Homeless (a Hetalia Fanfic, Book Three)

Chapter 1~!

"Ergh..." Matthew groaned irritably as he rolled over and slammed the clock's button to make the infernal alarm cease its wailing. 'Please... I just want five more minutes...'

He closed his eyes again, feeling himself slip down into the depths of sleep once more. A minuscule part of his better judgment was berating him for it, but was he listening?

No.

Still, a day's work wasn't going to wait for him. A meeting was coming up in just a couple of days, which left him busy with gathering up his materials (and his patience) so he could be a part of the congregation. The nation of Canada rolled out of bed, sleepily greeted the two bears Kumajirou and Ko, and stumbled into the bathroom to relieve himself.

He could already tell it was going to be an "at least three cups of coffee" kind of morning.

"Morning, Daddy~!" Sarah chorused when she saw her father emerge from his bedroom and come through the living room to get to the kitchen. She was curled around a pillow on the sofa, watching her favorite show that aired early in the morning. He had offered to just record it for her so she wouldn't have to wake up so early, but Sarah had said she actually liked waking up early, surprisingly. So, this was the sight that usually greeted Matthew in the morning.

"Good morning," Matthew replied, dragging his feet to the kitchen and over to the coffee maker. It buzzed, emitted a little high-pitched whine, and then began filling his mug with the life-giving brew. 'I really need to get a new one of these...' he thought absentmindedly. Mattie poured some maple syrup into his coffee and added some milk before taking the mug into the living room to "watch" Sarah's show with her.

Soon it would be time to make the rounds and rouse the sleepy teens and preteens from their beds. That could wait, however, as Matthew sipped his coffee and tried to wake up more.

Sarah crawled over to place the pillow on his thigh and put her head down on top of the cushion. Matthew smiled softly and ran a hand over her dark brown hair, pushing it back and gently working out tangles in a slow, easy fashion. Her giggles rang out through the living room as a character did something stupid onscreen, but Matthew was hardly paying attention to that at the moment.

~

"Milo, I'm not doing this with you," Matthew said sternly from his son's doorway. "It's past nine-thirty and you have chores today."

A sixteen-year-old brunet with messy bed head and a smattering of drool on his chin sat up in bed and looked blearily at his father. "But, Dad..."

"Come on, Dani won't be here for another hour and a half." Matthew closed the door, and Milo flopped back onto his pillow instantly. "I heard that, Milo."

With a groan, he used his hands and walked on those until he was lying on the floor next to his bed. From there, it wasn't difficult to stand, stretch, and walk to the closet to pick out his attire for the day: dark jeans, a gray T-shirt that didn't smell that bad, and a beanie cap that hadn't been in style for some ten years. Whatever, he liked the look even if the fashion magazines condemned it despite being "vintage."

Milo glanced in the mirror of his bathroom and sighed, running a hand through his unruly hair. "I need to get it cut soon..." After running a brush through it and rolling on some deodorant, he pulled the beanie on and threw on a belt before venturing out of his room.

Part of his morning chore routine involved getting Tatiana out of bed. Though she was twelve years old, she could sleep through thunderstorms, Armageddon, and the second coming of the Christ if she was allowed to. Milo opened her pink door and flipped the light switch, bathing the room in brightness. "Up an' at 'em!" he announced.