Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hi! I'm glad you clicked on this fanfic! But before you start to read this I'll make a few things about the setting, characters, and au so hopefully any confusion that isn't really mentioned is cleared up.

⭐~First of all, the setting of this story takes place in the United States, even though Emil and Lukas are Icelandic and Norwegian in the NationVerse. I guess that the basic reason behind that is that their parents immigrated to the US when they were younger. They are still able to speak their native language(s) in theory, but I don't really have a reliable translator if I wanted to have them speak another language occasionally so I'll just stick to English for the dialogue in this story.

⭐️~Their parents are not present in this story, as Lukas is Emil's legal guardian as his older brother because their mom passed away when Emil was around 10 and Lukas around 20-23, taking full custody of his little brother because their dad is out of the picture and their other relatives live back in Europe and don't really have contact with them after they immigrated

⭐~The state they live in is not really specified, but the state that Lukas is doing travel nursing in is a few states away, so it's a bit far. The camp is around 2-ish hours away from Emil's house so it's a bit of a drive there, but not as far as where Lukas is going for those two weeks.

⭐~As far as ages, I'm going to say Emil is about 15 years old, with Lukas being around 25-28(?) Every one of the main characters in the summer camp are also 15 as well.

⭐~Also with alternate universes-this is a human au fanfic with human names used instead of nation names (well of course lol) as well as being a summer camp au.

💫Human names in case they're unclear💫

-Emil~Iceland

-Lukas~Norway

-Mariana~Seychelles

-Leon~HK

-Lili~Liechtenstein

(I think that's all but I'll add to here if I decide to add anymore characters from Hetalia to this)

Chapter Text

The soft summer breeze softly wafted through Emil's window, warming the room with the gentle summer breeze from outside as Emil lay on his bed, boredly scrolling on his phone. The sounds of younger children playing outside, with the sound of summer's heat buzzing from outside sounded faintly from outside the open window.

Emil groaned as he turned off his phone and flopped onto his stomach from his previous position laying on his back. He lie there, laying his head down on his pillow, burying his face and inhaling his own scent from constantly lying on it in the liveliness and light of day as well as the quiet and dark of night. He continued to lie there for a moment, before his peace was interrupted by his phone going off at the other end of the bed near his feet.

He begrudgingly rolled over and sat up from his position on his stomach, pushing his shoulders back to stretch out the crick in his upper spine and shoulders. He reached out his arm and leaned forward a bit to grab his phone from where he was sitting upwards with his legs crossed. He tapped the screen lightly with one of his thumbs, his phone lighting up to his lock screen. The top notification on the notification center section on his lock screen showed a text message from his older brother Lukas.

Emil tapped the message and unlocked his phone with face id, opening the messaging app on his phone. The most recent text sent from Lukas asking if he could come down from his room to "talk." Emil sighed, pondering about what this could mean from Lukas. Lukas rarely wanted to have serious talks with him, but he did, Emil did his best to avoid those kinds of conversations. Those conversations were always kind of personal and invading to him, even with Lukas being the most reserved person he knew.

Still, they weren't that bad...there was also no way to avoid them since Lukas would most likely barge into his room in about ten minutes from now if he ignored him. Emil uncrossed his legs, turning his hips swiftly with his legs slightly off the bed to swing himself over to the side of the bed. He stood up, putting one hand behind his neck and stretching the other arm out to the side, hearing a satisfying snap as he stretched out any cricks from lying down on his bed for the past few hours.

He did the same with his other arm, before pocketing his phone in his pant's pocket, striding over to his bedroom door and turning the knob, pushing it open and then closing it behind him as he stepped outside his room. He stepped down the stairs and stepped over to the living room, where he spotted Lukas curled up on one side of the couch, his entire body leaned onto the arm of the couch with his head propped up with his hand and a book opened in front of him on the top of the arm of the couch.

He seemed very interested in whatever he was reading, because he didn't look up once from his book as Emil entered the room. "So...what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Emil asked, a hint of awkwardness in his voice from having to get Lukas's attention for a conversation he called him down for. Lukas looked up from his book, a glazed look shone in his dark blue colored eyes as he looked up at Emil. "Ah yes, sit down Emil." Lukas replied, looking over to one of the singular chairs placed diagonally from the full couch he was laying on.

Emil stepped over to the chair, settling himself down onto it, leaning back into the cushions and putting his arms up onto the armrests. He looked back up at Lukas, who had now re-positioned himself to sit up, one leg crossed over the other, his hands folded together in his lap, a long with the book he was reading, which was now closed on the armrest of the couch.

So Emil...do you remember when I told you a few weeks ago that I would be gone for around two weeks because I'm needed for a travel nursing job a few states away?" Lukas asked, still having locked eye contact on Emil, a hint of hesitance in his voice. "Yeah...what about it?" Emil asked, looking down at the floor to avoid Lukas's staring.

Lukas paused for a second, fiddling with his hands before continuing; "Well about that..." Emil looked up from where his gaze was on the gray carpeted floor and gave Lukas a confused look. "What do you mean? I thought we agreed that I would just stay home by myself." Emil asked with a questioning tone. Lukas sighed before finally saying; "I signed you up for summer camp..." Emil's face contorted to a look of confusion. "Summer camp? Isn't that only for younger kids?" He questioned.

Lukas shook his head; "No, No- They also allow teenagers at many summer camps, even if they aren't camp counselors." Emil stood up, a frustrated look on his face. "You can't just dump me off at some stupid camp! You know perfectly well that I'm old enough to care for myself- I'm not a little kid anymore y'know..." Lukas stared at him with a guilty look, also standing up from the couch and stepping closer to Emil.

"Listen Emil- I know you're fully capable of taking care of yourself, I've seen it many times in you. However I do worry about your..." He trailed off for a moment, hesitating before finishing; "Social life..." Emil looked up at him with a confused look. "Why would you need to be worried about that?" He questioned.

Lukas paused for a moment, avoiding Emil's gaze. "Well... it's just that- you never go out or hang out with anyone outside of school most of the time. You're always in your room avoiding people- and that really worries me." Lukas said in a concerned tone. Emil looked down at the floor, realizing Lukas was partially right. Sure, he had a few friends of course, but they rarely hang out outside of school. Lukas does have a point, even if he may be half wrong... Emil thought before looking back up at his brother.

Lukas's eyes softened, before pulling Emil into an embrace, rubbing circles on his back as he did so. Emil froze for a second, before giving in and melting into his warmth. "It's only two weeks... I promise. It should be at least an alright experience..." Lukas sighed. He stopped rubbing Emil's back, resting his hands on the small of his back instead. "I know it's sometimes hard for you to introduce yourself and build friendships quickly...but I want you to put yourself out there- at least a little bit. For my sake at least?" Lukas spoke quietly, pulling out of the hug and giving Emil a small, reassuring smile.

Emil looked up at him again with a defeated look in his eyes. "Alright...if you say so." He sighed defeatedly. Lukas smiled softly and ruffled Emil's hair. "I'm getting a bit hungry, but I think we should get takeout today." Lukas stated. "You can pick the place this time." He added, taking out his phone, unlocking it and then looking at Emil expectantly for an answer. "Pizza ok?" Emil asked. "Yeah that's fine with me." Lukas replied, pulling up the website on his phone and ordering the pizza.

Emil walked over to the kitchen, starting to make his way back upstairs to his room, planning to stay there until dinner arrived. He then heard his name being called from the other room by Lukas. He turned on his heels and made his way back to the living room, making his way to see what Lukas had called him back into the room for.

Chapter Text

Emil turned back around, a bit confused as to why he had been called back after seemingly being excused from further conversation until the food arrived. He stepped back towards the living room and stood at the edge of the room, where the raised wooden floor of the kitchen stepped down onto the carpeted floor of the living room. "Yeah?" He called back.

Lukas was lying down on the larger couch of the room, his head propped up by two pillows, his hands folded together and resting on his abdomen. Lukas looked up at Emil from his spot on the couch. "I was thinking we could watch something while we wait for the food to arrive."

Emil looked at him with a questioning look. Usually he would have let me off just about now... Emil thought to himself as he stepped back into the living room and sat on the opposite side of the large couch. Lukas sat up and leaned his whole upper body forward to grab the remote that was placed on the coffee table near him.

He settled back down in his spot and turned the TV on, clicking the Netflix icon and scrolling through all the different shows and movies until he stopped on a puffin documentary. He focused back over to Emil. "Is this good? I remember you used to love puffins when you were little..." He reminisced, a small smile forming on his face. Emil looked down at his lap, a little embarrassed at the mention of his younger self. "Yeah, that's fine." He answered as nonchalantly as he could, making himself more comfortable by shifting to lean his entire body against the arm of the couch, bringing his legs to curl up by his chest in a fetal-like position.

They watched the documentary for about twenty minutes, the ambience being broken by the ring of the doorbell. Lukas leaned forward towards the coffee table again, stretching his arm out to press the pause button on the remote to pause it. He stood up and briskly walked out of the room and to the front door. Emil could faintly hear a short conversation between his brother and whoever was at the door.

He heard the front door shut after a moment, hearing the brisk footsteps of Lukas coming back near the room. The smell of fresh pizza wafting in his direction from where Lukas was in the kitchen. Emil could hear the sound of plates being taken out from the cabinet and being placed down on the counter. Lukas entered the living room, a box of pizza and two plates stacked on top of it in his arms.

"Pizza's arrived. we can eat it in here for today instead of the kitchen like we usually do though." He said, giving Emil a small smile, handing him a plate and putting the pizza box on the coffee table. Emil stood up and stepped over to the coffee table, grabbing a slice of pizza and putting it on his plate. He stepped back to his spot on the couch, sitting upright with the plate on his lap. Lukas sat back down as well, unpausing the TV and starting to eat his serving of pizza.

The silence settled between them after a few moments of eating and watching TV, leaving a certain ambience to the room. All of Emil's attention was focused on the documentary, which he had to admit, was pretty interesting. His plate was still on his lap, now empty.

After a bit of time had passed, Emil could feel the exhaustion from the day catching up to him. He tried to fight it, but eventually gave in and closed him eyes. He succumbed to sleep just moments later, leaned back fully against the couch while sitting upright, arms resting at his sides. Lukas took notice a few moments later, smiling to himself as he leaned over to the coffee table and turned off the TV, walking over to Emil and taking the plate off his lap. He stepped back to the coffee table, placing Emil's plate on top of his, both sitting on top of the pizza box as they had been earlier.

He walked over to the kitchen, placing the box on the counter, taking the plates off and placing them in the sink to be washed later. He stepped back over to the pizza box, taking it and putting it in the fridge. He strolled back to the living room, going over to the middle of the couch, where a fluffy grey blanket was draped over it. He took it and stepped back over to where Emil was still sleeping soundly, his mouth hanging open a tiny bit, but still in the same position as before.

Lukas draped the blanket over Emil, adjusting it to make sure it covered his whole body, before tucking the blanket around his sides in his upright sleeping position. He smiled and gave him a small pat on the head. "Sleep well, little brother." He whispered, quietly exiting the room to leave him to sleep.

Chapter Text

Emil awoke to the sound of sizzling paired with the scent of food cooking. He groggily opened his eyes, slightly wincing at the bright morning light coming in through the windows. He eventually adjusted to the new lighting after a moment, taking in his surroundings.

He wasn't in his room, where he would usually wake up, but instead in the living room. He then noticed the blanket on top of him, along with the clothes he had been wearing yesterday still being on. Fuck... I must've fallen asleep here last night... Emil realized, finally putting two and two together.

He stood up, his back and neck sore from being in an upright position all night. He winced as he tried to stretch out the kinks in his neck and back, eventually giving up and hoping that they'll sort themselves out in a bit. He stepped to the kitchen to see Lukas flipping pancakes, as well as keeping a close eye on the sausage cooking in the pan beside it.

Lukas looked up at him after sliding the last pancake off the spatula and onto the plate with the rest of the pancakes. "Good morning." He simply greeted Emil, before turning back to the sausage that was still cooking.

Emil greeted him back, stepping over to one of the bar stools by the counter, pulling himself up to sit, watching his brother cook. He eventually finished the sausage, placing them on a plate and grabbing the pancakes along with it, putting both of them in front of Emil. Lukas then turned around and opened a cabinet, grabbing a separate plate and giving it to Emil.

Emil took it and set it down, making himself a plate of food and watching Lukas quickly prepare two bowls of fruit for the both of them in just a few moments. He handed Emil one of the bowls and sat across from him at the counter on another bar stool, plating his own serving of pancakes and sausages quickly after doing so.

The two ate in silence, occasionally making eye contact, but breaking it immediately. Emil eventually finished his food, taking his dishes over to the sink and gently placing them in, rinsing them off for a few seconds.

He was about to leave when Lukas suddenly spoke. "Don't forget to pack your stuff today, I don't want you to try and rush to pack it tomorrow before we leave." Lukas reminded. Emil turned around, rolling his eyes. "Yes, yes, I know, I was about to go and do just that..." He huffed. "Alright, Alright...I'm just reminding you..." Lukas answered as Emil turned around and started to make his way upstairs.

Emil walked upstairs to his room, shutting the door behind him as he made his way over to his closet. He opens it and crawls into it, shuffling through the mess of stuff to find his suitcase. His hands finally landed on the familiar feeling of the hard plastic of the suitcase, brushing over every groove and edge to be sure it wasn't something else he had mistaken it for.

He pulls out the turquoise suitcase, laying it open in the middle of the carpeted floor of his room. He got up and started to pull clothes out of drawers, counting the amount of each item of clothing he would need to last him two weeks, throwing in a few extras just in case he needed them. He stuffed them into the suitcase on one side, leaving room for the other things he would pack on the other side.

He stood up again, walking over to his door and opening it, exiting the room, stepping down the hall and into the bathroom. He opened one of the drawers, grabbing a medium sized plastic bag from a box inside of it, then shutting it and proceeding to put his toiletries in the bag. Zipping it up, he stepped out of the bathroom and back to his room, kneeling down on the floor next to the suitcase, placing the bag into the suitcase and tucking it by the edge of the empty side.

Finally, he grabbed a few books to keep himself entertained in the free time that the camp would give him after activities. He closed the suitcase, zipping it up and pushing it to the corner of his room so it was out of the way.

He sighed a breath of relief, glad to get the previous task out of the way, stepping towards his door to exit his room again, this time to check on what his brother was doing.

He stepped down the stairs and crept down the hall, peeking around the wall to see Lukas in the kitchen typing away on his laptop, presumably doing something for work. Emil decided it would be best to leave him alone for right now, besides, he needed some alone time before he would have to spend two weeks surrounded by people at almost all times.

He crept back up the stairs, shutting his bedroom door behind him as he re-entered his room. He flopped down on his bed, bored and a bit fatigued from sleeping in a weird position the previous night. He decided that it would be best to at least get a nap in a proper sleeping position.

He scooted himself up further towards the headboard, pulling the covers up and crawling underneath them. He tucked himself in, eventually letting sleep take him as worries still clouded his mind.

Chapter Text

Emil feels himself getting shaken out of unconsciousness, tired still, he groans tiredly and tries to go back to sleep, only to realize that someone is shaking him. He opens his eyes to see Lukas, his hand on Emil's shoulder, gently trying to shake him awake.

He sits up, still dazed from sleep, trying to figure out why he was being woken up. "We have to leave soon." Lukas states simply. Emil stares at him, half awake and confused. "For what?" He asks sleepily.

He glances around at his surroundings, eyes catching the suitcase he packed the previous day. Oh right...the summer camp thing. He realized. He got up and out of bed while Lukas took his suitcase, to assumably load into the car.

Emil made his bed, put on a clean set of clothes, and brushed his hair and teeth before grabbing his headphones and phone and walking out to the car. He closed the door to his room behind him, going downstairs and out the door. He opened the passenger seat's door and slid into the passenger seat, Lukas following into the driver's seat a moment after him.

Emil turned his headphones on, putting them on and selecting one of his playlists off his phone, pressing play as Lukas backed out of the driveway. He sat there, staring out the window the entirety of the two way drive, only his thoughts and music to entertain him. Once they drove away from the cities that were most populated, the only things Emil could spot for miles on and on were trees and the occasional houses along the isolated road they were traveling on.

His headphones had been on for a couple hours straight, making him feel lightheaded. It was like having them simply pressed to his ears was cutting off his blood circulation to the head partially. Yet, he still refused to take them off to avoid conversation with his brother.

After about two hours straight of driving, Lukas finally drove onto a remote trail off the mostly empty road they were driving on. They finally pull up to a cleared dirt covered area, a few other cars were parked across from their car.

Emil got out of the car, feeling lightheaded as he took a few steps, headphones and phone in hand. He steadied himself while Lukas unloaded Emil's suitcase, extending the handle on the top to be able to move the suitcase more easily. He gestured for Emil to follow a small trail in front of them. Emil hesitated but then walked along it with Lukas trailing a few paces behind him.

After a few moments of walking they finally finally seemed to reach what was the end of the trail, marked by a friendly looking woman with long brunette hair that reached her waist and pine green eyes that shone brightly under the sunlight. She directed the both of them to a huge cabin distantly behind her. They thanked her and headed over to the cabin fairly quickly. It didn't take very long, considering you could see the huge cabin in front of you when you entered the camp's property.

The two were once more waved in by whom Emil assumed to be counselors; one having grayish hair, despite not looking a day over twenty with a cocky grin plastered on his face. The other, a person whom Emil couldn't tell whether was female or male, had blond hair that reached to their shoulders, with green eyes and a polite smile.

While walking into the cabin, the two were immediately greeted by a young looking man with dark blond hair and a cowlick, his light blue eyes could be seen through his simple square shaped black glasses. The man quickly scanned the paper he had attached to the clipboard in his hands up and down.

"You're Emil right?" He asked, looking down at Emil and giving him a bright smile. Emil just blinked at his over exaggerated enthusiasm as Lukas asked the man a few questions. "Alright! I'm going to take you to your cabin to meet your cabin mates!" The man smiled widely at him again, gesturing for him to follow.

Emil waved goodbye to his brother, reluctantly following the energetic man out one of the side doors of the big cabin and down towards a pine tree lined trail. Halfway along the way, Emil realized he hadn't gotten the name of the man he was currently following down at trail in the woods.

"Hey, um- I didn't quite catch your name." Emil stated awkwardly as they walked. "Oh! My name is Alfred! I'm going to be your camp counselor for the next two weeks." He responded, still gleeful as ever. After another moment or two of walking, Alfred stopped in front of a more isolated cabin that was a bit smaller than the one he previously saw, but still fairly sized.

"Alright Emil! This is going to be your home for the next couple weeks!" Alfred announced enthusiastically. Emil nodded, even though a cabin in the middle of a heavily wooded area definitely didn't seem like home to him. Alfred stepped towards the door, placing his hand on the knob but not turning it and pushing it open.

Emil hesitantly followed, standing behind him. "Are you ready to meet your cabin mates?" Alfred asked. Emil slowly nodded, a nervous look on his face as Alfred finally pushed open the door.