Haha! I just made it! My friend reminded me that today was Canada's wonderful birthday (somehow I always forget...) and I managed to write something decent for him! Not the best, and a bit bipolar, but I still think it's kinda cute! Hope everyone likes it!

Canada Day

Matthew sighed tiredly, resting his head against the foot of his bed and staring listlessly at the ceiling. As much as he loved this day, he hated it. Sure his people were thrilled, ecstatic even, and he was too, he just…he never spent it with his family. Not like Alfred did anyway. He didn't throw a big party and no one threw one for him. Humans had a them and he went o a few, the collective party spirit filling him, but it wasn't like spending time with the other nations. He hadn't really fought for his independence from Arthur, not like Alfred had, but he had still been recognized. Though it had really been because he had helped in the world wars that they noticed him, at least for a little while. They had forgotten again a while later - three days for most of them - but he still deserved something on his 'birthday.' Gilbert hadn't even called… So much for a best friend.

He sighed again, eyes drifting shut as he dozed off. It was the end of his day after all, no point wishing for something that wouldn't come. Not even a call though… he curled up against Kumajirou, hiding his face between the bear's ears and falling asleep.

In his dream he was in Alfred's revolution. The bloodshed, the tears, the pain. All of it. As if he had been right there. He saw the signing of the Declaration of Independence, saw Arthur and his monarchs denying the colonists their demands. He watched as people ran at each other with muskets drawn, bayonets already stained copper. He saw Alfred's final stand, with Arthur in his knees in the pouring rain.

He didn't understand why he was there, but a small voice whispered to him that of he had just done something this grandiose, if he had really made a stand, he would be just like Alfred. Of course, he didn't really believe that.

His dream shifted to present day, a meeting of the G8. Everyone was arguing as usual, complaining about pointless things. Except for Arthur, who sat between Francis and Alfred glancing at the doors every few seconds as if he was worried.

"Where is he?" he murmured, anxiousness in his voice, though it sounded as if he were speaking into a tunnel.

"Who?" Alfred asked, eyes scanning the room for someone who wasn't there. His mouth formed a small 'o' when he seemed to notice. "Yeah! Where is he? He's never late!"

Francis was next, flipping his hair as if the noise and worry in the room was below him, only his eyes showed that he shared the others' opinion. "He probably stopped for some alone time with his cher Prusse. You know how they get, so full of l'amour."

Arthur scowled and Alfred pouted banging his fist on the table. "Well he better get here quick! We can't start without him."

The doors slammed open, Gilbert strolling in confidently as always - though he technically didn't belong there, no one ever wanted to get him started on a rant by trying to get him out. The Prussian cleared his throat, gesturing to the still open doors. Matthew wondered what was coming next.

"I present the awesome, though less awesome than me, Canada!"

And in he strolled, entirely visible and radiating a confidence that was usually reserved for his brother and Gilbert.

"Gil, I said to stop doing that." he groaned, still the same confidence poured out of him despite the small rush of color to his cheeks. Gilbert rolled his eyes before following him to his chair and even pulling out for him before sitting himself.

Immediately everyone started talking to him, asking his opinion on one crisis or another until Gilbert slammed his hands on the table and commanded everyone to 'get the fuck away from his boyfriend before his started seizing vital regions.' Everyone quieted, something shocking in and of itself if he hadn't already been fried by how odd it was to see everyone talking to him and caring - and the boyfriend thing, that had frozen another part of his mind entirely - and waited for him to begin the meeting.

It shifted again, back to when he was a kid, if the angle he was seeing from was anything to go by.

Alfred was there again, they were in his house actually, and chasing one another. It was right before Alfred started his fight for independence, if he was remembering correctly this is what caused it… They chased each other, finally running around a corner and straight into Arthur. They all laughed at first, like the family they were trying to be, but everything got dark and Arthur handed Alfred a slip of paper… which was then passed to him.

He remembered this going differently… Alfred had kept the paper, started yelling about the strain Arthur was putting on his people and kicked them both out. Instead, he took the paper and stormed out, turning once to glare at Arthur and his twin.

Now he was fighting a horrible war that was leaving far too many scars on him, killing too many people. Bu he needed to keep going, needed to be recognized.

Bullets whizzed past him, bayonets clashed against one another, cannons fired in every direction. One bullet embedded itself in his shoulder tearing a scream from his throat, the musket it came from bearing down on him, vivid green eyes glaring down at him. The weapon fell with Arthur, the nation seeming to break before his eyes. Matthew tried to touch him, bring him up from the mud, but he shook him off, yelling at him to go, that he gave up.

Another soldier, he didn't know from which side, came and plunged his bayonet through them both…

Matthew screamed and woke up trembling. His mouth dry and his sheets damp with sweat.

"Damn Mattie, I thought you were dying or something. Scared the shit out of me." a voice said from the door.

Matthew turned, eyes blurry as his glasses had fallen to the floor during the night. He could just make out a head of silver hair, though.

"Gil, why are you in my house again? We talked about this."

"You talked, I agreed to nothing Mattiecakes. You can't keep awesome out."

The blob that was Gilbert got closer, bending down to pick something up and hand it to him. His glasses, he saw. He put them on glad for the clarity.

"Mind explaining the screaming? I walked in the door and it sounded like you were being murdered my the damn Commie." Matthew rolled his eyes at him - he was still amazed at the amount of similarities between the Prussian and his brother though they couldn't get along to save their lives.

"I had a nightmare, if you must know."

A silver eyebrow rose. "Anything about my awesomeness in particular?"

He could feel his face heating up as he remembered how Gilbert had called him his boyfriend and what Francis had said about alone time. It had been…nice, in its own way. Not thay he hadn't considered it before, he just couldn't bring himself to even ask the albino what he thought about it, he was far too shy.

"Ah, so it was good, eh?"

Matthew tried not to face-palm. "N-No! It was a nightmare for a reason! It was about…wars…" So he wasn't really lying, he just wasn't telling the entire truth. He didn't want to even think about it anymore. It would have been nice to be more like Alfred, yes, but than he wouldn't be himself anymore, wouldn't have Gilbert as a friend, would have his own ideas… he just wanted to stay himself and that was that.

Gilbert snorted. "Everyone gets those… You sure you're okay though?"

Matthew smiled, glad to hear the small tinge of worry in his friend's voice. It was a rare gift. "Yeah, fine. Why are you here again?" He focused on Kumajirou's fur, keeping his mind from the more than frightening ending to his dream and the way the Prussian's lips moved as he spoke.

"Well…I wanted pancakes, but then I kinda remembered something and my awesomeness got you a surprise!"

"Should I trust him Kumikichii?"

"Who?"

"Oh just come one, Mattie! You're gonna love it, because my awesomeness got it for you!" Gilbert grabbed his hand, pulling him down the stairs, Kumajirou and Gilbird a little ways behind.

"Alright, close your eyes!" Gilbert commanded at the bottom of the stairs.

"But Gil -"

"Just do it, the awesome me won't let you fall."

Sighing, Matthew did as he was told, only tripping once - which ended in being caught against Gilbert's chest. That managed to make the morning just a bit better.

"Can I open them yet?"

"Not until you tell me what day it is."

"Friday?"

"Nope. More important."

"Um…Avatar comes out today?"

"Correct, but still not what we're looking for."

"I give up Gil, what day is it?"

There was a scoff behind him, arms slipping easily around his waist. "I expected everyone else to forget, but you too Mattie? That's pretty stupid… Maybe you are like Captain Idiot after all."

"Gil, what are you talking about?" He tried to ignore the fingers linking through his and succeeded surprising well, once he felt the - entirely welcome - distraction of the Prussian's lips against his neck and his breath in his ear.

"Your birthday, dummköpf."

"Eh?" Matthew managed to turn around, ridding his neck of lips and keeping himself caged against the other man. "Gil, my birthday was yesterday."

"What? It was? But its on the second, right?"

Matthew laughed, twining his arms around Gilbert's neck in a moment of confidence - he didn't bother to question it. "No, it's on the first. But I'm willing to forgive you if you give me a good present."

Gilbert raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised by the tone his friend had adopted. Matthew was just as surprised by it. It sounded suspiciously like Arthur the one time he had been stupid enough to try and listen when his brother and 'father' went off alone together. He had learnt his lesson well. "A present?"

"Yes."

"Wha-" Matthew kissed him, pulling him down to meet him and laughing slightly when Gilbert squeaked.

He knew first kisses usually sucked - they were always too awkward, neither really knowing how to match the other - but he guessed that this wasn't horrible, as far as first kisses went. It took Gilbert several seconds to get over his surprise before he pulled Matthew closer to him and bit lightly at his bottom lip. He was going to respond too, but someone behind them cleared their throat and they practically jumped apart. Still staring at each other in shock.

"Well, now that you are done molesting my child, can we start this party?" A very familiar voice broke the silence.

Arthur stood in the doorway to the sitting room, green eyes fixed warningly on Gilbert. Matthew sighed, glad that Alfred hadn't found them. He didn't want to have to break up a fight this early in the morning. Arthur's gaze turned to Matthew, smiling warmly, just as he had when he was a child.

"I'm terribly sorry about not calling yesterday… It slipped my mind, what with your brother's party so close and all…"

"Ah, it's alright eh." He could feel his cheeks heating to match Arthur's.

And, as always, Alfred felt the need to join in.

"Hey Iggy, you need to get in here and see what Francis is doing to Antonio! Lovi's about to snap!" He kissed the top of Arthur's head and sent him to observe the soon to be fight before he noticed Matthew and Gilbert. "Good for you to finally join your own party, bro! You gotta check this out, though. Even 'Chelles is thinking about getting in on it." He left, leaving Matthew to look at Gilbert questioningly. The albino shrugged, linked their fingers once again and led them to the chaos.

Lovino now had Francis by the throat, for once not caring about his close proximity to the perverted nation. Though the fact that Seychelles was standing behind Francis and cheering Lovino on may have had something to do with it. Nothing like your victim's girlfriend cheering you on as you try to kill him. Antonio looked thoroughly confused, sitting on the floor with his shirt - and belt - undone. He blinked at his former charge as if seeing him for the first time.

"Aw! Lovi is protecting Boss! That's so cute!" He snapped out of it quickly, wrapping his arms around Lovino's waist and pulling him off Francis - without buttoning his clothes first which seemed to make Lovino very nervous - who instantly clutched at his neck where a nice bruise was beginning to form, trying to draw as much air into his lungs as possible. Seychelles apparently decided he need to be taught a better lesson and pulled his hair from the soft ponytail he had doubtlessly spent hours on to pull him the room to yell at him about not raping other nations in public, especially now that they were a couple.

"B-Bastard! Let go of me!" Lovino squirmed in Antonio's grip, brushing his hands over the man's chest a little too often for it to be accidental. "A-And close y-your sh-shirt, damn it!"

Antonio smiled over at Gilbert. "Can I borrow a room to calm him down in?" Gilbert was too bust laughing at Francis to answer, so Matthew nodded chuckling a bit himself as the Italian's words faded and then halted mid-sentence.

And at once everyone started shouting, officially starting the party.

It was dark before everyone left - except for Alfred and Arthur who had disappeared to a quest room hours ago and had not been seen since. Francis had been dragged out by Seychelles shortly after cake, Antonio had been chased out by Lovino for something involving pirates that he didn't even want to ask about and everyone else had slowly dwindled home afterward.

Even though he was exhausted, Matthew was happy. It was the first actual birthday, albeit a bit late, that he had had in a long time. And he had Gilbert to thank for it. He flopped on the couch, yawning and trying not to think of the mess he had to clean in the morning. Kumajirou decided then that he wanted to play and started tugging on the sleeve of his sweater,

"Eh? You had dinner, Kimikira, time for bed."

He kept tugging at his arm and pawing at his leg until Matthew finally dragged himself off the couch with a sigh. He noticed the yellow ball of fluff on his bear's head as he led him upstairs and smiled to himself.

Kumajirou led him to the bedroom, jumping on the bed and pulling the sheets down to expose a head of silver hair. Gilbert snored lightly as he slept and Matthew had to hold a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing too loud and waking him. He pulled off most of his clothes, leaving his boxers of course, and climbed into bed as well, pulling the covers over both their heads as he snuggled against the Prussian's body heat. Kumajiruou curled into a ball over their heads, Gilbird burrowing into his fur, cheeping softly as they fell asleep.

Whoo! And Canada Day is nearly over. On a better note, I managed to get two lovely flags! One for the darling Kingdom of Prussia and an old, unofficial flag for Canada! Red ensign, I think it was called... either way, I had a good Canada day! Did anyone do something cool? And how are all you Alfredians celebrating Captain Idiot, I mean, Mr. Hero's birthday?

I hope this wasn't too bipolar and confusing... Also the dream is all mixed up for a reason, though I don't really know what that reason is...