Wednesday dawned in the Pyrenees, early summer breeze filtering into the room. Shivering, Alfred scooted closer to the warmth in front of him, snuggling closer until he felt it shift.

Wait, what?

Eyes snapping open, he was greeted by the sight of a sleeping Canadian, blonde hair tousled and breath steady, arms secured firmly around Al's waist.

"…erm… Mat…"

Silence.

"Mat, wake up."

The Canadian snuggled closer, giving a soft, sleepy whine.

"Mat, seriously. Wake up!"

Alfred reached up and gave Matthew a shake. Which had no effect. Alright, time for drastic measures.

Reaching for the Canadian's curl, Alfred grasped tightly and gave it a sharp tug. This time, the Canadian's eyes snapped open, as the boy sat up suddenly, confused and blushing like mad.

His brother was so strange sometimes, Al thought.

"You're awake, finally! I was starting to get worried", Alfred teased, free to move around now that Matthew had let go of him.

"Why'd you tug my hair?!", the younger boy complained, sending him a sleepy glare, "I asked you not to do that!"

"You're so weird, Mattie. It's just hair."

"Yeah, well, don't, eh?", the Canadian mumbled, looking away.

"Alright, alright. Anything you say, Mattie", grinned Alfred.

"Do you want breakfast?", asked Matthew, yawning and stretching.

"Are you going to make it?"

"…Sure, why not. Do you want pancakes?"

"Of course I do"

As Matthew crawled over to the nightstand to retrieve his glasses and Alfred ~didn't~ stare at the mountains of British Columbia, he didn't, because that was more awkward than the hug before, the American realized that today was the best he'd felt in a long time. He hadn't been mauled, eaten or anything of the sort, and if what Mat said was true than he was safe now that three nights were past.

He was safe so… maybe Arthur was right about the fairies?

Naah.

"Hey, Mat, I'll race you to the kitchen!", laughed Alfred, already taking off towards the door, ignoring the cry of "No fair!" behind him.

Yep, today was a great day.

**

WEDNESDAY

The door to the conference room slammed open and nine heads turned to see Natalia, clutching a piece of Ivan's scarf and looking around the room with a predatory gleam in her eyes.

"Has anyone seen my brother?", she inquired curtly, gaze roving over the room.

"Nope, sorry", grinned America from his seat, giving her a hero smile. Arthur rolled his eyes and sipped his Earl Gray, exchanging an exasperated look with Ludwig.

"Very well then". With a flutter of skirts, Natalia was gone.

A few minutes past.

"I think it's safe to come out now.", offered Canada.

With a lot of scuffling, Ivan emerged from underneath the table, exhaustion written on his face.

"So you actually stayed there for over a day?", asked England incredulously, amusement evident in his tone.

"Next time, I vill be organizing guards and defence, da?", answered Ivan darkly, taking a swing from his nearly empty vodka bottle and collapsing into a chair.

"That is quite the feat-aru!"

The nations all jumped in surprise and turned towards the door to see a smiling China walking in, Shinatty-chan cellphone in hand.

"Where exactly have you been?", asked Ludwig tensely, massaging his temples.

"Me? I went to town to get another power cord- aru. Then I noticed there was no Chinatown for miles, which made me think about how nice it would be to have dumplings readily available-aru!", grinned Yao, sauntering over to the table.

"And then…you went to another Chinatown?", Francis inquired hopefully.

"Nope. I made one right there-aru!", answered China happily, sliding a brochure across the table.

America smiled as Francis paled a little and picked up the piece of paper with the very tips of his fingers, considering the new attraction with a look of deep mistrust. England snickered, France glared back, and soon the two were in a heated argument over nothing. Ludwig moved to intervene, but found himself held back by the sleepy Italian draped across his lap. Romano started yelling at the German, barely restrained by a smiling Spain. Switzerland cocked his gun menacingly while China just stared.

Exchanging a smile with Mat, Alfred decided that things were exactly as they should be.

'And the Hero lived happily ever after', Al narrated in his head.