Eight Mortal Secrets [Hetalia Drabbles] (Completed, to be Edited)

CIV. Thanksgiving at the Ferrells

Poland shuffled nervously on Shelby's porch as he gave a series of rapid knocks on the door. He wasn't American by any means, and had never celebrated Thanksgiving in his life. But his friend, who he hadn't actually had the chance to really chill with in months, invited him over, and he couldn't refuse.

You couldn't blame him for being nervous though. Shelby's family wasn't exactly known for being all that accepting, and being so close to her, Feliks had heard his fair share of stories.

He had worn some of his nicer clothes, which consisted of black dress pants, glossy black shoes, a white button-up shirt with cuffed sleeves, and a red bow-tie. He rocked back and forth on his heels, taking a deep breath.

This wouldn't be that bad.

Finally, the front door opened, revealing a very short woman with straight blonde hair and round glasses. Her eyes were a soft green, and after a second, Poland recognized her from the first time he and Shelby had ever met.

She smiled. "Hello, you must be Shelby's friend." She greeted, moving aside to let Feliks into the house, which smelled like warm maple syrup (he already knew Shelby would be complaining about that). "Come on inside."

Feliks instantly donned a confident smirk as he was confronted. "Thank you, ma'am." He stepped inside the door shutting behind. He instantly saw that everyone's shoes were piled in the tiniest of foyers, which was only separated by a four foot wall on the other side of the door. As Shelby's grandma stepped into the living room, Feliks awkwardly slipped off his shoes.

A couple moments later, Shelby peeked around the wall where the TV was mounted, and Shelby smiled. "You made it!" She cheered, running forward and hugging him.

"Watch the ankle." Feliks laughed, returning the gesture.

"Shut it, mom." Shelby muttered, grabbing his hand. "Joey and Karly are already back there, but they don't bite."

Feliks couldn't but notice that while everyone's clothes were neat and nice, no one was dressed formal like himself. "Am I, like... overdressed?" He asked.

"A little." Shelby shrugged. "You can borrow some of my clothes if you want though. I won't mind."

"Wouldn't your parents get weirded out by that?" Feliks pressed as she opened the door to her room.

"Hmm. They must have slipped downstairs." Shelby commented at the fact that her friends were missing from her room. "But who cares about what my parents think? It's Thanksgiving, not a freaking christening. You can wear some "gender neutral" clothes if you want to."

She went to her closest, grabbing out her maroon Teen Wolf hoodie, and went into her dresser, grabbing out a pair of skinny jeans (considering his legs were skinnier than her's, they would fit fine), and spun him around into the bathroom right across the hall.

Poland blinked. He couldn't help but notice how Shelby was much happier on the holidays, when she was out of school and relatively stress-free. He changed as quickly as possible, and arrived back at Shelby's room, feeling much more comfortable in her clothes than his formal attire.

"HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!" Shelby shouted as he reentered, holding out a flat cardboard box covered in snowflake wrapping paper.

Poland laughed. "Are you being serious?"

"Dead serious, dude. I didn't forget it, I swear." She explained, handing him the gift as they sat down on her bed. "I've just been super busy and super stressed. There was no way I could make it to Warsaw on the 11th."

Feliks tore the paper opened excitedly and lifted the lid off the box, revealing different clothing articles. The one on top was a knitted hat, the top white and the bottom red. Next was a red scarf, and under that was a white shawl knitted with triangular sewn patterns in red. Finally, there was a pair of fluffy red mittens on the bottom.

"Sorry it's all red and white. I sorta got carried away with the Polish flag theme." Shelby pursed her lips. "Do you like it?"

"Umm, duh!" The blonde laughed, wrapping the scarf around his neck and flipping it out jokingly. "I will be totally looking fabulous this winter time back in Poland."

Shelby chuckled slightly in relief. "Thank God."

"Shhheeeeeeellllllbbbbbbyyyyyyyyy!" A shrill voice shouted, and suddenly the bedroom door flew open, revealing a tall blonde with fair, freckled skin, smiling excitedly. "Do you wanna watch- oh, who is this?" Her blue eyes went from the Shelby's to Feliks's face in an instant as a boy of around equal height strolled up behind her.

"Oh, yeah, this is Feliks. He's a foreign exchange student from Poland." Shelby lied easily, totally ignoring the fact that Feliks was physically 19. "I invited him to Thanksgiving because he's never celebrated it before." She turned to Poland, "This is my friend, Karly. And that's my cousin-" pointing to the boy behind Karly, "Joey. They're dating; long story."

Karly tilted her head, "No Alfred?"

Shelby shook her head. "Nope. He's having a big dinner with his family. Plus mom got gołąbki specifically for me, so it's not like I could skip out."

"Nice. Well, Joe and I were turning on Polar Express downstairs- ya wanna come?" She asked.

"Is that even a question dude?" Shelby laughed. She turned back to Feliks. "You up for little bit of Christmas on Thanksgiving?"

Feliks smiled, "Totally."

And that is how Poland spent his first Thanksgiving.