Authors Note: Hello guys! This is my first proper fanfiction, so you're going to have to be kind with me. I'm still learning the ropes! I'm completely obsessed with anything Scandinavian, and DenNor and SuFin are my OTPs~The title is from a song by one of my favourite bands, Choir Of Young Believers, who happen to be from Copenhagen. In fact, every chapter will open with a quote from a song by a Nordic band. I pride myself in my knowledge of Nordic music, hehe. Anyway, this is a DenNor slash fic set in some made up ski village in Norway. I'm using these human names:

Mathias Køhler - Denmark

Lukas Bondevik - Norway

Emil Bondevik - Iceland

I hope you enjoy and can give me some reviews or something, I'd really appreciate it. This story is my baby.

Please turn back if you can't handle slash, the F word, or kissing/petting/sexy times later on. I've rated it T for now, but I'm not so familiar with the rating system yet.

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, or anything to do with it. In fact, the only thing I own is this story. Oh well.

Chapter One

'So love me mother, and love me father' (Sloom, Of Monsters And Men)

'I'm home!' Mathias called absent-mindedly as he strolled in through the front door, slamming it carelessly behind him. He heard a faint call of greeting from his father upstairs, who he had probably caught in the middle of an unscheduled nap. His first stop was the cupboard, where he pulled out a bowl and a box of cereal before seating himself at the breakfast table and pouring up a large portion. School always made him hungry. As he munched on his afternoon snack, he heard his dad slowly trudging down the stairs. It seemed he was right about the nap. The older man entered the room, rubbing his eyes and sighing, before sitting down next to Mathias.

'How was school?'

'Usual. Have a nice nap?'

His dad chuckled softly before forcing his face to take on a more serious look. Mathias was too engrossed in his eating to notice.

'Son, we need to talk.'

Mathias looked up from his busy eating curiously. Dad rarely seemed so... bothered by anything. This wasn't going to be good.

'Look, I know you're not a huge fan of Signe, and I know you two don't always get along perfectly, but I need you to be with me on this.'

Mathias growled softly and returned his gaze to the bowl in front of him while angrily stabbing his spoon at nothing in particular. He felt irritated simply at the mention of that wretched woman's name. He hated to think what was coming next.

'Signe and I... We want to move. We're serious about each other and we want to get a house together. We've been looking at a little town in Norway and we really think this is-'

'No.'

Mathias' dad gazed at his son in despair. He had somehow hoped that this would be easy. He had kid himself that the teenage boy would understand, that he would listen to his old dad. The look of utter rage and sorrow in those blue eyes told him different. It hurt him. He loved his son more than anything, but the boy was so stubborn, so unwilling to cooperate with anything that involved his father's 'new woman'.

'No way am I moving to a different country with you and that fucking whore. No. Way.'

Mathias was starting to stand up now. His hands clenched into fists. He wasn't sure whether he was going to break something or break down and cry. Everything was teetering, on edge, about to plummet into something deep and dark and hopeless. His brain whirled, trying to process what was happening. Norway? His dad wanted him to move to Norway with that woman? That woman he had simply replaced his mom with? How dare he? How could he? Did he not care about his son? Was he deliberately trying to hurt him?

His father flew up from his seat, his own hands clenched into fists too.

'Don't you DARE talk about Signe that way. You know she's a perfectly nice woman and you have no reason to dislike her like you make it so obvious that you do.'

'No reason? Do you even remember mom? Have you forgotten her already? You're just replacing her with some bitch! That woman will never be my mother, so stop pretending!'

With that, Mathias burst out of the room, grabbing his coat as he stormed outside into the early autumn air. Fuming, he stuffed his headphones to his ears and started to walk. He strode past his bike. Though he was known to cycle absolutely everywhere, today he needed to blow off some steam. He made no conscious decision on where to go; he let the rhythm of the music dictate his movements. Hard rock blaring in his ears, hands still clenched into fists, we walked and walked. Eventually he found himself surrounded by trees, towering giants above him. Rage still coursing through him, he seized a branch and snapped it, before hurling both parts into the undergrowth with an angry cry. The sound startled a couple of small birds from the brush, sending them twirling high into the dull, empty sky. Standing in silence for a moment, the world seemed to stand still. Feelings whirling uncontrollably around his mind, Mathias could hold it in no longer.

He put his hands to his eyes, but nothing could stop the tears that were now streaming down his face. He stumbled back and fell down against a large tree, sobbing violently, not holding anything back. This was a safe place. No one would see him here.

As the tears started to cease, the Danish teenager finally realised exactly where he was. Gazing up through the canopy, he could almost hear her.

'Mathias! Get down! Please, honey, I don't want you to hurt yourself.'

He felt the tears rising once more. That deep crawling hole within threatened to swallow him as it had ever since that night a year ago. A whole year now. A whole year without her. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the bark of the tree, tears running silently down his face. Somewhere, far away, the sun set. Mathias took no notice.

It was dusk when Mathias was awoken from his doze by the scream of heavy metal blaring from his trouser pocket. Still dazed and unsure of his surroundings, he pulled the phone out and answered it hesitantly.

'Urghh... Hello?'

'Er, hey man, you alright? Don't sound too good there...'

'Yo Gilbert! I'm fine dude, no worries. What's up?' said Mathias, immediately straightening up. He was glad to hear from his friend.

'Busy being awesome, as usual! Hey, I just wanted to let you know that we're totally having a party tonight at my place. My parents are outta town and my brother got a hold of a whole load of beer! It's already underway man, you gonna turn up?'

'Dude, I'm there. Just give me a few minutes.'

'Alright, but hurry, my awesomeness will not wait for you, and neither will this beer...' Mathias could hear laughing and cheerful noise in the background. It sounded welcoming. It sounded like an escape. It sounded like somewhere he wanted to be.

He gathered himself quickly and returned to the house. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to walk all the way over to Gilbert's. The Beilschmidts lived too far away for that. However, it would only take him half an hour on his bike. From outside, Mathias could tell that Signe had come over. That familiar, ugly car was parked in the drive and he recognised her hated shoes outside the front door. He really did not fancy going inside. Instead, he pulled his phone out and sent his dad a quick text.

'Sleeping over at Gil's - M.'

That would do. The good natured teen would usually feel bad about letting his father worry so much, but after the earlier events of the day he felt no remorse. In his opinion, dad freaking well deserved it.

Mathias enjoyed the chill of the evening as he cycled quickly through alleys and down dimly lit roads. He knew the city very well. After all, he had lived in this area, that house, for his entire life. That's what made his father's proposition seem even more ridiculous. He had never lived anywhere but Copenhagen. What was he expected to do? No. He loved this city too much to just leave. The stars were starting to come out, and breathing in that cool night air helped to relax Mathias after the earlier events of the day. His mind felt clearer. His chest felt lighter. He felt like he could go on. Just ignore what was going on around him and act like normal. It was a skill he prided himself in.

Gilbert Beilschmidt's house was enormous. He knew that the family was wealthy, and he had been to the house many times before, but it still baffled him how they had obtained so much money. From what Mathias could tell, they didn't have particularly significant professions. Wasn't Gil's old man a history teacher? He didn't really know, and frankly, it didn't really matter. He parked his bike swiftly. He could feel the music pulsing in the very ground beneath his feet. He could only just hear the sounds of happy singing and shouting from presumably already drunken teenagers. The front door was wide open, and he was immediately greeted with a wave of incredible heat and the overpowering smell of humans. That was soon forgotten as someone handed him a beer and he bobbed happily further into the party. There were people all around him, leaning on walls, making out, dancing up against each other. He could occasionally make out a familiar face or two, but mostly these people were strangers.

'Heeeyyyy Mathias!' He felt the hard slap across his back and turned quickly, only to be met by the grinning face and startling red eyes of Gilbert Beilschmidt. Accompanying the albino were his two best friends, Francis and Antonio. Francis was blowing kisses and winking at a group of scantily clad girls in the corner of the room while Antonio had his arms around the waist of a rather angry looking Lovino Vargas, who was babbling something incomprehensible in Italian, but not struggling out of the Spaniard's grip.

'Hey guys. Great party. Great beer!' He took a big swig of the bottle and held it up as if trying to demonstrate its greatness.

Gilbert nodded. 'The beer is awesomely imported from Germany, home of the best beer in the world.' He smirked at Mathias mischievously, but the other teenager only shrugged.

'Come on man, everyone knows Danish beer is-'

He got no further than that, for at that moment he was yanked backwards by his collar in a tight, strangling grip. Choking slightly and scrambling for footing, he could do nothing but be dragged backwards, before he was sent flying out the front door. Lying in the gravel of the Beilschmidt driveway, he rolled over slowly. His father was towering over him, with the most menacing expression he had ever seen the man wear.

'What the hell are you doing here? Are you an idiot? We've been looking for you all night. You foolish, selfish boy. Get up.'

Mathias was yanked up off the ground before he could even move, and was just as quickly shoved into the back seat of his dad's car. He noticed a crowd watching the drama from the doorway of the house as the car rolled away. He was shaking slightly. He has never seen his dad like this before, and it scared him. As the car drove away into the darkness, the two occupants remained silent, until finally Mathias' dad sighed, cleared his throat, and spoke.

'Son- I... I'm sorry. I overreacted back there. It's just- Signe and I, we... We want you to be happy. I was going to tell you earlier, before you stormed out. We're going to Norway. Just on holiday for now, nothing long term yet. We're going to stay in that little town for a month, see how it goes. If we like it, we move there. Ok?'

Mathias stared out of the window, stunned into silence. He really had no clue how to deal with the situation. He was always that cheerful boy who was never fazed by anything, but somehow this had left him speechless. He didn't want to go to Norway, but right now his dad scared him so much he didn't dare disagree. Instead, he just continued to watch streetlamps whizz by in the night. His dad sighed deeply and silence settled on the car once more. After a few minutes, his father spoke again.

'We're leaving tomorrow.'

Mathias' eyes widened in shock as he turned to look at his father, or rather the back of his father' head. Tomorrow? His heart seemed to flip in his ribcage. His breathing grew tight. He couldn't speak. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't think. How? Why? Tomorrow? Today seemed like some impossible, never-ending soap opera of life changing statements. He could still hardly believe the original statement.

No one spoke for the remainder of the journey. Mathias never acknowledged a word his father had said- something that gave him a sort of rebellious satisfaction. He spent the rest of the trip thinking about the events of the day, considering what his father had said.

Norway.

That night he could not sleep. Despite being totally exhausted, the thoughts racing round his mind made dozing difficult. Eventually, he fell into a light, dream-filled sleep full of mist and unknowing.