A/N: I am not in owning of Hetalia or its characters. I also don't own the idea of state OCs (though I doubt anyone does…) BUT! I am the only person I know EVER to write an Iowa OC, and so I claim that! Hah, fools!

New York Organizes a Family Musical:

Act I: Scene I: In Which Iowa is Duped

New York (James Jones to you civilians) was on the prowl. It wasn't very often that the states got together except at Christmas and Dad's birthday. And… He was craving the director's chair. He needed to direct, to create, and… He had so many people to choose from. So many options, with his family all gathered together like this… Oh, the things he could accomplish!

But New York wanted more than just a play, just any play… No, he wanted a musical. And he needed family members who could sing.

Unfortunately for him, his siblings were never forthcoming with their musical talents… Since they knew the menace he was when he was like this. But it wasn't like New York cared what they thought. He just needed to find a way to weasel the talent out of them.

Now, how on earth could he-

James' ears twitched. Was that…?

It was.

Singing.

Someone was singing…

And, being so alert and intent on the singing, New York followed it to its source. Dad's third bathroom.

What, with fifty kids, get-togethers had to be held in a huge mansion, one that America didn't normally occupy, as he was easily frightened by things that went bump in the night. Not that he would ever admit that openly.

In any case… Singing.

Someone was singing in the shower.

New York stifled a laugh. He didn't know any of his sisters (for the voice was clearly feminine) sang in the shower…

And then as he listened, he clearly identified the tune.

It was… 'Pretty Women'? Which of his sisters was weird enough to sing Sweeney Todd music in the shower? Especially a song that was sung by men in the musical?

The song stuttered to a stop for a moment. And then he heard muttering, but, unlike the obliviously loud singing, it was too low to make out. Dang it. Well, New York would wait. He would wait and see which sister of his it was.

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Iowa sighed. Darn it, how did that part go…

"Er, let's see…"

Lyrics and tunes swirled through her head. She restarted to just before her falter, and bit her lip as she tried to remember.

" Pretty women,

Silhouetted…

Stay within you,

Glancing…

Stay forever,

Breathing lightly…

Pretty women,

Pretty women- "

Iowa cut off when the bottle of shampoo slipped from her hands and crashed to the bottom of the shower.

"Oops…"

She picked it up and set it on the shelf where it belonged.

"Oh… I guess I'm almost finished, in any case," the blonde muttered, rinsing the soap from her hair.

Then she stepped out and toweled off, studying her fuzzy reflection in the fogged-up mirror, and dressed. As she reached for the doorknob, Iowa sighed.

It wasn't that she didn't like her siblings… In fact, she loved them all dearly, though she didn't get on well with all of them.

But… This impromptu gathering… She had a bad feeling. Especially with everything that had been going on. The oil in the Gulf, the recession… Things were going downhill, and so she highly doubted this would be a pleasant family get-together.

The thought of all of her siblings bickering… Oh, boy.

But Iowa knew she couldn't stay cooped up in Daddy's third bathroom all day, so she twisted the knob and exited.

She hardly expected an immediate collision with one of her least-favorite brothers.

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Iowa. It had been Iowa. New York's brain exploded. Ok, he really wasn't expecting his redneck- (ok, so she technically wasn't, but come on, challenging all of her surrounding siblings (who were all guys, by the way!) to football? What sort of self-respecting girl was she?) sister to have such an exquisite voice. I mean, she was the one he least expected to have a nice singing voice. Half the time she seemed like a man- Well… Except for… You know. But having a big chest like that just came with the territory; the good farmlands and stuff like that.

And… New York had always been curious what his sister would look like all dolled up. She refused to let anyone dress her up, ever. Even she never dressed herself up! Not the way anyone wanted her to, anyway. Even if she went to some sort of formal event, she'd be in a white dress shirt and black slacks.

So. Even if it was Iowa… He definitely had a sibling to be in the musical. And why not take a page out of her book. Sweeney Todd sounded like a good enough musical to him.

And with Iowa…

If he could strong-arm her into singing in the musical (he could), then Texas wouldn't be too far behind. Because only a complete idiot (aka most of the family) wouldn't be able to see that Johanna and Austin had a thing for each other.

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New York had a very intent stare on his face. Johanna did not like that stare. She backed up a little, sidling to try and avoid her east-coast brother.

"Um… New York?"

He didn't seem to hear her.

"James?"

"It really is perfect," he mumbled.

"W-what's perfect?" she stammered defensively.

"Well… Her name is Johanna… And so is yours. And she's blonde… And so are you."

He couldn't be talking about…?

Sweeney Todd. He must have heard her singing, and agh, darn it, he-

But that wasn't important. That rage could be channeled at a later date. Because.

He had that Broadway Musical look on his face, and oh, she wanted nothing to do with that; couldn't he see that the family meeting was going to be grave, and important, and…

And she needed to run. Now.

Iowa refused to be wrangled into James' half-baked 'family play' schemes. Not after the time he'd forced poor California into being the Wicked Witch of the West for a play he'd gotten together at his birthday party.

And beyond that, she'd told Iowa that New York was a real slave-driver when it came to musicals… And Johanna wanted anything but to be under James' thumb when that kind of thing was going on. No way was she going to submit to this. No way.

She'd just run, for now. She could hide behind… Um… Dad! Dad or Minnesota. Yeah.

"Well… Nice-to-see-you-James-bye!"

"I'll tell Dad about-"

He didn't even need to finish the sentence. Oh, no… He wouldn't dare tell Dad… Not about-

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New York had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. He knew it. Johanna was such a goody that she would never want Dad to know if she'd done anything wrong. He didn't even know what he was holding over her head (and made a mental note to find out later), which made this all the more fun. After all, he could dangle invisible secrets over her head, like this, and so she would be pretty easy to manipulate from here on out.

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"F-fine, what is it you want," Iowa grumbled, brushing her wavy blonde hair from her blue eyes.

"You're going to be in Sweeney Todd. As Johanna."

"B-but she's so… I mean, all the women in that play are either completely batty, really stupid, (or both) or in the chorus! And Johanna… She's just so naïve and ugh, and…"

"Well, you should have no problem playing her then," New York laughed mockingly. "Now, come on… I'm going to get Texas."

Iowa paled.

"Are you nuts? H-he'll… I want no part in this, you're gonna get us killed! You know how Austin feels about singing in front of people, especially in musicals and plays, and especially, especially when it's you when you're in one of your moods like this! There's no way-! And he's gonna hate us, and agh…"

But James just laughed, shaking his head.

"Idiot. That's why I'm bringing you."

The blank look on her face made him sigh.

"Look, whatever corn-hick. Just come on."

Iowa bristled, but with New York gripping her wrist so tightly, and with him hanging… That… Over her head, Johanna really had no choice.

Oh, what had she gotten herself into…?

Lights fade to black.

SCENE END

A/N#2: Ok, so, Iowa = Johanna, New York = James, Texas = Austin. Ok? Ok.

PS: Hey guys, look, I started a new story… Oh my. This is becoming a bad habit, huh. Still, I couldn't get it out of my head, and that there's not a single Iowa story anywhere on the internet… SO! Yeah, the Hawkeye State will prevail! … You know… If she survives New York's musical rampage.

PPS: I'd apologize for if I maybe possibly offended people with this, but… Um… If you're offended, you shouldn't be watching Hetalia in the first place. Cheers?