A/N: Happy birthday, Finland! But it's also a sad day for us Canadians. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Joy and Sorrow

This was a good day for Finland. One of his favorite days besides Christmas had come; December 6th, his birthday. Su-san and Peter were obviously planning a surprise party for him, even though they had made some poor attempts to hide it. He smiled at the thought; as soon as the meeting was over, he'd be able to go home and enjoy his birthday.

The small blond had been getting gifts and birthday wishes all day. Russia was avoiding him of course; he still had some bad memories of that day. Oh well; things were better now, and he didn't have to take orders from Russia anymore!

"Hey, did you notice Canada today?" he happened to catch America whispering. Who was Canada? He didn't know anyone by that name.

"Who?" England whispered back. He knew it wasn't right to eavesdrop, but he was curious.

"Canada! You know; Mattie! My twin brother! Don't tell me you forgot him again!" Surprisingly, he was still managing to whisper. Oh, right! Now he remembered! How could he have forgotten a nice guy like him?!

"Oh, right, Matthew! No, I haven't seen him at all. Is something wrong?"

"He's been sulking a lot lately, and I have no idea why! I'm trying to think of a way to cheer him up."

"Didn't you hear?" France whispered, getting in on the conversation. "Twenty years ago some nutcase went through one of his schools and killed fourteen women before killing himself. He's still shaken up about it."

"I get that; I'm still a bit shaken up about Columbine and Virginia Tech," America admitted.

"It's no wonder he'd want to be on his own. Poor guy…"

Well that certainly got Finland's attention. He'd been spending his day without a care in the world while someone else was shaken up by bad memories. Suddenly he was feeling very guilty.

Tears slipped down the Canadian's face, no matter how hard he tried to hold them back. It always hurt when people died for no reason but something about this day hurt even more. If only he hadn't been so lenient with his gun control laws... A white ribbon accented his suit in memory of this day. He heard the footsteps of someone approaching him in the hallway, but he didn't bother looking to see who it was.

"Um… Canada?" He looked up, surprised that someone would remember his name.

"Hey, Finland. Happy birthday, and I'm sorry about almost forgetting; I've been a bit distracted today," he said, cleaning away the tears.

"I figured you would be. I heard about what happened from France." It wasn't a total lie, but he didn't want anyone knowing he was eavesdropping. "I just came to say that if you need to talk to someone about it, I'll listen."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to depress you."

"I'm sure," he insisted.

Canada was quiet for a moment before he finally broke down sobbing. Softly, Finland slipped his arms around him. "It's okay; cry as much as you need to."

"You know," Canada managed to say, "Ukraine, Holland, Russia, China, Cuba, all of those guys… they always come to my house and ask me if I'm okay when they know I'm not. America's too oblivious to do anything like that and France and England forget me anyways. Thanks for being here; I hope my crying wasn't bothering you too much."

"No; I'm glad you did, actually. I heard that crying like that helps you to get stuff off your chest."

"Well it worked. I feel a lot better now. I'm still a bit sad about it, but it's not as bad as it was earlier. Thanks for that, Finland."

"No problem. I have to go home now, but let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Got it."

When Finland came home that day, a few tears were running down his own cheeks. Sweden had asked him if anything was wrong, but Finland shook his head. He was just glad that he was able to spread some of his cheer to someone who needed it.

Kinda crappy, I know. Please review!