NOTE: I do not own Hetalia or any of its characters.

It was a good day, and no one else, but the infamous Alfred Jones, doubted it. Eyes peered at him as he had walked through the hallway, his shoulders hunched forward and his head down. Like this, he had almost seemed to be at average height, not standing above everyone else has he had usually. Very few people of his social standing would ever let themselves be seen like that in public.

However, the poor all-American boy had been dumped- for the third time this year.

There seemed to be something about his "goody-two-shoes"-iness that had seemed appealing to girls (and the occasional guy) in the beginning, but only came to be achingly annoying in the very end. The fact that he had let himself fall into that trap so many times only made the young man feel even worse.

Matthew, his younger and petite brother came to stand at the locker beside Alfred's, where the older male had his forehead pressed against the cool metal, in a pose that seemed very self-pity like.

"Al-Alfred, what is wrong?" Matthew asked, his tiny voice barely reaching Alfred's ears in the loud and booming hallway. The older brother was quite aware that Matthew knew what had happened. That was for two reasons: One, being that he was dating a cheerleader, and a rather terrible gossip at that. Two, being that his brother had seen him as devastated and depressed as he was now, two times earlier in the year.

"Tabitha broke up with me." He muttered, his own voice nearly going unheard as well. From his position, he couldn't see the Canadian's small smile, but he knew that his brother was quite glad that his girlfriend had dumped him.

"She doesn't know what she gave up." Matthew was trying to seem as if he was upset that Tabitha was out of the picture, just as he had done with the aftermath of Alfred's other breakups. He never liked any of the girls that his brother went out with. They don't have any class, they are really mean people, they don't… The reasons as to why could easily have gone on for almost an hour.

Instead of listing his reasons as to why his ex-girlfriends were absolutely terrible, he simply placed his hand on Alfred's back and patted gently. "There are other fish in the sea."

"I'm a God-damn shark, Mattie." Alfred growled, his eyes turning into slits as he glared over at his brother. Matthew shrunk back some, withdrawing his hand and returning it to his pockets. "It is just like that picture I saw, with the sharks and the bunches of fish that just avoided the sharks all together. " His lips were construed into a rather dramatic and over-exaggerated pout. The younger of the two ignored the comment about the sharks and simply went on to continue the routine that he had almost perfectly scripted out now. As much as it pained him to see his brother like this, it was just too often that Matthew had to watch Alfred stew in his own self pity for just so long.

"I-I have an idea." The words left the Canadian's mouth, unexpectedly. He wasn't even sure where his thoughts were as he spoke, and it was as if someone had taken over his mouth. The slits that were once Alfred's eyes disappeared, and once again, a somewhat normal gaze of bright blue eyes met Matthew's violet ones. However, despite his first fright of suddenly speaking, the idea, as he thought it over, actually seemed great. He explained it slowly, still trying to work out the details of it as he spoke.

"Y-you don't mind going out with guys sometimes, right? Well, I kn-know this one guy, and he's really sw-sweet and smart. Rea-really creative too! He's on the yearbook staff and does mo-most of their editing and some of the photography." He offered a meek smile before continuing. "An-anyway, maybe I could talk to him and you two could go out for a dinner somewhere- to get your mind off of Tabitha, of course." The mention of the girl made the slits return, but Alfred seemed to be agreeing with the idea. Matthew seemed to guess that he would go ahead and talk to that friend of his soon.

"Well, I g-guess I'll see you at home then, Al." And with that, Matthew turned and scurried down the hallway, and even though he didn't have a regular class period. Instead of another class, he had a free period, and he was rushing to get to the library.

At his locker, Alfred could feel everything lighting up somehow. Sure, he still felt rather upset about Tabitha, but he really thought that he may have a chance at not screwing up this time. The idea of possibly actually having a lasting relationship was a suddenly growing hope and goal from the young man.

When the shrill and loud bell echoed throughout the hallways and classrooms, Alfred was drawn out of his imagination, and thrust back into reality. He dug in his locker for his textbooks and slammed it shut. As he walked to his last class of the day, chemistry, he walked a little taller, confidence starting to slowly swell back into his stride.

You can do it Alfred! Things are finally starting to look up!

Arthur had a free period at the last part of his school day, but unlike so many of his classmates (but so usual of himself), he was in the library, helping the woman who had kept the place from falling apart: Ms. Elizaveta, the only librarian in the school's two story library. Arthur kept himself busy this time of day by putting the books up on their respective shelves and cleaning up the reading desks. He heaved a rather large sigh after putting down a stack of books that had been higher than the top of his head. He started to put them away, the cart now probably overweight with all it was carrying.

He dusted his hands off and went back to pull things off of the tables and placed them gingerly onto the cart. It was after he had cleared his third table, that he heard Elizaveta berating someone for being late. The Brit knew exactly who it was, as it was only him and one other who had helped out on this free-period.

"Goodness, Matthew! You should have more consideration for your previously made engagements!" The woman's voice was loud throughout the bottom floor, echoing against the round walls of the main study room. Arthur finished his fourth table and then headed towards the sounds of apologies and fusses. It wasn't until the pair had seen Arthur, that they stopped their talking and looked at him, as if he were an alien.

"Well," the Brit said after a considerable amount of awkward silence. "Matthew, I require your help with clearing the desks, when you get the chance." The younger boy nodded before throwing a glance at the librarian and then scurried behind Arthur as he went back into the study area.

"You are late." At the words, Mattew froze and many apologies spewed from his mouth. Arthur simply raised a hand, and the other stopped speaking.

"I do not need your excuses." There was a hint of laughter in his voice. "I just need your help. Why were you late, anyway?"

At the question, the Canadian froze and flushed.

"Alfred needed some assurance. His girlfriend broke up with him."

"He's your brother, isn't he?"

"Yes. And I think I may have... um..." Matthew went into a suspicious silence for much too long than expected. When Arthur knew that the other wasn't going to speak, he shook his head.

"You may have done what?" He coaxed. Just how badly did he seriously screw up his relationship with his brother?

"I may have... Promised him a date with you..."

If Arthur had a drink or anything in his mouth, it would have been sprayed all over the smaller man.

"You bloody well did what?" His voice grew so somber, that it made Mattie only more frightened. He raised his hands up by his head, as if he were being accused of something by the police. Arthur had only heard of Alfred, and caught rare glimpses of the popular captain-of-all-sports in the hallway. He didn't like what he heard or had seen.

"I-It is only supposed to be dinner! Ju-just once! You don't ha-have to a-actually g-go out with him!"

"Only once. And it will be at Feliciano and Romano's place. He's paying."

The relief on Mattie's face spoke it all.

Thank you.

Author's Notes: Hello, fellow human beings! Thanks for reading the first chapter of Snapshot! This fanfiction will be taking quite the twist in the next chapter- just warning! Also, I'd like to point out that reviews are greatly appreciated and loved. And, if you have any suggestions as to what you'd like to see in Snapshot, I will be glad to look over them and possibly implement them into the story. Again, thanks much for your interest in Snapshot. ^w^