A Very Vinland Christmas
Author: Ashynarr
Summary: 'Twas the day before Christmas, and throughout the Finnish household, a flurry of activity was in progress. This year, however, is going to be particularly special for the Nordics...
Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine.
Warning: Vinland AU! That means it diverges from real life and Hetalia canon somewhat.
((Guess what AU is baccccccccccccccccck... :D))
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'Twas the day before Christmas, and throughout the Finnish household, a flurry of activity was in progress.
Tino was quickly and deftly wrapping the last of the presents he'd gotten for his family (the presents for the other Nations would be delivered during his normal Christmas route, and thus were already wrapped and packed in the bags), Berwald was keeping Peter occupied by decorating a gingerbread house, and Lukas was keeping Mathias out of trouble by playing one of the numerous accrued video games he'd brought over, Erik watching as the two went head to head.
All in all, it was a normal December 24th for them... except for one thing. All of them, should one have noticed, seemed particularly tense, as if expecting something.
Erik's eyes would occasionally flick towards the door, as would those of Lukas and Mathias. Tino had seven presents sent beside him on the bed instead of the usual five, and Berwald had almost missed Peter's attempt to get more frosting out of the tube that would have almost certainly ended with half the container spat out across the kitchen.
There was a knock at the door. Mathias almost tripped over the couch during his sprint to the door, game abandoned. Sliding to a stop, he opened the door with a wide grin. "Thought you guys wouldn't make it!"
Alfred laughed, wiping some snow off of his cap. "Sorry, Francis and Arthur kept us late since we weren't seeing them for Christmas this year. Had to get them to bed after they drank themselves to sleep, then caught the next flight here."
"Do I smell gingerbread?" Matthew asked, peering around Denmark towards the kitchen.
Laughing, the older Nation let the two in, ruffling their damp hair, pretending he didn't see the two conspicuously sized holes in the snow outside nor the large bags over their shoulders. "Fresh baked; Berwald and Peter are in the kitchen with them if you want to dry off a bit and join them."
"Sweet, thanks." Alfred dropped his bag and went in the direction pointed, coming back with two towels for himself and his twin brother.
"What're you guys up to?" Matthew asked.
"Peter and Berwald are making a gingerbread house, Tino's wrapping gifts, and Lukas Erik and I were-" His eyes widened, and he twirled back around to run into the living room. "You better not have cheated!"
The twins exchanged glances, both bursting into chortles as they finished drying off before heading into the kitchen.
Peter perked up immediately upon seeing them, waving enthusiastically as they made their way over. "You made it!"
"Barely," Matthew commented, nabbing one of the gingerbread cookies from the plate on the counter and biting into it with relish.
"Arthur said to tell you Happy Christmas, by the way." Alfred added, looking over the house with a critical eye. "This house is missing something. Hold on."
"Alfred, you'd better not try and claim it for yourself again-" Matthew half-yelled after his brother as he disappeared into another room. He sighed, turning to Peter with an apologetic smile. "Don't mind him, he just has this strange need to claim things for his country when you're not paying attention. I think he gets it from Arthur. Or Mathias. Or maybe both."
"Lies and slander," Alfred replied, returning with a small colorful rectangular piece of paper. "I only do that to you because you keep stealing my stuff when my back is turned."
"You did it first!" Matthew handed a toothpick over to his brother, who taped it to the paper to make a small flag.
Alfred huffed, sticking his nose up in the air and faking afront. "I don't have time for your baseless accusations, you peasant. If you'll excuse me…"
He made a great air of turning to Peter and Berwald, who had been watching with equal parts bafflement and amusement, raising the pseudo flag before inserting it into the house with flare. "There. It's now officially Sealandic territory."
Alfred paused, thoughtful. "Wait, is that even the right word?" He turned to Peter, who shrugged in response. The American groaned. "Dangit, now it's gonna bother me for weeks. Thanks, Peter."
"There's two other kits in the cupboard if you wanted to make your own…" Berwald added, smiling in amusement at the way the two turned to him, eyes alight.
"Seriously, dude, you're the best!" Alfred gushed.
"I bet my house will be better than your again." Matthew taunted, grinning at his brother, who grinned back at the challenge.
"Please, like you've ever beaten my awesome designs."
"Oh, can I judge?" Peter asked, grinning as well. The twins looked to Peter, then each other.
"Whoever impresses Peter more wins?" Matthew asked.
"What's the stakes?"
"Hmm… loser has to watch their house go up in flame?"
Alfred mock whined. "Not cool, Mattie."
"No setting things on fire." Berwald warned.
"Fine…" The two agreed, before humming in thought.
"How about loser wears winner's colors for the New Years celebration." Alfred offered after a few seconds.
"Works for me. So build now, decorate later?"
"Yep."
The two grabbed their kits and opened them with practiced ease, assembling the small houses in record speed despite the light shoves from each other almost causing several slip ups. Once the task was complete, they fist bumped with matching grins.
"What next?"
"You should go say hello to the others." Berwald offered. "Tino should be down soon to join us for dinner."
"Alright." Alfred grinned, pausing to give a hug to Berwald. "Thanks for inviting us over, dude." After ruffling Peter's hair, he disappeared into the living room. Matthew also gave the older man a hug and thanks before following after, pretending not to notice the smile on his face at the gestures.
Alfred had already claimed the third and fourth controllers, handing one to Matthew as he joined them. The match was already set up, and upon noticing it was a free for all shooter the Canadian grinned sharply, making Mathias and Lukas somewhat nervous.
It was a slaughter. Against all odds Matthew managed to find a sniper rifle within the first minute, setting up on the roof of a building and headshotting anyone who dared come within view. Alfred had quickly defected to his side, providing cover from behind in case either of the other two tried sneaking up on them. The odds were only slightly evened by Erik occasionally calling out when the older Nordics were in line of sight of either of the twins, but the match was still fairly one-sided. Of course, near the end of the match they betrayed each other, but the duo still ended up with higher scores than Mathias and Lukas.
"That was completely unfair," The Danish man whined, flopping back onto the couch. "You aren't supposed to team up in free for alls."
Alfred huffed. "Hey, Mattie was gonna win anyways, but teaming up with him gave me a chance to rack up points to at least get close to his score. Totes would've won if you guys had shot him instead at the end."
Matthew laughed. "You keep telling yourself that, Al. Maybe you'll stop sounding like a sore loser if you do it enough."
The American protested vehemently, causing his brother to laugh more and eventually leading to the two wrestling with Mathias cheering them on. It was fairly obvious that Matthew hadn't inherited the same absurd strength from Tino as Alfred, and it was equally clear from how they were acting that the southern twin tended to hold back because of this to offer a fair fight.
After a close victory by Matthew (much to Lukas' disappointment, handing over the bet money to Erik with a sigh as the Canadian helped his brother up from the floor), Tino walked in to inform the group that dinner was done.
To call it a dinner, though, would be a huge understatement. The entire table was covered in dishes, which was impressive considering it had been expanded out to accommodate all eight people there. There were plenty of familiar dishes alongside some the twins had never seen before; the two came to an instant and silent agreement to try everything there.
The atmosphere was light and jovial, everyone eagerly chatting with one another to catch up on the latest happenings and to discuss plans for the future. Tales of Christmas past eventually came forward, Alfred and Matthew eagerly trading stories of their brothers' antics for those of the Nordic's own debauchery over the centuries.
When the last of the plates were finally cleaned of their contents, the satiated group all returned to the living room to watch as many Christmas movies as hey could stay up for (or, in Tino's case, until he had to leave to start his route). The first movie Alfred insisted on was The Year Without A Santa Claus, which he claimed was an honored tradition between him and his brother.
Peter was instantly hooked, leaning forward from his seat as it played. Alfred and Matthew sang along to the miser brothers' songs perfectly, even making the hand gestures along with the character, much to everyone's amusement.
By the end of the film, Peter's conked out on the couch, head resting against Berwald as he quietly snoozed on.
"That was actually a pretty good movie." Mathias said as he stretched out. "You two got any other-"
He was cut off with a gestured hush from Tino, who was smiling behind the finger on his lips as he pointed to the other end of the couch. Turning to look, he couldn't help his own smile at the sight of the twins also asleep, leaning against each other and each breath nearly synchronous with each other.
"We missed out on a lot with them, didn't we?" He asked to no one in particular, seeing Berwald stand up in the corner of his eye carrying the sleeping micronation.
"Mmm…" The Swedish man replied.
Tino walked around the couch to gently ruffle their hair. "Then I guess we just have to make up for it now, don't we?"
The five looked to each other, a silent agreement between them. Even if it had been a thousand years since they'd been family, Alfred and Matthew were still their kids, and they'd be damned if they wasted any more time mourning the past.
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AN: So guess who only recently started thinking about their old AUs again? I actually took a look, and the last thing I wrote for this AU was on July 4th, 2012. That's right, a year and a half ago.
So yeah, this was something I'd planned on writing before I forgot about it, and I can't guarantee how good it is, but I'm gonna try to get out more stuff for this AU to try and make it a thing. (I already saw one other person's take on it, bless their soul for inspiring me to get back into it.)
Anyways, may write a second chapter to this, maybe not, IDK. And it;s a bit late for Christmas, but hey, whatever works, right?
Oh, and feel free to send in suggestions for moments you'd like to see! I can't guarantee I'll do them, but it's worth a shot.