title: happy holidays! (aka the lamest title ever)
genre: romance/humor/fluff
summary: "at 7 a.m. on the fine morning of feburary 14th, 2010, china awoke to the sound of the doorbell, cheerful shouting, and russia at his door"
characters: china, russia, and a brief dialogue-appearance of japan
pairings: russia/china
rating: t for suggestive themes/implied sex
At 7 a.m. on the fine morning of February 14th, 2010, China awoke to the sound of the doorbell, cheerful shouting, and Russia at his door.
Now, normally, China would have been up long before then, at the crack of dawn. However, two things prevented him from doing so today. One, no matter how young he looked, he was an old, 4000 year old man, and sometimes, he just needed to sleep in.
Two, it was the Lunar New Year, and after much begging, bribing, and maybe a tiny bit of threatening, he'd convinced his entire group of siblings to come to his house for the celebration. While China loved his family, and he was delighted to have them over, but he could not deny that having all his siblings in one place at the same time was certain to induce a headache, so he was currently getting as much sleep as possible because he had a feeling he would not getting much that night.
But apparently, that was not going to happen, because said Asian nation was jolted awake by his doorbell, which was currently ringing over and over and over again.
With a groan, China rolled onto his stomach, slamming his pillow over his head to muffle the sound, hoping that perhaps if he ignored whoever was at the door, they would just go away. But alas, it was not to be, because after a minute of incessant doorbell-ringing, the shouting started.
"Yao-Yaooooo~! I know you're there~! Why aren't you answering the door, Yao-Yao~?"
Russia.
That explained everything.
Giving up all hopes of returning to his blissful, undisturbed sleep, China groaned again before rolling out of bed, grabbing a random shirt and pants, and getting dressed, all while trying to ignore the still-ringing doorbell and Russia's yelling.
"YAO-YAOOOOOOO~!"
"OKAY, I'M COMING!"
China descended the stairs as fast as possible, silently thanking the gods that he did not have any neighbors to hear Russia, then whipping the door open to glare at said northern nation.
Russia, ever cheerful, just beamed as always.
"Why are you here, Russia, aru?" China snapped, his angry tone and use of Russia's nation-name warning the larger country that he'd better have a good reason for abusing his doorbell and waking him up.
Said country thrust out his arms, and China blinked as he noticed that Russia was holding something – three sometimes, in fact. In his arms was a bouquet of sunflowers and peonies, a heart-shaped box, and a red envelope. "I brought you presents, Yao-Yao!"
China rolled his eyes, although he felt his anger dissipate somewhat. "I can see that, aru."
Russia just giggled lightly. "Silly Yao. Can I come in?"
The Asian stared warily at the grinning nation for a moment before sighing. "Alright, fine, aru," he muttered, stepping aside to let in his northern neighbor with the mental excuse that even if he said no, Russia probably would have just come in anyway.
"Spasiba~" The Russian entered the house, immediately heading for the couch in the living room, while China closed the door and followed. Sitting down, Russia motioned for China to do the same beside him, and the Oriental nation slowly did so.
"So what's this about, aru?" China finally asked, eyeing the gifts that Russia now placed on the table in front of the couch. Russia didn't reply, just smiled at him before picking up the first item – the bouquet – and holding it out for China.
"Happy anniversary!" Russia chirped happily, beaming. "See? I got sunflowers and peonies, for me and you~!" China's brows furrowed in confusion.
"What? It's not our anniversary, aru. Is it?"
Russia pouted. "Of course it is, silly Yao! It's the anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, da? So it's our anniversary~!"
China blinked then winced lightly at the reminder of the old treaty which had eventually failed and led to the Sino-Soviet Split. Still, it would be rude not to take the flowers, so China accepted them, placing them on the table, making a mental note to put them in a vase later "That doesn't count, Ivan, aru. That was official treaty for our countries, not some…declaration of our relationship." A slight blush appeared on the black-haired nation's cheeks at the last part. "Besides, don't you, ah…remember what happened after that treaty, aru?"
Russia frowned slightly, but then shrugged. "We got back together, didn't we? I guess they can be a Valentine's Day present then, da?" His eyes seemed to light up as he turned back to the table and picked up the second item – a heart-shaped box. "Here~! I read that on Valentine's Day in China, the men give women flowers and chocolates~!"
"I'm not a woman, aru," China protested, scowling. "Where did you read that anyway?" It was true, but that didn't mean he couldn't be angry.
Russia hummed thoughtfully as he tilted his head, tapping his chin with a finger. "I think it was that one website that capitalist pig created…Wikipedia? Da, it was Wikipedia~"
Fighting the urge to facepalm, China sighed, choosing not to respond and instead taking the box of chocolates from the larger nation. Opening it gingerly, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of the round treats – he'd always had a penchant for sweets. Lifting on out of the box, he popped it in his mouth and chewed slowly. Golden eyes lit up with delight as China lifted his head to look at Russia.
"Do these have kiwi in them?"
Russia nodded, his smile somehow managing to grow even bigger. "Da~! It took a long time to find them, but I knew you liked kiwi, so I got them for you~"
His blush growing slightly deeper, China broke away from Russia's gaze and fumbled slightly to put the lid back onto the heart-shaped box. "Xie-xie," he murmured, placing the chocolates on the table next to the flowers.
Chuckling slightly at his companion, Russia picked up the last item – the red envelope. "You give these for you Lunar New Year, da?"
Nodding, China accepted the last gift with a smile, happy that Russia knew about his traditions (or perhaps looked them up on Wikipedia). Opening the hongbao, he slid out the contents and glanced at it before laughing lightly. On a pale pink sheet of construction paper, Russia had drawn a small sketch of him and China, complete with the words "I Love You!" written in Chinese above the drawing and in Russian below.
Leaning forward almost expectantly, Russia tilted his head. "Do you like it?"
Another light laugh from China, as the older nation leaned forward and ruffled the younger one's hair, earning a giggle from Russia. "Of course, aru." A pause, and then a teasing pout from China. "Although…no money Ivan? It's traditional to give money in a red envelope, aru."
Russia hummed, reaching forward to lightly grip China's chin, tilting it upwards with a playful grin. "Da? Well, I wouldn't want to break tradition…How about I give you a kiss as payment instead~?"
Not waiting for an answer, the larger nation gently pressed his lips to China's in a short, chaste kiss before pulling away. The Asian blushed, but grinned fondly at his lover. "I suppose that'll do, aru," China replied airily, although his amused, happy expression revealed his real feelings.
Russia chuckled, leaning back, staring at China with sparkling amethyst eyes. "So do I get my presents now, Yao-Yao~?"
The Asian nation blinked then froze, cursing himself silently as he somewhat-belatedly realized that Russia had given him all these gifts and he had nothing to give. Scrambling to salvage the situation (which would probably just amuse Russia more than anything), China stammered, "Ah, well, you know, it's not really our anniversary today, so I didn't really get you anything. And I'll give you a red envelope later, if you want one, aru. And ah…" Damn. He didn't have an excuse for Valentine's Day. "Er, I can make you breakfast as a present, aru?"
At first laughing at his companion's discomfort, Russia then proceeded to gain a mischievous, almost predatory look on his face, and China had a feeling that he would not like this. "Can I have you for breakfast, Yao~?"
Ah yes, he most certainly did not like this.
"A-Absolutely not!" China protested, his face flushing completely. "I-It's much too early for that kind of thing, aru!"
"But it's Valentine's Day, da? I should get a present from Yao~"
"I already said I'd make you breakfast, aru! I-I'll make whatever you want to eat, okay?"
"I want Yao."
"I said no! I still have to have to prepare for when my siblings come over tonight, aru! W-We can do that later, okay?"
"Hmm…is that a compromise~?"
"…Err…I suppose?"
"Well, I'm afraid there's no such service in Russia, Yao-Yao~!"
"AIYAA! Ivan, get off me, you stupid brute, I said no-!"
"Kolkolkol~!"
"…Yao-nii."
"Kiku. Thank you for coming for Lunar New Year, aru."
"It is no problem. Although…ano…why is Russia-san here?"
"Ah…he, erm, came by earlier, so I invited him to stay, aru."
"Ah. I see."
…
"I suppose that explains why you are limping."
notes;; why yes, this is late by over one and a half years. in my defense, i didn't even know about hetalia in 2010. and i really wanted to write about this D;
so i got halfway through this and realized that it was the sino-soviet treaty, not the sino-russian treaty that was signed on february 14th. asdfjkl;
can you tell i got lazy near the end? ._. i got halfway through and then I hit a wall so i just rushed through the end orz;;; it ended up a longer than hello goodbye, though, which i'm happy about, even though it's so crack-ish. maybe i'll go back and edit this and make it better when i'm not lazy but right now i am too lazy to so yeah.
the bouquet of sunflowers and peonies is meant to represent russia, whose national flower is the sunflower (or the chamomile – i've seen both, so i'm kinda confused, but russia loves sunflowers so…sunflowers it is) and china. while china doesn't have an official national flower, most people consider their flower to be peonies (or plum blossoms)
the sino-soviet treaty of friendship was signed on february 14th, 1950. the exact year of the sino-soviet split is hard to pinpoint, but it's usually said to have happened around 1960.
the traditional chinese equivalent of valentine's day is on june 7th, but they also celebrate the more western valentine's day on february 14th. the little thing about wikipedia is just because i basically copied that thing about flowers and chocolates straight off wikipedia from when i was looking up valentine's day in china ._.
the kiwi is the national fruit of china. it's also originally from china.
red envelopes are given on several chinese holidays, including the lunar new year. usually, various amounts of money is given in them (russia's just a little unconventional)
currently, china and japan have rather strained relationships, due to the sino-japanese wars and, more importantly, world war ii. that's why their dialogue is kinda formal and strained (although maybe it just seems that way to me orz) still, i like to think of them as brothers, which is why they still used each other's "human names" (in my headcanon, using human names implies a level of closeness – when china uses russia's country name at the beginning, he's expressing his annoyance, but because china and russia are close they go on to use each other's human names)
long author's note is long sorry orz;;;
translations-
spasiba – thank you (russian)
xie-xie – thank you (chinese)
hongbao – red envelope (chinese)
-nii – suffix for older brother (japanese)
-san – suffix used to politely address another person (japanese)
reviews make me smile~ :3 i was too lazy to proofread this so please, point out any mistakes i made :3