As it was estimated, the plane touched down in Canada well after the sun hid under the horizon. Matthew was waiting for them like the good friend he was.
It was only after Romano gave him a hug, when he realized something was different about pale friend.
"Matteo, where is your bear?" he asked curiously, but before Matthew could say anything, there was a bright chirp and suddenly a yellow chick, that had been sleeping, hidden among the golden mop of hair on the top of Canada's head, made himself known.
Lovino squinted, while Matthew's chicks took on a tint of pink.
"Is that what I think it is?" Romano asked warily. Canada was just about to respond when he was cut off again, this time by a cheerful Spaniard.
"That's Gilbird! Hi, little bird!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "Hello to you too, Matthew!" He added, also giving the blond nation a hug.
João stood a little to the side, awkward. Why did he come here, again? Ah, yes, to spend some time in the company of his annoying little brother and his even more infuriating boyfriend in hopes they could make him forget the damned haze of gloom that descended on him during the last World Meeting.
He felt pathetic. Portugal hated feeling pathetic and sorry for himself. Cue the visit. Now though, he started doubting the intelligence in his plan. Both South Italy and Spain were cheerfully greeting their host while he stood on the side and felt even more pathetic.
Canada was nothing but perceptive though, and he knew very well what does it feel like to be left out, so as soon as he properly hugged his friends hello he stepped up to the third Nation that came to his country and extended his hand.
"Hi. I'm Matthew Williams. Welcome to Canada." he said with a friendly smile. João smiled back, he couldn't help it. The kid was sweet and polite and considerate. It was beyond him how France and England could ever raise such a nice Nation.
"João Henrique Lisboa-Carriedo. Pleased to meet you." he said shaking the proffered hand. The Canadian was sweet and soft-spoken but his grip was sure and there was a glint in his lilac eyes that spoke of strength.
Unassuming but dangerous, João liked him already.
"Well then, lets go to my place. You all must be pretty tired and I've got your rooms ready. Are you hungry?" Matt asked. He was answered quickly and enthusiastically in affirmative, so he led them through the airport at a brisk pace and then they piled into his car.
The way to his house wasn't very long, and good, because a hungry South Italy is a grumpy South Italy but a hungry and tired South Italy is downright scary.
They arrived safely before anybody could become a victim of Lovino's ire and as soon as all the bags were deposited in the assigned rooms waiting to be unpacked Matthew herded everyone into the dining room for a quick, light meal.
He'd had a wonderful time whipping that up earlier that day, as well as preparing the rooms. Gilbert was here and he proved to be a good friend, helping him. Contrary to a popular belief Gilbert was a very neat person, certainly neater than the Canadian himself, so with his organizing skills everything went fast. Matt, who has never been a big fan of household chores, actually had fun doing them with the albino ex-Nation.
Unfortunately the Prussian and Lovino didn't really get along so they agreed that while Gilbert would stay he would avoid showing his face the evening of the guests' arrival. Neither Matthew nor Gilbert wanted to discover how would the Italian behave when tired, hungry and faced with a German Nation.
Gilbird though, had no such qualms. He must've slipped when his owner was distracted with Kuma (they fought constantly, mainly for Matt's pancakes, as the bear didn't want to share, and recognition because Gilbert would not stand someone calling him "who" constantly) and went with to the airport. Thank gods Romano was too eager to get to his bed to question the presence of the bird more closely. Matthew had had a moment of mortification when Spain confirmed his lover's suspicions about whose it was, but somehow they managed to avoid an early apocalypse.
When all was eaten everyone started calling dibs on the shower, and Lovino headbutted Spain for proposing to shower together "to save water". Canada waved away an insincere offer of help to wash the dishes and sent the upstairs to go rest.
He himself would not be opposed to doing that too, unfortunately the dishes had to be done and if not today the tomorrow. At least now he could do them. If Gilbert woke up before him he would so wash everything and the insist on making some German breakfast. One – Matt already felt like he was using his friend and he didn't want that at all, and two – Lovino would kill them all for having to eat something of German origin.
As soon as he was finished with the dishes Matthew went upstairs and threw himself into bed, taking care not to land on Kumasaburo, who was, as always, curled near the feet of the bed.
He was so tired after all the cleaning and worrying and then taking care of his guests that he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
He woke up suitably early and already started on the pancake batter when Gilbert came down. His hair was in an endearing disarray and Matt kind of wanted to run his hand through it to try and fix it a little. He surprised himself with such a desire so, tossing his friend a smile, he turned quickly back to the breakfast in progress.
"Hi, Birdie!" Gilbert said, thankfully in an indoor voice instead of his usual booming one. "Want some help with the breakfast?"
"Good morning, and no thank you. I'm almost finished and anyway you're a guest too, you shouldn't be doing my work, you know." Matt stated, preparing to start frying the pancakes into the golden, fluffy discs. "And besides you'd probably make something German and we've established that while Romano is here we avoid things that make him go into the mob boss mentality. I would rather not have to rebuild my house from the ashes he'd leave behind." he added, smirking.
Prussia cackled. "Point taken, Birdie. I'll be on my best behavior, promise."
"Yeah, right." Canada snorted and ignored the totally fake wounded look on the albino's face.
Soon the smell of his addictingly, as some described them, good pancakes wafted through the whole house and all the Nations came into the kitchen following it like a siren call.
"Morning, Matteo." said Romano, yawning and rubbing sleep out of his eyes. Matthew answered by sliding a mug of the best Italian coffee that Lovino had shown him how to prepare early on in their friendship, because "no friend of his can go on drinking that disgusting, watery slush that the USA calls coffee".
Meanwhile Spain and his brother also came into the kitchen, both entirely too peppy for a morning hour, and Antonio brightened even more upon seeing the Prussian sitting at the table and warily waiting for Romano to notice him.
"Gilbert, fusososo! It's good to see you, amigo!" the Spaniard exclaimed walking around the table to say good morning to him with a hug. Lovino's head shot up and his eyes fell upon the Prussian.
"And what are you doing here, bastardo?" he asked sharply. Canada turned to them and set a plateful of pancakes, as well as a bottle of maple syrup on the table between them with a little more force than necessary, throwing them a tight-lipped smile.
"Well, dig in everyone!" he said aiming for cheerful as he sat down, looking at both his friends, pleading them to not argue. Prussia shrugged helplessly. He would very much like to poke some needles into the Italian but Lovino was Matte's friend and Mattie would be sad if they fought.
"These are fantastic, Matthew!" Antonio suddenly exclaimed enthusiastically, chewing on a half of one pancake that he'd jammed into his mouth. All the attention turned to him and the tension around the table diffused little by little. A droplet of maple syrup dripped from his mouth and Lovino sighed dramatically. I'm on vacation whatever. And Matteo likes him, so.
"Could you be more disgusting, Espanha?" João sniped and in retaliation his little brother smiled even more brightly, chewing a few times with him mouth open. That earned him a slap to the back of his head from Romano, but the morning was saved, as everyone erupted into laughter.
All thanks to Canada's pancakes.
/txtbreak/
I know lots of time has passed but I was on vacation. Or, I was taken on vacation, quite unexpectedly and against my wishes.
Now, we're leaving the Nordics for a little while because they're set for the time being. To go further we have to bring new characters in! Hope you like them.
Thank you for sticking with me despite my horrendous update schedule. :)