I've had this idea for a while and now I have time to actually focus on it. (does happy dance) Sort of, because life; I at least want to put this idea out there and see how you all like it.
The AU for this is CoffeeTea!AU. All the nations are humans, completely and utterly. They have jobs, relationships, and lives that have nothing to do with nation status at all whatsoever; their human selves are based on their nationality and personality. The reason it's called CoffeeTea!AU is because of the main area where the story revolves around: a coffee and tea cafe owned by Alfred and Arthur. This story is going to be filled with many flashback moments, and I will make sure those moments are clear.
List of Official Shippings (more might pop up depending on how the other background characters interact): Matthew&Gilbert, Arthur&Alfred, Antonio&Lovino, and Feliciano&Ludwig (because I can seriously not leave this ship alone, as those who have seen my other works will know). The reason I have Matthew and Gilbert as the main shipping is because the story mostly focuses on their relationship.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, I just write about it. Abigail is my own OC (she'll appear later in the story). The fan characters are my interpretations of them.
Draw a circle, and there lies the Earth.
Matthew stared at the message on his cell phone, debating whether or not to call his friend, Feliciano, about the details of said message. Two words, but the weight of them was much heavier than that.
He's dead.
The 19-year-old blond had a million questions on his mind, but he only typed one: How's Ludwig? In the grand scheme of things, this was the most important question for it was the only reason why he cared.
He put down the phone and looked around the family shop. No one was in, all the tables and cups were cleaned, and it was pouring outside. It had been like that for most of the afternoon. Just rain; no thunder or lightning, which was a relief to all the dogs in the neighborhood and the family cat, Iggy. Matthew's phone vibrated and he picked it up.
Not well. He's staying at my place.
'At least he won't be alone,' Matthew thought as he slouched on the counter. His father would kill him for doing that, but he wasn't there at that moment to criticize.
To put Feliciano's text into context, Ludwig's father had fallen deathly ill and had been in hospital for a rather long time. His condition had been slowly getting worse and worse and even the doctors had no hope in his recovery. Today seemed to be the day he finally decided to kick the bucket.
Matthew sighed. Alone in the shop on a rainy day. Dreadful. Matthew's mood always plummeted on days like that. The rain reminded him of bad memories from his childhood. The one that stuck out the most in his mind was the day he was left out alone on a rainy day when there was thunder and lightning. That was a terrifying day.
The door opened and Officer Braginsky appeared, bringing Matthew out of his unwanted daydream. He was in uniform, meaning he came directly from the police station; he was also holding a box under one arm. For a normal person, it would normally take two hands, though Matthew could probably taking it in one arm too. It was the broad shoulder build that the two of them shared. "Hello, Matvey!" he said cheerily, waving his free hand once, "Taking care of the shop alone?"
Matthew nodded, "My parents went out together. Though things aren't looking up for this date." He looked out at the window again; he shivered at the thought of being out there. He could just see his parents out there right now; his dad complaining about the rain and his father saying, "Be glad we don't live in England."
"It should clear up tomorrow. Heavy rain doesn't last for very long." Officer Braginsky placed the box on the counter. "I've had this box for a while, and it's about time you had it." Matthew looked in the box. From what he could see, it was assorted baby toys.
"What are these?" Matthew asked, confused.
"They were items found at the car accident you were in. I had them hidden at the station and forgot about them until recently. All of us there have been cleaning the station out recently. Spring cleaning you could say."
"Hidden from…?"
"I think you know who," Officer Braginsky said solemnly.
Matthew nodded once, understanding who it was immediately. The person in question went by many names, none of which Matthew liked talking about.
"I knew he'd probably get rid of these things and have you disappear completely. I wasn't about to let that happen."
"That would explain all the friendly visits to the neighborhood," Matthew stated.
Officer Braginsky winked. "Do what you want with them. They are yours."
"Thanks," Matthew said. He had no idea what he was going to do with them. He felt detached from the box of his things in front of him.
"Something wrong?" the officer asked concerned.
Matthew shook his head, "Nothing new, sir. It's an old problem that will never get resolved."
Officer Braginsky nodded. "I understand. But a word of advice: don't let it eat you, whatever it is. It wouldn't do you any good, especially since you are so young."
Matthew couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "You've been talking with Father, haven't you?" It sounded like something his father would say.
Officer Braginsky half grinned kindly. "I might have. What difference does it make?" He nodded once and left the shop.
Matthew poked the box gingerly, like whatever was contained within was going to break upon any sort of movement. The memories attached to them probably could.
88888
Gilbert came into the apartment he and his mother had lived in for the past 10 years... sort of. For the past two, he lived at college, only coming home for the holidays. He was holding a shopping bag filled with assorted cans. "I'm home!" Gilbert called out as he shut the door with his back.
There was no reply, which made Gilbert shrug. So his mother wasn't home yet. It wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility, she would either work at home all day, or she'd be out all day. There was rarely an in-between. Then he heard quiet crying coming from the kitchen. Slowly he walked into that area, afraid of what he would see.
His mother was sitting at the table, her head in her right hand looking at her mobile phone. There were tears on her face and she looked drained. Gilbert quietly put the bag down and walked over to his mother.
"Something wrong?" Gilbert asked as he hugged his mother from behind.
She didn't say anything for a long time. When she did speak, she spoke in a quiet voice as if she was afraid it would break. "You remember your father, don't you?" she said more than asked.
"I try not to," Gilbert said in disgust. The last time he saw his father, about two years ago, closer to three, he got the strong impression of not being human enough for the old soldier. "Why?"
"He passed away this morning."
Gilbert contained his feelings on that subject, knowing his mother always taught him to be compassionate towards everyone, even those who deserve none. Mentally though, he was happy. This guy had made his life hell when his family actually lived together.
"So what's with the long face?" he asked.
"It's Ludwig…"
Gilbert slowly sat down at the table across from his mother as he realized the implications. Ludwig was his little brother, a gentle kid who got stuck with a bastard of a father, in Gilbert's mind.
"I'm thinking of going back to that town," Gilbert's mother said, "Moving there, I mean, to help Ludwig. He is going to need all the support he can get."
"What support?" Gilbert scoffed unintentionally. His brother should be glad for this too, shouldn't he?
"It doesn't matter who passes away from your life, it is still a loss. Ludwig will be need help getting through this loss." Gilbert's mother took out a piece of paper and wrote down an address. "Tomorrow, if you could go ahead of me and find Ludwig. To talk to him and help him. I'll be there in a few days' time."
"Why don't you go and I stay to close up things here?" Gilbert suggested.
Gilbert's mother gave him a look that basically translated to "Do-you-really-want-to-do-that?"
"Alright, fine, I'll go," Gilbert grumbled. He didn't like the fact of going back to that town alone.
"Did something happen between you and Ludwig that I don't know about?"
Gilbert shook his head. "No, it's fine. I'll go."
His mother gave Gilbert a look, but didn't say anything more. The German-American stood up and went to his room. He looked over at the military hat that was hung up next to his mirror. He picked it up and put the cap on. 'If only I could have looked like a normal human,' he thought frustratedly as he tossed the hat to the far side of the room angrily. Why did he have to look like a ghost?
88888
After Matthew closed up the family shop, he took the box and headed to the apartment that was located above the shop. When the building got rebuilt, it was one of the things that Matthew's father asked to be in the planning. Well, not so much asked as said that it had to be there. It was a requirement.
The blond opened the door. His father was sitting in his favorite chair reading a red hardback book. Matthew's father had a serious face on, but that wasn't anything new; it was his resting face. Iggy, the family cat, was on his favorite pillow next to the chair, and looked up when Matthew entered the room. The Scottish Fold acknowledged Matthew, then went back to sleep. Matthew's father looked up from his book once Matthew put the box down on the coffee table. "What's that?" he asked, his British heritage fairly obvious by the English accent he still had.
"Something Officer Braginsky gave to me. It's some stuff from that car crash that had been in the station."
His father gave an interested look and put down his book. "Well, let's see what's in it then."
Matthew sat down on the couch in the room and opened up the box properly. It was filled with odd trinkets and not just baby toys. He picked up one; a baby's rattle decorated with maple leaves. There was a familiarity with it, so Matthew figured that these were actually his.
Matthew's father joined his son on the couch and took out a figurine of a polar bear, sitting down and smiling in the weird way bears do. "So this is why you must like polar bears so much," his father chuckled slightly, "Nice to see there is some consistency."
Matthew pulled out a stuffed polar bear that was baby soft to the touch. He felt a feeling of warmth grow inside him as he looked into the bear's eyes; a flicker of a memory stirred in the back of his mind. A gentle voice singing a lullaby.
"Your family did seem to like maple leaves," Matthew's father stated as he pulled out a baby bottle decorated with maple leaves like they were falling.
"Maybe we were from Canada," Matthew said jokingly. Then something caught his eye. A book on the bottom. Upon pulling it out, Matthew saw it was a photo album. There were no pictures in it, but the cover of it was engraved with a name: Matthew Williams.
Matthew mouthed the last name to himself. For years he had wondered what his last name really was. And now, it was there. Williams.
"Alright?" Matthew's father asked, concerned.
Matthew nodded. Maybe with this he could find his family again… at least his mother if she was still alive. If she would want to see him…
"So, what are you going to do with all this, hm? The photo album could be used and I doubt you'll part with the polar bears. All that leaves are the baby toys. The Oxenstierna's are hoping to adopt a baby soon. You could ask them if they would like this stuff."
Matthew picked up the baby rattle. He didn't really want to part with any of this yet, not after being reunited with it just now. He couldn't help but wonder what memories could have been made with these objects had he stayed with his birth family. Memories that were supposed to be but now never could.
"You don't have to decide right now. And it's fine if you want to keep all of it for, if you want to have kids of your own." Matthew's father looked at the photo album. "If you want… I can gather up some photos that you can put in this book. For the day you do decide to move out."
Matthew's eyes light up. "Really?"
"You know I don't joke with you. Alfred does enough of that already as it is. We can even take a family picture to place in the front here." Arthur pointed to the album cover where a picture could be placed.
Matthew smiled and nodded, "I'd like that."
Please comment, it helps with my writing. I don't know when I will post up again and I don't want to put a time limit on this story. I'll update when I update.