. But there it was.

So, he did shut up. But he also stopped nagging himself about it because, cheesy or not, it didn't bother Norway. And if Norway didn't mind, then Hong Kong decided, he wouldn't mind either.

Or at least, he'd try not to mind.

They fell into a comfortable silence, broken only by the sound of the boat and the water. Hong Kong watched through the window as they went, the greenery and rocky grey broken up by the occasional farm. And the mountains went up, and up, and up...

It was like being surrounded by Norway, in a way that was both weirdly intimate and kind of intimidating. But there was something comfortable about it too.

He wondered if Norway knew that feeling. If he'd understand it if he asked about it. Hong Kong thought about it for a while, but decided to stay quiet.

Maybe another time.

They came to a stop when they reached a small village, pulling in at the dock. Hong Kong looked up once he was on land. The mountains, incredibly close, filled all of his vision.

Someone called out to Norway from a brightly-painted house close to the fjord, and Norway called back. The language light and airy, rolling off his tongue. Hong Kong listened, but couldn't understand a word they said to each other, even though he had started studying Norway's language a little while ago, trying to learn as much as he could about the nation he'd become unexpectedly attached to.

Once the boat was secured, Norway turned to him, rucksack slung over his shoulder. "Right. Let's go, then." And he headed toward the rocky path leading to their hiking trail.

"Right," Hong Kong echoed, shouldering his own backpack and following.

There'd been a time, before they got to know each other, when Hong Kong had assumed that it was impossible to be sure when Norway was happy about anything. Now, he wondered how he could've been so wrong. It wasn't hard to know when he was in a good mood; all you had to do was look carefully. He was the kind of guy who smiled, but only sometimes, and usually tiny ones. It was his eyes that did most of the smiling, crinkling at the corners.

He was happy now.

"What did that guy say to you?" Hong Kong asked once they had cleared the village, making their way up the trail.

"Hmm? Oh." Norway laughed, a soft little huff. "He asked me when I decided to start taking tourists up the mountain. That's all."

"Oh." Hong Kong thought about that for a moment. Well, it wasn't an unexpected assumption. People from his place did come to visit as tourists; Norway's beautiful scenery was pretty famous, after all. And he sure couldn't be mistaken for family....

"I told him you were a friend." Norway said that word with more warmth than it needed.

Hong Kong let his gaze drop down to his feet. He could feel his cheeks flushing, and there was no way he could blame it on the sun or the physical activity or on anything at all. But that was fine. 'Friend' was a pretty good descriptor for what the two of them were, even if they weren't just friends. Not exactly.

They were something else, and he didn't know if he should try to put a label on what that was.

Norway talked. Hong Kong listened, drinking in the sound of his voice; Norway wasn't the world's most chatty person, and it felt good to know that he was relaxed enough to go on like that. He talked about the mountains. The plants growing along the trail. He answered every one of Hong Kong's questions about where they were headed, what was that flower over there, was that a village he saw in the distance or something else – as if he knew every single rock and tree on that mountain.

He probably did.

Eventually the trail opened up to a flat rocky space overlooking the fjord, and they stopped there to have lunch in the sunlight.

Norway fished some sandwiches out of his rucksack and passed one to Hong Kong. That was followed by the thermos and tin mugs. Hong Kong's eyebrows lifted when he opened the thermos and the scent of hot tea greeted him.

"You remembered," he said as he took the mug that Norway passed to him.

"It might not be how you like it best," Norway confessed.

"That's all right." And it was all right. The tea was very strong, but still good. The fact that it was tea at all mattered more than anything else.

Neither of them said much more through lunch, and not after that either. They lapsed into comfortable quiet instead. Norway pulled a paperback out and rested back, using his rucksack as a headrest. Hong Kong slipped his phone out again and took photos of the mountains and the long blue line of the fjord, breathing in air so clear that it almost tasted cold.

There was something cozy about the silence between them. And that was good, because if the quiet wasn't the comfortable kind, Hong Kong thought, he'd find the mountains unnerving. Being in such a silent place with hardly anybody around was nothing like home, with its tall buildings and busy streets filled with so, so many people.

The two of them were so different.

Hong Kong glanced at Norway out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't the first time that he'd wondered what Norway thought about him, what he even saw in him.

There was no reason for an independent nation like Norway to even notice a special administrative region from the other side of the world. Especially not a special administrative region that was so completely, utterly different from his home. Hong Kong had brought the subject up once or twice, always trying to be cool about it, acting like it was no big deal as he fished for an answer. But it was a big deal – at least, to him it was. But if Norway caught on to what he was trying to figure out, he didn't show it, and he didn't give much of an answer, either.

"You're good company," was all Norway had said.

But there must have been more to it than that.

The quiet, relaxed aura that Norway gave off when they were together reminded Hong Kong of England, or at least the way England could be on bright, sunny days when he had a good book and a mug of tea and not much that needed to be done. But being around England was nothing like being around Norway. Norway, who'd never had any responsibility toward him, and never would.

If Norway spent time with him, Hong Kong thought as he glanced back at Norway again, it was because he wanted to, and no other reason.

It was weird. But good.

"Just what're you lookin' at, now."

Hong Kong flushed five different shades of red. How the hell – Norway wasn't even looking at him! "I... uh." He fumbled for an explanation as Norway lowered the book, revealing his face, eyebrow raised in question. "I was just... enjoying the view?"

The eyebrow arched a bit higher. "The fjord's over there," Norway said, pointing. The casual tone of his voice said one thing, but the crinkling at the corners of his eyes said another.

"Right." Come on, say something cool, Hong Kong told himself. You can save this, you can stop yourself from looking like a dork. But nothing came to mind, and he was left with nothing but embarrassment.

"Come here, then," Norway said as he sat up, patting the ground beside him. The book slipped back into his rucksack as Hong Kong went to take a seat beside him. "Got a lot on your mind?"

"I guess." If it had been England asking, Hong Kong knew that he wouldn't have said a thing. He would've clammed up, giving him nothing much except sarcasm and answers designed to test his patience.

But this was Norway. So it was different. A whole lot different. Hong Kong took a deep breath. "I was thinking about how different we are."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Great, Hong Kong thought. Now you're going to have to actually explain yourself. But how could he? "I mean, you're all..." He looked at Norway, then out at the landscape, struggling to word it. Finally, he just gestured out at the fjord, the mountains, the everything, as if by doing that he could describe Norway in his entirety. "You're yourself. And I'm...."

"A metropolis," Norway offered, his voice soft.

There was something about the way Norway it that made Hong Kong pause. The sound slipped down his spine, nestled in his chest. Even though they weren't sitting close together, the word almost fluttered against his ear. Metropolis. Well. Okay. "Right. Exactly."

"Always did wonder what you'd see in an old sailor like myself."

"What?" Hong Kong looked at him sharply. Whatever he'd expected to hear, it wasn't that. It was true that Norway was a little rustic, but it wasn't as if Hong Kong minded that. And 'old sailor' didn't describe him either; the years didn't weigh on his face the way they did for humans. But sometimes, time would show itself in the quiet way he'd get sometimes, the way he'd talk about times and places that Hong Kong had never known, as if Norway had forgotten that those centuries were something far between them.

Still. Was what how Norway saw himself?

"Would figure someone like you would find me boring."

"But –" Hong Kong began, but Norway held up a hand and continued.

"I reckon it's your own business," Norway said, speaking gently but firmly, "whatever it is you get out of my company." Then he quieted, waiting for Hong Kong to contradict him.

Well, he couldn't say anything to that.

Hong Kong chewed at his lower lip as he looked out at the fjord, considering what Norway said.

Maybe it didn't matter that much. It was obvious that the two of them saw each other very differently than they saw themselves. Did the reasons why matter that much? Sure, Hong Kong wasn't an independent country, but it was obvious that Norway didn't care about that at all. And if Norway didn't mind that they were so different – even liked that they were....

It was enough that they liked being together so much.

"Reckon so," Hong Kong said finally, mimicking Norway's phrasing as he looked back toward him offering a shy smile.

He got a laugh for that, a soft huff of sound. Then Norway edged closer, sliding an arm around his shoulders.

As Hong Kong leaned into the hold, he felt the soft brush of a kiss against his cheek. The touch was light and delicate, and it said more than words ever could.

"Don't overthink it," Norway said gently, lingering close.

"All right. I won't."

"Good." Another soft, barely-there kiss. "So. How about the idea for another time. What I mentioned before. Camping out someplace. What do you think?"

"Hmm." On the one hand, being completely alone with Norway sounded great. But on the other... "I dunno'," Hong Kong said, drawing the words out so it would be clear that he was joking. "There's no wifi in the great outdoors. I'm not sure I could handle that."

Another laugh, this time more like a snort. "Just day trips, then?"

"Sure. Or you could try to convince me."

"Sounds like I'll have to do that, then."

You're free to, Hong Kong thought as he nestled against Norway's side. He wouldn't mind that at all.

They lapsed into quiet again, and this time, it was even more comfortable than before.

Whatever it was that they had together, Hong Kong thought, they were both happy with it.

The rest didn't really matter.