This World Meeting was just like any other. Utter chaos. Ivan, of course, had driven the Nervous, Trembling Trio into a corner again. Alfred was prancing around the room shouting about how he was the hero. Francis and Arthur were fighting, Roderich fumed from his seat, Feliciano was babbling about how much he loved pasta and Ludwig was shouting at everyone, trying to create peace.
And Matthew was doing what he did best. He, Matthew Williams, was being invisible and he was observing. He always observed the meetings and everything everyone did.
Like how they put Peter in the corner and he always noticed that Peter hated it, and was very upset. Like how Liechtenstein always sat next to Basch and how she had recently cut her hair to look exactly like his. Like the fact that even though Papa Francis and Arthur were always fighting, Arthur always stole glances at him anyways, and Matthew knew that Papa Francis knew as well. Like the fact that Ludwig had brought his older brother, Gilbert, to this meeting, and he never does that. Like the fact that Gilbert's hair was a stunning silver color, and his eyes were a blood red.
Matthew always did his job, observing. He never asked questions and his opinion was never asked, even if he wanted to speak. He always took notes and he was always invisible. That's the way it was. Everyone did their job at the World Meetings, even if their job was to go against what they were initially there to do in the first place.
wriggled in his lap. "Who are you?" he asked loudly, breaking Matthew's train of thought and snapping him back into reality. Matthew didn't want to interrupt anyone so he whispered sternly, "I'm Canada, Your master. We're at a World Meeting right now so you have to be quiet, ok?"
"Ok." Matthew gave the bear cub a soft smile. Even if Kuma didn't remember who he was, he still made a great companion. "... And this should work because it's my plan and I'M THE HERO!" Alfred shouted. Matthew's gaze broke away from . He realized he hadn't been paying attention for at least 5 minutes and started to panic.
He always took notes on what the meeting was about and more often than not, Alfred would ask to "borrow" them. And Matthew doesn't have notes of meetings from the past 7 years because supposedly, his brother had "lost them". Also, Alfred's rant would probably be a key point to this meeting too. "Why can't he take his own notes, Kuma? I'm pretty sure he has a secretary to do it for him too." Matthew whispered mostly to himself.
He glanced down at , who was snoring softly in his arms. "How do you fall asleep so fast?" Matthew sighed with a chuckle. "That concludes the world meeting. You will receive information in the near future where the next one will be hosted. Do not be late or just not come. I'm looking at you Feliks. And someone please, next time leave Peter in another room." Ludwig said, before stiffly standing from his chair to leave the room.
"Hey! I'm a country too!" Peter shouted after him from his usual corner as Ludwig walked away. He seems irritated Matthew noted as he watched Ludwig leave with Feliciano at his heels. "Gilbert, come on. We have to leave." Ludwig called over his shoulder with impatience.
"Just give me a few minutes, I'll catch up West. The awesome Prussia is busy talking with mein freund Antonio.~" Gilbert responded nonchalantly, but he still put emphases on the part of the sentence where he called himself awesome.
"Ja, ja whatever. Just hurry up and be back at the car in ten minutes or we're leaving without you." Ludwig grumbled. Gilbert turned back towards Antonio, continuing the conversation that had been put on hold and he also started to flamboyantly move his hands, as if to exaggerate whatever he was talking about. One moment his arms flew into the air in exasperation and the next he was putting his hands up defensively, because Antonio was playfully threatening to punch him. In the end, they both ended up laughing hysterically.
"Yo bro dude!" Alfred called to Matthew. "Do you have the notes?"
He shook his head and responded with," I have notes on most of the meeting except for the last 7 minutes. I'm really sorry but I spaced out and Kuma was being disruptive and I panicked because I realized I didn't have the notes and I'm sorry. If you want, you can have the notes I already took." Matthew added hopefully.
"Dude relaaax. The last part was mostly about my amazing ideas and I wrote the speech so I already know what it's about. So, thanks bro! Also, you shouldn't, like, apologize so often, man. You didn't need to say 'sorry' for anything in the first place. Thanks again, dude!" Alfred said as he took the notes from Matthew. As he walked away, he was talking to himself about getting a new video game for Tony.
"Ok Kuma. Time to leave." He whispered softly as he gently shook the bear. groggily lifted his head and leaped off Matthew's lap sleepily. Matthew stood up and collected his papers, which were all mostly blank due the absence of his notes. He pushed up his glasses as they started to slip down his nose during his walk toward the door. Kumajiro, however, made the short journey very difficult and incomplete because he kept getting under Matthew's feet, resulting in him on the floor with the barren pages strewn all over.
The first thing he did was check to see if Kuma was ok. Still on the floor, he picked up his polar bear and asked, "Kuma? Are you ok? I'm really sorry. Maple…" Matthew set down lightly.
"Who are you?" the bear questioned.
"I'm Canada." Matthew replied with a sigh. Suddenly, someone tapped Matthew on the shoulder and he jumped with surprise. He looked up at the person who wanted his attention and saw Gilbert.
"I, uh, noticed you tripped over your… thing and I thought you could use mein help." he said with a grin.
"That would be nice." Matthew replied, beaming. Together they picked up the pages and had a little conversation. Surprisingly, the first one to say anything was Matthew.
"Gilbert?" he started.
"Ja?" Gilbert responded.
"Why are you helping me? Most people don't even notice I'm here. So much, that one time, Ivan sat down in a chair and he hadn't even noticed I was sitting there. So why are you helping me when most people would just walk right past me?"
"Well, I don't really know myself, but usually people help their freunde, right?" Gilbert handed Matthew the papers he had picked up.
"Maybe sometime, you and I should go out to eat together, ja?"
"Sure!" Matthew smiled brightly.
"I have introduced myself yet. Gilbert Beilschmidt, formerly known as the awesome Prussian Empire. You?"
"I'm Canada, but mostly anyone who talks to me just calls me Matthew. Matthew Williams."
"So Matthew, I saw that you were taking a lot of notes during the meeting and these pages are blank. Where did they go?"
"Oh. Well, usually my twin, Alfred, borrows them, though I wouldn't call it borrowing due to the facts that I don't have notes from the past 7 year's worth of meetings but that's besides the point."
"As in, loudmouth, arrogant, 'I'M THE HERO!' Alfred?"
"Yes."
"Never would've thought he was related to you. You're so quiet."
"We do look alike though. I'm often confused with him."
"That must be annoying, I wouldn't want to be mistaken for him." Gilbert shuddered "Anyway, what's that thing you tripped over?"
"That's . He's a polar bear." Hearing his name, Kuma lumbered over to Matthew and said, "Who are you?" Gilbert's gaped at the talking animal.
"I'm Canada. Your master." He replied gently. Matthew scooped his pet up into his arms and put him in his usual position.
"I'm hungry." the bear said.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Pancakes."
"I can't make pancakes until we get home Kuma. You'll just have to wait." Matthew responded with a laugh.
"Ok" agreed. "So, that polar bear talks, ja?"
"Well, he DID just speak. Haven't you ever seen a talking animal before?"
"Nein."
"Oh. Alfred's best friend, Tony, is an alien and he speaks, but I don't really think aliens count as animals. But I know Iceland has a puffin that speaks."
"Really? I didn't know.."
"I've been meaning to ask you this, but why is there a bid on your head?" Matthew asked, changing the subject. Gilbert gave him a confused look. "Bird?"
"Yes, bird."
"Do you mean Gilbird?"
"I think so. I don't know since I haven't seen Gilbird before. I'm guessing you name him after yourself?"
"Ja! He's as awesome as me!" Gilbert smiled a lopsided grin, making Matthew himself smile. He looked at the clock on the wall.
"Scheisse! I'm sorry but I have to leave." Gilbert said apologetically.
"It's ok. I have to make pancakes for Kuma to say sorry for tripping over him anyway. Oh. Hold on." Matthew cut himself off to put down so he could write his number on the top sheet of paper. He handed it to Gilbert and said,"Now we can set a date if you still want to go out to eat still."
Gilbert beamed. "Na sicher. I'll keep in touch, meine liebe.~" And with that, he took the paper and ran out the door. "I don't know what that means." Matthew whispered. He looked down to see his polar bear staring at him.
"Pancakes." Kuma reminded him. "Pancakes." Matthew agreed as he set out for home with all but one of his blank papers, an extremely fuzzy best friend and a fluttering feeling in his heart he couldn't describe.