Cravings: Licorice (Iceland)

“…Licorice!”

                The delicious candy was calling your name, so you grabbed your bike and rode the few blocks down to your favorite Nordic themed restaurant. The kind of licorice you were craving was special and directly imported from Iceland, and the only place that would import it was this place.

                Arriving, you hopped off your bike and tethered it to a nearby bike rack. Looking up at the sign hung directly above, on the moderately sized building, you mused yourself with reading the different names of the restaurant. You figured that the owners had agreed on a name for the restaurant, but couldn’t decide what language to put in. On the sign, there was Restaurant Hanatamago written in equal size in five different languages. You chuckled and walked inside.

                “Hei (y/n)!” A blonde man with a Finnish accent shouted from across the dining area. You waved and he skipped lightly over to a table to take an order. You walked up to the counter to find a very large man hanging a painting on the wall behind it. You reached over the counter as far as you could and tapped his shoulder. The blonde slowly turned around and stared at you with calm blue eyes.

                “Hey Berwald!” You cheered.

                “Hallå (Y/n)…” He mumbled quietly and then turned to the right and went through a door leading to the kitchen. You had been here a lot, he knew exactly what you were here for.

     Berwald came out shortly after, carrying a moderately sized bag of Icelandic Black Licorice. It had ammonium chloride in it, to add an extra punch. You accepted the bag cheerily and handed Berwald the money in exact change. You then waved at Tino, the Finnish man, and Berwald, and left.

    You ripped the bag open as soon as the door shut behind you. Popping a piece in your mouth, you cringed at the salty taste. You then grabbed your bike and started walking home, hoping that the long walk would let you savor the flavor longer.

    Standing at the first cross walk, waiting for a particularly slow car to turn right, you saw a man across the street. He had silvery blonde hair and violet eyes. He also had a puffin siting on his shoulder, but that’s not why you noticed him. You noticed him because he was staring directly at you. To be more specific, he was staring at the piece of black licorice hanging out of your mouth. The man whispered something at the bird, who nodded and took flight. You watched the puffin intently as he soared over the road and landed promptly on your shoulder.

    “Hiya Toots, how’s it hangin’?” You jumped a bit when the puffin spoke to you.

    “Fine, I guess…” The bowtie bearing bird just blinked at you.

    “What’s your name, pretty lady?” Was the bird trying to flirt with you?

    “Uh… (Y/n).”

    “Nice name. Mine is Mr. Puffin, I prefer Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All, but Mr. Puffin is nice too.”

    “That’s interesting…” You and Mr. Puffin made some small chat for a little bit. It wasn’t until you felt a light tap on your unoccupied shoulder that you noticed the road had cleared and the puffin’s owner had crossed.

    “Hello…” The silver haired man said, his violet eyes now focusing on the licorice bag in your hand.

    “Um… Hi…” The situation got slightly awkward after that. The two of you stood there staring at each other and shifting uncomfortably. Mr. Puffin broke the silence.

    “Yo Emil, this is my pal (Y/n).” Emil looked up at your face for the first time and blushed out of embarrassment. He looked away, hoping to hide his blush, and stuck out his hand.

    “I-it’s nice t-to meet you, (Y/n).” You giggled and took his hand and shook it.

    “Nice to meet you too, Emil.” You noticed him glance down at the licorice bag in your hand. “Want a piece?”

    He jumped and gave you a surprised look, his blush increased slightly. “No that’s fine… I was on my way to get my own.” On hearing this you beamed and whipped you and your bike around.

    “Cool, I’ll go with.” You began to walk back towards the restaurant and Emil just followed you quietly. “So, got any hobbies?” It was true that you wanted to get some more licorice, but the main reason you decided to go was to get to know Emil. Tino had told you once that only you and one other person ordered black licorice from his shop, and you thought that person must be awesome.  ‘I never imagined he’d be this cute though…’

    “Not really…”Emil trailed off and Mr. Puffin rolled his eyes. The bird decided to take this conversation into his own wings.

    “So (Y/n), Babe, what do you like?”

    “Huh?”

    “What do you like? Food, games, anything!”

    “Oh, um, I like licorice and (f/f), and my favorite game is (g/n).”

    “That’s sweet Babe, Emil likes that stuff too.” You weren’t sure if the puffin was trying to talk Emil up or something, but he was kind of failing. The audible face palm from Emil confirmed your suspicion.

    “Cool, what else does Emil like?” A sly smile formed on your face. You figured you’d play along. Mr. Puffin then spewed out a long list of things Emil likes. You listened intently, chuckling every so often when something particularly embarrassing came up.

    “…Oh, and the fridge!” Emil nearly fell over and you stopped in your tracks.

    “The fridge?” The puffin nodded. “As in a refrigerator?”

    “Yep! You should see him when he-“ Emil swiped the bird off of your shoulder and covered his beak.

    “That’s quite enough. You better stop telling people about that before I turn you into cushion stuffing.” This was the first time you noticed his accent.

    “Hey Emil, where are you from?” Emil looked up at you and let Mr. Puffin go. The bird flew up, landed on your shoulder, and began to groom his ruffled feathers.

    “Reykjavik originally.” Your eyes widened and you smiled brightly. “What?”

    “An awesome Icelandic getting awesome Icelandic licorice.” He blushed and looked away.

    “You don’t make any sense.”

    “I get that a lot.” The two of you arrived at the restaurant and you put your bike back in the same spot it was before. You then followed Emil inside the restaurant.

    “Hei Emil… and (Y/n)!” Tino chimed, he was standing at the counter this time.

    “Halló Tino,” Emil tone was near monotone and then became slightly panicked. “Where’s Lukas?”

    “He went to go pick up some butter at the store.” Tino then gained a curious look on his face. “Anyways, why are you here? You don’t work today. Oh, and when did you meet (Y/n)?”

    “I ran out of licorice at home, I met her just now, and she followed me here.” You waived at Tino ecstatically and he chuckled.

    “Oh, okay!” He then walked through the door behind him to fetch the licorice. Before he could get all the way through you shouted at him.

    “Hey Tino, could I please get another bag? I’m almost out.” Half of the bag you bought this morning was gone.

    “Sure,” Tino disappeared and Emil turned and stared at you, then glanced at the window behind you, then back to you.

    “Shit.”

    “Excuse me?”

    “Nothing…” You stuck your tongue out at him and he blinked. Tino then came out with two bags of licorice.

    “Here we are!” Tino’s cheeriness was evident as always. Emil pulled out his wallet and handed Tino some money. He then grabbed both bags of licorice and threw one to you, muttered a ‘thanks’ to Tino and walked towards the exit.

    “Huh?” You were very confused as he stood at the door and stared at you expectantly.

    “Are you coming?”

    “But what about…” He rolled his eyes and stomped over to you. He then grabbed your wrist and began pulling you out of the building.

    “I already paid for you. Now let’s go, we’re going on a walk.”

    “Huh?” The two of you left the building and turned right, the opposite direction of your bike.

    “W- what about my bike?” He looked back at you like you were stupid, but didn’t stop.

    “We’ll get it later.”

    “Is there something wrong?” There had to be, since he had broken into a light jog.

    “I’ll explain later.” He dragged you a few more blocks and then darted into an alleyway. He let go of your wrist and leaned up against the brick building behind him, trying to catch his breath. “Sorry *gasp* about *gasp* that.” You looked at him questioningly.

    “What was that about?” He caught his breath and stood up straight.

    “I thought I saw Lukas.”

    “Why did that make you run and drag me along?”

    “He saw me talking to you. He would have held it over my head and bombarded you with weird questions.” He shivered and began looking around frantically. “Do you know where Mr. Puffin is?” As if on cue, the mobster-accented bird fluttered down and landed on your shoulder. He must have fallen off your shoulder when the two of you started running.

    “What’s the big idea runnin’ so fast like that?” You sighed and apologized to the bird while Emil just glared. The platinum blonde then grabbed your hand and led you out of the alley.

    “Where are we going now?” You said, looking up at a lightly blushing platinum blonde.

    “To get your bike, and then I’ll walk you home.”

    “Oh... ok!” You would have said no, but you enjoyed his company. You matched his walking pace so he wasn’t dragging you anymore and then ran your free hand through your hair. ‘Wait… free hand…’ You jumped and started to panic visibly. Emil noticed and looked at you questioningly. “I dropped my licorice when we were running!” His eyes went wide and he began to walk quickly down the street, scanning the sidewalk for the bag.

     

    ~~~~~~~~~Timeskip Teehee!~~~~~~~~~~~

                    The two of you couldn’t find your bag of licorice, but Emil took you back to the restaurant, which he called Veitingastaðurinn Hanatamago, and bought you another bag. He then walked you home. The two of you exchanged phone numbers, aka you stole his phone and he passively tried to get it back, and said goodbye. The next day, he showed up on your doorstep, saying you owed him for the licorice, and made you go on a walk with him. You didn’t mind and went with him willingly. From then on, he came and got you at the same time every day. Eventually, the walks evolved into trips to his house or the store. Once, you even got to stay the night at his house! That was night met his family and found out he was a country.

    You had already met Tino and Berwald and you already knew they were pretty cool. Lukas was the first new encounter you had at Emil’s house. You weren’t sure what to think of him. The first thing he said to you after you shook his hand was asking you if I was going to call him big brother like Emil. When you questioned him about what he meant, he began to answer but a bright red Emil pulled him away and began arguing with him. That’s when a very drunk Mathias burst in. He then went on ranting about random drunken things until he spotted you and Lukas’s friend, who had also stayed the night, and then told you everything. Emil’s reaction was rather neutral, but the rest of the boy’s reactions were hilarious. Your favorite Icelandic was really the personification of Iceland. That’s nice.

    It had been a few months since you found out. You thought that he might push you away after you found out about his “big secret,” but, in fact, the two of you have just gotten closer. Your only problem was the fact that he would never age or die, but you would. It felt unfair that, one day, you would have to leave him for good. Today, you and Emil were on the usual walk. Autumn was on full blast and all of the trees in the park the two of you were walking in gave off the impression of a blazing inferno.

    “Hey Emil?” You asked, swinging a shopping bag in your right hand and holding his hand with your left.

    “Yeah?” He didn’t look at you, but you knew you had his full attention.

    “Where are we going today?” You had asked him this question almost every day. Today Emil had taken you to pick up some licorice and then to the park.

    “It’s a surprise.”

    “Of course it is.” This conversation wasn’t new, but it didn’t feel old. In fact, it felt rather comfortable and refreshing. Every day, the two of you would repeat, not just one, but multiple conversations, and feel as though you learned something new each day. Today, however, was slightly different. The first difference you noticed, albeit not a new one, was the lack of Mr. Puffin. He didn’t come on walks that much anymore. Something about not wanting to be a “cock block” or something like that. The second, and most worrying, difference, was the way Emil was acting. While he was, for the most part, normal, there seemed to be something on his mind and it was starting to bother you. “Is there something wrong?”

    “Nope,” he then stopped. “We’re here.” You looked around and saw the bench that the two of you usually sat on, and the lake you usually stared at for hours. With the fall colors, the lake looked rather nice.

    “M’kay,” the two of you sat on the bench and watched the lake for a while. You then pulled a bag of licorice out of the shopping bag, which was on your lap, and opened it. “Wanna piece?” You asked, offering the bag to him. He took a piece of licorice out of the bag and munched on it. You did the same and soon there was only one piece left. Emil took notice before you did.

    “You can have it.” You just shook your head and he sighed. “How about we split it.” You nodded and split the candy piece in half. You held up his half to him and ate your half quietly. When you finished, you noticed that Emil still hadn’t taken his piece. You looked up at him and blushed. Emil was staring at you with a huge blush on his face. He realized you caught him and took a ragged breath. He then whispered “now or never,” he then grabbed the back of your head and kissed you.

    Needless to say, you were a bit shocked, but you kissed back happily. The two of you pulled away quickly and blushed heavily. Both of you decided that the ground was more interesting than anything else and just stared at it. Emil was the one to break the silence.

    “Hey (Y/n)?”

    “Yeah?”

    “I really like you…”

    “I really like you too…”

    “No, I didn’t say that right. I love you, (Y/n).” You looked up at him and smiled a small smile.

    “I love you too, Emil.” You leaned over and kissed his cheek and he looked up at you. You then rested your head on his shoulder and started humming a sad and familiar tune. He smiled and rested his head on yours. The two of you looked out on the lake for a few hours before heading home.

    ‘This may be a short lived romance, at least for her, but at least we can share this moment.”

    _---_---_---_---Epilogue---_---_---_---_

    You and Emil arrived back at your apartment around sunset. As you were turning to say goodbye, something biggish and covered in feathers tackled your face.

    “(Y/n)! Babe, how are ya doin’? Did Emil confess to ya yet?” You just giggled and nodded while Mr. Puffin got comfortable on your shoulder. “’Bout time too. He popped the question right?”

    “Question?” He couldn’t be talking about marriage, you just found out about his feelings today! Though, to say you’d turn him down would be a lie.

    “Don’t give her the wrong idea!” Emil shouted at the bird who just chuckled and shook his head.

    “So you didn’t.” Mr. Puffin then pulled a small bottle out of his bowtie with his beak. He then gestured for you to take it. The bottle was clear glass and was filled with a glowing, magenta liquid. You looked up at the bird.

    “What’s this?” The puffin looked over at Emil.

    “Yeah, tough guy, what is it?” Emil blushed and looked off to the side.

    “It’s Liquid Immortality… A friend Lukas’, Arthur, perfected it awhile back.” You glanced down at the bottle.

    “So, if I drink this, I’ll become immortal?” Emil nodded and looked you straight in the eye.

    “Yes, but the process is extremely painful and it will take over a week for any of the pain to subside.”

    “So, what was your question?” Emil looked off to the side and blushed.

    “I wanted to know if you’d be willing to drink it and stay with me… I know we just confessed and all but…”

    “Emil,” you cut him off and kissed him lightly on the lips. You then popped open the bottle and downed it in one gulp.

    ‘Love tastes like licorice.’