((A big thank you to everyone who reviewed. There is a part in here where the countries are talking in french. Their speech in french is italicized. It is only like this for that chunk of the fic. ))

Alfred spent the Roaring Twenties as a man of few words but a man whose face was the definition of a party. Dancing back then was simply moving your feet to the beat, which Alfred had more than enough practice doing. Alfred's face would light up when he was dancing with a beautiful lady, or an attractive man. His good looks made it easy for him to dance with anyone, and his happy aura attracted people to him. His old war pals would talk for him, knowing the situation, and even if he didn't talk often, if you got him laughing his laugh would echo throughout the night. People would describe Alfred as the type of guy who was easy to hang out with, who had a personality that shined through the fact he didn't speak often, the type of guy you just felt safe around. Alfred didn't drink during the twenties, but others did, and when people were drunk they sure did sound funny. He was able to stutter out some words when people were drunk, hell, they just thought Alfred was drunk too.

(x)

"I didn't know you liked this type of music, Alfred." Arthur said once the song had ended. Both the European men were surprised, they thought Alfred was into pop music, not swing. Of all things, swing was probably their last guess.

"Alfred loves dancing. This music sure is perfect for that," Matthew paused and locked eyes with his brother, "He especially loves slow dancing."

"M-matt!" Alfred squealed, his face turned bright red at what his brother said.

"I would find Alfred passed out on the couch the next day more times that not." Matthew said, enjoying the fact that he was embarrassing his little brother. He made his way over to the record player.

"This song in particular is a personal favorite of our friend here. Ah, the times you would come home mumbling about the people you danced with." Matthew recollected. He lifted the needle and started the song over. Trumpets started swinging once more to the simple piano melody once more.

"Someday, we'll build our home on a hilltop high, you and I." Ozzie Nelson sung, his voice swinging and taking the place of the trumpets.

"Kiku." Alfred spoke up, looking at his friend, "I never did teach you how to dance, did I?"

Alfred strolled over to where Kiku was sitting. He extended a shaky hand to him and asked, "Do you still want to learn?"

Alfred is such a dork. Kiku loved it.

He accepted the huge, shaky hand. Alfred pulled him close, he had never really thought about the height difference between them, but being so close to the muscular country made him realize he was barely as tall as Alfred's shoulder. Alfred guided Kiku's hands to his waist and placed his own hands on Kiku's shoulder and waist. His huge arms wrapped around him until his hand rested on the small of his partner's back. Alfred guided the small man to the beat of the music. After a while, Alfred took his hand of Kiku's shoulder and gently grabbed Kiku's petite hand, raising it to shoulder level. They slow danced for what seemed like forever to the song. At one point, Kiku leaned into Alfred's chest, which vibrated as he hummed along to the song. This wasn't a formal slow dance anymore, the two countries were hugging. Kiku's face was buried in Alfred's shoulder, and Alfred reset his chin on Kiku's head. Kiku wished he could stay like this forever, wrapped in the country's muscular build. Alfred smelled like summer, like the warm days where there was a nice breeze and the cicadas were chirping. These were some of Kiku's favorite days. He hadn't realized Alfred was crying until he felt Alfred take in a sharp breath. He looked up into the taller county's eyes, the blue eyes Kiku had come to love were filled with pure happiness. He returned to his position in the crook of Alfred's shoulder and hugged a little tighter.

The other countries watched from the couch as Alfred guided Kiku around the room. They watched as the space between the two lessened until they were pressed against each other. They watched as Alfred started crying tears of happiness. It was a sight they had never seen before, at least, a Arthur and Francis had never seen before.

Matt smiled, Alfred finally got his slow dance.

(x)

It was around dinner time, and Francis suggested that he make dinner.

"Let's change it up and have some french cuisine." Francis said, standing up and stretching.

"Let's make Arthur angry and only speak french." Alfred told Francis in french. He was seated next to Kiku on the couch, one arm draped over Kiku's shoulder, "This is going to be so fucking funny, Francis."

"Holy shit, yes. This is going to be hilarious." Matthew said. Alfred whispered the plan in Kiku's ear, translating what they had said.

"You guys are mean." Kiku said. He didn't actually mean it, of course, he wanted to see how Arthur would react to his friends speaking in a language he couldn't understand.

"What? I heard my name. What are you all planning." Arthur said sternly from his position in the camping chair, glaring at Francis.

"Nothing, my friend, we were simply talking about your god awful cooking." Francis said, walking to the kitchen. Alfred chuckled and translated what Francis had said into Kiku's ear.
Kiku giggled at the face Arthur made, trying to figure out what Francis said.

The three of them got up and walked into the kitchen, "We're going to make dinner now, black sheep of europe, whose cooking could kill a cow." Francis said.

"I know what you said you frog! You called me a fucking black sheep!" Arthur said, standing up in defense, "I am the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland!" He yelled, as if that would change anything.

"Well, I am the United Stated of America!" Alfred yelled back, punching his chest and flashing a smile, "And I can speak in french if I want to because you're not in control anymore, black sheep!"

"OH HO HO!" Francis laughed, doubling over.

"Now you're calling me a black sheep?!"

Kiku's head was tucked into his knees. He was trying so hard to keep a straight face, but his efforts failed when Alfred screamed, "THAT'S RIGHT! VIVA LA REVOLUTION, BLACK SHEEP!"

"YOU TIT!" Arthur screamed, leaping onto his former colony.

(x)

Six long days after they were snowed in, the countries were soon able to get to their hotel rooms, pack up their things, and head to the airport. It had been a crazy week, to say the least.

Alfred and Matthew drove them to the airport the morning the planes started flying again. All of them had fun camping out at Alfred's house, but it was time to get back to work.

Kiku was thankful that his neighbors agreed to take care of Pochi for so long. The tan dog greeted him at the door excitedly. He was glad he was home, though, the memory of slow dancing with Alfred was still fresh in his mind, and he missed it already. He missed him already.

Francis and Arthur returned to their houses late at night. They lived alone, but they had to admit, sharing a living space with their friends was nice.

"Hey Matt, thanks for shovelling the front of the house." Alfred said. The snow had slowly started to melt, leaving Alfred with a cold. He was thankful the snow didn't melt quickly like it usually did. All it took was one warm day to make his cold go from bad to worse, but so far the temperature had been just above freezing, so he didn't need to worry. They had just finished saying goodbye to their friends, so Alfred was now driving them home.

"I am happy to do it." Matt responded, turning on the radio. It had been a few weeks since Christmas music had stopped playing, which Matt was thankful for, Christmas music was annoying as hell.

"I want to make it up to you, though, since you are always doing it." Alfred explained. He insisted he drive them. Matthew didn't argue, mostly because it was foggy today and Matthew didn't know these roads well, "How about we go to a hockey game sometime soon?"

"Sounds great."

The airport was an hour away from Alfred's house, but with the weather conditions and traffic it took two hours to get there and even longer to get back. Alfred and Matthew exchanged simple conversation, but most of the ride was filled with popular songs through the radio.

Alfred was an amazing driver, he had done everything right.

There shouldn't have been an accident.

There shouldn't have.

Some guy had fallen asleep at the wheel of his minivan.

"Shit!" Alfred cursed, pulling the steering wheel to the side. He was able to stop a head on collision, but the two cars collided at the driver's side.

The only thing Matthew remembered after the collision was waking up and seeing Alfred next to him, unconscious in his seat. He was bleeding heavily from various places all over his body, blood covering most of his brother's face, but he was breathing, and that was the important part. It took a while for the paramedics to arrive at the scene. During that time, Matthew driften in and out of consciousness until the medics and firemen started sawing away at the doors of their car. It hurt Matt to breathe there was a good chance he had some broken ribs. Their rescuers were able to pull them out of the car, but Matt lost consciousness as an oxygen mask was slipped over his head.

Matt woke up once again during the ambulance ride to the hospital. He looked over at Alfred, whose head was firmly positioned in two cushions and heavily bandaged.

"Al.." Matthew groaned, trying to sit up, but a firm hand pushed him back down.

"Your brother's going to be okay buddy, just go back to sleep." A deep voice said.

He woke up for good in a hospital bed, covered in bandages. Though everything hurt, he managed to sit up. He needed to find Al. Grunting, he managed to sit on the side of his bed, ready to stand. He gripped his fluids pole tightly and stood up. Pain shot all through his body. He had he had broken his collarbone, which left his right arm useless as it sat neatly in a sling. He assumed he had also broken a several ribs. He had fractured one once before in a hockey accident, but this time he couldn't seem to take a good breath. The whole room spun, he probably had a concussion as well, and strange medication didn't help his cause. He carefully walked to the door, being careful not to slip. A nurse walked into the room before he was able to reach the door, and he was suddenly being guided back to his bed.

"Al…" Matthew croaked, his throat dry.

"Your brother is in the ICU, , you will be able to see him when you have rested." The nurse told him. Matthew stopped in his tracks. He needed to see Alfred.

"I am awake." He said sternly, "Take me to my brother."

"Like I said, when you have rested, ."

Matthew straightened his back, winding at the pain, and looked into the petite nurse's eyes, "At least get me his doctor, I need to know how he is doing."

"Fine."

Matthew ended up sleeping the rest of the day without speaking to the doctor.

(x)

Matt groggily woke up the next morning to find that his phone was on his bedside table. He picked it up and inspected it, the screen was cracked, but other than that it worked like nothing had ever happened. He sent a quick text to Arthur, saying that he needed to talk to him as soon as possible.

" ?" A man said, entering the room. He was a tall man with grey hair. Matthew assumed this was Alfred's doctor.

"How is my brother? When can I see him?"

The doctor explained to Matthew that Alfred had injured his head in the collision, which they were closely monitoring because of his past injury. They couldn't measure the damage until Alfred had woken up, though. Aside from his head injury, the left side of Alfred's body had taken the most damage. His arm had broken in several places, and he had also broken some of his ribs, unfortunately puncturing his lung.

"The good news is, he is stable." Alfred's doctor said, "And, you are permitted to visit him."

Matthew thanked Alfred's doctor as he left the room. He had also told Matthews injuries to him. A broken collarbone, two fractured ribs, and a concussion. The doctor had told Matt to watch out for dizzy spells, which were possible because of the extent of his injury. Other than that, Matt was to be discharged later that day.

Matthew tried to eat several times that day, but nothing seemed to stay down. He also noticed he was sleeping a lot more than usual, both side effects of the concussion. After his fourth nap that day, he decided to see his brother. It was a familiar feeling, walking through the hospital to visit his brother who had sustained a brain injury, only this time he was a patient as well. Matthew groggily entered Alfred's room. Alfred had various IV's in his arm, and a breathing tube in his nose. His left arm was wrapped in a cast and where multiple cuts and bruises all over his face and chest. Matt pulled up a chair and sat next to his brother. He held his hand and rubbed it, like he did all those years ago. Alfred's hands trembled slightly, even in his sleep. Matt felt the grip on his hand tighten, he looked up to see his brother's blue eyes filled with tears.

"Al…" Matthew croaked, running his hand through Alfred's hair and wiping the tears from his brother's eyes.

Alfred tried to say something, but just like all those years ago, only a huff came out.

(( Happy Holidays everybody ))