Another chapter up!
I hope my style of writing isn't annoying to read...
Well, I hope you enjoy!
Merry Christmas!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
One by one, all guests arrived. Basch and Erika were the first to arrive, as expected. Shortly after, Roderich and Elizabeta took their places at the table. Gilbert was assumed to be late (all the Frenchman and the Spaniard's fault if you'd ask Ludwig) and lived up to their expectations.
Ludwig sat down in his chair, surrounded by what he could call his family, related or not. Smiling, he took his glass filled with - surprisingly - an expensive wine, and held it in the air.
''Prost, meine Familie,'' he said, his blue eyes sparkling with joy just like when he was young.
The others surrounding the table followed him, all in their own languages and ways. The mood lightened up, as if a thick fog had given up on blinding them, floating away in a matter of seconds. Even Basch managed to get a bright smile plastered on his face. Not nearly as happy as his sister, but his attempt would have silenced a whole crowd if it wasn't for the fact that it was Christmas.
They talked, laughed, even played some games like ''I spy'' (it had been Elizabeta's idea). The night seemed to go perfectly; Elizabeta hadn't hit Gilbert with a frying pan for a couple of hours straight and even Basch had loosened his non-physical grip on his little sister.
Gilbird had been messing around with Erika's ribbon. She came to the conclusion the little bird seemed to have a liking toward that specific ribbon due to the little eyes that wouldn't even give Elizabeta's ribbon a second of his time. Erika didn't mind though. She laughed and petted the little yellow creature, who closed its eyes when she did so. Erika chuckled and looked at her brother, a pleading look in her eyes. Said person nodded, still smiling happily. There was nothing better than seeing the ones you love this happy. Erika loosened her ribbon and gave it to the little bird, which took it happily.
-0o0-
The doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of the two infamous sisters. As Toris went to open the door, he passed Ivan, who tried to make sure he was ready for whatever his younger sister had in store for him or his friends - if you could call the three Baltic nations friends - . The brunette sent the taller male a reassuring smile before unlocking the door, revealing the two beautiful ladies. Both smiling, the older kindly, the younger quite bright, if not a bit scary, they came inside, surrounding themselves with the warmth that hung in the air.
''Big brother!'' the two females said in unison, as they ran towards their sibling and opened their arms to hug him. Ivan smiled a bit nervously, his arms hanging at his sides. Both sisters smiled brightly as they followed their brother to his living room. They said down on the couch, taking their time to talk with each other before dinner.
The Estonian, who was occasionally seen running through the house, muttering something in Estonian over and over again, eventually came to tell them dinner was ready. He had given it his best attempt, getting Raivis to help him every now and then. Multitasking was never something he had been able to do without getting himself into more trouble than needed, so he didn't really try either.
The six of them sat down, a big smile plastered on all of their faces, many hiding something behind them. The family wasn't close at all, but they were actually all pretty fond of each other, the Baltic states a little less than the rest of the family, but they were treated with respect. At least tonight..
But as the time passed, everyone seemed to loosen up a bit and even Latvia managed to get a small smile out of himself. Christmas was one of the best days for ones close to the Russian man.
-0o0-
The dysfunctional family - consisting of France, the United States of America, England and Canada - spent their night a little different. While most countries enjoyed a fancy dinner, the four of them spent their night eating McDonald's hamburgers with French fries and drinking milkshakes and cola. It wasn't Arthur's first choice, but after Francis' home had turned into a mess and Arthur had accidentally blown up the kitchen (he'd accuse Flying Mint Bunny if you'd ask him) the four men didn't have much of a choice. Most restaurants were out of unoccupied tables and it appeared that both of the North American brothers' houses were too far away Alfred. It would only take 10 minutes by car, but the hamburger-loving brother was in no condition to wait - he had said so himself - . Surrounded by nothing but calories, the four of them sat down at one of the tables, Francis and Arthur on one side, the North American brothers on the other side.
While the others seemed to be fine with it, the British man only frowned, seeming a little uncomfortable. Of course this did not go unnoticed.
After a while of glancing at the island nation, Alfred spoke up. ''Britain, dude, what's with the sad face?'' He expected the other to just wave it away, but when Arthur looked up it was not denial he saw. The Brit seemed to feel as if he was not welcome, if not just unhappy.
Arthur swallowed before answering. ''I just thought we'd spend our Christmas.. Somewhere else..'' He swallowed again, ''Somewhere special.''
Francis let out a low chuckle. ''But Angleterre, isn't every day special when you spend it with the ones you love?'' he purred, leaning on Arthur's shoulder with his head, much to the other's dismay. Both Alfred and Matthew let out a choked grin upon seeing the scene playing in front of them. Arthur wasn't really fond of his friend's touchy feely behavior, and that certain friend knew that all too well.
Clearing his throat, he pushed the Frenchman away, face red enough to make a certain Feliciano Vargas think he could have been a tomato. ''Don't touch me, frog.''
He tried to sound serious, but couldn't even convince himself. Laughter erupted from the table, causing others around them to give them a confused look, or grin in silence.
-0o0-
Miles and miles away, Yao and Kiku had taken it upon themselves to celebrate Christmas with some of the other Asian countries around them. Although it might not seem like it, they were actually quite close. They might annoy each other more than once a day, resulting in Yao getting pissed and Kiku trying to calm everyone down, but they loved each other. It wouldn't be the same if one of them wasn't there to live their stories with them.
Sighing happily, Yao sat down at the table, smiling as he watched the others dig in. With his knowledge about cooking and food in general, it had been quite easy to present his friends a delicious meal that suited the occasion perfectly. The house, which had been icy cold before due to the heaters not doing its job, started to warm up after the fireplace had been lit. The normal light bulbs hanging from the ceiling had been forgotten after MeiMei - a nickname Yao had given her - had come up with the idea to light candles to lighten up the mood (no pun intended). Looking around the table, he could see Kiku, giving everyone his polite and gentle smile, MeiMei, who was in a discussion with Leon about who's house they could celebrate Christmas next year, and Yong Soo Im, who was getting his pleasure out of telling Kiku some - occasionally dirty - jokes that he did not understand. Kiku would just frown and pretend he was too innocent to know about that kind of stuff.
It had been pretty hectic to get everyone together and decide who's house would be best to meet up and celebrate at. But eventually they had decided the Yao's house would be closest for everyone, considering the snow wasn't really that much fun to be stuck in for a longer time than needed in the first place.
-0o0-
The door opened, revealing an exited Dane, who was wrapped up in a red jumper. It was an ugly jumper, the stereotype of the jumpers your grandma kitted for you when you were a child. It had a picture of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer portrayed on it, with some kind of flake made out of red coat where his nose had to be. Tino was 100 perfect positive Lukas had already mocked him for it, or maybe he had even given him the sweater just to humiliate him. That did sound like Lukas...
Their friend stepped aside, making room for Tino, Berwald and Peter to come inside. They took of their coats and shoes, both dripping with melted snow. Tino, who had been holding Hanatamago all this time to keep her warm carefully put her down, after which she ran to greet Mr. Puffin in the living room, followed by Peter, who was excited to see the rest of the family again. After Tino and Berwald took him in, they made sure to tell him not to believe anything Uncle Mathias said, both expecting him to tell Peter some things about their relationship - ahum-ahum - .
Mathias squeezed himself in the little space between Tino and Berwald, letting both of his arms rest of their shoulders as they walked into the living room, which was connected to the kitchen.
''So boys, you ready for Christmas?!'' He ended his question/statement - Tino couldn't figure out what it was - with some kind of yell you'd mostly here him make whenever the Nordics were watching football or every other sport Mathias actually liked. Tino nodded, smiling his signature gentle smile, freeing himself from the other's grip around his shoulders. He found Emil and Lukas in the kitchen, too busy cooking to really pay attention to their friends, but who could blame them. Six people is quite a lot and since they had decided to celebrate it at Lukas and Emil's place and had decided on some Norwegian traditional Christmas dinner called Pinnekjøtt, Emil and Lukas were the only ones really capable of preparing dinner the right way.
But eventually, everything went well, if you don't count Lukas slapping Mathias around eight times in two hours, but that was something that could happen any time.
-0o0-
A knock on the door announced the arrival of the two siblings. Exited to meet the two west-European countries, Feliciano Vargas made his way to the door, followed by Antonio and Romano. He opened the door, revealing the tall Dutchman and his little sister, the former accompanied be a cold aura, the latter smiling bright with a joyful glint in her eyes.
While Bella could get along with everyone, it was a little awkward for Lars. Especially when greeting Antonio, who thought the Dutchman still hated every fiber, every cell of his body. For all he knew he could be pinned to the wall within a second by just looking at his sister, but the taller male did nothing. To Antonio's surprise, he actually smiled. A half-hearted smile, but it was a smile.
''Merry Christmas, Antonio,'' he said, his voice as gentle as it could probably get. He looked at Lovino awkwardly. Unlike Antonio, Lovino practically hated Lars, making it harder for the Spaniard to try to get himself and the Dutch to become friends. Lovino was giving him a cold glare that just screamed ''run for your life and don't look back''.
After a few seconds of awkward look, Feliciano suddenly broke the silence.
''Buon natale! I'm Italy, but just call me Feliciano! My brother told me you are Netherlands right?'' Lars nodded in utter silence, while Feliciano chatted on, ''He says that you and Antonio are enemies and don't get along. He also told me you have been really cruel to him and-''
Antonio interrupted him. ''Alright, who's ready for dinner?!'' he chirped, hoping to shut the Italian up with a filled stomach. His attempt was not in vain.
Lovino hadn't stopped glaring at the blonde male all evening, but he wasn't entirely rude towards him. Not much more than he was towards Antonio, that is..
Only one more chapter to go...
It isn't finished yet and I was planning on uploading it tonight. I will not be at home in the afternoon so I hope I'll have enough time to finish it..