Okay. I am watching Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright right now. What is Labyrinthia anyway? Don't laugh, I'm only on the first part! I just kind of laughed when Layton said, "This is certainly out of the ordinary." I'm just trying to imagine how the characters would react if they met England. Or maybe America. Well, Layton and Luke are from London, and Phoenix and Maya are from Los Angeles. How do you think they would react to finding out that nations exist? FanFiction, anyone?
Why don't we cheer up everyone, because I actually have Internet! Before, I had to go to my dad's workplace on weekdays, but I get to stay home today! That means I can actually look up things, watch YouTube, all that good stuff. Also, I found out that the magic circle England uses is a *checks Internet* heptagram! You know, I think I'll stick to magic circle…
This chapter is about… cooking/baking! Wait… Why are you running to the bathroom? And why do you look like you're going to vomit? I know England is infamous for his cooking skills, but I intend to try and fix that. Even if it seems impossible, I will get his cooking to at least not send people to the ICU for a week. That reminds me of something… I can bake scones. Delicious scones, in fact. I'm going to bake scones and take them to a convention with a Hetalia panel. Then, I will offer them to the panelists. XD
Here are some chapter notes as well. First, this takes place right after the Spooning Chapter. England and China are good friends, but they will most likely be blushing and stammering through the entire chapter. You know, because of the spooning incident… This is the chapter where they actually do get together as a couple! Hooray for Iggychu!
Cooking/Baking
France shook his head sadly. "You're taking on the impossible, you know." China simply ignored him as he stepped onto the driveway in front of England's mansion. Finally, the nation answered.
"I think all of us have had enough of England sending nations to the infirmary. Hopefully, I'll be able to teach him how to cook something decent." China's cheeks flushed a bright red and he turned away, mumbling the last sentence. "I believe in him, okay?" France rolled his eyes and smirked at the smaller nation's reaction. He quickly slid in front of China and rapped his knuckles on the front door.
While France waited patiently for England to respond, China took the time to look up at the giant mansion they were standing in front of. Like the other nations, the European's house was pretty isolated and far from civilization, with a single road connecting his place to the outskirts of London. The outside walls and ceiling were painted in calming and modest colors, with pale yellow and light tan. Several flower bushes with roses, daffodils, and thistles decorated the bases of the walls, and shamrocks grew as abundantly as the grass in the front lawn. Overall, the mansion seemed to be a rather normal but refined European style mansion.
"Frog? Just what the hell do you think you're doing here?" One of the double doors was opened to reveal a very pissed off England, eyes narrowed in annoyance. His eyes floated over to where China was standing nervously, and the nation quickly averted his eyes, turning red. "Ch-china… You can come in." As two red faced countries walked into England's mansion, France grinned widely. He hid a snicker behind his hand and followed them inside.
"L'Angleterre et la Chine," he noted in French. "Aussi oublieux…" The nation didn't care how loudly he said this, since he was positive neither of the other countries could understand French. The small group of nations walked to a den near the mansion's main entrance.
A soft rug with an intricate pattern was laid out over the wood floor, and matching furniture was arranged in a simple way that seemed simple but relaxing. Several ceiling lights provided a soft glow to the room, and a large window with the curtains pulled back provided cheerful sunlight as well. A coffee table with a flowerpot as its centerpiece sat in the middle of the room.
Calling a servant for some Earl Gray, wine, and a cup of green tea (how cute; England even knew China's favorite tea), England settled down into a chair. He motioned for the other two to sit down, nervously double taking when China sat down next to him. After waiting in awkward silence for a minute or two, though it felt like an hour or two, France finally piped up.
"China wanted to help you with your cooking!" he announced cheerfully. Just watching China stutter, eventually agreeing, and England, stumbling over his words again and again, was hilarious!
"You're actually going to help me?" asked England slowly, as if he didn't really understand China in the first place and probably misheard him. The other nation nodded in reply, unable to actually string together more than 3 words. France grinned once again at how the two didn't even notice when their drinks arrived, and the nation started sipping some wine from his glass.
England and China were probably still embarrassed about the little incident at Italy's place only a few days ago. Basically, China had woken up to find him and England spooning, and the Brit sleeping peacefully with his arms wrapped around the smaller nation's waist. In fact, they were too shy around each other to actually talk! France started wondering why China would want to help with England's cooking even after the spooning thing, but honestly did not think too much about it. Actually, he was thinking of how to push the two nations together even more.
Smirking, France commented, "Of course, Angleterre. Why else would little Chine come all the way to your place? Unless there's something I am not aware of…" The French waggled his eyebrows, hoping to get a reaction from the two. He succeeded.
"And why are you here, wino git?!" England screamed at France. Meanwhile, the nation was pretty sure he could actually seen the veins popping from the Brit's forehead. China blushed even more (if that was even possible) and he quickly took a sip of tea while staring down at the cup.
France calmly shook off the tension being radiated at him and replied, "I wanted to make sure you didn't blow up anything in the kitchen. I also wanted to make sure that you two behaved." It was quite the miracle that he wasn't beaten up, thrown out of the house, and banned from England's place forever. However, he did receive a death glare from England and China, albeit not as effective since they were both completely red in the face.
China finally suggested that they go to the kitchen to start baking, which England hurriedly agreed on. They left an empty wine glass, a half-full cup of green tea, and an untouched teacup of Earl Grey.
Like the rest of his house, England's kitchen normally held a peaceful and simple but relaxing mood. The countertop was polished stone, probably made of marble or quartz. Everything from the silverware to the glasses were neatly organized, which was probably to be expected of England's place. The oven and stone gleamed from the bright glow the ceiling lights gave off.
England was quick to gather some ingredients for a batch of scones, per China's instructions. It was quite simple to bake them, and hopefully, no one would be praying to the porcelain god for a week after eating them. Some self-rising flour, baking powder, salt, butter, an egg, and some milk were set onto the counter. The nation had preheated the oven and was mixing together the dry ingredients. China was offering tips to England, such as chilling the ingredients beforehand and making sure the butter was placed in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
"Little Chine." China whipped around to find France with a wine glass sitting in his hand and a tiny grin plastered on his face.
China had had enough. "You didn't answer England, but you will answer me! Why have you followed me to England's place? What do you want? And why do you call me Little Chine?!" He glared at France with an impressive glare that could scare away the devil, demanding answers.
Sighing dramatically, France looked over the shorter's head to see England still at work, who now mixing the cold butter into the mix. "I was right, though. You do love him, don't you?" China turned his head in shock toward the French nation. Of course, he didn't expect there to be a sad and forlorn expression replacing France's normal flirty smile.
"It was quite obvious. Italia and the others knew as well, of course. You should probably tell him, while you have the chance and he's still here." China's eyes grew wide in shock, and he stared once again at France. The nation quickly covered the streaking tear on his face with his hand, and he continued talking to the Asian country.
"Why did England hold your hand? Why was England so concerned about your burn? Why did you wake up in England's arms?" China's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion at how France didn't refer to England in French. The two turned back to England, who didn't seem to notice their conversation. The Brit was mixing the milk into the dough, and covered the bowl it was sitting in with some plastic wrap.
Suddenly, though, his expression changed again, becoming the normal ditzy smile of the French nation. "Just think about it!" He walked over to where England was placing the bowl of dough in the fridge, chatting animatedly with him.
"Wait, you haven't answered my questions!"
The look on France's face as he turned toward China almost screamed that he just didn't understand. The small nation blushed a bright, scarlet red as he started thinking about why England did those things. 'Why would he care about me like that, though?'
"At least we got rid of the Frog," England sighed. He opened the fridge door and took out the bowl of cold dough before using his shoulder to close the door. "By the way, why do you say it's best to keep the ingredients cold?"
A few minutes ago, England completely snapped at France and threw him out of his house, quite literally. China was pretty sure France's back still hurt. Before he was kicked out, he whispered the same advice to China, with the same pain in his face. Still trying to understand, the nation continued to blush and stutter whenever England would talk to him.
China blushed slightly, still remembering France's advice. "W-well, the point is to keep the butter cold enough so it won't melt. The butter needs to be rubbed into the dough and not melted, or the scones will be heavy… and most likely not as appealing."
While China was feeling extremely nervous and kept on blushing near England, the Brit wasn't really doing any better. In fact, he was even more nervous. What did China even think of him after he woke up with England in… that position? England could barely remember that incident without turning redder than a tomato.
Yes, England was in love with China. The two were extremely close before the Opium Wars, and were now rather good friends. But contrary to popular belief, it was not easy to simply say, 'I love you' to someone you actually like. So now, he was sticking to just trying to see if China liked him as well. He was starting to think the Asian nation really did. He wasn't sure. {Oh come on!} However, it was kind of obvious that if he did, China was completely clueless
The Brit tried to ignore his thoughts by taking several pinches of flour and sprinkling it over the cutting board. He quickly dumped the dough onto the board and started kneading. He continued pressing his palms into the dough, until he felt China's hands on his arms.
"Be gentle with the dough, or you'll end up with flat scones." England's face heated up, and so did China's. They continued making the scones together, until they ended up cutting them out of the dough with China giving England tips about cutting them. Still blushing. Eventually, two simply started waiting in awkward silence as the scones were being baked.
After about 10 minutes (to the two it felt like 10 hours) England started thinking of how to tell China. Yes, tell China. "Say…" he began, attracting China's attention pretty quickly.
"W-what?"
"Well, I…" England was basically lost at this point, and blurted out the first thing in his mind. "France said you loved me!" The only person that could have been more shocked than China was England himself.
China, trying to actually say something that a person could understand, eventually also blurted out the first thing to come to mind. "Well, why were you listening in on our conversation? It doesn't really seem very polite!"
Also retorting with his first argument, England raised his voice and almost shouted, "Well, it was kind of easy!" China was about to respond, but he saw England's blushing red face and realized that his cheeks were also a bright scarlet. His frown turned into a tiny smirk, and grew to a smile as he started snickering.
"And what are you laughing about?" England mumbled.
"I just realized how silly we're being." China took a deep breath. It would be easy to get it over with, right? Right? "Well… ThetruthisthatIdoloveyouandIknowyoulikemeback!" He slumped over, panting because of how he had said the majority of one sentence in one breath. Meanwhile, England was trying to piece together what he heard.
"You… really do…" What China was expected was a shy reply of confirmation, an immediate decline, or a shouted response. He didn't really expect a bear hug from the other tea loving nation and a near-squeal of happiness.
China started chuckling once again and asked, "W-what is that for? Am I right?" His face turned red. Once again.
"Well, yes!" China couldn't help it. He immediately hugged England back and also lightly smacked the back of his head. "Hey! What was that for?"
"Because we were both such idiots! I guess France was right."
England smiled wistfully at the memory of what the wino git had said. "Yeah." France was telling China about Jeanne d'Arc, even if it was in a very roundabout way. As he pulled China into a deeper hug, he silently thanked the nation for helping them get together, even if it was in a very awkward way. Maybe France actually was the nation of romance.
"Well, I guess we should start dating, right?"
"Y-yeah, I guess."
A little nod of happiness. He quickly turned around, his shoulder length blond hair whipping over his face slightly. He walked quickly away from the window, where he watched the two hugging and laughing, calling each other idiots and making plans for a date. England and China, huh? Yeah. They would be happy. Hopefully. He figured that he could help other nations tell each other about their love, since no one knew when one would die. After all, no one knew about that topic more than him. Even if he could never tell his love about how he felt, he could get others to see their love, right?
He was France, after all. The country of romance.
Aaaand I am bad at romance! Hooray! I spent so much time putting this off because I had no idea how to make the end of this chapter. If you are wondering about the scones, let's just say that they were delicious. I was planning to focus on England's worn down confidence and China restoring that, but I guess I focused too much on the blushing and the thoughts and the France angst. I need to get better at this…
Like I said before, I was also frustrated with the Secret Society game. I'm trying to find the Ouija Board, but the Throne Room, Pipes Puzzle, and Japanese House are all being annoying! Ay ay ay… By the way, if anyone wants to friend me, my code is 8NPCP2. Good luck with the searching, and if anyone has it, please send me an Ouija Board! Please? Look at the puppy eyes.
I would like to thank .Sparkle for reviewing! Sigh… I always seem to get the English and Japanese versions mixed up, it seems. I really hate it when the two have all these differing words and terms. I don't know why I chose Sweden as the person to get drunk, since all of the Nordics would probably have some tolerance considering the alcohol from their countries. Well, Finland said that Sweden loved punch, so it's possible he drank a lot of it? I can fix them if you want, but for now, I'm just considering it a plot hole. *nervous sweat drop*
Next Time…
"Didn't see that one coming."
"Sometimes, I don't think this will ever end."
"I've made a promise to protect you!"