Chapter Text
The most ridiculous thing was that she used to reject Canada’s invitations to this paradise.
To sit here, with the fresh air, a nice hot cup of coffee, and the beautiful scenery, it was incredible. And Canada was able to do it all day every day. Sighing, Mexico turned to her current companion whose eyes were half closed in bliss, and smiled softly. It wasn’t odd to have the countries laying around, having bouts of relaxation while their people dealt with everything else going on. As the decades went by, their people have started to become more independent, and they countries have been needed less and less.
“It’s weird to see you laying there and not making a ruckus,” said Mexico as she stood up to poke at the fire near their feet with a stick she had sitting next to her chair.
Clear blue eyes rolled and stared at her pointedly, annoyance clear on his face. “Are we going to argue again? Canada is still pretty upset from our last fight,” said America as he pushed himself up in a sitting position and sighed.
Shaking her head, a chuckle escaped her mouth and America turned fast to stare at her in disbelief. Not surprising, it’s been a long time since Mexico smiles or laughs openly.
“We wouldn’t fight so much if you stopped taking everything as an insult. It’s merely an observation, or are you going to deny your usual behaviour?” The smugness in her voice made him frown. Why did she have to stop being all cute and adorable?
“Seriously Mex, quit it.”
“Please do struggle with my whole name. I don’t do nicknames,” Mexico said flatly.
America snorted and said, “Then what are idiot, dumbass, dick, United States—”
Mexico raised her hand and said, “United States is your name, you idiot.” But America rolled his eyes in dismiss.
“I’m not starting that argument again. The point is, Mex is what I’m calling you whether you like it or not,” concluded America without emotion. Which was throwing Mexico off. He usually bounced around annoying everyone, but right now she’d think someone switched him out for someone else.
The air whistled softly as it flowed through the trees around them, making them both shiver in the cold despite the fire by their feet. It wasn’t too dark yet, but Canada likes starting the fire early so by the time it’s freezing, they’d be all nice and toasty warm. Why was Canada taking so long anyway? He said he was going to get some snacks and he’s been gone for a while now.
“Fine, whatever,” she spat. “I guess it’s fine, United States.”
She didn’t expect him to jump off the log he was sitting on and wrap his arms around her to fling her up and twirl her around.
“Ah! What the heck!?” The shout was drowned by his loud laughter as he twirled and twirled with her, making her dizzy. “Stop!”
“Not until you quit being such a party pooper,” he said to her as he began to slow down. “Are you going to quit being a party pooper?”
“Let me go,” Mexico pushed on his chest with her hands, and because they weren’t paying attention, America began to tip back and with a thud the two ended up laying on the floor.
“Ouch, ow. Wow, that hurt,” he said but his arms didn’t let go of Mexico despite wanting to rub the back of his head.
Pushing herself up and away from him as much as she could, she said “This happened because you can’t control yourself,” as if to make a point, but in the end his face scrunched in pain and his hair full of twigs and grass made her burst out laughing.
He pulled on her and crushed her to him as he rolled from side to side with her on top. “Why can’t you laugh more often, you wouldn’t be such a drag to be around!”
“I’m going to slap you with a cactus you dork!”
“What the fuck are you two doing?” Canada spoke as he approached the campfire with two big plates of food.
“Nothing, just playing around,” said America sitting up, then he moved Mexico over and helped her up before snatching one of the plates Canada was holding.
Dusting herself, Mexico said “your brother was being an idiot, as always.”
Canada rolled his eyes and sat on his chair while setting the other plate on top of a tree stump between Mexico’s and his seat. “He’s not my brother.”
“What took you so long?” America asked between bites on the maple syrup cookies.
“Oh, Ukraine wanted to chat, it’s been a while since we talked,” replied Canada, biting into a cookie as he stared at the fire.
Mexico turned to him and asked “That’s good! How is she doing?”
He nodded and turned to look back at her. “Pretty good, she’s thinking of visiting and, um, stuff...” he trailed off, a blush gracing his pale and cold cheeks.
She twitched her eyebrows up and turned to stare at the fire. But then a thought crossed her mind. “Do you still talk to Belarus?” The question directed to America who started to nearly choke to death.
“Um, no. We didn’t end in good terms,” he said as he coughed softly before returning to shovel cookies down his throat.
“How about you and Russia?” Canada asked.
Thinking back on her relationship with the big guy, there was only one thing she could conclude, “it’s complicated.”
They all nodded at the comment and fell into a peaceful silence.
“So,” she began, shuffling back to make herself more comfortable, “neither of you is going to comment on how weird it is that the three of us got it on with the siblings.”
Canada’s face started to turn red, and then more red, and before America and Mexico jumped away because it almost looked like his head was going to explode, the sound that escaped Canada was more of a moan than anything. Both America and Mexico frowned in concern before being shocked by the soft laughing coming from the other country.
“Ahahahaha!” he laughed, and laughed, leaving the other two in confusion.
“What the fuck. I think you broke him, Mexico.”
Shaking her head, Mexico grabbed her cup of now cold coffee and threw it at Canada, effectively shutting him up as he shrieked in surprise.
“Ah! Cold, cold!”
“Sorry, I didn’t know what else to do,” she said apologetically, “what was so funny?”
Standing up, Canada removed his scarf and started drying off the coffee from his face with it. “Your comment. It’s so true, I never thought about it that way,” he turned to leave and said “I’ll be back, I’m going to change.”
“So you don’t talk to Russia anymore?” America asked as soon as Canada went inside the cabin.
“Mm, not as often, no. We’re still friends though.” Looking down at her hands, she couldn’t help but get all this weird feelings about Canada and Ukraine. They seem to be very happy, despite the time and everything that’s happening in the world. “Can I ask you something?” She said, turning to America.
“You just did,” he said, the shiteating smile he directed at her made her want to punch him, but she kept her calm.
“Yeah, smartass. I’m serious.”
Rolling his eyes, America went back to laying on the log along its length, his hands resting behind his head. “Go ahead,” he said. “But it better not be you trying to pick a fight again.”
“Are you happy?”
“Yes,” he answered without skipping a beat. Which was weird, because he didn’t even take a second to think about the answer.
“Really?” she asked, pushing forward and resting her elbows on her knees. “Can you honestly say you’re as happy as you can be?” she pressed, trying to get a real answer out of him.
“Well,” he twitched his eyebrows as he looked at her from where he was laying, “what exactly do you mean, dude? I mean, I feel happy.” The statement almost sounded like a question.
“But are you happy? Have you ever wondered why, despite our people affecting us, we have feelings and emotions of our own?”
“Woah, woah, woah,” he sat up immediately, his glasses almost falling off his face. “You’re about to thread into dangerous territory, Mex.”
“I’m serious, America!” She shouted in frustration.
“Yeah, me too dude. Of course I’ve wondered sometimes, but, I mean…” he trailed off, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “At some point I just accepted that I might never really know.”
She frowned in displeasure at his words. It was so unlike him to say something like that. “But why? I want to know. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I know, not much makes sense to you, really.”
With a scoff, Mexico reached over and punched his arm and said, “oh shut up. You know exactly what I mean. This time I’m not talking about the stupidity of people, I’m talking about the fact that we get to suffer because of stupid people.”
Sighing, America looked around him, then at the cabin. “What brought this on?”
“Well, look at Canada and Ukraine. They’re very happy, despite going through what most of us are going through—”
“Which is?” America interrupted.
She reached over and slapped the back of his head and said, “if you let me finish, there would be no need to ask for further details.” Shaking her head at him, she tried to focus on the topic. “We are being needed less and less, and while I understand that hasn’t changed the fact that we exist, what are we supposed to do now, live a normal life? How normal can an immortal being live a life?”
“I don’t know,” answered America, despite the questions being more rhetorical than anything else.
“The understatement of the century,” Canada interjected as he approached them and sat back on his chair, clean clothes and a much fluffier scarf on him.
Mexico smiled and reached over to high five him while America pouted on the side. “Really,” he began with a moan, “everyone thinks I’m the bully, but the reality is both of you bully me all the time.”
“Everyone thinks you’re a bully because you are. But now I’m curious, what were you two talking about?”
“I was asking Am—”
“She’s jealous of you and Ukraine,” America exclaimed, grinning as Mexico’s face turned red from embarrassment.
Turning to Canada, she shook her head and said, “that’s not true. I was just wondering what were we supposed to do now that we’re not needed as much by our people.” She then turned to America to glare at him, what an ass.
“Why don’t you ask the older nations?” he said, interrupting Mexico’s attempt at punching America.
“What do you mean?” she asked in confusion.
“I know you’ve been here longer than both of us, but not as long as the other nations. Why don’t you ask them? I’m sure they know, or, you know, have more experience than us.”
“Bro, you’re totally right. Why didn’t I think of that? I used to ask the old fart all sorts of questions back when I was a little kid.”
“It’s true,” she said as she jumped off the chair, making it fall back from the impulse. “Maybe asking around would finally give me a damn answer.”
“Even better!” America stood up as well and turned to the other two excitedly. “It just occurred to me,” the other two groaned, “why don’t we visit them and have first hand experience!”
Both Canada and Mexico fell silent, their stares heavy as both tried to comprehend what America was suggesting.
“What do you mean?” Mexico asked, relaxing her pose as Canada nodded at her question.
“Well, we could go and visit them, ask your questions, and then move on to the next. Like an adventure, except nothing too interesting happens and we’re looking for answers we probably won’t get.”
“Why would we go visit them?”
America turned to stare pointedly at her, “It’s not like we have anything better to do, Mexico.” He approached her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. “You were complaining that our people don’t need us anymore, so why not take an extended vacation!” He tightened his arms, lifting the short girl off the ground.
“Ow, okay I get it! Please put me down,” the discomfort was clear in her voice, but America didn’t do what she asked. Instead, he turned to Canada while Mexico struggled to get out of his grip.
“You in, bro?” he asked with a smile.
Canada stared at them in silence for a while, taking in the way America kept Mexico between his arms in an attempt to annoy the girl before saying, “nah, I’ll stay here. You two go have fun. Like I mentioned, Ukraine wants to visit, so…yeah.”
“Boo, you’re so boring,” he said, then dipped his head down to press his cheek to Mexico’s head and said, “shh, it’s okay. When you stop struggling, I’ll let you go.”
“I fucking hate you,” came the muffled reply from within America’s jacket.
“So, are we doing this, Mex?” he asked with a mischievous smile, ignoring the flushed face glaring at him.
Huffing, she straightened her jacket and crossed her arms across her chest. “What makes you think I’ll do a world trip with you? I’m not insane, nor am I that desperate.”
“Aw, come on!” America turned to her and grabbed her hands in his, bending forward to stare at her the way he does it to England when the other won't cave in.
Dismissing his attempt at being adorable, Mexico said “if you think that look is going to work on me, you’re dead wrong.”
Dropping his arms in defeat, America closed his eyes. “Okay, fine, I’m not happy. I hate it, I have nothing to do and I’m bored as hell. Would you please consider my suggestion so I can escape this torture.” When he opened his eyes, he saw a smirk and immediately frowned.
“I knew you were lying. You dirty dirty liar!”
America placed a hand on his chest indignantly, “you made me say it on purpose!?”
“Like I said, I knew you were lying. I always know when you lie, I don’t know why you even try.”
Turning away from him as if to think, Mexico nodded to herself. It could be fun, they could even, dare she say it, bond over the experience as well as finally get answers to her questions. The only downside was that America was the other companion, but she’s so used to him it might not even be as bad as she thinks.
Turning back around, Mexico got close to him and grabbed his face between her warm hands tenderly and said, “okay, we should totally do this.” And before America could jump in excitement, her hands opened and then smacked back to his face.
As the other winced in pain from his cold skin being slapped, Canada laughed his ass off as Mexico tried to contain the real excitement she was feeling. This could be a really fun experience, and probably the most time her and America will spend together in forever.
~