EDIT: This is the rewritten version of this chapter. I am currently in the middle of rewriting this fic. I hope you enjoy it.
A/N This chapter sets up the whole story. It might be a little dry, but it would make the story too complicated to explain everything through flashbacks. Just rest assured that the action starts in the next chapter. I don't own anything, much as I'd like to. By the way, Canada's parents aren't countries, but they are super minor characters and won't show up often.
Please enjoy!
Matthew Williams had first been introduced to the world of music when he was five years old. It had begun when his parents had taken him and his little brother, Alfred, to their grandparent's house. The older couple had a grand piano in their living room. It had been hideously out of tune, but both boys had played with the keys for hours. Their parents had seen how much the instrument intrigued them and had signed them up for professional lessons.
Both of the boys enjoyed their lessons greatly. Their teacher taught them countless duets which Alfred and Matthew would play for hours together. Alfred proclaimed himself to be the "hero" and insisted on playing the main part of any duet the brothers tried. Matthew always ended up playing the supporting pieces. He always wanted to try to play the lead, but he hated confrontations and was too afraid to say anything to hurt his little brother. Instead, he just pretended he liked playing the support and continued.
Alfred was always like that. He loved comic books and he enjoyed imagining himself to be the hero. He took that attitude to every part of his life. When the brothers played together, Alfred played the hero and would always proclaim Matthew to be the sidekick. Matthew loved his brother too much to say anything, so he resigned himself to living in his brother's shadow. Alfred's hero antics pervaded everywhere; he insisted on being the hero at school, at piano lessons, and even with their parents' divorce.
It was a typical case of a lonely housewife sick of her workaholic husband choosing work over their family. Through his childish seven-year-old logic, Alfred had determined that his mother was the typical "damsel in distress" and that their father was the villain. His hero complex kicked in and he had quickly refused to have anything to do with his father, going so far as to reject their father's name of Williams and switch to their mother's maiden name of Jones.
The divorce had passed quickly and their mother had agreed to let their father have partial custody of their sons. Matthew had been extremely relieved. He'd been afraid for the entire divorce that he would never see his father again.
Even though the boys were scheduled to spend a week of every month with their father, Matthew was the only one who went. Alfred was adamant in his view of their father as a villain and still refused to see him. Every time Matthew was dropped off at his father's new apartment, he was alone. It pained the eight-year-old to tell his father every time that Alfred wasn't coming, so he did his best to provide his father with enough love for two sons.
It was ultimately his father who changed his life forever, even though neither of them would realize it until Matthew was eighteen years old.
It had been summer vacation and Matthew's father had taken Matthew to New York City. Halfway through their trip, they had run into a man playing the violin on the subway. He was handsome enough and played the violin well, though the violin case sitting on the ground in front of him was empty except for one lonely-looking twenty dollar bill.
The vision of that man struck Matthew. He had stopped, staring at him. The movement of the bow and the high sound entranced him.
"Matthew?" his father questioned, bending down to look at him closely. "Are you okay?"
"Dad!" he whispered loudly, pointing at the man. "I want to learn to play that!"
Ethan Williams smiled warmly at his son.
"I'll take care of it," he promised him.
On Matthew's next return to his father's home, he came back to see a shiny violin sitting in its open case on his bed. He'd run excitedly to his father and hugged him before running back to his room and caressing his new violin lovingly. After that, Matthew balanced both his piano lessons with Alfred and the violin lessons his father paid for. A few months later, Matthew quit the piano lessons to focus fully on the violin.
As much as he loved the piano, he found himself liking the violin so much more. The instrument fit in his hands as if it were meant to be there. Matthew loved the way it fit snugly under his chin, how the bow dragged across the strings, and the sound it made. What he loved most about the violin was being able to play the lead. The violin was written for solos and playing it allowed him to finally escape his brother's overbearing hero complex.
Of course, Alfred hadn't been able to let Matthew steal all of his limelight. Refusing to be outdone, he, too, had quit their piano lessons. Instead, he had forced their mother to buy him an electric guitar, insisting that it was the "instrument of heroes". She had bought that particular guitar on the advice of her new boyfriend, a young Englishman with thick eyebrows that she'd met at work. Alfred had quickly befriended Arthur Kirkland through the guitar lessons he offered the boy. Arthur had been in a garage punk band when he had been a teenager and taught Alfred everything there was to know about the guitar.
After the first concert Alfred played for his family, he had approached Matthew.
"Mattie," he began, "Some day I'm gonna be a rock star! I'll gonna have a band, too, and I need you as my musical backup! You can be my bassist! Of course, I'll be the singer and the lead guitarist, because those are the hero parts, so I have to take them. You know, since I'm the hero!" he puffed out his chest, looking gleeful.
At that, Matthew had felt torn in two. He didn't want to always be subservient to his little brother, but at the same time, he missed having something in common with his brother. After he'd started his violin lessons and Alfred had begun his guitar lessons, they hadn't had any time to spend together and they had grown apart. Matthew missed the time they'd spent together playing duets. He missed his brother. It was that desire to get closer to his brother that led Matthew to sink back into his brother's shadow and let Arthur teach him the bass guitar. It was nice to connect with his new stepfather, but Matthew never liked the instrument as much as he did his violin.
At first, Matthew and Alfred's band was pretty pathetic.
Alfred had insisted on naming the band himself and had gone with "The Heroes". He insisted that it was the only name epic enough for their "heroly" music. Matthew wasn't very fond of the name but left it unsaid.
Not only was their name not very good, but neither was their music. Alfred wrote the largest and best parts for himself, hogging all of the music and singing for nearly the entire song. It took quite a bit of time for Alfred to realize that he couldn't overshadow the other instruments and had to let other people play their instruments too, as well as not sing at all times. After he'd realized that, their music had improved drastically. For all of his ridiculous antics and ego, Alfred was quite good with music. He was able to write original pieces for the guitar and come up with lyrics that worked well with their music style. With Matthew's drive pushing Alfred's natural talent, they were able to compose good music, but a bass guitar and a guitar hardly make a band.
Things finally started changing a few years later when Matthew had turned twelve and Alfred was eleven. A new family had moved into their neighborhood, right across the street from the Kirkland house. The Korean family that moved in had a son Alfred's age named Yong Soo. Yong Soo was exceedingly hyper, and in an attempt to channel his energy somewhere productive, Mr. and Mrs. Im had purchased a drum set for their son. Alfred and Matthew had discovered this wonderful fact when their mother had taken them with her to greet their new neighbors. The door had been opened to reveal the loud sounds of furious drum playing. Alfred eagerly invited Yong Soo to join their band and he had readily agreed.
Now that they had a drummer, The Heroes were a real band. It was small, but now they sounded like a professional band. Yong Soo was a genius drum player and meshed well with their established sound. They had plenty of time to practice, too, because Matthew no longer spent time at his father's house. Ethan had climbed the ranks in his business and now worked overseas. Matthew could only spend a week or two with him during summer breaks, but other than that, he was only able to email his father and Skype as often as they could. All of his free time went to the band. It wasn't Matthew's passion, but it made Alfred happy and that was enough to make him happy.
Two years later, The Heroes gained another member for their band. Yong Soo's Japanese cousin, Kiku, had moved to their city and his mother frequently brought him to his cousin's house. One day, Kiku had brought his Greek friend on the same day where The Heroes were practicing at the Im house. Heracles had walked straight over to The Heroes, picked up a spare guitar, and started playing along with one of The Heroes' original songs.
Heracles had been immediately asked (although on Alfred's part, it seemed more like begging) to join The Heroes. He had accepted and joined them as their rhythm guitarist. The band worked had and continued to improve. The Heroes entered high school, still playing together. They remained a tight-knit group until a disaster struck Matthew in his senior year, junior year for the rest of The Heroes.
He met Gilbert.