♡~Ice n' Rice~♡

Chapter 14. Healing

It took barely five seconds for Hong Kong to wipe his eyes and send the photo.
-"Omfg Hong no what happened?!"
-"The usual..."
-"Okay, Hong... Im so sorry to leave u now but gimme a sec"
Hong Kong bit his lip hard, clutching the sheets tightly again, and feeling the warmth of the tears on his cheeks.
The only one who could help him just "needed a minute". Great. In the other hand, he couldn't be mad at him for that, he surely had something better to do than to comfort a crybaby.
"You sick bastard!! Go back to Europe and leave him alone!"
"Not without him!! Can't you see that you're hurting him? Can't you lis-"
It was really painful.
Not even if he were used to hear the violent quarrels between the two tea-freaks since his purest childhood, no, it was still painful.
Even more, thinking, that nothing had changed in that awful lot of years.
He covered his ears tightly, sweating and gulping.
Another buzz.
The Cantonese boy let out a small groan, having to wipe his eyes again to see the screen.
-"Hong. I succeded. Hurry up, come over at the hotel"
A small flame of hope seemed to light up into the Asian boy's chest.
He rose to his feet, putting on his casual black slippers and wiping his tears away with the blankets.
His eyes, ever so sad, were teary and swollen, fighting to stop forming tears.
In any other moment, the usually emotionless Hong Kong would be a happy, jumpy mess, springing around his room and squealing like a fangirl who just saw her One True Pairing become canon; but not now. He just dragged his feet across the soft floor until he reached the window, leaving a track of sadness behind.
He jumped out the window and leapt to the street, stretching and carelessly dusting his dark red jacket off.
Nobody had noticed he just went out.
It was better like that.
In no time, thanks to his agile legs, he got to the hotel.
He decided to enter politely this time. Plus, there was no rope to climb, so he supposed it was the only way to get there.
The Cantonese's nerves were twitching, telling him to go ahead and to retreat; to wave and to just burst into their room; to stay and to run away.
He knew Norway loathed him since he was "corrupting his little brother", and it didn't made things easier for the teenager.
He pressed the little button to ring the little bell, rocking himself back and forth.
The straight, slightly angered, pale face of the well-known Norwegian male appeared behind the golden-ornamented door.
The European's sharp features softened a little, staring at the Asian.
Maybe, the saddened, teary expression of the teenager triggered the motherly instincts he couldn't fulfill looking after the grown-up Iceland.
-Hei, Leon...
-Hi...
A smaller, silver-haired Nordic poked his head out from the frame of his designated room's door.
-Hong!!
The Cantonese gasped very softly as the second Nordic grabbed his wide sleeve and pulled him into his temporary room.
Hanatamago's soft barks were heard, as Iceland locked the door.
-Ice?... What are y--
Hong Kong's eyes widened as he was muted by a soft, innocent lip kiss.
He couldn't help but smile a little and kiss back.
-Ice...
-Shh! Are you okay? -he hugged his Asian tightly.
-A-Ack! -the Asian choked- Y-Yeah, I think...
-Sit down.
-Huh?
-Sit. Down.
Hong Kong stared at his pouting lover and slowly sat down on the bed, under his intense gaze.
-Well now, I am not called the "most peaceful" country for nothing
Iceland wrapped a cozy purple mant around Hong Kong, making him blush slightly.
-Now... tell me what happened...
The Icelandic boy stroked his lover's hair, as he sighed and kissed him.
They melted into a sweet kiss, dyed with grateful and love.
Hong Kong teared up softly, smiling at Iceland's efforts to make him feel better. Iceland signaled to a cup of hot chocolate milk and the Asian picked it up.
He kissed Iceland's pink cheek as a silent and sweet "Thank you".
He took a deep sigh.
He had too much to tell him about. Too much darkness about his past, ready to be cleaned by Iceland's caring words.

♡~·~·*♡*·~·~♡

-I... I was a happy kid, I think. Like, yeah, before that... bloody pirate arrived to the Chinese coasts to trade opium.
>>Soon after, he wanted to meet Teacher, I mean, China. He lied. He invaded him. He took me away. >>Anyway, we three still had moments to live together at China's.
>>Well, technically, Japan and the others lived there too, but they gave a shit about everything...
>>I feared England.
>>He wanted to treat me like a son, and I had to play along because I was afraid...
>>They always fought.
>>Over everything. They could spend days bitterly glaring at each other.They thought I didn't notice. Did they thought I was like... stupid, or something?
>>It was awful... They'd always act like nothing happened when I was around, though they wouldn't even look at each other.
>>Japan was supposed to look after us all, but I was the only one who was like, really touched by the fights.
>>They would just play outside the whole day. Of course it wasn't nice for them neither, to see their older brother under the European Pirate's tyranny.
>>But, in my case, it was different. That Pirate, was my father figure.
>>That's how I slowly developed a raging fear and disgust for wars.
>>I thought that, being only a region of one of the most powerful countries, war wouldn't be a problem to me.
>>But I was wrong.
>>England made me be wrong.
>>I could barely stand it in the daylight, but at night, it was unbearable.
>>I can remember it clearly...
>>After a hard day, having to stand sometimes their angry yelling and sometimes their tense silence, came the night.
>>The weight in my little stomach grew heavier as the sun descended into the rocky hills and the pink evening sky bled, injured by the stars, until it turned a bright orange color, that died later and turned dark indigo, and finally pitch black.
>>I tried to keep myself awake. I tried so hard. Once I even tried to sneak into the kitchen to get England's coffee, but China caught me. I hoped that one of them were so tired they had to go to bed early, but this only worked a few times.
>>The "goodnight" moment was awful. Awkward. Horrible.
>>First, I had to drag myself to the kitchen, just to find China crying, or about to. He picked me up and kissed my forehead, almost understanding my pain, but still too stubborn to do anything and get along with England.
>>Then, I walked to the living room, worn out after seeing the damage that England's words and actions caused, and had to wish him a good night.
>>Deep down I wanted him dead.
>>If he couldn't die, then, I wanted him away.
>>"Goodnight"
>>"Goodnight, Hong. Maybe tomorrow we will be together in my house"
>>Every night was the same. He placed a kiss on the roof of my head and let me go. China got angry at England's bitter words. I went to bed, holding back my tears.
>>They fought. I heard.
>>I had to nuzzle against Korea, who slept in the same room as me, to don't burst into tears.
>>He embraced me and held me tightly until I fell asleep. I guess he suffered too.

♡~·~·*♡*·~·~♡

Iceland let out a gasp when Hong Kong finished talking. He clenched the blanket into his small fists shakily, feeling pity towards his Asian lover.
Hong Kong's smile had faded a long ago. He ended up curled into the blanket, hiding his face. He was probably holding into his tears.
-H-Hong... I...
-Hm?
Iceland hugged him tightly, stroking his hair.
-Shh...
Hong Kong widened his eyes, slowly hugging back. He released his tears, burying his face into his partner's chest.
-Shh... It's okay now... You're not alone anymore...
Hong Kong's heart skipped a beat, as the Icelandic pressed their lips together.
He cared. He listened to and helped him.
The flame into the Cantonese's heart, fueled by hope, grew bigger, as he finally found the strength he needed.
He strength he had been needing for ages.

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I want to dedicate this chapter to Canadian_ghost, for being there when I had the same problems as Hong Kong :"3 Enjoy~ Thanks for reading!!