/ I'm finally able to write something.! Yay.! Sabila, di ako nagtatago. Busy lang talaga. /

WHERE YOU BELONG

Greece always had a hard time differentiating dreams from reality. Perhaps because he's asleep most of the time, or because reality didn't differ much from his dreams. Except maybe for the noticeable decrease in the number of cats around and increase in the number of noisy nations.

But Greece stood there for who knew how long, pinching himself repeatedly as he stared at the empty lobby of the building where the EU meeting was being held, and he knew that it was no dream.

Turkey wasn't there.

Usually, the burly nation would sit there, waiting for the European nations to finally approve of his application into the EU. It hadn't happened yet, even when nations who applied after he did got accepted in a considerably less time. But Turkey was always there, patiently waiting.

Except today, he wasn't.

Greece didn't dare think that his rival was late. He himself was already late by half an hour and Germany would no doubt be furious at him. At the moment though, he couldn't bring himself to care. Not that he cared on any other day, but at least he had rendered enough thought on the meeting to actually come. But unlike Greece, Turkey wanted to make a good impression on the European nations. Probably because he's not yet part of the EU.

Thoughts of the EU completely slipped out of Greece's mind and he quickly whipped out his phone. He immediately found his rival's number and called it, pacing back and forth and muttering angrily under his breath.

"Well, look who's calling? What-"

"Where are you, bird-brain?"

A short silence on the other line. "What do you mean?"

"You're not in the lobby. The EU meeting's started."

"Oh, that. I thought I'd rather do something productive at home than wait for something that probably won't happen any time soon."

"What, you gave up already?" Greece sneered.

Turkey laughed. "As if. Look, I just thought that I should busy myself at the moment with my other affiliations, you know. Like the OIC, for example. Besides, I fit perfectly in there."

"So you did give up," Greece deadpanned.

"I already said that I'm not. Just that the OIC is my home, you know. We're all Muslims, see?"

Greece thought for a moment. "Is that what you think belonging means? Sharing the same religion, having a common ground? It shouldn't be like that. It's not the similarities that keeps groups together. It's the fact that we all do our best to make it work. It's because we all think that this group is where our hearts belong, no matter how different we are that this group stays together."

Turkey laughed.

"Why do you keep laughing?"

"And why do you keep convincing me to not give up on the EU? Which, in any case, I'm not doing anyway."

"Then what was that about the OIC and being Muslims and…"

"Calm down, Greece. I told you that I just thought I'd do something productive while waiting for the approval. I can wait here anyway, although I have no idea why I didn't think of it before. Geez, all that time wasted."

"You said that you would rather not wait for something that won't happen any time soon."

"Yeah. They said it would take a while before they can approve of my application."

Greece's anger dissipated and he smiled. "Glad to hear it. But in the meantime, who's going to keep me awake during the meetings?"

He could practically hear Turkey's grin from the other end of the line. "You think of me during meetings? I'm flattered."

"I imagine you in the lobby, bored out of your mind enough that you'd probably agree to wear a dress…"

"Oi. Why a dress?"

"Because that seems utterly embarrassing for someone like you."

"If it makes you feel better, I sometimes imagine you in a dog suit and your cats won't want to go anywhere near you."

"That's foul!"

"That it? Man, I win this round then. Also, what about that EU meeting of yours?"

"I completely forgot about it."

"You rascal. Germany's going to be really mad at you, you know."

Greece thought for a moment. "Are you busy?"

"What, planning on ditching the meeting?"

"Embarrassing you seems more important," Greece paused. "And more entertaining."

Turkey laughed. "Alright then. Come on over and let's play Pishti. I bet you'd never win a single game against me."

"It's on."

Greece hung up and practically ran outside. Who cared if Germany was mad at him? It wasn't like the guy's not angry at everybody anyway. Plus, he never backs down on a bet, especially if it's against the only person he'd ever call a rival.

/**

* I actually did some research for this fic. And here are the results:

* Turkey passed an application to the European Union (formerly the European Economic Community) on 1987, but negotiations started only on 2005. Which is sad, because other countries who passed applications after Turkey did got accepted into the EU within a shorter time. Like Croatia, who passed an application on 2003 and was formally accepted into the EU on 2013.

* The OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) is a group of Muslim countries including Turkey, West Asia, and the upper part of Africa.

* I also found out that Turkey isn't exactly affiliated to either Europe or Asia, but rather belongs to both. Soo...

* Additional: Pishti is a popular fishing card game in Turkey. It can be played by either 2 people or 4 people in groups of 2. Cards are played to a central pile, which can be captured by matching the previous card played or playing a jack. Points are scored for certain captured cards. The word "pişti" (pronounced /pishti/), which means "cooked", describes a capture of a pile containing only one card, for which extra points are scored.

*/