Iceland rubbed his eyes, but it didn't help a bit. His vision was still hazy and it certainly didn't help his growing headache. He rested his head in his hands, staring at the many unfinished documents sprawled on his desk. He didn't have time to wallow in fatigue. He picked up one of the papers from his economic leaders and scanned it thoroughly. He felt his stomach turn at the words. Iceland brushed his silver hair away from his eyes nervously as he let the news sink in. He could feel the blood in his face drain away.

That was a lot of numbers.

Debt certainly wasn't pretty.

He picked up his pen with fumbling fingers.

BAM. BAM. BAM.

Iceland dropped his pen in shock, sending black ink droplets onto the paper. He growled and stood up abruptly. He immediately regretted the rash action, his head spun and he pressed his palms against his eyes.

Who in the world was at the door at this time? He glanced at the clock; it was ten thirty in the morning. He tried to remember if he arranged any meetings with anyone today. Nope, definitely not. Nevertheless, the constant, loud banging of the door continued downstairs. Iceland swallowed and made his way down the stairs. He threw open the front door, getting hit with a cold gust of wintry wind.

"He-e-ey, Iceland!"

No. It couldn't be.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Iceland growled.

Denmark entered the house without answering, stomping his feet on the doormat to rid his boots of snow. He flashed a grin at the youngest Nordic.

"Norge is coming sooner or later. I told him to meet me here," Denmark said lazily, kicking off his boots and jumping onto one of the ornate chairs in the sitting room.

Iceland swallowed down the urge to stamp hard on Denmark's feet. "Why, may I ask?" he said.

"What? We can't visit our little brother?" Denmark said.

"I'm not your brother."

Denmark ignored the remark. His blue eyes studied Iceland's gray face. "You look horrible."

"Why thank you. It took me a week or so to look like this, but I think it was worth it."

"You've been like this for a week? Why don't you take a break or something?" Denmark commented.

"Did you come here to criticize my way of living?"

"No," said Denmark. "Got any food? I'm famished."

"There's hákarl," Iceland said shortly.

Denmark made a face. "That rotten shark meat? What do you want to do, poison me?"

"Alas, my schemes have been foiled. Back to the drawing board, then."

Denmark rolled his eyes. Iceland leaned on the doorway, closing his eyes. Denmark furrowed his eyebrows and leaned forward.

"Hey, you falling asleep on me?"

"You're boring enough, but unfortunately, not quiet enough."

Denmark teasingly kicked Iceland in the shin. Iceland stumbled back, glaring at the older man.

"Look who's a bright ray of sunshine," Denmark remarked.

A nasty retort almost slipped out of Iceland's mouth, but he bit it back. He felt a cough crawl up his throat and he tried to tighten his breath to prevent it from coming out. If Denmark found out he was sick, no doubt the teasing would be taken to another level.

"Are you breathing?" Denmark asked, frowning. Iceland clenched his teeth, shoving the cough down his throat and holding his breath. However, the need of oxygen overtook him and Iceland gasped for breath, releasing the hacking coughs from his throat.

Denmark got out of his seat as Iceland coughed violently. He awkwardly thumped Iceland's back, a little harder than he intended. "Come on, kid. Breathe."

Should I breathe? I didn't think that was a good idea at first, Iceland thought sardonically, but he had no air to say it. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and straightened up as if nothing happened.

"What's wrong with you?" Denmark asked bluntly.

"Too much essence of a Dane, I suppose. I heard it was hazardous for the health."

"Geez, if Norge sees you like this, he'll freak."

"He wouldn't have to see me like this if some idiotic Danish wasn't so impulsive."

"I wouldn't be so impulsive if you'd at least drop a call on me or something. For all I know, you could've been dead in your bed."

"What would you do if I really was dead in my bed?" Iceland muttered, heading towards the stairs.

"Invite Norway to come over and scare him, I guess. Hey, where are you going?"

"I actually still have work to do," Iceland shot back as he climbed towards the second floor. "And I need something for my headache."

"Do I really cause that much stress on you?" Denmark quipped.

Iceland steadied himself on the smooth banister. Funny, his legs felt rather shaky. His mouth was very dry, without a bit of saliva. There was a heavy pounding in his head and even though he rested it against the wall, it wouldn't leave. He suddenly felt extremely weak. He couldn't hear anything except his own severe pulse hammering in his ears. And then everything became nothing.

Denmark was following Iceland up the stairs when he noticed the young nation swaying. He thought nothing of it, passing it off as clumsiness. Then Iceland stopped in the middle of his tracks and leaned against the wall.

"Hey, Ice," Denmark said with uncertainty. "What's up?"

Iceland didn't respond. His grip on the banister slackened and Denmark knew with dread what would happen next. Iceland fell back and Denmark yelled out in horror, hurriedly caught him in his arms.

"Ice! Oh geez—Ice!" he cried. Iceland remained motionless. Denmark shifted Iceland into a more comfortable position, his mind nearly bursting.

"Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot," Denmark muttered, spinning in the spot, absolutely clueless on what to do. "Norge is going to kill me—Ice! Come on, buddy, wake up." He shook Iceland slightly. The younger nation's silver head lolled over Denmark's arm, showing no sign of waking up.

Without warning, the front door flung open, and Norway entered the house. He stared at Denmark on the stairs. Denmark could only stare back, carrying Iceland, wildly searching for an adequate response to this strange scene.

Norway's dull eyes suddenly sharpened into daggers. Denmark gritted his teeth.

"You." Norway said blankly.

"Uh, me?" Denmark said weakly.

Before he knew it, Norway kicked Denmark hard in the groin. Denmark snarled in pain and if Iceland wasn't in his arms, he probably dropped to the ground. Norway's fingers wrapped tightly around Denmark's collar and forced him closer.

"Watch it! I've got delicate cargo here!" Denmark snapped.

"What did you do to him?" Norway said, his voice strained with hidden fury.

"I didn't do anything! No—get away from me—I don't want you kicking me again!" Denmark scooted away from Norway's range.

"What do you think you're doing?" Norway hissed.

"Escaping you!"

"You're treating Iceland like a rag doll! Why is he passed out?"

"I don't know! I think he's sick or something, he said he had a headache and a major cough and he looked like shit—"

"You're useless." Norway swiftly took Iceland from Denmark. "He's got a fever. Really, Denmark, you should know that if someone's sick, you put them to bed or a couch or something, not just stand there."

"I wasn't just standing," contradicted Denmark hotly as Norway headed towards Iceland's bedroom. "We were going up the stairs, he just fell down without warning, I caught him, and then you burst in and start attacking my vital regions."

Norway shuddered at the thought of what would happen if Denmark wasn't behind Iceland to catch him when he fell. He kicked open the bedroom door and laid Iceland on his bed. Iceland's face was extremely ashen and he had difficulty breathing. Norway felt a pit of fear in his stomach.

"What do you think?" Denmark said in a low voice. "Internal conflicts? Just a flu?"

Norway didn't speak. Denmark didn't exactly expect him to. Norway stared at his younger brother, his lips pursed.

"Anybody home?" Denmark said softly. He sighed when Norway refused to speak and he wandered towards Iceland's desk. The kid really did have a lot of work to do, by the looks of it. There were papers all over the place, scattered across the wood. Denmark was about to move on when a certain letter caught his eye. He cast a nervous glance at Iceland; the kid was passed out, he wouldn't know if Denmark took a peek or not. Denmark quietly lifted the paper from the desk and read it.

"Holy cow," Denmark murmured, running his hand through his spiky hair.

Norway looked up sharply. "What is it?"

"I uh, I think I know why Iceland's all beat up," Denmark said, waving the letter.

"What does it say?" Norway demanded testily.

"His major banks collapsed," said Denmark. "And they've got debts—geez, that's a lot of numbers. More than nine trillion—holy shit—more than nine trillion krónur of external debt!"

Norway stood up immediately. He snatched the letter from Denmark's hands and drank in its contents. His eyes widened and he felt a chill crawl up his skin.

"That's a shitload of money," Denmark added.

Norway threw the paper back into Denmark's face. He spun around and returned all his attention to Iceland, never leaving his side.

Dear goodness, his head hurt. Iceland desperately need a drink of water. Where was he, anyways? He couldn't remember where he last was. There was something about Denmark; surely that was a nightmare. He had enough trouble without the loud country hanging around.

His eyelids felt heavy. Heck, they felt like they were glued closed. Where was he? It felt warm here, and soft too. He could hear voices; that was strange. His leader was supposed to be away and those blasted economic advisors were supposed to be dealing with that mess they made. Iceland forced his eyes open, squinting in the bright light.

Denmark and Norway's faces were right in front of him.

"Oh, no," Iceland moaned.

"He's awake! Took him long enough!" Denmark's voice exclaimed.

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious," Norway said monotonously.

Iceland struggled to sit up, but Denmark's large hands shoved him back down onto the pillow.

"No moving, or you'll just pass out again."

"I passed out?" Iceland mumbled.

"How many fingers am I holding up, Ice?"

"He doesn't have a concussion, Denmark, he's just sick," Norway pointed out.

"Maybe he needs a couple spirits to set him right again."

"You're an idiot. He hasn't even reached the legal drinking age for his own government yet."

"The poor lamb."

Iceland groaned before coughing into his sheets. Not these two. Anyone but these two. Especially not put together under the same roof.

"Go home," he commanded.

"Hell, no," Denmark chortled.

"I'm serious."

"So are we."

"We?" Norway raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, 'we.' What, don't want to play housewife with me?" Denmark shot back.

"You're as helpful as a walrus. I can manage perfectly on my own, thanks," Norway retorted.

"I can manage perfectly on my own as well," Iceland snapped.

"Like I'm going to leave you alone with Ice," Denmark said loudly. "Who knows what kind of things you'll do to him when you're all by yourselves?"

"You're vulgar," Norway exclaimed disgustedly.

"You—"

They were both interrupted by Iceland's violent coughing fit. He buried his head inside his blankets in attempts to muffle the coughs. Norway rubbed Iceland's back, trying to comfort his brother.

"Get him a glass of water," Denmark told Norway.

"Why don't you? I don't trust you. Look what happened when I left you and Ice alone."

"I told you. I didn't do anything! He just fainted! It was involuntary!"

While the two nations were fighting amongst themselves, Iceland quietly slipped out of his bed. There was no time to waste. He couldn't spend his days in bed while debts piled up and Glintir was acting shady.

Bad idea. Right when his feet touched the floor, an overwhelming wave of horrible weakness washed over him. His head felt like it would fall off and he gripped tight on the edge of his bed, attempting to take in deep breaths without vomiting or coughing. Panic coursed through his nerves. Was the economic situation that severe?

"Oi. Get back here, you." Denmark grabbed Iceland's forearm and pulled him back into bed.

"I have things to do," Iceland protested.

"You think you can do it yourself?" Norway pointed out.

"Of course," Iceland said hotly.

"I don't know if you can," Denmark said. He threw the paper onto Iceland's lap. Iceland's violet eyes widened at the sight of it.

"Why must you snoop?" Iceland muttered.

Norway sat down on the bedside. "Why must you keep secrets?"

"I was going to fix it myself," Iceland sighed. He leaned against the headboard.

"You seriously think you can do this on your own?" Denmark said incredulously.

"Yes."

Denmark scoffed. "You're an idiot. Look at this mess. What happened?"

"I don't know!" Iceland cried. He felt a lump in his throat. "Too much happened! My banks become nationalized—economy drops—my people are livid! I usually let my leaders deal with finance but..." He felt tears of frustration in his eyes and became even more upset with himself. Goodness, what was wrong with him? Couldn't he keep his cool for one second? He buried his face in his hands and let out a muted shout of indignation. If he didn't feel so horrible he would punch out all his glass windows by now.

"Hey, kid, calm down," said Denmark genuinely. "Things happen all the time to everyone."

"But this is bad," Iceland mumbled. "My desk is piled with so much bad news."

Norway glanced over at the great stack of papers on Iceland's desk. He reached over to grab one of the papers. Iceland gasped in panic.

"Wait!" Iceland shouted. He tugged on Norway's sleeve to keep him from reaching the desk. "Don't read them—it's fine. Whatever. Nothing important."

Norway raised an eyebrow. "I'll have to find out sooner or later, won't I?"

"Yeah but—some of it's uh, different things," Iceland stammered. He cast a distressed glance at the forbidden papers on his desk, worrying about the possibilities if Norway read through all of them."Private. Shouldn't you guys go home?"

"Home? Are you kidding?" exclaimed Denmark. "We aren't going to leave you like this!"

Iceland's eyes grew wider and wider. "No. Don't tell me that you two are actually—"

"We're going to take care of you!" Denmark interrupted. He put an arm over Norway's shoulder. "Just think of us as your parents, Ice."

This wasn't good.

My first multi-chapter Hetalia fanfiction! This is going to be based off of Iceland's economic crisis, where a lot happened. I will probably not stick to the chronological order of events in real life for the sake of a good story. It'll have some humorous aspects, but I did some research on this subject and from what I got, there's going to be some pretty serious conflicts as well. Please review!