AN: I have fallen head over heels for Hetalia as of late. It's just so fantastic. My favorites include Mattie, Alfred, and Arthur. Also Gilbert and Feli and...most of them, actually. Yep. Anyways, please let me know if anything is out of character. I really do want to get these guys IC.

Warnings: This fic does include OC's, but only as parents. (Mattie's parents and Alfred's.) They all play minimal roles. This fic is mainly just for angsty!Canada and CanAme brotherly love.

Matthew Williams shifted nervously. "Don't be nervous." Mr. Edelstein had said several times. Mr. Edelstein was a late-twenties-something man with ruffled black hair and wire-rimmed glasses. Matt suspected that the man hailed from Austria or another similar country. "The Jones family is very eager to have you back."

Matt didn't respond, choosing to instead examine the scuff marks that had already started to form on his new trainers. He was dressed far more nicely than he would otherwise be comfortable with. Plain black trousers made out of some nice, expensive fabric and a white dress shirt that was tucked into his pants in an attempt to make Matthew appear more dignified. "Can't I go back?" He asked softly, with all the soft petulance of a child who had had a toy taken away from him.

"...I-" It was blatantly obvious that Mr. Edelstein didn't know what to say. Matt sighed and realized rather balefully that Mr. Edelstein was not suited for this sort of work. The silver band around his finger suggested that he was married, and Matt wondered if it was his wife who had gotten her husband this job.

"I think you'll be happy here. In America."

Matthew just sighed, inconspicuously drawing his teddy bear closer. Mr. Edelstein rolled his eyes from the front seat, and Matt couldn't blame him. It must have been strange, seeing a sixteen year old boy with a stuffed animal, but then again, it was rather hard to identify Matthew as sixteen.

He was short for his age-well, not too short, he was 5'8''-but at this age most boys had finally hit their growth spurts and lingered in the six-foot area. Pale blond hair that was untrimmed and untamable fell into his green-gray eyes and stuck up everywhere, including one terribly stubborn strand in his bangs that always curled upwards.

Matt was paler than most boys. Canada didn't get much sun, and he was far from athletically gifted, which meant that he didn't have the exposure to the elements that most athletes did. When not at school or on those rare trips that his 'adoptive' parents sometimes took him on, he rarely strayed outside of the vicinity of his house. It had actually been alright, though. His parents bought him top-of-the-market toys when he was younger, the best you could buy, and then when Matthew had outgrown toys, they gave him technology. His Mere would was a brilliant chef, particularly when it came to desserts.

"I made a souffle before you woke up." His Mom informed him. Matthew yawned and raised a sleepy brow.

"You did?" He said softly, a bit skeptically. "T-that's great, Mom." She had been trying master French cooking for years.

His mother smiled sweetly, her Japanese features crinkling in agreement. Her river of dark hair had been thrown up in a hasty, unbrushed ponytail, but despite her efforts, batter and flour ended up on her brow anyways, mingling with the streaks of silver.

"I was going to save it for you, but it was too beautiful to live." Mei Williams held out a wooden spoon to her adopted son.

Matthew took it from her hands and began to prepare his own batter-for pancakes rather than for an extravagant souffle. "So," he said, voice gaining a bit of confidence, though it still hardly strayed above a whisper. "You ate it then?"

"I did indeed." His mom nodded resolutely. "It was delicious." She leaned over the counter, then, to examine what her son's confection. "Actually, that looks like it's going to be good too. Will you save me a few?"

"For Dad too." Matt smiled.

"Alright." Hummed Mom as she checked her watch. "Well, I'd best be off now. Je t'aime, ma chérie. À tout à l'heure?"

"Kay," sighed Matt, disappointed that his mother was leaving so soon. "Passe du bon temps."

"Au revoir, chérie." She reminded as she stepped out the door. "Séjour sûr,"

"You too."

Mei Williams had been laughing as she closed the door, the sunlight glinting off her brown eyes in a way that suddenly made them swirl with color, before going out into chilly spring sunlight. Stay safe, had been her last words to him.

Two hours later, two glorious stacks of pancakes had been awaiting his parents. One for his dad, and one for his mom, whenever the two got back. Matt's mom had been a freelance editor, mostly able to choose her own hours, and Matthew's dad had been a technological whiz. The two had been quite a pair, but it had always been obvious to Matt that they were both smitten. She'd gone to meet him at his work so they could have lunch together.

Three hours later, Matthew grew a bit irate, though he would never dare say anything.

Four hours later, Matt got the call. Gas leak. Explosion. Twelve dead, including his parents.

"Stay safe..." his mom had said.

Irony was a bitch, and all of a sudden, it seemed that she hated Matt with a burning passion.

The landscape was so dreary. So city-like. Nothing like the beautiful landscape that Matthew was accustomed to, and that was how Matt had guessed that they were nearly there (Mr. Edelstein had said that they lived on the outskirts of Sacramento, and they'd hit the city limits almost a mile ago). The rain outside had stopped, but rain droplets still clung to the outside of the sleek black car like burrs to a bush. The sun was still fairly high in the sky, which meant that Matt would have to tolerate strangers-even if one of them was his biological mother-trying to fill in for his parents. Of course, he'd have to deal with them at some point, but Matthew's main goal at the moment was to delay having to do so for as long as possible, which made the whole 'middle-of-the-day' thing rather inconvenient.

Matt was going to hate it there, he knew it, there was no way he was going to like it. Enjoying the two years of hell he was going to have to go through would be like betraying the memory of his parents.

And that was why, the second that Mr. Edelstein ushered him out of the car and onto the perfectly mowed lawn with a freaking German Shepard that ran around and tried to lick Matt, he started to hate himself, because the second that Matt saw the three people, he felt a bit of hope begin to kindle.

But then a boy, older that Matt but not by much, with bright blue eyes and glasses crossed his arms and whispered. "Jesus, Mom. That's one hell of a mistake you made."

Crap.

Never mind.

I imagine Matt's adopted parents as Japanese.

And just in case anyone wants to know (this will show up in later chapters) Alfred's mom had an affair when Al was about one and Matt was the result. She wouldn't have him aborted, so Alfred's dad insisted that they give the boy up for adoption, or he'd file for divorce. Al's mom agreed. Matt was adopted by Mei and Yin Williams.

If you read this, I seriously love you.