A/N: This is a request that I found on the Hetalia kink meme some LONG time ago and am just now getting around to filling. Hopefully, it'll turn out to be something epic (unless I fail miserably, of course XD), but it will take a while to finish either way. Extra special thanks goes out to my Canada, who sat through a screen-sharing with me in order to let me know when I was screwing up like crazy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Neither Hetalia nor Death Note. I do not even own the title of this story, because my Canada came up with it. XD

Chapter 1 - Discovery

Heaving an annoyed sigh, Matthew Williams sat in his seat, staring at the chalkboard at the front of the room. The objectives of the day were written, along with a single sentence that set the Canadian teenager's teeth on edge.

'Matthew - see me after class about your absences.'

The thing was… Matthew hadn't missed a single class all year. And this wasn't the first time this had happened, nor the first teacher that had done this to him. Matthew was an easily overlooked individual, and despite his best efforts he remained so. Sometimes, he was mistaken for his half-brother - who he was almost identical to - but very rarely was he recognized as himself. IT was an unfortunate part of his life that he hated more than anything else.

As if to add insult to injury, Matthew then heard one of the students near him - Arthur Kirkland, a British boy - commenting on the note.

"Matthew? Is there a new kid then?"

Grimacing, Matthew slammed his books on his desk. Everyone jumped, but no one seemed to see him. "I'm Matthew," he announced irritably. However, his voice was quiet and easily drowned out by the babble of other voices. With another sigh, the poor boy let his head smash into his books, trying to determine how to convince the teacher that he had been here every day and not absent.

It was at about this point that the boy who always seemed to mistake him for his brother showed up and hit him upside the head.

"What the hell, Alfred?" he demanded as Matthew let out a yelp. "You destroyed my bike!"

"I'm not…" Matthew began to protest, but then the teacher walked in and the dark-skinned boy moved off to his own seat, promising a beating for "Alfred" later.

This was all part of a typical day for Matthew Williams: be forgotten, get beaten up for something his brother did, and sometimes get sat on in class. He was used to it, really.

But that didn't mean he liked it at all.

Lately, Matthew had taken to thinking of suicide often. It would hurt his mother, he knew, but… well, he doubted anyone else would notice. But if they did, it would only show that it took that much to get their attention.

It was fortunate for the Canadian that he was terrified of dying.

So instead of taking his own life, Matthew started taking long walks by himself at night. Sometimes, he carried his stuffed polar bear, Kumajiro, with him because the doll was the only friend he had. But really, it was good to be alone because it was his choice and not the choice of others.

It was during one of these walks that everything changed for him.

After barely managing to escape the beating that had been promised to him as "Alfred" - though only narrowly and merely because of the fact that the Cuban boy hadn't noticed him in the begonias - Matthew headed home. Except instead of taking the direct route that his half-brother typically took, Matthew headed down a lengthier, more scenic path that he had found some time ago. It allowed him time to think about the amazing things he would tell his mother about when he got home.

Matthew always felt better coming home to his mother with some tale about what had happened at school that day. Somehow, it didn't seem appropriate to just say, "Everyone ignored me again," and walk out. He wanted his mother to be happy. And part of her happiness weighed on his happiness.

About the time that Matthew realized this particular fact was when he started to take the long way home. Besides, it really was a nice walk. Calm, relaxing, and he could just spend time talking to Kumajiro, who he always managed to smuggle into school in his backpack. Not that anyone noticed him enough to make fun of him for having a stuffed animal anyway…

Matthew was idly musing about the fact that he could probably bring a bomb to school and nobody would notice when the crunching under his feet changed to a crackle for a single step. Blinking, he looked down to find that he had just stepped on a jet black notebook.

"Who would drop a notebook here," the confused Canadian wondered aloud, stooping to pick it up and flip through the pages in an attempt to find a name.

But there was absolutely nothing written on the book. No name, no address, not even any notes from a class or a lecture or something. Matthew flipped through the notebook a couple of times before deciding that, since obviously no one had any claim on it, he had just inherited a brand new notebook. Which was nice, since Alfred had an odd tendency of stealing all of his notebooks from him, thinking they were his…

Tucking the notebook into his backpack, Matthew tightened his grip on his stuffed polar bear and continued on his way home. "This is great, Kumajiro!" he said, his voice sounding much louder now that he was alone with his best friend than it ever did when he was around other people. "Maybe we can keep this one away from Al!"

The moment he opened the door, Matthew's mother's voice rang out from the kitchen. "Hey honey! How was school?" The fact that she didn't start the conversation with "which one?" meant that Alfred was already home. Great. Matthew wasn't sure he wanted to deal with his half-brother after what he had been threatened with at school today.

"Great, mom!" For some reason, it was always easy to fake an eager tone when he was talking to his mother. "I aced the pop quiz in history -" the teacher had forgotten to even give him the quiz "- and some friends asked me to ride bikes after school. It's why I'm so late." He always came up with a good reason for being home later than his brother.

"That's wonderful." Hearing footsteps coming up from the basement, Matthew suddenly made a mad dash for the stairs that led up to the second floor. His mother poked her head out of the kitchen as he ran past. She knew that her sons had some issues with each other, and it upset her, really it did. But they were teenagers and she knew that when they got older they would learn to appreciate each other for who they were. "Dinner will be ready in an hour," she called up after the elder of her sons.

Matthew simply waved in response, managing to make it into his room and lock the door just as Alfred started running up the stairs after him. Breathing a sigh of relief, Matthew collapsed onto his bed, hugging Kumajiro close. "That was a close one," he muttered to the bear, giving it a loving squeeze.

Dinner was a fairly typical even as well. Every time Matthew tried to say anything, Alfred was right there, talking over him. And even when the Canadian boy got mad and tried to call his half-brother out on damaging other people's bikes, Alfred suddenly decided he was full and got up and left without another word, leaving Matthew sputtering and fuming silently.

To distract himself from the shit-hole that was his life, Matthew threw himself into his studies the moment he was done eating. He actually enjoyed this part of his life. Because even if the teachers never really gave him full credit, he knew he had everything correct on tests. And it always seemed like he was a little closer to something special every time he learned a new fact. Pulling out his brand new notebook, Matthew began to jot down notes from his math book, solving the equations he couldn't do in his head on paper.

He didn't remember doing it, but - just like always - around four in the morning, Matthew's ability to stay awake finally gave out and he fell asleep on his desk, snoring on top of the now note-filled book.