This is dedicated for Kaya Window, for our business relationship *blink blink*
Thank you for Haragurotan for betaing this piece! XD
Pairing: AllX China, SuFin, of course UK X China
Warning:... uh. Dunno.
Enjoy!
"I am inviting you to the New Year party I'm hosting next week. I'll be doing the lion dance."
China was ecstatic when he heard that. He smiled gleefully and happily hugged his smallest brother.
"Really, Hong? You will host the New Year party and you will do the lion dance aru? Who else are you inviting aru?"
Hong Kong nodded and showed China the guest list. Hong Kong never spoke much, and his guest list reflected how quiet he was. It only included four names: China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
"…That's… so short aru."
Hong Kong nodded and drank his tea in silence.
Thus, China's quest began.
The first target was Russia. China caught him from the back when Russia was walking slowly towards the meeting room. Russia was surprised when he was halted by a pair of small, slim arms.
"… Yao Yao?"
"Ivan aru!" China smiled gleefully and hugged tighter. Russia smiled.
"What's happened da? Why are you so happily forward today? Are you inviting me to a private meeting in the toilet as usual?"
"No aru!" China blushed. "No! I am just happy because my littlest brother Hong Kong is going to host a New Year party and you are invited aru! Be honoured aru! Because I don't usually invite you!"
Russia chuckled. "Fine da. I am so happy. What time does it start? I might come."
"You need to come aru! It's my Hong Kong's party! So you need to come and bring a present so that we can have a gift-exchange session! You can bring your sisters with you aru! Be there aru! I mean it!"
"Fine da." Russia kol'ed and hugged China back. China couldn't free himself despite continuously struggling while Russia effortlessly dragged him off to the toilet.
The second target was the idiotic hero and his invisible twin.
China was just walking away from the toilet, patting his sore back when he saw the blonde hero smiling at the wall. Feeling curious, China walked near and saw a ghostly shadow with a floating white teddy bear in front of the wall that America was smiling to.
"Hi aru. What are you doing?"
"…You can see me?" a very faint voice asked him, but China ignored it. America, on the other hand, smiled back.
"Hey, Yao! How are you today! I was just thinking about searching for you! I need to ask you about something…"
"No more loans aru. I don't want you to add on to your unpaid zillion debts already. Pay me 30% of it and I'll lend you more aru."
America booed with his mouth pouting like the number 3. China sighed.
"Fine aru. I'll lend you more as long as you come to my little brother's party! Hong is hosting a party for New Year so you need to get your Hollywood crew to come and document my brother's amazing lion dance aru!"
"…Deal!" America smiled, then turning back to the shadow in front of the wall, he said, "Lucky, Mathew! We don't need to get a donation from Francis! I was afraid that he might eat you in exchange for a donation!"
The shadow got even fainter and China sighed while walking away.
The next target posed a greater challenge for China. When he saw France in the corridor, China ran as fast as he could to the fashionable nation. But his rush was mistaken by France for lust, an irresistible desire to hug him. So France paid back in kind by embracing China as hard as he could. China froze when the European nation started to grope his back. Feeling an urgent need to slip away from France's arms, he struggled until the French nation stopped trying to molest him to actually listen to what he had to say.
"My little brother, aru… hhh… He is hosting a party—New year party, and I want you to come with some food aru."
"Mon cher… Of course I might come. But I will confirm my attendance if you are included in the menu, little kitten…"
"I am not a kitten aru, and if you touch me again I will sue you for sexual harassment aru!"
"Go ahead. The French court is on strike today. They are not working until God knows when."
China shivered and ran for his life. When he had put a safe distance between himself and France, he stopped and shouted, "Make sure you come aru! Or I'll stop my fabric export to your country aru!"
France sighed in disappointment.
"…and don't forget the food!"
The last syllable echoed in the hall and into France's ears.
Then China went to the Axis Powers' office. He found Italy and Germany where they were on their way to heaven. China closed his eyes and shrieked.
"AIYAH! SO BAD FOR MY EYES ARU!"
Germany blushed furiously and pushed Italy away from him, while Italy vee'ed pitifully.
"GET DRESSED, ARU!"
China didn't move, open his eyes or move his palm from his eyes until Germany said sternly, "Done."
China peeked from between his fingers and found that both of the nations were dressed, though not so properly. Germany's bare chest was only covered with suspenders wide enough to cover his nipples, while a white bed sheet was draped around Italy like a Greek toga. Well, at least Germany had pants on and Italy had most of his body covered.
"I am sorry for the mischievous scene you had to witness, China," Germany spoke awkwardly, as awkwardly as he did whenever people walked in on him mounting the younger Italy twin, "I deeply apologize."
"Me too aru," China bowed. "I should have knocked."
"What made you come veee?" Italy was smiling and flapping his arms in excitement while Germany tried to keep the toga on his lover. "You want to join us?"
"Tian, NO!" China shrieked, but he composed himself. "I just want to personally invite you two to the New Year Party hosted by my little brother Hong Kong. I hope you can come and bring some gifts for exchanging—oh, and please restrain yourself from bringing too much pasta aru. I appreciate the taste, but after a year of eating it at the world meetings, I'd prefer French food for a change aru."
"Oh… we will try to come." Germany smiled politely. "Thank you for inviting us."
"You are welcome aru. Sorry for interrupting your session aru."
China walked out quickly from the room, closed the door nicely and ran down the corridor.
Next was Spain. China looked around his room, but all he could see was a sea of tomatoes.
"Antonio aru! Are you inside?"
Like a vampire awoken to life, Spain suddenly stood up in the middle of a mountain of tomatoes.
"China! How are you!"
"What are you doing underneath those tomatoes aru?"
"We were having a siesta. Would you mind lowering your voice? Lovino is still asleep."
"Oh. Sorry aru," China whispered.
"What?" Spain asked. "I cannot hear you."
"I am sorry aru!" China spoke louder, but Spain shushed him back.
"Not too loud, China."
"Ah." getting irritated, China went straight to the point. "Hong-Kong-is-having-a-new-year-party-and-you-are-invited-so-bring-food-and-presents-but-not-bulls-aru."
"I am sorry?" Spain smiled charmingly. "The only thing I got is you want food from my bull's faeces?"
"NO!" China pouted. " Just… come to the party hosted by Hong Kong for New year, OK?"
"Oh," Spain smiled. "Of course, we will come. Right, Lovino?"
"Don't wake him up, aru!"
"It's ok, China. He had enough siesta for today."
China didn't know what to say in response, so he just walked out of the room.
China visited every room in the building. Switzerland and Lichtenstein were extremely polite and nice, compared to a rowdy Prussia who shouted 'awesome!' and promised to bring his army of Gilbirds. Austria and Hungary was an agreeable couple, while the three Nordics and Baltics to come after they were reassured that Poland would not make everybody dress up as Heidi. Sweden and Finland promised to come after asking whether they could bring Sealand. Japan promised to invite Greece, Cuba and Turkey, so pretty much all that was left was…. Eyebrows.
China grumpily went to the last room in the world that he would ever go to.
"Hey aru. Good morning," China gave England a friendly smile, causing him to choke on his English Ceylon Tea. "How are you today?"
"Did you hurt your head, Yao? Why are you so friendly to me now?"
"Oh no! Of course not! I haven't hurt my head! I am just happy that my littlest brother, Hong, whom you had the honour of ordering around, is hosting a party for New Year and well, although I didn't want you to come aru, you are invited ahen! So don't forget to bring some gifts…"
"Are you sure? Hong Kong invited everybody?"
"Yes aru! And he is going to do the lion dance too!"
"…Fine. I'll definitely come and bring my cupcakes."
"NO. Just bring yourself aru. Or maybe bring some Scotch as well."
"How about scones? I am getting better!"
"NO. Thank you, but no. If you come with scones, I will not let you into my house aru."
England looked dejected as China left the room.
"So I invited Russia and his sisters, the Americas, the Axis Powers, the Baltics, the Nordics, the Europeans and the Eyebrows aru!"
Hong Kong stayed silent, but his eyes grew wider.
"I think we can have a really nice party! How about I cook for you, Hong? You can practice your lion dance and I can cook my heavenly delicacies aru!"
"Yao ge."
"Yes? Eh, by the way, would you like red lanterns or red silk hanging from the ceilings aru? We'll make the whole house red! Of course red is our theme, right aru?"
"Yao ge…"
"What do you think of mochi aru? We can ask Japan to bring some. And also Kimchi? I think Korea can make some good Kimchi…"
"Yao ge. Stop."
"Aiyah. What's wrong aru?"
"You. This is my party, I only want people I know and I love most to attend. I don't want to have a big party. I am embarrassed enough to show you my dance and now you are humiliating me by inviting the whole world?"
"…A… Hong, I mean…"
"I am now too embarrassed to cancel it and yet I don't want to dance anymore! Yao ge, you are an idiot!"
With that, China was left alone by his youngest brother. He didn't know what to do, so he stayed in Hong Kong's place, preparing to face every guest himself and announce the cancellation of the party.
"The party's off, aru."
China spoke from the gap between the door when the Hanatamago family (consisting of Sweden, Finland, Sealand and Hanatamago the dog) came. Finland looked concerned.
"Is everything all right, Yao-san?"
"No. Not at all. Hong Kong is mad at me so there is no party now aru. Sorry. You are the first to arrive. I thank you, but I'm sorry."
"Oh… I am so sorry," Finland gently apologized and showed Yao the basket of cheese and goat milk he brought, some decoration lamps from IKEA and a camera phone from NOKIA, gift-wrapped in pretty ribbon. "These are from us. I hope things will be ok with you and your brother soon."
China looked at the gifts and felt properly ashamed, so he let them in.
"Wait, wait! I am opening the door, aru!"
"YEHAA~ Here comes the awesome me!" Prussia barged in without even a proper greeting and went to the living room where the Hanatamago family played with China's newly pirated Wii. A yellow whirlwind followed him, striking China in the side.
"Hi."
The three Baltic nations smiled as Poland swirled his hair around. China was aghast. The feminine nation was wearing a pink candy-print dress straight out of Japan's Gothic Lolita Bible, with a cupcake for a headdress.
"I'm like, so excited! This outfit looks sooo good on me, don't you think? See? I deserved that stare, duh"
They came in, Estonia bringing his DJ device, Lithuania bringing a normal gift of flowers and Latvia bringing balloons. Poland was already inside with Prussia, doing the Dance Dance Revolution complete with a dancing Gilbird army.
"Yes?"
"I am here, mon cher."
France stood in front of the door with a rose in between his teeth and a tray of neatly wrapped food in one hand. China swallowed hard.
"Francis… I am sorry, aru…"
"Hey, why the apology? I have cooked my most delicious French dishes! I heard that you invited everybody, so I made a lot. I think it's enough, so don't you worry."
"That's why… aru… I mean… the party is…"
"Yao hyung! Yao hyung! Hey, food!" an annoying voice issued from behind France. Suddenly France's tray was transferred into the hands of Korea who swept it into the house. China was dumbfounded as Korea placed the food on the table, enticing the guests to swarm all over it. France smiled.
"Now that my food is in, may I come in too?"
China was cornered.
"Of course aru. Thank you so much."
The party was in full swing, with music, chattering and gaming sound effects when the door opened.
"Yes aru?" China opened the door to see the Englishman with thick eyebrows standing stiffly in front of the door.
"… Yao."
"… Arthur."
"… I see that the party has started. Where is Hong?"
"… He refused to come out from his room upstairs aru."
"I knew this would happen," England sighed, and to China's surprise, planted a soft kiss on his forehead. "Hong is not a very confident person, yet you invited everybody to watch his dance. I bet he is angry now, am I right?"
"… You knew? Why? How?"
"We used to live together, remember?" England smiled. "I know you are troubled now. So please relax and entertain the guests while I speak to the boy."
"… he won't let me in, aru. I don't think you can get in too."
"We'll see, Yao," England smirked and planted another kiss on China's cheek. "We'll see. Oh and here is the scotch. And I brought marshmallows too."
"…Thank you, aru."
"You are welcome, Yao."
Russia was the last to reach the house that night, and China knew why. When he opened the door, his vision was obscured by a blanket of bright yellow from what must have been the most gigantic sunflower in the world.
"Wh…What the fu** is that aru!"
"It's the newest genetically modified sunflower da?" Russia came in with a smile as he carried the huge flower effortlessly. "It's one of the prototypes and since it is so pretty, I figure that people would love to get this da? This can be the door prize, main prize or something!"
"A.. ha… T..Thank you Ivan aru."
"Good evening, Yao-san," Ukraine appeared from behind Russia, wearing a shapely red Chinese dress that accentuated her busty frame. Belarus stood next to her, carrying a massive butcher knife at least three times the size of a normal one, wrapped in ribbon.
"Wh..What is that for, aru?"
"Gift exchange," Belarus replied coldly.
The Russian siblings entered the house, leaving China to puzzle over why everything made in Russia was Triple XL in size.
The arrival of Japan, Taiwan and their own gifts and guests officially marked the beginning of the party, though in actual fact, Gilbert and his Gilbirds had already started the party. Everybody enjoyed themselves, drinking, eating and chatting, but they were all eagerly anticipating the highlight of the party — Hong Kong's Lion Dance. And of course, his firecrackers.
It was almost midnight when China started to get worried. England had not come down, and the food was depleting. Everyone continued drinking and chatting as normal, but the atmosphere was tensing up.
Suddenly, noises could be heard from the stairs. Everybody looked up and were pleasantly surprised to see an oriental lion walking down the stairs, or rather, trying to walk down the stairs. The head bobbed energetically and the front legs trotted and pranced effortlessly, but the hind legs were awkward and clueless. Suddenly, the hind legs stumbled and both people in the lion rolled down the stairs, falling face-first on the floor.
"Bloody hell! Sorry, I couldn't see much… Where are we, Hong?"
"Follow my feet—left, right, left, right."
The lion stood up and moved robotically, left front leg followed by left hind leg and right front leg followed by right hind leg. It went smoothly, until the left front leg was suddenly followed by the right hind leg and the steps messed up, causing the dancers to stumble.
Everybody started to laugh.
"Enough!" China shouted. "Don't laugh aru! Don't you dare to laugh! Hong Kong is trying his best and I think this is wonderful—do you know how hard it is for two people to do the lion dance together?"
The room was silent, and suddenly Hong Kong's face appeared in the lion's mouth.
"Yao ge…"
"Ye..yes, aru?"
"Would you mind changing with Arthur because he is pretty useless with this?"
China nodded and rushed up towards him, practically ripping the costume from England's back to take his place.
England sprawled on the floor, nursing a nosebleed.
"Bloody hell…."
"And HERE IS THE HERO!" Suddenly a voice, as annoying as Korea's, came from behind the door. The next second, America came in with his cameras and lighting paraphernalia, followed by a levitating teddy bear. "Why is everybody here already? Isn't the party supposed to be tomorrow? I am supposed to be the earliest!"
"GHOST!" Sealand shrieked and hid between Sweden's legs.
"I am not a ghost… I am Canada…."
"Who's that?" Everybody looked around to look for the voice that came from midair.
"You are haunted, Alfred!" Korea shouted and everybody refused to get near America.
"I think you mistook the date, you git," England stood up from the floor, wiping his bleeding nose. "The date is today for the rest of us, but not you and Canada, I guess."
"Oh," America looked dejected. "So the party's over?"
"No! It's just starting aru! We are doing the lion dance aru!" China shouted from behind Hong Kong.
"WOAH, AWESOME! THE LION'S BUTT SPOKE!" America trained his camera towards the lion costume.
The lion dance was indeed best presented by Asians, where it had its origins in. The two Chinese men maneuvered the lion costume skillfully. They created a lion that was fierce, majestic and strong, yet graceful, lively and friendly.
Everybody was mesmerized, except America who was busy filming the Hollywood level of awesome documentation.
When the fireworks began, everybody went out of the house, cheering their appreciation of the vibrant display of sparks in the night sky. China put out fortune cookies on the table for his guests. He was relieved that they had enjoyed the party.
But Hong Kong might not have forgiven him.
"Yao ge."
China jumped when his brother's voice slipped into his ear.
"…Hong?"
"I am sorry, Yao ge."
China smiled and cried, hugging his youngest brother tight.
"Me too aru. Me too. Forgive me."
"There is nothing to forgive. Thank you."
The year started so well.
review please?