Hey. So I didn't have plans to post any of this until much later in the case that I actually knew what I was doing with my plot. However, the state of Indiana ruled that the ban on same sex marriage was unconstitutional today. So as of earlier this Wednesday, gay couples could get married in a few counties in Indiana, which means that America is one step closer to human rights! Yay... so I decided I had to post something or I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
The main pairing is PruCan, with a little bit of GerIta and Spamano mentioned. There's also a little bit of swearing.
So here's this chapter of a random fic I started earlier this week. Enjoy.
December 1st.
It was December 1st and I was sitting on the couch, trying not to let myself fall into my usual holiday slump. The doorbell rang and I groaned loudly, barely willing to summon the energy to get up and answer it.
The likelihood of it being anyone but a salesman was very low. It could be carolers, but that was unlikely. It wasn't that close to Christmas, and my house was a little further off from the rest of my relatively small neighborhood.
There was a small glimmer of hope in my mind that maybe it was someone I knew, maybe my brother. Occasionally he had strange fits where he wanted to spend all his time with me, only to forget my name the next week. With that optimism in mind, I trudged to the door and opened it.
It wasn't Alfred.
It was a very pale man with what seemed like white hair who was standing on my porch, facing away from the entry. He turned to look at me when I opened the door, and I noted the dull red color of his eyes. That was certainly unusual.
"Um… Hello?" I began, uncertain what to think. This man didn't in any way look like a salesman, and he definitely wasn't someone I knew. What was he doing on my front step?
"Oh… Hallo, Fraulein!" He greeted enthusiastically. I just stared at him.
"Who are you?" I demanded.
"Kesese… My name is Gilbert. Can I come in?" What a strange little man.
"Um… no. I'd rather you didn't, actually." I replied, unsure of why the hell this stranger wanted to come inside my house. To my surprise, the stranger- Gilbert, apparently- ignored my response, pushed past me, and strolled right into my living room. Annoyed, confused, and a little frightened, I grabbed the hockey stick from the top of the doorframe and followed Gilbert into the house.
"Okay, Gilbert," I growled, "You need to tell me what you want and get out of my house or I swear I'll cut your skin off one layer at a time with a sharp kitchen knife just for being here." Well, that had come out rather better than I expected. I had always wanted to threaten someone, but never really got a chance to do so in a setting where the threat-ee would actually realize I was talking to them.
Huh. That was a good point. This Gilbert guy seemed to have no problem noticing me. That was a nice change.
"A sharp kitchen knife? Isn't a blunt knife the cliché?" he asked mockingly.
"I would use a blunt knife because I'm a big fan of how painful it is for the victim, however, I love the elegance of a sharp knife so I would definitely say it's my secondary weapon of choice.
Gilbert looked up at me, saw the intimidating way I was brandishing my trusted hockey stick, and immediately tensed up. It must've been clear what my first weapon of choice was.
"Oh, Sheiße, sorry, okay, well. Can you sit down? I'm not going to do anything bad, I promise. I just…" I simply glared at him as he rambled. "Okay, okay. Well. You see, hmm. I'm not sure how to explain this. Okay, so I have this awesome little brother. He's not as awesome as me, and he's definitely less awesome after the little stunt he pulled today, but he's still pretty awesome. It's probably from all the years he's spent basking in my awesome presence. His name is Ludwig.
"He's got this cute little Italian boyfriend who invited Ludwig to come to their family Christmas back in Italy. The thing is, Luddy didn't tell me about this little trip of his until noon today when he told me that I had an hour to pack some bags and get out of the house. Apparently he didn't trust me to stay at home by myself for a month and he didn't want me to come with them to Italy, so he kicked me out and locked the door behind us and then he was on his flight and I was stuck outside the house with no form of transportation and nowhere to go.
"Sure, I could've broken a window or something because I'm awesome like that, but Luddy would've killed me when he got back because he's ridiculously buff like I don't think you can even understand how scary he is. Anyways, I just kinda started walking.
"I was thinking about all the places I could go, since, ya know, it's winter and it was starting to snow and I was about to freeze to death. I've got these two friends- Francis and Antonio. They're both pretty great, but Francis is kind of a manwhore and it sucks living with him and Antonio's boyfriend is a little bitch. And I think Antonio went to Italy as well, since his boyfriend is Luddy's boyfriend's brother. I think. Anyways, I didn't feel like either of their houses were awesome enough for me to stay in for a whole month.
"I ended up wandering through a couple different neighborhoods, and eventually I came to this one because I remember wanting to live here when Ludwig and I were looking at houses. I figured if I got this awesome opportunity to live wherever I wanted for a month, why not live in the most awesome house in town?
"I got here and then I saw your car and I realized that someone lived here. I guess I hadn't really thought that through, but oh well. I figured I would knock on the door and if the person living here was awesome enough, then I'd just live with them. And you answered the door, and, well, you're really cute. I thought you were a girl at first, did you know that? But you're not, I think. So yeah. That's my awesome little story for today." I gaped at him. I didn't think anyone except for Alfred could speak for that long without stopping.
"Wait. You want to live with me?" I screeched a little in disbelief, winced at the sound I had made, and quickly lowered my voice. "I don't even know you. You don't even know me!" To my complete and utter disbelief, he only shrugged.
"Well. You seem pretty awesome. Not as awesome as me, of course, but that's impossible so it doesn't matter. Besides, what do I have to lose? It's not like you can really do anything to me. You don't seem like a psychopath or anything."
"Ah haha no, I'm not." I laughed weakly. "The neighborhood's resident crazy lives down the street- Ivan. He's one of my friends, actually." Gilbert looked unfazed. "But really, you can't honestly believe I'll let you stay at my house! You're a complete stranger! And you may have nothing to lose, but I have plenty to lose and I don't want to risk that!"
"Really? What do you have to lose- from me, at least?" Gilbert asked. I only stared at, oh-so-very bewildered by this bizarre event. "I'm not a bad guy- surely you can tell that, at least? Or not too bad. Some people say I'm a little eccentric, but I'm pretty sure that just means weird and I don't really care about that. Obviously they're all just too ashamed to admit how much awesomer than them I am. Okay, anyways, what's your name?"
"Matthew," I sighed, not wanting to get into another argument. I wasn't really used to so much… domestic conflict.
"So you are a boy! Okay, Mattie, look around yourself." I made a small noise of protest at the nickname, but did as he said. "You've got all these pictures of you and your family. Yet in the pictures, the few that actually have you in them, you're standing off to side a bit. The other three don't seem to notice. And I can easily guess that all the others were pictures you took that they didn't bother to get you in. How much are you actually a part of your family? How invisible are you really? What do you have to lose?"
I looked at this stranger, and maybe I imagined it, but I thought I could see the glimmer of a kindred spirit looking back at me in those crimson eyes. Maybe Gilbert was lonely too. Maybe he was used to being forgotten, left behind, or maybe he was simply afraid of it happening. Either way, I couldn't deny it any longer.
I didn't want to be alone for Christmas. I wasn't planning on bothering to go to the enormous Kirkland reunion where I'd just be ignored once again, but Kumajiro (the stuffed polar bear) wasn't really compensation for the craving of human contact that all people had. And maybe it was crazy, but I had a feeling that Gilbert would be staying at my house for the entire month of December, if only for my own selfish reasons.
"Fuck you," I muttered, irritated that he was right. "I reserve the right to kick you out whenever the heck I want to, got it?"
"Of course!" Gilbert grinned maniacally. "What type of person do you take me for? You really think I'd just take advantage of someone's hospitality like that? Never!"
I just growled and stalked away, ignoring the cackling behind me.
Due to the fact of Prussia being Prussia, I had to add the word 'awesomer' to my dictionary. I'm sorry if you think I overdid the awesome. I feel like it's Prussia's nervous tic, so when he's unsure of himself he emphasizes the awesome.
I also had to add 'hoser' for one of my other stories, but oh well.
Also, I apologize that I made Matthew sound a little Belarussian there for a minute. If you require a headcanon to make you happy, just assume that Canada ran into Belarus once when he was visiting Ukraine and Belarus didn't see him as a threat so she taught him some things to help protect Ukraine. Yeah. That's what happened.
Anyways, if you have any ideas or feedback, I'd be glad to hear it, seeing as I only have three paragraphs of the next chapter written. Thanks.