Chapter Text
One dark afternoon in mid-November, a young Norway was walking back into his home after school. It was much the usual scene, walking in to hearing his father shouting obscenities at his mother. “You stupid worthless slut! Sleeping around with other men! Landing me with more debt! Taking care of a bastard kid” However, much contrary to usual, said man was standing over his wife, belt in hand bringing it down upon her unmoving body multiple times. With widened eyes, he stared at his father for a long moment, trembling hands clenched by his sides. Then suddenly, as if his body acted of its own volition, the young boy picked up his father’s cane, and swung as hard as his little arms could muster, hitting his across the temple before bringing the cane back down upon his fallen body several times more. Shock spread across his face for a moment and he dropped the impromptu weapon, staring down at the beaten and bleeding man. It was a long while before the sound of crying brought him out of his trance, and he quite suddenly remembered his young brother. Eyes widening once again when he realized what he had done, he dashed off to his shared room, quickly picking up the crying child, shushing him quickly with small bouncing movements. “Everything's fine. Big brother is here. Everything’s just fine.” he murmured, calming the child before bundling him up as best he could. After quickly changing into not easily recognizable clothes, he picked up his young sibling once again and ran, leaving behind two dead parents and any future they might have once had. “Well. I guess it's just you and me now Emil. Just you and me.” He sighed, looking down at the small bundle in his arms as he carefully made his way through the dark alleys he knew too well for someone of his class.
It was a long winter, cold and hard, far too harsh for an adult to be out in, let alone children. Especially not one under the age of 1. Somehow however, young Norway managed to sneak his way through keeping them both alive. Managing to hide in empty hotel rooms for a night or two at a time or occasionally the back room of a bar or drug den if it was a less that prime night. He took what he could find and didn't complain. Without fail, he always managed to lift a jar of milk from some unsuspecting truck or porch to keep Iceland fed. It went on like this for months, stealing what he had to to keep them both alive.
It was late March when he was finally caught by someone while quickly darting past a market stand, sneakily lifting something to feed both himself and his brother with. The man who caught him however, was not angry as one might have believed he should have been.
“You’re pretty good at that aren’t ya boy” A low and harsh voice called out to Norway from the unlit alleyway, startling the young boy who quickly spun towards the voice. “Pardon…?” Norway questioned cautiously. “Been watching you for a few months now, you’ve got some sticky fingers there don’t ya. Sneaky about it too.” The man continued, not actually answering the question. “How long ya been out here boy?” Norway sighed and tucked the loaf of bread into his tattered jacket protectively before answering. “Coming up on 6 months sir.” He relented to answering. “Only 6 months out here and you’re already this good at thievery? Ya sound like one of those proper citizens, high class educated folks. How’ve ya survived this well boy?” The man questioned, leaning back against the building wall with his arms crossed against his chest, a dubious look on his face. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business sir.” Norway retorted rather sharply. “As far as how I’ve survived, I didn’t really have a great second option now did I? For some reason death doesn’t exactly seem appealing, and I still have to take care of my brother.” He was going to continue, until he was cut off by the man. “Brother ya say? How old is he? Can’t be much younger than yourself.” The man raised an eyebrow curious to hear the answer. “An 8 year difference actually. He’ll turn a year old this upcoming June.” “Wait just a minute there boy. You’re tellin’ me, you’ve been out here for 6 months, with an infant, in the middle of the winter, and you’re both still alive?” The man questioned quickly. “Why the hell didn’t ya drop the kid off at an orphanage or something?” Norway flinched at the last question before shaking his head. “What part of ‘He’s my brother’ did you not understand? I couldn’t just pass him off onto random strangers!” Norway’s voice raised a bit, his eyes harden into a sure glare. The man raised an eyebrow and looked down at the small for his age child. “Don’t go getting smart with me boy.” The man warned dangerously. “Go get your brother and meet me here. You’ve got 20 minutes, don’t be late or you’ll be spending the rest of your miserable little lives stuck on these streets” “Pardon…?” Norway questioned, clearly confused. “Didn’t ya hear me boy? I said go!” The man shouted, startling Norway, who jumped slightly before running off to do as he’d been told. He was back within the allotted 20 minutes, and found the same man standing there leaned back against the wall smoking a cigarette. “I’m impressed ya could get that far and back in the the time I gave ya.” The man stated, peering down his nose at the two children. “Not that far away if you know how to get there direct.” Norway answered with an indignant roll of his eyes. “I like you boy.” The man noted, stomping out the cigarette as he straightened up again. “Name’s Scandinavia. Now come on. Time we be getting home before the two shits destroy the house.” The man said before walking out of the alleyway, leaving a confused norway behind. “Ya comin’ or not boy? If ya want to stay a little street rat the rest of your life, it’s not skin off my nose.” Scandinavia called out over his shoulder, never once pausing to look over his shoulder. Norway’s eyes widened slightly and he looked down at the bundle in his arms before chasing after Scandinavia, struggling a bit to keep up. “Ya should drop that thing off on a doorstep somewhere. It’s only gonna slow you down.” Scandinavia stated, glancing down at the two brothers. “I already told you, he’s my brother. I’m not leaving him anywhere.” Norway retorted shortly. Scandinavia rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Whatever, it’s your responsibility then.” After that, they fell silent for the long walk back to the house. When the arrived, there were two boys fighting in the living room, an array of things scattered across the floor as if they’d been knocked off of tables or shelves. “Aye, knock it off ya little shits! ‘For ya destroy the whole damn house!” Scandinavia shouted, startling the two boys who did as they were told with a fair amount of reluctance. “I don’t know how many times I’ve told ya, take the fighting outside.” Scandinavia chided, smacking each of them up the backside of the head before gesturing over to the siblings. “This is Norway and the tiny thing in his arms is Iceland. They’re gonna be staying here from now on. If ya kill them, make sure to do it outside or you’ll be cleaning up the floors. They can have the room next to yours.” Scandinavia stated, pointing at Denmark before walking off again. The wild haired one came up to Norway with an amused grin. “I’m Denmark, and that’s Sweden over there, he doesn’t talk much. Welcome to the family. Dad’s a little gruff but you’ll get used to him.” He stated matter-of-factly, his voice at what was not generally considered an appropriate level for indoor speaking. Norway looked over at Sweden and raised an eyebrow, gesturing at Denmark. “Is he always this loud?” To which he received a nod and a short “Ja”, prompting him to just sigh and shake his head. “Great…” Norway muttered with a sigh, receiving an indignant “Hey!” from Denmark.