What is... "Home?" (Hetalia Fanfic, W.A. '13 Finalist)

Chapter 23~!

DECK THE HALLS WITH BOUGHS OF HOLLY, FALALAL- *Smacked in the head by a shoe*

England: Shut up, wanker! It's not Christmas yet!

Bookie: TT~TT It is in the story!

England: Well, don't be singing Christmas songs in October! That's wrong!

Bookie: Fine... But if you haven't guessed it by now, it's the beginning of the Christmas season/chapters~!! WOOT~! And now, without further ado, Chapter 23!

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"Melina?" Canada said one night about mid-December, just before we were about to turn out the lights and go to sleep.

"Yeah?" I replied, propping my head up on one hand after turning in my bed to look at him.

"You know how Christmas break starts tomorrow?" I nodded. "Well, everyone's going back to their home countries to spend the holiday. Do you think- well, would you like to..." He had a bit of a blush now, but I nodded in a "Go on" kind of gesture. "Would you like to come and spend Christmas with me?" he asked rather quickly.

My face lit up like the Christmas trees I was sure to see in the near future. "Really? You mean it?"

His slight embarrassment faded and he smiled. "Y-Yes. I know you don't have any plans yet, so I was just thinking..."

"I'd love to!" I reassured him with a genuine grin. "Thank you, Mattie."

"You're welcome, Melina. Good night." He flicked off his light and so did I.

I lay there, thinking about how lucky I was to have a friend like Matthew, before I drifted off into a comfortably deep sleep...

...to be awoken by a pair of sky blue eyes mere inches from my own emerald green ones.

"Morning, dudette!" he said loudly, but I lightly smacked the side of his face with my pillow before covering my face with it.

"Morning..." I grumbled.

He laughed -apparently what I did was funny- and yanked my covers off, trying to coax me out of bed.

"What are you doing...?" I groaned without removing the pillow.

"Come on, our flight's in like two hours!" he exclaimed and I sat up, sleepiness vanished spontaneously.

"What flight?"

"You and Mattie are coming to DC to spend Christmas with me, duh!" He rolled his eyes like it should have been obvious.

"Uhm, since when?"

"Since I said so, now come oooonnn!" He pulled on my arm and I almost fell out of my bed.

"But Matthew and I-"

"Are coming with me. Pleeeease, Melina?" He gave me puppy eyes, oh no! "I never notice my brother but I wanna try harder so I need to make memories so I don't forget him! And you're awesome and aren't going anywhere, so you gotta come!"

I sighed and gave in. "Okay, Alfred, okay. Is Matthew okay with this?" 'Damn puppy eyes... They get me every time!'

"I just convinced him. Is that a yes?"

I nodded. "Yes, I suppose."

He whooped and punched the air. "Victory for the hero!"

I looked at Canada's bed and saw that it was empty. "Hey, where is Matthew?" Then I realized that the background noise was the shower running. "Ooh, found him."

"Get packed, mmkay?" America advised before leaving to his own room.

I giggled softly and got up to pack and wait for my turn in the shower.