The next day, I woke up hugging Feli in my arms and Mattias and Gilbert hugging my legs, snoring and drooling all over them. Yong-Soo curled up against my back for warmth in the middle of the night and Berwald's head, in my line of vision, was right next to mine, upside down. He looked pretty peaceful when he was sleeping. Ivan and Snow were passed out on the pull out couch-bed thing, spread out all over it.
I decided to sit up, leaving Feli wrapped up in a particularly fluffy blanket. I grabbed my phone to check the time and was surprised to see how late we all slept in. It was almost noon and it wouldn't be long until the others had to go to work.
After stealthily getting my legs untangled from the Prussian and Dane, I scrunched up my face at the drool. Thank god I have a clean set of clothes here. I got up and walked back to Snow's room. Her dresser had all kinds of clothes in it, but there was a drawer that had just my clothes in it. So I pulled out a fresh pair of jeans, a black shirt, some underwear, and grabbed my beloved orange hoodie from Snow's bed.
I walked into her bathroom and took a long, hot shower, no doubt waking up the others. After I scrubbed my hair and legs clean, I got out and dried off, changing into my clothes. When I walked back out to the living room area, I was still rubbing my hair down with a bright ass purple towel. The others were up, but looked more like zombies than humans.
"Good morning," I sang and stepped over the bodies of my friends.
"How can you be in such a good mood?" Yong-Soo moaned, leaning against the wall for support.
"After last night, that was all I needed to get out of my funk. Now that I'm refreshed, I have to prepare for dinner tonight with the family," I said and walked into the kitchen and started pulling out ingredients for pancakes. "Anybody want pancakes?"
"I'll take a few," Snow said and the others just moaned in a way that I took as a yes.
After nearly using up all of Snow's pancake mix, eggs, and oil, I stirred the lumpy mixture as the pan on the stove heated up. Snow and the boys took their sweet time preparing themselves for the day. Afterall, Snow, Gilbert, Ivan, and Mattias had work and Yong-Soo was going to go job hunting with Berwald and leave Feli with Papa. As for me, I would spend my entire day doing nothing in particular, just staying far away from home. Maybe I could go out and see a movie or go to the park.
By the time everyone was done with showers and getting dressed in clean clothes, I finished making the pancakes and piled them high onto two plates, setting down butter, peanut butter, and syrup with it on the coffee table. I sat next to Feli and Snow and served myself two pancakes.
"Everyone dig in," I said as I slathered peanut butter on my pancakes then drizzled the Mrs. Butterworth's syrup over the pancakes.
We ate in silence with only an occasional compliment on the pancakes from the boys and Snow breaking the silence. When I finished, I cleaned my plate and ran around Snow's home, looking for one of my spare purses. Yes, I'm that prepared when I stay over at my best friend's house. And thankfully, I found it hiding in the back of her coat closet. It was cute, different fabrics with different colors and designs sewn together. My relatives in England mailed it to me after they went to an open market. They always know the perfect things to get me.
"Where are you going?" Mattias asked, having thirds.
"Out. I'm gonna hang out with some friends. I trust you boys will behave before leaving Snow's home. If I hear you've left a mess of her house, I'm not going to be happy," I said and grabbed the spare keys to Snow's apartment. "Yo, Snow, I'm not gonna be back until after dinner, so you might want to keep an eye on everyone."
"Oh I will, Indie. I will," Snow said ominously with a sweet smile, which only raised my suspicion.
I shook it off and left the apartment. As I walked down the street, I pulled out my phone and decided to call a friend I haven't talked to in what seems like forever. It rang a few times but someone eventually did answer.
"Hello?" A deep groggy voice mumbled.
"Dude, it's the afternoon. Did you just wake up?" I asked with a slight chuckle.
"I-Indie? Girl! It's been way too long! What's going on?" he asked, sounding much more awake now.
"Eh, Choice came for a visit yesterday and Dad got mad at me after this accident happened so I'm staying at Snow's place for a bit. I'm meeting up with the family later, but thought maybe you'd like to join me at the mall for a bit before the time comes? Hm? What do you say, Thatch?" I asked.
"I'll be there in ten minutes. Seeya, Indiana!" Thatch said and quickly hung up.
Thatch was a friend I made two years ago at a convention. He's two years older than me and lives not too far away. We haven't spent that much time together lately mainly because he's a college boy and I'm a baker. I didn't have the money to go to college or a culinary school. I had to keep my job as a baker just to help pay my debt to the Flying Mint Bunny Corporation but I had to get a second job to help pay for the incoming units. So as you can see, there was no time to go to culinary school or college. All I could do was cringe whenever I thought about the possibility of Katherine showing up to collect more money and my jar of cash steadily becoming more empty.
I walked around the town, clearing my mind of Katherine and the stupid corporation. Until it was time for dinner-whenever that was-it was going to just be me and Thatch. Speaking of which, just as I reached the mall, I saw Thatch was waiting outside the front entrance of the mall, typing away on his phone. He had curly dark brown hair but unlike his usual floppy hairstyle, he cut it short. It looked fine, but different. His eyes matched his hair and stood out against his light colored skin. Today, he wore a light green shirt with a detailed dark green turtle with bubbles around it, an even darker green fashionable scarf, and loose black jeans.
"Hey! Thatch!" I called out and jogged up to my friend.
His head shot up from his phone and grinned at the sight of me. Thatch shoved his phone into his pocket and met me halfway, capturing me in a hug in which he lifted me off my feet and spun me around. I giggled at my friend. He was probably the only one other than Dad and Dee I'd let do this to me and I'd actually enjoy it. They would make me feel light as a feather, simultaneously impressing me with their strength.
Thatch set me back on my feet and smiled. "It's been too long!"
"I know, now come on! I hear there's a pretty good action moving playing!" I said, grabbing his wrist and dragging him inside.
"Oh? Come on, Indiana, we haven't seen each other in forever! We're gonna go shopping and we're gonna talk, okay? Wait-no. It's not even a question. I am demanding it!" Thatch exclaimed and dragged me into the closest store, which happened to be filled with dresses and tuxedos. "That, and my cousin is getting married next month and I needed to buy my tux. And you can play dress up~"
I sighed exaggeratedly and said, "fine."
"Awesome! Now, what's been going on since I've last talked to you?" Thatch said, dragging me over to ballroom gowns.
"Well, remember Hetalia-"
"Fuck yeah I remember Hetalia. We met in Hetalia cosplay, remember?" Thatch said and as if to prove his point, whipped out his phone to show me his background. I was dressed as Nyo!England and he was dressed as Spain. He thought I looked adorable or some shit like that and wanted a picture taken with me.
"Yes, well, remember the manual fanfiction I would send you?" I asked, looking at a rather bright green dress with a large, poofy skirt.
"Yep, I got hooked on that shit for awhile," Thatch nodded his head and pulled a white gown off the racks and shoved it into my arms. "Go try this on."
"Okay, so awhile ago Annie and Milashka got out because Dee was sleepwalking and I was upset and as my family says, the best cure for sadness if humor. So I was watching Hetalia on my laptop and this pop up comes up and says I can get Hetalia units for 50% off . . ."
"The rumors were true?" Thatch yelled then I shushed him and stepped into a changing stall.
"Yes, the rumors were true. Now I have six units in my house and it's getting hella expensive," I said and undressed to slip on the gown.
"Who do you have?" Thatch shot back almost immediately.
"In order, Ivan, Yong-Soo, Gilbert, cute, little baby Feliciano, Mattias, and a teenage Berwald," I said, knowing that Thatch was still obsessed enough to remember their human names.
"Shame, you only have one of the Allies and a chibi version of an Axis member. Hey, you think if I looked hard enough, I could find a website for the units and get one myself?" Thatch asked, already knowing which characters he was thinking about. All the female characters, and Spain and Romano.
"I don't know, but trust me when I say owning one unit is hard enough. But six? Not to mention I'm going to get more units in the future," I said and stepped into the dress and pulling it up over my body. I could only get the back zipper up so far before my bug body couldn't allow it to go any further. "I'm too big, Thatch."
"No, it's just too small. Now, let me see it on you. It's not everyday I can actually play dress up with you," Thatch said from the other side.
"You're just going to take pictures, aren't you?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.
"Now, we can do this the easy way, where you come out and I snap a few pictures, or do this the hard way, in which I climb into that stall and take pictures of you in there whether you're dressed or not," Thatch said sternly and I knew he could and would do the second choice if I didn't walk out there. He's done it before and he'll for certain do it again.
"Fine, fine, I'm coming out," I grumbled and opened the door to the stall.
Thatch immediately started snapping pictures, grinning and cooing, saying how cute I was. I had long since grown used to his baby talk and instead of blushing, learned to just roll my eyes and accept my fate. No doubt he'll send the pictures to Snow who'll send them to just about everyone else on planet Earth.
"So, how are your parents taking the units?" Thatch asked, taking a closer picture of the dress.
"Papa is doing very well. In fact, he adores Feli like he's his child, or I guess in my case, a grandchild-don't ask. Dad on the other hand . . . when Ivan first arrived, they had a drinking contest every night for weeks! But when Yong-Soo, Gilbert, and Feli came, he toned down a lot. Mainly because he and Papa were fawning over Feli," I said and shifted from one foot to the other. "Can I change back now? It's getting hard to breathe in this dress."
"I already have another dress for you and a matching tux for me," Thatch said, putting his phone away and handing me a light pink dress with white and baby blue accents and a poofy pink and baby blue tulle skirt that would probably reach my knees.
"Fantastic,"I said sarcastically and went back into my changing room and Thatch went into the one next to me.
"What about Mattias and Berwald?" Thatch asked.
"Well, when I first got Mattias, I was angry at the others for annoying the hell out of me, so went into a rant and woke Mattias up by choking him but then he wasn't responsive, so Gilbert tricked me. I called Mattias brother and now he hugs me whenever, which can get pretty annoying at times. It was yesterday I received Berwald and a little birdy told me that he still kind of has a viking mind set so I guess I was an ideal woman back then-"
"You still are today!"
"Yes, yes, whatever. And get this. He claims people he likes and I'm told I'm a very likeable person," I said, dressing in the pink dress and was surprised that it fit me quite well.
"Claim? Like he writes 'Property of Berwald' on people or . . . oh wait, viking, viking . . . oh shit, he wants to do the do with you!" Thatch said in realization then laughed. "Oh my god, how did your dad take that news?"
"He doesn't know yet and I'm praying he doesn't find out or else it's bye bye Berwald. Speaking of which, he still believes Mattias has control over him so he kind of saved my ass in the claiming department," I said and zipped up the back of my dress. When I looked at myself in the mirror, the first thing to come to mind was I looked like a cupcake. A hella adorable cupcake, but a cupcake nonetheless.
"So when did the fight take place?" Thatch asked.
"Soon after I got Berwald," I said, looking at myself from every angle in the mirror.
Shit, I'm becoming attached to this pink thing. My need to buy it is strong.
"That sucks. You done yet?"
"Yep. What about you?" I asked.
"I can't get this stupid tie," he growled.
"Step on out and I'll take care of it for you, dude," I said and stepped out of my changing room.
He got out as well. The suit was black but the usually white shirt was pink, the vest was white, and the tie he held in his hands was baby blue. I snatched the tie from his hand and placed it around his neck then went to work.
"So me and the boys stayed with Snow last night and Papa is making me go to dinner with them tonight at The Grill," I said distastefully and tugged on the tie, pulling it down into a perfect Eldredge tie knot.
"Thanks-Oh my god, Independence Amelia Neils, you look so precious!" Thatch cooed and pulled me into a hug and proceeded to talk to me like I was dog. "Who's a cute girl? Who's a cute little girl? You are! You're a cute little girl, Indie!"
"Yeah, well, you aren't half bad yourself. Which reminds me, how's everything going with Penelope?" I asked.
"We're doing amazingly, thanks for asking! Our third year anniversary is coming up and I'm so excited! I bought us tickets to Cirque du Soleil in Vegas and we'll be gone for the entire week," Thatch said dreamily. "She's gonna be so excited!"
"Hell, I'm excited for you and jealous of Penelope. I wish some guy would take me to see them, or have them come to me," I said with a shrug but smiled. "You're really too sweet, Thatch."
"I could say the same about you in that dress. You remind me of a cupcake! Oh! I'm so buying you that dress, but first, selfies!"
"What? Thatch, you can't buy this for me, it'll be too much! Save your money for your trip!" I protested, sneaking a glance at the price tag and seeing it was well over $300.
"Pish posh, Indie. Like you said, units are expensive and I'm a rich kid thanks to his grandparents will. I'm going to buy you this dress and there's nothing you can do to stop me. Besides, I'm sure your boys would love to see you in it," Thatch winked and I rolled my eyes.
It went on for hours. Thatch bought the tux and dress then continued to make me dress up from store to store. Around six was when Papa texted me t.o meet them at The Grill in an hour. I was actually kind of thankful because my feet were killing me from all the walking and walking in high heels when Thatch dragged me into a shoe store at one point. Thatch was kind enough to drop me off at Snow's apartment with my dress and a pair of shiny black buckle ballet shoes he bought me when I went to get a drink from the vending machines. He really is too sweet for his own good.
"I'm home~" I sang and shut the door behind me.
"Mama!" Feli yelled from the couch and ran over to greet me. "How was your day, Mama?"
"It was amazing, Feli. Now, why don't you help Mama pick out an outfit for tonight, hm?" I suggested and picked him up with one arm.
"Okay, Mama," Feli said with a smile.
"Can we help you, Indie?" Mattias asked, popping his head in from the kitchen, followed by the heads of Berwald, Gilbert, and Yong-Soo.
"I don't trust you boys and I thought you had a job to do, Gilbert," I said flatly.
"Those people were being so unawesome, so I quit," Gilbert said with a smirk.
"Translation: they fired you for writing inappropriate columns," I retorted and walked into Snow's room.
I set Feli and my shopping bags on the bed and started rummaging through Snow's closet. Snow didn't always used to be so skinny. She was chubby like me at one point but then she got a gym membership on a spur of the moment idea and goes to run, do water aerobics, and kick box. But, I knew she kept some of her bigger clothes around in case I needed some in an event of an emergency. Yes, we were that prepare whenever I came over.
"Okay, what do you think of this?" I asked Feli and pulled out a black shirt and a blue, green, and white skort, tossing them into the air before resuming my search.
"Yucky," Feli shook his head.
"The kids right, that skirt is hideous, daze," Yong-Soo said, scaring me.
The boys had waltzed in when I was busy looking through the closet and sat around Feli.
"I thought I told you guys I didn't want your help," I said.
"You're getting it whether you want it or not!" Mattias bellowed with a grin.
"Fine, fine. But I half less than half an hour to get ready then have half an hour to get to the restaurant and I'm afraid I'm walking there," I said and pulled out a bright pink blouse and silky white skirt. "Yes or no?"
"No," they all said in unison.
A long sleeve blue shirt and tattered jeans.
"No."
A grey pea coat and slacks.
"No."
A lacey purple tank top and shorts.
"No."
This went on for awhile and it was getting on my nerves. I had nearly emptied out Snow's entire section of big clothes by the time I rounded on them.
"Can you guys just pick something so I can go?" I snapped.
"Well, what about if you wore the pink blouse with those skinny jeans?" Gilbert suggested, having gotten bored and dug through Snow's night stand only to find her book of quotes she started making years back.
"No, they just don't go together," Yong-Soo disagreed. "What if you wore the Hello Kitty shirt with the white skirt?"
"Are you nuts? That's way too much white and if you haven't noticed, Indie is all white," Mattias said, pointing his thumb at me. "I say we go with the mini skirt and long sleeve shirt."
"You just want to see Indie in a mini skirt!" Yong-Soo said.
"You want to see it to! Who knows when we might ever see her dress like a girl again! This could be our only shot!" Mattias yelled.
The two bickered back and forth. Gilbert was absorbed in the quotes, snickering at some, Berwald was sitting quietly, and Feli was watching the two fight, tears slowly coming to his eyes. A sigh came from the quiet Swede and he finally stood up and picked up the lacey tank top, the pea coat, and a dark pair of jeans.
"Take these and go," he said. "Before they team up on you."
"Thanks for the input, Ber," I said and ruffled his hair.
I changed in the bathroom and ran back out on the town, grabbing my phone. The Grill was a nice enough place that you had to put some amount of effort into your appearance. If not, you would forever be shamed by your family. Yeah, I went there once in a shirt with some oil stains and basketball shorts and embarrassed my parents and siblings who were all dressed nicely. Oh well, I was at a phase in my life that I didn't care what people thought because they would only see me as the fat kid. Well this fat kid grew up and wanted to look nice.
The Grill was a pretty popular, modern looking restaurant. The towns folk gushed over this place, saying it was probably the best restaurant for miles. It wasn't. Their food was bland, they have a menu consisting mostly of grilled meat and burgers, and there was always a long ass wait if you showed up later in the day. Yeah, I know that's a common thing among popular restaurants, but it seems like they make you wait even longer.
"My baby!"
The moment I stepped onto the restaurant's property, I was nearly tackled to the ground by Papa. Thankfully, I got my footing at the last second and was struggling to breathe from Papa's tight hug. Behind him stood Dad, Dee, and Choice, each dressed nicely and watching Papa and I was an amused look.
"Hi Papa," I mumbled and patted him on the back.
"I'm so sorry for what your father said to you yesterday, Indie. We didn't know you felt that way," Papa said, pulling away to look me in the eye.
"Um, before we go in and eat and stuff, you mind if we get all this talking out of the way? I'd rather not have any shouting or crying going on inside while we're still trying to settle this," I said with a weak smile.
"I'd actually prefer that," Choice said, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.
We walked over to a little outside waiting area by The Grill where no one was at. We sat down on the benches, but I opted to sit on a bench opposite of my family. Dad and Choice were shifting uncomfortably in their spots on the bench. It was time to talk about our feelings and finally put this whole dislike of Choice behind us.
"What I said yesterday was out of line, Indie. I just hate it how you and Dee haven't made up with your sister after all these years. I can't stand the way I see you treat Choice so badly, but me begged me not to say anything about it," Dad said calmly.
"When did she say that?" Dee asked.
"It was actually not too long after that day," Papa said, leaning his head on Dad's shoulder. "It was right after you both turned on her."
"You guys finished pulling your third prank on me when Dad and Papa confronted me. They wanted me to stand up for myself but I just felt awful for what I said. I told them 'no, let this continue. It will serve as a good enough punishment for what I said about my siblings. For godsake! I said I'd rather have my baby brother dead than have my baby sister bruised!' then I continued to beg Dad and Papa to keep quiet. The did, though unhappily and swore if you two injured me physically or landed me in therapy sessions from mental trauma, they would put a stop to it," Choice explained.
"Jesus, lady, it would've been okay to speak up," Dee spoke, looking at Choice with wide brown eyes.
Choice looked surprised at Dee's words.
"Yeah, at first, we may have hated what you said, but we don't hate you. You're our sister, we'll always love you deep, deep down. If we were really treating you so badly, you should've said something, Choice, or maybe we should've realized what we were doing was wrong," Dee said softly. "Besides, I've forgiven you for awhile now, I was just waiting for Indie to realize she doesn't hate or dislike you."
". . . really? This isn't just some prank because you've pulled shit like this before," Choice said suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.
"Hey, I take more after Mom in the grudge holding department, not Dad," Dee grinned then turned to me. "Now I hear from them that you also blew up yesterday, saying some rather alarming things that sent Dad into a state of shock."
"Baby girl, is that really how you feel?" Papa asked meekly, afraid of the answer I was going to give them.
I sighed through my nose and leaned forward, resting my arms on my knees. "Do you understand the amount of pressure you put on Dee and me after Choice graduated high school and we entered? I know you guys just wanted the best for us, but it constantly felt like what I loved doing disappointed you. We tried living up to Choice's expectations and lord knows that failed. But even after the incident happened and lived went on, I couldn't help but feel like my dream of owning my own bake shop and becoming a baker wasn't good enough to both of you. You and Dad were always giving me these looks whenever I was testing out a new recipe. You seemed so disappointed, like I could've done so much better and get a career so much more out of it. But I wanted to become a baker and it seemed like you only accepted it when Hazel hired me."
Yes, I often noticed them looking at me with this weird look whenever I bake something for dinner. It's mostly Dad who looks at me like that, so I tried to tone down the baking at home and just stick to cooking. But I still saw him looking at me like that and even to this day when I bake a cake for a birthday or pastries for a special occasion. It makes me feel like maybe I did disappoint them with my choice of how I wanted to live my life.
"Oh, sweetie, no, you misunderstand," Dad said, getting up to join me on the bench. 'We're not disappointed in what you want to be in life. It's just . . . you remind me of your mother."
"Pardon?" I said, my head shooting up.
This was new. Dad almost never talks about Mama, even if I beg for him and the others to tell me stories about her. It was always the same thing. "Your mama was amazing," "Your mama was wonderful," and, "Mama was beautiful!" and maybe Papa would say I looked like her.
"Your mama liked to bake as well, nowhere near to the extent you do, but enough that it wasn't odd for me to find her and the kitchen a mess after I came home from work for the day. Of course, as you grew older, the similarities in not only appearance, but the baking became apparent. Every time I see you baking, I just can't help but see her in you," Dad uttered and wrapped his arm around me.
"Why the hell didn't anyone tell me this before?" I asked curiously.
"Mama . . . wasn't as great as we told you. Don't get me wrong, she was a wonderful mother, but it's what happened between her and Dad. It's why we don't speak of her often," Choice explained for Dad.
"What? Was she a mafioso or something?" I asked jokingly to lighten the serious mood.
"Nope. That would've been so cool though!" Dee exclaimed, only to receive a smack on the back of the head from Papa.
"That's for your father to tell you when he's ready. Even though it's been so long since she passed, it still hurts. Not to mention it's rude to speak of the dead in such a . . . mean way, no matter how truthful it might be," Papa said then sighed. "Hm, I seem to be doing that a lot lately. Well!" Papa got to his feet and patted his stomach. "I'm hungry, so do you two forgive Choice or at least are on the path to forgiveness?"
"Yes sir!" Dee shouted with a grin.
"Yeah, sorry about the spill yesterday by the way," I apologized quickly, now that I wasn't being screamed at to do so.
She smiled. "Like you said, it was an accident."
"Do you realize we're not disappointed in you, Indie? That we support you and you just remind us of a woman your father loved dearly?" Papa asked.
"I guess-"
"Yes. Or. No." Papa emphasized. "Don't give me that 'I don't know, I guess, maybe' bull. Independence Neils, we love you. You are our daughter and we support you with whatever you want to do with your life. If you suddenly change your mind and want to be a doctor? Cool, you're saving lives! You want to become a stripper? Great, maybe you can introduce one of your friends to Dee and get him a girlfriend!"
"Hey!"
"The point is, Indie, we love you. You are not a disappointment, you are not a burden. Everyone fucks up now and then, we're human after all. I know I've fucked things up more times than I can count. So do you realize you're not a disappointment, but a spectacular woman that I hate to see grow up because you are my baby girl and the closest I'll ever come to holding a baby again is if I get a grandchild?" Papa said, smiling down at me.
I couldn't help but notice this sad look in his eyes since he started talking about Mama. It never went away and I could only wonder what happened between Mama and Dad.
"Yes," I said finally, only to receive a kiss on my forehead from Dad and Papa.
"Lets go inside then," Papa said and we all walked to the entrance. "God, I think I can go for some appetizers."
"With the prices here? The only appetizers we're getting are the mints at the cashier desk," Dad snorted, keeping his arm wrapped around my shoulders.
"Oh, Indie, I have something to tell you," Choice said suddenly with an innocent smile that could only mean there was trouble behind it.
"Yeah, Choice?" I asked.
"I thought you may still be mad at me, so I was using your laptop to search for something on the internet I thought you would like and I could buy, you know, the thing I usually do when I come for a visit. But then this pop up ad appeared . . ." Choice trailed off, a nervous grin on her face.
My eyes widened. "Please tell me you managed to close the pop up."
"Um . . . I got you some limited edition units from that anime you like?" Choice said nervously with a shrug.
Hallo, is'a me, Gabby!
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, even though there is a lack of the boys in it. Forgive me if this seems rushed, it's late in the night and I've been stuck on this for awhile.
Indie just can't get a break from the units. Brownie points to those who can figure out the limited edition units! I've actually been toying with this idea for some time now and decided to add them into the story. I'm a bit enthusiastic about writing the next chapter because it involves a little unit I mentioned in my notes in chapter nine, and possibly (most likely) a limited edition unit, so it might come out earlier than expected. Oh who am I kidding? I'm going to put them in the chapter, so it'll be another two units for the week. And quite possibly shenanigans will ensue at either (a) the mall, (b) a carnival, or (c) a water park.
Like I said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time!
Toodles~