A/N: Wow, I haven't written a fanfiction and actually posted it up in ages! It's my first attempt at PruCan, and I'm not sure whether to pair up Al or not. Ah well, I hope you enjoy it!
OOH OOH, nearly forgot the disclaimer.
HETALIA OR THE CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME. OR I WOULD BE A JAPANESE GUY. I AM NOT JAPANESE. OR A GUY. :D
But seriously, I do not own Hetalia. I wish I could own America though. And Italy. And Norway. ;) Someone really needs to make those Hetalia units real...
Matthew Williams was an extremely shy person, especially in awkward or new situations. It was also extremely hard to befriend him - not because he didn't want to make friends, but because people normally wouldn't have the patience to bring him out of his shell. Therefore, his only friend was Gilbert Beilschmidt, a German boy who he met some time before he forgot everything.
Something happened when he was 6 - he knew that much. He knew it was why Alfred couldn't speak, and why Gilbert always got fidgity when he asked them both. That much, he knew, but what happened? He barely even wanted to know. All he remembered was his 7th Birthday, when he was showered with presents along with Alfred for the entire month, by their aunt Amelia Jones. The memories in the weeks before his 7th birthday were jumbled, not quite there, as if they were missing. And somewhere in those memories is the reason his brother lost his voice.
Matthew was jolted out of his sleep by something heavy being dropped onto his stomach. That something being Alfred, who then started frantically pointing at the clock.. Lazily, Matthew gazed over to the clock which said 10:30 am. He had about half an hour to make breakfast for him an Alfred, have a shower, brush his teeth, put his uniform on and then make sure Alfred was ready for his speech therapist who was coming at 1:30. Most likely, Alfred would refuse to open the door for her or, if he did let her in, he'd refuse to even try to talk.
"I'm going to be late for work! Ah, hell... Thanks for waking me up Al. I'll make breakfast in a few minutes – I'm not having you eating cold pizza four days in a row." Alfred merely pouted and folded his arms. "No, Alfred, Puppy dog eyes haven't worked on me since we were 10," There was a silent sigh before Alfred followed Matthew out of the bedroom and downstairs to the kitchen.
Alfred hadn't made a single sound since he was 6, and for the life of him Matthew couldn't remember why. He could easily remember Al's high-pitched American accent, which would go even higher when he was ready to go into a tantrum. How he would always whine and blow a raspberry at whoever made him mad, and when he had a nightmare he would crawl into Matthews bed and bury his face in the quilt cover, until he started to quietly snore. Matthew loved his brothers voice. That much he knew.
Now, even though they had just turned 20, Alfred would still occasionally crawl in beside Matthew, though this was becoming rare.
"Are they ready yet?" Alfred had scribbled on a piece of paper and shoved in front of Matthews face eagerly. His messy handwriting was only just legible in his excitement. Matthew scowled and pushed the note away, concentrating on his pancakes ith a serious expression.
"No! I've only just finished the first one!" Matthew exclaimed, pushing Alfred's hand away so he could concentrate on making pancakes. He didn't make as many as he usually would – in fact most of them were for Alfred. He saved the rest for snacks at work and ate one at the table as an actual breakfast, before rushing off to finish getting ready.
Around 20 minutes later, Alfred was standing at the door and waving goodbye to his brother, who had rushed out of the door.
"Remember, Al, No fast food! Don't ruin anything either!" Matthew called, "Oh, and don't forget your speech therapist is coming at 1:30!" He looked back briefly to see Alfred give a sour look –One that wasn't meant for him - one that didn't suit him at all, before running as fast as possible to the bus stop. He glanced at his watch and sighed with relief. He wasn't going to miss the bus! ...unless it was early.
When he finally got to work, he realised he was an hour and a half early. The clock in his room must have been set wrong, or he read the time wrong. He worked part time on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at a small Italian place called 'Buono, Buono!' as a waiter. The two head chefs were nice – twins, like he and Alfred, named Feliciano and Lovino Vargas. It was a pretty small world, actually, since Feliciano happened to be friends with Gilbert's brother, Ludwig.
"Early again, Matthew?" Matthew turned to find himself face to face with Lovino, one of the head chefs. Lovino was known as the grumpy one, but he's fairly nice if you catch him in a good mood.
"Ah, y-yes, I thought I was going to be late so I ran for the bus... – I must've read the time wrong, or something..." He chuckled – more of a nervous chuckle than anything else, really.
"Well... W-would you like some tea?... I-I'm feeling generous today!" Lovino suddenly looked away and his face went a light shade of red... He wasn't used to being friendly with people apparently, even his co-workers.
"Mattie! I just made some pasta, I hope-" He was cut off by his elder twin.
"Feli, act more professionally when you're in the kitchen!" Lovino scowled at his brother angrily.
"V-veh, sorry Lovi! Should I have said Matthew instead?" Lovino rolled his eyes at his brother's idiocy.
"Idiot, of course you can call him Mattie! You shouldn't be holding your arms out for a hug in the kitchen though, that's for sure!" The older twin scolded, before he stormed off to make the tea.
"Ve, Sorry Mattie!"
"No p-problem" Matthew said, smiling politely. He'd always had a slight stutter when it came to people he didn't fully know, but at least it was good for something – all the restaurant customers found him cute so they would always stay that little bit longer, and most definitely come back again.
His next job for the day was much less interesting. He worked as a cleaner in a small English cafe for about a quarter of the money he got from 'Buono, Buono'. He wasn't even sure how the cafe hadn't gotten shut down due to health issues by now. There weren't any rats or anything, just... The smell.
The chef couldn't cook to save his life. And guess who has to clean up everything after a customer takes a bite.
The job he takes on Friday and Saturday nights, though, had to be the most interesting of all. He worked at a bar as entertainment, where he'd sing his own songs. He'd get a few compliments, but most people were too drunk to notice he was even singing. At least he could sing – he loved singing. He would sing whenever he got the chance, be it at the bar every Friday and Saturday or singing in the shower.
Once Matthew had finished his job at the restaurant, he decided to go home for a few hours and see how Alfred's speech therapy had got on. If it had at all.
"Al? I'm home!" He called as he opened the door, expecting Alfred to come running out of the living room and greet him with an energetic hug and a big grin, but nothing moved. He couldn't even hear Alfred's footsteps – it was silent. "Alfred?" Matthew sighed, before setting his keys down on the table and going to look for him.
Usually, whenever Al decided to hide, it was either from the speech therapist or he'd fallen asleep and had a nightmare – it usually wasn't the latter any more.
"Al, she's not here!" He called, hoping for him to come out, but it was no use. Maybe he's with Gil he thought, getting out his cheap phone and sending a quick text to Gilbert, asking if he knew where Alfred was.
He listened for anything – a creak of the bed or footsteps, but there was nothing. He jumped slightly at the vibration in his pocket from Gilbert's reply, which really didn't help one bit.
Matthew finally found him curled up under a table with his bedsheets over him.
"Al? What happened?" He asked, but the look in his eyes told him he had, in fact, had a nightmare. He had to admit, Alfred could be such a kid at times. Despite his size, Alfred crawled over to his brother and curled up in his lap.
"It was just a nightmare, Al, It wasn't real" Matthew said, trying to comfort him – this only appeared to make it worse. He'd begun shaking, silent tears poured out of his eyes and onto Matthews shoulder.
Gil he typed into his phone, Al's had another nightmare, could you come over and help?
Sure, I'll be there in a few was the reply. Usually, he didn't need much help, but he couldn't skip work, he needed the money to pay his bills and for the speech therapist to come.
Alfred was still curled up and crying on Matthews lap by the time Gilbert got there – in fact it had got even worse. Alfred now had his arms wrapped tightly around his brother for dear life,
"Hey Birdie!" Gilbert said as he burst into the kitchen, making Al look up from Matthew's shoulder for a few seconds, before he burst into tears again.
Alfred was 20, like him, but he still had the mind of a 9 or 10 year old.
"Hey Gil, Sorry to bother you like this, but I know you're good with this type of thing, and I have to go to work again in a few hours-" Al immediately looked up at him with wide eyes.
No! Please don't go... Alfred signed desperately – even though he was still learning sign language, he could use it to some extent, he just preferred a pen and paper.
"Alfred, I have to go to work or we won't get any money – he might even fire me from the job!"
Then don't work there... he seemed to be having trouble finding the right word, before he just gave up and left the sentence as it was. Matthew sighed.
"Al, Gil's going to be here while I go to work." Alfred's face immediately relaxed.
Al had never liked to be on his own, even before...
"Mattie~!" Alfred had ran from his room and into Matthew's, waking him up.
"Al,...it?" Matthew asked, stifling a yawn, "... was...asleep"
"Exactly! ...with me!" Alfred said, grinning.
"You're...asleep. And ...voice ...! What if ...wakes...? You know they...being woken..."
Alfred had begun to pout, folding his arms tightly. "I'm going... then. Your bed is...than..."
"Al, our...the same" Matthew started, but Al had already got into his bed and was half asleep. "If...-mare, just..."
"I never..., ever!" Alfred said, he then fell asleep. It was so strange - everything was choppy and distant. Almost as if something wasn't quite there... And he couldn't, for the life of him, remember what...
"Mattie~"
"Mattie!"
"Oi, Mattie, You there?" The sound of Gilbert's voice caused him to open his eyes to a hand being waved in front of his face. "Back to earth yet? You just zoned out a bit there, Birdie!"
"I... I don't..."
"Birdie?"
"I DON'T REMEMBER, OKAY?!"
...
...
...
Where had THAT come from?
~. .:.~PruCan~. .:.~
"My name's Gilbert, what's your name?"
"M-Matthew... but people call me Mattie,"
"Well, I'm going to call you Birdie!" Gilbert declared, "You have a bird on your T-shirt, and you remind me of my baby bird!"
"You have a pet bird?"
"Yup!" He put his hands on his hips, "My Grandparents own a farm and they gave me a chicken egg to look after, and the awesome me made it hatch!"
"Wow!" Matthew said, astonished, "What's it's name?"
"Gilbird! I thought of it myself!" Gilbert said, his head high in the air with pride. "How old are you?"
"I-I'm 3 and a half, but me and my twin brother started school early because "
"Wahaha! I'm 6 and three quarters, 3 years and a bit older than you!"
"I can't wait until I'M 6..."
"On my 6th birthday, my present was being told to be a good older brother to my little bro... he's a year older than you - and a pain in the bottom!"
"Gilbert!" Matthew gasped, "You can't say that, it's really rude!" Matthew earned a loud laugh from Gilbert.
"I know even ruder-er words than that! Because i'm that awesome!" He pointed to himself, head held high.
"R-really?" Mattie said, curious. "C-could you teach me?"
"Haha! I can teach you anything, Birdie!"
Crimson eyes opened to a plain white ceiling. Gilbert yawned and turned over in his bed, before lazily throwing his sheets off of him and standing up. He looked at the clock and yawned. His brother had probably gone out on a date with Feli, his brother's new boyfriend.
'I can't wait until i'm 6!' he'd said. Oh, the irony. He laughed - a bitter, empty laugh that was filled with hatred. He shook his head in disgust, before running a hand through his silvery-white coloured hair.
Gil stood up and stretched, yawning again. He was alone in the house - maybe his brother really had gone on a date with feli! He smiled, his little brother finally growing up! Chuckling slightly to himself, he went downstairs to the kitchen and started to make himself breakfast, which was just a simple cereal with sugar sprinkled ontop. He also gave some food to Gilbird (Well, Gilbird the 20th, but still).
He felt bad for Matthew - but Alfred even moreso. He remembered everything, but couldn't bring himself to write it down on paper. He didn't know enough sign language, either.
Being a doctor himself, Gilbert wanted nothing more to go and actually help them both, but Alfred didn't want any help. Matthew rarely started wondering what happened, so all Mattie did was look after Alfred...
He felt sorry for Matthew too, though. Both Gilbert and Alfred had kept it from him, for fourteen years - woudn't it be worse if he figured it out now? especially now he was trying to make his debut as a singer and actor. So, if they had both kept the secret from him about what happened.
And they had both, technically lied to him for as long as he remembered, then when he figured it out, wouldn't it...
Make him worse?
A/N I hope you liked it! I certainly enjoyed writing it. It's actually pretty hard to write mute America 'cause of how much he talks, It's also pretty hard to keep him in character considering the background in this AU.
So anyway, Please review and tell me what you think! Also, Flames will be fed to Mother Russia, but CONSTRUCTIVE CRIT is WELCOME, so please tell me what I an improve on! :)
Next chapter will be.. Well, i dunno, since i lost all the plot i had written down xD; (teaches me to not save things -_-)
