Hello everyone! This is Sho-A0YCupid, Cupid for short or Shoai whichever is fine. This is my first PruCan fic and this is all in Matthew's POV. Now! This actually started out as one, long one-shot, but I divided it to three parts. I've read other PruCan fics to get the idea of how these two act because they don't appear a lot on the anime, or at least the anime shows Canada a few times more than Prussia -

"Which isn't awesome!"

... Okay... I should've expected that, but anyway I heard about how this pairing came to be and I wanted to know where I could find the April Fool's blog that most kept mentioning, so far I couldn't find it. Well, I thought the pairing is down right adorable, in the awesome sense of course.

"Fail!"

Did not expect that... Oh well! I hope you enjoy reading this and give me some feedback of what you thought about it. Remember, this is my first PruCan fic so I may have messed up on some parts as far as personality goes and all that. So, without further ado, enjoy!


Lasting Young Love

/

The first time I met him, I just turned ten on July first. It should've been a celebration, no matter how small, but there wasn't any. My mother barely knows I exist ever since Father left with my older brother who was born a year and three days ahead of me. Since then Mother would have her depression fits which turned to tantrums.

We lived in an apartment at that time, so we get complaints all the time from our neighbors. But no one knows that I'm there, so child services were never called up.

But I didn't know about my rights at that age so I just went along with it, going to school, and staying under one of those hollow dome structures in the playground in the park when mother gets into her fits again.

One day though, I went to my room to work on some homework when mother suddenly had a fit and entered my room and started to yell at me, shaking me while she was doing that. I was scared and ran out of there as fast as I can. I was good with running first off, and this isn't the first time she was like this. I can out run her easy.

But at school, I wasn't always so lucky. I've always been a target to bullying, and I would usually come home with a bruise or two from the rough 'play' that they do.

The same day that Mother was at her fit is when I earned a kick to the stomach when they took my only friend, a stuff white bear. I got him back though, and the day wore on at school to home, and now in the park in the only place I call my safe place.

The inside of the dome was dark and there were some spider webs that can be seen above, which scared a lot of kids who poked their head in, but to me it was the only place I felt safe from the screams and the beatings. Outside wasn't much, which seemed like a perfect place because no one wants anything to do with something as plain as something like this.

But then that day was the day I met him.

XXXXXXX

I was talking to my bear when I heard some older kids laughing. I didn't pay any mind to it, because I usually heard kids laugh outside my safe haven, but this time someone slid in.

Yes, slid as in the last stretch of the home run base slid.

He leaned up against the wall, panting as if running from someone, but he was smiling, or at least from what I could tell by the lack of light in here, which meant that he was playing some kind of game with someone outside. But this wasn't strange, there were times someone was brave enough to come in here and they wouldn't notice me.

But he was different. He was older, that was apparent, but he noticed I was there.

Now, usually the bigger kids never, ever, bother with little kids like me, because they like to do things that little kids don't get. I understood that difference at that age, but he grinned and placed his finger to his shadowed over lips, signaling me to be quiet. I didn't know what to make of this, but I didn't want to be involved with a game that the bigger kids were playing.

We were there for what seemed like a few minutes before someone's head poked in and looked around. It was another big kid with short, slightly curly brown hair and tan skin. He looked left and right before making a confused sound as he crawled out.

"I can't find him Francis!" The boy called out.

I looked to see that the other guy was holding his laughter in, which made me want to laugh as well, but I covered mine as well, which he seemed to noticed and was having a harder time keeping it in because it was so funny.

"Are you sure, Toni? He couldn't have gone far."

"I'm sure, I even checked that creepy cave thing just a moment ago."

He and I looked at each other, our hands covering our mouths to keep ourselves from laughing straight out to let them figure out we're here.

"Well! If he's not here, where else could he be hiding? Damn that Gilbert…"

'Gilbert?' I thought as I looked at the other and pointed to him, and I saw the shadow of his head nodded, the shadow of his lips grined and seemed proud and stuck up about it. It was a nice name though, I never heard of a Gilbert in any of my classes.

But then he sneezed, letting the other two know where he is.

"Gilbert?"

I saw a different big kid poke his head in. This one has bright blonde hair and fair skin.

"There you are, mon ami!" He said in a thick accent that I knew is French.

Gilbert finally laughed that he held his sides. "It took you two long enough!" He said as he fell to his side and laughed, which sounded louder because we're inside the dome.

"Don't blame us! It's dark in here and-" He looked up to see the spider webs and let out a screech that was fit for an easily scared woman as he scrambled out, which only caused Gilbert to laugh even harder.

"Oh fuck…" He said as he took a few deep breaths. "That was awesome! I'm just sorry I didn't have my camera!" He looked my way, and I still had my hand over my mouth to keep myself from laughing. "Hey kid, it's okay to make noise now, I'm caught." He chuckled as I buried my face into the bear's fur.

"Who are you talking to, amigo?" Said the other guy, Toni.

"A kid who was hiding here before me. Looks like whoever was playing with him forgot about him."

"Oh the poor dear." Said Francis.

I felt my face burning up as I looked up and saw him extend his hand out to me, which looked pale as snow in the light.

"Come on kid, we don't bite. But we will if you do."

As I mentioned before, big kids usually don't bother with little kids, but I took his hand anyway and let me crawl out first and I got to see the other two at full height. I realized that they weren't just big kids, but the kind that are almost teenagers. I started to hug my bear tightly as Gilbert came out and I saw that he was just as tall as them, as well as his blood red eyes and short, snow white-silver hair.

"Oh! How adorable!" The blonde said as he picked me up and held me close. "You're so cute I could just eat you!"

"Hey, Francis, don't scare the poor kid! People already think you're a pedo."

I didn't know what a pedo was at that time so of course the stupid kid thing to do is repeat the questionable word. "Pedo?"

The three looked at me as Toni started to laugh and patted Gilbert's back.

"Looks like you got some explaining to do!"

"He doesn't need to know that!" Gilbert said with a glare, which was kinda scary with his red eyes.

"Oh you worry too much, mon ami." Said Francis as he looked down at me and smiled. "Hello, I'm Francis, you've already met Gilbert,"

"The Awesome." He said with that smug, prideful grin.

"And I'm Antonio, but you can all me Toni."

"So kid, what are you called?" Gilbert asked with a playful grin and his eyes seemed interested.

"M-Matthew…" I said as I rubbed my cheek against the fur.

"Aww! Mathieu is such an adorable name for a sweet boy."

"Ah! He looks a bit like you, Francis." Antonio said.

I guess we do kinda look alike, with my hair a bit long and wavy like his with only a stubborn curl jutting out from where my hair parts from the center. But unlike the shiny blonde that can rival the sun, my hair is a dull sandy blond.

Gilbert made a sound in his throat as he studied me. "I guess from the hair, but he's definitely a hell lot cuter than you, Franny."

"You know how much I despise that nickname." Francis said with a bored expression before looking at me again. "Oh? My, my, you got such beautiful eyes, Mathieu."

My eyes are unusual. There two colors mixed to one. One is dark blue while the other is violet giving it a different hue.

The other two looked and I could feel my face getting warm as Antonio said something about looking like a tomato while Gilbert ruffled my hair.

"So, Mattie, where you from?" Gilbert asked.

I looked and pointed to the building not far from the park.

"Oh, not far then." He said as he put his hand over his eyes, as if looking somewhere far off. "Your parents not home or something?"

I shook my head. "Momma is in a bad mood…" I said, remembering her shouting at me and started to cry. I didn't mean to, but the next thing I knew my back was being rubbed by Francis and my head as well by Gilbert while Antonio said something in a language I didn't understand, but I think it was Spanish?

"I'm sure she didn't mean to…" Francis said with a cooing sound.

"Do you want to go home, or do you want to hang with us for a little while longer?" Gilbert asked.

Mother should be calm by now, but I was still scared and I felt really safe with these three older kids, though in reality they were fifteen or something like that, but I felt safe, loved even.

"Can I stay with you a little longer?" I asked in a soft voice that I didn't know if they heard me.

Gilbert did, being the closest to me as he told the two that they have an audience now.

I didn't understand what he meant by that when we headed over to a bench with strange cases on it.

Antonio picked up a large case and opened up to reveal a guitar. I've seen it a lot so I'm familiar with it. Francis took out a flute, which is pretty rare to see. And Gilbert took out a violin, which is really rare even on television.

"Okay Mattie, just sit here and listen to the magic." Gilbert said as I was placed down the bench as they tuned their instruments, before Francis started out with a nice sounding tune from the flute, followed by the strumming of Antonio's guitar, complementing each other with the different pitches. Then Gilbert entered with an elongated sound that didn't overpower the other two, but at the same time wrapping them around.

I remember holding my breath for the longest time as they played such beautiful music, and all of them looked so entranced by their instruments, as if they were willingly taken over by the sounds themselves.

I never wanted to be anywhere else when they played. Much like when I was hiding earlier, I felt safe and all the pain of the day faded to nothing and only the music remained. And all too soon it was over with the final, sorrowful note from Gilbert's violin.

"What you think?" Gilbert asked me as I started crying. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?"

"Why you stop?" I asked as I saw them smile softly as Gilbert messed my hair a little.

"You here tomorrow?" He asked.

I usually am here to get away from Mother when she gets angry, so I nodded as he smiled.

"Good! We'll play you a song tomorrow then!"

I felt really happy to hear that they would play a song for me again. They escorted me to the door and they stayed a few feet away to make sure I got inside okay. It was a good thing Mother was in her calm state now and waved at them and they waved back. I couldn't wait until tomorrow.

XXXXXXX

When tomorrow became today, I was nervous about going out to the park to meet them. At school, I received a black eye from one of the bullies, and now it's as dark as my eyes, if not darker, and my left eye wasn't opening up normally. I thought about not going to meet them, which made me really sad, when I heard Mother in her tantrum fit again, which made me really scared, still thinking back about her screaming at me. I didn't want to be in the building, but I don't want to go to the park to have them see me like this. So I stayed somewhere in-between.

I was at the steps out in-front of the apartment building when Gilbert came up to me.

"Sorry kiddo, you're gonna have to listen to me. Franny and Toni are-" He started to say to me when he noticed the black eye. "Whoa, Mattie, what happened?"

"School…" I said honestly, but vague enough to not let him know I have a bully problem.

"Have you told your teachers or your mom?"

I shook my head.

"You have to let someone know, otherwise it'll just get worse."

"No one hears me…"

"Because you're so quiet. Have you ever screamed or yell before?"

I shook my head again. "It scares me…" He was quiet for awhile before asking if my mother screams at me. I told him that she screams a lot when she has a bad day, and that the other people have to call up the land lord and they argue about it.

He sighed as he scratched his head. "Damn, and I thought I have family problems."

"Your mommy shouts too?"

He looked at me with a small smile. "I don't have a Mom anymore. I have a Dad, but we've never liked each other."

"So you argue a lot with him?"

"Haven't talked to the guy in a year now since I moved here."

"Moved?"

"Yeah. I guess it's hard to tell. I'm from Germany."

"Germany?" I had no idea where that place was.

"Geeze, I thought kids are supposed to learn the world by now." He said with a bit of a joke in his tone. "Hey, you think your mom would mind if I borrow you for a while?"

"You have to ask her if you're going to borrow me." I knew the difference between stealing and borrowing.

He made a chuckling sound that sounded like "kesesese" before picking me up by one arm while carrying his violin case in the other. "Looks like I'm going to steal you instead then. Alright with you?"

I trusted him and he did say it was only for awhile. I nodded and he carried me all the way to another apartment building, where he lived.

"And this is where I live." He said as he opened the door and I saw that the room was very organized, clean, and the furniture looked a bit old to what I'm used to seeing. He set me down on the old looking, but very kept up couch and said he was going to make something for us as he turned on the T.V.

While I waited, I was watching some cartoon show when the door opened again and an older man came in and our eyes met. He seemed regal with his hair tied back to a low pony tail in a black ribbon, wore nice looking clothes, and his posture was very straight and almost in military position.

"Gilbert!"

"Hey Ol' Fritz!" Gilbert said as he came out with a few sandwiches on three plates, as if expecting the man to arrive, and a small bag of ice with a cloth.

"Who is this?" He said, pointing to me.

"This is the cute kid I told you about." He said as he handed me my plate. "Mattie, this is the awesome Frederick William, but you can call him Fritz. He took me in when Dad more or less booted me out of Germany."

"Does his family know he's here?"

"His mom is too damn angry to even know he's here, much less at home."

"So you took him here?"

"Only for a little while. I plan on giving him back when she calms down and shit."

"And the black eye?"

"I got it from school." I said as I took a bite of my sandwich, which was ham and cheese.

Fritz seemed to be understanding as Gilbert gave me the makeshift icepack to put over my blacken eye. "How long is he staying?"

"Only for an hour. I promised him a song after all."

The man smiled as he took his plate. "I'll be in the office if you need me."

"Thanks!" He said as he looked at me. "Isn't he awesome? He makes a better Dad than my real dad." He said as he scarfed down his sandwich. "He's the one who got me started on the violin." He pointed to the case he set down when we came in.

I can tell that he really looks up to the man who brought him in after a huge fight between him and his dad. Turns out that Fritz and his dad were colleagues to the same company. When he was kicked out, Fritz was on his way here, Canada, due to a business move, heard about it and got him a ticket here as well.

"And boy he was strict with me about learning English and French, because practically everyone here knows both. You do know French, right?"

I nodded. "Je ne." I said, making both of us laugh.

"Well! I promised you a song, and a song you shall have!" He said as he got up, got the violin out of its case, tuned it, and started to play.

And just like yesterday, I held my breath at the beauty of the song and how Gilbert seems so entranced by his own instrument that his ruby eyes started to close half way.

I think that was the point I developed a crush on him.

When the song was over, I wanted to cry again, but he took me home like he said he would.

XXXXXXX

The odd friendship lasted for months and I've started to notice a few things about myself the more I hang around Gilbert and the other members of the "Bad Touch Trio", as they liked to be called.

The first thing was that I developed a deep love of hockey. I'm Canadian, but never went to see a hockey game in my life until Fritz got tickets to a game from one of the employees in the company. But he has a business dinner with someone that night, so the tickets fell into Gilbert's hands, which he then asked me to join him. He would've asked Francis or Antonio, but there were only two tickets and I told him I've never seen a game.

So there we were, in one of the stands, rooting for the Canadian home team. It was there I also learned that I can shout and yell just as loud as anyone when the team wasn't fairing so well, which impressed Gilbert.

"I knew you had it in ya!" He called out, slapping my back as if we're old pals.

When it became cold enough to go ice skating at the nearby pond, I learned how to play hockey, especially about hitting the puck just right. When my friends saw what I could do, Gilbert immediately called up Fritz, who was thankfully on a break when called, and asked about anyone coaching a kid's hockey team around, which thankfully there was.

On the first day, the Bad Touch Trio came with me for support and to cheer me on, while the other kids had their mothers and fathers to do that.

I was doing this without Mother knowing, but she's been busy lately and sometimes wouldn't be home until very late, which the trio would sometimes spend a few hours with me in the apartment I shared with Mother.

Anyway, when I learned my first few lessons, I learned something else about me and hockey. I was very competitive and, as Gilbert puts it, a 'killer' on the ice. I also learned that, when I joined hockey in school and showed my 'killer' side, I had less bully problems and saw that they even backed away from me. So I learned that I had gained respect for my hidden strength. But this wasn't clear to me until the trio explained it to me.

"Oh! Mon cher Mathieu, because of your 'killer' side when you play hockey, they know that you're a lot stronger than you look."

"Si, si! They don't want to have any of that when they're also in a hockey team."

"Yeah! You'll have them eating your ice shavings by the time they got their ass beaten by you and your team."

I did gain some friends when I played hockey, but only when the hockey season was around is when I gained all this attention. By spring it's the same all over again, minus the brutal bully beatings. But the trio never got tired of dragging me around with them, but I was thankful to them, especially Gilbert, which I was sure I was in love with him.

It was Gilbert's sixteenth birthday, and I was on my way to his apartment when I was stopped by the bullies at school. They were on the opposing team, and it looks like they're here for revenge for the brutal loss. I thought I was going to get it when I started screaming, which I didn't know why at the time, but it was loud enough for the Bad Touch Trio to come down and taught the bullies a lesson.

"And here's something you shitheads should know." Gilbert said as he made a face that scared me and was glad that I'm not the one facing the torture. "This guy you're picking on is awesome enough to hang with us big kids. So if we see even a hair out of place, we will beat your asses up so bad that even your own mamas won't want to even look at you!" He then shoved the bullies out of the way. "Now scrat! Before I stick my foot up your asses!"

My heart was racing then, not because of adreline, though it was partly the reason due to fear, but I really did start liking Gilbert more then. Francis picked me up while Toni started to act like a mother hen, going around and asking me rapid questions in his native tongue, which I didn't really get.

"Toni! Chill!" Gilbert said as he placed a hand on his shoulder, quieting him. "He's okay. See? We got to him before they can even mess him up." He then looked at me. "You okay kid?"

I nodded. "Thank you…" I said quietly when I looked around to find the damaged box that had his gift in, which is now, without a doubt, broken to a lot of pieces.

Gilbert noticed the box I was looking at and picked it up, only to hear the broken pieces move around. He opened it anyway and there, in a lot of pieces, was the clay statue of a little yellow bird because he mentioned that he liked birds. It was simple, but I made it with him in mind, and it was the best out of everyone's statues in class.

"Oh mon cher…" Francis said, who was still holding me, and rubbed my back. "Was that your gift?"

I started to tear up, not denying that it was, and now it's ruined that glue can't help it. Not like it would matter.

"Hey, Mattie, don't cry man." Gilbert said as he patted my head. "It's awesome that you would bring a gift for the awesome me. But do you know what's even more awesome?"

I sniffed as I shook my head, not knowing what he meant.

"You coming over." He said with his usual grin. "Because you're just that awesome." He then put his free hand on his hip and looking smug. "If it was any kid your age, I wouldn't even bother with them because they're so unawesome."

I giggled, feeling better as we headed to his apartment, where Fritz was waiting and asked what had happened. After Gilbert filled him in, the party started and all of us had a great time, even though some things that they do are strange to me, but I'm the only kid in the teenager party so I didn't think much about it. I even had a sip of beer and wine there, which tasted awful to me and they said it was because my sense of taste isn't mature enough to handle alcohol. Although Francis said that the wine wasn't even that good to drink anyway, and most of the time we drink sodas and water.

I must've fallen asleep sometime during the middle of the party, because I woke up on the couch with a blanket over me. I looked to see that Francis was passed out on the chair, holding onto the now empty bottle of wine like I am with my stuffed bear. Antonio wasn't found anywhere, but I remember that he mentioned he had to go home at a certain time, so I must've missed him. And Gilbert was passed out on the floor, a blanket over him, and snoring. I looked at the time and saw that it was almost five in the morning.

I felt hungry and looked around to find the now cold pizza on the coffee table and took a slice. When I was done with that, I looked over to Gilbert and quietly went up to him. I don't know what was on my mind on the moment, or if I was even thinking at the time, but I bent down and kissed him… on the lips!

I was ten, going to be eleven in the next few months, and I kissed Gilbert, who just turned sixteen!

It was a good thing he was still asleep when I realized my huge dumb moment. It was nice, I'll admit, since this was my first kiss. But then he wasn't awake, so this would be my first half kiss. I went back to the couch and slept the rest of the early morning, hoping it was some dream and that I didn't just ruin my first kiss with the one I have a huge crush on. But when I woke up again three hours later, they were still asleep, and the slice of pizza was still missing from when I consumed it earlier.

XXXXXXX

When my birthday came around, I didn't want my party to be in the apartment, so we had it at the park. It was a lot of fun, and there was also a celebration going on in some other parts of the neighborhood due to Canada Day. It was going great, the best day even, until Mother came.

"Oh! Bonjour!" Francis said happily. "Can we help you?"

"What are you doing with my son?" She said, clearly not happy with what she's seeing. She was dressed nicely, as if she just got back from work.

"Oh! You're Mateo's mother?" Antonio asked, using the Spanish pronunciation of my name. "Then join us to celebrate his birthday." He's clearly forgotten that she's not the happy mother that most mothers should be.

"Matthew! Come here! We're leaving!" She ordered, clearly not happy about this at all.

"Excuse me." It was Fritz as he came up from using the park's restroom that was nearby. "Is there a problem?"

Mother glared at him as she went up to him. "What do you think you're doing to my son?"

He blinked, but he didn't falter as he calmly explained. "Simply throwing him a birthday party, is there a problem with that?"

"The only problem I have is why my son is hanging around hooligans instead of children his own age."

"Now ma'am," He said, his tone changed to something that would hint that he didn't appreciate what she said. "If you were even half the mother you claim to be, you would know that your son has been experiencing bully problems at school, and the fact that he rather spends time with these 'hooligans' as you called them, then be at home where he would be yelled at for no reason other than something to be vented out with, tells me that you failed as a mother in all respects of one. Not only that, but I've heard, not only from your son, but from your tenets as well that you have a tantrum problem and lately been working later and later into the night, not being home until the crack of dawn almost." He then glared at her that she backed away from him. "Now you have the nerve to come here, claiming back your son, when he's clearly enjoying his birthday party with a group of people that are more of a family than you." He then looked angry. "Your tenets even tell me that they didn't know you have a child… Why is that?"

I can tell she didn't have an answer to that, so instead she threatened him to take him to court.

"Ma'am… I am the court." He said. "I'm a lawyer for child services."

Now that I've thought about it, I've never asked what he does for a living. And by the look on my mother's face, it was something that mother was afraid of.

"Now that I've got the pleasure of meeting you, we can go over to what will be discussed. But in the meantime, I have a birthday party to attend to. Excuse me." He said as he brushed past Mother and joined the rest of us like the talk never happened.

XXXXXXX

The months following that day were difficult for me. The good thing about it was that I can stay with Gilbert and Fritz, the bad was that I have to testify everything that I experience with Mother, which didn't help her in the least. But I thought I didn't have to live with her anymore after this, and that thought was pretty good until the services found my father and brother.

I haven't seen my brother since I was three, so it was a bit unnerving when I was waiting for him and my father. But when they brought them in, my brother looked lost and he asked Father who I was. I didn't mind it really, we were very little then, and it has been eight years. After being told that I'm his brother, he grew excited and we spent a lot of time together, figuring out what each liked and talked about what went on the last eight years.

He was surprised to hear what I had to go through, and asked Father why he left me behind. Turns out Father could only support one of us, and I was the quiet one and figured he can handle Alfred, my brother, who is energetic and lively that it drove anyone up the wall. I could just imagine Mother not only yelling at him, but probably beating him up, and I didn't want that for Alfred, even though he has grained my nerves when he showed that personality.

Then he met Gilbert, and Alfred simply blurted out that he was weird, due to him being albino. This of course made Gilbert retort that Alfred is just plain unawesome, and from there it was a spat war against each other, which Francis and Antonio were laughing and got it on film of all things. It was kinda funny, but I started to laugh right out when Alfred tried to pick a fight, only to be held back by one hand on his head by Gilbert, who had a grin on his face that he won this without having to do much.

"You're fun to mess with, but your brother tops you in the awesome category, and don't you forget it." He said, making me blush, which I had to shove my face into the white fur of my bear.

"Help a brother out here!" Alfred said looking towards me.

"Uh… you didn't know I existed until a month ago, eh."

"That's no excuse!" He said as the Bad Trio and I laughed.

When the court was done with and the papers were signed, I was to go to America with my father and Alfred in New York.

"You're gonna love it! There's a lot of things to do there that you'll wear out before you even begin!" Alfred boasted the life in New York.

But I like my quiet Canadian atmosphere in the beautiful nature, but it looks like I don't have a choice, now that Father is stable enough to support both of us and he's a better suited parent, seeing how Alfred hasn't driven him up the wall.

"We'll come down once a month for six months to be sure that this is the right choice. Just a precaution." Fritz said to Father, who agreed that he doesn't mind and would expect to see him soon.

"Well, Mattie, seems you're well on your way." Gilbert said as he was here after begging Fritz to skip school today to see me off to America.

I didn't know what to say as I hugged him, a few traitorous tears coming out. "I'll miss you…" I whispered, hoping he wouldn't hear, but he did and felt an arm around me.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Mattie. Out of the three of us, you're an anchor to the three of us. Before we kinda took you in, we would get into a lot of trouble. We were hooligans as your ex-mom said, but our music became something that give us an excuse to ignore all those things that people say about us. And then we found you and you're so quiet and cute that I swear all of us have cavities just looking at you the first time."

"You're the one who found me first." I corrected, remembering that fated time.

Gilbert chuckled as he messed with my hair. "Well, I'm awesome like that. You know that."

I giggled when Alfred came up, not seeing that we're sharing a tender moment here, and said that it was time for us to go. Next thing I knew, I was in the back seat, looking out of the back window and waving to Gilbert and Fritz, who were doing the same.

And true to Fritz's words, he and Gilbert would come down to New York to see how I was doing and catch up.

XXXXXXX

Life with Father and Alfred has been different, but there were some similarities. At school, people mistook me for Alfred, which was crazy because we look a tad different. When people do realize their mistake, they asked if I'm a twin of Alfred, who I told them I'm not and I'm the youngest, which surprised a lot of people, especially the ones who knew Alfred since moving here.

I did make one friend at my new school, but Alfred and he had a bad history and I was often mistaken for him, which results in hitting me upside the head before realizing his mistake, in which he offered ice cream as a peace offering. This happens every day, but the reason was a simple case of mistaken identity, which didn't bother me at that point.

The third month of their visit, Francis and Antonio came down as well and offered to take me and Alfred to the Central Park, since they wanted to see it since they were here for a few days. It was a lot of fun, and Alfred liked the two to a degree, but rather play with the kids his own age. Me, I was okay with playing with the Bad Touch Trio, which became the talk about thing at the school when they had to go back to Canada.

I was questioned a lot about why the big kids would play with me. I told them some details of my past, in which Alfred boasted something that made it seem more dramatic than needed, but everyone got the message and, for a few weeks, I had a lot of people hanging around me, probably thinking that if they did this, they would also join in to the 'big kids club'. But soon everyone forgot why they were hanging around me and did their own thing. That and Alfred got really annoying when he hangs around as well.

But the fourth visit, another lawyer came to visit us and I asked if Fritz was coming, because he always brings Gilbert. The man said that Fritz is dead due to a sudden heart attack and Gilbert had to be sent back to Germany, where he was going to stay with his new mother, that his father never mentioned ever, and younger brother. He said that the attack was sudden and he and the rest of the department were in shock when they heard about it, but it was worse for Gilbert, who was there when it happened, called the hospital, and was the one who had to hear the news… alone. I asked if he had the new address to Gilbert's new home in Germany or some way of contacting him. Luckily this new lawyer was up to date about my friendship with Gilbert and handed me the address to Gilbert's new home in Berlin, Germany, and immediately started to write a letter to him, describing what happened when I didn't see him or Fritz, how sorry I was and shocked to hear that he's dead, and all sorts of things. When I was done, I finished it with 'Love, Mattie', placed it in the envelope, stamped it, wrote the address on there, wrote the return address on the corner, and sent it, all in the matter of an hour and a half.

It was another month, and another visit of a different lawyer before I got a return response from Gilbert, in a big, goldenrod envelope. I ran to my room, opened it, and it was a thin album-like book and opened it to see a picture of Gilbert, who was the one holding the camera from what it looks like. There was a white envelope under the picture, taped so that it stayed in the book, and had my name written on it. I opened that one and read what he had to say.

'Dear Mattie,

It's great to hear from you, I was surprised when I got your letter, but I'm really happy to hear that everything is going good. And about Fritz, thanks for that, I can't imagine what you thought when you heard about that. And the part where I'm living with my new mutti und bruder (mom and brother in German), I'll tell you I thought I was going to kill my old man when I heard that he had a wife the whole time he was raising me before he booted me out, and even more so when she found out about me. But she's pretty awesome that she was downright pissed at my ex-dad (who is dead, danke gott) and took me in in a heartbeat. And my brother, Ludwig, is about your age, give or take one year ahead, meaning that bastard has been cheating on my mom with her, and neither knew the other existed, imagine her surprise that she heard that, because she married that bastard she became my only living relative. Like I said, she took me in in a heartbeat. But damn she's strict! I swear she must've been a general of some army force in another life!

But anyway, back to my brother… He's kinda cute, but not as cute as you, and looks more like Mutti than that bastard (danke got for that too!), and I can tell he's a lot like her too, being a bit demanding and a bit of a worry wart. Like I said, he's not as cute as you.

I miss you too… I miss Francis and Antonio too, but, and you probably don't know this, but those two moved back to France and Spain after the funeral. But I miss you more, even though I knew those two longer. Well, I made a bit of an album, as you can see, and I hope you like it, because it was hell putting it together.

Try to write back again sometime, okay?

The Awesome Gilbert.'

I looked through the album, the next page was the group picture of me, Gilbert, Fritz, Francis, and Antonio at my birthday party. Gilbert has an arm around me as he lifted me up high enough to be leveled with the other taller males in the group, and smiling just as brightly as everyone. The other page was no doubt taken by Fritz, because it had only me and Gilbert, sleeping on the couch after the party and tried to stay up watching old movies.

The next page was of a woman with blond hair that only brushed her shoulders, sharp light blue eyes, looking shocked in her pink apron over her black pajamas. This was his new mom making breakfast while the page over was Gilbert, holding the camera again, and holding a blond haired, light blue eyed boy who seemed to be clueless and caught off guard with a book in his hand, no doubt Ludwig.

The next few pages were of his new home, a quaint two story house that seem to be about fifty plus years old, surrounded by forests. And the next couple pages were of the actual city of Berlin, all of it was really neat in both sense of the word. Then there was a picture or two of his school, with some annoyed faces of the students and teachers, which I could just picture him going around the campus, simply taking pictures before he got them developed and only picked these out of who knows how many. This made me giggle. Then there were three dogs, with a note in a sharpie pen saying 'Bro's dogs' Blackie the German Shepard, Berlitz the Dolberman, and Aster the Goldie.

After looking through the album, I started to work on my reply letter to him, and that continued for the next eight years.


And that is the first of three of this fic. Hope you liked it.