Summer Days

Part 1: Two Brothers and a Whole Lot of Cleaning

New Zealand watched hungrily as Canada pulled ingredients out of the cabinets to make his famous pancakes. He was spending the day with his older brother, as they hadn't had any real brother bonding time (without Australia) in about a decade.

"Hey, Zea,"

"Hm?"

"Would you like to mix the batter? You seem awfully bored."

"... sure, why not."

He would much rather frolic around in Canada's spacious backyard while Canada did the cooking, but he reminded himself that he wasn't a child anymore, and that he did come all this way to see him. So he got up and sauntered over to where Canada had placed the batter. Oh, it smelled delicious. It took almost all of his willpower not to stick a finger in and taste it. He look over at Canada who was over at the sink, washing some berries to put on the pancakes. One little taste couldn't hurt... no. He decided not to, and that he should just wait until almost all the batter was used up, and he could lick the spoon. Rather childish of him, but that stuff was... amazingly good.

The two brothers worked in silence for a bit, until Canada said something, and startled New Zealand so badly he bonked his head on a kitchen cabinet, making a salt shaker almost fall into the batter.

"Ah! Sorry  Zea, didn't mean to startle you.."

"It's all good" Zea said as he massaged the little bump on his head. "Can you repeat that though?"

"Yes, I am able to repeat a phrase."

"May you repeat that?"

"Oh, I just said that it's rather quiet without Australia here.."

Canada was right. Usually Australia would come with Zealand, but he decided to pass this time.

"Yeah, I guess."

The brothers continued with the small talk for a bit, working on the food. Eventually, they finished. At this point, Zea was starving, and the sweet aroma of maple syrup, berries, and other delectable delicacies (I know that these aren't delicacies, but please, let me have my alliteration) was like torture. Why did Canada have to be blessed with their mother's cooking skills? At least they weren't baking sweets, or poor New Zealand would would have already caved and gobbled it all up.

Finally, brothers had finished cooking their breakfast, which wasn't really breakfast as it was already 11 o' clock in the morning, so more like a lunch. Canada laughed as he saw his younger brother heap some pancakes on his plate, and annihilate them. Canada was slowly picking away at his food, and certainly hadn't put as much on his plate as New Zealand had put on his plate.

"So, um, Canada" New Zealand said through a mouth full of pancake. "How do you make these so damned tasty?" Well, at least that's what he meant to say, but, well, it came out more like a toddler's babel.

"Well, I just add extra love, that's all."

"Come on, we both know one can't just tear some love right outta them and mix it in with some pancakes, so come on, brother, just tell me!"

"I'd eat a hundred billion marshmallows with mayonnaise on them before I do that, lil' brother."

Goodness, getting a secret out of Canada was like... Zea had no smilie, or metaphor to use for that, but it was hard as all hell. Maybe it's because he is a more northern country, Zea couldn't help but think. They usually were more of the quiet and mysterious types. I mean, he'd met Norway and Russia, and those two were very strange countries indeed. Also, pro-tip, don't give Russia a gun when he's drunk. It's not going to end well for anyone involved.

Soon the two both finished their food, and they took their plates to sink.

'Should we wash them now, or later?" Canada asked.

"Um.. now, I guess."

"So, um I'm guessing you'll want to rinse 'em, eh?"

"No, I think I wanna clean them today."

The two brothers started washing the dishes, and for a while, everything was tranquil. Then, New Zealand accidentally splashed some water on Canada's shirt.

"Oops, sorry, Nada!"

Canada didn't respond to that, worrying New Zealand. Why was he worried, you're probably asking? Well, there's this think about Canada. Usually he's sweet, thoughtful, trustworthy, and apologizes way too much, but when you betray him, or somehow manage to make him mad (I'm not quite sure how one does that..) he gets.. let's just say... aggressive.

Suddenly Zea found himself covered in dish-soap bubbles.

"Oh you've asked for it..," he said, all serious. Canada was soon, too covered in suds. The brother threw bubbles (there is probably some better vocabulary I could use there, but I'm not going to use it) at each other, back and forth for about an hour, until there was no more dish-soap left in the bottle for them to turn into bubbles in which they could throw at each other.

"Well I guess we have more stuff to clean now, along with the dishes..." Canada sighed, looking at the kitchen, which was now less like a kitchen and more resembled a bathtub. "I should probably go get some more dish soap... may you start cleaning the floor, please, Zea?"

"Yeah, I will."

Needless to say, Canada and New Zealand spent a half of the rest of the day cleaning the kitchen. The other half was spent playing hockey. I bet you know how that turned out.