Washed Up On the Shore (Hetalia Fanfic)

Chapter 15~*~

Chapter 15

The next morning felt like a camping trip with everyone on the floor in sleeping bags, still snoozing the early hours of the morn' away. Kuma's back was pressed against Melina's front while her arm draped across his side, and Felyks had unknowingly abandoned his sleeping bag in favor of curling up in Toris's own arms during the night. Feli sprawled out on his back and drooled while Arthur just slept on his side, nothing too funny to report.

The coffee maker beeped at ten, waking Alfred and rousing him out of his slumber on the couch. He picked his way across the living room and ended up in the kitchen, where he filled a mug with the life-saving brew and stirred in some cocoa powder.

"Hiiii~" Melina mumbled from the kitchen doorway. She was rubbing one eye sleepily and waving at Alfred with the other hand.

"Mornin', Melina," he answered in a similar mumble. "Sleep good?"

"Yeah, Kuma give me lots of fur. It tickles," she replied while picking at the shed dog hair sticking to the front of her pajamas. She sneezed cutely and wiped at her nose before smiling at Al again. "What will we do today?"

"Hmmm... Amusement park, I think..." Al murmured as he leaned tiredly against the counter.

Realization at his own words dawned on him an instant later. "Whoa, we gotta get going if we wanna have any fun there!"

He was wide awake now!

~*~

"O M G whyyyyyyyy," Felyks groaned, letting his head fall sideways to land on Melina's shoulder. She giggled and pushed him off playfully.

"Stay awake, we are going to a fun place!" she told him.

"Sleeeeeeeep nowwwwww," Felyks insisted.

Matthew and Alfred sat in the front seat while Melina, Felyks, and Arthur shared the space in the back. Because there wasn't much room in the pickup truck, Toris and Feliciano chose to ride with Ludwig and Kiku. It was an hour-long trip to the next city over, so hopefully it wouldn't be a big issue getting there.

~*~

"So, if you don't mind me asking, but what are your friends' stories?" Matthew asked Melina while they stretched their legs at a rest stop.

She looked a bit unsure. "Stories? Well..."

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," he added quickly.

Melina decided something and shook her head. "No, it's okay. I will tell you. Feli is a spero tail like me, so we stay together for a long time. Felyks also spero tail, but his parents cast a spell to make it lona tail. Shhh, no telling!" Melina held a finger to her lips and Matthew nodded.

"Okay, I won't tell anyone."

"Yay~ Felyks' family is very... rick?"

"Rich?"

"Yeah, that. His family is very rich, so they not like him being spero tail. Change him, make me sad and him sad and Toris sad and Feli sad. But! We still friends! Us four, we are... uhmm... outcasts. Me and Feli because of our tails, Felyks for what he was, Toris for being our friend anyway. Toris' family is poor, though. Mine rich, but kids don't get much... And Arthur? He works as apprentice for the top dinstean, or magician. My twin brother, but he doesn't like me very much, I don't think. Yup!"

"Wow. So you four are just frowned upon because of all that?"

"Well yeah. Spero tails get basic train, lonas have more. Not fair, not at all. I hate how it works. We four get push around all the time at school, it's mean. I don't want to go back, not when things are like that." She concluded with a huff and then smiled at Matthew. "Your story?"