Merry late Christmas everyone! And Happy New Years! This fic is a late Christmas present for my friend Toni. I would have written it sooner but this Christmas season has been a little hectic and complicated for me and I hadn't gotten to it in time.

Also, I'd like to thank my friend Stella for helping me toss ideas around for this. I hope you like it, Toni!

Summary: It's the holiday season but Feliciano and Lovino aren't really in the Christmas spirit. Money is tight for them since their grandpa died, and it's pretty hard to get into the spirit of the holidays when you can't even afford a tree. What are their family friends Ludwig and Gilbert going to do about it?

"Fratello, are we getting a tree this year?"

He must've asked that question ten times this week.

"No, Feli, I told you there's no point. Why put up a tree now when we'll just be taking it down a few days after Christmas?"

Feliciano and Lovino Vargas lived in the dormitory of Hetalia Academy. This would be their first year not going home for the holiday break and Feliciano wanted to put a little tree in their room to put them in the Christmas spirit. Lovino would've let him get one, but he didn't want to waste money on something that would die in a week.

They were lucky their school fees were already paid or else they wouldn't be able to stay there either. Since their grandpa died eleven months ago, they no longer have a home to go back to. Their nonno had been their guardian, the twins had lived with him since they were children. Of course when he died he left them some money, but it was quickly running out.

Lovino didn't tell his younger twin brother about their money troubles, but Feliciano knew. Neither of them had jobs and the money their nonno left could only last so long. What a terrible time for them to be running low on funds.

It was the last day before winter break. Classes were uneventful and the teachers were lazy, not seeing any point in trying to teach their excitable students on the last day of school. The students chatted among themselves, going on and on about their plans for the holidays and what they hoped to get for Christmas.

Feliciano sat with his friends Kiku and Ludwig, listening to Kiku talk about how he was going back home to visit his family. Kiku had a lot of siblings. It made Feliciano a little envious listening to him talk about them now, with it just being him and his two brothers now.

Lovino and Feliciano had a younger brother, Marcello. He lived with a cousin of theirs now, since he didn't attend the academy with them. The twins could have asked their cousin and his wife for help, but Lovino had too much pride to ask of anything from them.

Ludwig noticed how unusually quiet Feli was being and called his name. When the Italian didn't respond, he called him again and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh? I'm sorry, I was listening!" Feliciano closed his eyes, knowing his emotion would probably show through his eyes, and smiled at his friends who were now staring at him. "Veee~ So what are you doing for Christmas, Luddy?"

His German friend still wondered what might be wrong, but he let it go for now. "My bruder and I are going home to visit our grandfather."

Feli kept his eyes closed. "I bet Gil is excited about that."

"Actually he's been trying to get some of his friends to come along. He thinks it'll be boring with just us."

Kiku spoke up, "There's nothing wrong with spending the horidays with just famiry. Personarry, my famiry does not cerebrate Christmas, but the time off of schoor is nice to spend a few winter weeks together."

"I am sure everyone Gilbert has asked thinks the same thing, which is why no one is accepting his offer."

"What about you, Feliciano-san? Are you visiting your cousin and brother for the horidays?"

"Veee...No, Lovi and Roddy don't get along very well so we're staying here this year."

"At schoor?"

"Mhm, we're staying in the dorms."

The bell rang, signalling the end of their last class of the day. The students stood up and gathered up their things. Before Ludwig or Kiku could say any more to Feliciano, the Italian was already on his way out the door. "Ciao, buone vacanze!"

"Feli and Lovino are staying at school for the holidays? How lame."

"Feliciano says his brother and Roderich are on bad terms, so they're not going to spend Christmas with him, Eliza, and Marcello."

Ludwig and his older brother Gilbert were finishing up their packing before leaving for their grandfather's. Or rather, Gilbert was sitting on his ass while Ludwig packed. They didn't share a room, since Gilbert was a year older, so Ludwig did not know that his brother hadn't packed a thing yet.

"So they have no plans for Christmas?"

Ludwig could already see where this was going.

"We should invite them to come with us!"

"We can't just invite them without asking opa first. I'd like to help them, too, but we can't just-" He was cut off by Gilbert's insisting.

"You let me handle that. Go and ask them to come with us. If you have any problems with the hothead then just let me know, I have a back-up plan for that, too."

He could tell this was a loosing battle, so with a defeated sigh Ludwig stopped his packing and called Feli. He had his number on speed dial.

"Ciao, hi Luddy!"

"Hello, Feli. My bruder and I were wondering if you wanted to come and spend the holidays with us."

"What? What did that bastardo say?! Is he inviting you to stay overnight somewhere with him?!"

"Veee~ Calm down, fratello!"

"Of course your brother is invited, too."

"Damn right I'm coming, you won't put a hand on him while I'm there!"

Well that was much easier than Ludwig thought it would be. "You're both coming then?"

"If you're sure that's okay?"

Ludwig looked to Gilbert who was also on the phone. The albino gave his brother a thumbs up before going back to his own phone conversation.

"Ja, it's alright. My opa gave the okay."

"Okay! We'll pack our things and meet you outside the dorm. Ciao!"

After they hung up, Ludwig went back to packing his bag. Gilbert had already ended his phone call. "So they said yes? Wow, that was easier than I thought. I thought I was going to have to give Toni a call."

"Antonio? And what would he have done about it?"

"I would have told him Lovino was coming so he would have dropped his plans and come along. Then I would have told Lovino that Antonio was coming, which would have made him change his mind and come along after all. But of course he wouldn't admit he changed his mind because of Antonio being there."

"You are so manipulative."

"Whatever gets the job done. Maybe I'll invite Toni anyway, I'm sure he can distract Lovino from trying to kill us in our sleep."

"You didn't ask him already?" Ludwig asked, ignoring the comment about Lovino trying to kill them.

"I did, but he said no. But like I said before, he'll probably drop his plans now that Lovino is coming."

"Again, you're manipulative. Anyways, you have finished packing, right?"

"..."

When he didn't get an answer, Ludwig turned a glare onto his brother.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM AND PACK, YOU DUMMKOPF!"

"Veee~ This is going to be so fun, fratello! We're going to have a Christmas after all!" Feliciano was already packing his back for the break.

"Wait, what? We're really going to spend the holidays with those potato bastards?!"

"Please, fratello, it will be so fun!"

Before Lovino could argue further, his phone buzzed. He reached over to his night stand and flipped his phone open, reading the new text message. He didn't even finish reading it before his face turned red as a tomato.

"Veee...Your face is all red, Lovi. What is it?"

"Nothing, we're going and that's that."

"What?"

"I said we're going!"

Lovino wasn't going to tell him the real reason for his new enthusiasm. He didn't reply to the message from Gilbert about their new travel buddy.

The car ride to Ludwig and Gilbert's grandfather's was...anything but boring. Gilbert played the music too loud, Ludwig yelled at him to stop his obnoxious singing, Antonio kept his hands somewhere on Lovino's body at all times, Lovino kept swatting Antonio's hands off (even though he secretly didn't mind all that much), and Feliciano tried to keep the peace in the car. More than once Feli had to stop his brother from strangling someone and he had to calm Ludwig's anger.

It was a blessing when they finally arrived and they could all get out of the car. The sun had set about an hour before they got to the house. After saying a quick hello to Ludwig and Gilbert's opa, they all decided to go to bed early. The boys would be helping to decorate in the morning and the drive tired them out.

Ludwig and Gilbert slept in their own rooms, Lovino and Feliciano shared the guest room, and Antonio slept on the couch in the living room.

The next day was spent decorating. Gilbert and Ludwig hung lights up outside, Antonio and Lovino decorated the tree, and Feliciano hung up mistletoe around the house. Gilbert was a little disappointed he wouldn't be able to use those to his own advantage.

When Gilbert and Ludwig came back inside from the cold, their opa had cups of hot chocolate ready for them. When Feliciano finished his mistletoe task, he joined Opa in the kitchen to make Christmas cookies.

"I'm glad you decided to come this year. It's been a long time," Opa conversed as he rolled out the dough.

Feliciano's nonno and Ludwig's opa had been friends for years, even before any of them were born. When they were little, their families spent a lot of time together. The last time Feliciano and Lovino had seen their German friends' grandpa was at their nonno's funeral.

Feli pressed the plastic cookie cutters into the dough. "Sì, it has been a while."

"Almost a year. It's a shame Marcello couldn't be here as well."

"Veee...Sì, I miss him. Lovi and I haven't seen him since his birthday."

Opa moved the shaped cookie dough to the oven and set the timer.

"Gil set up a webcam on the computer the last time he was over. You could video chat with Marcello and your cousin sometime while you're here."

"Veee~ I'll give him a call then!" Feliciano smiled up at the other.

"How have you been lately, Feli?"

Feliciano was taken a little off guard by the question. He turned back to the sink and proceeded to wash the flour off his hands. "We're fine. School is going great, and I have lots of friends! There's Kiku, he's kinda quiet but he's nice. And there's this girl Lovi and I are friends with, her name is Bella and she's really pretty. I thought Lovi might have liked her, but he seems sorta interested in Toni now-"

"Feliciano," Opa cut the rambling Italian off. "I mean, how are you doing? Since..."

He knew that's what the older man meant. He just hoped that he could brush it off as a misunderstanding and not talk about it. It had been eleven months and Feliciano was more or less over it. He didn't cry as easily anymore at the thought. Of course he still missed his nonno, and he wished he could still be there with them, but he knew that couldn't happen.

"...Lovi and I are doing fine. We've accepted what happened, and we still talk about him sometimes. We're doing alright." He left out the money troubles they were having.

"Well that's good to hear. But I want you to know that you two can always come to me for anything. I should have told you that months ago, but if you boys need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

Feliciano dried his hands off and turned to smile up at the other. "Thanks, we won't."

Feliciano soon joined the others in the living room. The tree was almost fully decorated, Gilbert and Ludwig sat on the couch drinking their hot beverages, and Antonio kept trying to get Lovino under some mistletoe (but Lovino saw through his plans and refused to follow him anywhere).

Feli sat next to Ludwig and leaned on his friend's arm.

"Hey Luddy, do you think it will snow this year? I think that'd be fun. We could make snow angels, and build snowmen, and have snowball fights, and build an igloo-"

"And write in the snow with our piss," Gilbert interrupted.

Ludwig gave Gilbert's arm a little slap. "No, we're not doing that."

"You can't stop me."

The younger German brother just rolled his eyes and returned his attention back to his friend leaning on his arm. "I don't know, Feli, it might."

"If it does, will you do all those fun things with me?"

The blonde felt his cheeks heating up slightly. "Yeah, sure, Feli. If it snows."

It was Christmas Eve, the temperature outside was still dropping but there had yet to be a single snowflake. It was getting late, but Feli was still holding onto the hope of having a white Christmas.

Earlier in the day Feliciano and Lovino had talked to Marcello, Roderich, and his wife Elizabeta on a Skype video call. They talked for a couple hours with minimal arguments between Lovino and Roderich.

They were all currently sitting around the fireplace in the living room. Gilbert had just finished a cup of eggnog and held his mug out to Lovino, who happened to be sitting closest to the kitchen.

"Hey, Lovi, nog me," he said, demanding the Italian get up and go get him another cup.

Lovino scowled and flipped him the bird. "Fuck you, get up and get your own."

"Oh come on, you're closest."

"If I get it, I'm going to pour it on your lap."

Gilbert winced and lowered his outstretched hand holding the mug. "You shouldn't be so mean, Lovino, or else the krampus might come for you tonight."

The Italian's scowl deepened. "The what?"

"Krampus is a monster from German folklore that punishes bad children like Santa rewards the good ones," Ludwig clarified.

"He's big and hairy with the hooves and horns of a goat and has a long pointed tongue," Gilbert continued.

"And...just what kind of punishment are we talking about here?" Lovino asked, trying not to show fear.

"In some stories he'll eat you. Or drown you. And in some of the older stories, he'll put you in a sack and transport you to Hell."

At this point both Lovino and Feliciano were huddled up by Antonio. Feli knew he didn't do anything to attract the wrath of Krampus, but it still sounded like a terrifying beast and he was sharing a room with Lovino.

Antonio wrapped his arms around the two Italian brothers. "Don't worry, Lovi, I'll protect you from the evil monster."

"Sh-shut up, bastardo, I'm not afraid!" But he still clung onto the Spaniard.

"Gilbert, stop trying to scare him," their opa scolded.

"I'm just having a little fun. So Lovino, you gonna get me that eggnog?"

"NO!"

That night, Antonio found himself sleeping in Lovino's bed to protect the secretly scared Italian. With their bed now occupying two people, Feliciano had to find another place to sleep. He liked to sleep with company, so sleeping alone on the couch was out of the question. So he ended up in Ludwig's bed with him. The German argued at first, saying he would take the couch if Feli wanted a bed, but Feliciano insisted he didn't want to sleep alone. So Ludwig gave up the losing fight.

Ludwig let Feliciano cuddle with him until he fell asleep, thankful that the darkness concealed the color in his cheeks.

On Christmas morning Feliciano was like a five year old. He was the second one to wake up, behind Ludwig's grandpa, and he went around to wake everyone else up excited about opening presents. He walked in on Antonio and Lovino cuddling in the guest bed, Lovino half naked. When he woke up, he turned dark red and threw a pillow at his brother standing in the doorway. Feli just ran away giggling.

Feliciano's excitement only got worse when he looked out the living room window and saw nothing but white. Looks like he got his white Christmas after all.

"Hey Luddy! Lovi! It snowed! See, I told you it would!" He pointed out the window when the others finally got up and joined him in the living room. "We can do all those fun things we said we would in the snow!"

If Ludwig didn't stop him, Feli would have run out into the snow in his pajamas without shoes on. They decided they would put off opening presents for after their playtime in the snow. Once everyone was dressed in their coats, gloves, scarves, and winter boots, Feli ran outside and jumped into a fluffy looking pile of snow. He laid on his back with his arms and legs spread out wide, starting on a snow angel. When Ludwig came over and looked down on him, Feli tried to get him to make one, too. But he all but outright refused.

Antonio, however, was happy to join Feli on the ground. He laid next to him and started on his own snow angel.

"Lovi, come make a snow angel with us!" Antonio called.

"How about no."

Antonio pouted and got up from his spot in the snow. He went over to where Lovino stood with his arms crossed and lifted the Italian over his shoulder.

"Chigi! Put me down, idiota! What are you doing?!" Lovino kicked until he was dropped into a pile of snow next to Antonio's angel. Antonio laid back on top of his angel in the snow and continued his task. "Come on, Lovi, have some fun with us!"

Lovino just laid there for a while until Antonio stopped to pout at him again. He rolled his eyes and started to move his arms and legs in the snow, making his own angel. "I feel stupid."

"But your angel is so beautiful~"

Lovino turned his head away, trying to hide the blush forming on his cheeks. It quickly faded away though when Gilbert came over and drew devil horns in the snow where Lovino's head was. Lovi sat up and turned around to see what Gilbert drew. Before Gilbert knew it, a snowball hit him in the face.

"You bastardo, I'll kill you!" Lovino chased Gilbert around the yard, throwing snowballs every chance he got.

The snowball war began. At first they formed teams with Antonio and Gilbert on one team and Ludwig, Feliciano, and Lovino on the other. But eventually (when Lovino threw a snowball at Ludwig and Antonio threw one at Gilbert) it turned into a free for all, every man for himself.

When Feliciano let out the first sneeze, they decided to go inside for now and continue the battle later. They all changed out of their wet clothes covered in melting snow, got themselves warm drinks, and sat by the fire place. Once they were warmed up, it was time to open presents.

Ludwig was surprised when he unwrapped German chocolate in the shape of a large lion from his brother. "Ah...thanks, bruder."

"I saw it and thought of you." Ludwig was pretty sure he just didn't know what else to get him and this was a last minute gift. In return Ludwig got his brother an Iron Cross pendant.

Lovino got a pillow shaped like a tomato from Antonio. He buried his face in it and mumbled out a "Thank you, idiota..." He was grateful, but Lovino always had trouble expressing gratitude without feeling at least a little embarrassed. And he did feel a little bad since he didn't get Antonio anything in return. But Antonio didn't seem to mind.

Antonio also got Feli new paints. Feliciano was in the art club at school and didn't have money recently to buy paint for projects in his free time.

Gilbert got Antonio a mini acoustic guitar. He immediately set to work tuning it. "If I play something you know, will you sing with me, Lovi?"

"No, I will not," Lovino replied, blushing into his new pillow.

Gilbert's opa got him a Prussian flag to hang on the wall in his dorm. He proclaimed himself one because it was more awesome. He also got Ludwig a package of wurst partially as a joke, but he knew his younger grandson would like it anyway.

Since Feliciano didn't get a gift for Ludwig, he decided that he would improvise. When he went to the kitchen to refill his mug of hot chocolate, he sneakily took the mistletoe down from the kitchen entrance. "Veee~ Luddy! Will you come in here?" He set his mug down on the counter and hid the mistletoe behind his back. When Ludwig came in, he held a sealed white envelope in his hand.

"Opa told me to give this to you. I don't know what's in it, but I assume it's his present to you."

Blinking confusedly at the envelope, Feliciano took it from the other and ripped the corner of it open, slipping the mistletoe into his back pocket beforehand. He peaked into the envelope so Ludwig couldn't see.

Feliciano was surprised to find several bills inside. So he knew. He knew that he and Lovino were struggling, but that they were too proud and embarrassed to ask for help. He wanted to give it to Feli on the sly so the others wouldn't know they were having trouble. Feliciano didn't even notice he had started tearing up until a tear dropped onto the white paper.

"Feliciano? What's wrong?"

He wiped at his eyes with his sleeve and smiled up at Ludwig. "Nothing, I'm just happy."

Even though his nonno was gone, he still had family all around him. He thought he and Lovino were alone now. But they still had Marcello, and Roderich and Elizabeta. They had Ludwig and Gilbert, Antonio, and Opa. There was also all their friends at school. Feliciano felt lonely for the past eleven months, but this Christmas made him see that wasn't right.

Feliciano took the mistletoe out from his pocket, stood on his toes so he could reach Ludwig's height, and held the little plant over their heads. The taller blonde's face turned red when he felt the other's lips on his cheek.

"Buon Natale!"

Woohoo! It's finally done! I know it's super late, but whatever. It's a little awkward calling Antonio "Toni" when I write because my friend's name is Toni. Haha. Anyways, I hope you all liked it, you too, Toni! You sure bugged me enough while I wrote it, so you better like it.

Also, in case you didn't know, Marcello is Seborga and Opa is Germania.

Translations:

Fratello - brother (Italian)

Nonno - grandfather (Italian)

Bruder - brother (German)

Ciao - hello/goodbye (Italian)

Buone vacanze - Happy holidays (Italian)

Opa - grandpa (German)

Bastardo - bastard (Italian)

Ja - yes (German)

Dummkopf - fool/idiot/ect. (German)

Sì - yes (Italian)

Idiota - idiot (Italian)

Buon Natale - Merry Christmas (Italian)