A/N ~ Quick (somewhat) fluffy oneshot... X3 I mostly wrote this for my Canada, who I love so very much. lol

And, as much as I love AmCan in the bromance sense, sorry, but there isn't much of it in here—if anything, it's "traditional" brotherly love.

And sorry for this being short, but I only had a few hours to work on this one-shot. XD;

Anyway, enjoy!

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Canada Day

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"July 1."

Every year, this day came up on the calendar. It was a day that made Matthew both happy and sad at the same time. Sure, it was his birthday—a time, typically, to celebrate and be happy. Unfortunately, this mere fantasy was rarely brought upon the young Canadian. Everyone seemed to be more focused around his brother's birthday, which just happens to be soon after his!

He glared at the calendar, only to see "Canada Day" on the day in his own handwriting. Of course, on July 4, it said "Independence Day (US)" on it, printed from the calendar factory. Couldn't his brother have picked a better name that wouldn't be so harsh on Arthur? Alfred always used the excuse of Independence Day to pick on the Brit—clueless to how much Arthur had been affected by it all these years.

Not long after, Matthew's polar bear, Kumajiro, walked up to him and sat in front of the calendar. For a moment, the two stared at each other.

"I hope you know what today is," Matthew said in his usual quiet voice, trying to give a hopeful smile.

Kumajiro paused to think for a moment. Who exactly was this who's talking to him? He couldn't remember exactly. So, to humor him, he answered Matthew's question. He looked at the calendar once more before looking back at the Canadian. "The beginning of a new month?" he guessed.

Technically, the polar bear was right, so Matthew couldn't really tell him that he was wrong. But Kumajiro didn't really give the answer that he was seeking. He forced a subtle chuckle. "Well, yeah," he whispered, "But... Anything specific?"

Again, Kumajiro glanced at the calendar before facing Matthew again. "July 1st," he guessed.

"Something really special happened today, right?" the young Canadian hinted.

The little polar bear scratched his head, trying to think what could possibly be so special about the day. "Hmm..." he pondered. He soon pulled out a DVD copy of Red Dawn. "Well, today was when they first came up with the PG-13 rating," he informed, showing the DVD up to Matthew. And with that, Kumajiro left him to go watch his movie in the other room.

Matthew, left behind, just stood there. His eyes soon formed tears at the corners. It seemed like no one was going to take note of today, except for him. He took a nearby pen in his hand and glared back at the calendar. And he soon decided to just sit the whole day through out in the backyard.

–

Soon after, his brother, Alfred, stopped by to visit.

"Hey, Mattie!" he joyfully called out, welcoming himself into his sibling's house. But no answer came to him. Alfred found that quite strange, usually everyone could hear his loud voice down the largest of corridors! However, he soon figured that his brother's voice volume was also the complete opposite of his. "Maybe he did say something and I just didn't hear it," Alfred figured, and he started to wander around to go find his brother.

Alfred soon met Kumajiro, who was lounging on the couch as he watched the movie.

"Have you seen Matt anywhere?" the young American asked.

"Who?" Kumajiro asked, his attention more focused on the mock battle scenes on the screen.

"Matthew... My brother..." Alfred clarified, "Do you know if he's around anywhere?"

The polar bear just sat there silent, subtly turning his head sideways in a negative reply.

Alfred sighed in frustration; however, before he left, he glanced over at the movie scene of the Soviets' misuse of the Russian language and the group of American teens beating them at wits. He couldn't help but smirk that cocky smile on his face; if it wasn't picking at Arthur every year, it was bragging to Ivan over the end of the Cold War. Times like those made it seem like nothing could bring his spirits down at all. But he'll go annoy Ivan some other time; right now, he snapped back into reality and continued to look for his brother.

It wasn't long until he walked into the other room and saw the calendar. Normally, such an everyday thing wouldn't have caught his eye, but there was something on it that made him notice—messy scribbles blotting out today's square.

Alfred walked up to the calendar to take a closer look. There was something written underneath all the scribbles. He tried making it out of what it said. After a couple minutes, he solved it. "Can..da... Day?" he guessed, looking at the minute clues he had to work with, "'Canada Day'..."

Perhaps this was the reason Matthew was out hiding somewhere, secluding himself.

Nonetheless, it made Alfred's heart sink to believe that his brother was really affected by it. Sure he's ignored and teased Matthew constantly throughout their entire lives, but Alfred tried reassuring himself that he at least meant well—right? The young American swayed his head sideways and sighed. Even he started to doubt that he had no fault in this matter.

But he quickly tried to perk up his mood. "A hero must always set things right!" he assured himself with confidence, "I'll make today Matt's favorite day!"

It was just then when he noticed out the window a familiar blond curl blended in the tall grass. "Matthew..." Alfred quietly uttered, eventually walking his way to the yard.

–

Outside, Matthew sat on a log, with his head resting in his arms on his knees. He could hear the rustling approaching nearer to him, but he didn't bother at all to look who it could've been behind him.

"Hey, bro!" Alfred greeted.

Matthew remained quiet. He buried his head more into his arms, refusing to acknowledge his brother's presence. He's been given the same treatment, he figured it would be fair to give Alfred a taste of his own medicine at it.

"C'mon, Mattie," Alfred tried to get his attention again.

Still silence from the Canadian.

Alfred figured he should just go on talking anyway; he knew his brother could hear him well enough. He stepped forward and sat close right next to him.

"Y'know, at first, I came over to see if you want to come to my birthday," Alfred explained, glancing over at Matthew.

"Typical," Matthew muttered quietly, not even looking back at his brother.

"Well, I wanted you to come to it, since it is my birthday and you're my brother and such," Alfred went on, "But... Then I realized, today's your day."

"What's it matter?" Matthew said, his voice nearly cracking from being at the brink of crying, "No one really knows about it—let alone, celebrates it. But what about you? You have fireworks, barbeques, and parties every year!" Alfred just sat there, quiet, as he listened to every word. "What about me?" Matthew continued, "It's treated like any other day..." The young Canadian then broke into tears as he leaned his face down against his arms.

Alfred placed his arm over his brother's shoulder and brought him close. "But I'm here," he stated, hoping to make Matthew feel better, "What could be better than that?"

Unfortunately, that didn't really make Matthew's mood any much better, and Alfred had to think of how else to make his brother in a better mood. He gently pet his shoulder as he tried to think of something worth while.

"Think of it this way, Matt," he started to explain, having a rather pleased smile on his face, "Since you hardly have anyone here today except for me and Kumajiro, at least it'll be more food for the three of us!"

Strike two. That didn't seem to phase Matthew much at all. Alfred didn't get it; given that situation at one of his birthday parties, he wouldn't have minded that much at all.

Alfred sighed. "Look, Mattie," he said, holding his brother close, "I can't really help what goes on with my day every year. Sure, I get to pick on Artie and be able to have an excuse for it. But, deep down, I know that's not what it's all about."

"It's about stuffing your face and setting off annoying fireworks, right?" Matthew guessed in a rather sarcastic-like tone.

"Well... That too," Alfred agreed. He couldn't argue against that holiday add-on, no matter how irrelevant it is to what that day really meant for him. "And so is spending time with those you love being around with," he added, holding Matthew closer to him, "Which is why I'm over today—I want you to be with me on my day, and I'm here on your day."

The Canadian still sat in silence, putting together what his brother meant. He sniffled and glanced at Alfred. "You really want to spend a day with boring me?" he asked.

"Of course, I do! You're my bro!" Alfred quickly answered, smiling as he began ruffling Matthew's messy hair, "There... Now you're not boring anymore."

The two North American siblings chuckled. At least Matthew no longer seemed upset; at least someone gave him even the littlest of recognition on his special day, and Alfred was determined to see that through—just for Matthew. And that's all that should matter.

"Come on, Matt," Alfred encouraged, standing up from sitting on the log, "I'm going to make you some of those weird cheese fries you like." With that, he began walking back into the house.

"You mean 'poutine'," Matthew suggested, standing up as well and following Alfred.

"Yeah, that..." the American said, letting the word in one ear and out the other.

"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" Matthew teased, "You were raised by Arthur..."

"Yeah, but I make way better food than him," Alfred claimed, unaware that his cooking was hardly any different than the Brit's.

Matthew just sighed hopelessly but still smiled. He knew his brother loved him—but maybe a little too much if he offered to help when it came to cooking.

–

Omake:

Over the calendar, written atop of all the scribbles, was written "Canada Day" in bold for all to see. And right next to it, was a little American flag sticker, just in case anyone skipped on noticing about the special day.

–

A/N ~ A few quick notes... XD First of all, Happy Canada Day and Happy Birthday, Matthew! lol

A bit of historical trivia for you all... July 1st was also when the MPAA created the PG-13 rating for movies (back in 1984), and I used the movie, Red Dawn, because (not only do I find that movie epic [and extremely weird], but) it was the first movie to have that newborn rating. The movie is a Cold War parody, so hence the bit of ref. Source:

I really would've worked more on this, but I actually only started on this thing last night; the idea just hit me. So, I've been up writing this thing... And now, I'm tired. XD;;; But I hope this fanfic was worth it to my readers.