Berlin kept a few steps ahead of France, bag after bag of groceries piled on her arms. France was more weighed down with the turkey as well as the bulk of the groceries, but Berlin only thought it was fair after his actions at the store – actions she blatantly refused to think about if she was to save the remaining bullets in her pistol. She held the door open for him when they arrived at the house, Noelle and Canada greeting them as they draped leafy garlands, adorned with poinsettia, along the banister of the second floor.
“Did you get everything you needed?” Canada asked, but no one answered him, so Noelle repeated the question.
“Huh? Oh, oui, we got everything,” France chirped, shuffling into the kitchen. Canada sighed and Noelle gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. As both France and Berlin crossed into the kitchen, they noticed Jenny and America poking around with the Christmas tree. They took only a moment to admire it, when Jenny held up the delicate angel that was supposed to have the honoured place on top. France smiled completely openly when America grabbed Jenny by the sides and gently brought her up to height so she could put the angel on top, her cheeks flushing with both laughter and embarrassment. Even Berlin couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought of it as they spread all the groceries across the counter. France poked her in the cheek of course, laughing, and she grabbed said hand and used it to twist his arm around his back, unamused.
“Ve should be cooking, Francis.” The bite in her tone made France nod right away and they began preparing the food. It was getting close to two fifteen, so they were both rushing to get the turkey prepared and in the oven, while France tried to sneak his arms around Berlin and she tried to prevent him from doing just that.
“But cheriiiiie!” She whacked his hands with the spoon she was using for mixing and he winced. They continued like this for a while until Berlin went to make the potatoes;
“Maria you’re making too much! And zat’s far too much butter to put on! And-” She hit him again with the spoon, but France stole the bowl and scooped half the contents out before sprinkling some herbs onto it, mixing it together and sticking it in the fridge. “You are not to touch zat, compris?” He also tried to take over the cranberry sauce but Berlin cut him off and took over as revenge for the potatoes. Of course, France being an extremely talented chef, was not going to be taken lightly in the kitchen, and threw together a gourmet salad in but a moment. The competition had begun. From outside, the North-Americans thought that a bull had been unleashed into the kitchen from the commotion. Pots were clanging, pans were banging, cutlery was clashing together and it sounded like a veritable battle field. When the pair came out of the kitchen, fire in their eyes and glaring at each other with armfuls of place-markers, mats and cutlery, everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. They each set three places and then arranged some decorations on the table to look nice, their eyes never leaving one another’s. They headed back into the kitchen, eyes still trained on one another suspiciously. Noelle blinked and looked at Canada, who only shrugged.
“A-Alright then.” Jenny tried to ignore what she’d just seen and hurried into the main room. “Noelle, we finished with the tree!” Noelle was sitting on Canada’s shoulders trying to tie something to the doorway.
“I see, we will be right there.” Jenny just stared and Noelle glanced confusedly down towards her.
“We?” Noelle nodded. “I… It’s just you up there.” Since she’d tied the garland, she slipped off Canada’s shoulders and gave him a quick hug.
“It is starting again,” she sighed. Canada lamented his invisibleness and led her into another room. Jenny returned to the sitting room and waited, America bouncing around the tree. Berlin and France, who’d finished with the rest of the cooking and had put the turkey in the oven, joined them, sitting on the couch opposite Jenny. Just as everyone took a seat, Canada returned carrying an armful of gifts and set them under the tree. These were all an assortment of gifts that each of the people present had picked out for the respective people they'd been selected to buy gifts for, much like a secret Santa, although the secrecy wasn't necessary.
"Now that we're all set up we can start-"
"WHOA!! How did those presents get there? It musta been MAGIC!" Noelle tore off and threw one of her boots at America's head, missing when he leaned forward to look at the gifts. She stomped past him to retrieve her footwear, and of course he stared confused at her one bare foot while everyone else did their own version of a facepalm.
"So, v'e're starting the gift exchange now?" Canada didn't even try to answer, but sat down on the couch with Kumajirou echoing his usual 'who'. The premise would be that someone would give a gift to their selected partner, and then that partner would give it to theirs and so on until everyone received a gift. That meant that someone would get a gift, and then give the gift to the next person and it would continue down the line. No one spoke for a moment, so France snuggled up close to Berlin.
"Mariaaaaaa~ do you 'ave a geeft for meeee~?" Berlin only glanced over at him. America didn't even care - he was busy looking at all the gifts. Noelle, Jenny and Canada all waited to see what Berlin's gift would turn out to be. She continued to stare impassively at him before turning to the tree.
"No." France shot up, a hand placed dramatically over his heart, spotlights shining down on him as he cried in anguish- ok, more like France was just sulking on the floor. Noelle held her hand out from the other couch, a small box decorated in fleur-de-lis wrapping paper in her open palm. France snapped it up, looking very much like Golum, and tore the paper away, revealing a set of hand-made bars of soap, carved to look like roses.
"I know how dry your hands get this season, so I made this soap to help keep your hands clean but not dry them out, Papa." France gave her a gentle smile and put the case down just as gently beside him. Spirits lifted, he turned to Berlin and passed her a small box he'd pulled from under the tree.
"I still got you a geeft, ma chere." Berlin opened the box without a word. Had it been an anime, what she was looking at would have been pixelated. Unfortunately for Berlin, this was not an anime, so she slammed the box shut immediately to prevent any other unfortunate soul from seeing it. She noticed France's goofy grin and without hesitation shot the light so that the room went dark. There was but a few scuffling noises, a girlish shriek and a few squeaking sounds before the bulb was replaced and a beaten-up France was laying on the floor, knocked completely unconscious. Berlin had both her arms and legs crossed, seemingly having not moved from her position. France was the gift-receiver but he was out cold, so he couldn't realistically give his actual paired person their gift.
"Francis told me he was getting his gift for me so... Does anyone know where it is?" No one answered Canada - Jenny was holding America back from the gifts under the tree by the back of his shirt and one of his belt loops, looking quite strained, France was still out cold and Berlin was still being frighteningly serious. Noelle cleared her throat.
"Matthieu asked a question!" She shouted over the racket America was making. While they - except unconscious France - looked at her, no one answered. "Matthieu's gift, where is it?" Still no reply. "Canada." In sync with Kumajirou they echoed,
"Who?" Noelle pointed to him.
"DUDE, MATTIE!! When did you get here??" Suddenly he was visible again.
"Francis got you his gift, over there in the white and red paper." From Canada's side of the room, it was hidden behind some other gifts, which would be why he didn't see the maple leaf paper. He carefully ripped off the paper and some small amber-coloured candies fell into is lap, while a thick cloth fell to the floor. America reached over and picked it up, spinning it around and stretching it in every which way.
“The heck is this??” He wrapped it around his head and his face, trying to determine what its use was. Canada shook the box curiously, trying to find if there was anything else inside, when a card followed the cloth’s example and floated down to the floor. He picked it up, tore through the paper and read it aloud,
“Dear Mattheiu, I wish you and your sister a very Joyeux Noël, and I hope you like the muffler. It’s the latest fashion right now, and I also hope the maple syrup candies are good – I know you’re much better with it then I am, but I tried. <3” He unwrapped one of the candies and stuck it in his mouth, taking the muffler from America and wrapping it around his neck with a soft smile.
“Merci, Francis.” It was now Canada’s turn, so he passed America a box wrapped in traditional wrapping with Santas and reindeer all over it. He tore through the paper and held the coupon box high above his head with an elated look on his face.
“COUPONS FOR McD’S!!!” The book was tucked under one arm while America pulled Canada into a suffocating hug. Canada actually choked on the candy he had just been eating, so Noelle dislodged it while America looked at everyone else. “Where are my other gifts?” Everyone glanced between themselves.
“Alfred, that v’as all you get.” He kept his hands held out. There was a long pause and Jenny finally grabbed a beautifully decorated package addressed to him. America tore though it as well and held up a large blue sweater to his chest. Right in the center was the Captain America shield. He looked just as excited as when he got his coupon book, or even more. He tugged the sweater over his head – perfect fit.
“That was from me,” Jenny mumbled weakly, embarrassed. She had wanted to give it to him later. America did the same to her that he’d done to Canada; a bear hug, except he actually picked her up and spun her.
“Jen, I LOVE it!!” When he set her down, he grabbed his gift from under the tree, setting it on her head. “Open it, open it, open it!!” Jenny followed his example and ripped right through the wrapping – it was messy anyway – ending up looking at an autographed picture of America. America himself copied the pose; one thumb up, winking, with a huge grin. Jenny laughed and hugged the picture to her chest.
“Thank you Alfie, I love it too.” She grabbed another of the beautifully decorated boxes, passing it to Noelle. When she’d opened it, inside was a snow-globe with a pod of orcas leaping from the water.
“Siku,” Noelle sighed softly, smiling at Jenny. “Thank you Miss Jenny, it is stunning.” America clapped his hands together.
“Oh yeah, when’s the Northwest passage going to open up Noelle?” She blinked at him curiously before sighing.
“For the last time Alfred, you need to ask the North Pole. She has not yet told me if the Passage is mine or not.”
“But… Aren’t you the North Pole?” That was the final straw. Along with her gift, Canada’s gift and said nation, she stomped away into a deep part of the house.
“Come on Matthieu, let’s go visit Tory! He won’t forget you or call me the North Pole!” Canada was helpless to her dragging and just followed along. Berlin followed Noelle’s example,
“I should take zis imbecile to go get some fresh air.” France was thrown over her shoulder and she tramped up to the balcony on the second floor. This left Jenny and America all alone in the sitting room.
“W… Well, what do we do now Alfie- Huh?” America was staring at the ceiling above her head.
“Mistletoe,” he murmured. Jenny’s eyes went wide and she looked up too.
“No! No Alfie that’s just a regular gar- Nm!” She didn’t have time to finish before America scooped her up and kissed her quickly on the lips. Both their faces were a matching shade of red and Jenny buried her face in his shoulder.
“It wasn’t mistletoe… It was a normal garland…” America’s embarrassment obviously didn’t last as long as Jenny’s because soon enough he had her cradled in one arm, the other one pointing heroically down the hall.
“Then we find some real mistletoe and make the kisses count!! AHAHAHAHA!!” With Jenny clinging to his neck, he ran off through the house.
France was still sulking, leaning over the second floor balcony.
“Oh stop zat Francis.” He pursed his lips.
“But ma bellllllllllle! You didn’t geeve me a geeft!” Berlin rolled her eyes.
“Francis, v’at if I did?” France perked up a little.
“Oh?” Just then, Berlin’s lips met his own. It was a chaste kiss and it barely lasted a few seconds, but the feeling behind it was what mattered, and it was like an explosion for France.
“Ich liebe dich auch.” France’s eyes widened before his whole face glowed with a small, soft smile.
“I don’t zink zat I got ze message right, could I ‘ave anozer one?” He tapped his cheek. Berlin placed her fist against his cheek instead.
“Not now, just enjoy the view with me, you imbecile.” Christmas dinner was forgotten as the couple leaned against one another and watched the stars twinkle in the night sky.
“Joyeux Noël, ma belle.”
“Frohe V’eihnachten, schätzchen.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
And there you have it! Hope you like it and wow, that was kinda long...
Anyway, Merry Christmas all and Happy new year and...
A little icon for you. Alfie's a messy eater I guess xD
(If you can't get if from here, I'll send it to you over Skype)
Oh right! Stay tuned for... Something.
