#latvia loves nature but is embarrassed every time someone points it out

[unhonestlymirror]

Latvia in reality: different verbs for picking mushrooms, picking berries, picking something else, million words for doing farmer stuff

[still-heta-trash]

What Hetalia Means to Me

Howdy folks, Lady here.

Hetalia was the first fandom I was actively in and the fifth or sixth anime I'd ever watched and from the very first episode I knew it would consume my life for a very long time.

Suddenly, it was my everything.

My room at the time had several posters and scrolls adorning the walls but I had two very large ones that combined would've taken up a whole one: The Great Wave of Kanagawa and that god damned Paint it, White! poster I bought at my first Comic Con for a criminal price, but to me it had been completely worth every cent. I did so many things to earn good girl points to get my parents to take me to Hot Topic to buy more Hetalia shirts than I really needed (and most of those I still have!) I had a Hetalia wallet (it's pretty busted now and I'm saddened to say they stopped making them) and had even worked on my own casual cosplays. Needless to say, I was very heavily invested.

While it most certainly made an impact on my wallet, Hetalia affected my life in many other ways as well. Drawing fanart and even creating my own Nyo! America AU ask blog (if I remember correctly she was a fallen angel, and although my art was absolute crap at the time she'd gotten pretty popular) led me to discover art, which was something I had zero interest prior to and is now a big part of my life. Writing self insert Hetalia fics pushed me to get better and better at writing and has led me to realize my passion and dream to become a publisher author. It gave me drive when I had none.

But the biggest way Hetalia impacted me was definitely socially.

I had a really, really, really difficult time maintaining let alone gaining friends. Still do, to be honest, but I made so many friends throughout the years because of Hetalia.

The people I want to talk about most are Ton and Tay.

I was a new student at a school in a different area than what I was used to and living with my mom and her new boyfriend and his son (neither of which I really got along with) and was really nervous. I had given up all of the few friends I had had for years at my old school and was so scared that I would be alone for the rest of the school year.

Then Ton, who was basically class representative, took me on a tour of the school.

"Hey, um, I don't know if you knew this, but that's a Soul Eater necklace you're wearing. Would you by chance be an anime fan?"

You bet your ass my face widened in to the biggest grin.

I had confirmed that I was then brought up my all time favorite at the time, which, I really don't think you need me to say again.

And like that we were best friends.

I went over to her house all the time after school and even dated her older sister for a bit (my first lady friend btw, who was also a Hetalia freak) and most of our conversations were centered around the show. Of course, that wasn't all we had in common, but it was a big one.

Skip ahead maybe a month or two in and Bam there's another transfer student. A boy this time. With pale blond hair, soft blue eyes, dark blue rectangular glasses, great with computers, kinda serious but laid back at the same time- yeah we thought he was just really in to Estonia and was playing the part but the closest thing this kid had ever experienced with anime was seeing a DBZ poster in his cousin's room and maaaaybe an episode or two of Pokémon. This dude even had the haircut down and for a while I was convinced he was a mega fan and was just screwing with us, but nope. Was just a really weird coincidence.

And of course, we never left the poor guy alone and only ever referred to Tay by his actual name when in reference to him to other people. Surprisingly he was cool with being called Estonia all the god damned time, especially after we showed him a couple clips of him. As far as I know he never got in to Hetalia, but he thought it was kinda funny how close in nature and appearance they were so he let it slide.

Of course, that didn't mean we didn't annoy the crap out of him in general, but every single time he'd attempted to hang out with another boy in our grade and/or below, he just came back to us after a bit. I think he secretly found us rather endearing but was way too embarrassed to admit it (he was a tad bit "tsundere-ish", as Ton had put it) I mean, as much as he complained about Ton and I, he always made sure to stick around and defend us if someone said anything. Not gonna lie, I had a tiny crush on him. Looking back he most likely had one on me too but at the time I thought he just didn't like me as much as Ton.

So he was our Estonia and Ton and I had decided that I was Lithuania (since I had always worn my hair in a long side braid and looked relatively similar to his Nyo counter part) and she was Latvia because she was ridiculously short and sweet and also because he was the only one left. Unlike poor Tay, we were still Ton and Lady, but we made lot of weird fanfics with the concept.

For the rest of the year this would be my gang. We did pretty much everything together and we'd all helped each other grow academically. We loved each other more than any other non family member any of us had ever known at the time.

Unfortunately after the school year endee we all split up and never heard from each other again.

My mom dumped her boyfriend and I went back to my old school district. Ton lost the password to her Paigeeworld and Wattpad (both of which I was forced to delete because of a rather unpleasant grounding) so after a week or so in to summer. Last time we would ever talk was the second week of school via my mother's phone. As for Estonia...

Ton and I honestly had no clue what happened to him. He was supposed to attend the same school as her, but he just disappeared without a trace. Ton had his address but he wasn't there. He was just... Gone. No note. No final goodbye. Just... nothing. And like that, nearly a year of friendship had vanished with him.

It still saddens me to this day about what happened, but I don't regret a single thing (well, except maybe finding out Tay's email) but I can say I owe it to Hetalia.

Hetalia gave me passion. Hetalia gave me skills. Hetalia gave me friends. That's why even though I hadn't really given it a second thought until recently, it will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you, Hetalia.

You're more than just a silly little webcomic or anime to me.

And thank you, the one who read this stranger's story till the end.

Stay frosty, folks.