Kortinee and Marie had already been at my house for about half an hour when the nations arrived. I was nervous. I wanted them to all like each other, and I really didn't want things thrown, like they nearly had been when I introduced my friends to my then boyfriend, Ethan. Fortunately, none of them were going to be arrogant or stupid, so I was pretty sure Kortinee wouldn't raise a fuss. Marie, on the other hand, was a bit harder. She and I were very protective of each other, so she was most likely going to grill them like cheese sandwiches.

Pretty sure that's not a good thing…

I peered out the dining room windows again, and caught sight of a big, dark blue van pulling into the driveway. After checking to make sure the snacks and pop was still where I'd left it - the kids could've gotten into it - I hurried to the front door, flinging it open just in time to startle the shit out of poor Feli.

"Welcome to my humble home, which isn't really mine, but my lovely parents'," I bowed dramatically, giggling along with Feli.

"And they call me a ham," Alfred teased, ruffling my hair.

"Hands off." I beamed back at him.

Arthur handed me a box of popcorn. "I brought some popcorn so we don't eat you out of house and home."

"Thanks!" I led them inside, showing them to the living room, then going into the kitchen to set the popcorn down.

"I hope you don't mind," Arthur started, unsure. I sat down cross-legged on the floor by the couch. "But there will be a few others joining us. Is that okay?"

I waved a hand dismissively. "It's fine. Who all is coming?"

"Germany, Russia, and Japan. Possibly Hungary," Arthur told me.

I lifted an eyebrow. "Axis and Allies, eh?"

Matthew sniggered. "You could say that, yeah."

A phone went ping! and Alfred pulled his out of his pocket. "They're almost here. Why're they texting me?"

"Because Ivan likes to torment you," Francis said, studying his nails.

Alfred made a face. "Shut up."

Kortinee and Marie came sauntering up out of the basement. "Are they here yet? Oh," Kortinee's eyes shone with interest. "Guess they are." She turned to me, glaring playfully. "Thanks a lot for telling us."

"They just got here," I shrugged. "Mind entertaining? I'm gonna fix up some plates. Few more on the way."

Marie followed me out. "I'll help." She got out some paper plate. "Did you notice how funny their names are?"

I glanced at her, opening up the pretzels and dumping them on one plate. "Funny how?"

"Funny as in carbon copies of the names from Hetalia," Marie said bluntly. She looked at me inquisitively.

I merely shrugged. What was I supposed to say? Yeah, don't tell anyone, but Hetalia is true; those guys are the personifications of world nations! Couldn't do that, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Just lucky, I guess. Or unlucky as the case may be," I said, snickering quietly.

"What are you getting up to out there?" Alfred called.

"You don't want to know what she can get up to in a kitchen," Kortinee said loud enough for me to hear.

I frowned in her direction through the wall. "Quiet, or I'll stick these pretzels up your nose."

Beat of silence. Then, "Eeewww, booger pretzels."

That made everyone burst out laughing.

Marie and finished fixing up the paper plates of snack foods (grapes, crackers, pretzels, chocolate kisses, cherry tomatoes, etc) and carried them out into the living room. The plate of tomatoes I handed right to Lovino, who jerked his head up with a startled look.

"Ah, um, grazie,"he stuttered, cheeks flushing in embarrassment. He hesitantly took the plate from me.

"You're welcome," I chirped, handing off the chocolate to Francis, who gave me a quiet 'merci'. "So, what-hey!" I squawked as Matthew grabbed my right hand. "What gives?"

"What happened to your thumb?" He asked, frowning at the dark blue/purple bruise under my thumbnail.

"Got bruised," I rolled my eyes, taking my hand back.

"Yeah, but how?" Alfred questioned. "You're not clumsy from what I've seen."

I opened my mouth to explain, but Marie cut me off with, "You kidding? Girl's a major klutz nowadays."

I shot her a look. "Ha, ha. No, what happened wasn't my fault. My oldest nephew, Ben, took my youngest nephew's ball away from him last night. Liam, the youngest, was screaming, so I went after Ben to get the ball back. I smacked Ben on the butt with the ball, and ended up bending my fingernail backwards." I smirked at Francis' horrified face and Feli's and Alfred's squeamish expression. "Had to unbend it myself. Needless to say, Ben was very sorry he caused that. Felt like I'd broken my finger."

"Ouch," Arthur was sympathetic. "Think you'll lose the nail?"

"Possibly. Mom said I might. But I don't know, since it was really the top third of the nail that got bent and bruised." I felt a little stupid doing it, but I showed them my thumb so they'd stop craning their necks to get a glimpse of it.

Weirdos.

Before anyone could say anything, the front door slammed open, and we could hear angry muttering beyond the french doors to the entryway.

"Garrett? That you?"

"Who else?" He snapped, coming into the living room - soaking wet.

"Garrett!" I jumped off the floor and hurried over to him, taking his dripping jacket before he could flop it on the couch. "What happened?"

He glowered at me, and I immediately knew. "Oh, no…they did it again?"

"I don't know why they can't leave me alone! So I have a weird eye color!" He fumed, toeing his shoes off. "So I look like Danny Phantom's distant cousin! What's it to them? At least they don't look like this!" His eyes, now his natural rose red color, were full of humiliation and anger. "All I was doing was walking home from Conner's house, and they drive by and…" he held his arms out. "Well, you can see what happened."

"Maybe we should finally tell James?"

"No!" I flinched at his harsh tone. "I don't need my older brother saving my ass! I can do it myself!"

"But he helped me with Ethan…surely he can get those morons off your back? Isn't that what a big brother is for?"

"He's got his own problems right now, Charlie," his tone softened. He seemed to finally notice the others in the living room. "Great…" he sighed. "I'm going to take a shower and put on some dry clothes." He sneezed, and made a face. "I'm freezing."

"We have plenty of snacks for when you're done," I called after him. He lifted a hand in response, disappearing into his bedroom for a change of clothes.

"Is he being bullied?"

I turned, rubbing the back of my neck self-consciously. "Um…sorta?"

Matthew shook his head. "That's dumb. What does it matter how you look? Isn't it what's on the inside that counts?"

"Fudgy-okra," Kortinee stage-whispered to me. She and Marie started giggling.

I rolled my eyes. Oh, brother…

"Did we miss something?" Arthur looked at the gigglers, then at me, puzzled. "What are they laughing at?"

"You'd have to watch anime to know what they're talking about," I waved a hand, shooting them a knock it off look.

They ignored me. "Mmmm," Marie continued. "That stuff's goooooooo~d…" They broke into peals of laughter again.

Grimacing, I loudly told them, "If you two are just gonna focus on old inside jokes, what was the point of having you over?"

"Alright, alright," Kortinee, wheezed. "We'll behave."

"Ri~ght, and I'm next in line for the throne after Queen Elizabeth," I shot back sarcastically.

Arthur snorted. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind giving up the throne to you, Charlie."

I lifted my eyebrows in disbelief. "Sure she wouldn't. Like I'd believe that."

He just grinned cheekily at me.

XXX

Things went pretty smoothly until shortly after the others arrive. Turned out to only be Germany - Ludwig and Austria - Roderich. The others had too much work to do. When I quietly questioned Matthew about their work, he chuckled and told me their bosses were handling everything so they could get a modern education. The last one had been back in the 70s, and things had changed a lot since then.

I nodded, and went back to listening to Ludwig talk to Marie about different colleges in the area. Kortinee, Roderich and Arthur were gabbing about music, with Alfred interrupting every few minutes with comments about what they were talking about. Roderich shot him annoyed glances, though said nothing.

"You better not've been tricking me with that talk about snacks."

I bounded across the living room to give Garrett a hug. "You want me to beat them up?" I mumbled into his shirt.

"Leave it alone, Charlie," he responded quietly. Then he raised his voice a bit. "So, who's got the pretzels?"

"Make sure there're none that have boogers on them," Kortinee said teasingly, laughing when I grimaced at her.

Garrett looked at Kortinee as if she were an alien. "What?"

"Never mind, Kort's just being silly." I dragged Garrett over to my spot and made him sit by me.

He shot me a faux annoyed look, his red eyes full of amusement. "I can pick a place to sit for myself, goofball."

"I'm just doing the sisterly thing and saving you the trouble," I sniffed daintily, then squeaked when he poked me in the ribs.

"Sisterly nothing. You just wanna keep me where you can see me."

"Can you blame me? You get into more mischief than I do!"

"I had some prime examples of being a troublemaker while growing up."

I frowned down my nose at him. "Are you trying to get me to hit you?"

He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Hey, can't help it if the truth hurts."

"Brat."

"Yeah, but you still love me."

I rolled my eyes. "It's required of older sisters to love their little brothers. Don't kid yourself."

He just laughed, shaking his head.

"Sounds like our family," Alfred grinned at Arthur. Arthur made a face. "What? It's true. Our family is just like that."

"I think you're forgetting how loud and violent some of us get," Arthur deadpanned.

"Mon ami, you sure you're not talking about yourself?"

"Shut it, frog."

"They sound like they could be related to us," Garrett teased, watching as Arthur and Francis started bickering, clearly entertained. "You sure they aren't?"

"Positive," I said, biting back a laugh as Arthur whacked an unsuspecting Francis in the face with a throw pillow. "…I think."

Garrett smirked. "They must be a lotta laughs at Thanksgiving and Christmas."

I noticed two of the nations staring our way out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head, I was a bit confused that Ludwig was gazing at Garrett in shock and hope. Roderich was staring at him like he'd never seen an albino before. Which, come to think of it, he probably hasn't. I tucked my hair behind my ears, and waggled my fingers at Ludwig.

"Daydreaming, Ludwig?" I teased.

He blinked, turning to me. "Hm?"

"Daydreaming? You were staring of into space pretty intently."

The tips of his ears reddened. "Um, nein, just thinking…your brother looks like…someone I once knew."

My eyes widened a bit. "Really? That's so weird! Some people have come up to me thinking I was someone else! Who does Garrett look like?"

Everyone else was silent, watching the conversation. Ludwig shifted, uncomfortable by the stares. "He looks a lot like…my brother."

"You want him? Take him." I lightly shoved Garrett's shoulder, smirking at him when he shot me a 'really?' look. "Free of charge."

Ludwig shook his head, though I could see a tiny smile forming. "Nein, but thank you for your kind offer."

"You sure? I bet mom and dad wouldn't mind having one less mouth to feed," I was batting Garrett's hands away now as he tried to smack at me. "Stop that!"

"Stop trying to get rid of me!" He laughed, still attempting to land a hit.

"No, never! Ack!" I fell over, Garrett pinning me.

He smirked. "I win."

"First time for everything." I laughed at his disgruntled expression, smacking at his chest. "Off, you barbarian."

He sat up, pulling me into an upright position with him. "First time nothing. I've pinned you loads of times."

"You sure I didn't just let you win so your frail ego didn't get a whooping?"

He glowered. "Har, har. You're hilarious."

"I try."

"More like you're trying."

I beamed. "Thanks."

"Not a compliment," he snorted, rolling his eyes.

"You may not have meant it that way, but that's how I'm taking it."

"Acts like him, too," Ludwig mumbled.

XXX

Nobody's POV

Alfred sat in the back of the van with Arthur, staring out the window without looking at the scenery flashing by, chewing his lower lip in thought. Seeing Charlie in her home, with her friends was like more pieces to a puzzle Alfred hadn't known he was struggling to put together. Charlie could easily be mistaken for Elysia, like Arthur had said a while back. Only difference was her hair was cut short and dyed blood red. Garrett was a perfect double for Gilbert, especially now that they knew what his true eye color was. When Alfred first laid eyes on Kortinee, he felt as if he'd been sucker-punched to the bread basket, unable to draw breath. She was the spitting image of Maeve, Arthur's older sister. Same lovely, dark eyes, same medium brown hair with natural highlights…it was as if she'd never left. He'd had to mentally remind himself that this was Kortinee, not Maeve. She was Charlie's friend, not Arthur's sister.

He could tell Arthur was having a hard time separating the two. When they had still been at Charlie's house, Arthur kept glancing at Kortinee wistfully. He wished she was his sister. He missed her.

Alfred missed her, too, though he and Arthur never spoke of how differently they missed her. They had silently agreed years ago, shortly after the incident, that they'd talk about it if and when she was found. There was no point in fighting when Maeve wasn't even there.

But a thought kept niggling at the back of Alfred's mind…Why did they look exactly like the people they were looking for, if they weren't them?

XXX

"I'm a bit surprised there was no third degree," I said, taking my turn and moving my green Sorry! piece seven squares. "Didn't feel like it?"

Marie shrugged. "I was observing them, and they didn't seem like serial killers or rapists to me."

I grimaced. Ugh, not something I wanted to think about.

"They seemed nice and friendly. And it was pretty funny when Arthur clocked Francis with that pillow," she giggled.

Kortinee drew a card, and pouted as she moved her blue piece back four spaces. "Damn. Why do I always get the sucky cards?"

"Game of chance," Marie reminded her, drawing her own card. She pumped a fist in the air excitedly. "Yes! I got a twelve!" She picked up a red piece and moved it forward twelve spaces. "So, I noticed that Alfred guy couldn't keep his eyes off you, Kort. Any thoughts on that?"

We both looked at Kortinee when she squawked wordlessly. Her cheeks were a bright cherry red, eyes firmly on the board.

"I don't think we wanna know what her thoughts are. Might be scarring." Garrett commented, moving a yellow piece into the safe zone.

Kortinee promptly threw a couch cushion in his face.

XXX

The fingernail incident actually happened to me over the weekend, this past Saturday night. My nephew felt really bad about causing me pain. Kid kept apologizing to me. Didn't help I had a migraine aura that same night, shortly after my nail got bent. -_- Life likes to kick me when I'm down, I swear. Haven't been able to get myself back on my feet, what with all the knocks I keep getting.

*sigh*

I'm thinking about having them use a chatroom. What do you guys think about that? Texting is a given, but I'm wondering if I should add in a chatroom. Hmmmm…I'll have to sleep on it.

Kudos to whoever can tell me what anime "fudgy-okra" is from. Hint: it's in the blooper reel. ^_^ Have fun looking!

And waddya know, looks like Alfred is starting to realize some things about Charlie, Garrett and Kortinee. About time, lol. I think I'll have Kortinee be the next one to figure out who the nations are. Then probably Garrett. He's supposed to be a bit clueless when it comes to people outside the family. XD

Ideas, questions, thoughts, lemme know! I'll be here all week. (Seriously, I'll be here. Nowhere else to go.)

See you in the next chapter!

Allonsy~

Eli