North American Bros One-Shots

Canada #3

~ Christmas Cheer ~

Last Christmas, everything was okay. In fact, life was great. You got everything you asked for, the atmosphere was full of Christmas cheer, you were surrounded by family, and the food couldn't be topped. You don't remember a moment in which a smile wasn't on your lips.

This year? This year is nothing like last year. Since last Christmas, everyone in your immediate family had died. Your parents died when the plane they were taking to Hawaii for a vacation crashed, and your siblings got killed by a drunk driver one night coming home from a party. How could so much bad happen to you in one year?

As you sat in your darkened living room, you stared blankly at the spot the Christmas tree usually stood festive and flashy. You couldn't bring yourself to set up any decorations when you felt all of the Christmas spirit sucked out of you by the reminder of how great last year was.

A knock from your front door bounced off the walls, making it sound throughout the whole empty house. You slowly got to your feet and trudged over to the door to see who it was. Matthewーa friend of yoursーstood with Kumajiro in his arms when you opened the door.

"Hey Mattie, what are you doing here?" You leaned against the doorway, your head resting against the wood. You felt the cold air from outside chill your entire body but didn't move.

"I haven't heard from you all week," he muttered quietly. Your mind wandered to the memory of the texts he had sent you that you hadn't yet responded to.

"Come on in," you moved out of the way and he stepped inside after stomping on the welcome mat to lose some of the snow on his boots. "Sorry about that, I meant to text back."

"It's okay," he smiled sweetly. Then he spotted the dull house and the smile disappeared. "Where's the decorations?"

"I decided not to do anything this year." You moved further into the house and he put Kuma on the floor. He slipped his boots off and hung his scarf and coat on the hooks by the door. He took his hat and set it on Kuma's head and followed you into the living room.

"Why?" He asked quietly. You looked back at him with eyes void of everything but sorrow and he stopped. "Oh." He looked around the house with the eye of an explorer, trying to find the prized possession he was after. You couldn't tell whether or not he found what he was after. "But wouldn't they want you to celebrate, carry on the tradition?"

"Do you think they'd feel like celebrating after their whole family was killed?" You fell onto the couch and closed your eyes. Matthew turned to Kuma for help but the polar bear was busy trying to get the hat off his head.

"So, no..." He swallowed and looked down. "No Christmas movie marathon?" When you heard how broken he sounded, your eyes opened. He looked ready to cry and you felt your heart break even more than it already was. It was a tradition to watch Christmas movies until you both fell asleep, cuddled under the blankets.

"Sorry." You truly were. "I would just ruin your mood." He didn't say anything, just put his feet back into his boots, wrapped the scarf back around his neck, put his arms in his coat, and picked up Kuma. Then he left.

You closed your eyes and slowly let air out of your mouth. You felt worse than before, but you were convinced you'd only make his Christmas worse. He shouldn't waste his time on you.

You might've fallen asleep or just zoned outーyou weren't sure whichーbut when you came back to the world, Matthew was walking back through your front door with two bags of you weren't sure what, and Kuma was right behind him with movies in his arms stacked too high for you to see his face.

You stood up. "What....?"

"You're still going to enjoy Christmas." His face was red, probably from the cold winter air he just came inside from. "Kuma, can you please put the movies in the living room?" Kuma waddled over to the room and just dropped the movies to the ground. Matthew went into the kitchen so you ran after him, sliding in to see him taking items out of the bags. Cookie cutters, frosting, sprinkles, and pre-made cookie dough sat on the counter when he was done.