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heroescuties2010-12-18 01:55 am
.livejournal.com) wrote in heroescuties2010-12-18 01:55 am
[Axis Powers Hetalia, Prussia/Switzerland: Christmas in the Alps]
Title: Christmas in the Alps (or How Prussia Brought the Holiday Spirit to Switzerland)
Fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia
Genre: Romance/General
Rating: PG
Pairing: Switzerland/Prussia
Word Count: 3,460
Summary: A snowstorm in the Alps forces Prussia to drop in on Switzerland's Christmas Eve celebrations.
Notes: For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mel_girl as part of the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
chicksandguns Secret Santa. The prompt was: Prussia having a lonely Christmas/crashing at Switzerland's.
It was going to be the awesomest Christmas ever.
“Just you wait and see, Fritz!” Prussia announced loudly to the small yellow chick tucked inside his jacket. “West is gonna wish he didn’t go to Italy’s house for Christmas this year because my Christmas is going to be so awesome!”
Laughing to himself against the harsh wind of the German Alps, he squinted out across the horizon for what he sought.
“Hmm, far too small for our awesome needs,” Prussia remarked to his feathered friend as he looked at the small mountain pine trees growing nearest to them. “Well, guess we’re going for a hike, Fritz! Aha.”
And so off into the mountains they hiked, the small chick nuzzling further down into Prussia’s pocket as the cold winter winds whipped against them. If Prussia had been paying more attention to his surroundings (outside the pine trees) perhaps he would have noticed the ominous turn the weather was taking or realized that he was heading a bit more west than he originally intended.
But so intent was he on his large pine prize that these things didn’t occur to him at all.
“Haha, Fritz look!” Prussia exclaimed on spotting a massively large tree and pulling his axe off his back. “This one’s definitely got awesome written all over it!”
As he started chopping the large pine down, he talked.
“We should totally,” thwack, “Take this by four-eyes’s place and gloat,” thwack, “over how awesome I am,” thwack, “to have such an awesome tree,” thwack.
And while it was true Austria’s tree was most likely not even half as big as this one, Fritz the chick was really more concerned about freezing his tail-feathers off at the moment to care.
“TIMBER!” Prussia yelled, listening to his voice echo off the mountains. “Haha. Always wanted to do that.”
He tethered the tree to the small sled he’d brought with him to haul it home and slung his axe back on his back. Now that the pine tree was acquired, Prussia began to realize what a predicament he was in.
“Hey Fritz?” He asked, nudging the small bump in his pocket and feeling it shiver. “Um…”
Prussia had planned an extremely awesome Christmas. It was going to have a giant pine tree and lots of beer and he was going to sing carols and…and…
It was going to be awesome.
Well…was.
---------------------
It was going to be a quiet Christmas in the mountains for Switzerland.
He’d picked out a cabin near the border with Liechtenstein, in hopes that his sister could come and celebrate with him. But, as he worriedly glanced at the growing blizzard outside, he had a sinking feeling that there would be no way she’d manage to make it now.
The idea of Christmas alone wasn’t too bad, Switzerland thought to himself, but he’d already prepared the meal for two. He frowned, wondering how much he could stomach himself. He’d hate for all that hard-earned money spent on the dinner to go to waste just because a snowstorm had come up.
Stirring his favored Neuchâteloise fondue and adjusting the heat on it so it wouldn’t burn, he started as a loud knocking came from his front door. Teal eyes narrowed and Switzerland reached for his shotgun, slinging it on his back, just in case.
“Liechtenstein, if you’ve come despite the weather, I’m going to…”
His chiding remark cut off as he swung open the door to a nation, but not the one he expected. Especially since it was only a former nation.
“Wow, hey Switzerland! Fancy meeting you here!”
He slammed the door in Prussia’s face.
“Um…Switzerland? It’s a bit…blizzardy out here right now and…” Prussia sneezed. “While I’m totally awesome and manly enough to handle it even colder, my little feathered buddy, Fritz, isn’t liking it too much.”
Switzerland furrowed his eyebrows in thought. Fritz? Wasn’t that Prussia’s old boss? But he said feathered and…
Suddenly, he recalled the little yellow chicks he’d seen Prussia often carrying around when he’d snuck over across his borders or tried to come to World Meetings even though they didn’t pertain to him anymore.
Glancing over to his own goat, who was resting by the small fireplace, Switzerland figured that well…he did have dinner for two. Not that he was looking forward to sharing it with anyone!
“Don’t get me wrong,” Switzerland began, swinging the door back open and hastily yanking Prussia inside before the snow could blow in more so, “I’m only letting you in because I’d hate it if your chicken friend got sick because of this.”
Prussia just laughed, annoyingly, and gave Switzerland a one-armed hug. “Thanks, Switzerland! Fritz will be awesomely warm in no time!”
Unzipping his coat, he reached into his pocket to pull out a shivering little chick. “Oh man, Fritz…you need to get warm stat little guy.”
He gently stroked the small bird on the head and Fritz let out a little ‘peep’ as he did. It was then that Prussia felt something nudging against his legs.
Glancing down, he saw Switzerland’s goat, who had gotten up from by the fire.
“I think,” Switzerland said, walking over, “Heidi wants to help out.”
Prussia snorted, “You named your goat, Heidi?”
Switzerland glared. “Liechtenstein did.” He adjusted the shotgun on his back. “Got a problem with it?”
“Aha, nope!” He replied quickly. “No problem at all! Awesome name for a goat, right Fritz?”
While the two had been bickering, Heidi the goat had nuzzled her nose up against Fritz in an attempt to get the little bird warm again.
Seeing this, Prussia got an idea. Gently, he rested Fritz on Heidi’s back and said, “There ya go you two, go over by the fire and get warmed up!”
Heidi seemed to acknowledge this and clopped back over to the fireplace, where she laid down slowly as to not disturb the chick resting on her back. Prussia on seeing the two animals cuddled together for warmth, turned with a grin to Switzerland.
Switzerland, who was really hoping Prussia wasn’t getting any ideas, gave him a warning glare just in case. Glancing from the fireplace over to the set dinner table, he was just about to try to find some ‘no I really don’t want to eat this with you, but I’m not letting it be wasted’ way to ask Prussia to dinner with him, when Prussia lit up with an overexcited look.
“Oh yeah! I have the World’s Most Awesome Christmas tree outside, let me go get it!”
And before Switzerland could stop him, he’d bustled back out into the snow and started trying to yank a large mountain pine in through the front door.
“Imbecile!” Switzerland snapped, going over to help Prussia at it. “You can’t just yank it through, you have to do it with finesse or all the branches will be snapped.”
Together they slowly wiggled the large tree through the door frame, pine needles and snow coating the doorstep as they did so. Finally, the last and widest branches came through.
“Awesome, where do you want it?”
Switzerland realized that, yes, Prussia had shown up and basically invited himself (tree and all) in for Christmas Eve celebrations. But…
He eyed the large tree appreciatively.
That was a very sizable tree, something that would cost quite a bit of money if it was to be bought, and here Prussia was just…handing it over. Usually Switzerland skimped on Christmas decorations, so this was a bit more than he knew what to do with.
“Um…” He cleared his throat. “Well, there should be space in the living room near the fireplace.”
“Awesome! I’ll get it set up then!” Prussia replied with a laugh, starting to haul the tree through the cabin towards the spot Switzerland had indicated.
With a rush, Switzerland blurted out, “Prussia would you like to join me for dinner?”
He felt his face heat up, but decided it was clearly due to all the cold air that had been let in and the exertion he’d put out in maneuvering the tree in.
Prussia, eyes wide, froze where he stood. “Really? Were you gonna eat dinner alone?”
The way he asked it, and the understanding look in his eyes, made Switzerland wonder if perhaps Prussia had been planning a lonely dinner for himself.
“Liechtenstein couldn’t make it in this weather, so it’s not like I was planning for you or anything! But I can’t have the extra servings go to waste…”
Prussia beamed, obnoxiously bright by Switzerland’s standards, and replied happily, “I’d love to spend Christmas Eve with ya, Switzerland!”
“It’s n-not like that, you fool!” He shot back, but Prussia wasn’t listening. He was too busy humming a carol as he set up the tree.
Switzerland shot a glare at his back for good measure and went to check on his fondue.
-------------------------------
Switzerland began to regret his decision to let Prussia stay almost immediately. As they sat down to dinner, Prussia grabbed the chair on the far side of the table and pulled it around to the left of Switzerland’s chair.
“No need to sit so far apart if it’s just us two, right?”
Finding he couldn’t argue that logic, and that it would make it easier for them to both reach the fondue, Switzerland just gave a noncommittal grunt.
Grabbing the plate and silverware and moving it around, Prussia looked at the spread before him. He gave Switzerland a smile.
“Looks good, Swissy!”
Switzerland twitched at the…nickname and subconsciously reached for his nearest gun.
“Oh here, I’ll pour the wine for you,” Prussia recovered, reaching out to pick up the bottle and pouring two glassfuls.
He set the gun back aside.
Raising the glass, Prussia nodded at Switzerland to do the same. Finally, he relented.
“A toast! To Christmas cheer… and having someone to celebrate it with!”
Switzerland once again caught that slight hesitation in Prussia’s usually obnoxiously confident voice as he finished his statement. And deciding that obnoxious or not, it was somewhat nice to have someone to share this with, Switzerland clanked his glass against Prussia’s.
“Awesome!” Prussia said, taking a hearty sip of the wine. “Whoa, damn this is good. What is it?”
Switzerland drank a small sip and hoped that if he was careful the bottle could be recorked and stored for next Christmas. “Swiss white wine. We only drink it on Christmas.”
Prussia took another swig. “Awesome stuff. Well, for wine.”
Going back to trying to tune Prussia out, Switzerland picked up his fondue fork and dipped his bread into the fondue. With the fork halfway out, a horrible, terrible thought hit him and he almost dropped it. Warily, he turned to look at Prussia, who was blissfully serving himself the turkey with endives baked in cream.
It was tradition. Could he risk breaking one? What if breaking this specific tradition brought bad luck on him? What if it caused the banks to go on strike or the currency to drop significantly in value the next year? What if… Switzerland gulped; it caused prices on everything to go up?
Steeling his nerve and cursing the fact he’d let Prussia in yet again, Switzerland set down his fork with a clatter.
As he’d expected, Prussia turned to him at the noise.
“Hey what’s…”
Switzerland leaned in, swift and direct like a well-aimed shot, and pressed a quick kiss to Prussia’s lips.
Both of them flushed, though Switzerland was much redder.
“It’s not what it seems!” He spluttered out. “It’s just tradition. You have to kiss the person sitting to your left after dipping the bread in the fondue and the last thing I want is for prices to go up and…and…”
As Switzerland paused to take a deep breath before continuing to list off his concerns, Prussia stood wordlessly and walked clockwise around the table until he was on Switzerland’s right.
Picking up the other fondue fork, he dipped the piece of bread in it and with a cough, leaned over and pecked a kiss on Switzerland’s lips, effectively silencing his ramble about possible bank strikes.
Prussia pulled back with an unreadable expression on his face as Switzerland’s eyes went wide.
“Why did you…”
He laughed awkwardly. “If you keep going to my left, you’re the only person sitting there.”
“Oh,” was all Switzerland could manage. He suddenly felt like he’d chugged three bottles of wine even though he’d only had one sip.
Not saying another word, Prussia walked back behind Switzerland and ate the piece of bread he’d dipped quietly. This silence went on for a few minutes until Prussia, finished with his turkey, went to dip another piece of bread.
“Um…” He blushed. “Do you have to do it every time or just the first?”
“N-No,” Switzerland replied, all too quickly.
“Oh.”
The silence returned and Switzerland wondered if, perhaps, Prussia’s voice sounding disappointed was his imagination or not.
The sweet voice of Liechtenstein from the Christmas before seemed to echo inside his head. “You really should get out and live a little, brother. You’re awfully lonely when I’m not around, aren’t you?”
Taking a large swig of the wine, and almost choking on it, Switzerland threw caution to the wind and said, “First and last.”
He hoped Prussia wouldn’t call him on his lie.
Peering out of the corner of his eye, Switzerland noted the small smile that had crept onto Prussia’s lips at that and absolutely refused to let his own lips do the same. He still at least had that much dignity.
But it definitely made the dinner livelier, as Prussia asked about how Switzerland had made certain dishes and complimented them. Then, he did the one thing that damn it all, endeared Switzerland to Prussia more than he’d ever care to let on.
“So please tell me Liechtenstein is at home safe and warm in this weather. I mean, if she’s stuck out in the mountains I’ll totally go look for her.”
Switzerland dropped his spoon at that.
“What? I’m awesome enough to handle this storm, promise!”
He had to, heaven help him, resist the urge to hug the damned fool.
“She’s safe at home,” Switzerland said with a measured tone. “I called and insisted she didn’t try to come.”
“Phew,” Prussia sighed. “That’s good. Wouldn’t want to worry her overprotective big brother, huh?”
At first Switzerland thought it was a jibe at him, but then he remembered that despite Prussia’s immaturity in comparison, he was a protective big brother too.
Carefully, he asked, “I take it Germany is safe at home?”
Prussia gave a dopey grin. “Nah. West is off at Italy’s house for the holidays. Big softie, he is.”
Big softie. Switzerland laughed inwardly at that, remembering how often Liechtenstein had accused him of being the same.
Simultaneously, both of them reached for the last two pieces of bread to dip in the fondue, their eyes catching meaningfully as they did so. Both blushing, they leaned in for a chaste kiss before averting their eyes back to their food.
Switzerland told himself it was only Prussia’s heart that he heard starting to beat faster.
--------------------------
As opposed to the usual quiet Christmas Eves he shared with Liechtenstein, having Prussia around meant it was loud and jovial at every possible chance he could make it so.
While they trimmed the tree (Switzerland having to scrounge around the cabin to find more candles for its branches), Prussia sang carols and kept badgering Switzerland to join along.
Switzerland, feeling extra bristly after dinner, had threatened to shoot him.
Prussia, who was stringing together chocolates to use in lieu of tinsel, just stuck his tongue out at him.
“Spoilsport.”
When Prussia started up Kling, Glöckchen, Switzerland most definitely did not sing along under his breath.
Once the tree was lit, both of them seemed to flounder for a moment as they realized that they were supposed to share gifts at this time but had nothing prepared. Prussia, who retrieved the bag he’d had with him, handed over a small pouch filled to the brim with gingerbread cookies.
“Here,” he mumbled. “They’re really awesome, even if they’re a bit crumbled up now.”
Switzerland nodded, mutely, before quietly saying, “Thanks.”
Then he went to the kitchen and pulled out one of the extra Swiss chocolates he’d gotten in a buy one, get one free bargain. It was shaped like Samichlaus, the jolly man’s white beard and outfit’s trim done in white chocolate.
He’d given it to Prussia with a muttered, “I had this left over.” And was thanked with a bone-crushing hug and a wide grin.
As the clock chimed its late hour, Prussia went to grab up his coat to go. Switzerland, glancing over at the small yellow chick curled up asleep on the goat’s back, felt a small pang on realizing that he really couldn’t find an excuse to invite Prussia to stay the night outside the bad weather.
And he only had one bed at this cabin, because that was cheaper when he so rarely used it, and sleeping on the floor when Liechtenstein visited wasn’t bad…
He could offer Prussia the floor for the night, at least? But Prussia had been rather nice (albeit in his annoying sort of way) and had given over his Christmas tree… And it would be rather lonely if he was stuck up here in the stormy mountains alone for a few extra days. But did he really want to be stuck with Prussia more than one night?
As Switzerland tried to inwardly sort out his dilemma, Prussia had bundled up in his things. He’d said, “I think Fritz is gonna stay the night, if that’s okay with you?” to which Switzerland hadn’t answered. Prussia took it as a yes and headed out the front door.
It was as the door swung closed that Switzerland was snapped out of his thoughts. And still without an exact clue as to what he was doing or why he was doing it, he rushed after Prussia.
“You imbecile!” He yelled out into the howling wind, “Why are you leaving in this weather?”
Prussia, barely visible amidst the blowing snow, just shrugged.
Switzerland stalked out after him, ignoring the fact he hadn’t put on a coat of any sort. “Damnit Prussia,” he swore, “did you think I was just going to kick you out?”
He gave a wry smile at that. “Usually that’s what other nations do. Can’t go to meetings anymore, can’t drop by without imposing on their important work.”
“It’s Christmas Eve, you moron!” Switzerland yelled as if that settled it, snatching Prussia by the wrist and dragging him behind him back to the cabin.
Covered in snow and shivering, Switzerland whirled around on Prussia once the door was closed. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were in a fine line.
“You are staying. I will shoot you if you try to leave again, got that?”
Prussia nodded; his eyes still wide in bewilderment. But when Switzerland sneezed, the spell was broken.
“Aw man, you’re going to be so sick!” Prussia quickly took off his coat and bundled it around Switzerland. “Let’s get you warmed up.”
And unable to protest with Prussia practically crushing him to his side, Switzerland relented as he sneezed again. He settled him on the couch, rushing off to the bedroom to strip it of all its blankets and sheets, then tucked them all around the sniffling nation.
With a wide grin he burrowed under the sheets next to him.
“Between the blankets, the fireplace and the awesome me, we’ll get you warm in no time.”
Switzerland glared for a moment, before sighing in resignation. With the tiniest of smiles he muttered, “Thanks for everything, Prussia.”
Prussia put his arm around him and pulled him closer to his side, pressing a kiss to his forehead as he did so. “It’s the least I can do for the awesome Christmas dinner, right?”
Switzerland flushed, probably due to an oncoming fever or something sickness related and not relevant to Prussia at all. Or well…
He glanced over at Prussia, who was giving him a rather dopey smile.
“Just keep your cold feet off of mine,” he relented, snuggling against Prussia’s warmth.
Prussia’s smile erupted into a grin, and he teased back, “Just promise you won’t shoot me in the morning.”
Switzerland, who definitely didn’t find Prussia’s hand and clasp it, shot back.
“Deal. Wouldn’t be in the Christmas spirit, now would it?”
Prussia just laughed. “Nah, wouldn’t be very Christmassy at all!”
And much like the goat and the chick before them, the two of them curled up and fell into a blissful sleep, the candlelight of the tree flickering over them as they snuggled closer for warmth.
THE END
----------
Notes:
[1] Here's some more info on traditional Swiss Christmases :)
Fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia
Genre: Romance/General
Rating: PG
Pairing: Switzerland/Prussia
Word Count: 3,460
Summary: A snowstorm in the Alps forces Prussia to drop in on Switzerland's Christmas Eve celebrations.
Notes: For
mel_girl as part of the chicksandguns Secret Santa. The prompt was: Prussia having a lonely Christmas/crashing at Switzerland's. It was going to be the awesomest Christmas ever.
“Just you wait and see, Fritz!” Prussia announced loudly to the small yellow chick tucked inside his jacket. “West is gonna wish he didn’t go to Italy’s house for Christmas this year because my Christmas is going to be so awesome!”
Laughing to himself against the harsh wind of the German Alps, he squinted out across the horizon for what he sought.
“Hmm, far too small for our awesome needs,” Prussia remarked to his feathered friend as he looked at the small mountain pine trees growing nearest to them. “Well, guess we’re going for a hike, Fritz! Aha.”
And so off into the mountains they hiked, the small chick nuzzling further down into Prussia’s pocket as the cold winter winds whipped against them. If Prussia had been paying more attention to his surroundings (outside the pine trees) perhaps he would have noticed the ominous turn the weather was taking or realized that he was heading a bit more west than he originally intended.
But so intent was he on his large pine prize that these things didn’t occur to him at all.
“Haha, Fritz look!” Prussia exclaimed on spotting a massively large tree and pulling his axe off his back. “This one’s definitely got awesome written all over it!”
As he started chopping the large pine down, he talked.
“We should totally,” thwack, “Take this by four-eyes’s place and gloat,” thwack, “over how awesome I am,” thwack, “to have such an awesome tree,” thwack.
And while it was true Austria’s tree was most likely not even half as big as this one, Fritz the chick was really more concerned about freezing his tail-feathers off at the moment to care.
“TIMBER!” Prussia yelled, listening to his voice echo off the mountains. “Haha. Always wanted to do that.”
He tethered the tree to the small sled he’d brought with him to haul it home and slung his axe back on his back. Now that the pine tree was acquired, Prussia began to realize what a predicament he was in.
“Hey Fritz?” He asked, nudging the small bump in his pocket and feeling it shiver. “Um…”
Prussia had planned an extremely awesome Christmas. It was going to have a giant pine tree and lots of beer and he was going to sing carols and…and…
It was going to be awesome.
Well…was.
---------------------
It was going to be a quiet Christmas in the mountains for Switzerland.
He’d picked out a cabin near the border with Liechtenstein, in hopes that his sister could come and celebrate with him. But, as he worriedly glanced at the growing blizzard outside, he had a sinking feeling that there would be no way she’d manage to make it now.
The idea of Christmas alone wasn’t too bad, Switzerland thought to himself, but he’d already prepared the meal for two. He frowned, wondering how much he could stomach himself. He’d hate for all that hard-earned money spent on the dinner to go to waste just because a snowstorm had come up.
Stirring his favored Neuchâteloise fondue and adjusting the heat on it so it wouldn’t burn, he started as a loud knocking came from his front door. Teal eyes narrowed and Switzerland reached for his shotgun, slinging it on his back, just in case.
“Liechtenstein, if you’ve come despite the weather, I’m going to…”
His chiding remark cut off as he swung open the door to a nation, but not the one he expected. Especially since it was only a former nation.
“Wow, hey Switzerland! Fancy meeting you here!”
He slammed the door in Prussia’s face.
“Um…Switzerland? It’s a bit…blizzardy out here right now and…” Prussia sneezed. “While I’m totally awesome and manly enough to handle it even colder, my little feathered buddy, Fritz, isn’t liking it too much.”
Switzerland furrowed his eyebrows in thought. Fritz? Wasn’t that Prussia’s old boss? But he said feathered and…
Suddenly, he recalled the little yellow chicks he’d seen Prussia often carrying around when he’d snuck over across his borders or tried to come to World Meetings even though they didn’t pertain to him anymore.
Glancing over to his own goat, who was resting by the small fireplace, Switzerland figured that well…he did have dinner for two. Not that he was looking forward to sharing it with anyone!
“Don’t get me wrong,” Switzerland began, swinging the door back open and hastily yanking Prussia inside before the snow could blow in more so, “I’m only letting you in because I’d hate it if your chicken friend got sick because of this.”
Prussia just laughed, annoyingly, and gave Switzerland a one-armed hug. “Thanks, Switzerland! Fritz will be awesomely warm in no time!”
Unzipping his coat, he reached into his pocket to pull out a shivering little chick. “Oh man, Fritz…you need to get warm stat little guy.”
He gently stroked the small bird on the head and Fritz let out a little ‘peep’ as he did. It was then that Prussia felt something nudging against his legs.
Glancing down, he saw Switzerland’s goat, who had gotten up from by the fire.
“I think,” Switzerland said, walking over, “Heidi wants to help out.”
Prussia snorted, “You named your goat, Heidi?”
Switzerland glared. “Liechtenstein did.” He adjusted the shotgun on his back. “Got a problem with it?”
“Aha, nope!” He replied quickly. “No problem at all! Awesome name for a goat, right Fritz?”
While the two had been bickering, Heidi the goat had nuzzled her nose up against Fritz in an attempt to get the little bird warm again.
Seeing this, Prussia got an idea. Gently, he rested Fritz on Heidi’s back and said, “There ya go you two, go over by the fire and get warmed up!”
Heidi seemed to acknowledge this and clopped back over to the fireplace, where she laid down slowly as to not disturb the chick resting on her back. Prussia on seeing the two animals cuddled together for warmth, turned with a grin to Switzerland.
Switzerland, who was really hoping Prussia wasn’t getting any ideas, gave him a warning glare just in case. Glancing from the fireplace over to the set dinner table, he was just about to try to find some ‘no I really don’t want to eat this with you, but I’m not letting it be wasted’ way to ask Prussia to dinner with him, when Prussia lit up with an overexcited look.
“Oh yeah! I have the World’s Most Awesome Christmas tree outside, let me go get it!”
And before Switzerland could stop him, he’d bustled back out into the snow and started trying to yank a large mountain pine in through the front door.
“Imbecile!” Switzerland snapped, going over to help Prussia at it. “You can’t just yank it through, you have to do it with finesse or all the branches will be snapped.”
Together they slowly wiggled the large tree through the door frame, pine needles and snow coating the doorstep as they did so. Finally, the last and widest branches came through.
“Awesome, where do you want it?”
Switzerland realized that, yes, Prussia had shown up and basically invited himself (tree and all) in for Christmas Eve celebrations. But…
He eyed the large tree appreciatively.
That was a very sizable tree, something that would cost quite a bit of money if it was to be bought, and here Prussia was just…handing it over. Usually Switzerland skimped on Christmas decorations, so this was a bit more than he knew what to do with.
“Um…” He cleared his throat. “Well, there should be space in the living room near the fireplace.”
“Awesome! I’ll get it set up then!” Prussia replied with a laugh, starting to haul the tree through the cabin towards the spot Switzerland had indicated.
With a rush, Switzerland blurted out, “Prussia would you like to join me for dinner?”
He felt his face heat up, but decided it was clearly due to all the cold air that had been let in and the exertion he’d put out in maneuvering the tree in.
Prussia, eyes wide, froze where he stood. “Really? Were you gonna eat dinner alone?”
The way he asked it, and the understanding look in his eyes, made Switzerland wonder if perhaps Prussia had been planning a lonely dinner for himself.
“Liechtenstein couldn’t make it in this weather, so it’s not like I was planning for you or anything! But I can’t have the extra servings go to waste…”
Prussia beamed, obnoxiously bright by Switzerland’s standards, and replied happily, “I’d love to spend Christmas Eve with ya, Switzerland!”
“It’s n-not like that, you fool!” He shot back, but Prussia wasn’t listening. He was too busy humming a carol as he set up the tree.
Switzerland shot a glare at his back for good measure and went to check on his fondue.
-------------------------------
Switzerland began to regret his decision to let Prussia stay almost immediately. As they sat down to dinner, Prussia grabbed the chair on the far side of the table and pulled it around to the left of Switzerland’s chair.
“No need to sit so far apart if it’s just us two, right?”
Finding he couldn’t argue that logic, and that it would make it easier for them to both reach the fondue, Switzerland just gave a noncommittal grunt.
Grabbing the plate and silverware and moving it around, Prussia looked at the spread before him. He gave Switzerland a smile.
“Looks good, Swissy!”
Switzerland twitched at the…nickname and subconsciously reached for his nearest gun.
“Oh here, I’ll pour the wine for you,” Prussia recovered, reaching out to pick up the bottle and pouring two glassfuls.
He set the gun back aside.
Raising the glass, Prussia nodded at Switzerland to do the same. Finally, he relented.
“A toast! To Christmas cheer… and having someone to celebrate it with!”
Switzerland once again caught that slight hesitation in Prussia’s usually obnoxiously confident voice as he finished his statement. And deciding that obnoxious or not, it was somewhat nice to have someone to share this with, Switzerland clanked his glass against Prussia’s.
“Awesome!” Prussia said, taking a hearty sip of the wine. “Whoa, damn this is good. What is it?”
Switzerland drank a small sip and hoped that if he was careful the bottle could be recorked and stored for next Christmas. “Swiss white wine. We only drink it on Christmas.”
Prussia took another swig. “Awesome stuff. Well, for wine.”
Going back to trying to tune Prussia out, Switzerland picked up his fondue fork and dipped his bread into the fondue. With the fork halfway out, a horrible, terrible thought hit him and he almost dropped it. Warily, he turned to look at Prussia, who was blissfully serving himself the turkey with endives baked in cream.
It was tradition. Could he risk breaking one? What if breaking this specific tradition brought bad luck on him? What if it caused the banks to go on strike or the currency to drop significantly in value the next year? What if… Switzerland gulped; it caused prices on everything to go up?
Steeling his nerve and cursing the fact he’d let Prussia in yet again, Switzerland set down his fork with a clatter.
As he’d expected, Prussia turned to him at the noise.
“Hey what’s…”
Switzerland leaned in, swift and direct like a well-aimed shot, and pressed a quick kiss to Prussia’s lips.
Both of them flushed, though Switzerland was much redder.
“It’s not what it seems!” He spluttered out. “It’s just tradition. You have to kiss the person sitting to your left after dipping the bread in the fondue and the last thing I want is for prices to go up and…and…”
As Switzerland paused to take a deep breath before continuing to list off his concerns, Prussia stood wordlessly and walked clockwise around the table until he was on Switzerland’s right.
Picking up the other fondue fork, he dipped the piece of bread in it and with a cough, leaned over and pecked a kiss on Switzerland’s lips, effectively silencing his ramble about possible bank strikes.
Prussia pulled back with an unreadable expression on his face as Switzerland’s eyes went wide.
“Why did you…”
He laughed awkwardly. “If you keep going to my left, you’re the only person sitting there.”
“Oh,” was all Switzerland could manage. He suddenly felt like he’d chugged three bottles of wine even though he’d only had one sip.
Not saying another word, Prussia walked back behind Switzerland and ate the piece of bread he’d dipped quietly. This silence went on for a few minutes until Prussia, finished with his turkey, went to dip another piece of bread.
“Um…” He blushed. “Do you have to do it every time or just the first?”
“N-No,” Switzerland replied, all too quickly.
“Oh.”
The silence returned and Switzerland wondered if, perhaps, Prussia’s voice sounding disappointed was his imagination or not.
The sweet voice of Liechtenstein from the Christmas before seemed to echo inside his head. “You really should get out and live a little, brother. You’re awfully lonely when I’m not around, aren’t you?”
Taking a large swig of the wine, and almost choking on it, Switzerland threw caution to the wind and said, “First and last.”
He hoped Prussia wouldn’t call him on his lie.
Peering out of the corner of his eye, Switzerland noted the small smile that had crept onto Prussia’s lips at that and absolutely refused to let his own lips do the same. He still at least had that much dignity.
But it definitely made the dinner livelier, as Prussia asked about how Switzerland had made certain dishes and complimented them. Then, he did the one thing that damn it all, endeared Switzerland to Prussia more than he’d ever care to let on.
“So please tell me Liechtenstein is at home safe and warm in this weather. I mean, if she’s stuck out in the mountains I’ll totally go look for her.”
Switzerland dropped his spoon at that.
“What? I’m awesome enough to handle this storm, promise!”
He had to, heaven help him, resist the urge to hug the damned fool.
“She’s safe at home,” Switzerland said with a measured tone. “I called and insisted she didn’t try to come.”
“Phew,” Prussia sighed. “That’s good. Wouldn’t want to worry her overprotective big brother, huh?”
At first Switzerland thought it was a jibe at him, but then he remembered that despite Prussia’s immaturity in comparison, he was a protective big brother too.
Carefully, he asked, “I take it Germany is safe at home?”
Prussia gave a dopey grin. “Nah. West is off at Italy’s house for the holidays. Big softie, he is.”
Big softie. Switzerland laughed inwardly at that, remembering how often Liechtenstein had accused him of being the same.
Simultaneously, both of them reached for the last two pieces of bread to dip in the fondue, their eyes catching meaningfully as they did so. Both blushing, they leaned in for a chaste kiss before averting their eyes back to their food.
Switzerland told himself it was only Prussia’s heart that he heard starting to beat faster.
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As opposed to the usual quiet Christmas Eves he shared with Liechtenstein, having Prussia around meant it was loud and jovial at every possible chance he could make it so.
While they trimmed the tree (Switzerland having to scrounge around the cabin to find more candles for its branches), Prussia sang carols and kept badgering Switzerland to join along.
Switzerland, feeling extra bristly after dinner, had threatened to shoot him.
Prussia, who was stringing together chocolates to use in lieu of tinsel, just stuck his tongue out at him.
“Spoilsport.”
When Prussia started up Kling, Glöckchen, Switzerland most definitely did not sing along under his breath.
Once the tree was lit, both of them seemed to flounder for a moment as they realized that they were supposed to share gifts at this time but had nothing prepared. Prussia, who retrieved the bag he’d had with him, handed over a small pouch filled to the brim with gingerbread cookies.
“Here,” he mumbled. “They’re really awesome, even if they’re a bit crumbled up now.”
Switzerland nodded, mutely, before quietly saying, “Thanks.”
Then he went to the kitchen and pulled out one of the extra Swiss chocolates he’d gotten in a buy one, get one free bargain. It was shaped like Samichlaus, the jolly man’s white beard and outfit’s trim done in white chocolate.
He’d given it to Prussia with a muttered, “I had this left over.” And was thanked with a bone-crushing hug and a wide grin.
As the clock chimed its late hour, Prussia went to grab up his coat to go. Switzerland, glancing over at the small yellow chick curled up asleep on the goat’s back, felt a small pang on realizing that he really couldn’t find an excuse to invite Prussia to stay the night outside the bad weather.
And he only had one bed at this cabin, because that was cheaper when he so rarely used it, and sleeping on the floor when Liechtenstein visited wasn’t bad…
He could offer Prussia the floor for the night, at least? But Prussia had been rather nice (albeit in his annoying sort of way) and had given over his Christmas tree… And it would be rather lonely if he was stuck up here in the stormy mountains alone for a few extra days. But did he really want to be stuck with Prussia more than one night?
As Switzerland tried to inwardly sort out his dilemma, Prussia had bundled up in his things. He’d said, “I think Fritz is gonna stay the night, if that’s okay with you?” to which Switzerland hadn’t answered. Prussia took it as a yes and headed out the front door.
It was as the door swung closed that Switzerland was snapped out of his thoughts. And still without an exact clue as to what he was doing or why he was doing it, he rushed after Prussia.
“You imbecile!” He yelled out into the howling wind, “Why are you leaving in this weather?”
Prussia, barely visible amidst the blowing snow, just shrugged.
Switzerland stalked out after him, ignoring the fact he hadn’t put on a coat of any sort. “Damnit Prussia,” he swore, “did you think I was just going to kick you out?”
He gave a wry smile at that. “Usually that’s what other nations do. Can’t go to meetings anymore, can’t drop by without imposing on their important work.”
“It’s Christmas Eve, you moron!” Switzerland yelled as if that settled it, snatching Prussia by the wrist and dragging him behind him back to the cabin.
Covered in snow and shivering, Switzerland whirled around on Prussia once the door was closed. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were in a fine line.
“You are staying. I will shoot you if you try to leave again, got that?”
Prussia nodded; his eyes still wide in bewilderment. But when Switzerland sneezed, the spell was broken.
“Aw man, you’re going to be so sick!” Prussia quickly took off his coat and bundled it around Switzerland. “Let’s get you warmed up.”
And unable to protest with Prussia practically crushing him to his side, Switzerland relented as he sneezed again. He settled him on the couch, rushing off to the bedroom to strip it of all its blankets and sheets, then tucked them all around the sniffling nation.
With a wide grin he burrowed under the sheets next to him.
“Between the blankets, the fireplace and the awesome me, we’ll get you warm in no time.”
Switzerland glared for a moment, before sighing in resignation. With the tiniest of smiles he muttered, “Thanks for everything, Prussia.”
Prussia put his arm around him and pulled him closer to his side, pressing a kiss to his forehead as he did so. “It’s the least I can do for the awesome Christmas dinner, right?”
Switzerland flushed, probably due to an oncoming fever or something sickness related and not relevant to Prussia at all. Or well…
He glanced over at Prussia, who was giving him a rather dopey smile.
“Just keep your cold feet off of mine,” he relented, snuggling against Prussia’s warmth.
Prussia’s smile erupted into a grin, and he teased back, “Just promise you won’t shoot me in the morning.”
Switzerland, who definitely didn’t find Prussia’s hand and clasp it, shot back.
“Deal. Wouldn’t be in the Christmas spirit, now would it?”
Prussia just laughed. “Nah, wouldn’t be very Christmassy at all!”
And much like the goat and the chick before them, the two of them curled up and fell into a blissful sleep, the candlelight of the tree flickering over them as they snuggled closer for warmth.
THE END
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Notes:
[1] Here's some more info on traditional Swiss Christmases :)