"IGGGGGYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY~!"

England barely had any time to react before he found himself flattened by his over-excitable elder brother. He groaned, and proceeded to shove him off, or at least try to. Northern Ireland had one hell of a grip once he's hugging someone.

"GET OFF, WANKER," snapped England, still attempting to detach himself from the ginger.

"Nae! I need yer help, lil' broth!" North whined, emerald eyes slightly watery. England sighed, defeated.

"With what?" he said impatiently. The sooner he helped out North, the sooner the ginger would be off his back.

"Are ya blind, Iggy?" England was about to retort to that, but he stopped. With further inspection, he realized that cat ears, the same colour as the ginger's hair, were sprouting out of his head, and were pointed downwards in dejection. Tilting his head a bit, the blonde saw a tail swishing lazily from side to side.

"… North… What the bloody hell did you do…?" he muttered, utterly astounded.

"I' was an accident!" North wailed, hugging the younger even tighter. "I didnae mean tae! And it's nae even bunny ears!"

England would have facepalmed, if both of his hands weren't being used to try to pry the other off. Seriously, North was starting to suffocate him…! "I can't help you if you kill me first!"

"Huh? I'm nae killin' ya!"

"I CAN'T BREATHE, YOU DOLT."

"Ohhhh, riiiigh'~" North rolled off him, and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Iggy~" While he was getting his breath back, England noted that his elder brother looked a lot like a red Cheshire Cat right now…

"Why did you come to me for help anyway?" asked England.

"Oh, well, I didn' know how tae do I' meself, I couldnae find Wales or Scottie, and Ireland would jus' be a poo~!" North explained cheerfully, making England sigh. He was just the last resort…? It almost made him not want to help North, but if he didn't, the elder would just bother him to his deathbed.

"Come on then," said England exasperatedly, while leading the other down to his basement. As suggestive as that may sound, the basement is where he kept his spell books and other items with magical properties, so people with no idea about the magic around them would never find them. It wasn't that hard to keep people out of his basement, actually. Especially America. He just tells the idiotic nation that there were ghosts down there, and that wasn't entirely untrue.

"Ewwwwww!" England turned around, looking questioningly at North. He must have seen some of the… weirder things he had kept here…

"There are so many books!"

… Or not.

The blonde simply rolled his eyes, and picked out a book from one of the many shelves that lined the walls. Flipping through them, he looked for something that could revert his dumb brother back to normal.

"Iggyyyyyyyyyy~" complained North after a while. "Wha's takin' so loooooooooong?"

"Shut up! I'm still trying to look for how to reverse the mess you got yourself into!"

"… Ya know, with all these books around, I'm surprised ya havenae memorized them all," pondered North, looking around. "I mean, I don' reckon tha' Scottie and Wales have read this much, bu' they know heaps more magic than ya do~"

England's cheeks became bright red. North was just beyond stupid… He knew that his brothers might be a bit better at him in magic, but North didn't have to be so straightforward about that! "J-just shut up! Git!"

"Hm? Oh! Why're ya all red, lil' broth? Do ya have a fever?" The elder placed a hand on the blonde's forehead, but was shooed away.

"I don't! God, North, you're as stupid as America!" England put the book back where it belonged, before stomping back up the stairs. North blinked confusedly, before following after him.

As England fumed about his brother idiocy, he found himself pulled back, with arms wrapped around his waist. He turned around, finding himself face to face with a wide eyed and slightly puzzled North. "Um…?" the elder began.

"What the bloody hell do you want?" shouted England, snapping out of his brief daze. North seemed to cringe, making England feel a bit bad. Just a bit.

"Uh… Did I say somethin' wrong?" he asked, almost shyly. North really does a 180 when he gets some empathy… thought England, still very annoyed.

"Well, obviously," said England snidely. After all, sarcasm didn't work on North.

"Oh… well, uh… sorry!" the elder squeaked, nuzzling his cheek against the other's cheek. He could feel the other's tail brush against his leg. England tried to hold on to the heavily annoyed air he put on, but he couldn't quite keep it. After all, out of all his brothers, North may be the stupidest, but he was also at least tried to be nice to him…

"… Fine. Apology accepted, but you leave right after I'm done helping you," said England flatly. He regretted it almost immediately, as the gentle hug suddenly became a grip of death.

"YAAAAAAAAAY~! Thanks, Iggy~!"

"NORTH… I NEED AIR…"