"Is it always so cold in Canada?" Carlos grumbled. It was a rhetorical question- and a stupid one, because Canada was cold every single day, even if the locals told you it was "mild". To a native of the hot, tropical Cuban island, anything mild to a Canadian felt frigid to Carlos.

Despite that, though, Matthew smiled slightly at his question and responded in his usual quiet manner, "It's December, so I don't know what you're expecting. Besides, now is a good skating season."

Carlos muttered something incoherent in response. The only time it wasn't good skating in Canada-at least where Matthew lived- was in the deep months of summer. He burrowed deeper into his thick jacket, jamming his hands into his pockets after pulling the scarf tighter around his neck. Back in Cuba, he'd never needed such thick clothing.

It wasn't as though Carlos hadn't considered how cold the weather would be when he moved to Canada. Leaving Cuba had been hard enough, in several ways, but he'd been willing to do to be with Matthew. However, he had moved in summer, when, while it had been very cool by his standards, still hadn't bed as cold as the God-forsaken winter he was experiencing at the moment.

"Hey, look, it's snowing." Matthew remarked, looking up over his glasses as the flakes drifting slowly down.

"That just means we'll have to get to the car quicker." Carlos replied, blinking away the snowflakes away and keeping his eyes resolutely ahead. They had been going Christmas shopping- this time for their extended families, since if they when they shopped for each other, they did it separately.

"Ah, come on." Matthew protested. "Snow isn't that bad." He remembered when Carlos had first visited and there'd been flurries of snow. It was funny and pretty cute to see Carlos, much larger than him in physical structure, in a state of almost childlike wonder at the snowfall.

Carlos didn't seem nearly as thrilled this time, and Matthew knew that it was just his aversion to cold weather. As far as he was concerned, it could be much colder, but them again, Canadian summers were equal to Cuban winters. Carlos seemed a little brightened, however, only commenting, "Well, as long as you're the one to drive in it."

Matthew only smiled and continued walking, stopping, however, when he noticed the enormous Christmas tree in the square. It stretched up into the sky, far above their heads, adorned with large gilded ornaments and bows. The glowing white lights were nearly outshone by the large, blinking star shining at the tip. It was pretty and festive, and even having seen such things before, Matthew was in awe. "Carlos, come look at this!"

Carlos looked up to see where Matthew was. For a moment his breath was taken away, and that had nothing to do with the cold air. Matthew looked absolutely beautiful there, standing lot up by the tree's glowing lights, all bundled up with snowflakes swirling around his face and catching in his hair.

And he was smiling; it wasn't that Matthew didn't usually smile, but it was rare he would ever have a grin as large as he did. It was then Carlos remembered why he'd moved. It was for Matthew and always been for the sweet, quiet, Canadian.

Yeah, it was like the Siberian tundra out in Canada. But Carlos figured that he could put up with that if it meant being with Matthew.

Walking over to join the Canadian by the large Christmas tree, Carlos inclined his head in agreement. "This is really beautiful."

"Isn't it…" Matthew agreed, casting the towering tree a last appreciative look before taking Carlos's arm. "Do you want to head back now?"

"Not if you want to stay out longer." Carlos replied, pressing into Matthew. Maybe he was just adapted to the cold weather by now, but Matthew was considerably warmer than Carlos himself felt.

"No...we can just go ice-skating tomorrow." From the look in Matthew's eyes, Carlos couldn't tell if he was joking or not. He just smiled with a "If you say so" and they continued to hold onto one another all the way home.

A/N: Can we get a shout-out for ridiculously cheesy endings? Seriously, though, I live on holiday fluff and this fic is going to rampant with it.

The rest of the pairings will be (not in this order): USUK, PruAus, LietPol, RoChu, DenNor, Giripan, SuFin, HongIce, SeaLat, Spamano, and GerIta. I know this is by far not an original idea, but nonetheless, I'm going to have so much fun doing this :D

Tower by Luka really fits the mood, I think ^.^

There'll probably be another update today….